Chapter 1045: This is a Semi-Saint Status, Gifted to You, Wishing You to be Canonized Soon

Inside a dilapidated hall within the ancient city's architectural zone, Ye Xiaotian emerged, covered in dust and grime. He saw the long-unseen light of the outside world, and a relieved smile spread across his face.

"A maze?" he thought. "What kind of joke is this? Do they really think my spatial attribute is just for show? Can a maze really trap me?" But then...

Thinking about the time he spent trapped in the maze, and how every turn brought him face-to-face with a giant Void Servant, Ye Xiaotian still felt a lingering fear.

After obtaining Ah Jie on Solitary Sound Cliff, he had originally planned to conclude his journey in the Cloudsoar Mountains and return to the Sky Mulberry Spirit Palace to assist Qiao Qianzhi with experiments.

However, plans never keep up with changes. His encounter in the deep sea hadn't managed to exhaust him, a Spatial-Attribute Spirit Refiner, but the maze-like hall on Void Island, with its relentless pursuit by Void Servants, had nearly claimed his life.

Turning back, he clearly saw the plaque above the hall's entrance, and a look of realization crossed his face.

"Sin Hall One..." "As expected of the first of Void Island's nine ultimate danger zones!" "It's a good place, but unfortunately, without Void Crystals, I can't exchange for treasures, and I almost lost my life here instead." "I'm never coming to this damned place again!"

Ye Xiaotian didn't want to recall the painful experiences he had endured inside the hall.

All he wanted now was to wander around Void Island. Once he could leave this wretched place, he would quickly return to the Sky Mulberry Spirit Palace.

Others craved the Saint-Sealing Dao Foundation, but he disdained it. With his spatial profoundness perfected, Ye Xiaotian had already carved out his own unique path.

Currently, he was still some time away from reaching the Grand Void realm, and becoming a Half-Saint was even more of a distant dream. But once he achieved Grand Void with his spatial profoundness, who in the world could be his adversary? At that point, acquiring the Half-Saint's position would be a mere formality.

In this vast world, which force wouldn't cherish a prodigy like Ye Xiaotian, who had mastered spatial profoundness?

"It's time to relax..." Ye Xiaotian flipped his hand, and a spatial profoundness array pattern unfurled beneath his feet.

Since arriving at Void Island, as a master of space, he hadn't even had the chance to properly observe the place. Now that he finally had time, Ye Xiaotian felt it would be a disservice to his lifetime of cultivation achievements if he didn't, from a god's-eye view, secretly... *ahem*, observe the people and things here.

"Swish, swish, swish." With a sweep of his hand through the void, numerous spatial mirrors appeared before him, reflecting figures who were either disheveled, joyful, or desperate.

Outside a forest that looked ancient, a swordsman with white hair and an ethereal appearance, carrying two wooden swords, looked around before strolling into the woods, fanning himself with a paper fan.

"A bit familiar..." "Where have I seen this person before?" Ye Xiaotian mused, but after a moment of thought, he realized he hadn't seen this individual on Solitary Sound Cliff. Perhaps they had fallen into the deep sea later.

With another sweep of his hand, the mirror switched to the next scene.

Still outside an ancient forest, a black-clad, eyebrow-less master walked slowly forward, a look of vigilance on his face.

Ye Xiaotian watched with equal caution, because the scene showed not only people but also rhythmic, massive booming sounds.

"Mu Lin?" "Another forest?" "How did everyone end up in the forest area? Was I the only unlucky one to end up in Sin Hall One?" "And that booming sound... there was a bit of it in the previous scene too. Are they in the same place? That booming sound..." Ye Xiaotian bared his teeth. "It's very explosive, very Xu Xiaoshou-like!"

Without further observation, he swept his hand again, and the scene changed.

It was still the ancient dense forest, but this time, as the spatial mirror flipped, the figure inside stopped running and even looked up at the sky.

Their gaze seemed to pierce through space, seeing Ye Xiaotian who was secretly observing!

"Close!" Ye Xiaotian's hand trembled, and he immediately shut down that scene.

Damn it... A Half-Saint! A Half-Saint was on Void Island now?

