"Luo Changqing, are you insane?!"

"You want to save Elder Lu, but you have to take your own circumstances into account too!"

"With your Trash-grade Aptitude, if you go to the Grand Tournament, you'll become the biggest joke in its entire history!"

"You won't even be able to keep your own life, and you still dare prattle on about seizing first place!"

"Rotten wood! Rotten wood can't be carved!"

Amid the Transmission Elder's furious shouting, Luo Changqing carried the sword canon and strode resolutely out of the Library Pavilion.

His steps were steady, his gaze unwavering.

A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring!

To save Elder Lu, he was willing to pay any price.

...

That night, beneath a bright moon hanging high in the sky.

Luo Changqing's residence.

Luo Changqing sat cross-legged, his mind entering a state as still as water.

He activated the Grand Desolate Lingdong Art.

In an instant, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the night sky surged wildly toward Luo Changqing like raging rivers!

The speed at which he absorbed spiritual energy could only be described as plundering.

"As expected of the Founding Patriarch's masterpiece technique. It really is tyrannical!"

The violent spiritual energy poured into the spirit palace between his brows, and his strength rose steadily. The feeling exhilarated Luo Changqing.

But very soon, he noticed something unusual.

He raised both palms, and two clusters of light appeared in them.

Above his left palm, the light blazed brilliantly, divine radiance vast and boundless!

Above his right palm, the light was pitch-black and terrifying, deep and endless!

"This isn't spiritual power!"

Luo Changqing hurriedly examined his spirit palace inwardly.

To his shock, he discovered that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which should have been refined into spiritual power, had instead been divided in half within his spirit palace. One half had been refined by the Nine Heavens Divine Godhead into divine power that radiated a sacred aura!

The other half had been refined by the Nine Nether Demonic Godhead into evil demonic power!

Immediately after, a distant thought surged into his mind from the "Punishment" mark on his chest.

"Refine the strongest power in all the myriad heavens and worlds—the Nine Heavens Divine Power!"

"Refine the sole eternal sovereign of the boundless ages—the Nine Nether Demonic Power!"

Shock spread across Luo Changqing's face. "These are two kinds of power that far surpass spiritual power!"

And the Nine Nether Demonic Power was even above the Nine Heavens Divine Power!

He had a faint premonition that even without using any technique, as a mere Spirit Palace 1st Layer cultivator, relying only on the Nine Heavens Divine Power and Nine Nether Demonic Power, he could easily strangle to death... even a Spirit Palace Great Perfection opponent, or even a powerful Palace Soul 1st Layer enemy!

Luo Changqing trembled slightly with excitement. "If I use these two powers to unleash techniques, the might they produce will surely be unimaginable!"

"The title of champion in the Grand Tournament is mine, Luo Changqing's. No one is going to stop me from saving Elder Lu!"

"Hm?"

All at once, Luo Changqing's brows furrowed tightly.

"Strange. Why is half the spiritual energy I absorb being siphoned away?"

Only half of the spiritual energy he absorbed was actually entering his spirit palace.

The other half was being snatched by the "Punishment" birthmark into the Demon Realm.

Luo Changqing immediately inspected the Demon Realm inwardly.

To his horror, he discovered that beside the golden tower in the Demon Realm, the first sacred giant coffin, and beside the black tower, the first demonic coffin, were competing with him for spiritual energy!

"So it's those two coffins causing trouble."

"What exactly is hidden inside them? Why are they fighting me for spiritual energy?"

"Could it be that the reason I was once unable to cultivate was also because the divine coffin and the demonic coffin were..."

Unfortunately, he had no way at all to stop the two coffins from competing with him for spiritual energy.

There had to be some other mystery behind these coffins...

Luo Changqing cast aside distracting thoughts and continued to raise his cultivation like mad.

On the third day!

With a rumble inside his spirit palace, Luo Changqing advanced to Spirit Palace 2nd Layer in only three days!

This made the speed at which he absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth even more terrifying!

He plundered the spiritual energy so ruthlessly that it was dragged into the shape of a huge funnel, and at the bottom of that funnel was Luo Changqing himself!

At the same time.

Sect Master Xuan Zheng stood high in the air, gazing at the increasingly thin spiritual energy in the distance, his expression dark with sorrow. "This is going to be the death of us."

"When it rains, it pours. Not only is our sect declining by the day, with disciples dwindling away, but now even the spiritual energy is starting to weaken."

"Could it really be that the heavens are determined to destroy my Xuanqing Heavenly Sect..."

