After guarding the gates for a hundred years, I drove the Heavenly Saint to madness.

Chapter 228 Time Settles, News Reaching the Heavens

Time flows like water, and years pass silently.

The vast land has experienced the changing seasons, and the ebb and flow of the world have all been silently operating.

In the blink of an eye, five years have quietly passed since that chaotic blood war that shook the three realms.

Over the past five years, Jiepai Pass has stood firm amidst wind and snow, as stable as Mount Tai.

The General's Mansion, a secret underground chamber.

Xiao Wuji sat cross-legged on the Spirit Gathering Jade Bed, his body as still as a withered tree, silent and still.

[Ding! Successfully defended the boundary pass today. Sign-in reward: Innate Ren Water Essence.]

[Ding! Successfully defended the boundary pass today. Sign-in reward: Fragment of the Five Elements Dao.]

[Ding! Successfully defended the boundary pass today. Sign-in reward: a handful of Chaos Soil.]

For the past five years, the system's daily check-in notification has been ringing out in my mind without fail.

These accumulated innate spiritual objects and fragments of the Great Dao transformed into the purest nourishment, continuously flowing into Xiao Wuji's body.

Within his body lies a vast and boundless cosmic landscape.

The twenty-four great worlds slowly rotated in the void. Five years of settling and devouring brought about a tremendous transformation in these twenty-four worlds.

The primordial soil fell into the inner world and transformed into the ancient divine mountains stretching for hundreds of millions of miles, supporting the backbone of the world.

All the waters of nature converge to form the sea, rushing and roaring through the dried-up ravines.

The fragments of the Five Elements Dao merged into the world's barrier, tempering the originally fragile spatial crystal wall into something as indestructible as chaotic divine metal.

Within the vast world, earth, water, fire, and wind are completely calmed, and yin and yang and the five elements cycle perfectly.

Even in those sacred mountains and marshes where spiritual energy is most abundant, the first batch of the most primitive innate spiritual energy has already begun to be nurtured.

Its profound cultural heritage is unfathomable.

Xiao Wuji's every breath stirred the tides of the twenty-four great worlds. With a casual strike, he could unleash the ultimate power to crush stars.

However, Xiao Wuji, who was sitting upright on the jade bed, slowly opened his eyes.

In those deep, abyss-like eyes, there was no ecstatic joy at the advancement in cultivation; instead, there was a deep sense of helplessness.

"Not enough, still not enough."

Xiao Wuji muttered to himself, his brows furrowed slightly.

He clearly felt that his spiritual practice had stagnated.

The late stage of the Primordial Golden Immortal realm is the limit that mortal beings can reach by accumulating resources and engaging in arduous cultivation.

One more step forward and you'll reach the supreme Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal realm, but he still has no clue how to break through to the Hunyuan Daluo realm.

In these five years, his magical power has been as vast as the ocean, and his physical body has become strong enough to withstand innate spiritual treasures.

But when he tried to break through that final barrier, he felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

"Below the sage, all are but ants. This is no exaggeration."

Xiao Wuji stopped his blind expansion of the inner world's origin. He calmed down and carefully examined the gap between himself and the sage.

"Quantitative change has reached its limit; what follows must be a qualitative transformation."

Xiao Wuji took a deep breath, calming the slight impatience in his heart.

Haste makes waste. Countless powerful beings have existed since the beginning of time, and many quasi-saints have been stuck at this stage for endless years.

He has only been cultivating Taoism for a few years, and to have such good fortune is already defying the heavens. If he tries to achieve quick results, he will only suffer from qi deviation.

He calmed his mind and stopped trying to forcefully break through the barrier. Instead, he dispersed his vast divine sense into his body and began the most tedious and repetitive task.

They traced the veins of mountains and rivers, and refined the flow of the five elements. They tempered those fragments of the Great Dao that had not yet fully integrated into the barriers of the world, time and time again.

Just as Xiao Wuji had completely calmed down and was preparing to continue this long and tedious seclusion to hone his skills.

Buzz!

