Chapter 235: The First Legendary Great Cultivator of the Near-Ancient Era

With the two top-tier body-cultivating Great Cultivators driven away, this Lingxu Blessed Land was entirely yours.

Far in the distance, a few concealed auras still lurked in the dark. These were Great Cultivators observing from afar, not daring to approach.

They posed no threat to you.

A moment later, under your watchful gaze, the Lingxu Blessed Land slowly opened.

You had timed your arrival perfectly; right after you dealt with the five top-tier dharma cultivation and body cultivation Great Cultivators, the Lingxu Blessed Land opened.

It hadn't taken you long to dispatch the five top-tier dharma cultivation Great Cultivators; it had been a swift, decisive battle.

Swoosh.

Your main Nascent Soul stepped out, while your Second Nascent Soul controlled your physical body and entered the blessed land.

There were no dangers inside the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands of the Central Continent Territory. They were pure fortuitous opportunities left behind for later generations by the Heavenly Monarchs of the ancient era.

Your main Nascent Soul remained outside to prevent other top-tier Great Cultivators from approaching and sealing the entrance to the blessed land after you went in.

The possibility was extremely low—you had just displayed an invincible combat prowess capable of sweeping aside top-tier Great Cultivators, and no one would dare approach at a time like this.

However, given your cautious nature, you naturally kept your guard up.

After taking the resources inside the blessed land, I must leave as quickly as possible... You pinched your fingers to divine the future, faintly sensing that the heavenly secrets were hazy and difficult to parse.

Clearly, your actions here would cause a massive earthquake across the Central Continent Territory—and the entire Human Realm.

But you had no regrets. If you hadn't revealed the strength of a legendary Great Cultivator while besieged by the three top-tier Great Cultivators—Huanye, Wugan, and Purple-Eyed—you would have been forced to retreat and miss out on the Lingxu Blessed Land. Losing these resources meant your physical body would struggle to reach the Fourth-Tier Late Stage Peak, increasing your chances of failure when you eventually attempted to break through to the Deity Transformation Stage.

One step slow, every step slow.

Exposing the strength of a legendary Great Cultivator did indeed carry some risks.

But how could breaking through to the Deity Transformation Stage to become a Heavenly Monarch carry zero risk?

The higher the realm, the more fiercely one had to fight for crucial resources.

Even if your true identity was discovered afterward, the worst-case scenario would simply be retreating from the Central Continent. You could wait until you had fully digested the resources from the Lingxu Blessed Land and your physical body reached the Fourth-Tier Late Stage Peak before returning.

Of course, according to your plan, your true identity would not be exposed.

You possessed a Fourth Tier Mid-Grade Divination Art. With the aid of your Quasi-Fifth-Tier Tortoise Shell, even a Fourth Tier High Grade divination Grandmaster wouldn't be able to divine a single trace of information about you without sacrificing a massive amount of lifespan.

And why would they? The status of a fourth-tier divination Grandmaster was utterly transcendent. The only way to compel such an existence to burn that much lifespan was if a matter involved the Demon Abyss Realm and threatened the survival of the Human Realm. The methods you had displayed so far belonged entirely to the Human Realm.

Given your concealed identity, no Fourth Tier High Grade divination Grandmaster would dare directly burn an exorbitant amount of lifespan just to divine your background.

If a Fourth Tier High Grade divination Grandmaster were that impulsive and brainless, they never would have lived to the present day; they would have died from lifespan depletion long ago.

Hmm?

You continued your divinations using the piece of dead wood left behind by the Purple-Eyed True Monarch. The Purple-Eyed True Monarch is already hundreds of thousands of miles away? He must be heading back to the Great Snow Mountain...

Using the dead wood as a medium, you roughly calculated the Purple-Eyed True Monarch's position and felt a pang of secret regret.

If he hadn't left and was instead hiding nearby to observe you, you wouldn't have minded giving him a pleasant surprise after looting the various resources from the Lingxu Blessed Land.