Ten days later.

Boom!

With another explosive sound from within his spirit palace,

Luo Changqing reached Spirit Palace 3rd Layer!

Twenty days later.

Luo Changqing stepped into Spirit Palace 4th Layer!

A month and a half later!

Spirit Palace 5th Layer!

Time flew.

In the blink of an eye, six months had passed.

Inside the thatched hut, Luo Changqing suddenly opened his eyes. Within those star-like pupils, dazzling divine light flickered!

Immediately after, an overwhelmingly powerful, soul-shaking demonic light surfaced as well!

And his current realm had actually reached Spirit Palace 6th Layer in the span of only six months!

"What a pity. If those twin coffins weren't stealing spiritual energy from me, my realm should be even higher."

"There are four months left until the Grand Tournament. After deducting travel time, only three months remain."

"I have to begin cultivating the Boundless Immortal-Slaying Sword Canon."

However, after three days of cultivation—

Luo Changqing held the sword canon in disbelief.

"How can there be no progress at all after three whole days!"

"The flaws in this book's incantations really are enormous. Even given three to five years, I'm afraid it still might not be possible to master."

"The three months I have left are nowhere near enough!"

He took a deep breath.

"There's no turning back after drawing the bow!"

"Maybe I can find some help in the Demon Realm."

With a single thought, the "Punishment" character on his chest flashed, and Luo Changqing appeared within the Demon Realm.

Looking at the majestic golden and black towers, Luo Changqing said, "I remember that when I broke through to Spirit Palace 1st Layer, the first-floor gates of both towers were unsealed."

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"But I still haven't gone inside."

"Maybe there are secrets hidden in there that no one knows."

He quickly entered the first floor of the golden tower.

The instant he stepped in, he suddenly felt the flow of time accelerate sharply!

And suspended in the air inside the tower were two lines of hazy ancient script, glowing in midair.

"Seize the fortune of time; let a day become a month."

Luo Changqing's pupils contracted, stunned beyond measure. "One day outside, one month inside the tower!"

"This heaven-defying ability of the golden tower might as well have been tailor-made for me!"

"In that case... what mystery lies within the first floor of the black tower?"

Filled with boundless excitement, Luo Changqing left the golden tower and entered the first floor of the black tower to investigate.

There too, in the black tower's space, two lines of ancient text floated and shone.

"Glimpse the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao; Heaven's derivation forms itself."

Luo Changqing frowned in contemplation, not understanding what it meant, when he suddenly felt the technique manual in his robes vibrating faintly.

He hastily took out the Saint-grade technique, riddled with flaws.

The next instant, an unbelievable scene unfolded before his eyes!

Within the Boundless Immortal-Slaying Sword Canon, great swathes of the incantation text actually began to move as though they had come alive!

Not only were the moving characters rearranging themselves, entirely new characters were even appearing out of thin air to fill in the gaps.

In just ten breaths, all the text stopped moving.

Luo Changqing sucked in a cold breath. "This first floor of the black tower can actually deduce and repair techniques!"

"A complete technique that's been lost for eighty thousand years was restored by this tower!?"

"Doesn't that mean I can take this complete technique into the golden tower and cultivate it?!"

One month in the golden tower was equal to one day outside.

No matter how difficult this technique was to cultivate, with the golden tower, he had more than enough time to wear it down!

If one day didn't work, then one year. If one year didn't work, then ten years!

Luo Changqing was overjoyed. No matter how poor his aptitude might be, as long as he had enough time, there was no technique he couldn't master!

He left the black tower and returned to the first floor of the golden tower.

Calming his heart and steadying his breath, he slowly opened the first page of the Boundless Immortal-Slaying Sword Canon.

Time flew like an arrow, the sun and moon alternating.

In the blink of an eye, Luo Changqing had already been in secluded cultivation for nine months...

Creak!

The thatched hut's door was pushed open.

A figure, visibly sturdier than before, stepped out.

Fresh from seclusion, Luo Changqing seemed like a different person entirely, wearing a smile as gentle as a spring breeze!

As a Spirit Palace 6th Layer cultivator, Luo Changqing's appearance was unchanged from nine months ago.

But the feeling he gave off had shed some of its youthful immaturity, replaced by greater experience and calm.

All because one day outside was one month inside the golden tower!

Luo Changqing had cultivated the Boundless Immortal-Slaying Sword Canon for three months in the outside world, which meant he had trained for a full seven and a half years within the golden tower!

