Chapter 2087: Breakthrough to the False God's Core

Zhang Xuan was utterly shocked.

When Wu Chen was taken away by Palace Master Du, he was only at the peak of Ancient Sage 3-dan, still some distance from 4-dan. He never expected that in such a short time, not only had Wu Chen regained his body, but he had also broken through to the Pseudo-God realm in one go! It seemed that Palace Master Du had not been perfunctory; she had truly fulfilled Zhang Xuan's request and even exceeded expectations.

"Have you been following Palace Master Du all this time?" Zhang Xuan asked. Due to the different flow of time in the two worlds, Wu Chen hadn't arrived in the Firmament much earlier than Zhang Xuan himself.

"Yes!" Wu Chen suppressed his aura, appearing like an ordinary young boy from a distance. "A few days ago, upon hearing that Young Master had become the Sect Leader of the Lingyun Sword Pavilion, Palace Master Du took me to look for you..."

"You went looking for me?" Zhang Xuan was momentarily stunned. Wu Chen then explained the previous events in detail. After listening, Zhang Xuan gave a wry smile.

At the time, he had no idea that Du Qingyuan was the "deity" Wu Chen had summoned, so it was naturally impossible for him to just wait around. Zhang Xuan asked, "Since you've been with Palace Master Du all this time, do you know... anything about Luo Ruoxi?" If anyone in the Firmament knew Luo Ruoxi well, it would surely be the person standing before him. During their time on the Master Teacher Continent, Wu Chen was her attendant, and it was his summoning that allowed Luo Ruoxi to successfully descend to that world.

"Miss... she has returned to the God Realm!" After a moment of thought, Wu Chen said, "She is a Spirit God from the God Realm. Having obtained what she sought, it was natural for her to return to her original world!"

"According to what I know, she was injured when she came to the Firmament..."

"The realm barriers between the God Realm, the Firmament, and the Master Teacher Continent are extremely sturdy. Even as a Spirit God, she couldn't break through them freely. She could only descend by relying on sacrifices and summoning from the lower realms!" Wu Chen explained, "At that time, Palace Master Du and I — one in the Firmament and one on the Master Teacher Continent — summoned her together. That's how she descended. However... the spatial barriers were still too powerful, causing her to suffer severe injuries! The divine blood that allowed me to advance came from her scattering of it!"

Zhang Xuan fell silent. When Great Shark had explained the circumstances of a deity's descent in detail, Zhang Xuan had already guessed this possibility, but hearing it now still pained him somewhat.

"Do you know... what her purpose was in going to the Master Teacher Continent?" With his current strength, he couldn't even return to the Master Teacher Continent, let alone continuously traverse two realm barriers! The difficulty was immense. It couldn't be that she expended so much effort and suffered such severe injuries just to meet him and fall in love, could it?

"It should have been for the Spring and Autumn Codex!" Wu Chen replied.

"While the Spring and Autumn Codex is powerful, it shouldn't be much for a Spirit God..." Zhang Xuan frowned. He had seen the Spring and Autumn Codex with his own eyes. On the Master Teacher Continent, it was indeed a supreme treasure, irreplaceable. But in the Firmament, it wasn't considered top-tier, let alone in the so-called God Realm! To be able to traverse two major realms, suffering only severe injuries but not death, Luo Ruoxi's strength was clearly immense. For someone of such cultivation to go after a treasure that wasn't exceptionally strong... He couldn't comprehend it.

"I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, but I once asked, and Miss said that there's someone she wants to deal with, who is very powerful. She needed this treasure to understand them more deeply!" Wu Chen recalled.

Zhang Xuan frowned. The Spring and Autumn Codex involved the laws and mysteries of time and space. Could it be that Luo Ruoxi's enemy specialized in spatial-temporal laws?

"I'm not qualified to know such mysteries concerning Spirit Gods..." Wu Chen said.

"Then do you know... how to contact Luo Ruoxi?"

"Palace Master Du can use the unique altar of the Starry Pursuit Palace to offer sacrifices to the God Realm and communicate with it. However... it requires a vast amount of sacrificial items, and I'm not certain if we can actually reach Miss," Wu Chen explained.

"Sacrifice, altar..." Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed. He hadn't understood before why the God Temple would seize the Starry Pursuit Palace's altar, even resorting to outright hostility. It turned out it involved communicating with the God Realm! The Abandoned Continent had been forsaken by the deities. The God Temple was situated there precisely to prevent its inhabitants from communicating with the God Realm. Merely transmitting messages might have been tolerated, but directly summoning a deity down would undoubtedly violate a taboo. Perhaps that was why they resorted to such unscrupulous means.

"By the way... can the God Temple communicate with the God Realm?" Zhang Xuan asked. Since the God Temple was stationed there, perhaps it could also communicate with the God Realm, or even... directly enter it!

Wu Chen shook his head. The God Temple was extremely mysterious, always elusive. Except for the once-in-a-century opening of the Tongtian Bridge, it generally ignored the six major sects. Therefore, even though the Starry Pursuit Palace had been established for thousands of years, they still knew little about the God Temple. The other sects were in the same situation.

