From the lake island, Wang Qinghe flew swiftly northward. Ever since the disaster began in the Song Kingdom, the cultivators of the Abyss Demon Sect Alliance had invaded from the south.

If Qinghe went there, he would find nothing but disaster, destruction, and death. The only reasonable choice was to head toward the Wu Kingdom in the north.

The Wu Kingdom was one of the three great kingdoms of the Yangguan Continent, the leading land of Taoist cultivation.

It housed countless sects and powerful cultivators, while its people lived in prosperity, far from hunger and suffering.

With Yue beside him, Wang Qinghe flew steadily through the clouds and across the sky. To reach the Wu Kingdom, there were two methods.

First, they could use a teleportation altar, which required at least ten low-grade spirit stones to activate.

The higher the quality of the spirit stones, the faster the teleportation.

Second, they could use a royal teleportation token. Such tokens could not be purchased and were only granted as rewards.

If Wang Qinghe chose not to use an altar, reaching the Wu Kingdom would take far too long.

He did not have much time to waste. The longer he delayed, the longer it would take him to receive heavenly enlightenment.

And without that enlightenment, breaking through to Soul Formation would become extremely difficult.

His flight finally stopped at a lush hill filled with fresh, untouched trees.

At the top stood a stone teleportation altar connected to the Wu Kingdom from the Song Kingdom. But Wang Qinghe immediately noticed something strange.

He landed gently on the altar. The moment his foot touched the stone floor, a dome formation suddenly appeared around him.

The barrier was blue, covered in ancient runic symbols. No dark qi radiated from it, which confirmed one thing immediately.

"Is someone trying to trap you?" Yue asked.

"No. This isn’t a trap," Wang Qinghe replied.

He stepped closer to the blue barrier wall and summoned golden spiritual qi in his hand, pressing it against the surface.

To Yue’s surprise, the wall opened by itself, allowing them to leave the dome formation freely.

"That easy?" she asked in shock.

"This barrier wasn’t made to trap us. It was made to trap demonic cultivators."

"I can’t read the strength of this formation. I’m not taking risks," Wang Qinghe answered.

He returned to the center of the teleportation altar. On each side were diamond-shaped slots designed specifically for spirit stones.

Without hesitation, he took out ten high-grade spirit stones and sent them one by one into the altar slots.

All ten fit perfectly into place, releasing a massive surge of blue energy that activated the altar engravings. Ancient symbols and patterns lit up brilliantly.

Before leaving, Wang Qinghe looked southward.

The Song Kingdom had given him sweet memories, bitter memories, and painful truths.

Cultivators stood on the brink of disaster. Countless lives were at stake. Demons had invaded without mercy.

"One hundred years!"

"I swear... I will return in one hundred years and destroy that demon alliance forever!"

A pillar of blue light erupted from the hilltop altar, instantly transporting Wang Qinghe from the Song Kingdom to the Wu Kingdom.

After Wang Qinghe and Yue vanished, the light dissolved into particles of energy. The barrier dome disappeared as well, and the stone altar returned to normal.

***

Wu Kingdom.

Life within the Baisheng Sect was peaceful. Disciples trained diligently, studying technique scrolls under the guidance of elders and senior disciples.

The elders themselves handled various sect affairs according to their duties.

Every disciple held a position. Every disciple had work assigned to them in exchange for reputation and payment.

That day, two disciples had been assigned to guard the Song Kingdom teleportation altar.

It was the kind of task everyone considered useless, exhausting, and degrading.

Their only responsibility was to watch the teleportation altar and report anything unusual to the Sect Master.

"If those demons hadn’t attacked the Song Kingdom, we wouldn’t be stuck doing work like this," complained a male cultivator at the Qi Condensation stage.

"Complaining won’t solve anything. Just cultivate while we guard the altar," replied the female cultivator, who shared the same cultivation level.

The man stole a glance at her.

Her name was Qing Yi. She had a beautiful face, long black hair flowing neatly behind her, and a slender figure wrapped in the Baisheng Sect’s purple robes.

"Junior Yi, once this assignment is over, would you have dinner with me at a restaurant?"

"A restaurant?" Qing Yi asked.

"Yeah. It’s not fancy, but people say the food’s really good," replied Bai Zhou, the male cultivator.

Qing Yi fell silent for a moment before closing her eyes again.

"I don’t want to waste my money eating at restaurants."

"You should ask someone else, Senior Bai."

"I only want to..."

BURST!

A pillar of blue-white light suddenly descended from the clouds above. Qing Yi and Bai Zhou were startled and forced several steps backward by the pressure.

"W-What... is happening?" Bai Zhou asked nervously.

Qing Yi narrowed her eyes, then quickly told him to destroy the communication token. If he did, the sect elders would immediately receive the signal.

Bai Zhou nodded and crushed the token. A blue orb of qi shot into the sky, heading toward the sect’s main hall where it was received by a woman known as the Grand Elder of Baisheng Sect.

She hurried out of her chamber and flew toward the teleportation hill atop her flying sword.

Her eyes widened when she arrived. Qing Yi and Bai Zhou immediately bowed.

"This junior greets Grand Elder Yi," they said together.

"You two may leave. I’ll handle this myself," said Ruo Yi, the Baisheng Sect’s Grand Elder.

The two disciples obeyed and quickly departed, returning to the disciples’ training grounds where Bai Zhou eagerly began recounting what had happened at the altar.

Meanwhile, Ruo Yi remained hovering before the altar as the blue-white pillar of light continued to shine.

Since it was connected to the Song Kingdom, she assumed cultivators from Song had arrived through the teleportation altar.

Slowly, the pillar faded, revealing two figures standing on the altar floor.

Ruo Yi narrowed her eyes, trying to read their cultivation levels.

However, Wang Qinghe deliberately concealed his strength. He had just entered an unfamiliar kingdom. Revealing too much power would only paint a target on his back.

Instead, it would attract cultivators seeking to exploit him.

Ruo Yi failed to determine his true cultivation. The qi aura he released only resembled that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Because of that, she assumed he truly was at the Foundation Establishment stage.

She descended and landed on the altar floor.

"Did you activate this altar using spirit stones?" she asked.

Wang Qinghe nodded and cupped his fists respectfully, "This junior Wang greets Senior."

"Since you came from the Song Kingdom, I’ll need to inspect you," Ruo Yi explained.

"At the very least, this inspection will determine whether or not you are a demonic cultivator."