The blood-red sun hung in the sky of the World of Forsaken Saints. It shone with a demonic red light and the entire world seemed like it was dyed with blood. Everything in the world was scarlet, making it look corrupted.
At the center of the world, on top of the World Mountains, several Receival experts entered the tunnel to the other world with an elder on. The other end of the tunnel was blocked by the supreme divine hall of Mercenary City, and these Receival experts were going to make the divine hall waste its power faster.
A majestic divine hall stood several million kilometers east of the World Mountains. It silently stood like an ancient, slumbering beast, giving off a suffocating pressure. It was exalted and filled with a dignified presence, standing in the world as if it was inviolable.
The divine hall was the Sacred Spirit Hall, the place that held the most authority in the World of Forsaken Saints. If the entire World of Forsaken Saints was described as an empire, the Sacred Spirit Hall would be the capital city or the imperial palace.
The Sacred Spirit Hall possessed three floors. The first floor was where ceremonies were held while the second floor was where the protector and elders stayed to cutivate. The second floor was divided into an exterior component and an interior component.
The third floor was the most special. Only Spiritkings could enter it, and no elder, including Ouyang Yangwen, had ever set foot on the third floor because there was a restriction at the entrance of the third floor that had existed since ancient times. It did not allow those below Reciprocity to step foot on the third floor.
According to the rules passed down since the ancient times, people would become Spiritkings as long as they reached Reciprocity.
In the very depths of the third floor was a three-hundred-meter-tall statue. Both eyes of the statue had been destroyed, and at the corners of the eyes, there was clear slashes caused by a sword. It was possible to see a gate, which shone with rainbow light, within the statue’s head through the eyes. The scenery within the gate seemed divine. It was a beautiful world filled with origin energy.
The world was not very big. It was only a few hundred square kilometers, not even as large as some cities. However, a figure sat in the center of that beautiful world with strands of powerful origin energy filling his surroundings. Strands of extremely sharp sword Qi would appear within the origin energy from time to time. The strands were also formed from origin energy, but they became even more powerful after becoming sword Qi.
The figure was the Spiritking. Over the past three years, he had remained cultivating in that divine world.
He had not broken through after three years and remained at mid Reciprocity, but he was extremely close to late Reciprocity.
Jian Chen, you possessed the strength of a Receival expert the first time I saw you. When I saw you a second time, you could beat Xiong Zhong. The next time will be when we truly meet each other. I hope you can give me the same surprise the next time I see you.
As the Spiritking cultivated, he was eager—eager to fight Jian Chen the next time they met because Jian Chen was the only other person he knew that had comprehended the Way of the Sword.
The Spiritking did not attack the supreme divine hall because he knew that he could not quickly smash through the divine hall. He would much rather spend his time cultivating so that he could smash through the divine hall in a single stroke. He would rather not waste his origin energy pointlessly nor enter a battle of attrition with the people of the other world.
At the same time, Xiong Zhong and Ouyang Yangwen had also entered seclusion in the floor below. Ouyang Yangwen had remained at late Returnance for several thousand years now, so after three years of cultivation, his strength surged toward the peak late Returnance. He was only a single step away from Reciprocity.
However, the difference between Reciprocity and Returnance was an entire cultivation realm. Ouyang Yangwen needed to bide his time before erupting in order to break through, so he had remained stuck during the past three years and had not reached Reciprocity yet.
Only until after another six years did a pulse of energy suddenly surge from where Ouyang Yangwen was cultivating. The tremendous presence that came with the pulse enveloped the entire second floor in a single moment, causing a storm of energy. The energy only rampaged through the second floor. It did not reach the first or third floor, so the Spiritking felt nothing.
The other cultivating protectors and elders were all roused. Under the tremendous presence, all of them felt like they were suffocating. They seemed to feel a tremendous pressure weighing down on their organs while a huge mountain rested on their backs. They felt their bodies become heavy and found moving very difficult.
It’s elder Ouyang! Elder Ouyang has broken through!
A Returnance elder cried out. His voice was filled with joy.
No, you shouldn’t call him elder Ouyang. He’s a Spiritking. He’s Spiritking Ouyang.
Another Returnance expert corrected. He too was filled with joy.
They both were on Ouyang Yangwen’s side, so they were obviously extremely exhilarated. However, the elders on Xiong Zhong’s side all became very stern.
Xiong Zhong was also roused from his cultivation. He stared at the spot where Ouyang Yangwen cultivated through the heavy stone door. His eyes were completely stern. He tightened his fists but said nothing. He continued cultivating. Although Xiong Zhong was weaker than Ouyang Yangwen, he was at late Returnance as well. Even if he was weaker, there was a limit. Xiong Zhong had not broken through after nine years of cultivation, but he had also reached the peak of late Returnance and was only a step away from Reciprocity. Now that Ouyang Yangwen had pulled ahead, he needed to reach Reciprocity in the shortest amount of time possible.
