Tianhua suddenly stood up. His gaze fixed on Lu Changsheng, then shifted to where Wu Qingyi had been a few moments ago.

"From illusion to reality! This is true materialization! Lu Changsheng's heart scale shouldn't even be that high... certainly below one hundred. And yet he can forcibly materialize his Domain... There can only be one explanation: a Domain that's already partly materialized doesn't actually consume that much heart force. This is another path in the Divine Fortification Realm..."

Dong Tianhua felt as if a door of endless possibilities had just opened before him. Throughout his life, he had dedicated himself entirely to the sword, never paying much attention to his heart scale. He had already comprehended Sword Domain to the peak and was just one step from Perfection—but what lay beyond that? If he could not advance to Divine Treasury, his Sword Domain would never materialize.

There was a new path now, discovered by Lu Changsheng himself. He had pushed two Domains to Perfection and then fused them into a Domain that could materialize. Tianhua, on the other hand, had focused solely on the sword and only developed the Sword Domain. But now, thanks to Lu Changsheng, he realized that perhaps his Domain could also materialize, even if only partly.

This was not merely a path to imitate, but a new possibility!

"Tianhua, you..."

Zhao Lingshu was startled by the change he sensed in Tianhua. He could not remember the last time Tianhua was so excited and full of hope.

"Captain, I may have to leave the Lingshu Squad for now. I will go to Sword Valley to enter seclusion. I will not come out until my Sword Domain reaches Perfection."

With that, Tianhua hastily turned and left without looking back. Zhao Lingshu did not stop him, as he knew it would be pointless to stop someone whose eyes sparkled with hope like that. No one could make Tianhua change his mind now.

"Let's go!"

Zhao Lingshu himself was done with the Golden Swamp. He took one last glance at Lu Changsheng before leading the Lingshu Squad away. Many other squads quickly followed suit.

Some of them sighed wearily. "I just hope Lu Changsheng breaks into the Divine Treasury Realm soon. As long as he's around... every Divine Fortification martial artist in the Ancient Region will be under his foot."

"No matter how outstanding, as long as they are in the Divine Fortification Realm, they'll pale before him. He's the kind of genius who dominates an entire generation."

Such words spread among the squads.

Lu Changsheng dominates an entire generation. That summed it up perfectly. Anyone who had witnessed the battle in the Golden Swamp would agree. A figure like him could not be described merely as the foremost Divine Fortification martial artist.

What were those so-called supreme squads even capable of? What did it matter whether one condensed the three or five layers of divine fortification? Even so-called invincible treasures—before Lu Changsheng, all of it proved meaningless. One man and one saber—that was enough to dominate an entire generation.

It was no wonder the Divine Fortification martial artists had decided to leave the swamp. At this point, they no longer care about the Golden Fruits, as none of them dared to challenge Lu Changsheng for them.

It wasn't long before half the competitors had left the Golden Swamp. And for six hours, the swamp was quiet.

"At last."

Liu Yuan collected the last Golden Fruit right as it finally ripened.

"Lu Changsheng, we've collected all twenty-eight Golden Fruits."

During those six hours, not a single martial artist had dared to approach the tree, let alone attack Lu Changsheng. He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, emanating an imposing aura that made others afraid to even look in his direction.

He's incredible!

Given the reputation he had just built, Lu Changsheng now stood imposing like a giant ancient tree, casting a heavy shadow on everyone else. Following the battle of the Golden Swamp, even if Lu Changsheng remained the same, others would see him differently. Xia Bao was noticeably more restrained in his presence, no longer cracking jokes.

"We're done?" Lu Changsheng opened his eyes. After six hours, his heart force had not recovered, but the Heart Sword had. The former would take days to recover, meaning he would be unable to materialize the Starry Sky Waterfall Domain for the time being. Otherwise, he stood unaffected in the wake of the battle. As long as he did not face a Divine Treasury martial artist again, his strength would be enough to deal with anything.

"Let's see..."

He took a look at the twenty-eight Golden Fruits. The squad had picked most of them in the first two hours, but a few fruits had taken longer to ripen, ultimately stretching the task to six hours.