Even if you couldn't kill him, you could have heavily injured him, damaging his foundation and indefinitely lowering his hopes of breaking through to the Deity Transformation Stage.

Through that brief exchange earlier, you had confirmed that the Purple-Eyed True Monarch was neither a demonic cultivator nor a demonic creature, meaning he wasn't suppressed by your Natural Enemy of Demonic Cultivators talent.

Lucky you...

You gazed into the distance, toward the Northern Plains Great Snow Mountain.

According to your fifth simulation, another crucial grotto-heaven would open in the Central Continent Territory in two to three hundred years. When that time came, the Purple-Eyed True Monarch would make a move to fight for its resources.

You would have another chance to strike at him then.

Even if the Purple-Eyed True Monarch noticed something and hid inside the Great Snow Mountain, you could simply emulate your actions from the previous simulation and report to the Heavenly Sword Peak that he was colluding with the Demon Abyss Realm.

Heavenly Sword Peak possessed a Fourth Tier High Grade divination Grandmaster. Divining the relationship between the Purple-Eyed True Monarch and the Demon Abyss Realm directly might be arduous and obscure, but as long as you provided a clear medium, confirming the authenticity of your report wouldn't be difficult.

In the fifth simulation, this was exactly the method you used to bring down the Great Snow Mountain.

The only reason you hadn't used this method immediately in the current simulation was that you wanted to kill the Purple-Eyed True Monarch yourself and seize this top-tier Great Cultivator's spoils of war.

Ultimately, if you didn't get the opportunity to kill him personally, you would simply hand the matter over to Heavenly Sword Peak.

Inside the Lingxu Blessed Land.

Your physical body stepped directly inside.

Looking around, the Lingxu Blessed Land spanned roughly a thousand li in radius. Many precious body cultivation treasures and rare spiritual herbs grew everywhere.

Is this a Dragon Scale Fruit?

You looked at a small tree that resembled a creeping horned dragon, a fist-sized fruit hanging among its branches.

The so-called Dragon Scale Fruit was a precious spiritual plant nurtured by massive amounts of dragon blood. The fruit it produced ripened only once every thousand years and provided phenomenal enhancements to the physical body.

In truth, the drop of True Dragon Blood you had obtained was also a precious body-tempering resource, but to you, refining it with Divine Ability Transformation to obtain the True Dragon transformation held far greater value.

There were other alternatives for body-tempering resources, such as the major body cultivation grotto-heavens and blessed lands in the Central Continent.

But True Dragon Blood with a concentration reaching the threshold of blood essence? Looking across the entire Human Realm, the drop in the Ghost Realm Trial Field was perhaps the only one left.

A Ten-Thousand-Year Blood Apricot... Not bad, not bad... You spotted another body cultivation resource that had reached Quasi-Tier-5 quality: the Ten-Thousand-Year Blood Apricot.

This apricot ripened only once every ten thousand years. One wouldn't necessarily encounter it even across multiple openings of the Lingxu Blessed Land. Yet, on this trip, you had actually found one.

Heavenly Fire Essence... Earth Fiend Crystal... You quickly collected the mature body cultivation resources and treasures across the Lingxu Blessed Land. The original plants were all protected by restrictions left behind by Heavenly Monarchs; you could only harvest their yields, not uproot and take the plants themselves.

You had no interest in taking the plants entirely anyway. The rare resources in the blessed land took anywhere from a thousand to several thousand years to ripen. You simply didn't have the time to sit and wait.

Dozens of breaths later, you arrived at the center of the blessed land.

A massive boulder sat there, engraved with golden seal characters that looked like swimming tadpoles.

Is this a body cultivation inheritance left behind by the body-cultivating Heavenly Monarch who opened this blessed land?

Your eyes lit up. Gold and silver seal characters represented body cultivation and dharma cultivation, respectively. This was your first time encountering golden seal characters for body cultivation.

You quickly read through all the golden seal characters on the boulder. Thanks to your experience in the Ghost Realm Trial Field, you were very familiar with this process. You memorized them completely in less than a hundred breaths.

Time to go.

