Zhi Xuan gazed at the artifacts floating before him. The Ruthless Heavenly Banner, the Heavenly Devouring Chalice containing the Soul Lantern, the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron, the Heavenly Sword, and the still-intact Seven-Star Boat. With a wave of his hand, he stowed most of them away, leaving only the Divine Cauldron.

  "Xiao Die, Ao Sheng," Zhi Xuan called out calmly, his voice now crystal clear, albeit slightly cold. "Come out. Are you both alright?"

  From within the Divine Cauldron, which radiated a Xuan-Huang glow, two streaks of light shot out. One vibrant emerald-green light transformed into a small girl with transparent wings who looked dazed, while a majestic golden light solidified into a small golden dragon boy who was fast asleep, tumbling onto the sea of consciousness with a low grumble.

  Xiao Die immediately flew in circles around Zhi Xuan’s white-clad form, her large eyes blinking repeatedly. "Senior? Ugh—Xiao Die was fast asleep... Ugh no, I was meditating under the Law of Spring when this Cauldron got bumped!"

  She stopped for a moment, her transparent wings trembling violently as her sharp spiritual senses caught something peculiar. She pressed her tiny face close to Zhi Xuan’s cheek, sniffing the air around his white-clothed body with a furrowed brow.

  "Senior’s scent... has changed?" Xiao Die murmured, her voice filled with wonder. "Usually, there is a terrifying smell of blood and a chilling aura. But now, Senior smells like... clouds? So pure, yet it feels so thin."

  Zhi Xuan merely offered a thin smile—a smile that now appeared genuinely sincere and serene, without the burden of anger that usually hid behind his eyes. "I have shed the burden of that body, Xiao Die. Now, I am merely a weaver of paths seeking harmony amidst this chaos."

  Ao Sheng, the little Golden Dragon, finally woke up due to Xiao Die’s chatter. He let out a wide yawn, emitting sparks of hot air around him, then rolled in the air before finally looking at Zhi Xuan. His golden eyes widened in disbelief.

  "Senior! What happened to you?!" Ao Sheng exclaimed with the voice of a dignified yet boyish youth. As a descendant of the Ancient Golden Dragon, he could feel that Zhi Xuan’s soul threads had branched. "Do you still remember me? What was my first name before this?"

  Zhi Xuan exhaled softly, shaking his head with an amused smile. "Lin Mu. I am the one who gave you the name Ao Sheng after you followed me out of the Shi Clan's auction pavilion back then."

  Hearing such a detailed answer, Ao Sheng sighed with relief, stood up, and walked toward Zhi Xuan. "Thank you Heavens! Senior is still Senior!"

  Ao Sheng swatted his hand because Xiao Die’s transparent wings were hitting the golden horns on his forehead. "Xiao Die, don't get too close!"

  Xiao Die stuck her tongue out at Ao Sheng and transformed into a small moth, landing back on Zhi Xuan’s shoulder. She felt much more comfortable with the white aura now enveloping her master. For a heavenly moth like herself, who was full of life energy, Zhi Xuan’s current body was much more refreshing—like a heavenly garden recently washed by holy water.

  Zhi Xuan stroked Xiao Die’s head with his fingertip, which now felt incredibly light, almost transparent. He then turned to look at Ao Sheng, who still seemed skeptical despite getting the correct answer. Within the clarity of his sea of consciousness, he could feel that the connection between himself and these two heavenly beasts had been purified.

  "The two of you should remain with me inside the Divine Cauldron for a while," Zhi Xuan said with an authoritative yet soothing tone. "The world outside, the Ocean Chaos Secret Realm, is now inhabited by predators from the Nine Ancient Clans."

  Ao Sheng nodded firmly, transforming into a small dragon that coiled around Zhi Xuan’s arm for a moment before darting back into the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron. "Senior, if anyone dares to look down on your purity, Ao Sheng will burn them to ash, even without the help of your black body!"

  Zhi Xuan chuckled softly, the sound of his laughter now like the clinking of jade falling onto a bed of silk. He opened his eyes in the real world—the world at the bottom of the dark, cold trench.

