Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

Though it had been some time since Lin Hao had last seen this face, it was one he knew all too well.

It was Yingxue!

"Yingxue, when did you come to the Divinity Realm?" Seeing someone he knew in the Divinity Realm after so long made Lin Hao quite happy.

Lin Hao took two steps forward.

"Yingxue? I’m not Yingxue! Be quiet." The girl denied being Yingxue, shot Lin Hao a harsh glare, then turned back around and started fiddling with something.

Lin Hao just assumed she was having a fit of pique and didn’t get angry. He simply stood behind her and watched quietly.

"Why haven’t you left yet?! Go on, get out of here! You’ll scare the Snow Jade Fox away, and it won’t come out." After a short while, the girl who looked like Yingxue turned around, her expression hostile.

"Snow Jade Fox? What’s that? A Devil Beast? I’ll help you catch it." Lin Hao took another two steps forward, coming to stand beside her.

"What are you doing? Get away from me!" She looked at him with disgust and sidestepped away.

’Something’s not right. Something is very wrong.’

Lin Hao frowned, looking the girl up and down.

Finally, Lin Hao was certain. This was Yingxue.

Suddenly, Lin Hao reached out, grabbed both of her hands, and said, "Yingxue, you don’t recognize me? I’ve even held you in my arms before! I’m..."

As he spoke, Lin Hao suddenly remembered he was wearing a mask.

Now, he finally knew who the girl Lord Ji had mentioned was.

’It has to be Yingxue.’

Lin Hao smiled and was about to take off his mask.

Just then... "AHHH!" An extremely sharp scream escaped from the girl’s mouth.

The sound seemed to have a piercing quality, echoing throughout the entire starting area.

Before Lin Hao could understand what was happening, his arms were seized from both sides.

Then, the scene changed. Lin Hao found himself back where he had first entered the starting area.

And the ones restraining him were none other than the two Law Enforcers whose armor he had stripped off earlier.

’What’s going on?’

For a moment, Lin Hao couldn’t make sense of the situation.

It wasn’t just him. The crowd that had remained behind because of him was also bewildered to see Lin Hao being dragged back by the Law Enforcers.

The next moment, a Law Enforcer spoke in an icy tone, "Idol, for harassing a woman in the starting area of the Divinity Realm, you will be expelled from the Divinity Realm."

At the same time, on the Second Layer, the Third Layer, the Fourth Layer...

Law Enforcers all across the Divinity Realm spoke in unison: "Idol, for harassing a woman in the starting area of the Divinity Realm, you will be expelled from the Divinity Realm."

The voice thundered across the land, reaching every corner of the Divinity Realm.

Ugh...

Back in the starting area, Lin Hao nearly coughed up a mouthful of old blood. ’When did I harass anyone?’

The crowd, after a moment of shock...

PFFT!

Many of them practically spat out a mouthful of blood.

He had just become the Supreme of the Blood Coagulation Realm. The spokesperson for the Supreme Esoteric Sect had offered him a Commandery Princess, a princess, and a Saintess, all of which he refused on the grounds of being too young. Yet in the blink of an eye, he goes and harasses a woman...

This completely shattered their expectations. The contrast was just too great.

The spokesperson for the Supreme Esoteric Sect, in particular, the old man, stared blankly at Lin Hao, unable to wrap his head around it.

Meanwhile, on the Second Layer, Third Layer...

Some of the Martial Artists who heard the announcement burst out laughing. "Idol, the Supreme of the Blood Coagulation Realm? I thought he’d have three heads and six arms, but it turns out he’s just a pervert."

"Getting caught harassing a woman in the Divinity Realm... This Supreme of the Blood Coagulation Realm must be all hype."

"The first person to be expelled for harassing a woman. He’s number one in the Divinity Realm for that, I guess."

...

All sorts of gloating voices rang out.

Back in the starting area, the two Law Enforcers simply tossed Lin Hao out...

Lin Hao was completely unable to resist, forced to watch as his body was sent flying backward.

"Damn it! Hey, kid, you still owe us five hundred Divine Crystals! Give them back!" Lord Ji shouted.

"I’ll be back!" Lin Hao’s voice came from the distance.

"What’s the damn use of you coming back! Divine Crystals disappear once you leave the Divinity Realm! You have a thousand Divine Crystals on you, a thousand!" Lord Ji was so furious he could have spat blood.

Unfortunately, Lin Hao couldn’t answer him.

Lin Hao felt an invisible force pushing him back, and in an instant, he had returned to the ruins where he first entered the Divinity Realm.

Lin Hao tried to move forward but was blocked by the same invisible force.

After several attempts, Lin Hao had no choice but to give up and retrace his steps.

He descended the steps, and after passing through the tree-like gate, his avatar faded away. Back in the Saha World, his physical body, which had been standing motionless, regained consciousness.

He looked around in confusion. With a single thought, Lin Hao knew his consciousness had returned to his body.

"Huh? How are you back so soon?" Lord Lingdi asked quizzically, leaping down from the towering tree.

Only a few hours had passed.

With Lin Hao’s abilities, he absolutely shouldn’t have returned in such a short time.

"I was expelled!" Lin Hao said, clearly annoyed.

"Expelled? What did you do that was so heinous it angered both gods and men?" Lord Lingdi’s cat-like eyes widened in surprise.

"All I did was run into Yingxue, say hello, and grab her hand," Lin Hao said, frustrated.

Lord Lingdi paused. "Yingxue? I sent Yingxue out on a training mission. How could she be in the Divinity Realm? You must have mistaken her for someone else. And don’t even try to deny it; you definitely harassed her."

"Not Yingxue? But she looked exactly like her." Lin Hao hadn’t expected to get such an answer from Lord Lingdi.

