Chapter 1745: People of the Time Do Not Recognize the Lingyun Wood, Only When It Reaches Taixu Do They Begin to Call It Lofty

"Look!"

"It's the final stage!"

"Shao Ye's Nine Deaths Thunder Tribulation is about to end, and he will ascend to the Taixu realm, becoming the strongest Taixu in the history of spirit refining!"

"I wonder what Shao Ye's 'Taixu Power' will be..."

"It must be 'Jianqi', I think so, given he practices the ancient art of Jian and is a born Jian type. It's perfectly understandable for his Taixu Power to have a Jian attribute."

"Sword Qi? But the path of spirit refining and the ancient way of the sword really don't intersect!"

"Oh no no no, my friend, you misunderstood me. Not that 'Jianqi,' but that kind of 'Jianqi,' you know what I mean?"

Under the gaze of all, Shao Ye, who was undergoing the Nine Deaths Thunder Tribulation of the Divine Remains in the Dead Sea, finally reached the end of his ordeal.

He completed the Nine Deaths Thunder Tribulation in one go.

In the past, that would have been a major event capable of shaking the Five Regions.

This meant that another peerless Taixu would be born, with terrifying combat strength. While they might not be able to withstand a Semi-Saint level attack, crushing fellow Taixu practitioners would be simple.

Shao Ye...

Heh, no one thought he wouldn't be able to complete the Nine Deaths Thunder Tribulation in one go.

This was a fierce beast who, when he began the path of severing, slaughtered Saints like chickens and regarded Emperors as mere dogs. He was too wild to be understood by conventional reasoning.

As the last bolt of thunder struck, a burst of light emanated from Shao Ye in the Transmission Mirror.

In fact, his thunder tribulation looked terrifying in scale and power, yet it didn't seem to cause him much harm.

Others would be incredibly disheveled after surviving their tribulation.

Shao Ye, after enduring the entire duration of the Nine Deaths Thunder Tribulation, appeared even more refreshed. The more he was abused, the more spirited he became!

"Here it comes!"

As his Qi Sea surged and Dao Yun manifested horizontally.

Everyone watched as Shao Ye rose from the Dead Sea, his hands raised in the air, his demeanor exquisite.

Not long after, a sound of a bottleneck cracking came from his Dantian, as if he had broken free from some restraint.

Spiritual energy vibrated through the Dead Sea, shaking even heaven and earth.

"Om!"

Profound Dao Yun ripples condensed and were about to transform into something...

Taixu Power!

Everyone knew it could only be Taixu Power!

With that tremor, Shao Ye should have already gained his own Taixu World, which was actually useless.

Consciousness communication within the Taixu World couldn't compare to Shao Ye's Way of Intent.

While the Taixu World was an evolution of the realm, it couldn't compare to Shao Ye's spatial profoundness.

The power a spirit refining Taixu could wield, Xu Xiaoshou on the path of severing had already completely surpassed. But Taixu Power was different.

This might grant new combat methods, and for some, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for transformation, something highly sought after.

However, Shao Ye...

"Whoosh!"

The Taixu Power hadn't fully condensed yet.

Everyone hadn't even had time to clearly discern what attribute or type of Taixu Power it was.

The Dao Yun retracted.

The Taixu Power seemed to have been swallowed by Shao Ye.

Crucially, after Shao Ye completely devoured it without letting anyone see, a look of bewilderment appeared on his face, as if he didn't know who had stolen his Taixu Power.

"Don't!"

Wails rose from the spectators in the Five Regions.

They were too curious; who wouldn't be curious about Shao Ye's new form of power?

This kind of thing, just like innate elemental power, was a milestone leap at different stages of the spirit refining path, a unique blessing from the Saint Ancestor.

If one didn't refine spirits but cultivated ancient sword arts or ancient martial arts... they wouldn't get such good things!

"Taixu Power, eaten by Shao Ye, not even showing it to us?" Feng Zhongzui's voice became somewhat muddled.

They heard that Shao Ye used to be quite reserved, but ever since returning from Void Island after slaying Rao Jiansheng, he had become extremely arrogant.

His wildness had been completely unleashed.

Judging from his recent performances, if he had obtained some incredible Taixu Power, he would surely announce it to the world immediately.