Suddenly, an extremely rapid and violent fluctuation came from the isolation array surrounding the secret room.

"Something happened?"

Xiao Wuji suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils flashing with a sharp light.

Jiepai Pass has been peaceful for five years. This teleportation array would not be used lightly unless it was an extremely urgent matter. Could it be that those saints from Kunlun Mountain have come out of seclusion and started a disturbance?

Without the slightest hesitation, he rushed out of the underground chamber and landed in the main hall of the general's mansion.

As soon as he stood still, a series of extremely hurried footsteps came from outside the lobby.

"Nephew! Nephew, where are you?!"

With a shout filled with excitement and ecstasy, the wooden door to the lobby was pushed open with a bang.

Bi Xiao, dressed in a smart City God Judge's robe, rushed into the main hall.

She didn't even care about her usual demeanor; her hair was slightly disheveled, and her chest was heaving violently from the rapid movement.

But this could not conceal the overwhelming joy that almost overflowed from her beautiful face.

Upon seeing Xiao Wuji standing in the center of the hall, Bi Xiao's eyes lit up, and she rushed forward in three steps, grabbing Xiao Wuji's arm.

"Found it!"

Bixiao's voice trembled slightly with extreme excitement, and her eyes even welled up with tears.

"Found it! The reincarnation of Master has finally been found!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wuji was taken aback. Even he couldn't help but feel a slight stirring in his Dao heart.

"Uncle-Master, is the news accurate?"

"Absolutely true!"

Bixiao nodded heavily and quickly recounted the process of her search.

"Over the past five years, we have mobilized tens of millions of City God Temples across the Nine Provinces, and hundreds of millions of day and night patrolling gods, local earth gods, and mountain gods, practically turning humanity upside down!"

"The great calamity has obscured the secrets of heaven, and the destiny of Master's reincarnation has been completely concealed. Ordinary methods of divination cannot find a trace of it. But just three days ago, the wandering deity discovered a newborn baby boy in a remote prefecture on the coast of the East Sea!"

Bi Xiao took a deep breath, her eyes flashing with a dazzling light: "When that baby boy was born, although there were no unusual celestial phenomena or fluctuations of magical power, the City God's scribes discovered that his destiny was completely nonexistent when checking the Book of Life and Death!"

"Most importantly, the City God in charge of the investigation detected a trace of pure Shangqing sword energy deep within the baby boy's brow!"

Destiny is illusory, yet the sword energy of Shangqing is boundless!

These two points simultaneously confirm that, on this primordial land, there is no other possibility but that Shangqing Sage who fell into reincarnation!

"Where is he?" Xiao Wuji asked in a deep voice without hesitation.

"My eldest sister has personally descended to the mortal realm and secretly set up a netherworld barrier to protect that prefecture. So far, no other cultivators have been alerted!"

Bixiao said urgently, "My elder sister sent me a message, ordering me to come to Jiepai Pass to find you immediately. The reincarnation of our master is of utmost importance, and there can be no mishap."

"How to safely guide him back to the Netherworld is a matter for you to oversee and decide!"

Welcoming back the Tongtian Sect Leader is a plan that will have far-reaching consequences.

If even the slightest trace of one's vital energy is leaked during the journey of guidance, attracting the attention of the Primordial Celestial Venerable or the Two Western Saints, that newly born mortal body will be less than an ant in the eyes of the saints.

"I see."

Xiao Wuji instantly suppressed all the distracting thoughts and excitement in his mind, and his eyes returned to extreme coldness and rationality.

The vast Primordial Golden Immortal power within his body instantly receded into his inner world, and he seemed to transform into a mortal rock devoid of any aura.

This absolute control over one's own energy made Bixiao, who was standing opposite, tremble with fear.

"Time is of the essence. Delay will only lead to unforeseen changes."

With a flick of his wrist, Xiao Wuji caused the teleportation array deep within the hall, which led to the depths of the earth's veins, to once again erupt with a dazzling, clear light.

"Uncle-Master, let's go!"

Without a moment's delay, Xiao Wuji and Bixiao stepped into the formation side by side.