The four of them moved with incredible speed, traveling southeastward. In just a few days, they had covered several thousand li.

During these days, the four had barely spoken to one another.

Cheng Yinxiao and Qu Wuhui were relatively unperturbed, but Qiao Ying was fraught with worry the entire journey, anxious about the outcome of the Heaven-Seizing War. In just a few days, she had become visibly worn down. Given her level of cultivation, this shouldn't have happened, but the sorrow weighing on her heart was truly difficult to dispel.

The group journeyed farther and farther, gradually leaving behind populated areas until the surroundings grew increasingly desolate. After several more days of travel, they ascended to the summit of a towering mountain. Looking out, they saw an endless expanse of mountain ranges stretching as far as the eye could see.

Looking back, the landscape was like a painting, and even the closer towns were faintly visible, though already indistinct.

“Jun Moxie, the name of this mountain is ‘The Mortal Realm’ (Ren Jian)! It means that the north side of this mountain is the human world, while the south side is nothing but a desolate wasteland!” Qiao Ying murmured, her gaze fixed on the faint signs of civilization to the north.

“The Mortal Realm? A very strange name,” Jun Moxie replied distractedly. He pondered internally why Qiao Ying, who had ignored him throughout the journey, would suddenly choose this moment to speak to him.

“Do you see? Heading north from this mountain, the more north you go, the denser the population becomes. And the vast majority of humanity’s legacies are concentrated there; tens of thousands of years of development and proliferation have finally forged the flourishing age we see today!”

Qiao Ying looked coldly at Jun Moxie: “And what guarantees all of this is the Heaven-Seizing War! Do you see that mountain, the furthest and highest one to the south? That is Heaven’s Pillar Mountain (Tianzhu Shan)! And the Heaven-Seizing War will take place there!”

Jun Moxie strained his eyes into the distance, seeing only a majestic, towering mountain rising straight out of the earth amidst swirling clouds and mist, piercing high into the sky. Above the clouds, the body of the mountain itself... the summit was nowhere in sight, truly appearing to pierce the heavens!

“If the Heaven-Seizing War ultimately fails, the Alien Race will invade the human world. The prosperity of humanity over tens of thousands of years might be utterly destroyed in a single day! All the current splendor will transform into a living hell on earth! Even worse, all humans will be reduced to slaves and food for the Alien Race!”

Qiao Ying said coldly and heavily: “And just a few days ago, the thirty individuals you personally slaughtered were top experts who were about to sacrifice their lives for the entire human race in the Heaven-Seizing War! Do you know what the loss of those people means?”

“What does it mean?” Jun Moxie tilted his head.

“It means that this time, the Xuanxuan Continent side will lose the Heaven-Seizing War! The invasion of the Alien Race has become an impending certainty, a settled fact! Widespread devastation across the continent, complete ruin, is right before our eyes!” Qiao Ying exclaimed, fire blazing in her eyes: “And the chief culprit responsible for all of this is the battle you initiated! Jun Moxie, don’t you feel the slightest pang of conscience?”

“A pang of conscience? Why should I feel any pang of conscience?” Jun Moxie said lightly: “All that talk you mentioned… about devastation, alien invasion… what the hell does that have to do with me?”

“You!” Qiao Ying never expected the young hero who commanded such immense power to utter such an irresponsible statement. Her delicate face turned pale with anger, leaving her speechless for a long moment.

Jun Moxie paid no mind to Qiao Ying’s disappointment. He coolly turned his face away and continued heartlessly: “I’ve grown sick of hearing about the welfare of the common people and the security of the continent! I never want to hear anyone utter those eight words again, especially when addressed to this young master, because the moment I hear them, my balls ache! And don’t you dare associate those sanctimonious noble concepts with me—they have absolutely no connection to me!”

“You say you don’t want to hear it? Yet you are damaging the interests of all the world’s people!” Qiao Ying hissed: “The Heaven-Seizing War is about to fail solely because of you! Widespread suffering is coming solely because of you! You didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of you! What right do you have to say you don’t want to hear it? How is it unrelated to you? Do you have any idea how many innocent lives will be lost across the world because of you alone?”

“Nonsense! The lives of the world dying for me? Everything has its cause, nothing happens without reason. The only reason I killed those people is because they wanted to kill me!”

Jun Moxie roared: “I have never proactively provoked your Three Great Holy Lands! I haven’t even offended you! Yet, with sanctimonious faces, you engage in the acts of thieves and whores, sending wave after wave of endless trouble my way, like stubborn dog droppings that won’t shake off! And now you actually have the audacity to question me? Even if many people truly die as a result, it’s the responsibility of your damn Holy Lands, not mine, damn it!”

