***
Had the Sect of Joy not always belonged to the demonic path?
Xu Xing arrived before a bookshelf and reached out to take down a volume titled *A New Edition of General World History*.
Saint Emperor Yuan had first emerged and revealed his talent one thousand years ago, at which time his cultivation realm was already no lower than that of the sect masters of the various great immortal sects.
In a mere span of two hundred years, his realm had advanced at a lightning-fast pace, reaching a level comparable to the Grand Elders of the immortal sects.
Following that, Saint Emperor Yuan joined forces with several great orthodox sects that ranked just below the major immortal sects to push forward a transformation of the era.
They enlightened the minds of the people and disseminated immortal methods.
Countless mortals who had previously lacked the opportunity and wandered outside the path of immortality thus embarked upon the journey of cultivation.
The number of practitioners in the world also experienced an explosive surge in growth.
Furthermore, under the guidance of Saint Emperor Yuan and the group of great orthodox sects, the rapid increase in practitioners did not lead to any riots or chaos.
The social structure of the entire world gradually underwent a transformation during this process.
After five hundred years had passed, the social structure of the Taixuan World's Central Continent finally evolved into the current model.
The Seven Great Immortal Sects and the Orthodox Alliance jointly governed the world.
However, there was one point that was quite strange; during this entire process, for reasons unknown, the various major immortal sects and the demonic path had actually stood by and watched with cold eyes, never interfering in the matter.
Saint Emperor Yuan, who had played the most vital role in this series of events, had also mysteriously vanished fifty years ago, with not even a shred of news surfacing since then.
Some suspected that the culprit behind this was one of the old ancestors from either the Seven Great Immortal Sects or the demonic path.
Regarding such rumors, neither the major immortal sects nor the demonic path had ever offered an explanation, and the matter eventually ended with nothing being resolved.
Xu Xing closed the book and placed it back onto the shelf.
The contents of this *A New Edition of General World History*, and indeed all the books on this floor of the library, were not particularly complete.
They contained a large amount of speculation and imagination, meaning there was actually very little content that could be used as a reliable reference.
For instance, there was absolutely no content regarding how Saint Emperor Yuan had persuaded those great orthodox sects or why the Sect of Joy had become an orthodox immortal sect.
Moreover, the records concerning the personal life of Saint Emperor Yuan were extremely sparse.
However, the latter was understandable, as the vast majority of practitioners would try their best to hide their origins once their cultivation realm reached a certain level.
"Saint Emperor Yuan..."
If no accidents occurred, this was likely a fellow transmigrator, though further confirmation was still required.
"I can ask an old friend for help later, but there is no rush for now."
Xu Xing walked toward the outside of the library, and just as when he had arrived, absolutely no one detected his presence.
Many years ago, he had also wished to change certain things and had thus performed many actions.
However, the more he tried to change things, the more chaotic they became, until he finally realized that he was not suited for such tasks.
And now, after a single session of secluded cultivation, someone had actually managed to achieve what they had once desired to do, so he truly had to take a good look at it.
But before that, he had to let this farce settle down.
Inside a classroom, Zhang Yunlu sat in a corner with one hand supporting her cheek.
Her other hand held a mobile phone, but the screen was constantly showing a loading circle with no images appearing.
It was not just her; everyone else in the classroom was experiencing the same thing.
It was likely due to the activation of the City-Guarding Grand Array, which had caused the signal to deteriorate.
Since there was nothing else to do for the time being, the people in the classroom who were familiar with each other gathered together and began to chat about the incident three years ago when 'Cang Jie Zi' had slaughtered a city to refine his techniques.
"I heard my uncle say that although 'Cang Jie Zi' is dead, he still has an older brother whose realm is even higher than his own."
"For the past few years, he has been secretly capturing the geniuses of the great sects, wishing to resurrect his younger brother."
The one speaking was a youth with gray eyes at the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage.
Faint spiritual light occasionally flickered within his light gray pupils.
This was a sign of abundant spiritual power, indicating that he was about to cast his Dao Foundation.
The other young people around him, upon hearing this news, all began to voice their own opinions one after another.
When the City-Guarding Grand Array had first opened, they were indeed a bit nervous.
