More than a dozen people walked into the grand hall, the rainbow radiance around their bodies fading away. Among them were both men and women, all above forty years of age — some as still and serene as a secluded orchid, some sharp and piercing as a sword’s edge, others steady and immovable as a great boulder. Each carried their own distinct aura.

One of them, a middle-aged man whose presence was deep and heavy as a mountain, spoke with ringing, forceful words, laughing heartily: “Within the borders of Yan, there are said to be six ‘Grotto Heavens,’ yet your ‘Lingxu Grotto Heaven’ is somewhat misrepresenting itself — calling it a ‘Blessed Land’ would be closer to the truth.”

“Liu Wanshan, what exactly do you mean by that?” Several elders of the Lingxu Grotto Heaven showed displeasure on their faces. They all stepped forward, shielding Zhou Yi, Lin Jia, and the others behind them, while paying special attention to guarding Ye Fan and Pang Bo.

The middle-aged man addressed as Liu Wanshan was, as his name suggested, like a mountain standing there, exerting a sense of pressure on those around him. He spoke very directly, laughing loudly: “Since there are over a dozen fine seedlings suited for cultivation, naturally we’d like to take a few of them and guide them onto the path of cultivation.”

Beside him, an elderly woman with salt-and-pepper hair nodded in agreement: “Quite right. The six Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands within Yan have always shared the same root. Now that so many extraordinarily gifted seedlings have been found all at once, of course we’ll want to take a few away.”

One of the Lingxu Grotto Heaven’s elders frowned: “Senior Sister Li Ying, that’s not quite fair to say. Three years ago, your ‘Jinhao Grotto Heaven’ found several disciples with exceptional spiritual roots, yet you didn’t send even one to our Lingxu Grotto Heaven.”

“Those people had mediocre aptitudes — they could hardly be called immortal seedlings. Naturally we didn’t disturb you over them.” The salt-and-pepper-haired elderly woman smiled as she replied.

Just then, an elder with flowing white hair stepped forward. He had the bearing of an otherworldly sage — unhurried, neither fast nor slow, he said: “In my view, these dozen or so people can’t quite be called immortal seedlings yet. How about this: those of us from the various Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands will only select a few, leaving more behind for your Lingxu Grotto Heaven.”

The several elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven immediately lost their composure. They seemed to hold a degree of wariness toward this sage-like, otherworldly elder, and said: “Senior Brother Ma Yun, is your ‘Yunding Grotto Heaven’ really lacking in disciples with potential? I’ve heard that you’ve found two true immortal seedlings already.”

The elder known as Ma Yun smiled without speaking and kept appraising Ye Fan and Pang Bo, nodding from time to time. This made the elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven immediately tense — others could be given away, but these two were ones they absolutely had to keep.

“Then let me represent Yunding Grotto Heaven and select just one person.” The white-haired, white-bearded Ma Yun pointed toward Ye Fan and Pang Bo and said: “I’m not asking too much — send me either one of the two, and I’ll be satisfied.”

“Absolutely not!” The several elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven refused in near-unison.

At the same time, the others from the various Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands also began selecting people, each refusing to yield, and a dispute broke out on the spot. Ye Fan listened carefully and gathered considerable information — a “Grotto Heaven” surpassed a “Blessed Land” in terms of suitability for cultivation, and moreover, having a Grotto Heaven made it very likely that a Blessed Land would naturally arise from it.

At this point, there was no way Lingxu Grotto Heaven could keep everyone. With people from all five other Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands present, they could only bear the pain of letting some go. But deciding exactly who to give up and who to keep left everyone in a difficult dilemma. In the end, the atmosphere grew tense as swords were drawn and bows strung — the people of all six Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands refused to concede a single step.

The imposing, mountain-like middle-aged man Liu Wanshan stepped forward a few paces: “It seems the only way to settle this is to have a contest.”

“Precisely so.” The Jinhao Grotto Heaven’s elderly woman Li Ying nodded in agreement.

“To avoid damaging our goodwill, we’ll stop just short of causing real harm.” The white-bearded Ma Yun of Yunding Grotto Heaven also expressed his agreement.

The faces of the Lingxu Grotto Heaven’s elders turned ugly. These disciples had been found by them, yet people from other Grotto Heavens were muscling in — how many they would ultimately be allowed to keep was truly hard to say.