“My father was a descendant of a Duke in Heavenly Fragrance City (Tianxiang Cheng), accustomed to wealth and luxury, enough for a lifetime of comfort! But you utterly destroyed him, forcing him to abandon his family and possessions and retreat into the Forest of Heavenly Punishment (Tianfa Senlin) to live among thousands of ferocious beasts!”

“I have already retreated to this extent, and you still won’t let up, relentlessly targeting my relatives and my friends! Anyone connected to my Jun family, you leave none spared… You even dared to sneak into the Forest of Heavenly Punishment to assassinate me. If I hadn't possessed some capability and still had trump cards left, I would have been plotted to death eight hundred times over by you scoundrels!! This is utterly outrageous!”

“Guardians of the Continent? The Three Great Holy Lands are filled with nothing but scoundrels, including the three of you! And now you have the nerve to lecture me about righteousness, justice, and the common people? Ask yourselves—are you worthy?! You couldn't kill me, so instead, I killed some of yours, and now you blame me for the demise of the world’s population? What kind of twisted logic is that?”

“Since you harbored murderous intent toward me and took action to kill me, I will preemptively eliminate you! It’s that simple. Even if you truly were acting for the common people, even if you were defending universal peace, acting as the last pillars holding up the sky—even if killing you meant the heavens would fall… as long as you wanted to kill me, I would still kill you without hesitation! At worst, we all go down together, everyone perishes!”

Jun Moxie smiled coldly: “We are all just one life. Dead men turn to dust; if you live, you continue to cause trouble! So what if lives are ruined? None of this weighs on my mind. Don’t expect me to be noble; I’ve never considered myself a hero or a righteous figure. Don’t talk to me about the welfare of the world; you’ve misjudged me. Even if this continent truly collapsed, what of it? After tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, a new world will emerge! But no matter who it is, please do not presume to act as a savior. That is disgusting!”

The Young Master Jun smiled viciously and looked at Qiao Ying: “Have you ever heard the idiom mu hou er guan (a monkey wearing a crown)? A monkey puts on a crown and thinks it’s a king? Don’t you find your Three Great Holy Lands laughable? Compared to that, at best you are just a group of relatively stronger monkeys. By what right do you represent the world? By what right do you proclaim yourselves saviors? Even if you claim to be saviors, that’s fine, but don’t start by painting yourselves as utterly noble only to use that nobility to strike down others! You are not qualified! To repeat myself: you are not worthy!”

Jun Moxie spoke so fluently that he even gestured naturally without realizing it...

“To take a step back, you can elevate yourselves onto the pedestal of saviors because of the things you do—no one cares about that. But you shouldn’t expect others to repay you with gratitude! You three are esteemed elders; you should be able to distinguish between the active and the passive, right? You did those things because you chose to. It seems no one ever held a blade to your throats and forced you to make sacrifices, did they? You absolutely could have chosen not to! It is not your obligation… do you understand?! Let me tell you, this world functions perfectly well without any of you! Even without your Three Great Holy Lands, the Alien Race might not be such a big deal after all. Understand?! It is truly the height of absurdity!”

After this lengthy tirade, Jun Moxie felt completely vented.

But when he finished speaking, he noticed the three people beside him were silent, their expressions instead heavy and contemplative.

Standing on the summit of The Mortal Realm for a long while, Qu Wuhui finally sighed deeply: “Let’s go. From here, it’s still three days’ journey…”

Qiao Ying, whose face had shifted from intense anger to profound gravity, did not criticize Jun Moxie again. The four flew silently, like four streaks of meteors flashing across the vast expanse...

The saying, "Running toward a mountain will tire out a horse," proved true. Although they could clearly see the towering peak of Heaven’s Pillar Mountain from the summit of ‘The Mortal Realm,’ even with the utmost effort from these four peerless masters, they still needed a full two days of full-speed flight to reach its base...

Jun Moxie found it strange. How could they see Heaven’s Pillar Mountain from thousands of li away? Even with his excellent eyesight, it shouldn't be that far, given the immense distance...

Seemingly sensing Jun Moxie’s confusion, Qu Wuhui smiled slightly: “You’ll understand when you get there.”

Strangely enough, ever since Jun Moxie had delivered his rant, the attitude of the three toward him had actually improved considerably. This left Jun Moxie puzzled: were these three people simply deserving of scolding? Or were they actually the legendary ‘abused types’? The classic sort who seek trouble and aren't satisfied even when they get beaten? Perhaps this Young Master should launch into another tirade every now and then? It wouldn't take any effort, just opening his mouth!