  WUUUSH—!

  Zhi Xuan stood up; his white robe was not even slightly dampened by the seawater. Instead, it emitted a subtle water-repellent glow. He looked toward the Immortal Gate, which was beginning to vibrate again. The dimensional door opened by Qin Meiling’s melody was slowly shrinking, signaling that he had to follow immediately if he did not want to be trapped in this bone valley forever.

  "Ten days outside might have been only a few moments for those who entered first," Zhi Xuan thought. "It is time to go in."

  Zhi Xuan walked with a peculiar calm, as if the weight of thousands of fathoms of seawater above him was no more than a piece of silk. Without the Heavenly-Blood Physique, he felt his body was incredibly light, yet his perception of the Heavenly Laws had increased manifold. He could feel every subtle vibration of the Ocean Chaos energy creeping between the corals—an ability previously muffled by thick bloodlust.

  He shot into the shrinking portal vortex. As his body was swallowed by the sapphire light, he did not feel the rough tug from before. Instead, he glided gently, following the dimensional current like a leaf carried by a calm river.

  WUSS—!

  Zhi Xuan landed in a region vastly different from the bone valley he had left behind. He now stood on a water surface frozen like glass, yet beneath his feet, thousands of light-fish swam vibrantly. The sky here was not black but a twilight purple, with clumps of spiritual essence clouds forming dragon and phoenix shapes.

  "This is the heart of the Secret Realm," Zhi Xuan murmured.

  Before him loomed a crystal palace that had mostly collapsed, yet its main pillars still radiated ancient authority. On the palace grounds, the atmosphere was chaotic. Elite disciples from various clans were battling water-shadow guards made of dense spiritual water.

  Zhi Xuan scanned the magnificent yet ruined crystal palace grounds. Although his body now radiated the purity of a Heavenly Practitioner, his sapphire gaze remained sharp and calculating—the look of a predator who had survived thousands of battles.

  Amidst the chaos of the battle against the water shadows, Zhi Xuan’s presence, walking calmly across the frozen water, immediately drew attention. His white robe, glowing softly, provided a stark contrast in the purple twilight of the area.

  "Who is that?!" shouted an elite disciple of the Ancient Wang Clan, who was struggling to parry an attack from a water shadow. "Such a pure aura... has one of the elders entered secretly?"

  Zhi Xuan did not answer. He continued walking, his hands hidden within his wide sleeves. Each of his steps created small golden ripples on the ice surface, neutralizing the chaotic energy that tried to approach him.

  "Zhi Xuan?!" A voice full of shock came from the left side of the courtyard.

  Zhu Yanghai stood there, waving his jade fan to shatter three water shadows at once. Beside him, Hua Tianming was sweeping his energy to slash through the enemies. Both froze, staring at Zhi Xuan with furrowed brows. As the two people who knew Zhi Xuan best, they felt an extraordinary sense of strangeness.

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  "Brother Hua, am I seeing things?" Zhu Yanghai whispered, his eyes never leaving Zhi Xuan. "He looks like Zhi Xuan, but... where is the killing intent? He now looks like... like morning dew tea that is far too clean."

  Hua Tianming narrowed his eyes, sensing that the spatial laws around Zhi Xuan were calmer. "His cultivation base is still Weaver Transformation, but his existence... it’s as if he has a different body."

  Zhi Xuan quickly offered a thin smile, darting forward to stop right beside Zhu Yanghai. "Brother Zhu, this Zhi merely found a heavenly tear before entering the immortal gate. That is why I did not enter first and chose to be last. I was washing away a bit of my past bad karma."

  Zhu Yanghai snorted, though his hands remained agile, flicking his jade fan to break a water shadow attack. "Washing away bad karma? You speak as if you just stepped out of a Gods' purification pool, Brother Zhi! But I admit, your face now looks much more... trustworthy, at least to those who don't know how cunning you are."

  Hua Tianming only gave a short nod, though his gaze remained wary. "Whatever you did out there, keep it to yourself. In here, the law of the jungle still applies. These water guards are just the appetizers before we reach the Core of Chaos."

