Stepping onto the square outside the hall, he drew a deep breath and shot upward, reverting to his true form in an instant.
It was a grey-brown giant ape over ten zhang tall, as massive as a small hill!
"Roar—!"
A roar of suppressed excitement rumbled through Yaochi Immortal Palace, shaking the spirit mist into rolling waves.
With a single step the ground quivered; his figure blasted skyward like a cannonball, piercing the clouds as he streaked toward the first coordinate Gu Han had given him—
the direction of Feiyun Sect!
How terrifying was the full-speed travel of a Late Stage Mahayana Yao King?
He seemed to shrink the land with every stride, leaping across rivers and mountains!
In the time it took to finish a cup of tea, Fu Shan's mountain-like primordial form loomed above Feiyun Sect's gate.
Feiyun Sect lay amid an unbroken chain of mountains; its main Peak towered into the clouds, pavilions and halls half-hidden in swirling mist.
The mountain-guarding Formation shimmered with soft flowing light, giving the place an air of true immortal elegance.
Yet now the Sect was thick with unease and panic.
Immortal Master Yunhe's life tablet had shattered; the upper echelons were in an uproar, urgently debating counter-measures while the grand Formation had been raised to its highest alert.
"What is that?!"
"The… the sky's gone dark!"
"A Yao… a Yao Beast! A colossal Yao Beast!"
"Enemy attack! Activate the Formation! Notify the Elders and the Old Ancestor!"
When Fu Shan's vast body blotted out nearly half the sky above Feiyun Sect, the entire Sect plunged into utter chaos.
Alarm bells rang; the Formation's light-curtain flared as countless Disciples fled in terror.
Some low-level Cultivators were so overwhelmed by the crushing pressure they collapsed on the spot.
Fu Shan gazed down at the Sect below—everyone on edge, scrambling in disorder—and contempt flickered in his huge bronze eyes.
"Hmph."
Two thick jets of white mist burst from his nostrils like twin hurricanes that battered the mountain-gate and shook the protective light-curtain violently.
Slowly he raised his pillar-like right arm and clenched the fingers into a fist.
No flashy Divine Ability, no Spiritual Qi—just the simplest, gentlest punch.
He brought that fist down lightly on Feiyun Sect's grand Formation—said to withstand the full strike of a Spirit Transformation Cultivator.
To Fu Shan, this truly was a "light" punch.
He had used less than ten percent of his strength.
But to everyone in Feiyun Sect, the blow felt like the sky collapsing and stars crashing down!
Boom—!!!!!!!!
An indescribable thunderclap exploded.
Heaven and earth lost their color; sun and moon were blotted out.
The solid light-curtain of the grand Formation, fragile as an eggshell, shattered the instant the fist touched it.
A spider-web of cracks raced across it before it burst apart completely, dissolving into a skyful of drifting sparks.
The residual force of the punch skimmed past the edge of the main Peak.
It didn't land squarely, yet the terrifying pressure and that glancing brush—
Crack! Rumble!
A nearby mountain, a hundred zhang tall, instantly crumbled, fractured, and turned to dust!
A mushroom cloud of dust billowed skyward.
The earth quaked; the entire Feiyun mountain range trembled.
Though the main Peak itself wasn't struck head-on, it shook violently, great fissures ripping across its slopes.
Palaces toppled; countless Cultivators coughed blood and were flung through the air as if doomsday had come.
One punch—merely a light punch!
The grand Formation was broken; a mountain was obliterated!
Fu Shan withdrew his fist and blew away nonexistent dust, his voice resounding like a great bell across Feiyun Sect:
"Hear me, Feiyun Sect!"
"I am Fu Shan, Elder of the Inspection Hall of Yaochi Immortal Palace!"
"Your Sect has shown disrespect and offended the majesty of my Immortal Palace—this is a minor punishment as a stern warning."
"If you dare the slightest further move or plot behind our backs…"
His huge eyes flashed murderously as he swept the deathly silent, ashen-faced crowd below.
He could especially sense the several Soul Transformation auras hidden in the depths, now quivering in terror.
"Next time I come, I won't merely topple a mountain."
With that, he ignored the tomb-like silence and the countless gazes of despair and dread.
He wheeled about and tore through the air toward his next target—Qingshan Sect!
Only when Fu Shan's terrifying figure vanished beyond the distant horizon
did Feiyun Sect gradually echo with weeping, screams, and disbelieving shouts of those who had survived.
The Sect's Old Ancestor, an old man at the Peak of Soul Transformation, staggered from his secluded Immortal Cave, his face white as paper.
Gazing at the ruined gate and the vanished mountain, feeling the lingering Yao power that made his very Soul shudder—"Mahayana… Yao King… Yaochi… Immortal Palace…"
the Elder muttered, then suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and shrieked hoarsely at the equally pale Elders around him:
"Transmit the order! Seal the mountain! Close the Sect! No Disciple may set foot outside—immediately! At once!"
...And prepare a gift for Qingyang City at once! Hurry!!
A similar scene soon unfolded above the gates of Qingshan Sect.
