"Damn it, damn it, that year I shouldn't have released my insights. No, no, that's not right. If I hadn't released them, this little brat wouldn't have appeared. But why did he only use fifty drops of blood essence to gain insight? It should be one hundred, two hundred, preferably three hundred to understand it properly. If I had five hundred drops, I wouldn't need to cultivate in seclusion anymore!"
Old Ancestor Kaoshan was utterly vexed. This was his strongest hope at the moment. But seeing that hope about to vanish, he had no blood essence to replenish himself, and over a long period, he would continue to decline. Yet, he also knew that his idea was almost impossible.
"That year, I was too cruel to myself, imprisoning myself in this place. I can't break out from the inside, and my voice can barely be heard; they can't hear me. Even if I use magic, I'm too weak to cast much. What should I do? I must think of a way."
Old Ancestor Kaoshan was filled with anxiety. He had already seen outside the underground palace. Meng Hao had met Chen Fan and Xu Qing, and the three were heading towards the altar, wanting to leave this place.
"I must make everyone in the Zhao State Cultivation World come here, all enter my place of seclusion. As long as they come here, borrowing their cultivation, they can break through my place of seclusion. By then, when I get out, I can absorb their vitality, and then I will be able to overcome the Second Severing!"
Old Ancestor Kaoshan gritted his teeth, painstakingly drawing out a bit of his dwindling cultivation. He forcefully slammed a palm onto the ground. The ground rumbled. At the same time, within the underground palace, Meng Hao found an excuse, explaining his disappearance and his changes. Chen Fan smiled and nodded. Senior Sister Xu, seeing that Meng Hao was not injured, said nothing. The three stepped onto the altar and vanished in a flash.
Suddenly, the entire underground palace echoed with an earth-shattering explosion. The three's expressions changed, and they immediately saw cracks appearing in front of them. At the same time, a large stone tablet slowly rose. After a moment, a ten-zhang tall stone tablet appeared before the three. The tablet was entirely golden, covered with dense scriptures—it was the Qi Condensation Volume of the Tai Ling Sutra!
The three were stunned, especially Meng Hao. He found that the Qi Condensation Volume he had painstakingly acquired had suddenly appeared before him, leaving him dumbfounded. But after looking closely, his expression gradually became strange. On that stone tablet, only the first two sentences of the scriptures were real; the rest were fake. It looked very profound, but Meng Hao knew the true scriptures, and with one glance, he could tell the real from the fake. Meng Hao hesitated for a moment but then did not speak.
Chen Fan's eyes gleamed, and he immediately stepped towards the stone tablet. Xu Qing did the same. The two looked for a long time, then exchanged a glance, showing surprise.
"This stone tablet should be decided by the sect master!" Xu Qing said slowly.
Meng Hao blinked, then quickly nodded, indicating that this was very good.
This scene was naturally clearly seen by Old Ancestor Kaoshan. He immediately revealed a smile, and the more he looked at Meng Hao and Xu Qing, the more he found them pleasing to the eye.
"Go quickly, go quickly! Take it outside, it's best to let everyone know. Haha, I am also clever. That year, to be prepared for any eventuality, fearing that someone might intrude during my seclusion, I left behind these fake scriptures. And fearing that people would suspect they were fake, I made some adjustments, deliberately creating an unusual phenomenon when they first appeared, ensuring that they could be seen from all eight directions. Originally, it was meant to harm people, but today it has such a use. Not bad, not bad!"
Khào Shān Old Ancestor was agitated, but very quickly, he became dizzy.
"No way!"
Chén Fán said gravely. He carefully examined the scriptures on the stone stele, and after a long while, a resolute expression appeared on his face. He shook his head and looked at Mèng Hào and Xǔ Qīng.
"This stele inscription is a matter of great importance. If we take it away, wouldn't that leave a huge hidden danger for the sect? If we're not careful and outsiders find out, it will lead to the destruction of the sect."
"The three of us will simultaneously engrave these scriptures onto jade slips and take them out. As for the stone stele, we'll leave it here. That's the safest and most stable method!"
Chén Fán spoke very seriously, brimming with righteousness. His words truly held no selfish motives, but were entirely out of concern for the sect.
Xǔ Qīng nodded upon hearing this, and Mèng Hào certainly didn't refuse. The three immediately engraved the scriptures, then hurried onto the altar and departed.
Khào Shān Old Ancestor stared blankly at this scene. Immediately, a furious roar echoed in the secret chamber.
"Damn it, damn it! I want to strangle the current sect master of Khào Shān Sect!"
"Why did he accept that guy as an inner disciple? Someone like that is truly a righteous person."
"But this old man has always hated this kind of righteousness!"
"My sect back then was full of cunning and dark individuals. They would never utter a word after obtaining scriptures. Those were my perfect sect disciples!"
"You, you, you righteous brat, you've killed this old ancestor! Why did you stop them? Damn it, my cultivation, my, my, my..."
Khào Shān Old Ancestor trembled with anger. At this moment, he gritted his teeth, revealing a desperate expression.
Holding his breath, he let out another low roar and raised his hand, striking forcefully at his celestial spirit.
Instantly, his entire body was covered in fresh blood, but this blood transformed into a dense, invisible screen of blood-light, directly striking the four sides of the secret chamber.
A thunderous explosion rang out, and the screen of blood-light dissipated by more than half. With this single impact, Mèng Hào and the other two simultaneously left the underground palace.
Almost as soon as the three returned to the main hall of Khào Shān Sect, Hé Luòhuā and Elder Ōuyáng turned their heads to look.
Before the three could even speak, a screen of blood-light that they couldn't see shot up into the sky.
Heaven and earth immediately roared, and in an instant, a brilliant light spread out for ten thousand *zhang*.
This caused the sky for a hundred *li* around to turn a deep red, with multicolored light swirling, like a celestial phenomenon.
At the same time, high in the sky, a hundred *li* up, several characters clearly appeared. These characters were somewhat blurry and indistinct, but only two characters were exceptionally clear, allowing anyone to recognize them at a glance:
"Tài Líng"!
The celestial phenomenon appeared like scriptures, especially the two characters "Tài Líng," which emitted a dazzling light, directly illuminating the sky of the entire Zhào Kingdom, as if afraid people wouldn't see it.
This caused the three great sects of Zhào Kingdom to all witness the strange phenomenon in the sky. All of them looked in horror as streaks of long rainbows shot out from various secluded cultivation areas within their sects, all of them containing decrepit old men, all of them the Old Ancestors of their sects!
"This is..."
"The Tài Líng Scripture!"
"The Tài Líng Scripture has appeared! Looking at the location, it's indeed Khào Shān Sect."
"Could it be that the legendary Qi Condensation Scroll from back then has revealed itself to the world!?"
At the same time, the celestial phenomenon at Khào Shān Sect also caused the cultivation world of other nations to look on in horror.
Immediately, continuous news was transmitted back to the major sects of the Southern Domain via teleportation arrays.
In a short period, the reclusive powerhouses of the great sects in the Southern Region were all stirred.
The emergence of the Tai Ling Scripture and the appearance of the Qi Condensation Scroll excited them all. Without hesitation, all the sects in the Southern Region rushed to Zhao State at their fastest speed.
They feared that if they were even a little slow, and other great families and sects found out, they would lose the first opportunity.
Throughout the Southern Region, the situation changed dramatically.
Streaks of colorful light streaked across the sky. In Zhao State, the three great sects dispatched nearly twenty cultivators, the weakest being Foundation Establishment. There were as many as six Core Formation cultivators leading the team, shaking heaven and earth, shattering the sky, heading straight for the Kao Shan Sect.