At the same time, the news that Xiao Ya had been tested with "Nine-Star" potential and was about to become a Core Disciple of the Yaochi Immortal Palace...
...spread to the capital of the Great Yan Dynasty like it had grown wings, traveling faster than any news before it.
Inside the Imperial Study, when the Shadow Guard presented this precise intelligence...
Xiao Yunsheng was stunned for a moment before suddenly standing up from his Dragon throne, his face filled with irrepressible ecstasy!
"Nine-Star... a Core Disciple! Good! Good! Ya'er truly did not disappoint me!"
He repeated the word "good" several times as he paced back and forth in the hall, his excitement palpable.
This was not just about his daughter's talent being recognized.
The status of a "Core Disciple" meant that Xiao Ya's position in the Yaochi Immortal Palace would be extraordinary, and her Master would be at least at the Elder level.
Recalling how a Mahayana Stage demon king had visited the Feiyun Sect and Qingshan Sect under the banner of the Yaochi Immortal Palace just a day ago... since his daughter was now a Core Disciple, what Realm would her future Master be in?
Soul Transformation? Fusion? Or Mahayana? Or perhaps... As his thoughts raced, Xiao Yunsheng suppressed his excitement and walked quickly toward the "Hidden Dragon Abyss" in the deepest, most secluded part of the palace.
The Hidden Dragon Abyss was located several zhang underground; it was a secret chamber that tapped into the earth's ley lines, making the Spiritual Qi several times denser than outside.
At this moment, the heavy stone door was tightly shut, with runes flowing across its surface, isolating the interior from the world.
Xiao Yunsheng reached the stone door, took out a specially made jade talisman, pressed it against the door, and then stood respectfully to the side, using a secret technique to transmit his voice inside:
"Father, Yunsheng has an important matter to report, one that concerns the fate of Great Yan."
The runes on the stone door lit up slightly before fading.
A moment later, the heavy stone door slid inward silently, revealing a simple, cramped secret chamber.
An elderly man with a lean face, dressed in a simple gray robe, sat cross-legged on a futon in the center.
He was the previous emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty, the current Retired Emperor, and a powerful Soul Transformation Peak Cultivator—Supreme Emperor.
"What has happened? Why such urgency?"
Supreme Emperor's voice was calm, yet it carried an invisible pressure.
Xiao Yunsheng stepped into the secret chamber and closed the stone door behind him, sealing them off.
He then stepped forward quickly, bowed deeply, and recounted everything that had happened in Qingyang City over the past few days.
He reported in exhaustive detail how Xiao Ya had just been tested with "Nine-Star" potential and was set to become a Core Disciple of the Yaochi Immortal Palace.
When Supreme Emperor heard the words "Immortal Palace," he froze as if petrified, remaining silent for a long time.
On his face, which was pale from years of secluded cultivation and etched with the furrows of time, a look of extreme shock appeared, followed by a deep sense of unease.
"Yaochi... Immortal Palace?"
He repeated in a low, dry voice, as if every word weighed ten thousand catties.
"Ya'er... she actually got involved with such a Sect? And as a Core Disciple?"
"It is absolutely true, Father!"
Xiao Yunsheng could not hide his excitement as he recounted everything that happened in Qingyang City, especially the fates of the Feiyun Sect and the Qingshan Sect.
"That Fushan Ape King is one of the Three Great Demon Kings of the Wan Jue Mountain Range, a genuine Mahayana Stage demon king! Yet, he was subdued by the Yaochi Immortal Palace."
"Father, think about it. To be able to subdue such a demon king, what Realm must the Palace Master, Vice Palace Master, and other Elders of the Yaochi Immortal Palace be in?"
"Ya'er is a Core Disciple; she will surely be taken in as a student by one of those Elders. This is truly a blessing from the heavens for our Great Yan!"
Supreme Emperor, however, seemed not to have fully heard his son's subsequent words; his thoughts had already drifted back to the extremely distant past.
He thought of a legend his father had told him when he was a child.
"Yunsheng..."
Supreme Emperor's voice was distant and desolate.
"Today, I will tell you a story... one that I also heard from my father when I was young."