This time, however, Fu Shan chose a different method.
He stretched out two fingers and, as if plucking a pebble, uprooted Qingshan Sect's black tower.
Then, in front of every Qingshan Sect Cultivator, he kneaded it into a ball like clay and casually tossed it into a distant ravine.
Once again he left behind the name and warning of the Elder of the Inspection Hall of Yaochi Immortal Palace—Fu Shan.
As Fu Shan swaggered contentedly back toward Yaochi Immortal Palace,
news that the Tianjue Mountain Range's Mahayana Yao Beast King had razed the gates of Feiyun Sect and Qingshan Sect while issuing a forceful warning, and that he spoke of the Yaochi Immortal Palace,
swept across the Great Yan Dynasty like a category-twelve hurricane, ten—no, a hundred—times faster and fiercer than the Qingyang City incident, and surged into the rest of the Southern Region!
This time, no one dared question the depth and might of Yaochi Immortal Palace!
If it could subjugate a Mahayana Yao Beast from the Wan Jue Mountain Range as an Elder, what level of existence must its Palace Master and Vice Palace Master be?
A reclusive great Sect! A supreme Dao lineage! Absolutely not to be provoked!
Countless powers paled at the news, placing Yaochi Immortal Palace at the very top of their absolutely-must-not-offend lists.
At the same time, even more curious, reverent—even covetous—gazes turned toward Qingyang City.
Toward the ongoing Spiritual Root testing that might alter the fate of countless individuals.
In an incomparably domineering fashion, Yaochi Immortal Palace had branded its name onto the power map of the Southern Region!
Its first revealed might had already sent tremors through every quarter!
Within the Main Hall of the Immortal Palace,
Gu Han lifted her gaze to the sea of clouds beyond the hall, the smile at the corner of her mouth deepening.
[Ding! Evaluating completion of quest 'Thunderous Counterattack, First Display of Immortal Might'...]
[Evaluation complete: Perfect! Host's subordinate 'Fu Shan' exceeded the deterrence objective, his methods brimming with 'personal flair', results outstanding!]
[Feiyun Sect and Qingshan Sect have utterly lost the will to resist; associated Karma threat level dropped to 0.01%. Yaochi Immortal Palace's prestige in the Southern Region has soared!]
[Quest reward issued: Innate Spiritual Root—enlightenment tea tree! Stored in System warehouse; Host, please check.]
[Bonus reward: one handful of nine heavens breathing soil (usable to Cultivate the enlightenment tea tree).]
Not bad.
In an excellent mood, Gu Han stirred a single thought.
A small tree roughly three feet tall, emerald throughout, its leaves naturally patterned with Dao markings and exuding a hazy Dao-radiance,
along with a clod of soil shimmering with nine-colored light, appeared before her.
The enlightenment tea tree! nine heavens breathing soil!
Gazing at these two supreme treasures, Gu Han could already picture future Yaochi Immortal Palace Disciples breaking through beneath the tea tree, their cultivation leaping a thousand li in a day.
System, place the enlightenment tea tree together with the nine heavens breathing soil at the spot where Spiritual Qi and dao rhyme converge most intensely within Yaochi Immortal Palace.
[Order received! Scanning for optimal placement... locking on to Yaochi Lake's central isle... fusing nine heavens breathing soil... planting enlightenment tea tree... infusing Innate Dao-charm...]
As the System worked, on the central isle of Yaochi Lake—already thick with Spiritual Qi and rich dao rhyme—
the soil quietly transformed into nine heavens breathing soil glimmering with nine-colored light.
The enlightenment tea tree took root, its branches and leaves unfurling.
In an instant, a mysteriously profound enlightenment aura gently spread outward, centered on the isle.
The Spiritual Qi of the immortal grade spirit vein interwove with the dao rhyme of the enlightenment tea tree, imperceptibly elevating the entire Dao-realm of Yaochi Immortal Palace by another notch!
Everyone Cultivating within the palace—Li Hanyi, Yun Miaoyi, Ink Scale, Butterfly Dance, Gu Luoli, A Yao—all felt their minds clear at this moment, their spiritual platforms clearer than ever before; many cultivation bottlenecks even showed faint signs of loosening!
This is...
On Snow Moon Peak, Li Hanyi sheathed her sword and looked toward the lake isle, a trace of surprise flashing in her cool eyes.
How wondrous! It can actually aid enlightenment!
Inside the Pill Pavilion, Yun Miaoyi set down her brush in delight, savoring the sensation.
Heh, the Palace Master's brought in another good thing!
Just back and shifting into human form, ready to report to Gu Han, Fu Shan grinned as he sensed the aura.
Gu Han stood in the Main Hall, her Divine Sense feeling the palace's dao rhyme environment quietly elevated by the enlightenment tea tree.
Thinking of the steadily progressing recruitment in Qingyang City and the inevitable storm now raging outside,
she knew that the great ship of Yaochi Immortal Palace had officially set sail.
Storms might still lie ahead, but the view from the Peak was already within reach.
Next...
it's time to plan the future of the Immortal Palace properly.
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