More than a dozen streaks of rainbow light shot into the sky, brilliantly bright against the night. The contest between the Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands began. Ye Fan and the others all came out of the hall and looked up at the sky, but unfortunately, those people flew out of the small town and fought further and further away, making it impossible to see clearly.

In the distant sky, glorious light pierced the heavens and divine rainbows crisscrossed the air. From time to time, peals of thunder rang out, and wild winds whipped up, sending sand and stones flying.

Zhou Yi, Lin Jia, and the others were dazzled and awestruck — those elders had seemed perfectly calm just moments ago, yet now they were flying through the sky and diving into the earth, unleashing such tremendous power. It left the onlookers filled with longing and admiration.

Before long, the divine rainbows in the distant sky all disappeared, the fierce battle carried to some unknown place.

It was not until half an hour later that divine rainbows appeared on the horizon again, cleaving through the sky and arriving in an instant.

The first to descend was the young woman named Wei Wei. She was ethereally beautiful — her ink-black brows curved delicately, her eyes shimmering like water, her lips a moist crimson, her teeth like jade. Beneath the moon’s silver radiance, she was hazy and graceful, like an immortal from the Moon Palace descending to the mortal realm, beautiful to the absolute extreme.

Following her down were the other elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven. Though they looked battered — with traces of blood even staining their robes — they all wore the smiles of victory.

The people behind them also bore wounds of varying severity, but by comparison, their expressions were far from pleasant. The imposing middle-aged man Liu Wanshan had blood on his shoulder that had not yet dried; the sage-like Ma Yun’s flowing white beard had been cut short; and the salt-and-pepper-haired elderly woman Li Ying’s cane had been broken in two.

“Who would have thought — Wei Wei, at her age, has already surpassed all of us. Lingxu Grotto Heaven has produced a once-in-an-age genius!” Ma Yun exclaimed with great feeling.

Ye Fan and the others were all astonished. This young woman Wei Wei had appeared light-footed and graceful, gentle and serene in manner — yet she was so tremendously powerful that she had defeated all these elders. It was truly remarkable.

“Since we’ve lost, there’s nothing more to be said. Your Lingxu Grotto Heaven may choose two people first.” Liu Wanshan’s expression was not pleasant — not only did losing to someone of a younger generation leave him feeling humiliated, but being unable to have first pick of the disciples stung him as well.

The several elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven did not hesitate at all. They directly selected Ye Fan and Pang Bo, their faces blooming with delight. Next, Yunding Grotto Heaven’s elder Ma Yun chose Liu Yiyi, and then Jinhao Grotto Heaven’s elderly woman Li Ying stepped forward and selected Zhang Ziling.

But just at this moment, on Lingxu Grotto Heaven’s side, the several elders changed their expressions after carefully examining Ye Fan’s body. The smiles on their faces vanished entirely.

“How can this be?!”

Others quickly noticed the situation here and turned to look. Seeing the displeased expressions on Lingxu Grotto Heaven’s elders, they all wondered what had happened.

“What’s wrong — are you still not satisfied even after being allowed to choose two people first?”

“It’s not that. Come and see for yourselves.” The elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven looked toward Ye Fan with expressions of deep regret.

The others immediately understood — there must be something wrong with Ye Fan’s body. In an instant, everyone surrounded him.

Yunding Grotto Heaven’s elder Ma Yun was the first to step forward: “Just by looking, one can sense it — this young man’s vital blood energy is extraordinarily vigorous, almost comparable to a flood dragon or great elephant. He should be a rare immortal seedling by all rights. Can there really be some problem?”

The others also drew close one by one and began examining Ye Fan. Being prodded and examined all over made Ye Fan feel quite uncomfortable, but given the situation, he couldn’t very well stop them.

Jinhao Grotto Heaven’s elderly woman Li Ying looked bewildered and astonished: “How can a physique like this even exist?!”

After probing for a long while, Liu Wanshan revealed an expression of utter disbelief: “The Life Divine Wheel is utterly silent. The sea of bitterness is solid as divine iron, stable as a boulder, immovable, and utterly impossible to open…”

“What is going on?!” Everyone wore expressions of confusion. This physique was far too strange — it defied all logic.