Not only that, the thing he would most likely do would be to parade his Taixu Power, which should blind the people of the Five Regions, around the eighteen levels of the Dead Sea eighty-eight times.

But the reality was, he didn't.

"Why?"

"Why?"

This was a good question.

After enduring the final lightning bolt and completely breaking through the shackles of his cultivation, he felt his Qi Sea surging, undergoing a mad transformation.

The power rose in layers, not only lifting him into the air but also making Xu Xiaoshou feel so comfortable he almost moaned aloud.

He managed to hold back.

Even though Saint Power, Ancestor Source Power, and Thorough Divine Sense, when breaking through to Taixu, showed a mutual pull and a faint tendency to merge, bringing various changes that seemed to reveal a new path.

Even though once the Taixu realm was broken, the passive skill "Conversion" activated, along with Endless Life, Full of Vigor, and the Breathing Technique, all went full throttle, almost instantly pushing his realm to the peak of Taixu.

Even though he felt he didn't need the Semi-Saint rank, that with just a thought, he could fuse these seemingly endless powers and completely break through the shackles of "mortal" to reach the "Saint" level.

Xu Xiaoshou held back all these impulses, or non-impulses.

The passive system devoured the Taixu Power in one second—just like it swallowed innate elemental power and Grandmaster Dao Yun.

This point, Xu Xiaoshou almost couldn't hold back!

He almost roared aloud!

But this was a breakthrough before the Five Regions, under the Transmission Mirror, so he couldn't shout.

"Others don't matter, Dao Qiongcang might really deduce that I have a system. He's not human at all..."

Xu Xiaoshou could only show speechlessness.

He used a self-deceptive method to convey a sense that he was maintaining mystery for better confrontation with Ai Cangsheng later.

"Why?"

But in reality, he himself still didn't understand why.

He originally thought that when he broke through to the King Seat Dao realm, the passive system didn't devour the realm, meaning it had changed its nature.

It turned out it was waiting for him here.

Was it waiting to devour something bigger?

To this day, Xu Xiaoshou was no longer the frog in the well he once was. He began to seriously ponder this question from multiple dimensions:

"The passive system should be harmless..."

All this way, the system had provided immense help. It could be said that without it, he wouldn't be where he was today.

Compared to the geniuses of the Ten Seats, Xu Xiaoshou profoundly understood that he was using a cheat.

Of course, perhaps they also had their own cheats...

That didn't matter!

Since he had to set aside danger to think about the problem, Xu Xiaoshou was willing to interpret the act of "eating" from a positive perspective.

"Why does it eat?"

"If it's not harming me, it's naturally helping me."

"If it's helping, why does it manifest in a way that seems to express malice?"

Xu Xiaoshou thought long and hard and realized a fundamental difference between himself and spirit refiners:

"I am not a spirit refiner."

Yes, normal spirit refiners, when breaking through to Innate, gain innate elemental power.

This was a blessing from the Saint Ancestor.

From then on, they officially embarked on the path of cultivation. If fortunate enough to cultivate to the Saint Emperor level, they might even become the next Saint Ancestor...

Could they?

Upon reaching this thought, Xu Xiaoshou's answer was that it might not be possible.

If it were possible, Ba Zunan wouldn't have made him give up the Semi-Saint rank to become a Saint, because taking on the Semi-Saint rank was like putting shackles on oneself.

Perhaps one could break free, but it would become much harder.

When he couldn't decide whether to proceed or not, the passive system actively judged and stripped away the innate elemental power.

He became attribute-less.

Later, he found out that attribute-less was actually all attributes.

In fact, calling it "all attributes" wasn't accurate, because later, Xu Xiaoshou realized this was just the terminology of the Way of Spirit Refining and the Way of the Saint Ancestor.

Looking back from his current perspective, he knew that the Ancestor of Arts didn't cultivate the Saint Ancestor's path of spirit refining; He cultivated arts to become an Ancestor.

Yet, His arts also included basic attributes like metal, wood, water, fire, earth, light, dark, wind, thunder, and ice.

"It's helping me."

"The passive system helped me strip away the Saint Ancestor's 'blessing,' or rather, 'imprint.'"