After sweeping your majestic divine sense through the blessed land a few more times to confirm there were no hidden pocket spaces, you returned directly to the outside world.

The moment your physical body returned outside, your main Nascent Soul took control, and you vanished completely.

Less than half a day later.

The Great Cultivators of the two top-tier factions, the Extreme Dao Pavilion and the Sacred Body Sect, arrived together.

"That True Monarch Golden Face has already left?"

"Many of the body cultivation resources inside the blessed land have been harvested."

The body-cultivating Great Cultivators felt a profound heartbreak; these resources were originally supposed to be distributed among them.

"That True Monarch Golden Face is a legendary Great Cultivator. I couldn't stop him," Great Cultivator Mangu said expressionlessly.

The moment those words fell, the other Great Cultivators descended into silence.

Even with the visual records Great Cultivator Mangu had brought back, some body-cultivating Great Cultivators still found it unbelievable. Had a legendary Great Cultivator truly been born in the near-ancient era?

The Heavenly Talisman Sect.

Using the Divine Ability Transformation art, you disguised yourself as a disciple of the Heavenly Talisman Sect, slipped in quietly, and returned to your High-Grade Tier 4 Immortal Cave.

Collecting the Aura Talisman that had been standing in for you, you nodded slightly.

So far, everything had gone smoothly.

This harvest... provides enough resources to cultivate to the Fourth-Tier Late Stage Peak...

A smile graced your face. All the resources produced from this opening of the Lingxu Blessed Land were more than enough to pile up several body-cultivating Great Cultivators to the Fourth-Tier Late Stage Peak.

Now that they had all fallen into your hands, it would be more than enough to push yourself to the Fourth-Tier Late Stage Peak.

Once my physical body reaches the Fourth-Tier Late Stage Peak, I'll awaken my indestructible golden nature and evolve the Indestructible Golden Body. I'll be roughly equivalent to an ancient pure body cultivator, matching top-tier dharma cultivation Great Cultivators...

You pondered inwardly. Your earlier foundation in body cultivation wasn't solid, as you hadn't followed the path of ancient pure body cultivators.

As a result, you hadn't awakened the indestructible golden nature that should have manifested at the Rank 4 Early Stage.

But there were still opportunities to make up for it. If you hadn't awakened your indestructible golden nature at the Rank 4 Early Stage to evolve the Indestructible Golden Body, you would just awaken it at the Late Stage.

Once you awakened your indestructible golden nature and evolved the Indestructible Golden Body, you would become an ancient pure body cultivator. Upon reaching the Late Stage Peak, you would be able to rival top-tier dharma cultivation Great Cultivators.

And once my physical body reaches the level of a top-tier body-cultivating Great Cultivator, augmented by Surpassing Oneself by Half a Move, my physical body will also break past the limits and step into the realm of a legendary Great Cultivator...

You looked radiant with excitement.

In ancient times, legendary Great Cultivators referred to top-tier Great Cultivators who had broken past the limits in any one of three aspects: the physical body, the divine soul, or Nascent Soul dharma power.

Only one of the three was required.

But you? Breaking the limit in all three aspects? Even in the resplendent and prosperous ancient era, when immortals descended to the world, had such a person ever been born?

Breaking the limits in all three aspects... there's no way I'll fail to survive the Deity Transformation Nirvanic Tribulation, right...?

You suddenly recalled that legendary Great Cultivators received special assistance when undergoing the Deity Transformation Nirvanic Tribulation—a fact passed down from the ancient era.

The Deity Transformation Stage...

Pulling back your wandering thoughts, you immediately began refining the body cultivation resources and entered a state of cultivation.

The events at the Lingxu Blessed Land spread like a hurricane across the entire Central Continent and the four major territories.

"That True Monarch Golden Face is a legendary Great Cultivator who broke the limits?"

"The first legendary Great Cultivator in the hundred thousand years of the near-ancient era?"

"True Monarch Golden Face?"