"Good thing I was quick and closed it in time, otherwise it would have been a disaster!" "Cloud attribute? Cloudsoar Mountains... could it be that person?" Ye Xiaotian pondered deeply, but the more he thought, the more terrified he became. He didn't dare to think further.

"What's going on?" "Everyone's heading towards the forest... Is that the Forest of Miracles?" Ye Xiaotian frowned.

Three consecutive scenes were related to the forest and all contained booming sounds. He had to suspect this wasn't a coincidence, but an inevitability.

He swiped his hand again.

This time, Ye Xiaotian saw the source of the booming sound. A shirtless man was running, clutching a head-sized fruit, with a three-hundred-zhang black Void Servant in pursuit.

"Heh." Ye Xiaotian chuckled. That big man was also quite unlucky.

However, this unlucky fellow was a bit fortunate; only one Void Servant was chasing him in the Forest of Miracles. Sin Hall One... Ye Xiaotian glanced back at the grand hall, exhaling deeply to calm his rapidly pounding heart.

He didn't want to experience the feeling of 'meeting love around every corner' again. Sin Hall One was truly no place for humans; if he hadn't possessed spatial profoundness, he wouldn't have been able to emerge alive.

A Half-Saint? Even a Half-Saint with weaker escape abilities might have met their end beneath the feet of those countless Void Servants!

As he thought this, Ye Xiaotian swiped his hand again, and the spatial mirror switched scenes.

The next second, his face stiffened, as if frozen by space itself. It took him a while to recover.

"I think I know why everyone's rushing to the Forest of Miracles..." Ye Xiaotian whispered to himself, as a red light flashed in his arms and the iron ball, Ah Jie, popped its head out.

"Mama..." On the screen, above a massive medicinal garden, a figure was struggling to open a spatial channel, attempting to swallow everything... it was Xu Xiaoshou!

"It really is you!" "I knew it would be you!" "Wherever there's trouble, there you are. Are you the eye of the storm, kid?"

Ye Xiaotian shook his head with a sigh, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Soon, his gaze shifted from Xu Xiaoshou to the medicinal garden.

Through the spatial screen, the spiritual herbs in the garden appeared tiny, and he couldn't smell any fragrance. For a moment, Ye Xiaotian couldn't discern their grade.

His mind flashed back to the shirtless man holding a head-sized fruit and the Void Servant chasing him. Now, connecting that to Xu Xiaoshou's rampant harvesting in the Shennong Medicinal Garden...

"No way?" Ye Xiaotian's mouth fell open. He wanted to zoom in on the screen to see what exactly was going on in that medicinal garden.

Just then, the next spatial mirror displayed an even more terrifying booming sound than that from the Forest of Miracles.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom..." "Which explosive genius is this now?" Ye Xiaotian was baffled. He immediately swiped his hand, and the next scene he saw was an endless black hole.

"What in the world?" "Who has the power to turn space black on Void Island?"

Suddenly, the screen flickered, and a giant stone foot stomped out, startling Ye Xiaotian.

In his fright, Ye Xiaotian only then realized it was due to the foot's immense size and overwhelming impact, not that it had actually stepped out of the spatial mirror into his presence.

But... "That fleeting glimpse of a corner of the grand hall just now, why does it seem familiar?" Ye Xiaotian frowned in thought, and his thoughts quickly froze.

Wait! The grand hall? He turned his head and saw Sin Hall One behind him.

Turning again, he distantly glimpsed the sky diagonally ahead, which had turned black—remarkably similar to the endless black hole in the last mirror scene!

"No way?" Ye Xiaotian's eyes instantly widened.

Before he could even think, a cold gleam appeared in the darkness, followed by a spear thrust, like a dragon emerging. Xiao Kongtong, wielding the Demonic God's Great Spear, crashed into the entrance of Sin Hall One with a boom, then leaped down from above, gasping for breath.

"A person?" Seeing a stunned white-haired Daoist child in front of him, Xiao Kongtong's expression froze. All information about this person flashed through his mind.

Ye Xiaotian, Dean of the Sky Mulberry Spirit Palace's Inner Court, spatial attribute, former Saint Palace disciple, close friend of the Saint Servant's second-in-command, Wu Xiu, and someone who had interacted with his master, Ba Zun'an. He had lost an arm in the battle at the Sky Mulberry Spirit Palace.

