Lv Bai emerged from the pile of rocks, surveying his surroundings, seeing nothing but craggy stones stretching at least dozens of miles around.

Under the thunder tribulation, all living things disappeared without a trace, with no sound of insects or birds, making this place incredibly silent.

Having anticipated this beforehand, Lv Bai didn’t continue to stand idle, picking a random direction and stepping away from this uninhabited zone.

He kept his head slightly lowered along the way, clearly pondering something.

In fact, as he wouldn’t experience negative emotional fluctuations, the thunder tribulation that almost killed him previously didn’t actually affect him much.

He still maintained the realm of Mahayana Stage, but couldn’t fully utilize his mana, estimating that in battles, he could likely exert only the power of a half-step Mahayana.

After all, the continuing impact of self-inflicted cutting was still there.

It’s obvious that cultivation isn’t something that can be severed just like that.

If it were that simple, there wouldn’t be so many cultivators dying under thunder tribulations.

Being a Mahayana cultivator signifies that their body and primordial spirit have perfectly fused, achieving a second rebirth, able to perceive and utilize Dao Laws, with one foot already in the realm of the Immortal Dao.

The comprehension of the Dao cannot be weakened, not to mention Lv Bai never had profound insights into the Dao.

Thus, self-inflicted cutting is simply forcibly separating the tightly fused body and primordial spirit.

The effect of the [Steel Body] remains, and Lv Bai’s physical body has no major issues, but the trouble lies with the primordial spirit.

Even without the Method of Inner Vision, Lv Bai could feel his primordial spirit was filled with countless fissures, like a river surface that froze, nearly shattering under pressure.

This is a soul injury, and even immense talent can’t solve such a situation.

Luckily, his primordial spirit had an Immortal Dao Flower growing within it, constantly emitting Dao vibrations, ensuring the situation didn’t worsen further.

Even though he ended up in such a state, Lv Bai remained rather optimistic.

After all, he wouldn’t stay in this world forever, and the idea of a blocked path ahead wouldn’t impact him much.

Lv Bai wandered aimlessly, until a notification sound rang in his mind indicating the Node had been secured.

[Ding!]

[Successfully acquired the current Death Arena Node.]

[Double points reward has loaded.]

[Current points: 4, Current ranking 1/193]

The system’s notification indicated that since the appearance of the thunder tribulation, less than a day had passed, so there’s no rush to return to the Cyan Hope Sect.

It’s worth mentioning that due to the high level of power in this round of death matches, Death Fighters were more spread out.

Thus, most Death Fighters chose to first try joining an Immortal Sect, mastering cultivation methods and then focusing on cultivation rather than immediately eliminating other Death Fighters.

This resulted in only a few Death Fighters dying even though the death matches started quite a while ago, and Lv Bai estimated those unlucky ones who died likely weren’t even killed by other Death Fighters.

Lv Bai stroked his chin, quickly making a decision.

"Let’s first reduce the number of Death Fighters a bit."

Lv Bai mostly stayed airborne, spreading his divine sense like radar for a carpet search.

Only in inhabited areas would he descend to the ground, advancing on foot.

Along the way, Lv Bai overheard many rumors about the Initial Dao Assembly.

And a large portion was concerning him.

This wasn’t surprising, as the Immortal Sect disciples who fled Purple Cloud Mountain before the thunder tribulation naturally spread the word about the events there.

"Did you hear? This Initial Dao Assembly, the Cyan Hope Sect produced a real monster."

"Are you talking about Lv Bai from the Cyan Hope Sect?"

"That’s right, he single-handedly suppressed all Saint Heirs and True Inheritors, dominating the Initial Dao Assembly."

"Not like that, I heard all Immortal Sect disciples united but were defeated by Lv Bai alone."

"Isn’t that too absurd? The Initial Dao Assembly had over a thousand top disciples from various Immortal Sects."

"What’s this about? I heard a rumor, not necessarily true, that elders from various Immortal Sects haven’t returned to their home sects..."

It was mentioned before, in this world, there are no governmental powers like countries.

Order and voice are held by the Immortal Sects.

Even those without spirit roots, unable to embark on the path of cultivation, still pay attention to these matters.

Don’t underestimate the Initial Dao Assembly as just a competition among the younger generation of Immortal Sects, as long as these young disciples don’t perish and develop steadily, they’re sure to become the dominators over mundane folks who have no choice but to follow.

With over a hundred Divinity Transformation Stage Great Powers falling, such news definitely wouldn’t be proclaimed by the Immortal Sects.

For a while, rumors flew and spread across Xuan Province.

...

The autumn rain carried a chill, landing on the ground without raising much of an earthy fragrance, instead turning the road into a mud land.

The rain wasn’t too heavy, progressing in the rain wouldn’t leave one looking too drenched.

But the carriage carrying goods, its wheels could easily get stuck in the mud, making progress challenging even with people pushing behind.

The middle-aged leader of the caravan decided to take shelter in an abandoned temple by the road until the rain stopped, then resume the journey.

It’s fine if people get wet, but the goods for offering to the Household Immortal must not be a problem.

"Quick, go check if the Blood-thief insects are alright."

The middle-aged man entered the temple, without care for his soaked clothes, urgently instructing someone to inspect the goods.

They were citizens under the jurisdiction of the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects.

Even if people under other Immortal Sects didn’t live too well, those in the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects often lived even more difficult lives.

While other Immortal Sects’ people were used as tools or slaves at most.

In the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects, they not only assumed these roles but also had duties to test insects and raise them.

Their trip was to deliver goods to the Valley of Ten Thousand Insects.

Blood-thief naturally refers to a kind of poison insect.

This poison insect sucks human blood, storing it within and converting it to blood essence, which is a premium feed for spiritual insects raised by Valley of Ten Thousand Insects cultivators.

A skinny young man uncovered the lid, his expression changing: "It’s not good, village chief, these Blood-thief insects seem languid."

The village chief, the middle-aged man hurriedly came over, and without hesitation, cut his wrist.

The dripping blood fell onto the dark shells of the poison insects, causing a few of them to squirm, creating a rather chilling scene.

However, the villagers present were unfazed, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Thankfully nothing’s wrong, be attentive, if the quantity is off, we can’t afford that."