Middle Heaven Region, Heaven's Secret Temple, inside the exquisitely constructed Heaven's Secret Tower.
Lin Yao and Ling Yue, who were in charge of the Yellow Rankings, stared at the urgent message sent by Zhen Jiang of the Southern Region.
After a long silence.
"Strongest Level Four?" Ling Yue asked.
"Let's ask Master and the others …" Lin Yao, who was still in a daze, pursed her lips and said softly, "Although Master and the others have given us the names of the Four Rankings, we still have to ask for their opinion on the title of Strongest Level Four."
"Okay," Ling Yue replied.
"Oh, Young Master Lu …" Lin Yao let out a long sigh, her tone filled with endless admiration.
It was time for the Four Rankings to be updated again.
Due to the timely update of the Four Rankings, the news covered the seven regions of the human race, and it involved the most important events. It was equivalent to the change of the world's situation. For many cultivators, it was like a fixed "program" with great entertainment effect, a pastime for leisure.
Hence, every time the Four Rankings were updated, many cultivators would gather to watch the fun. Even the cultivators of the major families and sects would specially send people to record the latest rankings for their own viewing.
This time was no exception.
At the wall of the Four Rankings in White Horse City of the Western Region.
When the Four Rankings were about to be updated, many cultivators had already gathered in the square. They were casually discussing the highlights of the last Four Rankings.
"Although Lu Qingshan isn't the strongest Level Four, he's definitely the strongest in the Yellow Rankings in the past few hundred years!"
"Defeating Yellow Rankings cultivators is as easy as eating and drinking. Nascent Soul cultivators, who else but him?"
"But I reckon that Lu Qingshan's reign over the Yellow Rankings won't last long. Not long ago, our Western Region's Yan Fei broke through to the Void Refinement realm, and his name jumped out of the Yellow Rankings.
With Lu Qingshan's talent, how can he stay in the Nascent Soul realm for long? "
"You're right …"
At this moment, ripples appeared on the jade wall.
"It's out," someone said loudly.
"What changes will the Four Rankings have this time?" someone asked expectantly. At the same time, his gaze wandered around the Four Rankings.
A moment later, he was suddenly dumbstruck. "This … this …"
"The strongest fourth level?!" After a moment of shock, his voice suddenly rose, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
Everyone looked at the top of the Yellow Board and saw that the name at the top didn't change, but there was a line of seemingly inconspicuous small words in the column of the battle record.
Name: Lu Qingshan
Ranking: First
.....
Battle Record: … Defeated six Realm Sword Cultivators in Zhenjiang.
Title: Sword Extinction, Strongest Level Four
.....
"Yu Zhenjiang defeated a sword cultivator of the Six Realms."
These nine words were like nine bolts of spring thunder that shook the minds of all the cultivators present, causing them to be in a daze.
There was no need to describe the intensity of the battle, and there was no need to elaborate on the specific process.
Just these simple and understated words made everyone fall silent.
"Is this really possible?" Someone muttered in a low voice, breaking the frozen atmosphere.
How many years had it been? The Heaven's Secrets Observatory had set up the Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow Lists for such a long time, but until now, the strongest seventh level Xia Daoyun had appeared.
Finally, on this day, the Four Realms also had a so-called strongest person.
That was a cultivator of the sixth level!
He was a peerless figure who could establish his own sect, an existence at the peak of the cultivators in a region.
Such a figure was actually defeated by a Nascent Soul cultivator?
If not for the fact that the one who gave this battle record was the Heaven's Secrets Observatory, which had always been trustworthy, none of the cultivators present would dare to believe this kind of groundless rumor.
In front of such a battle record, no one disputed Lu Qingshan's title of "Strongest Level Four".
The news of "Lu Qingshan defeating six Realm Sword Cultivators" quickly spread to all the major powers.
To the great cultivators of the various powers, Lu Qingshan was only a junior worth paying attention to before, but after today, he had already become someone worth being wary of.
They had a feeling that … before long, Lu Qingshan would have the strength to threaten them.
That was if he didn't die prematurely.
.....
In the early winter, the warm sun hung low, the wild grass rustled, and a gust of wind blew, revealing a bit of coldness.
Lu Qingshan's long hair was pinned up with an ebony hairpin, so that the wind would not mess it up. His face was ruddy, and there was no sign of paleness.
It had been a month since the battle at Secret River Peak.
Under the treatment of a sea of pills and the Sky Sword, he still spent a month recuperating before his injuries were healed.
However, although his injuries were healed, some things that he lost could never be regained.
That was his lifespan, his life origin.
There were still many ways to repair the damage to one's life origin. For example, the Green Hill Mountain Lord had used his own Immortality Origin to successfully heal Mi Du's injuries.
However, Lu Qingshan's situation was different.
Mi Du's situation at that time was similar to how he should have been able to live to eighty years old, but due to excessive extraction of Essence Blood, his body deteriorated and he could only live to fifty years old.
The Immortality Origin was like a good medicine, recuperating his body.
As for Lu Qingshan's current situation, his Fate Wheel had directly rotated six hundred times, causing his lifespan to be reduced by six hundred years in three sword strikes.