Congratulations, elder Ouyang, for successfully reaching Reciprocity. From today on, our Sacred Spirit Hall possesses a second Spiritking.
The elders on Ouyang Yangwen’s side, a long with a few protectors, went up to him to congratulate him.
Ouyang Yangwen’s white robes drifted in the air as he slowly walked out from the place where he cultivated. His feminine face was filled with uncontainable joy. However, he immediately frowned when he heard how the elders referred to him. He said,
Keep calling me elder Ouyang in the future. I’ll continue as an elder and not a Spiritking.
As soon as he thought about the current Spiritking’s battle prowess, which was akin to a Godhood expert, he could not help but shiver. If the current Spiritking had just been a regular Spiritking, Ouyang Yangwen would have been extremely willing to become a second Spiritking, even if the current Spiritking was at late Reciprocity, but even after reaching Reciprocity, Ouyang Yangwen probably still had to follow the current Spiritking’s word. He could become a Spiritking now, but he did not dare to accept the title.
Ouyang Yangwen was extremely arrogant when it came to his strength, but he only showed this arrogance to the protectors and elders of the World of Forsaken Saints. Even if he was as great as a dragon, he needed to remain curled up while in the presence of the current Spiritking.
The protectors and elders were all stunned by what Ouyang Yangwen said. They looked at each other before promising that they would keep calling him elder. They obviously understood why Ouyang Yangwen wanted them to call him an elder. The current Spiritking was just too powerful. Even with the birth of a new Reciprocity expert, he dared not to stand on equal ground with the current Spiritking.
This was the deterrent power of the current Spiritking.
Although the Spiritking had never forced them to do anything, they knew that he was definitely not a benevolent person, so not only did the current Spiritking deter the protectors and elders from stepping out of line, but he also filled them with a deep fear and some respect.
What’s the situation of the other world? Has the divine hall that blocked the entrance been pushed away?
Ouyang Yangwen firmly inquired, demanding an answer.
Elder Ouyang, we’ve never stopped attacking the divine hall over the past nine years. However, our attacks have only been hard but meaningless work. We’ve made no progress and the tunnel remains blocked,
answered an elder. His tone was much different from before. Ouyang Yangwen had rejected the title as the second Spiritking because of his fear of the first Spiritking, but Ouyang Yangwen already possessed a status akin to the current Spiritking among the hearts of all the other Origin realm experts.
Ouyang Yangwen’s face immediately became cold. He said with a feminine voice,
Hmph, nine years and you still can’t get through a single divine hall. You’re all trash.
With that, Ouyang Yangwen left with a sweep of his sleeves.
The protectors and elders on the second floor all revealed ugly expressions after Ouyang Yangwen departed. Although Ouyang Yangwen was more powerful than them, they were still Origin realm experts, yet Ouyang Yangwen did not respect them by labeling them trash. They all could not accept that.
Even the current Spiritking had never insulted them like that after all these years.
Hmph, elder Ouyang really is haughty. He’s only just broken through to Reciprocity, yet he already looks down on us.
Cheng Jingyun coldly snorted.
Without long, elder Xiong will reach Reciprocity,
Gongxi Ming said with a deep voice. He was very displeased by Ouyang Yangwen. He and Cheng Jingyun belonged to Xiong Zhong’s side after all.
The other protectors all felt indignant, but they dared not express their unhappiness publicly like Gongxi Ming and Cheng Jingyun. They just buried their feelings deep in their hearts.
A figure shot toward the peak of the World Mountains with lightning-like speed. Not only were the World Mountains the greatest mountain range in the World of Forsaken Saints, bearing the name of heaven-shouldering pillars, but they were also the most dangerous place in the world. Even Receival experts needed to be careful when ascending the mountains.
However, the figure shot toward the highest peak without any fear at all. Bolts of lightning shot down while terrifying cracks in space appeared, but they were unable to slow the figure down at all. They were either dodged with great agility or eliminated by a resplendent and powerful light from his sword.
To no surprise, this person was Ouyang Yangwen.
Ouyang Yangwen had always been a haughty person and always demanded respect. However, after the two setbacks on the Tian Yuan Continent, he was driven back to the World of Forsaken Saints as a horrible mess. If the Tian Yuan Continent had possessed strength far greater than what he could deal with, he would not have cared so much, but no one on the Tian Yuan Continent possessed power that caught his attention, but even with those circumstances, the Tian Yuan Continent had managed to repel the many protectors and elders of his world. Ouyang Yangwen was unable to accept this fact, so he had already begun to hate the people from the foreign world. He was tempted to wipe them all out just to vent his anger.
As a result, Ouyang Yangwen rushed over as soon as he had broken through.
Hmph, I’d like to see how much longer you can last.
Ouyang Yangwen’s face was extremely cold as he stood at the entrance of the tunnel. Heavy killing intent flickered in his eyes. He didn’t try to contain it as he stepped into the tunnel without any hesitation.
