Chapter 328

Chapter 328: The Xuanjian Sect Master? Nothing Special!

In the starry river, that divine statue seemed to be forcibly holding up the overwhelming pressure of the endless Order Dao.

　　At that moment, the white-robed youth gently raised his right hand. “Rise.”

　　Boom!

　　The divine statue appeared to be forcibly overturning the pressure of the Order Dao.

　　Witnessing this scene, a hint of surprise flickered in the eyes of the one-legged woman.

　　Just as the divine statue was about to overturn the Order Dao pressure of the Guanxuan Sword Master, a special power suddenly surged forth from within that endless Order Dao pressure.

　　Boom!

　　In an instant, the divine statue shattered completely, then vanished and ceased to exist.

　　Standing before the gates of the official residence, the white-robed youth gazed at the special power that permeated the air. His eyes pierced through it, and he faintly sensed the presence of a plain dress.

　　The white-robed youth began to laugh. “So it turns out to be an Order recognized by others… Guanxuan Sword Master, is that all you’ve got!”

　　With that, he withdrew his foot, turned, and walked away, laughing as he went. “Is that all, is that all……”

　　The one-legged woman watched the white-robed youth depart in silence.

　　A moment later, she slowly turned her gaze toward the outside of the official residence, a trace of worry rising in her eyes. Young Master Ye…… do you know how powerful your opponent is?

　　Inside the great hall.

　　The starry river had returned to calm, but Lu Ren’s eyes were still filled with shock.

　　Ye Tianming asked, “What was that just now?”

　　Lu Ren said in a deep voice, “Someone was opposing the Guanxuan Sword Master’s Dao.”

　　Ye Tianming said, “I know. Who won?”

　　Lu Ren shook his head. “Not sure.”

　　Ye Tianming took a long look into the distance.

　　After a moment, Ye Tianming withdrew his gaze and asked, “Right, where is your True God?”

　　Lu Ren shook his head. “I don’t know. When the Guanxuan Sword Master left back then, he said he was going to search for our True God. But from the looks of things now, he either never went looking, or he has……. already been taken out.”

　　Ye Tianming asked, “Why couldn’t it be the True God who was taken out?”

　　Lu Ren shook his head repeatedly. “First, it’s impossible for a True God to fall, because a True God has an undying body — unless there is a god-slaying weapon…… and those god-slaying weapons were sealed away by the gods working together back then, so none exist in the world anymore. Second, if a True God were to fall, we would all be able to sense it.”

　　Ye Tianming thought for a moment, then asked, “So what are your plans going forward?”

　　After a brief silence, Lu Ren said, “To keep watch here. As long as I stay here, I receive incense offerings every month……”

　　With that, he looked at Ye Tianming. “What about you? What are your plans? If you don’t have any, I can recommend a place for you — go there and start a revolution, stir up a rebellion. It’s the neighboring Awakening Star System…… I’ll guide you there for free!”

　　The Awakening Star System!

　　Ye Tianming looked at Lu Ren and said nothing.

　　Lu Ren felt bitter inside.

　　In the past, like everyone else, he had considered the beings inside the official residence to be mere ants, not worth a second thought — until the Guanxuan Sword Master known as Ye Guan appeared before him.

　　That experience taught him never, ever to underestimate the beings below.

　　Likewise, he did not dare look down on Ye Tianming standing before him now.

　　Even though this fellow looked quite weak, he had genuinely been able to take that sword light away.

　　Ye Tianming suddenly said, “Don’t worry, I won’t drag you into this. Just get me some incense offerings and point me to a place where I can go study and cultivate.”

　　Lu Ren thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright.”

　　With that, he opened his palm, and a scroll appeared in his hand. He handed it to Ye Tianming. “This is a cultivation technique from our world. Cultivate according to what’s written in it, and you’ll be able to temporarily obtain incense offerings.”

　　Ye Tianming asked, “Temporarily?”

　　Lu Ren nodded. “For people in our world to obtain incense offerings, the first step is to have a faith of their own, and then cultivate a technique. Only then do they qualify to absorb the incense spirit veins between heaven and earth. But you clearly won’t be worshipping our gods. So you must be careful going forward, because without faith in a divine being, top-level powerhouses may be able to see through you.”

