Chapter Ninety-Three: The Sacred Light Domain

After leaving Starlike Island, You Xiyue landed directly in the cave of the Demon Realm, where the first thing she saw was the hideous ice sculpture of Hong Chen.

"So at least you know how to clean up after yourself."

With that, You Xiyue flashed to the entrance of the Demon Realm and stepped out.

In that brief instant, because she had not brought along the Demon Emperor Herb, the powerful surge of spiritual energy had already thrown the entire Demon Realm into disorder.

On the streets of Devour-Heaven City, a crowd of great demons and lesser demons stood armed, waiting to fight the cultivator who had suddenly intruded into their realm.

The patrolling eagle demon happened to land on the roof of the Best Welcome Inn and looked toward the figure that had vanished at the Demon Realm entrance.

If he had not seen wrong, that was the cultivator who had saved the entire Demon Realm.

After the matter of the Devouring Demon Pearl, Green Sandalwood and the eagle demon had grown increasingly close.

Whenever Green Sandalwood found something good, he would always share a portion with the eagle demon.

The eagle demon had also completely acknowledged Green Sandalwood as his elder brother and was gradually developing into a true great demon.

Back then, after the eagle demon fainted in Green Sandalwood's cave dwelling, he woke to find Green Sandalwood still alive and was so startled that he thought he had seen a ghost demon.

Only later did Green Sandalwood tell him the whole story.

So now, in his heart, he held the deepest admiration for You Xiyue.

Because You Xiyue was the benefactor who had saved their entire Demon Realm.

If not for You Xiyue, no one would ever have discovered the cause of the great demons' disappearance.

And the situation would surely have spiraled into something beyond repair.

After leaving the Demon Realm, You Xiyue took out the Divine Realm Map and quickly found the location of the teleportation array leading to the Holy Land.

In the blink of an eye, she once again arrived at the familiar entrance to the Holy Land.

This time, the vine coiling around the stone-pillared gate actually stopped climbing the moment You Xiyue appeared.

It seemed to wither at once, losing all vitality.

Quite a few people noticed this sudden change, and many stopped to discuss it.

"What's wrong with the sacred vine?"

"Could it have suddenly entered seclusion and passed on?"

The vine twitched when it heard that, but only once, and then it did not dare move again.

Because You Xiyue did not care in the least whether the vine was alive or dead, she simply strode grandly beneath it and passed through.

"Did that sacred vine just move?"

"Your eyes are playing tricks on you. It must be old and has already passed on."

As more and more people gathered, the discussion grew louder and louder.

After You Xiyue had gone far enough away, the vine swiftly sent out slender branches and lashed at the few people who had said it had passed on.

You are the one who passed on. Your whole family has passed on.

Those people were so frightened that they dodged left and right, and the entrance to the Holy Land almost descended into chaos.

All kinds of spells rose to block the attacks, turning the place into a smoky, chaotic mess.

Afterward, a rumor spread that the sacred vine had grown old and senile, sometimes stopping its climb and sometimes flying into a rage and lashing out at people, terribly unstable, and all cultivators passing through were urged to be careful.

For a long time after this incident, very few people entered or left the Holy Land.

In truth, the root of it all was that after this curse-breaking journey, You Xiyue seemed to have grown even stronger in cultivation, so much so that the moment she appeared, she had already utterly shocked the ancient vine into submission.

After leaving the entrance to the Holy Land, You Xiyue took out the scroll and brush Blue Time had given her.

On the scroll, she wrote the two words Light Domain.

Although the people of the Snow Domain were all cultivators with ice-element spiritual roots, the Light Domain was not composed entirely of light-element cultivators, because throughout history only one person ever possessed both light and darkness.

Thus, only the lord of the Light Domain had a light-element spiritual root. She was also the woman feared throughout the entire Holy Land, or to be precise, that old woman.

The people of the Light Domain had rather mixed spiritual roots, and their rules were not nearly as strict as those of the Snow Domain.

There was only one requirement for entering the territory: one's cultivation had to be above the level of the Saint Emperor. Even if one wished to live in the Light Domain for a long time, that was allowed.

At the entrance to the territory stood a dao artifact used to test cultivation, the Spirit Pavilion Tower.

Once touched, it would automatically display the person's cultivation.

Most people did not know of its other function: once one touched the Spirit Pavilion Tower, not only would the person's cultivation be measured, but the spiritual energy within their body would also be marked.

That was why the Light Domain rarely saw any trouble.

Most of the time, any trouble was resolved by the lord of the Light Domain before it could even begin.

When You Xiyue arrived at the entrance to the Light Domain, she looked troubled as she regarded the Spirit Pavilion Tower.

The guard at the gate, however, was very enthusiastic.

After all, You Xiyue's appearance truly left nothing to criticize.

"Little sister, just place your hand on the tower and that's all."

"Is that really all right?" You Xiyue looked at the guard in doubt.

"This Spirit Pavilion Tower is extremely accurate at measuring cultivation. Do you see that column of light? The first level represents Saint Emperor cultivation, and the levels increase from there. You're sure you've already reached at least the Saint Emperor realm, right?"

When the guard spoke, his tone carried a hint of suspicion, because You Xiyue looked far too young.

"At least is definitely at least," You Xiyue said, still somewhat conflicted. "What is the upper limit this tower can withstand?"

"The upper limit?" The guard had never heard anyone ask that before. He had never noticed any upper limit to the tower. Even their lord of the Light Domain, that old... beautiful woman, was already at the cultivation of a Heavenly Net Dao Sovereign, and still had not reached the artifact's limit.

"Probably none. Go ahead and test it," the guard said.

He did not think You Xiyue's cultivation could possibly surpass their lord of the Light Domain, that old... beautiful woman.

"All right then." You Xiyue sighed and placed her hand on it.

With the sensitivity of this dao artifact, suppressing her cultivation would be useless. Lowering her aura would only deceive other people's eyes; the real level still existed.

After You Xiyue placed her hand on the tower, the guard fixed his gaze on the column of light.

The column rose almost too fast for the eye to follow, and in the end, with a loud crash, it shattered before everyone present.

You Xiyue reacted quickly. The instant the dao artifact broke, she surrounded it with a protective formation.

Thus, the people nearby were not struck by the blast of the artifact's explosion.

Still, everyone was left stunned, including the guard.

With a faint curl of her lips, You Xiyue asked, "Do I need to pay for it?"

A ring of people stared dumbly at the little girl before them. Was this really the point now?

And with what was she supposed to pay? There was only one Spirit Pavilion Tower in the world.

"This... this... I..." The guard was somewhat dazed. He had served as a guard for five thousand years, and never once had anything like this happened.

For a moment, he could not decide what to do.

As for the others, they seemed still too stunned to recover.

You Xiyue quietly pinched her index finger with her thumb, thinking to herself, "Should I slip away secretly? Is it still in time?"

Just as she had not yet made up her mind, a blinding radiance suddenly erupted from the entrance to the Holy Land, so bright that it stung the eyes and made it impossible to keep them open.

Only You Xiyue seemed unaffected by the glare, staring straight at the light.

The guard dropped to his knees at once.

"Welcome, my lord."

The others glanced at one another and then, following the guard's lead, also knelt down.

When the light faded, a woman appeared before their eyes, descending in a long golden dress, stately and magnificent, her skin fair and smooth, her face showing no hint that she had already lived for hundreds of thousands of years.

"Who destroyed the Spirit Pavilion Tower?"