"Ye Xiaotian?" Xiao Kongtong adjusted his attire, ignoring the darkness in the sky behind him, and asked calmly.

Ye Xiaotian: ??? "No, no, not again! Why is it you again!?" "Are you Ba Zun'an?"

He scrutinized the disheveled man, who possessed Ba Zun'an's characteristics: a scar on his neck and only eight fingers. Yet, from his dusty and worn appearance, Ye Xiaotian gravely doubted the authenticity of his identity.

Ba Zun'an, how could he be in such a sorry state? As this thought crossed his mind, Ye Xiaotian nodded blankly, then his heart immediately sank again.

"What do you mean, 'you again'?!" He was suddenly speechless.

Didn't they say that Spirit Refiners who mastered profoundness would live a life of luxury and comfort? Ye Xiaotian, despite having perfected his spatial profoundness, hadn't yet truly enjoyed the pleasures supposedly experienced by Yu Lingdi, the Water-Attribute Profoundness Master.

Instead, he had tasted every hardship Yu Lingdi had never endured! Before he even emerged into prominence, he had his arm severed by this guy at the Sky Mulberry Spirit Palace. After perfecting his spatial profoundness and making his debut, his first battle in the Cloudsoar Mountains ended in disaster, as he was utterly tormented by Huang Quan, who possessed spatial-temporal attributes. Thankfully, Xu Xiaoshou appeared and rescued him from his predicament, only for him to then enter Void Island and be relentlessly pursued by a large group of Void Servants in Sin Hall One. And now, having just escaped, he was being targeted by Ba Zun'an again?

What was meant by a life fraught with misfortune? This was a life fraught with misfortune!

"What do you mean?" As Ye Xiaotian thought about all this, his face darkened.

He had made up his mind: for now, he would avoid encountering these monstrosities. If anything felt off, he would immediately use spatial teleportation to leave. With the world so vast, couldn't he find a more normal Grand Void realm expert to pick on?

"There's not much time, so I'll be brief." Xiao Kongtong didn't offer further explanations about his identity. He merely glanced back at the darkness behind him, sensing that the stone giants were about to catch up again, and spoke directly:

"Ye Xiaotian, you're Wu Xiu's friend. After the battle at the Sky Mulberry Spirit Palace, we can be considered to have become acquainted through conflict. So, quickly, you can be considered my friend..."

Ye Xiaotian: ??? "Why does this sound increasingly wrong the more I listen?" The spatial profoundness array pattern under his feet spun, and Ye Xiaotian felt an urge to leave.

"Wait." Xiao Kongtong reached out to stop him, saying seriously, "Dean Ye, my junior from the Saint Servants, Xu Xiaoshou, probably caused a lot of trouble at your Sky Mulberry Spirit Palace previously. Thanks to your assistance, he was able to grow to this point. Please allow me to express my gratitude first... Thank you!" He bowed.

Ye Xiaotian paused. His first reaction was, "Oh my god, someone finally understands me." His second reaction was dumbfoundedness: "Is this Ba Zun'an? Is this something Ba Zun'an would say? You're not right!"

"If you have something to... What exactly do you want to say?" Ye Xiaotian forcibly suppressed his temper. He tried his best not to provoke this person; the pain of his severed arm was etched in his memory.

"As a token of my gratitude, I'd like to give you a treasure." Xiao Kongtong straightened up, patted the Demonic God's Great Spear beside him, and was about to speak, intending to ask the Spatial-Attribute Spirit Refiner before him to help divert some of the incoming fire.

"Not interested." Ye Xiaotian's gaze swept over it, and he flatly refused, his body simultaneously turning translucent.

"No! Wait!" Xiao Kongtong immediately panicked. He had finally found someone to share the burden of firepower; Ye Xiaotian couldn't run away now!

He grabbed Ye Xiaotian again, thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Dean Ye, I presume your spatial profoundness is now perfected?"

Ye Xiaotian stopped again, his mouth twitching slightly. "Just say what you want to say! Get it out!"

Xiao Kongtong didn't care in the slightest about the other party's disrespectful tone towards his master. He chuckled:

"With your spatial profoundness perfected, the next step must be sealing sainthood." "As a thank you for nurturing Xu Xiaoshou, I want to give you a treasure. It may be a small gift, but it carries deep sentiment, so please don't refuse."

