Chapter 62: Who Said the Qingyun Assembly Had Limited Spots?

"It's over," Master Yu said softly. Together with the four other sect masters, his figure flickered and they all appeared instantly outside Cao Xuan’s residence.

With a creak, the wards were lifted and Cao Xuan pushed the door open.

At this moment, he was not merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but one who stood at the very peak of the mid-stage, his essence, energy, and spirit wholly unified. Divine sense arose spontaneously, allowing him to perceive everything within a hundred-mile radius in an instant.

Naturally, he saw his own master, as well as the sect master and the other peak lords.

“Disciple Cao Xuan greets Master and Martial Uncles!”

As a personal disciple of a peak lord, he could address the other peak lords, and even the sect master, as martial uncles.

Sensing the turbulent waves of spiritual energy and true essence around Cao Xuan—a clear sign of mid-stage Foundation Establishment at its zenith—the assembly reacted with shock or mixed feelings. Only Yu Wan spoke with concern, “You’ve just broken through, hurry and return to harmonize your spiritual energy and true essence, lest you suffer a... regression!”

She hadn't finished her sentence before countless runic chains manifested around Cao Xuan, locking all the excess spiritual energy and true essence directly into his body.

If the “Runic Cloud Art” refined spiritual energy and true essence through talismans, then the “Heavenly Rune Codex” transformed the body itself into a living talisman.

Ordinarily, after a breakthrough, a cultivator would have to immediately enter seclusion to refine their spiritual energy. Yet Cao Xuan seemed not to have considered this at all. In fact, with his two lifetimes of experience, no one understood the Foundation Establishment stage of the “Heavenly Rune Codex” better than he did.

As a supreme cultivation method, so long as his “Heavenly Rune” strokes were flawless, every breakthrough in realm was akin to completing a talisman—the realm itself merely becoming the spiritual energy absorbed into it, and the breakthrough, simply the final stroke.

Yu Wan blinked in astonishment as she looked at Cao Xuan, whose aura was utterly restrained. If she hadn't sensed the earlier surge of mid-stage Foundation Establishment power, she would never have believed her newly accepted disciple had reached this level.

“Cao Xuan, my nephew, your talent is truly extraordinary!” the other three peak lords said, a trace of envy in their voices.

There was nothing to be done; he had already acknowledged Yu Wan as his master.

Sect Master Yu Qingsong, however, remained silent, his eyes filled with shock.

As a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, he stood a full major realm above Cao Xuan. Unlike the peak lords, he could see deep into Cao Xuan’s condition.

In his eyes, Cao Xuan’s body blazed like a great sun, brimming with vitality. Around him, countless intricate runes locked in all his spiritual energy, circulating along mysterious trajectories, refining and nurturing his Dao foundation.

At this moment, Cao Xuan was like a walking talisman furnace, continuously refining the spiritual energy around him. If Yu Qingsong was not mistaken, with such a solid foundation, every movement Cao Xuan made—even speaking with them now—was cultivation in itself.

He couldn't help but muse, “If one’s Dao foundation is ever nurtured, spirit and essence ever enriched, what need is there for closed-door cultivation?”

Cao Xuan was only nineteen! Before, Yu Qingsong thought he had a seventy percent chance of reaching Core Formation, but now he believed that if Cao Xuan could not break through, then who in the world could?

While Yu Qingsong was lost in thought, Yu Wan was already fussing over Cao Xuan, examining him from head to toe.

“Are you sure you’re all right, my disciple?”

Though Cao Xuan felt an odd sensation as her delicate hands wandered over him, he dared not be a disrespectful disciple. He quickly took a step back, dodging her “devilish” hands, and smiled wryly.

“Master, there’s truly nothing wrong. I simply had a sudden epiphany!”

“I just found the... 'Runic Cloud Art' exceptionally fitting and was inspired—so here I am.”

Cao Xuan clenched his fists, channeling his energy, and struck a confident pose. “Your disciple is in excellent shape!”

Li Zhiyun, still clad in her revealing battle armor, crossed her arms and said sourly, “Just a mere epiphany, is it!”

“Am I imagining things, or is Junior Cao not only at mid-stage Foundation Establishment, but already at the peak, about to break through to late stage?”

“If that’s the case, why even send Li Yao from the Talisman Peak? Just let Cao Xuan go instead!”

At these words, everyone suddenly realized that Cao Xuan had, in an instant, reached the level of the chief disciples of each peak.

Whether it was Ye Caixuan of the Alchemy Peak, Li Yao of the Talisman Peak, Jin Tiehua of the Artifact Refining Peak, Xing Mengfan of the Demon Expulsion Peak, or Liu Yu of Azure Cloud Peak, all five were at mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

Ye Caixuan had just entered the mid-stage, while Li Yao had reached its peak. Though all were said to be mid-stage, the difference in strength was vast—akin to the gap between the fourth and sixth layers of Qi Refinement, if not greater.

In the Azure Cloud Sect, there were even guardians who had broken through to early Foundation Establishment a century ago and had not advanced since.

For a genius like Cao Xuan, they had expected his cultivation speed to rival the chief geniuses of each peak—but that would have required five or six years to reach mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

After all, the peak chiefs had mostly grown up in the Azure Cloud Sect, reaching Foundation Establishment in their early twenties, and mid-stage Foundation Establishment near thirty.

Though Cao Xuan was of similar age to them, at nineteen, he was truly the “little junior brother.”

At this moment, Yu Qingsong spoke. “Then let's add Cao Xuan to the participants for the Azure Cloud Gathering.”

“Senior brother!” Yu Wan protested, “Wouldn’t that break the rules?”

Yu Qingsong laughed, “When have I ever said there was a limit on the number of participants for the Central Province Azure Cloud Gathering?”

Seeing the puzzled faces of the peak lords, Yu Qingsong sighed.

“It’s not that I don’t wish to give more people a chance, but you must understand—sometimes, being a frog at the bottom of a well is not a bad thing.”

“You must realize, while our geniuses may shine in the Azure Cloud Sect of Yun Prefecture, once they reach the Central Province, they may find themselves not even considered mediocre.”

“We’re only entering the Foundation Establishment division this time. But imagine if they saw someone their own age who had already reached Core Formation...”

He left the sentence unfinished, but all the peak lords and even Cao Xuan understood.

It was like that saying from the past: all roads lead to Rome, but some are born there.

Though the comparison wasn’t perfect, sometimes, upon seeing an insurmountable gap, people simply give up.

Li Yao and Ye Caixuan might be spurred to even greater effort, but for those less talented, who might need decades to reach mid-stage Foundation Establishment, the knowledge that their peers were already at Core Formation would only bring despair.

Thus, Yu Qingsong believed it was better for them to remain within the Azure Cloud Sect of Yun Prefecture, where their peers still struggled in the Qi Refinement stage. There, they might have the patience to quietly refine their Dao foundation.

Perhaps, in time, they might even create a miracle and break through to Core Formation in their later years.

Yu Qingsong ended with a sigh, “I am such a person myself.”