　　Ye Tianming nodded. “Understood!”

　　With that, he took the scroll.

　　Lu Ren added, “If you’re looking for a place to study and cultivate, the Divine Academy would suit you well.”

　　Ye Tianming was somewhat curious. “The Divine Academy?”

　　Lu Ren explained, “The Divine Academy has existed since the age of the gods. It was the finest academy in our divine cosmos at the time, and one of the few that survived the great war of the gods. What’s more, this place is special — it doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of any divine hall faction, and the major divine halls today maintain a friendly attitude toward it.”

　　Ye Tianming asked, “Can I get in?”

　　Lu Ren said, “Under normal circumstances, no. But I can write you a letter of recommendation.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled. “Then I’ll trouble you with that.”

　　Lu Ren shook his head. “A small matter.”

　　With that, he took out a scroll and began to write.

　　Meanwhile, Ye Tianming opened the other scroll. The moment he did, a divine light sank into his body, and soon a cultivation method entered his mind.

　　Ye Tianming sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.

　　Seeing this, Lu Ren hurriedly said, “This technique is a bit special, you need to……”

　　Before he could finish, he suddenly saw incense spiritual energy surging in from all around, flowing into Ye Tianming’s body.

　　Lu Ren’s expression froze.

　　It worked already?

　　Before long, incense slowly condensed inside Ye Tianming’s body — though it was small, no bigger than a pinky finger, and somewhat translucent.

　　Ye Tianming opened his eyes. His body now carried an additional aura — the aura of incense.

　　Lu Ren said in a deep voice, “You must remember: you have no faith in any divine being, so your incense must never be seen by others. Otherwise, you will be branded a blasphemer, and that is serious — extremely, extremely serious. All five major factions will not tolerate a blasphemer!”

　　Ye Tianming asked, “What exactly is a blasphemer?”

　　Lu Ren explained, “Even among the people of our world, there are many who do not worship divine beings, yet secretly cultivate incense spiritual energy. Such people are called blasphemers. In our divine cosmos, all five major divine halls have divine laws stipulating that if a blasphemer is encountered, anyone may execute them.”

　　Ye Tianming said softly, “I see.”

　　Lu Ren handed the letter in his hand to Ye Tianming. “Take this letter and report to the Divine Academy. It should be fine.”

　　Ye Tianming took the letter. “Thank you.”

　　Lu Ren seemed to want to say something but held back.

　　Ye Tianming appeared to know what he was thinking and smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t sell you out.”

　　Lu Ren’s expression was complicated.

　　Ye Tianming said, “See me off.”

　　Lu Ren nodded. “Alright.”

　　With that, he suddenly drew a line on the ground with his finger, and a formation array appeared beneath Ye Tianming’s feet.

　　Lu Ren said, “This is a teleportation array. It will send you to the Divine Ruins, from where you can go directly to the Divine Academy.”

　　With that, he hesitated for a moment, then took out a storage ring and handed it to Ye Tianming. “Inside are 50,000 incense spirit stones. They’ll help with your cultivation.”

　　Ye Tianming did not refuse. He took the storage ring and said, “Thank you.”

　　Lu Ren said in a deep voice, “I know that neither the Guanxuan Sword Master nor you are ordinary people. I can understand your desire to resist. But I’m sorry — I am a person of the divine cosmos, and I cannot help you fight against it. Yet I also know I cannot defeat you…… I simply want to live. That’s all.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled. “Understood.”

　　Lu Ren said sincerely, “Thank you.”

　　Ye Tianming asked again, “Beyond this stellar avenue, there is a mysterious Dao and law. What is that?”

　　Lu Ren said, “That is the Divine Law. It targets only the beings inside the official residence. Under normal circumstances, the people from your place could never leave the official residence, because the residence itself contains this kind of law power. But you and the Guanxuan Sword Master…….”

　　At that, he shook his head with a bitter smile. “That’s very abnormal. Far too abnormal.”

　　Ye Tianming said, “Now that I have incense in my body, I shouldn’t be targeted by this Divine Law anymore, right?”

　　Lu Ren nodded. “That’s correct.”

　　Ye Tianming asked again, “How many official residences like the one I came from are there?”