  Zhi Xuan shifted his gaze to the center of the courtyard, where a more violent battle was raging. There, the other Holy Sons were carving a path toward the deeper palace gates. Han Shanshan, with his wild blue ocean aura, looked like a rampaging dragon, destroying every water shadow with fists coated in frozen ice essence.

  Sensing the presence of the aura he hated most, Han Shanshan turned quickly. His red eyes flashed as he caught sight of the white-robed figure. "Gu Fengyan?! Why have you shed your skin like a snake?" he shouted mockingly. "Do you think by wearing white and hiding your stench, you can escape the Han Clan's blood debt?!"

  Zhi Xuan was not baited. He floated gracefully, approaching the front lines without any rush. "Holy Son Han, your anger will only muddy the water that is already clear. In a place full of such grand history, do you not feel ashamed to bring such noise?"

  "You—!" Han Shanshan nearly launched himself at Zhi Xuan if not for the interruption from Bai Wuchen, who was at the very front.

  "Hold your rage, Han Shanshan!" Bai Wuchen shouted, his water-dragon robe emitting a sapphire light that suppressed the surroundings. "Holy Maiden Qin, let us open the path to this palace together."

  Qin Meiling, standing in the center of a purple energy vortex, plucked her lute at a faster tempo. The notes produced manifested as purple lotus petals floating in the air, each carrying a law that instantly subdued the water shadows, causing them to dissolve into petals.

  She floated and gestured upward, spinning gracefully in an instant. From behind her appeared an expanse of sky adorned with five silver moons. Surrounding those moons were silhouettes of Qin Meiling, each holding a lute. This was her domain: the Five-Note Shining Moon.

  The grand harmony created by Qin Meiling instantly transformed the palace courtyard into a sacred field of laws. The five silver moons behind her back emitted a pure, cold light, illuminating every corner of the crystal ruins. Every time a string was plucked, sound waves manifested as purple ripples that paralyzed the movements of the spiritual water shadows, forcing them back into harmless basic essence.

  Bai Wuchen did not miss the opportunity. As the ruler of the Cang Hai region, he stomped his foot onto the ice surface, triggering the Ocean Sovereign of All Beings Domain. Behind him, an expanse of ocean with thousands of sea creatures appeared like a painting, yet the domain's reach could nearly cover a large city at its full extent. The two domains now enveloped each other; the five moons emitted waves that instantly turned the area into something like a rainforest beneath a moonlit sky.

  "Is this... a Domain that has reached Grand Perfection?" Zhi Xuan murmured. He jumped back and scrutinized the two domains, momentarily awestruck by their manifestation. "This is almost as if they are about to reach Divine Transformation and are capable of possessing their own illusory realm domains."

  The sight before Zhi Xuan was a true manifestation of power. Qin Meiling’s Five-Note Shining Moon and Bai Wuchen’s Ocean Sovereign Domain were not merely weaves of laws, but extensions of the soul's will that had touched the threshold between mortality and divinity. The silver light from the five moons and the spiritual waves of the ancient sea merged, creating a space where ordinary natural laws were forced to submit.

  On the other side of the courtyard, Han Shanshan would not be outdone. Seeing Bai Wuchen’s dominating presence, his pride as the Holy Son of the Han Clan seemed to catch fire. He clasped his hands together, and from behind him emerged an expanse of snow-capped mountains and the silhouettes of six giants whose weight suppressed everything around them. Han Shanshan manifested his Divine Soul, towering like an arrogant god. This was his True Domain: Six Worlds Frozen in Eternity.

  This clash of domains created violent tremors capable of tearing the dimensional veil within the Secret Realm. Zhi Xuan, standing in his white body, felt a starkly contrasting sensation. If previously he would have responded to this pressure with boiling blood, he now felt like a feather floating amidst a storm; he did not resist the pressure but allowed every stream of the Holy Sons' Domain laws to flow through his pure soul.

  "Six Worlds Frozen in Eternity..." Zhi Xuan whispered, his sapphire eyes recording every change in the essence structure before him. "The Han Clan truly has the ambition to freeze the entire sky."