"When I was about to gain another 'imprint,' it came out to strip it away again. Was that during the Grandmaster stage?"

"When I was about to get another 'imprint,' which is the Taixu Power, it came out to strip it away again?"

Previously, Xu Xiaoshou only thought the system needed to upgrade, so it needed to consume some things.

When passive points were insufficient, it would consume his attribute power and Grandmaster Dao Yun.

When passive points were sufficient, it would consume passive points and not those other things.

Now he found that it didn't seem to be the case.

If one views it not as a "blessing" but as an "imprint," from the perspective of the passive system...

"If it's helping me."

"Is the Saint Ancestor a bad Ancestor?"

This seems to contradict the Way of Spirit Refining, the current Spirit Refining World, and the understanding of countless spirit refiners in the Spirit Refining World?

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

Was Elder Sang's "Prison" theory so potent in its after-effects? Did he see this even when he was in the Tiansang Spirit Palace?

If he truly started from this perspective, he could understand the passive system devouring "innate elemental power" and "Taixu Power."

Devouring "Grandmaster Dao Yun"?

Why?

Just to make him play the pig to eat the tiger?

"No, this understanding is too superficial!"

Everything has its own logic. Xu Xiaoshou pondered deeply and gained some insight, "Grandmasters touch the Dao, King Seats comprehend the Dao...

If, at the moment of touching the Dao, what spirit refiners can touch is entirely the "Dao" that the Saint Ancestor wants them to understand, given freedom within limitations?

If the passive system is helping him by devouring those embellished Grand Ways, is what he sees the whole picture?

"But 'Dao' is something that everyone understands differently..." Xu Xiaoshou frowned.

He couldn't even find someone to verify if the Dao they touched as a Grandmaster was consistent with his own.

Consistency would be abnormal.

Inconsistency would be normal!

In other words...

"An open scheme?"

There was no answer.

Perhaps it was from spending too much time with Dao Qiongcang.

Xu Xiaoshou felt he had become a bit paranoid too.

He only looked down at his feet; the path was beneath him. If the path ahead was a mist or an abyss, he could only walk forward steadfastly.

As for the existence of the passive system, why it helped him, what it ultimately wanted, or if it was like Kong Yuhen, something he couldn't comprehend at all...

The unknown could only deter the weak.

The strong feared no great terrors of life and death.

Thinking of the hospital room from his past life, Xu Xiaoshou waved his hand, and his vision suddenly cleared:

"I've already profited immensely!"

Giving up was certainly shameful, but also quite useful.

Giving up thinking was also useful, as it allowed one to completely let go of anxiety. Kong Yuhen truly was my teacher!

Xu Xiaoshou quickly reverted to his carefree self.

"Taixu Peak!"

Although he didn't know if the path he was cultivating was truly the spirit refining path.

But the peak of Taixu, a realm once seemingly unattainable, had now been reached, at least in terms of energy standards.

There were no major changes.

His Qi Sea was wider, and his spiritual energy was more abundant.

Much, much more, but compared to his various Saint Emperor level abilities, it was truly insignificant.

The path of endurance would still belong to Wuliang Jizi in the future!

But the meaning was different.

One step above the peak of Taixu was Semi-Saint.

For outsiders, Semi-Saint was a single realm, but for the Ten Seats, it was merely a stepping stone, and even more so for him.

One could charge to Semi-Saint with a rank.

One could also charge to Saint Emperor with a rank, and whether the realm was high or not only depended on the solidity of one's foundation.

After that, if one used an Ancestor God's destiny, one could be deified and proclaimed an Ancestor—as long as no accidents occurred, as long as the comprehension of the Grand Way was sufficient!

So, theoretically speaking...

Xu Xiaoshou knew that having reached the peak of Taixu, if he were to charge forward next, he could achieve Ancestor God level in one go.

Even if he currently didn't have spare Semi-Saint ranks or Saint Emperor ranks, these were easy to find.

The Saint God Continent was teeming with Semi-Saints.

Feng Yujin was also in his hands.

And the Ancestor God's destiny was securely tucked in his pocket, serving as a fallback.

Even if all else failed...

If this path was wrong, and he ascended to Semi-Saint by mistake, at least the passive system would evolve?