　　After a brief pause, Lu Ren said, “Just in our star system alone, there are over a million.”

　　Over a million!

　　Ye Tianming fell silent.

　　How much faith incense had that True God absorbed?

　　It was beyond imagination!

　　And the other party had been absorbing it for who knows how many hundreds of millions of years.

　　Ye Tianming asked again, “Where are those True Gods now?”

　　Lu Ren smiled bitterly. “Now you’re putting me in a difficult spot.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled, then said, “I’m curious — what is your current cultivation level?”

　　Lu Ren said, “Peak Immeasurable.”

　　Ye Tianming said, “Upper-middle tier.”

　　Lu Ren hesitated, then said, “It counts as upper tier. Reaching Heavenly Void is extremely, extremely difficult. You’ll understand once you start cultivating.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled. “Thank you for clearing up my doubts. Until we meet again.”

　　With that, he was about to step onto the formation array when something seemed to occur to him. He turned and looked toward the outside of the hall. “I saw an altar outside earlier with a flame on it. What is that?”

　　Lu Ren said, “A Star Flame. It contains an extraordinarily powerful force and is classified as a pseudo-divine artifact — the guardian treasure of the former Star Imperial City. Later, when the Guanxuan Sword Master arrived, the people of that city tried to stop him and kill him, so the entire city was split in two by the Guanxuan Sword Master with a single sword strike. Every top-level powerhouse in the city was killed, including one…… peak pseudo-divine powerhouse!”

　　As he said this, his expression grew solemn.

　　A single sword strike!

　　A single sword strike had buried and destroyed Star Imperial City.

　　Absolutely insane!

　　Ye Tianming nodded and said nothing more. He stepped onto the formation array, which suddenly surged with divine light. In moments, the light enveloped him, and he vanished from the spot in an instant.

　　After Ye Tianming left, Lu Ren immediately let out a sigh of relief.

　　After a moment of silence, he stepped outside and looked toward the distant Star Imperial City, where that stellar avenue stood out prominently.

　　Something came to mind, and his expression gradually grew solemn.

　　His instincts told him that things might be about to change.

　　Under normal circumstances, the beings inside the awakening official residences could never break through the laws left behind by the True Gods. Yet both the Guanxuan Sword Master and the youth before him had walked out.

　　Revolution?

　　Lu Ren slowly closed his eyes.

　　How long had the True Gods ruled this cosmos?

　　A very, very long time!

　　In truth, as Ye Tianming had said, many clans were unwilling and dissatisfied, because who wouldn’t want to go further?

　　But going further meant slaying gods!

　　There was one thing he hadn’t told Ye Tianming — throughout history, there had been those who resisted, but without exception, all of them had failed.

　　Slaying gods?

　　How incredibly difficult that was!

　　Those divine beings were virtually invincible!

　　At that moment, a thought suddenly appeared in Lu Ren’s mind: but what if?

　　Lu Ren also recalled what Ye Tianming had said: working for others leads nowhere.

　　The more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

　　All these years of working for others, and what did he have to show for it!

　　Lu Ren thought for a moment, then turned and walked back into the hall.

　　He felt that he could invest a little in this young man. After all, he had already formed a good connection with him — forming one more couldn’t hurt. And if one day this person really did……

　　What if!!

　　A person still needs to have some dreams.

　　Lu Ren walked to the side, took out a special sound-transmission stone, and began to speak. “Sis, let me introduce you to an incredibly handsome guy…….”

　　When Ye Tianming reappeared, he was standing before a stretch of chaotic ruins. From their appearance, this place had once been a magnificent structure, but now only broken walls and remnants remained, with scattered crystal stone fragments and shattered statues strewn across the ground.

　　Among the ruins, towering stone pillars still stood erect,Those stone pillars truly soared into the heavens, impossibly majestic.

　　The Ruins of the Gods!

　　Ye Tianming glanced at those sky-reaching stone pillars, then walked deeper into the ruins. There were people within the ruins, some kneeling before certain statues, devoutly praying for something.

　　Before long, Ye Tianming stopped in his tracks. He looked to the right, where dozens of zhang away, thousands of people knelt, and before those thousands stood a massive, crumbling statue.