Countless factions across the Human Realm erupted into an uproar, paying special attention to this intelligence. This was the first legendary Great Cultivator of the near-ancient era. Whether in terms of strength or historical significance, it was enough to make him the center of discussion across the entire Human Realm.

The title of True Monarch Golden Face resounded throughout the Human Realm.

"What? That True Monarch Golden Face is actually a legendary Great Cultivator?"

Great Cultivator Zhanshui and Great Cultivator Qiufeng of the Hexu Sect were momentarily dumbfounded when they heard the news. "The True Monarch Golden Face who fought us a century ago has become a legendary Great Cultivator?"

Great Cultivator Zhanshui and Great Cultivator Qiufeng looked at each other in sheer disbelief.

"Was True Monarch Golden Face already a legendary Great Cultivator a century ago but hiding his strength, or did he break through during this past century?" Great Cultivator Zhanshui wondered in shock.

A legendary Great Cultivator possessed the ability to heavily injure an ordinary Late Stage Great Cultivator. Top-tier Great Cultivators might be able to block a strike that exceeded the limits of the Nascent Soul Stage, but ordinary Great Cultivators had absolutely no way to withstand it head-on.

If they ran into him, they would suffer severe injuries at the very least. If they were unlucky, it was highly likely they would have to abandon their physical bodies and flee with just their Nascent Soul spiritual forms.

"Thank goodness we didn't go to the Lingxu Blessed Land this time..." Great Cultivator Zhanshui quietly rejoiced. According to the intelligence, the three top-tier Great Cultivators—Wugan, Huanye, and Purple-Eyed—had met with rather unfortunate ends.

The Heavenly Talisman Sect.

Red Talisman Grand Cultivator and Cold Talisman Grand Cultivator had also received the intelligence regarding True Monarch Golden Face being a legendary Great Cultivator.

"I didn't expect a legendary Great Cultivator could still be born in the near-ancient era..." Cold Talisman Grand Cultivator marveled. He had never interacted directly with True Monarch Golden Face, so at this moment, he only felt astonishment and awe, without any other complicated emotions.

"Against a legendary Great Cultivator, our Heavenly Talisman Sect would probably need to deploy numerous Quasi-Tier-5 talismans just to resist him, right?" Cold Talisman Grand Cultivator couldn't help but say.

Quasi-Tier-5 talismans were the result of at least four to five hundred years of nurturing by a talisman cultivator at the top-tier Great Cultivator level.

Offensive Quasi-Tier-5 talismans possessed power slightly exceeding the limit of the Nascent Soul Stage, roughly equivalent to a single strike from a legendary Great Cultivator.

The Heavenly Talisman Sect possessed fifth-tier talismans, but such profound foundation-level talismans would never be used except as an absolute last resort.

"Hmm..." Red Talisman Grand Cultivator's expression grew solemn as thoughts flashed through his mind. True Monarch Golden Face is actually a legendary Great Cultivator? With such strength, he still sat back and watched me use the Quasi-Tier 5 Restriction-Breaking Talismans to breach the grand array of the Tianzhu Grotto-Heaven back then...

Red Talisman Grand Cultivator's mind was churning, far from peaceful.

Who exactly is such a powerhouse, and why have I never heard of him?

Red Talisman Grand Cultivator pondered inwardly, True Monarch Golden Face only appeared in the Central Continent a century ago, and True Monarch Qingyuan also arrived at the Heavenly Talisman Sect a century ago...

Red Talisman Grand Cultivator furrowed his brow but ultimately shook his head. I'm overthinking it. Fellow Daoist Qingyuan is merely an ordinary Great Cultivator. I've personally sensed his dharma power fluctuations. Moreover, as a Fourth Tier High Grade talisman master, how could he possibly have any spare energy left for combat...?

A cultivator's energy was limited. A Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivator only had roughly a thousand years of lifespan. Comprehending the Dao of Talismans to the Fourth Tier High Grade would likely consume the vast majority of a Great Cultivator's energy. How could they possibly study anything else?

Who on earth is True Monarch Golden Face?

Red Talisman Grand Cultivator was incredibly curious.