He was still twenty-one years old, and that had not changed.
However, the upper limit of his lifespan had dropped from a thousand years to four hundred years.
The Immortality Origin could repair and restore life origin, but it could not create something out of nothing.
This was a real loss.
'Am I perhaps the shortest-lived Nascent Soul cultivator in history?' This thought suddenly flashed through Lu Qingshan's mind.
In terms of gains, it was not that he did not gain anything.
His Slaughter Sword Will had successfully advanced to the True Will of Destruction after that battle.
It was equivalent to exchanging six hundred years of his lifespan for a True Will of Destruction.
Was this trade profitable?
Lu Qingshan did not know.
However, he did not dwell on this question.
There was no need to think about the past.
One had to look forward.
…
"We're here." Lu Yuan, who was leading the way, interrupted Lu Qingshan's thoughts.
In front of them was a finely built tomb, and the tombstone was newly erected.
"That day was the day when the Great Elder was buried, and everyone in the family came to attend the Great Elder's funeral." As the Patriarch of the Lu family, Lu Yuan looked at the back of the incomparably young man in front of him with a complicated expression, and said softly, "So the ancestral land happened to be empty."
That day referred to the day when Yuan Cang intercepted and killed Lu Qingshan on the Secret River Peak.
"When he was alive, the Great Elder worked hard for the Lu family, and even after death, the Great Elder was still protecting the Lu family." Lu Yuan sighed.
In order to prevent someone from leaking information, Yuan Cang had already slaughtered all the Lu family cultivators on the Secret River Peak when Lu Qingshan appeared.
Fortunately, because they had to participate in Lu Zhou's tomb ceremony, and because they moved to a new family residence, there were only two or three Lu family cultivators on the already desolate Secret River Peak that day.
Therefore, the Lu family's loss was not great.
Lu Qingshan looked at the tombstone and was a little silent.
Nine truths and one lie were enough to win the trust of others.
Although the spiritual letter was a wig sent by Hades, the content of the spiritual letter was not fabricated out of thin air.
The Great Elder Lu Zhou was actually nearing the end of his life half a year ago.
"Grand Elder said that it's normal to be born, grow old, get sick, and die. There's no need to make it seem like a big deal. He told us to just let him go in peace and told us not to send any messages to you … so …" Lu Yuan explained.
"And, not only you, Lu Bei is cultivating outside, and also does not know about the Great Elder's death." The Patriarch of the Lu family sighed again.
Lu Qingshan rushed back to see Lu Zhou for the last time, but in the end, he did not see him.
The open-minded old man did not ask for much.
"About the Lu family ancestral land, I'm sorry." Lu Qingshan said.
After he used the power of the mountains and seas, Secret River Peak had become a barren land, and there was no possibility of recovery.
This mountain where the Lu family had lived for hundreds of years had become history.
And if it were not for him, the Lu family cultivators on Secret River Peak would not have been massacred by Yuan Cang.
"It's good that you're still here. The land is dead, but people are alive. Your life is not worth a hundred ancestral lands of the Lu family," Lu Yuan said calmly. "As for the rest, just like the Great Elder, everyone in the Lu family has always been proud of you, Lu Qingshan."
…
Lu Yuan accompanied Lu Qingshan for a while before leaving, leaving him some space.
Lu Qingshan was not surprised by the Great Elder's death.
He would experience more of such things in the future, and it would not only involve the elders, but also his friends.
The cruelest thing about the path of cultivation was that it was a long march where people were constantly left behind. There were enemies, but … there were also friends.
No one could guarantee that they would be able to reach the end … Even Lu Qingshan could not guarantee it.
But so what?
He just had to keep going. As for where he could reach, why should he think too much about it?
Success was not just about reaching the end. The process of constantly moving forward had its own meaning.
Lu Qingshan took a deep look at the Great Elder's tombstone, and then at the Lu family's new base in the distance. He turned around and flew on his sword, turning into a sword light and leaving in an instant.
In the sky, Lu Qingshan's expression was relaxed, and he exuded an otherworldly aura.
'The beginning of the path of cultivation is the cause, and the end is the effect. There's no doubt about that.
But, it's not just the end that's the effect. Every part of the journey is also the effect …
'So, when living in the world, there's cause and effect everywhere. Why bother to pursue cause and effect?'
The next moment, the true meaning of cause and effect appeared in his heart.
With a bang, an illusory sound exploded in Lu Qingshan's heart.
His mind suddenly spread out, and broke through a certain barrier.
One's conception was related to one's thoughts, temperament, and fate. Hence, some people advanced quickly, while others advanced slowly. The methods were different, and could not be compared.
Some people could even achieve a breakthrough in their conception while eating or sleeping.
Previously, he had comprehended the true meaning of destruction when he was between life and death.
This time, he inadvertently felt that his path of cultivation, his artistic conception, and his temperament had formed an indescribable sense of compatibility.
'So, this is the true meaning of cause and effect …' Lu Qingshan's eyes shone with an epiphany.
The true meaning of cause and effect that he had been pursuing for a long time had unknowingly reached perfection under this harmony.
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