"Alright, let's head back to the sect."

With that, Lu Changsheng led the Heavenly Lin Squad out of the Golden Swamp. Some martial artists remained nearby but dared not approach. If anything, some actually moved away from him.

Soon, the group safely made it back to the Ancient Region Heavenly Sect. Now, Liu Yuan and the others could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They had witnessed an unimaginable battle, and even without taking part, it had felt like the most dangerous fight of their lives. Indeed, witnessing the fight of a figure who could dominate an entire generation was most exhilarating—and best still, he was their teammate!

"So we have twenty-eight Golden fruits. As we agreed, I will take eighteen. You can split the remaining ten."

Liu Yuan hesitated. "But you did most of the work... We're taking way too much..."

Everyone knew they had contributed little, and Lu Changsheng could have gathered the fruits with anyone else.

"Heym I'm still part of the squad, and I always will be. As a squad, we stick to the plan we all agreed to."

His tone was firm, so Liu Yuan did not argue further.

With that matter sorted out, Lu Changsheng took his eighteen Golden Fruits and exchanged them for 180,000 contribution points. With the previous points he had saved up, he now had 190,000 contribution points.

If I'm not mistaken, thirty-six Dao Comprehension pills should be enough to bring the other three Domains to Perfection.

Lu Changsheng spent the 180,000 contribution points he had just earned for the Dao Comprehension Pills. With the one he had kept, he now had thirty-seven pills.

This should suffice. Let's start with the Sense Domain.

Lu Changsheng made that decision immediately. There was no need to leave the sect in order to comprehend the Sense Domain, and the sect itself was the safest place out there.

He needed to grow stronger as soon as possible. Once he perfected Sense Domain, his heart force would increase, which in turn would strengthen his ability to materialize Domains and sustain them for longer. That alone would significantly boost his combat power.

Despite his surging reputation, Lu Changsheng was well aware of the dangers he was exposed to. He had just made his name from killing Wu Qingyi, but she had only been acting on behalf of another, the real threat: Xu Haotian.

In the second region, Xu Haotian stood among the strongest of the Divine Treasury Realm. If he decided to kill Lu Changsheng, he would have no way to resist with his current measures. Even if the sect avenged him afterward, it would be meaningless. For that reason, even though he now stood nearly invincible within the Divine Fortification Realm, he did not dare relax in the slightest.

"Let's begin..."

Lu Changsheng sat cross-legged in his room, then unleashed his Sense Domain and took a Dao Comprehension Pill right after. A cool sensation surged in his mind, leaving him utterly calm. Within a few moments, he entered a profound state of epiphany and proceeded to contemplate the Sense Domain.

While Lu Changsheng sank into his epiphany, the outside world was thrown into an uproar. News regarding the battle of the Golden Swamp spread like wildfire, shaking both the first and the second layers.

Someone from the first layer had slain a Divine Treasury martial artist. Most people had never heard of anything more shocking.

"Who killed the Divine Treasury martial artist?"

"I heard it was Lu Changsheng, a true inheritor scion of the Northern Region Heavenly Sect. He's only in the Divine Fortification Realm, but apparently he forcefully materialized his Domain and killed Wu Qingyi on the spot!"

"A Divine Fortification martial artist materializing a Domain?! How high must his heart force be? That's impossible!"

"It's true. The news has already spread everywhere. The Wu Clan is furious about what Wu Qingyi did. They've even sent her entire lineage to the sect to beg for forgiveness."

"Hahaha, things would be different if Wu Qingyi had actually killed Lu Changsheng. Anyway, she failed, and now she will be remembered as a disgrace among Divine Treasury martial artists. It's no surprise her clan wants nothing to do with her anymore."

"I hear the Wu Clan's in serious trouble this time. Though Wu Qingyi acted on her own, Lu Changsheng is a disciple of the Heavenly Sect. And now he's the one who killed a Divine Treasury expert. People are already calling him a prodigy who dominates the entire generation. I wonder if the Wu Clan can withstand the sect's wrath."