"How could Yingxue not recognize you? If it were really her, forget grabbing her hand—you could strip her naked, and she wouldn’t say a thing." Lord Lingdi rolled her eyes at Lin Hao.

"Ahem... It really was Yingxue. Right, I was wearing a mask, so she didn’t recognize me."

Lord Lingdi didn’t say anything, simply tossing him a mirror.

Lin Hao caught it, took one look, and was dumbfounded.

The mirror reflected his own, unmasked face.

’This...’

This was too strange. If not for the vivid memories of everything in the Divinity Realm, the two sets of armor in his storage ring, and the extorted Spiritual Artifact, Lin Hao would have thought it was all a dream.

"Alright, it was probably just someone who looked like her," Lord Lingdi said, settling the matter.

Lin Hao nodded. He couldn’t figure it out either.

Then, Lin Hao asked, "Can you send me back in?"

Being expelled as a pervert was too disgraceful. Lin Hao was determined to clear his name.

"I can’t! After you enter once, the Divinity Realm automatically records your cultivation level. If you want to go in again, you must first advance by one major realm," Lord Lingdi said, shaking her head.

Lin Hao was speechless.

’Advancing a major realm... that means I’d have to reach the Peak of the Elemental Realm.’

"How many hours was I in there?" Lin Hao asked.

"Five hours. You still have four hours left to cultivate in the Saha World."

Lin Hao nodded and sat down cross-legged.

’Since I have to advance a major realm, I’ll just have to cultivate faster and reach the Peak of the Elemental Realm as soon as possible.’

After reaching the Ninth Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm, Lin Hao had spent a long time breaking through to the Extreme Realm. Now that he had entered the Extreme Realm, he could advance to the Elemental Realm whenever he wished.

Although the Extreme Realm of Blood Coagulation was primarily about tempering the physical body, it also required control over True Essence. By this point, Lin Hao’s command of his True Essence was already terrifying.

Activating the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill, Lin Hao circulated his True Essence, spreading it throughout his body...

Lin Hao sat as still as a mountain. As he breathed, the leaves of the towering tree rustled, swaying gracefully.

One hour...

Two hours...

As the four hours were about to pass, there was still no change within Lin Hao’s body.

But in the final moments... BOOM!

In a single instant, a terrifying surge of True Essence erupted within Lin Hao. His cultivation broke through the Blood Coagulation Realm, and he stepped into the First Layer of the Elemental Realm.

But this was not his limit.

Almost without any conscious effort, his body reacted on its own.

Second Layer of the Elemental Realm...

Third Layer of the Elemental Realm...

The terrifying surge only began to subside when his cultivation reached the Peak of the Third Layer of the Elemental Realm.

Each realm had nine layers, with a threshold every three.

Within each realm, the first three layers were easy to advance through. The real difficulty began when moving from the Third Layer to the Fourth Layer, and this difficulty increased again when advancing from the Sixth Layer to the Seventh Layer.

But once crossed, there would be a qualitative leap in power.

This was also why, in the Blood Coagulation Realm, one could only practice Yellow Level Low Grade martial skills in the first three layers.

For some martial skills, an insufficient cultivation level meant you couldn’t unleash their true power. For others, an insufficient cultivation level meant you couldn’t practice them at all.

For others, advancing from the Third to the Fourth Layer was extremely difficult, but for Lin Hao, this difficulty was infinitely reduced.

Before long, Lin Hao had already crossed the threshold of the Elemental Realm’s Third Layer and stepped into the Fourth Layer of the Elemental Realm.

The terrifying True Essence was only fully absorbed by his body once his cultivation reached the peak of the Fourth Layer of the Elemental Realm.

Haaa...

A milky-white wisp of air was drawn in through Lin Hao’s nose. He then exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes.

Just then, the scene changed, and Lin Hao and Lord Lingdi appeared outside the Saha World.

In just four hours, his cultivation had soared to the peak of the Fourth Layer of the Elemental Realm. If word of this got out, it would shake even the Holy Lands, Esoteric Sects, and Alien Races of the Celestial Yang Continent that hadn’t been seen for thousands of years.

But Lord Lingdi was already immune to such shocks. She was completely composed.

In fact, Lord Lingdi would have been surprised if Lin Hao’s True Essence *hadn’t* allowed him to reach his current cultivation level.

"Not bad. Keep it up, and try to get back to the Divinity Realm soon." Lord Lingdi stood upright like a person, nodded, and then began to walk away with feline grace.

"Um... Sister... Sister Ling, how much do you know about the Sanqing Sect?" Lin Hao called out to her, asking tentatively.

In the Divinity Realm, the Holy Master’s secret manual had shown Lin Hao the path of cultivation in the Elemental Realm. And since Lord Lingdi was so mysterious, Lin Hao decided to try and sound her out.

’The Sanqing Sect... is very unusual.’

Unlike Mingjian Manor, the sect wasn’t deliberately low-key, but it was the one with the least presence among the four great sects.

The Holy Master’s secret manual from the Divinity Realm had made Lin Hao think of the Sanqing Sect. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Why?

Because Chu Tiandu’s memories contained information about the Sanqing Sect’s existence.

Thousands of years ago, when the Heaven-Stepping Sect was still the number one sect on the Celestial Yang Continent, the Sanqing Sect already existed. Even back then, it was a major sect in the Southern Border Prefecture.

But this information had been overlooked by Chu Tiandu, or rather, by Lin Hao himself. This just went to show how little presence the Sanqing Sect had.

To have no presence, yet never be swallowed by other sects or fall into decline—that in itself was a remarkable feat.

The more he mulled it over, the more interested Lin Hao became in the Sanqing Sect, or more specifically, its Cultivation Technique.

However, upon hearing his question, Lord Lingdi immediately threw cold water on his idea.