For this, the Sect Leader even personally visited these seniors, asking them why they refused to undergo Tribulation Transcendence and break through.
So said they were impeded by a bottleneck; so said they were inadequately prepared. These two reasons he could still accept, as they were at least proper excuses.
But there were even so who said they feared failure during Tribulation, and dreaded the destruction of both body and spirit, so they were unwilling to transcend!
When the other party said this, the Sect Leader's fury erupted instantly, wanting to scold them loudly. But in the end, he said nothing, staggering away, his whole body exuding a deep sense of sorrow and grief—nothing is more despairing than a dead heart.
When did the Cave Abyss Sect beco so lifeless and devoid of vigor, to the point where even veteran Earth Immortals would utter such cowardice?
To ponder this question, he sat alone in the Sect Hall for a full day and night, yet still found no answer—or perhaps, deep down, he already knew.
But when he erged again, he seed to have aged greatly, looking all the more haggard and worn.
In truth, the issues facing the Cave Abyss Sect now are ones that afflict many top-tier powers. So can break through and reach a higher level.
Others cannot resolve them; perhaps for a long ti, they can maintain their strength and status, but in the end, decline is unavoidable!
This Sect Leader's deep anxiety ca partly from his overwhelming sense of duty and love for the sect—he could not bear to see the sect suffer decay.
Another reason was tied to the Li family in the neighboring province—seeing them develop so rapidly, while his own sect stagnated, anxiety inevitably grew in his heart.
...
In a remote corner of the starry sky, a sudden explosion echoed out.
Li Zhixuan erged sowhat disheveled from an asteroid. At the ti, she was gravely injured and had hidden within the asteroid to tend to her wounds.
Fortunately, her luck was good these past years—the asteroid drifted throughout the stars, never straying into warzones or getting caught in the aftermath, allowing her ample ti for healing.
After more than a hundred years of treatnt, the injury had yet to fully recover, but it no longer impeded her movent, so she thought to return to Mount Wanxian and continue healing at ho.
Orienting herself, Li Zhixuan set off without hesitation for the family estate.
After a period of swift flight, she returned to the family smoothly. She originally planned to enter her cave mansion for closed-door cultivation, but unexpectedly encountered Li Zhirui nearby.
"Jiu," she called.
"You've finally co back."
Although her Life Token remained unbroken, so many years had passed since the end of the great catastrophe without any sign of Li Zhixuan's return—he couldn't help but worry.
After all, she had entered the Immortal Demon Battlefield with the intent of resolving all her karma and then transcending beyond, which was why she participated so actively and willingly in that calamity.
Thus, she wouldn't be satisfied with killing just one Heavenly Immortal; there would surely be a second, a third, and even more!
No matter how powerful Li Zhixuan was, no matter how many battles she fought, she was not invincible. Inevitably she would encounter evenly matched opponents, and when that happened, escaping unhard would require paying a price.
As for Li Zhirui's appearance here now, it was not because he had waited for her on purpose; even if he'd been very worried, he would not have done such a thing, nor could he have divined her return. It was entirely by coincidence.
Afterward, the two entered Li Zhixuan's cave mansion, and Li Zhirui asked, "How did it go? Have you resolved your karma?"
"Almost," she replied.
If she'd killed just two or three more Earth Immortals back then, perhaps that karma could have been fully resolved. But she was already gravely wounded at that ti; forget about fighting, she could barely keep herself from fainting on the spot.
Thus, she could only regretfully leave a trace of rit unfulfilled, unable to succeed in one stroke.
Yet it wasn't much; Li Zhixuan could easily deal with it by other ans.
"Are you planning to begin your transcendence once your injuries are healed?" Li Zhirui asked imdiately.
"Yes."
Li Zhixuan didn't hesitate, nodding. "As for what little karma remains, I'll simply use rit to offset it."
She was already a little impatient. Ever since breaking through to Heavenly Immortal, she had not devoted herself to cultivation for any lengthy period, and her cultivation had not advanced in the least.
Once she transcended, she could cultivate directly amid the Void, striving for breakthroughs to even higher realms.
"Very well. When you're about to transcend, rember to let know," Li Zhirui suddenly reminded her.
"Of course! After all, Jiu, you'll eventually transcend as well." Li Zhixuan replied casually, not thinking much of it.
"In that case, I won't disturb you."
With that, he left behind several bottles of healing pills and took his leave.
Li Zhirui had originally planned to transcend soti soon, so now he should really begin preparation, yet he made no move.
This itself showed he was still hesitant deep down.
Back when Jiang Fengwu had yet to break through to Heavenly Immortal, he'd worried that once he transcended, the family would have only Li Mingyao as the sole Heavenly Immortal Divine to hold the fort.
Now that Li Zhixuan had returned, she could be the first to try. He could observe and learn from her experiences and lessons.
anwhile, in the cave mansion of the family's other Heavenly Immortal cultivator—
"Ancestor Fengwu, the family has a request of you." As soon as Jiang Fengwu erged from closed-door cultivation, Li Xiuyuan rushed over to visit her.
"What is it?" In fact, she had already guessed what the family wanted of her.
With mighty figures like Li Zhirui and Li Zhixuan around, tasks like killing enemies or seeking vengeance would not co to her, so only the Mount Wanxian defenses were left.
"We ask Ancestor to set up a Heavenly Immortal-level grand mountain-guarding formation for the family."
As he spoke, he bowed deeply to Jiang Fengwu.
"This is not a difficult matter."
Long ago, she had prepared all sorts of materials for expanding the mountain-guarding formation.
Thus, all she needed was to follow through, consu vast spiritual resources, and in the end, she'd be able to establish a Heavenly Immortal-level mountain-guarding formation.
"Then we'll leave this to you, Ancestor!"
Li Xiuyuan gripped a token representing the family's resources, saying, "If Ancestor needs any spiritual materials, you can use this token to obtain them from the storehouse directly."
"No need for that!" Even Jiang Fengwu herself was startled by this, not expecting the family to be so generous.
Such a significant decision could not have been made by Li Xiuyuan alone.
"There's no need to decline, Ancestor—I just hope you can finish upgrading the mountain-guarding formation as quickly as possible."
Since he'd put it this way, she wouldn't refuse further.
Once he left, Jiang Fengwu went into seclusion to deduce the formation array.
In truth, she already had a perfect plan for upgrading the formation, but back then her realm was insufficient—many areas were lacking, not fully considered, and she could not bring the formation to the Heavenly Immortal level perfectly.
So she spent several decades reviewing the plan in detail. After ensuring there were no issues, she summoned all the formation masters of the family to assist her in perfecting the array.
Given such a pri learning opportunity, none would refuse. All participated eagerly.
And Jiang Fengwu was not one to be polite; with the authority granted by Li Xiuyuan, she would certainly make use of it to strengthen the formation and upgrade it to Heavenly Immortal grade as soon as possible.
So she drew plentiful rare spiritual resources from the family stores, especially astral materials, using all of them to perfect and upgrade the formation.
Jiang Fengwu's actions actually sparked so discontent among the clan—so felt she was abusing her power for personal gain.
But Li Xiuyuan squashed all these complaints. If anyone went too far, he'd have them arrested and held temporarily in the dungeon.
So elders felt he was making a mountain out of a molehill; the clan mbers were rely voicing a few complaints and didn't deserve imprisonnt.
When Li Xiuyuan heard such words, he only considered them shortsighted—unable to perceive the family's broader future.
Li Zhirui and Li Zhixuan, the two ancestors—one had already set a clear ti for transcendence, possibly within the next century, and the other seed recently more moved by the idea, not as before when it was only a fleeting thought.
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