He asked a few more questions, but Wu Chen hadn't been there long and didn't know much more. "Stay behind me. The Tongtian Bridge is about to open. If nothing goes wrong, you'll find answers to what you want to know here!" After asking everything he wanted to know, and realizing that Wu Chen, like himself, knew nothing about Luo Ruoxi's identity and status in the God Realm, Zhang Xuan stopped pressing the matter. The God Temple was constantly seeking opportunities to capture him, though their exact purpose remained unclear. However, with the Tongtian Bridge opening and the six major sects gathered, whatever their objective was would surely be revealed now! Otherwise, once he broke through to the Pseudo-God realm, not to mention the God Temple, even the heavens themselves wouldn't be able to confine him! At that point, it wouldn't be them besieging him, but rather him seeking trouble with the God Temple!

Understanding the immense importance of strength, he once again immersed his consciousness in the Library of Heaven's Path, entering the room formed by the Spring and Autumn Codex to deduce.

Half a day later, the three prodigies from Lingyun Sword Pavilion, Seven Star Tower, and Myriad Beast Gate who were participating in the competition arrived before him. All were at the peak of Immortal King, none exceeding a hundred years old.

Elder Hong Wu from Seven Star Tower was notably among them. "Sect Leader, why have you called for us?" As they approached, the other two, besides Elder Hong Wu, looked at the young man with strange expressions. Although they already knew this young man was the Sect Leader of the four sects, they still felt considerable resentment.

"I'll give you ten breaths of time. Whether you cooperate or use other methods, if you can make me retreat half a step, it means you have a chance to defeat the God Temple warriors at the Tongtian Bridge this time!" With his hands clasped behind his back, Zhang Xuan said.

"Retreat half a step?" "Is that true?" The three's eyes lit up simultaneously. With comparable strength among them, even if the Sect Leader had exceptional knowledge of martial arts and swordsmanship, it shouldn't be difficult for the three of them to jointly force him to retreat within ten breaths.

"Precisely!" Zhang Xuan looked at them. "However, if you can't make me retreat half a step, or even withstand a single move from me... then before the Tongtian Bridge opens, you will cultivate exactly as I instruct, without any excuses!" These three, like him, were qualified to enter the Tongtian Bridge, but he didn't want their strength to be too weak, making them unhelpful and a liability. To make them obey completely, there was only one way: to utterly impress them with his strength! Only then would they willingly follow his orders and arrangements, preventing any mistakes.

"Don't worry, if the three of us combined cannot withstand the Sect Leader, we will naturally obey your commands without any further argument!" Originally, they all had a chance to become sect leaders, but now that opportunity had fallen entirely upon this young man. Anyone in their shoes would be simmering with resentment.

*Boom!* As soon as his words ended, the three attacked simultaneously. Elder Hong Wu's palm swirled, unleashing a supreme martial technique that pressed down upon them. The prodigy from Lingyun Sword Pavilion's sword gleamed menacingly, executing his most powerful sword art from the outset. As for the one from Myriad Beast Gate, he directly summoned his beast companions: two twin black tiger beasts, both at the peak of Immortal King level!

Standing motionless, Zhang Xuan simply smiled. While these three were indeed strong among average Immortal King peak experts, there was a significant gap when compared to God Temple warriors of the same level. He had already dealt with many of the latter; how could these three possibly contend? Without drawing his sword, he merely extended his fingers and gently swept them. The three felt as if they had fallen into an boundless desert, unable to escape. The next moment, he lightly pressed down. *Clatter!* Swords clattered to the ground, martial techniques shattered, and the two immortal beasts whimpered... The three prodigies simultaneously collapsed, utterly devoid of any power to resist.

"So strong?" Their lips trembled in disbelief. They had assumed the new Sect Leader, even if stronger than them, wouldn't be overwhelmingly so. Only after truly engaging him did they realize how terrifying he was! With such strength, even the previous Pseudo-God realm Sect Leader of their own sect might not have been able to contend with him!

"Are you willing to concede?" Zhang Xuan smiled, having defeated all three in one move.

"We concede!" The three were no longer arrogant, completely awed.

"These are cultivation techniques I created specifically for your individual cultivation methods. If you cultivate according to these, your battle power will significantly increase within three days. Feel free to ask if you have any questions!" With a flick of his wrist, he produced three jade tokens. He tapped them lightly, and three streams of consciousness entered the tokens.

The three skeptically took the jade tokens. After reading their contents, they were utterly stunned into silence.

"Go!" Ignoring their excitement, Zhang Xuan's mind remained immersed in how to advance to the Pseudo-God realm.

Throughout the history of the Firmament, countless experts had attempted to break through to the Pseudo-God realm, leaving behind a wealth of valuable experiences and ideas. Unfortunately, unless one entered the Tongtian Bridge, the chances of success were simply too low. "It's likely similar to breaking through to Ancient Sage on the Master Teacher Continent; the Firmament lacks something essential for advancement!" After finishing these books, Zhang Xuan already had an answer in his mind. It wasn't that the predecessors lacked talent. Rather, the Firmament, like the Master Teacher Continent back then, lacked the very thing that allowed one to advance to Pseudo-God. The so-called struggle for the "God" character was likely a scramble for this very item, which cultivators could then use to break through the final barrier. This was precisely why the Transcendent God Hall could produce Pseudo-Gods even without entering the Tongtian Bridge, while it was much harder for others, even within the Lingyun Sword Pavilion.