  Han Shanshan laughed haughtily, his ice-coated steps creating crystal paths that shattered the water shadows around him. "Look! This is the true power of an Emperor's bloodline! You who rely only on melodies and water, see how my world swallows everything!"

  The three Domains gradually broke down the seal of the crystal palace doors. The irrational domain pressure, combined with the fact that all three practitioners were nearly at the Divine Transformation stage, caused the gate to slowly surrender under the divine pressure. The violent shock from the collision of three True Domains created a terrifying spatial distortion.

  BOMM—!

  The sound of the explosion was not heard by the ears but vibrated directly within the soul. The giant gates of the crystal palace, adorned with relief carvings of ancient sea dragons, finally cracked. The sapphire light sealing them shattered into pieces, crushed by the weight of the three domains. As the gates swung open, a gust of pure energy that had been trapped for tens of thousands of years surged out.

  The burst of ancient energy rushing out from behind the crystal palace gates felt incredibly dense, carrying a scent of eternity capable of rejuvenating meridians or burning the bodies of those whose foundations were unstable. As the seal collapsed, it was not just treasure that awaited, but a test of who was most worthy to walk in the footsteps of the ancestors.

  Zhi Xuan, with his white robes fluttering, felt the energy flow wash over his face. If previously his Heavenly-Blood Physique would have devoured this energy ravenously, now his heavenly practitioner body only absorbed the essence with the subtlety of dew absorbing sunlight. He stood with an eerie calm amidst the frenzy of practitioners scrambling to enter.

  "The gate is open! Enter!" Bai Wuchen shouted, his voice booming over the roar of his ocean domain.

  The Holy Sons shot forward like meteors of different colors, each leading their elite groups. However, Han Shanshan was the most aggressive. Using his domain, he froze the air, creating an ice bridge leading directly to the heart of the palace, attempting to bypass the others with overflowing arrogance.

  Zhi Xuan only watched without moving. He saw Zhu Qinglan speed past, giving him a small nod, and Ye Xishui staring straight ahead as if the Heavenly Ascension Fruit already belonged to her. However, the scent of heavenly flowers reappeared behind Zhi Xuan—a scent that had been out of his reach for several days.

  "Senior..." Feng Yaoyue whispered, her majestic phoenix robes fluttering softly. "Why has Senior not entered? Are you waiting for Yaoyue here?"

  Zhi Xuan did not turn around immediately. He allowed the scent of heavenly peaches to wash over his inner senses, which were now much more sensitive. In his white body, he could feel the surge of fire within Feng Yaoyue’s body was much wilder than before—a sign that the Phoenix Princess was at the peak of her cultivation.

  "Holy Maiden Feng," Zhi Xuan said, his voice drifting like a breeze at a mountain summit. "Would it not be better for you to enter immediately with Holy Son Feng Haoyue?"

  Feng Yaoyue chuckled, the sound of her laughter like the tinkling of golden bells breaking in the silence. She stepped forward until she stood right beside Zhi Xuan, her shoulder nearly touching the young man’s white robe. Her peach-petal-shaped eyes stared intently at Zhi Xuan’s now-clear face.

  "Brother Haoyue has already entered with a blazing fire; he does not need Yaoyue to help him burn a path," Yaoyue whispered, her slender fingers reaching up to touch the hem of Zhi Xuan’s sleeve. "Senior’s aura... is truly pure. If before Senior was a bloodthirsty sword, now you are a mountain peak covered in eternal snow. So cold, yet it makes Yaoyue want to climb it."

  Zhi Xuan withdrew his sleeve with a fluid motion, letting Feng Yaoyue’s touch fall away like dew dropping from a lotus leaf. He turned slowly, gazing at the Phoenix Princess with the depth of sapphire eyes that no longer held any ripples of darkness.

  "Climbing a cold peak will only freeze a phoenix's wings, Holy Maiden," Zhi Xuan replied flatly. "Better to save that fire to light your way in there. The wonders of this Secret Realm will not wait for those who dally too much."