Chapter 607: Spirit Ship Advancement, Tier 5 High-Grade

Chapter 607 -514: Spirit Ship Advancement, Tier 5 High-Grade

The raid was over.

Su Ye had reaped a bountiful harvest. After finalizing his plan, he set out for the True Treasure Pavilion.

He prepared to rally his forces, hoard resources, rapidly enhance his combat strength, and establish his dominance over the Yaoguang Islands.

Meanwhile.

After several days, the shocking news from Tingchao Pavilion had spread throughout the Yaoguang Islands!

Tingchao Pavilion, one of the nine major sects of the inner sea!

A top power in the Yaoguang Islands, presided over by a great late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!

Overnight, its sect headquarters was razed to the ground, its secret treasury plundered clean, its Nascent Soul guardian slain, and its nearly ten million disciples and servants slaughtered to the last person!

“How is that possible? They’re one of the nine major sects of the inner sea!”

“Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what you’re saying?”

“Investigate again and report back! I want the most accurate and detailed intelligence—not a single detail can be missed!”

No matter who heard it—from the highest echelons of the nine sects to the profoundly powerful Nascent Soul Old Monsters—their first reaction was utter disbelief!

One of the nine major sects of the inner sea, with its heavily guarded headquarters, was just annihilated like that?

Just as all the factions, half-believing and half-doubting, dispatched more people to investigate…

BOOM!

An even more shocking piece of news exploded across the land!

Su Ye, at the helm of the Ghostly Flood Dragon, was rampaging unchecked through the Jade Void Sword Sect’s territorial waters, inflicting disastrous losses!

At least three of the Sword Sect’s Nascent Soul cultivators had fallen at his hands, and the rest of their losses were simply incalculable!

According to reports from spies, the combat power of this Dao Embryo Dharma Aspect had surged once more. In the midst of his raids, he had clashed with the Jade Void Sword Sect’s guardian Nascent Soul cultivators and could suppress them with effortless ease!

It was useless even when a Sword Sect Nascent Soul cultivator abandoned their physical body for their Nascent Soul to escape!

Furthermore, spies from various factions planted within the Jade Void Sword Sect’s territory risked death to get closer, and they reached a terrifying conclusion!

“This Dao Embryo Dharma Aspect…”

“He has already advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm! From now on, we must call him… Yehai!”

Advancing to become a Nascent Soul True Monarch requires a fifth-rank Spirit Vein. Armed with this knowledge and various scraps of intelligence, the Cultivation Realm pieced together the truth of the matter.

“Su Ye made preparations on two fronts. He feigned hiding in the True Treasure Pavilion, intending to use its fifth-rank Spirit Vein to break through!”

“In reality, it was a classic misdirection. He created a diversion to draw all the attention, then went to Tingchao Pavilion, annihilated the undefended sect in one fell swoop, and ascended to become a Nascent Soul True Monarch!”

“Tsk, tsk… The Jade Void Sword Sect really overplayed their hand this time and suffered disastrous losses…”

Originally.

The Jade Void Sword Sect had launched a lightning strike, colluding with the Song Family of the True Treasure Pavilion. They had descended menacingly upon the True Treasure Pavilion aboard the Taixu Luofu Immortal Boat.

If their plan had succeeded, they not only would have killed Su Ye, but they also could have used their overwhelming momentum to subjugate the True Treasure Pavilion and force this neutral power to serve them!

In this way, they would not only have gained a powerful ally and changed the balance of power in the sea region, but they also would have perfectly flexed their muscles, intimidating any ambitious schemers in the region who harbored ill intentions and wished to challenge the Sword Sect!

Unfortunately.

That whole scheme went up in smoke!

This time, not only did the Jade Void Sword Sect fail to eliminate Su Ye, but their loyal vassal, Tingchao Pavilion, was annihilated, and the sea regions under the Sword Sect’s rule were left in shambles!

—The Master of Tingchao Pavilion and a few of its other Nascent Soul cultivators did manage to escape with their lives.

However, their sect headquarters had been overthrown, their members and disciples had suffered heavy casualties, and only a few elites stationed elsewhere remained…

Today’s Tingchao Pavilion probably only had two or three hundred disciples in the entire sect. Could such a sect truly still be counted among the nine major sects of the inner sea?

‘Wouldn’t it be more realistic for them to be absorbed by the Jade Void Sword Sect and just become the Tingchao Hall?’

Stepping on the corpses of Tingchao Pavilion and the pride of the Jade Void Sword Sect, Yehai Su Ye officially ascended to the pinnacle of the Jade Light Cultivation Realm, his mighty reputation enough to shake the four seas!