Xiao Yunsheng was slightly taken aback; he reined in his excitement and said respectfully:
"Please enlighten me, Father."
"Legend has it that eight hundred thousand years ago, Cultivators on this continent who reached the ninth level of undergoing tribulation and passed the baptism of the Heavenly Tribulation could directly undergo Ascension!"
Complex emotions flickered in Supreme Emperor's eyes: yearning, awe, and deep confusion.
"Ascension? Where would they ascend to?"
Xiao Yunsheng asked subconsciously.
The talk of Ascension had long since become a myth, mostly considered a beautiful fantasy of the ancients regarding higher Realms.
"The Immortal Realm! Or rather, a higher-level world."
Supreme Emperor confirmed.
"In those days, the Laws of heaven and earth seemed more complete, and the path forward was not yet severed.
"Once the Undergoing Tribulation was successful, a Guiding Immortal Light would descend, helping the Cultivator shed their mortal coil and condense a true Immortal Body, ascending to a world with more perfect rules.
"And that place was the Holy Land that all practitioners dreamed of."
"Then later... why did it become like this?"
Xiao Yunsheng's breathing quickened slightly; he seemed to be touching the edge of some earth-shattering secret.
Supreme Emperor remained silent for a moment, as if organizing the fragmented pieces of his memory.
"It is said that several hundred thousand years ago, a cataclysm occurred that affected the entire Canglan Continent."
"Some say that supreme experts fought, and the aftershocks severed the 'immortal path' leading to the Upper Realm.
"Others say that an unknowable catastrophe occurred in the Upper Realm, causing it to close the Ascension passage itself.
"There is even a more secretive theory..."
Supreme Emperor lowered his voice even further, carrying a hint of unspeakable chill.
"...that the so-called 'Immortal Realm' might not have... existed at all.
"That the so-called Ascension was perhaps just an entrance to a dangerous 'world'."
"And that the 'immortal path' was actively'severed' or'sealed' by some unimaginable existence for a certain purpose."
Xiao Yunsheng felt a chill run down his spine.
"The Immortal Realm doesn't exist?"
"The immortal path was actively severed?"
This information overturned his previous understanding.
"After the immortal path was severed,"
Supreme Emperor continued,
"the Cultivators of this world were trapped at the Undergoing Tribulation Peak, their path forward cut off. Though their Lifespan lasted tens of thousands of years, it would eventually run out."
"Countless brilliant talents were unwilling to sink into oblivion like this, so they began to try and forcibly carve out a new path within this 'locked' world."
"They studied the remnants of the immortal Dao, analyzed the deepest mysteries of the world's Laws, and through the accumulation, trials, and even sacrifices of countless generations..."
"...finally, long after the immortal path was severed, a brand-new supreme Realm was 'carved out' or 'defined'."
He turned around and looked at Xiao Yunsheng with burning eyes:
"That is—the Ascension Realm!"
"Ascending... is not about becoming an immortal through Ascension, but rather about pushing one's cultivation, Divine Soul, and comprehension of the Dao within this world to a level infinitely close to the legendary 'Immortal'."
"A Cultivator in the Ascension Realm can have a Lifespan of up to a hundred thousand years; they possess the power to change the world with a simple gesture, their words becoming Law, making them nearly an Incarnation of this world's rules."
"They are the... 'Immortals of the Mortal Realm' born from the Canglan Continent itself after the immortal path was severed!"
Xiao Yunsheng was completely shocked.
He finally understood why the Ascension Realm was so rare and transcendent.
"It wasn't just a difference in power; it represented a supreme achievement of finding a new way in a desperate situation and acting in a Heaven-Defying manner!"
"But Father, what... what does this have to do with the Yaochi Immortal Palace?"
Xiao Yunsheng asked the most critical question.
"Yunsheng,"
Supreme Emperor looked at him with a complex gaze,
"do you know what the words 'Immortal Palace' signify?"
Xiao Yunsheng was stunned and shook his head blankly.
A bitter curve touched the corner of Supreme Emperor's mouth, containing endless awe and... worry.
"It is a... taboo."
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