ARK SPIRIT

Hao Nhien was about to ask another question when Old Bai turned toward the main peak.

The elder’s expression had changed completely after receiving the message moments earlier. The easy amusement was gone, along with any interest in teasing him. Several nearby stewards seemed to notice the shift as well. Their conversations gradually stopped, and their attention turned in the same direction.

Hao Nhien immediately realized that whatever had forced the inner sect trial to be moved forward was probably far more serious than he had first assumed.

“Elder Bai, what happened?”

Before the elder could answer, a calm, steady voice came from the distance.

“Allow me to make the announcement.”

The voice was not loud, yet it reached every corner of the plaza with perfect clarity.

The murmurs that had just begun quickly faded. Hao Nhien raised his head with everyone else.

Above the main peak, the white clouds slowly parted.

A man in pale blue Daoist robes stepped out from within them.

He did not ride a sword, nor did he transform into a streak of light. Each step was unhurried, placed casually into empty space, yet hundreds of zhang seemed to disappear beneath his feet. Within several breaths, the figure had crossed the distance and descended onto the platform.

His silver-white hair was tied neatly behind him. The Daoist robe he wore carried only simple cloud patterns, and although his face did not look especially old, there was a depth in his eyes that Hao Nhien could not begin to measure.

What caught Hao Nhien’s attention most was the man’s aura. There was almost no direct pressure, but the more he tried to sense it, the more the man resembled a perfectly calm sea. The surface was visible, yet there was no way to know how deep the waters beneath it truly went.

Old Bai immediately stepped aside and bowed with cupped hands.

“Greetings, Sect Master Senior Brother.”

The elders and stewards around the platform saluted as well.

“Greetings, Sect Master.”

Only then did the disciples below react. The inner sect disciples bowed first, and the remaining outer sect disciples quickly followed. Thousands of voices joined together and rolled across the plaza.

“Greetings, Sect Master!”

Hao Nhien bowed with the rest.

Van Du Tu.

Sect Master of the Tieu Dao Sect.

This was the first time Hao Nhien had personally seen the man who stood at the head of the entire sect.

When he straightened, he quietly observed Van Du Tu once more before withdrawing his gaze. He could not determine the Sect Master’s cultivation at all. Nascent Soul, or perhaps something even higher, was beyond his ability to judge.

That alone was enough to show just how vast the distance between them truly was.

Van Du Tu raised one hand.

“At ease.”

His voice remained calm, yet the entire plaza gradually fell silent.

Old Bai spoke first.

“Senior Brother, is this about the trial?”

Van Du Tu nodded.

“Three days ago, an urgent report arrived from the Western Wastes defensive line. As of this morning, the five great sects and Bich Van Palace have agreed on a response. This year’s inner sect trial can no longer proceed according to the original plan.”

The words Western Wastes immediately caught Hao Nhien’s attention.

He had encountered the name in several books before. Most records described it only as a vast desert region at the extreme west of the continent, a place where spiritual qi was chaotic, the environment harsh, and many areas nearly unsuitable for ordinary cultivators to survive in for long periods. Old Bai’s earlier reaction, however, made it obvious that the matter was far more complicated than those brief descriptions suggested.

Van Du Tu did not explain immediately.

His gaze swept across the plaza, first pausing on the disciples who had just completed the outer sect examination, then moving toward the older inner sect disciples gathered around the platform.

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When those eyes passed over Hao Nhien, he felt an extraordinarily delicate perception brush across the spiritual power he had only just formed after reaching Foundation Establishment.

There was nothing forceful or crude about the sensation, yet Hao Nhien still had the distinct impression that Van Du Tu had already seen through part of his newly established realm in that brief instant.

The Sect Master moved on almost at once.

“First, congratulations to those who placed within the top one hundred.”

He spoke at an even pace.

“From today onward, you officially possess the qualifications to enter the inner sect. You will gain access to better resources, stronger cultivation methods, and more opportunities to receive guidance from the elders and the various peaks. At the same time, what you will face from this point forward will no longer resemble life in the outer sect.”

