Just four simple words, yet they struck like a thunderclap from clear skies, detonating across Du Cang Mountain.

The Lower Three Realms cultivators on the Myriad Laws Platform all wore blank, bewildered expressions; the Middle Three Realms cultivators were heavy-faced with solemnity; only those Upper Three Realms cultivators remained perfectly composed.

As if they had already anticipated this very outcome.

After all, these experienced and well-traveled Upper Three Realms cultivators understood precisely what the fissure steadily devouring the canopy of Chenping Continent's sky represented.

It represented the collapse of the domain heavens' natural laws.

When this decay of heavenly laws expanded to a certain threshold, it meant the domain heavens would cease to exist entirely, dissolving into nothingness, as if they had never existed at all.

And those four words Chen Yan had just spoken could equally be regarded as his declaration of a truth that had long been guessable through trace evidence.

Chen Yan's speech was not lengthy; just a few brief sentences sufficed to make clear to the more than seventy thousand cultivators seated on the Myriad Laws Platform the current state of Chenping Continent:

Chenping Continent's lifespan had already entered its final countdown.

Even Immortal Ascension cultivators were powerless to change this.

That was precisely why the current Immortal Ascension elders of the world had united, renaming Heavenly Summit Mountain as Du Cang Mountain, and constructing it into a sacred cultivation ground with even greater grandeur than the Heavenly Summit Mountain of old.

Their true purpose was to seek out genuine uncut jade, sparing no effort to pour the entirety of Chenping Continent's cultivation resources into nurturing them.

Merely reaching Immortal Ascension was far from sufficient.

To contend with that "existence" which even the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void had to yield three parts of ground to, achieving the Sage Realm might very well be necessary.

Though this might not necessarily be feasible, establishing Du Cang Mountain was indeed the only recourse Chen Yan could conceive of at present—the sole option when no other options remained.

If Chenping Continent were ultimately doomed to destruction...

Then where should he himself go?

With his words concluded, Chen Yan stood upon the jade-white floating circular platform, gazing down at the more than seventy thousand faces seated below, all wearing bewildered expressions.

They were not the only ones lost in confusion.

Chen Yan himself was equally adrift.

The Du Cang Mountain Dao Discussion, the grand cultivation gathering that had replaced the former Chenping Continent Dao Discussion Conference.

The absolutely indispensable centerpiece was the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.

And now, it was the Du Cang Mountain Dao Inquiry.

The greatest difference from the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry was that the Du Cang Mountain Dao Inquiry had no restriction limiting participation to Martial Spring Realm cultivators only.

Instead, it was divided into four brackets: the Energy Channeling Bracket, the Martial Spring Bracket, the Martial Spring Source Bracket, and the Spirit Connection Bracket.

The age limit was set at fifty years or younger, and there was no restriction on the number of times one could participate.

Any cultivator meeting the realm requirements could take part in the Du Cang Mountain Dao Inquiry.

Cultivators who placed within the top ten in the Du Cang Mountain Dao Inquiry would earn the qualification to cultivate on Du Cang Mountain.

They would be personally instructed by the Grand Elders of the Five Great Sects, or even the few Immortal Ascension great powers of Chenping Continent, and would receive nearly inexhaustible cultivation resources.

However, cultivators who earned the qualification to cultivate on Du Cang Mountain would retain their original sect affiliation.

After all, strictly speaking, Du Cang Mountain, as the current sacred cultivation ground of Chenping Continent, was not a cultivation sect.

Rather, it was the flame kept alive for the countless billions of living beings on Chenping Continent before the complete collapse of the heavenly laws.

Of course, earning the qualification to cultivate on Du Cang Mountain was not limited solely to the path of the Du Cang Mountain Dao Inquiry.

Receiving a joint recommendation from the Grand Elder Council of the Five Great Sects, or being personally nominated by an Immortal Ascension great power, could also grant the qualification to cultivate on Du Cang Mountain.

Chen Yan had nominated four disciples, all hailing from Kongshan Sect. He was, after all, only truly familiar with those cultivators from Kongshan Sect who had shared his generation.

These four individuals were Chu Xiyao, Li Haowen, Lin Qifeng, and Cheng Ziying.

There was no need to elaborate on the reasons for nominating Chu Xiyao and Li Haowen—their talents had ranked second only to Qin Qingyu in reputation over twenty years ago.

As for Chen Yan's reasons for nominating Lin Qifeng and Cheng Ziying, they were not born of personal bias, but rather of his own careful deliberation.

Cheng Ziying, who had risen from the outer court of Kongshan Sect, ultimately becoming a disciple of Mingxiao Peak, and who had even triumphed over Chu Xiyao in the competition for the position of Daomen Xingzou of Kongshan Sect—she was a veritable legend to Mingxiao Peak and indeed to the entire Kongshan Sect.

Even to this day, Cheng Ziying still wielded considerable influence within Kongshan Sect's outer court, and her performance after entering the Inner Court had been nothing short of impressive.

More than twenty years had passed since Cheng Ziying first entered Mingxiao Peak from Kongshan Sect's outer court.

Throughout those twenty-plus years, Cheng Ziying's performance had never once disgraced her status as chief disciple of Mingxiao Peak. Though she had not risen to fame in her youth, and her reputation in the cultivation world of Chenping Continent fell far short of figures like Chu Xiyao and Li Haowen, after so many years of relentless pursuit, her cultivation realm had surely drawn tightly behind theirs, if not surpassed them outright.

If one were to say that Cheng Ziying's nomination for the qualification to cultivate on Du Cang Mountain was due to her cultivation talent truly deserving of such an honor.

Then Lin Qifeng's situation was entirely different.

Chen Yan's convenient master was now nearly a hundred years old, yet his cultivation remained stagnant at the mid-stage of Spirit Connection.

If he were exceptionally permitted to participate in the Du Cang Mountain Dao Inquiry, contending against those heaven-chosen talents who had already reached Spirit Connection before the age of fifty, he would likely be defeated in no more than twenty exchanges.

It could be said that Lin Qifeng's aptitude as a cultivator was rather mediocre.

As for Chen Yan's reason for nominating Lin Qifeng, it was entirely due to his relationship with Ruan Tingzhu—the reincarnated body of Yan Yunhe, and the master of the current Kongshan Sect Leader, Yun Yichen.

That True Person Kongmiao, the first Immortal Ascension steward of Kongshan Sect who had once dazzled an entire era, was in truth none other than Bai Chen, the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void—a great power of the Uncarved Simplicity Realm who had dominated these heavens and earth countless ages past, and quelled the calamity that befell Tianji Continent.

Chen Yan knew all too well what kind of impact the karma of a Uncarved Simplicity Realm great power could have on a domain's heavens and earth.

Whether it was the severing of the path of immortality, the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm, the subsequent Great Chaos of the Immortals, or all the events that transpired after he returned to eight thousand years ago—everything was inextricably bound to this sixty-thousand-year karmic entanglement of the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void.

Yet this was still only a portion of the many karmic threads left behind by the Ultimate Sage.

Chen Yan naturally had no idea what Bai Chen was scheming, but he knew that a day would come when he would find out.

And until that day arrived, he had best remain more cautious, such as keeping Lin Qifeng, who was connected to the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void, close by his side.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.