This place was encircled by mountains and filled with chirping birds and the scent of flowers, forming a picturesque landscape.

At the center of the Saint Soul Grounds stood a majestic altar. On each of the altar’s four sides was a flight of steps that led to the top and at the top, there was also a wide open platform. On the flight of steps where many people sat, cultivating, but none could step foot on the altar’s peak.

Xiao Yu explained as he walked in the altar’s direction. “Inside this spiritual well, Earth and Heavenly Fate Realm experts can obtain great benefits towards their cultivation. There are a total of one hundred ninety-nine flights of steps. The stronger an individual’s ability to communicate with the Heaven and Earth, the closer he or she can approach to the altar’s peak. On the contrary, if an individual’s ability to communicate with Heaven and Earth is weak, then they won’t be able to take even a single step. If they try, they’ll suffer a great backlash.”

Every step was as distant as a journey towards the Heavenly Dao. Only by overcoming great difficulties can one make progress.

Suddenly, the students on the platform spotted Xiao Yu’s group.

“Isn’t that the Xiao Yu with the 7-grade Heaven Spiritual Root?”

“I heard that he couldn’t even make it up to the fifth step. Is that true?”

“Yeah, it’s a fact that he couldn’t even make it up to the fifth step!”

Several students mocked in low voices.

However, Xiao Yu paid no attention to those students; he was already used to being mocked by others. As far as he was concerned, he just have to bother about himself and there was no need to care about the views of others.

Xiao Yu looked at his companions and said, “Nie Li, Lu Piao, I’ll head up first and start cultivating!”

He headed towards the flight of steps. First step, second step...

At the fifth step, a trace of astonishment flashed through Xiao Yu’s eyes. In the past, every time he reached the fifth step, he would feel a heavy pressure that made every movement difficult. But this time, when he reached the fifth step, he still felt as if he was only lifting light weights.

He took another step up, the sixth, seventh...

“How is that possible? Xiao Yu actually made it to the sixth step?”

The other students looked at Xiao Yu in astonishment. In the past, Xiao Yu could only make it to the fifth step and was stopped there; however, today, he was able to make it up the sixth step. This fact stunned them a little.

They watched as Xiao Yu climbed higher, step by step. The heights that were unreachable to Xiao Yu in the past looked so easy right now.

Several students that sat cultivating around the thirtieth step, watched as Xiao Yu approached and instantly felt fidgety and uneasy. Why did Xiao Yu’s ability to communicate with Heaven and Earth suddenly rise to such a level? This new development left them utterly shocked.

Xiao Yu glanced at those students and brushed past them as he continued upwards.

Those students were left dumbfounded as they watched Xiao Yu’s figure move further and further away. As they thought of all the things they’d said when they mocked Xiao Yu earlier, they felt their faces burn. As far as other people were concerned, they were merely jokes! Xiao Yu didn’t even give them a decent look!

Nie Li and Lu Piao also set their feet on the flight of steps.

The instant Nie Li’s foot landed on the first step, he felt a majestic energy blowing towards him and his Soul Realm surged. This spiritual well was indeed extraordinary.

Nie Li ascended as he communicated and harmonized with this energy bit by bit. On his way up, he realised that his strength was like a mere droplet of water in the vast sea of the spiritual well.

The two figures slowly ascended, step by step.

Outside the Saint Soul Grounds

A commotion instantly arose as a new name materialised on the Saint Soul Board, at the two hundredth place.

“It’s Xiao Yu! Xiao Yu actually broke into the top two hundred!”

Once the various factions were made aware of this news, everyone was utterly astonished.

This was the first time that Xiao Yu made it into the top two hundred. In the past, no matter how many times he tried, he could never list his name on the Saint Soul Board.

“How is that possible?!” Hua Ling’s face turned dark as he stared at Xiao Yu’s name on the Saint Soul Board. A trace of murderous intent flashed through his eyes. The fact that Xiao Yu’s name appeared on the Saint Soul Board made him felt huge pressure.

Hua Ling and his men stared at the Saint Soul Board.

Yan Hao arrived after Hua Ling, glanced around the area, but couldn’t find Huang Ying. He raised his head and his pupils suddenly shrank when he saw Xiao Yu’s name on the Saint Soul Board.

“Xiao Yu, that trash, actually made it to the top two hundred of the Saint Soul Board? Just what’s going on?”

Yan Hao’s brows were tightly knitted together as he sensed a trace of abnormality. In the past, Xiao Yu could only pace back and forth on the lower steps of the Saint Soul Grounds, whereas reaching the top two hundred would require one to ascend to at least the fiftieth step. The difference between the former and the latter were simply too great.

Could it be...?

Did that Xiao Yu actually break through to the Heavenly Fate Realm?

Just as everyone was still in shock that Xiao Yu had managed to enter the top two hundred, his name began to charge forward on the Saint Soul Board. From the two hundredth position to one hundred ninety-ninth, his placing continued to increase.

Everyone’s attention was fixed on the Saint Soul Board as Xiao Yu’s ranking continued to change.

“How is this possible? Xiao Yu’s already in the one hundred sixties!”

