“System, bring up my personal status panel!”
Only then did Yin Tianjue finally remember that he was still carrying a system around with him.
[Host: Yin Tianjue]
[Identity: Hall Master of the Tianxu Sacred Hall; Ancestor of the Great Yin Dynasty]
[Realm: **** (Gaining ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Too lazy to count it—so long as I’m invincible, that’s all that matters.)]
[Talent: Innate Annihilation Demon Body]
[Artifacts: Prison-Suppressing Spear (Deity Transformation—Top Grade); Heaven-Burning Sword (Deity Transformation—Top Grade)]
[Techniques: The Tianxu Demon Scripture (Incomplete Fragment—Good Enough for Now); Three Annihilation Spear Arts (Deity Transformation—Top Grade); Nine Heaven-Slaying Sword Forms (Deity Transformation—Top Grade)]
[Innate Divine Abilities: Form of the Heavenless Demon; Annihilation Samsara Palm]
“System, why is my cultivation level just a string of asterisks? Is it because even you feel embarrassed to display it when I’m gaining ten thousand years of cultivation every second?”
[Yes, Host. If your cultivation level were displayed in full, it would be too long and would take up the entire screen. It wouldn’t look good.]
“Fine. Oh, right—show me the main quest!”
[Main Quest: Develop the Tianxu Sacred Hall into the strongest and most awesome force in all the heavens and myriad realms!]
“What counts as ‘the strongest’? And what does ‘the most awesome’ mean?”
[Two words: Invincible.]
“Invincible? With ten thousand years of cultivation being poured into me every second, becoming invincible is only a matter of time. This is steadier than an old dog!”
[Warning: The Host is a bug and does not count toward the sect’s overall strength.]
“That’s easy enough. Once I become completely invincible, I’ll just pour a huge dose of cultivation into every one of the Tianxu Sacred Hall’s brothers. Wouldn’t that solve everything?”
[Warning: The Host’s cultivation cannot be transferred to others.]
[The ten thousand years of cultivation gained every second is a reward granted after the Host accepted the main quest. If the Host chooses to lie flat and slack off, the cultivation gained every second will automatically stop.]
“Great. Looks like I have no choice but to work!”
Having only just transmigrated into this world, Yin Tianjue had personally experienced the helplessness of facing death—and damn, was it helpless.
How could he possibly allow the ultimate, world-shattering cheat of gaining ten thousand years of cultivation every second to be taken away from him?
Besides, if he wanted to show off to his heart’s content in this world in the future, crushing everyone who dared oppose him, he would still have to rely on the system’s support from behind the scenes.
Once his cultivation and strength became absolutely invincible, he would refine the system itself and dominate the heavens and myriad realms.
For now, however, he had just killed the Tianxu Sacred Hall’s only two Nascent Soul peak combatants. Considering how few powerful fighters the hall had to begin with, this internal strife had cost them dearly.
He had to find a way to cultivate several high-level fighters as soon as possible and raise the Tianxu Sacred Hall’s overall strength.
But during the past three hundred years, the original old man had holed himself up here in closed-door cultivation, completely unaware of what had happened outside. He was utterly out of touch with the times.
“Looks like I should first find out what’s been happening with the Tianxu Sacred Hall lately, as well as what the various forces in the Eastern Wasteland have been up to.”
Yin Tianjue muttered to himself. A thoughtful look appeared in his eyes as his fingers casually tapped the ghostly, glowing skull set into the armrest, producing a dull, rhythmic knocking sound.
To cultivators, three hundred years passed in the blink of an eye—barely enough time for a nap.
But to ordinary people, three hundred years was more than enough for several dynasties to rise and fall. Who knew what the world had become by now?
He tilted his head slightly and swept his gaze across the rows of empty seats below the main hall.
Three hundred years had passed. Rather than saying that the original master had spent three hundred years in closed-door cultivation in this hall, it would be more accurate to say that he had merely clung to life here for three hundred years.
Not only had his lifespan plummeted, but his cultivation had also deteriorated day by day, plunging all the way from the peak of Deity Transformation to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. Even diving off a cliff wouldn’t have been this dramatic.
After three hundred years of hiding away, even he had almost forgotten what it felt like to stand at the summit of the Eastern Wasteland.
What exactly had the Tianxu Sacred Hall become during these three hundred years? He needed to find out.
Were the forces that had once clung to the hall for protection still loyal, or had they secretly defected to someone else long ago?
What schemes were those righteous sects, once so thoroughly suppressed by the original master that they had scarcely dared to breathe, plotting now?
And then there was the Grand Void Saint Lord—the man who had fought the original master three hundred years ago and left him gravely wounded. Clearly, he had not spent these three hundred years idling around either.
Whatever. Calling someone in and asking would answer everything.
“This master has emerged from seclusion. All elders, deacons, and direct disciples have ten breaths to come to the Sacred Hall and pay their respects—”
“This master has emerged from seclusion. All elders, deacons, and direct disciples…”
“This master has emerged…”
“Come to the Sacred Hall and pay your respects…”
With a slight movement of his mind, his divine sense transmission rolled outward in every direction from the Sacred Hall.