As he spoke, he produced a crystal gem. Under Ye Xiaotian's stunned gaze, he calmly said, "This is a Half-Saint's position. It's for you. I wish you an early sealing of sainthood."

*Thud.* The words had barely left his lips, giving Ye Xiaotian no time to refuse, when Xiao Kongtong slapped the hot potato into his hands.

He wasn't like Shuang Dai or Hong Dang, who would pick something up and then be unable to let go.

For this very item, three to four hundred stone giants had chased him from the Slumbering Valley, across hundreds of thousands of miles, all the way to Sin Hall One. Void Island was only so big. Xiao Kongtong was tired of running and didn't want to run anymore.

Primarily, 'Spatial-Temporal Leap' was a trump card for killing others, but he was using it to flee... not only was it ridiculous, but it consumed too much energy, and he was quickly reaching his limit.

But to casually discard a Half-Saint's position... Impossible! A Half-Saint's position was no mere trifle; it couldn't simply be tossed onto the street.

So, finding someone who could run even faster than him, and who was also a half-kindred spirit, it was only natural for Xiao Kongtong to give the item away.

He also believed that Ye Xiaotian would think the same way he did. After taking the Half-Saint's position, the other party would soon discover it was a hot potato, but they wouldn't just throw it away. Instead, they would frantically run with the treasure.

Because, truly, it couldn't be randomly tossed away! As for whose hands it would ultimately fall into, or whether Ye Xiaotian could escape and enjoy the Half-Saint's position... it didn't matter. Xiao Kongtong had no interest in pursuing it further.

He only knew that if he didn't hand over the Half-Saint's position, he would surely meet his end on Void Island!

His master likely didn't lack this item. What he was losing now would be repaid in another way later, and that was all.

Ye Xiaotian, holding the crystal gem: ??? "What did you say? This... is a Half-Saint's position?" He was truly frightened.

This thing... Was he dreaming? So what was the situation now... Had his luck finally turned? Had his life, fraught with misfortune, finally received a blessing from the heavens, meaning he no longer needed to toil in cultivation?

"Ye Xiaotian, take care." Xiao Kongtong cast one last reluctant glance at the crystal gem, patted the Demonic God's Great Spear, and transformed himself to leave, utterly unfeeling.

Alright. Now only the Demonic God's Great Spear remained to be given away. As long as he found someone else to draw fire, he could transition from the front lines to behind the scenes— *that* was what being "Ba Zun'an" truly meant!

As Xiao Kongtong thought this, he suddenly felt like a treasure-distributing boy.

Others, upon finding opportunities on Void Island, desperately hid them. He, however, was desperately giving them away...

But the problem was, if he didn't give them away, he would die!

Watching the 'Ba Zun'an' who had arrived and departed so swiftly, Ye Xiaotian once again wondered if he was dreaming. How could this day have been so surreal?

He patted his face, and after forcing himself to calm down, he carefully examined the crystal gem in his hand.

"A Saint Force Core..." "It seems to originate from the same source as the 'Half-Saint's position' I encountered at the Saint Palace before. It doesn't appear to be fake..."

Ye Xiaotian was dumbfounded. He was both ecstatic and terrified.

Such a treasure, given away for free by a 'stranger' whom he barely knew, just after meeting him in Sin Hall One? This was a Half-Saint's position! Not an apple!

Clutching the crystal gem, Ye Xiaotian pinched his thigh hard again.

"Hiss!" "So painful! It's not a dream!"

He finally turned all his doubts into joy, realizing he had truly been hit by a gift from the heavens.

His delight, however, lasted only a second.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom..." Suddenly, the distant sky shattered. Countless giant stone feet stepped out of space, pulling three to four hundred stone giants, several times taller than the Void Servants inside Sin Hall One, to the hall's entrance.

*Clang.* Ye Xiaotian looked up, then his hand trembled, and the Half-Saint's position fell to the ground.

He gazed at the chaotic scene before him, feeling as if his world had turned dark. Suddenly, his whole body began to convulse violently, then he was consumed by rage, his white hair standing on end.

"Ba Zun'an, you son of a bitch, take this damn thing back!" "Take it back!"