The Starry Heavenly Ladder.
At this moment, its once pristine, white appearance had transformed into a living purgatory.
An endless stream of blood flowed down from ahead, merging into a river. Several severed arms, eyeballs, heads... rolled down along the river of blood.
Many cultivators couldn't help but vomit, and not a few fainted.
With the very first level being so bloody, would the path ahead be even more treacherous? The enthusiasm of the cultivators gradually turned into fear.
They knew there were no shortcuts on the path of cultivation. Even if there were, it would be a bloody road that required paying a price unbearable for ordinary people.
But this price was simply too heavy.
Cultivators with fragile minds went mad on the spot.
“Ahahaha! What Ancient Immortal Realm?! This is a grave! It's hel... l...”
Before he could even finish, the crazed cultivator had his head bitten off in one bite by an ancient beast. His mangled body swayed a few times before falling into the stars.
“Ptu!”
The ancient beast chewed a few times, spat out a piece of scalp with hair and skull fragments, and then lunged toward another person.
Pfft!
Wen Sining drew her longsword and decapitated it with a single strike. Drenched in beast blood, she turned back and asked, “Junior Sister Zhu Huai, Senior Brother Wang, are you two alright?”
“Thank you, Senior Sister, I'm fine. It's just Senior Brother...”
Zhu Huai looked uncertainly at Wang Xuanyi behind her, and Leng Ning'an and the others followed her gaze.
He was crouching on the steps, holding up an ancient beast that had already breathed its last. He sniffed it with his nose, and after confirming there was no foul odor, he carved out a piece of beast meat. Then, flames flared up from his palm. Once it was roasted, he stuffed it into his mouth and chewed right in front of everyone.
“Ugh!”
Within two seconds, Wang Xuanyi spat it right out. It tasted absolutely awful. It smelled fine, but eating it was like eating shit, the stench rushing straight to his skull.
This scene disgusted everyone, causing them to gag on the spot.
How could there be such a person? The ancient beasts ate cultivators, but this guy ate the ancient beasts.
“Could it be that it has to be eaten raw?”
In front of everyone again, Wang Xuanyi took out soy sauce, salt, and other seasonings. Then, he sliced off a thin piece of meat from the ancient beast's robust front leg, added the seasonings, and swallowed it in one gulp.
Unsurprisingly, he threw up again.
Roasting didn't work, and eating it raw didn't work either. In his anger, he kicked the ancient beast into the stars, muttering, “Useless trash. It tastes horrible.”
As if sensing the strange looks, Wang Xuanyi looked blankly at the silent crowd around him and asked in confusion, “What? I didn't waste any food.”
“...”
“It's nothing. Let's keep moving.”
Wen Sining massaged her temples in exasperation and began clearing the path ahead with Leng Ning'an and the others.
The Starry Heavenly Ladder had ninety-nine levels in total. Currently, the first echelon had been occupied by the ancient freaks and some of the geniuses of the current generation.
The second echelon consisted of the Golden Core Realm elders and some disciples with decent talent. Wang Xuanyi, Leng Ning'an, and the others were in this echelon.
Firstly, having Golden Core Realm elders clearing the way and slaying most of the demon beasts allowed them to preserve most of their strength. Secondly, they had to watch over Zhu Huai and Huo Huang.
Zhu Huai's talent actually surprised Wang Xuanyi slightly. It was better than that of most cultivators, faintly rivaling Leng Ning'an and the others.
This was a character never mentioned in the original novel.
As for Huo Huang, that little girl possessed the ancient phoenix bloodline but had not yet undergone Nirvana. Her talent could only be said to be slightly better than that of ordinary cultivators.
However, once she underwent Nirvana, her cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds.
In the original novel, it was precisely in the Ancient Immortal Realm that Huo Huang obtained a portion of the Ancient Phoenix Blood Pool. After absorbing it, she underwent a complete transformation, forging the Emperor Phoenix Body and opening her Phoenix Violet Palace, becoming one of the top figures of the current generation.
“It's so hard to walk!”
Huo Huang gritted her teeth. With every step, her body bent slightly, but she still persevered, the ancient bloodline inheritance within her body boiling as she did.
As for Long Aotian—ah, no, Long Zitian—he had already left the team to walk side by side with the ancient freaks.
In the words of the original novel, he was showing off.
Aside from Wenren Jing, Gongyi Lingren, and Lyu Wu, Long Zitian was also the only person from the entire Heavenly Martial Immortal Sect who could keep up with their pace.
However, that kid would look back at Wang Xuanyi from time to time, constantly on guard against him.
In his memories and the original novel, during the ascent of the Starry Heavenly Ladder, “Wang Xuanyi's” talent was inferior to Long Zitian's, so he resorted to underhanded tricks in secret.
Later, he was discovered by Xiao Hongye, who was outside, and was directly placed in solitary confinement for a year.
After coming out of confinement, Wang Xuanyi remained unrepentant and repeatedly tripped him up in the dark, causing him to completely lose the trust of Xiao Hongye and the others.