…

「Several days later.」

The True Treasure Pavilion.

The sect headquarters was somewhat dilapidated.

The menacing arrival of the Sword Sect and the rebellion of the Song Family had been nothing short of a catastrophe for the True Treasure Pavilion.

The Arrays laid down by generations of Pavilion Masters were mostly destroyed. It would take at least a dozen years to restore them to their former state.

However.

The slightly dilapidated scenery did not detract from the festive atmosphere within the headquarters.

Lanterns and colorful decorations were hung, immortal flowers bloomed, and beautiful mermaid attendants bustled about. It was truly the scene of a grand celebration!

The reason was simple.

Yehai Su Ye had sent a Communication Talisman, appointing the True Treasure Pavilion and Cangyuan Dragon Palace to prepare his Nascent Soul Grand Ceremony!

Among the nine major sects of the inner sea, all but the annihilated Tingchao Pavilion and the Jade Void Sword Sect had sent emissaries. As for congratulatory envoys from Golden Core and Crystal Realm powers, they arrived in an endless stream!

Everyone knew that once someone with a Dao Embryo Dharma Aspect reached the Nascent Soul Realm, they were invincible among their peers!

It was foreseeable that in the next few thousand years, this Yehai would surely be a pivotal figure in the Jade Light Cultivation Realm!

Besides the Jade Void Sword Sect’s faction, who would dare not attend his Nascent Soul Grand Ceremony?

If you came, he might not remember you.

But if you didn’t come, he would definitely remember you.

At that moment.

In a pavilion within the True Treasure Pavilion’s headquarters.

Li Jinhua leaned against a railing, gazing out at the sect headquarters, a place both dilapidated and festive.

A look of bewilderment appeared on her face. She sighed and said self-deprecatingly.

“It’s like a dream… My great True Treasure Pavilion, beset by internal and external threats, was on the brink of collapse one night, yet the very next, it’s revitalized, all troubles scattered?”

“It truly… is like a dream…”

Li Jinhua couldn’t help but sigh.

Her life had not been easy recently.

The Song brothers, backed by the might of the Jade Void Sword Sect, had put her under house arrest. They had purged all opposition, won over the neutral Nascent Soul True Monarchs, and seized control of the True Treasure Pavilion!

The Cangyuan Dragon Palace faction had been largely purged!

Li Jinhua had originally thought that both she and Cangyuan Dragon Palace would lose their glory, slowly bled to death by a dull knife.

But who could have imagined that in just half a month, the situation would completely reverse!

Su Ye had advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm, annihilated Tingchao Pavilion, plundered the Jade Void Sword Sect, and slain multiple Sword Sect Nascent Soul cultivators. His fearsome might was overwhelming!

Moreover.

He had remembered their agreement and given Cangyuan Dragon Palace a helping hand.

The two Nascent Soul cultivators of the Song Family had fled in a panic upon hearing that Su Ye was about to arrive.

Li Jinhua had done nothing, yet she regained her freedom, and the predicament of Cangyuan Dragon Palace was resolved with ease.

And all of this was thanks to Su Ye alone. The feeling left her with a complex mix of emotions.

“Twenty years ago, he was only at the Golden Core Realm…”

“How can one with a Dao Embryo Dharma Aspect be judged by common sense?”

A youth wearing a jade crown and a brocade robe stepped through the doorway.

His features were youthful, but his eyes held the vicissitudes of time, as if he had seen through the ways of the world, yet they remained as pure as glazed glass.

With an aura as deep as the sea and brilliant gold vertical pupils, the youth’s identity was self-evident.

“Father.”

Li Jinhua clasped her hands in a salute.

The newcomer was none other than the Cangyuan Dragon Monarch!

An ancient true dragon who had survived since the era of the Blood Moon Demon Palace’s rule!

“You’ve done very well.”

The Cangyuan Dragon Monarch looked pleased. Li Jinhua’s sharp eye for talent—her investment in Su Ye—was enough to guarantee that Cangyuan Dragon Palace would continue its glory for the next one or two thousand years.

This was even more significant than back during the Reversed Moon War, when he had forged alliances and united several powers to establish the True Treasure Pavilion!

‘A pity… I was still too conservative. I should have sent a few daughters to him sooner…’

The Cangyuan Dragon Monarch sighed to himself, muttering internally. For many years, to avoid arousing suspicion and fear, he had rarely left his home, instead spending his time in Cangyuan Dragon Palace sowing his seeds.

He could pick out several hundred dragon-maidens from among them.

