Taiyi Realm, Southern Region.
For the past few days, the Azure Cloud Sect had been brimming with joy and excitement.
Even those elders who had been in seclusion for years had emerged from their cave abodes, eyes bright with anticipation.
The Azure Cloud Sect’s millennial disciple selection ceremony was about to begin!
“I wonder how talented this batch of disciples will be?
I heard the Purple Qi Sect recently recruited a disciple with an Immortal Spirit Root.
Their prestige has been unstoppable lately.” “I heard that too, but apparently that disciple is only nominally with the Purple Qi Sect.
Their true background is from some other realm’s prodigy.” “Hmph, the Purple Qi Sect only migrated to our Taiyi Realm a few thousand years ago.
Their foundation is shallow, and all they know are these petty tricks!” “Watch your tongue!
That’s a great sect from the Boundless Realm.
Their ancestors once produced an Immortal…” “So what?
Even so, they’re still not…” The sect elders stood in the ancestral hall, discussing among themselves.
But in the next instant, all of them fell silent at the same time, looking toward a figure walking into the hall.
The figure was graceful and poised, her expression cold and aloof, radiating an icy authority that kept everyone at arm’s length.
Each step she took seemed to tread upon the veins of heaven and earth, natural and otherworldly.
She alone appeared to be the center of this world.
She was none other than the Azure Cloud Sect Master, the Tribulation Transcendence Tianzun – Yun Yao!
The elders watched reverently as Yun Yao entered the ancestral hall, not one daring to speak.
But what was strange was that in the vast Azure Cloud Sect ancestral hall, only one memorial tablet was enshrined – the tablet of their revered master, Sword Venerable Cangming!
The elders knew very little about this Sword Venerable Cangming, only that he was the Sect Master’s master.
The Sect Master had never spoken much about him.
As for why there was only one tablet – the Azure Cloud Sect had only existed for tens of thousands of years, and Sect Master Yun Yao was its founder.
Over tens of thousands of years, Yun Yao had built the Azure Cloud Sect from nothing into a first-rate power in the Southern Region of the Taiyi Realm.
Her contribution was immeasurable.
This was why all the elders respected Yun Yao.
Not entirely because of her Tribulation Transcendence cultivation – the strongest below Immortal level.
Swish!
Yun Yao waved her hand, producing three sticks of incense.
She lit them and bowed deeply before Sword Venerable Cangming’s tablet, her movements meticulous.
Everyone followed in silent reverence.
“Master…” Yun Yao rose, placing the incense before the tablet.
She gazed at it softly, a look of reminiscence in her eyes.
Sword Venerable Cangming – the sword dao paramount of hundreds of thousands of years ago.
His talent in the sword dao was unprecedented and unmatched.
An Immortal had once declared: “Of all the sword dao in the world, Sword Venerable Cangming alone claims eight parts!” But when Sword Venerable Cangming heard this, he said: “Of all the sword dao in the world, I claim thirteen parts.
The world owes me three!” “If heaven does not give birth to me, Cangming, the sword dao will be an eternal night!” Such domineering words, yet none dared refute them.
This statement had even offended the Immortal who made the declaration.
But afterward, that Immortal had only smiled and shaken his head, never pursuing the matter.
One could say that in that era, Sword Venerable Cangming was a mountain upon which all sword cultivators’ aspirations rested – crushing them all into submission.
Yet such a genius of the sword had fallen beneath the Immortal Tribulation.
A generation’s genius, lost forever.
Countless mourned.
Heaven envied the talented.
Time passed.
The seas changed into fields.
In today’s cultivation world, Sword Venerable Cangming’s name had long been buried in the sands of time, never mentioned.
Perhaps only a few ancient forces still held scattered records of him.
“Master… did you truly fall?” Yun Yao gazed at the tablet.
Even after hundreds of thousands of years, she still couldn’t believe it.
At first, she too had believed her master perished in the Immortal Tribulation.
But after she herself passed the tribulation, she realized… This matter was absolutely not so simple!
A tribulation she could pass – how could her master fail to pass it?
“Though Master’s talent was heaven-shaking and the tribulation far surpassed ordinary imagination, with Master’s abilities, it’s impossible he would fall to the tribulation.” “There must be hidden truths I don’t know about!” Yun Yao’s eyes flashed cold.
Back then, though her master had few enemies, many envied his talent.
Those who didn’t want him to pass the tribulation were everywhere.
Any of them could have interfered.
So all these years, Yun Yao had never stopped investigating what happened back then.
And her investigation had indeed uncovered something.
“The Boundless Realm…” Yun Yao’s killing intent surfaced momentarily, but she quickly concealed it, not letting the elders in the hall notice anything amiss.
She looked at the tablet again, her gaze resolute, thinking to herself: “Master, rest assured.
I will obtain justice for you regarding what happened back then.” “Those forces that schemed against you – I won’t let a single one go!” “But Master… did you really fall?” Yun Yao still couldn’t believe her master was dead.
Deep in her heart, she still clung to a sliver of hope.
Perhaps her master hadn’t died that year.
Perhaps he had been forced to hide his identity for some reason, or had encountered some accident?
So all these years, besides investigating the past, she had also been secretly searching for Sword Venerable Cangming.
But she had found no trace of him.
“Sect Master?” Suddenly, an elder’s call pulled Yun Yao back to the present.
She snapped out of it, her expression returning to its cold aloofness.
She addressed everyone calmly.
“The memorial is complete.
We may proceed to the disciple selection ceremony.” “Yes, Sect Master!” The elders cupped their hands in respect and filed out of the hall, chatting and laughing.
The atmosphere moments ago had been solemn – none of them dared speak carelessly.
But this wasn’t the first time, and everyone was used to it.
Yun Yao watched them go, a trace of expectation in her eyes.
She had founded the Azure Cloud Sect because she hoped her master’s sword dao would be passed down.
Once she went to the Boundless Realm to settle the old score, the resulting upheaval would be enormous.
The Azure Cloud Sect had to be properly arranged beforehand.
She couldn’t let her master’s legacy die out.
At the same moment, at the foot of the Azure Cloud Sect’s mountain gate.
Zhang Xuan stepped through the gate, watching the crowds ahead with a confident smile.
“Azure Cloud Sect, I’m here!”