It was as though a god were whispering beside everyone’s ears. The layered echoes reverberated through every nook and cranny of the Tianxu Sacred Hall.
Even the sinister netherworld demonic aura that had shrouded the depths of the Burial Heaven Abyss for years was forcibly pushed aside by his divine sense at that moment, revealing a patch of daylight unseen for three hundred years.
As a mighty force that had once stood on equal footing with the sacred grounds, the Tianxu Sacred Hall occupied an area spanning thousands of miles. Mountains rose one after another, while countless caves and dwellings were packed together like the cells of a beehive.
Yet at this moment, every single person lifted their head beneath that voice, their eyes filled with disbelief.
In the Scripture Repository, an old man in gray robes was sprawled across a desk, snoring loudly. His drool had already soaked a large section of the ancient scroll spread open before him, wetting a precious record of cultivation techniques.
The instant the voice exploded through the room, he jolted upright. His head slammed into the bookshelf overhead with a bang, sending a pile of jade slips crashing down onto him.
“Ow, my mother!”
While rubbing the lump rising on his head, the gray-robed old man stared toward the Sacred Hall in shock. A flash of brilliance flickered through his murky old eyes.
He had not misheard it. He knew that voice far too well. Back then, he had spent over a thousand years kneeling as he listened to it!
“The former Hall Master? He… he’s actually still alive!”
The gray-robed old man’s voice trembled. He snatched up the storage pouch beside him and scrambled out of the Scripture Repository, rolling and crawling at first before breaking into a run. His movements were so nimble that he looked like a young man, not an old fellow who seemed ready to be buried at any moment.
On the martial arts arena, several hundred disciples were sparring with one another. Blades flashed, swords clashed, and the arena was filled with the crackle of weapons.
The moment that voice descended, every one of them stopped moving. Their weapons clattered to the ground one after another, leaving the entire scene awkwardly silent.
“That voice… It came from the Sacred Hall!”
“The Sacred Hall? Hasn’t it been sealed off for three hundred years?”
“The Hall Master! It’s the Hall Master! When I first joined the sect, I read through the sect’s records. They said the Hall Master’s decrees carried exactly this kind of pressure!”
A young disciple at the Foundation Establishment stage trembled with excitement, his face filled with the fanaticism of a starstruck fan who had finally met his idol.
After all, most of the disciples who had chosen to join the Tianxu Sacred Hall and become demonic cultivators had done so because of the Hall Master’s legendary reputation.
“The Hall Master has emerged from seclusion! Quick, quick, quick! He summoned us to pay our respects!”
Deep within the underground palace of the Tianxu Sacred Hall, inside a dark cave dwelling, an old woman with snow-white hair slowly opened her eyes. Her wrinkled face was filled with uncontrollable shock.
She was the Tianxu Sacred Hall’s Elder of Transmission. Her lifespan was already approaching three thousand years, and she had personally witnessed the glorious era when the Hall Master swept across the Eastern Wasteland.
Three hundred years—an entire three hundred years had passed since the Hall Master announced that the Sacred Hall would enter a deathly seclusion. Since then, there had been no word from him.
Liu Qing and Shen Hao, the two protectors, had secretly seized control of the sect, while nine out of ten disciples had abandoned it.
The once-glorious Tianxu Sacred Hall had nearly become the bottom-ranked among the great top-tier powers of the Eastern Wilderness.
Everyone had assumed that the Hall Master was either dead or had reached the end of his strength, and simply did not want anyone to see him in his miserable twilight years.
But she had never imagined that the Hall Master would actually emerge from seclusion!
And this aura… this aura… had clearly returned to its peak!
No—he was far more powerful than he had been at his peak!
“Hong Yi welcomes the Hall Master’s return!”
The old woman trembled as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her wrinkled face.
…
Inside the Sacred Hall, Yin Tianjue withdrew his divine sense and continued lounging lazily on the throne. His posture made him look as though he were sprawled across his own sofa.
“A hundred thousand years of cultivation every second… It really is no joke. This kind of grandeur feels incredible.”
He muttered under his breath, then raised his head and gazed deeply toward the entrance of the main hall.
They were here!
The commotion outside grew steadily louder.
First, twelve figures shot into the air simultaneously from different parts of the Tianxu Sacred Hall.
Their bodies radiated the tremendous aura of the Nascent Soul realm, and their robes fluttered wildly in the wind. Their presence was nothing short of astonishing.
They walked through the air. With every step they took, a black lotus formed from demonic qi blossomed beneath their feet, only to fade away moments later. Their display was absolutely overflowing with style.
Behind them came dozens of Golden Core cultivators, following close at their heels. They were all stewards of the Sacred Hall, each one looking vigorous and full of spirit.
Farther back were the inner disciples and true disciples of the Tianxu Sacred Hall, surging forward in a vast, noisy crowd.