Later, he colluded with the demon sect and practiced evil arts.
Ultimately, during the Nine Provinces Martial Tournament, his cultivation was crippled by Long Zitian, and he was reduced to a stray dog on the street.
“Tch, do you think I'm an idiot? I can't be bothered to deal with you.”
Wang Xuanyi picked his nose, casually strolling behind the Golden Core Realm elders.
Seeing this, although Long Zitian was puzzled, he did not actively provoke him. After all, among the enemies he had encountered in his past life, Wang Xuanyi was the weakest.
There was no rush to deal with him now.
After all, who would care about the life or death of a bug?
Probably no one.
Outside.
The various immortal sects were extremely satisfied with their respective disciples. Especially the ancient geniuses—even though it was their first time entering the Ancient Immortal Realm, the talent and Dao Heart they displayed far exceeded those of the current generation.
Of course, this wasn't to say that the current generation's geniuses were bad.
They also highly acknowledged their respective disciples, but compared to the current generation, they simply favored the ancient geniuses more.
“Sect Master Shen, I hope you have been well.”
Murong Fu arrived from the distant bone gate. Having been delayed by the opening of the Ancient Immortal Realm earlier, he had only now located the Heavenly Martial Immortal Sect.
“Patriarch Murong, Madam Murong, long time no see. Please, take a seat.”
Shen Shi stood up and gestured.
The Murong family's influence in Yunzhou was second only to the immortal sects, making them stronger than most mid-tier sects. Naturally, Shen Shi was happy to build a good relationship with such people.
“Please!”
The two exchanged courtesies and sat down together.
“Father! Mother!”
The arrival of her parents made the little girl Murong Qing exceptionally happy. Pattering her short little legs, she lunged from Su Qian's arms straight into her mother's embrace.
Ruan Xia lovingly stroked her daughter's head, then bowed slightly toward Su Qian and Xiao Hongye, saying, “Senior Su Qian, Senior Xiao, Qing'er has caused you trouble.”
“It's no trouble at all. Qing'er is very lovable,” Su Qian said with a gentle smile, gesturing for Ruan Xia to sit beside her.
Xiao Hongye said indifferently, “It's fine.” She didn't say anything else after that.
Perhaps because ever since they took Qing'er in, Wang Xuanyi had been the one taking care of her most of the time, so Xiao Hongye felt she had no reason to accept their gratitude, which explained her somewhat cold attitude.
Ruan Xia smiled and chose to sit beside Su Qian. She then took out a silk handkerchief, wiped the crumbs from the corners of Qing'er's mouth, and asked softly, “Qing'er, have you been listening to your master and martial aunt?”
“Hmph!” The little girl had a proud, haughty look on her face. “Qing'er has been very good! Under Big Brother's feeding during this time, I'm already about to break through to the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Realm!”
“...”
Hearing this, Murong Fu, Shen Shi, and the others were taken aback. They looked at Xiao Hongye with strange expressions, somewhat puzzled by what Qing'er had said.
“I taught Qing'er the basic cultivation methods, but I was tied down by trivial matters during that period, so I had her practice alongside Ning'an and the others,” Xiao Hongye explained.
“Yes, yes!” Murong Qing chimed in.
Only then did the tightly knit brows of Murong Fu and Shen Shi relax quite a bit.
“Qing'er, did you find that big brother you always talk about?” Murong Fu inquired.
Ever since their daughter was kidnapped last time, Murong Fu and his wife had always wanted to personally visit and express their gratitude, but they were unfortunate and missed him.
Afterward, an unexpected situation arose in the Murong family. To prevent Qing'er from being caught up in the storm, Murong Fu and his wife had her join the Heavenly Martial Immortal Sect.
“I found him! Big Brother is super nice to me. Not only does he give me delicious food, drinks, and toys, but he also teaches me how to cultivate!”
At the mention of Wang Xuanyi, Murong Qing's eyes lit up.
“And, and! Qing'er was originally able to break through to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, but Big Brother said my spiritual root is quite unique and I must...”
“Accumulate steadily,” Su Qian reminded her.
“Yes, yes! Ac-cool-mulate steadily, that way it's good for future cultivation...”
Murong Qing was like a little chatterbox, her small mouth constantly babbling about how great Big Brother was, as if no one in the world had ever treated her so well except for him.
Ruan Xia lovingly listened to her daughter's endless praise.
Moreover, when Murong Fu and his wife looked at the food in their daughter's arms, they could sense wisps of pure Yang energy within it.
This was the perfect medicine to suppress the cold energy brought by her Yin Spiritual Root.
Evidently, their daughter had received a lot of care on a daily basis.
It seems our daughter has met a benefactor.
Seeing their daughter so happy, Murong Fu and his wife were in high spirits. They thought to themselves that once the affairs of the Murong family were settled, they must personally pay a visit to express their gratitude.
Otherwise, they would be failing both their daughter and their benefactor.
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