Just then, Yunding Grotto Heaven’s Ma Yun seemed to suddenly remember something, and muttered to himself: “Could it be… that physique spoken of in the legends?” He began re-examining Ye Fan’s body, his fingers luminescent as jade, with tiny specks of divine radiance falling from them as he pressed and probed carefully — he was earnestly performing a thorough reading of bone structure and spiritual nature.

It was a long time before Ma Yun finally stopped, standing there in a daze, and said: “To think that the physique spoken of in legend truly exists in this world…”

“What physique?” Everyone present wore expressions of intense curiosity.

“Unrivaled across the ages — a supreme holy physique above all others under heaven.” Ma Yun spoke these eight words.

“What?!” Everyone present showed expressions of shock, almost unable to believe their own ears.

The elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven reacted swiftly, immediately pulling Ye Fan behind them. Several of them surrounded him at the center and protected him closely, fearing that others might make a move to snatch him away or strike him down.

Liu Wanshan found it hard to believe: “Yan’s territory stretches two thousand li from north to south and three thousand li from east to west. Compared to the boundless Eastern Desolation, this land is but a drop in the ocean. On this stretch of land, even across a thousand ages of antiquity, it would be difficult to produce a single person possessing a supreme holy physique. One must know that throughout all of history, even across the vast and boundless Eastern Desolation, very few such figures have ever appeared.”

But the Jinhao Grotto Heaven’s elderly woman Li Ying shook her head: “It’s not that such a thing cannot appear. I’ve heard that in the Eastern Desolation of today, such a person may very well have already emerged. Moreover, there are rumors that it is not just one person — though because they are still growing and have not yet come to stand before the world, I believe they are currently being kept in hiding within some sacred ground, or perhaps concealed within one of the ancient clans that have passed their lineage down from the primordial age.”

At this moment, the gazes with which all these elders looked at Ye Fan had completely changed — burning with intensity, as though they could hardly wait to pull him right in front of them and take him as their disciple. Even the nearby Zhou Yi, Lin Jia, and the others now looked at Ye Fan with expressions of wonder.

But just then, Yunding Grotto Heaven’s Ma Yun coughed lightly and said: “I believe… you may have misunderstood. Perhaps I was not clear enough.”

“Hmm?”

“What do you mean?”

Everyone looked at him in puzzled suspicion.

“He does indeed possess a supreme holy physique — that is without error. But one must add a time qualifier: it is the supreme holy physique of the pre-primordial era.”

“What do you mean?”

Ma Yun explained: “You have all surely heard some of the legends from the primordial age? In that era, there existed a supreme physique, unrivaled across all of history. During that period, nine successive generations of figures emerged, each one peerless and unmatched under heaven and earth, shaking both past and present. That physique, if one walked the path of cultivation, would allow one to achieve ultimate heights beyond all reckoning. It was hailed as the number one holy physique of all time.”

“Yes, I’ve heard of it naturally — surely you don’t mean to say…” At these words, everyone looked toward Ye Fan, but no longer with admiration or excitement. In their eyes, there was only disappointment.

“If I’m not mistaken, he possesses that very physique. But what a pity — since the end of the primordial era, through countless ages, this physique has occasionally appeared in the world, yet it no longer carries any power. It can no longer dominate all under heaven as it did before the primordial age.”

The truth of the matter was that this physique had, for reasons unknown, gradually faded into ordinariness in the post-primordial age, becoming completely unsuited for cultivation. Not a single person had ever managed to cultivate it to any result.

“Right now, many immortal sects are spreading the rumor that the Eastern Desolation has produced an immortal seedling with a supreme divine physique. Just a moment ago, I thought we were about to witness a world-shaking figure emerge within our Yan territory as well — I never imagined it would turn out like this…”

“A supreme holy physique of the pre-primordial age, compared to the invincible divine physique of today… Alas!” The several elders of Lingxu Grotto Heaven all let out a sigh, filled with boundless disappointment, and paid no more attention to Ye Fan.

The people from the other Grotto Heavens and Blessed Lands also wore complicated expressions, unsure whether to feel relief or disappointment.

In this moment, no one was looking at Ye Fan anymore. The contrast between their earlier burning enthusiasm and their current cold indifference was strikingly stark.