However, they were ultimately young and spirited, and since they had not personally experienced the methods of a great demonic cultivator, they had relaxed considerably.
Zhang Yunlu did not take the content of their conversation to heart.
Regarding the matter of Cang Jie Zi, there were far too many stories on the Spirit Network, but how many of them were actually true?
She curled her lip and looked back at her phone screen.
An image finally refreshed inside, but before she had the chance to look at it, someone suddenly sat down in the seat in front of her.
"Little girl, we will meet again."
She raised her head to look and saw that it was the person from the school gate earlier.
"It's you? Why did you disappear the moment you came in earlier?"
"I have never been to this place before, so I walked around to take a look."
"..."
Zhang Yunlu was somewhat speechless; she wondered what time he thought it was.
"You really have a big heart; you actually dared to stand in the middle of the road and watch just now."
"It is fine; after all, if a cultivator at or above the Void Returning Stage truly were to attack, this array would not be able to block them for long."
"Hiding here would merely be the difference between dying sooner or dying later."
"Hey, hey, hey! Do not say such unlucky things!"
She was still young; what was all this talk about dying!
"Hehe, however, it should be fine very soon."
"How could it be that simple?"
She had conducted an in-depth study of the Cang Jie Zi city-slaughtering incident from three years ago.
"If it were a cultivator from an orthodox sect, it would be fine, as his sect would provide an explanation for him."
"But if it is a loose cultivator, just finding him would take a considerable amount of time."
As for demonic cultivators, their movements were even more secretive and mysterious.
They would slaughter cities to refine techniques at every turn, and in their eyes, all living beings in heaven and earth were nothing more than consumable materials.
"By the way, let me introduce myself; my name is Zhang Yunlu, and I am a student here."
"You... you should not be one, right?"
Although his appearance was young, he did not look like a minor Qi Refining practitioner like herself no matter how one viewed him.
"Indeed I am not. My name is Xu Xing, and I am a cultivator of the Sword Sect," Xu Xing said with a smile.
Upon hearing this name, Zhang Yunlu did not feel that anything was wrong, but was instead even more astonished by his identity.
"The Sword Sect, one of the Seven Great Immortal Sects?!"
Although the current world was very different from the ancient cultivation world, one point remained unchanged.
The Seven Great Immortal Sects were still the overlords of the world and the dream destination for countless practitioners.
It was truly a thousand times difficult for an ordinary cultivator to join them.
"You are truly amazing. It would be great if I could also be admitted into the Sword Sect after I graduate."
A trace of longing could not help but enter her tone.
But it was a pity that there were far too many people who wished to join an immortal sect.
If she were only within this school, her talent could be considered decent.
But when placed into competition of that scale, she could only be considered average.
In the previous year's college entrance examination, the person in first place was about the same age as she was now, but possessed a cultivation base at the peak of the Golden Core stage.
That was the kind of person who could make her older brother kneel with a single punch.
According to rumors, that person was born with strange phenomena, being able to walk and speak as soon as they were born, and had begun cultivating while still an infant—simply terrifying to such an extent!
Her actual goal was one of the several great academies founded by the immortal sects.
She planned to first be admitted into an academy and then slowly prepare for the matter of joining an immortal sect.
"Your bone structure is not bad. If you cultivate diligently, there is still a chance. I look forward to the day you and I become fellow disciples."
"I hope so."
When a sect chose disciples, geniuses were also able to choose their sect.
Because everyone was able to cultivate, genius practitioners emerged in an endless stream.
In order to maintain the competitiveness of the new generation, although the recruitment threshold for the immortal sects had been lowered, the examinations had become even more strict.
Of course, no one had any complaints about this, as many people would likely not have even possessed the qualification to participate in the selection before the era of Great Reform.
Xu Xing did not say anything more, but instead looked out the window.
"It seems it is about to end."
Zhang Yunlu was startled and followed his gaze.
She saw that above the city, the crimson array patterns were beginning to fade away.
What Xu Xing saw was even more; as the City-Guarding Grand Array closed, space distorted slightly, and several figures appeared out of thin air.
The person at the lead had terrifying fluctuations of magical power rippling around his body.
He wore a set of dark red battle armor composed of one hundred and twenty-nine thousand, six hundred small armor plates.
An expert of the Void Returning Stage!