Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 6

Volume 6 Chapter 6: The Three Achieve Enlightenment (Part 2)

The two sudden waves of Spirit Qi that appeared were incredibly powerful and mysterious, which made Xu Qingfan immediately leave his meditative state.

Normally, if a cultivator suddenly exits meditation, they would suffer a backlash from the Spirit Qi. However, Xu Qingfan felt no harm, as if the Heavenly Way had gently pulled him out of meditation upon sensing the two waves of Spirit Qi.

After waking up from his meditation, Xu Qingfan stood up quickly and walked outside to look towards the direction where the two waves of Spirit Qi were coming from.

Moments later, Xu Qingfan’s three disciples, Ting’er, Zhang Ningmei, and Bai Yu, also came out of the house, standing behind Xu Qingfan in surprise and disbelief as they sensed the two waves of Spirit Qi. They were shocked by the power and mystery of the waves, and puzzled as to why such waves would suddenly appear.

Similarly, all the Condensed Core Stage cultivators near "Ronghua Mountain" had expressions of shock like Xu Qingfan’s, but strangely, cultivators below the Condensed Core Stage did not notice the waves at all, despite their power being obvious.

In fact, aside from the Golden Core cultivators, even those at the Real Golden Core Stage and Fake Golden Core Stage could not understand what the two waves of Spirit Qi represented.

Standing in front of his courtyard, Xu Qingfan closed his eyes and sensed for a moment; the look of shock on his face became even more pronounced, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Xu Qingfan discovered that these two waves were almost completely in harmony with heaven and earth, incredibly powerful and mysterious. It was a sign that someone was about to break through to the Mahayana Stage and become a great master.

It is important to know that in the entire Righteous Alliance, there are tens of thousands of cultivators, but only twelve masters. Generally, in the cultivation world, a new master appears every hundred or two hundred years, and sometimes, it can take even a thousand years before a new master emerges.

At this moment, however, two cultivators were simultaneously on the verge of becoming new masters. What a grand event this would be! The last time such a situation occurred was eight thousand years ago.

But if it were just this, it wouldn’t make Xu Qingfan so astonished. What truly shocked him was the identities of these two cultivators breaking through to the Mahayana Stage.

One of them was hidden at the foot of "Ronghua Mountain," with Spirit Qi waves that were strange and wondrous, carrying a feeling of ancient times. Beside him were two powerful auras, even stronger than Xu Qingfan’s, protecting him. This was Taoist Crane from the Righteous Alliance Three Talents. Given his cultivation level, Xu Qingfan was not surprised by his breakthrough to the Mahayana Stage; he just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

But the other cultivator who was breaking through to the Mahayana Stage gave Xu Qingfan a feeling of disbelief. The location was very familiar to him; in fact, he had just visited it today.

This location was precisely where Master Jiuhuan’s bamboo house stood.

Could it be that the cultivator who had lived for three thousand years, the oldest cultivator in the cultivation world, after being stuck at the Golden Core Stage for nearly two thousand years, was finally about to become a great master? Wasn’t it said that he couldn’t reach the Mahayana Stage because of his injuries? How could he have broken through? Had his understanding of the Heavenly Way reached the point of changing his fate?

Or perhaps because of the inexplicable tricks Master Jiuhuan had played on him today, having two cultivators break through to the Mahayana Stage and become new masters was a great event. But thinking about one of them being Master Jiuhuan, Xu Qingfan couldn’t feel happy at all.

"Someone has achieved enlightenment. You three follow me to congratulate them. However, this process will be long, so don’t just watch the excitement; this is a great chance to understand the Heavenly Way, which will be very helpful for your future. Remember that."

After a brief hesitation, Xu Qingfan rose on clouds and quickly flew towards Immortal Crane’s position of enlightenment. In fact, if Master Jiuhuan were to achieve enlightenment, Xu Qingfan would surely gain even more understanding by observing. However, he always felt that the Spirit Qi fluctuations around Jiuhuan would not be simple, combined with Jiuhuan’s previous calculations, he chose to go to Taoist Crane instead.

Before taking off, Xu Qingfan turned to his three disciples and reminded them again. After hearing Xu Qingfan’s words, Ting’er and the others finally understood what had happened and their faces showed great shock as they hurried to follow Xu Qingfan.

When a cultivator breaks through to a new level, it is called achieving enlightenment. When one person achieves enlightenment, many come to congratulate. This is a tradition in the cultivation world because achieving enlightenment is truly worth celebrating. It shows that the cultivator has overcome destiny and escaped the Earth’s restraints, which takes immense willpower and is admirable. Moreover, when a cultivator achieves enlightenment, their spirit merges with the universe, making it easier to sense the Heavenly Way, so cultivators believe this opportunity enhances their understanding of the Heavenly Way.

