eir spiritual energy or Dao power.All they could do was wait for Jiang Yun's self-detonation, hoping that their physical bodies and souls would suffer as little damage as possible under the blast.Just...Naturally, this middle-aged beauty was the cold and aloof master of the woman who had been secretly observing Jiang Yun all along. She was also the head of a small sect in the myriad heavens domain! She had arrived at this first level of the Heavenly Vault, a mid-level battle realm, nearly a year ago, waiting for the opening of the Heavenly Vault and the arrival of cultivators from the lower realms.

Especially the arrival of those Lower Realm cultivators recorded on the list given to her by her three disciples.

Although she could also go to the other three battlefields of Tianque, it was a pity that out of the three lower realms she had obtained at great cost, none of the cultivators were able to enter the advanced battlefield.

While cultivators entering the Zhonggu battlefield don't necessarily have superior strength, most people tend to believe they choose higher battlefields.

Just like those other powerful beings waiting within this grand hall, they have all arrived in this ultimate battleground,

waiting for the underrealm cultivators they deem worthy.

Although the beauty was a revered figure, able to enter and leave the Heavenly Palace at will, she was forbidden from stepping onto the Path of Heaven's Ascent. She remained unaware of all the movements of the cultivators from the Lower Realms on that path.

As the Heavenly Gate was about to open, all the remaining cultivators approached it. So she waited for her three disciples to send her the final list.

Now, she had been waiting for her disciple's jade slips. They had finally arrived, but as she felt the three jade slips in her palm, they felt heavy as mountains, just like her heart. It was a feeling of overwhelming weight.

...to the point that she was hesitant to even look at the contents of the jade tablet.

First, the jade slips recorded twenty-seven names; second, the jade slips only contained sixteen names.

This was the third time. She didn't know how many names were left in the jade slip.

And the names recorded within these three jade slips will be her, and indeed the last hope for the entire sect.

She was really afraid to see that there was no longer a name in the jade slip. If so, her hope would be completely shattered.

Especially that man's words just now, she also knew very clearly that the other party was not trying to scare her, but was able to do what they said.

The fundamental reason for the imminent demise of my own sect is, without a doubt, the dwindling number of talented disciples and the lack of new recruits. However, the most immediate cause stems from that man's infatuation with me! That man is none other than the master of the Zìzài Hall, who desires me as his possession. To achieve this, he fabricates excuses to harass both me and my sect.

Although the Zizai Hall is not much larger than its own sect, it is a force under the Eight Departments of Heaven.

The abbot of the Zizai Temple was even a favored figure in the eyes of some powerful individuals from the Eight Departments of Heaven, and the Eight Departments of Heaven belonged to the Gu clan.

The Gus clan, second only to the Nine Celestial Venerables in power, is a formidable force. For our humble sect, they are akin to an unmoving mountain, insurmountable.

Although our own sect has backing, namely the Linglong Pavilion mentioned by the man, it is no weaker than the Eight Departments Heaven.

Even behind Linglong Pavilion, there are forces that are equally powerful as the Gus.

But unfortunately, his sect's strength was simply too weak to attract the attention of Linglong Pavilion.

Linglong Pavilion is also unwilling to offend Zizai Hall, Babu Tian and the Gu clan just for itself, a small sect.

Fortunately, a senior in the Linglong Pavilion had a good relationship with his master. Under his pleading, the Linglong Pavilion finally agreed.

If this time the domain gate opens, if their own sect can recruit several lower realm cultivators as disciples, letting the Linglong Pavilion see that there is still hope for support in their sect, then the Linglong Pavilion will stand up for them.

Therefore, the lower realm cultivators truly are their own and their sect's last chance.

If the last chance is lost, then this entire celestial realm will probably have no place to stand.

Of course, these recruited subordinate cultivators cannot be too unqualified. They cannot fool Linglong Pavilion with false pretenses, so I sent out three disciples to observe those cultivators and select the suitable ones from among them.