At that time, skill levels might increase from "Saint Emperor Lv.0" to "Ancestor God," or "Ancestor God Lv.0."

At the peak of Taixu, Xu Xiaoshou knew that the gap between himself and Ba Zunan was actually...

Shouldn't be that big, right?

Ba Zunan cultivates the sword, and I cultivate the sword.

Ba Zunan doesn't refine spirits, but I do.

Ba Zunan is a cripple with eight fingers, I am physically complete.

Everyone fears Ba Zunan, why not ask Ba Zunan if he fears me?

"Heh, little, little Ba, how laughable."

"Next time I face him, I'll just casually dominate him!"

The expenditure of passive points was abruptly interrupted by the Taixu breakthrough. Once his realm stabilized, Xu Xiaoshou returned to his thoughts.

He was the King of Talk.

In reality, he truly knew that even with his cheat, he might not be able to contend with Ba Zunan in ancient sword arts alone.

Leaving aside other things, what Ba Zunan wrote thirty years ago, he still found to be a treasure when reading it now.

The geniuses of this world should not be underestimated!

"Then let's just keep cheating, it's not like I ever thought of stopping."

With all passive skills and First and Second Awakenings maxed out, and over sixty million passive points remaining, Xu Xiaoshou didn't even know how to spend them.

He quickly set his sights on the Dao Cultivation Field.

Or rather, he set his sights on something he had thought about before but hadn't dared to do: the Transcendence of Ancient Sword Arts!

"Ba Zunan, even if you're like a ghost..."

"Uh, 'like a ghost' seems to be Dao Qiongcang. Anyway, what if my Sword Dao Plate reaches 90?"

His Sword Dao Plate was currently at 80, but this was a large plate. Each point increase cost ten Dao Cultivation Seeds, which meant one million passive points.

But to reach Transcendence, it would only cost a mere ten million in total.

A small matter!

Xu Xiaoshou was pondering whether to do it or not.

Being in the Saint God Continent and breaking through in the Divine Remains felt entirely different.

In fact, when he first sensed the "Grotesque Trick," Xu Xiaoshou vaguely felt an uncomfortable sensation, as if someone in the White Cave was thinking of him, which was actually the profound energy of the Cosmos Spirit Drop.

He had long surpassed the Cosmos Spirit Drop of that time, and even Dao Qiongcang and Han Gong Shengdi couldn't bring him such an ominous premonition.

So, only one answer remained:

Ancestor God!

"Is it Cui Yin?"

"Is He watching me?"

"Grotesque Trick is indeed similar to 'art.' It's not unreasonable for Him to target me, but I've fought Him, and I know His state is poor. He shouldn't provoke me in a short time..."

"But besides Him, who else?"

"Is it the Medicine Ancestor that Xiangrikui said was still alive, or the Saint Ancestor whom the passive system is suspected of stripping imprints from?"

"These two, just by their titles, sound like good Ancestors?"

Xu Xiaoshou still had no answer.

He finally understood why, at the level of Ba Zunan and Kong Yuhen, answers were so hard to find.

Even one answer could make the Water Ghost willingly act as a son.

Because every action was a gamble!

Because there was no one to refer to on the path ahead; they were the pioneers, the first batch of people!

The only conclusion Xu Xiaoshou could draw was that he had entered into some kind of "attention," starting at the Ancestor God level.

His subsequent actions, whether to "do" or "not do," didn't depend on his subjective will. Too many factors influenced this.

"Is the Sword Ancestor dead?"

"Is the Sword Ancestor a good Ancestor?"

Transcendence of the Body, Spirit, and Mind Dao Plates in the Divine Remains — looking back now, he was truly foolish but fortunate, so lucky!

Cui Yin might have noticed him at that time.

But Cui Yin had been stunned by Overlord's strike. His biggest enemy wasn't himself at all, but the Ten Seats who had undergone various Transcendences.

It was Shen Yi.

It was Dao Qiongcang.

He was just a little rookie, utterly insignificant.

But precisely because Cui Yin was recuperating in the Divine Remains, living Ancestor Gods outside wouldn't pay attention.

As a result, in such a complex situation, his path of Transcendence for the Body, Spirit, and Mind Dao Plates actually turned out to be correct!

"But now..."

