When the tip of Ye Chen’s foot stepped into the area of distorted light at the center of the lake, the world did not spin or tear apart as expected.
There was no sensation of water, no pressure of space.
One moment, he was above the lake surface; the next, he stood within a flowing river of stars.
There was no ordinary heaven or earth here—only a brilliant, endless long river, its beginning and end unseen.
The river was not made of matter, but formed from countless mottled points of spiritual power, gathering together like billions of tiny fish, carrying ancient aura, surging forward, washing over every being that stepped into this place.
Beneath his feet was not solid ground, but an invisible embankment condensed from mysterious laws.
With each step forward, the torrent of spiritual power from ahead grew stronger.
Ye Chen looked around this strange space with slight curiosity.
This was a trial secret realm, cleverly constructed using the massive spiritual power source of the Dao Seeking Lake.
Its core was to use the chaotic flow of spiritual power to test a cultivator’s purity of spiritual energy, the strength of their body, and most importantly—the solidity of their Dao Heart.
To ordinary cultivators, this place was a deadly land.
The chaotic spiritual power constantly tried to pollute their meridians, and the violent will assaulted their soul.
But to him…
Ye Chen faced the river of light rushing against the current and stepped forward.
His pace was unhurried.
Those motes of spiritual power that could make even late-stage Qi Refining cultivators struggle melted quietly away against his protective spiritual energy, like spring snow under the scorching sun.
One hundred zhang.
Five hundred zhang.
A thousand… one thousand five hundred…
Ye Chen’s steps remained steady, his expression unchanged in the slightest.
Just like that, with an ordinary posture, he traversed a distance that would take countless inner court disciples years to reach.
Finally, he stopped at the two-thousand-zhang mark.
The spiritual power ahead had become a tangible giant wave, each crash containing enough force to shake a typical late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Within the river of light, faint threads of destructive Mixed Chaotic Qi had begun to mingle.
“With my current cultivation at the fourth layer of Qi Refining, this is the limit.”
He made his judgment in his heart.
Beyond this point, no amount of skill could compensate—it was pure power.
However, after saying this, he did not choose to retreat like all disciples who had completed the trial.
He slowly sat cross-legged right there, upon the embankment of the ever-flowing star river.
A land of peril? A tempering ground?
No.
To him, this place was an ideal Dao field.
The chaotic spiritual power that seemed so toxic to others was, to him, nothing more than unrefined nourishment.
Just as he was about to settle his mind and activate his cultivation technique, a vast and indifferent will descended upon the space without warning.
This will had no emotion—it was the embodiment of the law of this realm.
[Leave your name.]
Two ancient syllables sounded directly within his soul.
“Ye Chen.”
As his voice fell, the vast will receded like the tide, as if it had never appeared.
The world returned to its previous state.
Ye Chen’s breathing grew long and steady.
In his mind, the mysterious, unnamed Dao technique began to operate slowly.
In an instant, an invisible vortex quietly formed around him.
The roaring, countercurrent star river of spiritual power seemed to find a new outlet, with strands of light being drawn from their original path and entering his body.
—
Unbeknownst to him, as he turned a deadly realm into a Dao field, the ripples he created outside were evolving into a significant Storm.
By the Dao Seeking Lake, under a pavilion.
At first, no one noticed the Qi Refining realm leaderboard, which had seen no major changes for thousands of years.
The disciples’ gazes were mostly fixed on the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core rankings, admiring the legendary senior brothers and sisters, or searching for friends’ names, chatting and laughing.
It wasn’t until a newly promoted inner court disciple, who had completed the trial but barely managed to reach thirty zhang before retreating in embarrassment, went to the Qi Refining ranking for some solace, that he froze.
“Huh? Is… is the Qi Refining leaderboard glowing?”
He rubbed his eyes, uncertainly turning to his companion.
“Glowing? Impossible.”
His companion scoffed.
“That leaderboard hasn’t moved in thousands of years. The last person to leave their name was a senior from three thousand years ago. They say he later became the Sect’s Grand Elder… Let me see.”
He glanced over carelessly, and then his smile froze as well.