However, even so, where there are people, there are differences in class and status, and these differences greatly limit what people can do.

For instance, when Taoist Crane achieved enlightenment, the cultivators coming to congratulate him were at least at the Golden Core Stage, which is the realm before Immortal Crane’s breakthrough. There were also some Mahayana cultivators, which is the realm Taoist Crane reached after achieving enlightenment.

Those cultivators at the Fake Golden Core Stage and Real Golden Core Stage were the disciples of those coming to congratulate and stood far away. As for the Real Golden Core Stage and Fake Golden Core Stage cultivators who were not disciples, even if they understood what the Spirit Qi fluctuations represented, they did not dare to approach due to status differences. This is an unspoken principle in the cultivation world; there are no clear rules, but often, this common understanding is more strictly followed than explicit rules because unspoken principles are seen as natural by everyone.

When they arrived at the residence of Taoist Crane, just as Xu Qingfan expected, most golden core cultivators believed that observing and sensing Master Jiuhuan’s enlightenment would benefit them more, so they all went to Master Jiuhuan’s location. Only a few golden core cultivators were seated around Taoist Crane’s home.

But to Xu Qingfan’s surprise, seven of the twelve masters of the Righteous Alliance had actually come. Considering that four masters were guarding the top of "Ronghua Mountain," this meant that besides Master Tianhan from Mercy Cloud Temple, all the resting masters had come. Did they not know that observing Master Jiuhuan’s breakthrough would help them more? Or was it truly not as simple as Xu Qingfan had guessed?

Not thinking about these confusing things anymore, Xu Qingfan sat down like those masters and Golden Core Stage experts, closed his eyes, and began to meditate deeply, sensing the subtle yet obvious changes in the Heavenly Way as Taoist Crane broke through.

At this moment, the signs of the world changing as the cultivator achieved enlightenment had already begun to appear. Because both of them achieved enlightenment at the same time, the spectacle was even more magnificent.

The sky, which should have been pitch black, was now filled with shining golden light, and pure white clouds gathered together under the golden rays, transforming into countless unknown sacred beasts that roared and galloped across the sky. On the ground, the Spirit Qi suddenly became extremely vibrant, with colors swirling everywhere, and the entire "Ronghua Mountain" blossomed beautifully in an instant.

Originally, Ting’er and the other two stared in astonishment at all these wonders, their eyes filled with fascination, when suddenly a soft hum broke the silence. It was Xu Qingfan’s voice. The three were startled and quickly awakened from their daze, hurrying to follow Xu Qingfan’s command to close their eyes and meditate, beginning to sense the Heavenly Way.

Without mentioning the various details of Taoist Crane’s upcoming transformation into a Mahayana Stage master, just talking about Xu Qingfan, after he closed his eyes and meditated, he felt the ethereal Heavenly Way slowly wrapping around him, making him sink deeply into it, and in a daze, various realizations appeared in his mind.

From watching the battle between the twelve masters and the North God Xuanwu, Xu Qingfan’s understanding of the Heavenly Way had reached a heavenly level peak, but it wasn’t the actual peak yet. Although Xu Qingfan had gained much heavenly wisdom from that battle, the short duration meant that he only knew what happened without understanding why it happened.

During this time, after an unknown amount of time had passed, the areas Xu Qingfan had not understood gradually became clear. As more understandings revealed themselves, Xu Qingfan’s grasp of the world finally reached the true heavenly level peak.

At the same time, because both of them achieved enlightenment together, the Spirit Qi of "Ronghua Mountain" became nearly ten times denser than usual. Originally, "Ronghua Mountain" was a mystical place with rich Spirit Qi, and now the Spirit Qi had become nearly liquid. The area where Xu Qingfan was close to where Taoist Crane achieved enlightenment was even more so.

Thus, as the Spirit Qi within Xu Qingfan grew more abundant and his understanding of the Heavenly Way deepened, combined with the fact that Xu Qingfan was only a thin line away from the middle stage of the Golden Core Stage, the integration of these changes finally produced a qualitative transformation.

Xu Qingfan felt a sudden clarity in his heart, and his mind began to drift, gradually blending with the world around him.

At the same time, on "Ronghua Mountain," the strange phenomena were changing, and the Spirit Qi became even denser. Xu Qingfan began to float, rising to a height of about ten feet, surrounded by colorful lights that exuded great power.

At the moment when Taoist Crane and Master Jiuhuan attained enlightenment, Xu Qingfan also advanced to the middle stage of the Golden Core Stage.

However, it seemed that the situation was not as simple as just breaking through a small level.