Then, he casually swept a finger toward the sky.

As terrifying Nine Heavens Divine Power condensed wildly, nine dazzlingly brilliant... Immortal-Slaying Sword Radiances condensed above his head!

Within those nine sword radiances surged a horrifying might capable of destroying heaven and earth!

The nine sword radiances merely floated silently in the air, yet they already caused ripples to appear in space itself!

Actual ripples in space!

It had to be known that Luo Changqing was still only in the very first major realm of cultivation—the Spirit Palace Realm.

"Their flawed version of the Immortal-Slaying Sword Canon can condense at most three Immortal-Slaying Sword Radiances, while my complete version can produce nine!"

"And with my Nine Heavens Divine Power and Nine Nether Demonic Power amplifying the sword canon even further, I'd really like to see who in the Grand Tournament can stand against me!"

A look of contempt for all creation flashed through Luo Changqing's starry eyes!

At Spirit Palace 6th Layer, even without using any technique, merely relying on the Nine Heavens Divine Power, he could kill a Palace Soul 6th Layer expert across realms!

If he used the Nine Nether Demonic Power, that would be enough to slaughter someone at Palace Soul 9th Layer!

And if he used a technique on top of that...

...

At chen hour, as the rising sun climbed into the sky,

a gigantic Spirit Ship hovered outside the gates of Xuanqing Heavenly Sect.

On the Spirit Ship stood Sect Master Xuan Zheng, more than a hundred highly respected elders, and the nine disciples about to compete.

Looking toward the servant district, Xuan Zheng wore a complicated expression and muttered to himself, "Don't come, Luo Changqing. If you know what's good for you, then by all means don't show your face!"

Chief Duan Qingyun lowered his voice. "Sect Master, you don't want Luo Changqing to take part?"

Xuan Zheng gave a bitter smile at those words. "If he dies, and later Empress Tantai settles accounts, saying, 'Xuan Zheng, you knew full well Luo Changqing was trash, so why did you still bring him to the Grand Tournament to die?'"

"How is this Sect Master supposed to answer that?"

Chief Duan Qingyun gave a slight nod. "But don't forget, Saintess Mu Qingxuan specifically named Luo Changqing and demanded that he participate. You're afraid of offending the Empress, but you're not afraid of offending the Saintess?"

Xuan Zheng sighed. "This Sect Master can't afford to offend either side, so the best outcome would be for Luo Changqing to back down on his own. That way, everyone wins."

He looked up at the sky. The anxious heart in Xuan Zheng's chest finally settled.

A smile gradually spread across his face, and in a relaxed tone he said, "The hour has come. It seems Luo Changqing won't be appearing. In that case, this Sect Master announces that we depart for—"

Suddenly, an extremely swift figure shot out from within the sect like a bolt of lightning.

"Sect Master, wait! Disciple Luo Changqing is here to report in!"

Before anyone could react, Luo Changqing had already taken a single stride and leaped directly onto the Spirit Ship, arriving at Lu Anshan's sickbed.

Luo Changqing gently clasped Elder Lu's hands. "Elder Lu, Changqing spent nine months in seclusion and did not come to visit you. Please forgive me."

Now Lu Anshan's eye sockets had sunken in, his body gaunt as a skeleton. He already looked like a dying man at the end of a guttering candle.

Luo Changqing's eyes turned moist, grief twisting in his heart.

Lu Anshan gripped Luo Changqing's hands. His breath was as thin as a thread, and he seemed to be saying something.

His voice was too faint, so Luo Changqing could only respectfully lean his ear in close to listen.

"Kid Luo... this old man has lived to a ripe old age already. If I die, then I die. This old man isn't afraid."

"Listen to this old man... don't go... cough, don't go to the Grand Tournament."

"Live well. As long as you can go on living well, then even if I die, I'll have no regrets."

Those words struck straight into the deepest part of Luo Changqing's heart.

Never before had anyone cared for him like this, worried for him like this.

Never!

Luo Changqing's nose stung, his heart twisting like a knife was carving it apart. Every word he spoke was hard as iron!

"Elder Lu... Grandpa!"

"I will definitely win first place and save you!"

"For that, I'll pay any price!"

"I will definitely participate in the Grand Tournament. There's no need for you to try to persuade me anymore!"

That heartfelt cry of "Grandpa" brought tears streaming from Lu Anshan's old eyes. He still wanted to say something, but in his extreme weakness, he slipped into unconsciousness...