Xu Xiaoshou vaguely had a premonition, a sudden impulse, a clear self-guidance originating from his Transcendent Will Dao Plate:

If he were to transcend another Dao, and he lost the isolation of the Divine Remains, and also lost Cui Yin's "protection."

At that time, what might greet him might not just be attention, but a face-to-face "contact" with an Ancestor God!

"Transcendence can lead to contact with Ancestor Gods?"

"Who did Dao Qiongcang contact? Why is he so firm that his Grand Way is feasible?"

"Has Kong Yuhen contacted the Time Ancestor? He only has space and time, so he could only contact the Time Ancestor, right?"

"What about Ba Zunan?"

He currently had three Dao Plates at 80, all frequently used: the Sword Dao Plate, the Life Dao Plate, and the Space Dao Plate.

Among the three, Xu Xiaoshou only thought the Sword Dao Plate might be feasible.

He had originally wanted to upgrade the Life Dao Plate first, as it was very much a passive skill, guaranteeing his vitality.

The appearance of Xiangrikui and Kong Yuhen, and the mention of the Medicine Ancestor Shennong Baicao still being alive, stunned Xu Xiaoshou.

This didn't seem to be baseless?

Hesitate means don't upgrade, at least not first, Xu Xiaoshou felt.

He was even more afraid of the Space Dao Plate.

If Kong Yuhen became like this because he met the Time Ancestor every time he transcended space or time, and was then scared.

Xu Xiaoshou seriously suspected that the Time Ancestor's influence might be too terrifying, to the extent that Kong Yuhen fragmented into many generations, unable to break free.

"But the Sword Dao Plate is different..."

Ba Zunan must have transcended ancient sword arts, without a doubt; he was too strong.

And compared to Xiangrikui and Kong Yuhen, he was too normal.

He only had two fingers cut off, and it wasn't done by an Ancestor God, but by Hua Changdeng.

His existence proved that if one had the talent for ancient sword arts and the conditions, one could achieve Transcendence.

At least after transcending, one's mental state, though beautiful, would not mutate.

This was the most important thing!

"In other words, if I recklessly upgrade the Sword Dao Plate, and if my intuition is right, there's a high probability I'll meet the Sword Ancestor..."

"Even if it's just a wisp of His will, He is the Sword Ancestor, the Sword God Gu Louying!"

Xu Xiaoshou's heart grew excited.

"Upon meeting Him, if He's normal, I'll confirm the situations of the Medicine Ancestor and Time Ancestor with Him, then decide whether to recklessly upgrade the Life Dao Plate and Space Dao Plate based on the situation."

"If the Saint Ancestor He speaks of is also good, I can even recklessly upgrade a Fire Dao Plate. That's very spirit refining; at least I can show off to Elder Sang..."

So the questions returned to the most fundamental two:

"Can I meet the Sword Ancestor?"

"Is the Sword Ancestor good?"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly had an impulse to leave the Dead Sea and ask Ba Zunan first.

But he quickly stopped himself.

If it were before fighting Bei Huai and the Saint Emperor Qilin, or before fighting Dao Qiongcang in Qingyuan Mountain, he would have done so.

But not anymore.

His identity was different now.

It wasn't that he had become so powerful, transforming from Xu Xiaoshou to Shao Ye.

It was that the information people at their level could access, and what they subjectively defined as "good" and "bad"...

When applied to himself, the answer might not remain the same.

The people he wanted to meet, the answers he sought, if he had the ability, he would go and find them himself.

"Am I a chess piece?"

Xu Xiaoshou asked himself.

He believed he was no longer one.

"Am I a chess player?"

Xu Xiaoshou asked himself again.

He believed he might not yet be worthy of the highest-level chess player identity, but at least he had the ability to manipulate and see through the chessboard.

"Do I still need to ask others?"

This time, Xu Xiaoshou had the answer without needing to ask himself.

Without hesitation, he started exchanging Dao Cultivation Seeds, exchanging a hundred at once, planting all the unwavering determination of an ancient sword cultivator into his Dao Cultivation Field.

People of the time did not recognize the cloud-piercing wood, until it soared above the clouds did they say it was high.

If I am not yet standing high, who in this world dares to say they reside very high?