At the end of the usually dull and dark Qi Refining ranking, a layer of newborn Golden Light was now coiling.
A brand-new name had appeared at the very top of the ranking with overwhelming dominance!
[Rank 1: Ye Chen. Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, Two Thousand Zhang.]
The pavilion fell instantly into dead silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
Everyone’s eyes were nailed to that line, as if trying to bore a hole through the stone tablet.
“Fourth… Fourth layer of Qi Refining? Two… Two thousand zhang?”
A disciple stammered, voice trembling.
“Am I seeing things? Did the stone tablet malfunction?”
“Three thousand years ago, Sect Elder Zhao, at the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Refining, only reached one hundred eighty-two zhang! How is this possible?!”
“Ye Chen? Who is that? Has anyone heard of this name?”
“That’s the recently infamous registered disciple from Heavenly Sword Peak!”
“Fourth layer of Qi Refining… That’s entry-level!”
Doubt, shock, and disbelief exploded through the crowd.
At first, everyone assumed the stone tablet had malfunctioned.
But the trial stele by the Dao Seeking Lake was a Sect treasure, connected to the earth veins, eternal for ten thousand years—when had it ever erred?
Thus, a more absurd, yet seemingly sole explanation floated into everyone’s minds:
A fourth-layer Qi Refining disciple named “Ye Chen” really… walked two thousand zhang.
This news, like a massive stone dropped into a calm lake, set off a storm among the inner court of Heavenly Sword Peak and registered disciples across every mountain.
Countless people gathered, pointing at the name on the stone tablet, guessing at the identity of the newly risen “Ye Chen”.
No matter how they inquired, all they learned was that this was a mysterious disciple who had only recently joined the Sect.
A new disciple with countless ties to Heavenly Sword Peak.
The commotion lasted for a full month.
As the discussion about “Ye Chen” slowly cooled and some began to treat it as an inexplicable “Sect oddity”, an even more astonishing change occurred.
A month later, at the same pavilion.
Yan Hongxiu, dressed in red, finished her morning training and habitually strolled to the Dao Seeking Lake.
Over the past month, she had come almost every day to look at that name, filled with curiosity and a trace of expectation she herself had not realized.
She knew that the mysterious “Ye Chen” was the same calm-eyed junior she had met that day.
Maybe, he could help her…
Putting aside her complex thoughts, Yan Hongxiu noticed a change on the leaderboard.
Inside and outside the pavilion, disciples were crowded layer upon layer—more than even when the name “Ye Chen” first appeared a month ago.
Everyone stood with their heads raised, faces almost ghostly with shock, staring at the light screen.
It was not the Qi Refining leaderboard.
It was… Foundation Establishment!
Yan Hongxiu’s heart skipped as she squeezed into the crowd and looked up.
At the bottom of the Foundation Establishment ranking, a new name was listed, also radiating a faint Golden Light.
[Rank 100: Ye Chen. First Layer of Foundation Establishment, Two Thousand Zhang.]
At the same time, on the Qi Refining leaderboard, though “Ye Chen’s” name still hung at the top, its Golden Light had faded into a gray color symbolizing a Historical Record.
This meant the named one had broken through that realm.
“Heavens! He broke through! He broke through!”
“A month, from the fourth layer of Qi Refining, straight to Foundation Establishment!”
“Monster! He’s a monster! Crossing a great realm in a month—is he even human?”
The crowd erupted into chaos!
If a month ago, they had been stunned by the potential of a Qi Refining disciple, now they were witnessing the birth of a living legend!
Yan Hongxiu stood among the crowd, lips slightly parted, her bright eyes—always with a dashing smile—now filled only with indescribable shock.
She remembered clearly—a month ago, she had patted her chest like a senior and said “Senior sister’s got your back” to that fourth-layer junior.
A month…
In her mind, the image of the plainly dressed, calm young man overlapped with the name on the stone tablet that had shaken the entire Sect.
An indescribable blend of absurdity and excitement welled up inside her, making her grip on her sword hilt tremble slightly.
“Ye Chen…”
She murmured, the corner of her mouth involuntarily lifting into a stunning arc.
“What kind of secret are you hiding…?”