Taking a deep breath, the beautiful woman finally trembled and reached out her hand, grabbing the first jade slip. Her divine sense permeated it.

It was utterly desolate! The middle-aged woman's heart sank to the bottom. She remembered that last time this jade slip had four names on it.

Yet, over the course of this year, all four names disappeared! And for a name to disappear, there is only one possibility: they died.

The beautiful woman spoke to herself, "Of the nine people Lao Er had his eye on, none of them made it. Not a single one successfully reached the first heaven."

Actually, this is quite normal.

Don't be fooled by the nearly thousand cultivators waiting outside the current Heavenly Gate. The number of cultivators who truly enter the Domain Gate and step into the Zhongji War Region is immeasurable. Even if there was only one cultivator from each Lower Realm, the total would be beyond counting.

Once, cultivators from the Heavens' Gathering Realm speculated that the probability of a cultivator reaching the lower realm of the First Heaven Gate was about one in ten thousand.

So, it's perfectly normal for a cultivator from the Lower Realms to be completely wiped out before even reaching the first heaven of the Heavenly Citadel.

The middle-aged woman naturally understood this fact, but she had placed her hopes in this subordinate force. So when she discovered that they were completely wiped out, she found it hard to accept.

After a moment of silence, the middle-aged woman quietly put down the first jade slip and, with trembling fingers, gently grasped the second.

After taking another deep breath, the middle-aged beautiful woman allowed her consciousness to seep into the jade slip.

Shen Minglie! In the jade slip, there was only one name left! Although there was only one name, it already lifted Mei Fu's heart, which had sunk to the bottom of the valley, by half.

However, while letting out a sigh of relief, there was a palpable sense of disappointment.

As a minor power, the most stable way to successfully attract cultivators from the lower realms is to cast a wide net and catch as many fish as possible.

The more fish there are in the net, the more will be caught.

Even if there were only one fish, while it's still possible to lure them to your side, the probability would be extremely low.

Placing the second jade slip down, the middle-aged woman's gaze fell upon the third.

It can be said that in this jade tablet, she has placed the most hope.

Because, within this jade tablet, the two names displayed previously were both nine characters long! This is almost impossible on the Sky-Conquering Ancient Path.

Therefore, now she hopes that in this jade slip, instead of nine, there could be two or three names. For her, that would already be a miracle.

Finally, the beautiful woman trembled with both hands, grasped this third jade slip, gritted her teeth, and suddenly plunged her divine sense into the jade slip.

The next moment, the beauty was like a statue, holding the jade slip in her hand and sitting there motionless. Even her eyes were devoid of any light.

Because, the names in this jade slip were, shockingly, still nine! Not one more, not one less! This left the beautiful woman simply unable to believe her own divine awareness, causing her to repeatedly check and recheck, carefully counting them several times.

Even after confirming that there were truly nine names, she still hadn't come to her senses, lost in the overwhelming shock.

This is truly incredible! Out of the nine people chosen by his disciples, all of them survived three years traversing the nine worlds of the Contending Heavens Ancient Path.

Finally, tears quietly rolled down the beautiful eyes of the beauty. She was overjoyed.

A total of ten people, even if only one person is willing to join their own sect, both themselves and the sect would be saved.

After regaining her senses, the beauty's figure suddenly vanished and she dashed outside the hall.

Everyone in the hall was at a loss as to what the beauty had done. They couldn't figure out what she was up to.

Especially the master of the Zizai Hall, frowned and said: "Has this Yu Ji gone mad"

Where did he go

"Speaking of which, the Master of Zizai Hall's face suddenly changed and he said: "Oh no, she couldn't possibly know the secret location of their sect, could she"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Lord of Zizai Hall hurriedly followed the beautiful woman and dashed out. the cultivators who, like them, hailed from the Unreturning Heaven, had clamped their mouths shut, too afraid to utter even a whisper.Jian Yun ignored the crowd anymore, glancing at the several jade...