“That’s impossible! How can he surpass me?!” Yan Hao was raging. In his eyes, Xiao Yu had always been a rubbish. But now, he’d actually been surpassed by that same rubbish!

At that moment, inside the Saint Soul Grounds, Xiao Yu continued to move upwards, slowly and confidently ascending step by step. Even he was astonished at his ability to communicate with Heaven and Earth. He was already in the nineties, but didn’t feel any pressure at all.

Xiao Yu was practising the [Myriad Dragonroars] cultivation technique. When he was in the Earth Fate Realm, his cultivation had always been suppressed; but the moment he made a breakthrough and stepped into the Heavenly Fate Realm, the [Myriad Dragonroars] cultivation technique finally revealed its frightening might and raised Xiao Yu’s cultivation by leaps and bounds.

Such a pace was simply unimaginable by ordinary cultivators!

Nie Li and Lu Piao followed behind. Nie Li raised his head and looked at Xiao Yu’s back. Xiao Yu was already on the ninety-somethingth flight while they were just in the thirties.

Suddenly, Nie Li suddenly noticed a beautiful girl, roughly sixteen or seventeen, sitting cross-legged on the one hundred thirty-somethingth step, cultivating. She was beautiful and wore a light cyan silk dress, with a white muslin robe over her shoulders that spread out on the ground like moonlight. Through this thin muslin robe, one could see the elegant line of her neck and her flawless collarbone.

Her hair was tied with a pink ribbon and a butterfly hairpin and she wore makeup. The skin on her cheeks was as tender and beautiful as flower petals. Under the faint glow of the spiritual well, her entire body glowed like clear snow.

This beauty was a masterpiece from gods. Compared to her, even Heaven and Earth looked dull.

This beauty, could even be described as ‘a(chǎn)ble to captivate even birds and beasts’.

Her eyes were closed as she cultivated, submerged in a kind of mysterious state, like a fairy who’d fallen asleep. With that holy appearance of hers, others wouldn’t dare to profane before her.

Regardless of who saw her, no one could help feeling ashamed and inferior compared to her.

On the steps not far away were many disciples, staring at her from a distance, not daring to approach her. Or perhaps, no one was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

“How beautiful!” Lu Piao was dumbfounded as he stared and muttered. Among the girls who he’d seen, perhaps only Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning’er could compare to her.

However, at that moment, the glow from the spiritual well shined directly onto her, like a fairy who’d descended into the mortal realm. Even Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning’er would be a little inferior compared to her.

Nie Li stared at this girl in a daze as countless emotions and memories arose in his mind.

When they’d met in the previous life, Nie Li had suffered heavy injuries and had lost conscious by the riverside. She was the one who’d saved him. She’d always been unwilling to tell Nie Li her true name. She said that it was because she’d leave one day and it’d be better for him not to know, so that he’d be able to easily forget her. Back then, she appeared as a teenager but Nie Li was well aware that she’d already lived for a long time.

“I don’t know who or what is pursuing you, but right now, you’re grievously injured. Why don’t you accept me as your master and follow me back to the Divine Feathers Sect? There, I can teach you cultivation techniques.” The girl’s tender smile was as gentle as a spring breeze.

“Disciple, you can’t cultivate like this. If you want to communicate with Heaven and Earth, you must first put down the hatred in your heart! You must be as virtuous as water, for water does not compete. The heart must be like Heaven and Earth, so to achieve the greater Dao.”

Nie Li had never been able to reach the ‘virtuous as water’ realm that his master had spoken of.

He was just a commoner, partaking in the competition and deceptions of the world. He’d never been able to let it go and continued to make enemies everywhere.

——

“Disciple, even if you fight, what does it accomplish?”

“But Master, they called you a demoness! That is the root of everything! Saying that the blood flowing within you belongs to the demon clan!”

“Then is your Master a demoness in your heart?”

“No.”

“Then that’ll do. As for what others say, what can words do?”

——

“No Master, don’t leave me, you’re the only one I hold dear... ”

Her aura grew weaker. “Nie Li, I’ve said it before, I’ve already performed calculations on my fate with the Divine Fortune technique. You are the calamity of my destiny. My death are unrelated to them, promise me one thing. Don’t take vengeance against them. Let go of the hatred within you. Those who are lost will never be able to return. The more you are unresigned, the more you will lose. You must reach that ‘virtuous as water’ realm!”

“No...!” Nie Li painfully howled as he watched her slowly close her eyes and dissipate within his arms.

His master had always been the one paving the way for him in the Draconic Ruins Realm. But now, she’d quietly left the world and turned into an intangible breeze.

Nie Li fulfilled his Master’s last request and didn’t kill those people for vengeance. At the same time he had also protected the last of the fundamentals of the Divine Feathers Sect. However, her death had left a deep regret in his heart.

Even afterwards, Nie Li was never able to reach the ‘virtuous as water’ realm, never able to be like his master, distanced from worldly affairs.

——

In this life, Nie Li’s eyes were filled with tears upon seeing her again.

“Nie Li, what’s wrong with you?” Lu Piao looked at Nie Li dumbfoundedly. What’s going on with him? Why is he crying?

Nie Li shook his head. “It’s nothing.” Those memories were like a tidal wave, blurring his vision.