‘It’s a bit late to send them now…’ the Cangyuan Dragon Monarch thought.

Given Su Ye’s current status, his dragon-maidens were no longer qualified to marry him.

‘Although… that’s not necessarily true.’ The Cangyuan Dragon Monarch glanced at Li Jinhua, his most outstanding offspring. Her talent, aptitude, appearance, and temperament were all exceptional!

‘And… she has a friendly relationship with Su Ye. Heh… If I send Jinhua to his side, over time, I refuse to believe that boy won’t be tempted…’

As for the fact that Su Ye already had Dao companions, the Cangyuan Dragon Monarch paid it no mind.

He had looked into it. Su Ye’s original Dao companions were at the Crystal Realm at best, with rather short lifespans.

In five hundred years, they would turn to dust and return to the earth. Even if nurtured to the Golden Core Realm, they would only live for eight hundred years.

To a true dragon, a few hundred years was not a long time.

—As for cultivating them to the Nascent Soul Realm, even among the True Disciples of the nine major sects, those with top-tier aptitude and temperament, only one or two out of ten could reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

After a few more words of idle chat.

The Cangyuan Dragon Monarch suddenly sensed something, raised his head, and looked into the distance.

“He’s here!”

…

WHOOSH.

Waves of air howled and clouds churned.

The dark, towering Ghostly Flood Dragon, which blotted out the sky and sun, broke through the Gangfeng Layer and slowly descended from the heavens.

Su Ye stood at the ship’s bow, dressed in an intricate black robe, his long hair hanging loosely. His aura was clear and his presence striking.

“Mr. Changle, Master of the True Treasure Pavilion, respectfully welcomes Yehai’s arrival!”

Mr. Changle clasped his hands in a salute, his posture extremely humble.

Setting aside Su Ye’s spectacular battle record, just the oppressive feeling from the Ghostly Flood Dragon, a fifth-rank, mid-grade spirit ship, was enough to make Mr. Changle’s eyelids twitch!

This spirit ship felt extremely dangerous to him.

He might not even be able to defeat one of Su Ye’s spirit ships!

Thinking of this, Mr. Changle felt even more fortunate that he hadn’t picked the wrong side. He had rejected the Song Family’s advances and even protected some of the Cangyuan Dragon Palace cultivators.

‘My True Treasure Pavilion can also bask in some of this reflected glory.’

“We welcome Yehai.”

“We welcome Yehai.”

The emissaries from the various powers and the cultivators of the True Treasure Pavilion, thousands of people in total, shouted their congratulations in unison.

These cultivators represented nearly three-quarters of the powers in the Jade Light Cultivation Realm!

‘They’re all fat sheep…’ Su Ye thought, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.

With so many cultivators attending the Nascent Soul Grand Ceremony, their combined gifts, plus the contents of the True Treasure Pavilion’s secret treasury, would make the Ghostly Flood Dragon’s advancement to a fifth-rank, high-grade spirit ship a certainty!

‘Once it advances to fifth-rank, high-grade, I can take the Nascent Soul cultivators from the True Treasure Pavilion to the Far South Continent and conquer the southern territories.’

‘By Refining the Spiritual Spring Origin, I can rapidly increase my Magical Power and advance to the late-stage Nascent Soul Realm within one or two years!’

At this thought, Su Ye’s smile softened a little more.

“Thank you all for attending my Nascent Soul Grand Ceremony…”

…

The Nascent Soul Grand Ceremony itself was unremarkable.

Su Ye gave a short speech to appear approachable, clarifying his position on the righteous path and framing his conflict with the Jade Void Sword Sect as a righteous civil war for dominance.

He assured them that he was by no means a crazed Demon Dao titan who slaughtered the innocent indiscriminately.

This was to reassure the various powers and set their minds at ease.

Next was the receiving of gifts.

To make a good impression on Su Ye, the powers who came to offer congratulations all presented rather valuable gifts.

Even a power like the Star Casting Hall, which had a history of conflict with Su Ye, sent several fifth-rank Spiritual Objects as a sign of goodwill, showing they had no hostile intentions.

‘Please, focus on dealing with the Jade Void Sword Sect. Just leave us alone.’

Thanks to the generous contributions of his fellow Daoists, Su Ye fed these spiritual materials to the Ghostly Flood Dragon.

His personal spirit ship, as expected, advanced to fifth-rank, high-grade!

‘Next…’

‘It’s time to head to the Far South Continent…’

Su Ye’s eyes flickered with anticipation.

‘The Nether Mirror…’

‘I wonder… will *It* dare to descend as an incarnation?’