As he was considering the feasibility of this idea, he noticed Qu Wuhui and the other two had stopped. His heart stirred, and he instantly halted his steps, hearing Qiao Ying’s voice, laced with genuine relief, murmur: “The location of the Heavenly Saint Palace (Tiansheng Gong) is on the mountain ahead…”

Her tone carried the joy of returning home.

Jun Moxie looked up and saw, perhaps fifty li ahead, a massive mountain rising from the earth. On its snow-capped summit, faint shapes of a few buildings were visible through the white. As they drew closer, Jun Moxie suddenly realized that those shapes were clearly several dozen thatched huts! The main structure was supported by several lush, green tree trunks, sprouting new buds, and the roofs were completely covered in vines...

Buildings as simple as they could possibly be!

“This is the legendary Heavenly Saint Palace?” Jun Moxie stared, then turned back in disbelief. In his mind, the legendary Heavenly Saint Palace should have been magnificent and gilded, like an imperial palace, not the dilapidated sight before him.

Qiao Ying smiled proudly: “This is the Heavenly Saint Palace!”

“I’m impressed!” Jun Moxie said sincerely. To live in such a place while being the strongest on the continent, for whatever reason, was enough to earn respect!

“Thank you.” Qiao Ying smiled faintly, satisfied by Jun Moxie’s words.

She could tell that Jun Moxie’s ‘impressed’ was genuine, and her negative impression of him softened slightly. She pointed: “Three hundred li east of the Heavenly Saint Palace is the mountain peak where the Immortal Seclusion Palace (Dunshi Xiangong) resides. Slanting another thousand li or so is the Supreme Golden City (Zhizun Jincheng)! As for what lies about two thousand li to the west is the Dreamlike Blood Sea (Menghuan Xuehai). The mountain where the Heavenly Saint Palace is situated is revered by the Three Great Holy Lands as ‘Heavenly Saint Mountain’ (Tiansheng Shan). And just a thousand li south of Heavenly Saint Mountain lies the place that determines the fate of the continent—Heaven’s Pillar Peak (Tianzhu Feng). The summit of Heaven’s Pillar Peak has a vast area that collapsed due to some incident! And the Heaven-Seizing War will be fought right there!”

“So it’s here… This place is hard enough to find!” Jun Moxie smacked his lips and asked, “Are those three other locations anything like the Heavenly Saint Palace?”

Qiao Ying showed a flicker of embarrassment, stammering slightly: “Those three places… ahem, are a little more luxurious than this one…”

Jun Moxie let out a meaningful “Oh,” saying, “A little more luxurious? What kind of description is that! To make your own ancestors live in such a crude place, if they themselves were equally simple, it might be understandable. But unfortunately, the reality must be quite different…”

“Frugality has always been the tradition of the Heavenly Saint Palace!” Cheng Yinxiao said flatly from the side.

It sounded like a defense.

“What a fine tradition… It’s amazing you weren’t frozen or starved to death. Thank goodness for profound energy! Profound energy is truly a good thing! At least it prevents starvation!” the Young Master sighed.

The complexions of the three instantly darkened...

“So it really is that frugal!” Jun Moxie finally reached the summit of Heavenly Saint Mountain, marveling: “Damn it, I dream of being this frugal! Can you guys stop being so hypocritical! Blast it, this is called frugality? I’ll frugally kiss your face! I wish your entire families wealth!”

The Young Master Jun, now seeing the thatched huts of the Heavenly Saint Palace up close, instantly flared up. He had been genuinely impressed for a while, only to find out it was a sham.

The entire mountaintop plain was so rich in spiritual energy that it was almost tangible. While it wasn't as dense, pure, or refined as the energy within the Grandmist Tower (Hongjun Ta), it possessed an added quality of vibrant, flourishing essence from vegetation!

The Heavenly Saint Palace comprised about a hundred structures. The pillars supporting every single house were actual, living, growing great trees! And Jun Moxie recognized this type of tree: Profound Spirit Wood (Xuanling Mu)!

Profound Spirit Wood can live for over ten thousand years. Slicing it into thin pieces and carrying them can soothe the spirit and calm the mind, and they remain incorruptible for a century. Living Profound Spirit Wood itself is akin to a small Spirit Gathering Array, capable of spontaneously drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

In this instance, each house required at least six Profound Spirit Woods... Cultivating profound energy in an environment like this meant one never had to worry about mental chaos or cultivation deviation going berserk!

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