Several faces below became noticeably more serious.

Van Du Tu then looked toward those who had failed to enter the top hundred.

“As for the rest of you, do not treat a single examination as the final judgment on your path. The Tieu Dao Sect does not lack opportunities for those who still wish to move forward.”

Hao Nhien saw more than a few lowered heads rise again.

The Sect Master did not elaborate.

“Outer sect disciples who do not yet possess inner sect status, along with all unrelated personnel, will temporarily leave the plaza.”

“Those already belonging to the inner sect, or preparing to participate in this trial, will remain.”

The stewards moved immediately.

The crowd began to separate. Most of the outer sect disciples gradually left, though many continued glancing back with obvious curiosity. Among those who remained were the hundred newly qualified disciples and a large number of older inner sect members from the various peaks.

Hao Nhien also noticed that Tieu Lan remained where she was, which did not surprise him.

Phong Van Tu had already formally accepted her as a disciple of Medicine Peak, so she had possessed inner sect status for some time and had never needed to pass the same examination as Hao Nhien, Quan Nha, Lam Phong, and Tieu Van.

Within a short time, more than half of the previously crowded plaza had emptied.

Those who remained gathered closer to the platform. Hao Nhien estimated that there were still close to a thousand people present.

Van Du Tu raised his hand.

An invisible fluctuation spread across the central area. The wind outside continued to blow, and clouds still drifted overhead, yet all distant sound vanished.

A sound isolation restriction.

At that point, much of the warmth in the Sect Master’s expression faded.

“What I am about to tell you has not yet been made public. Until the sect gives permission, none of you are to spread this information.”

No one answered carelessly.

Hao Nhien heard a unified “Yes” before silence returned.

Van Du Tu looked over the disciples below.

“The location of this year’s inner sect trial has changed.”

He paused just long enough to gather everyone’s attention.

“The Western Wastes.”

Hao Nhien immediately noticed several nearby inner sect disciples change expression. Some frowned, while others turned toward their companions. Even cultivators who had reached Foundation Establishment long ago no longer looked relaxed.

Van Du Tu swept his sleeve.

Spiritual light gathered in the air and gradually formed a projection dozens of zhang across.

What appeared within it was completely different from Hao Nhien’s image of the Western Wastes.

There was no desert and no endless sandstorm. Instead, mountain ranges stretched into the distance, great rivers curved through broad plains, and green forests extended all the way to the horizon. Ancient cities stood amid fertile lands, while the spiritual qi was so dense that white mist covered many parts of the landscape.

Hao Nhien raised his brows slightly.

Van Du Tu began to speak.

“More than a thousand years ago, the land you now call the Western Wastes had another name.”

“At that time, it was known as the Western Spirit Province, one of the most prosperous regions on the Ling Yun Continent.”

The projection shifted with his words.

Sects, cultivation clans, and ancient cities appeared across the land, while enormous spiritual veins stretched beneath the earth.

Hao Nhien needed no explanation to understand how powerful the region had once been.

Then the sky within the projection began to darken.

A black fissure appeared in midair, followed almost immediately by several more. The space above the Western Spirit Province gradually tore apart into long, distorted cracks. Something strange spilled out from within them, an aura that made Hao Nhien uncomfortable even through the projection. It did not resemble spiritual qi, nor did it feel entirely like demonic qi or any form of power he had encountered before.

“No one now knows the exact origin of what emerged from those fissures.”

Van Du Tu’s voice grew heavier.

“The surviving records only state that spiritual qi became chaotic, spiritual veins were corroded, the land itself changed, and certain living beings became abnormal.”

The projection continued to shift. Cities collapsed one after another, green forests were swallowed by seas of flame, and groups of cultivators rose into the sky amid sword light and artifacts that covered the heavens.

Van Du Tu did not describe every battle.

He only said,

“The war lasted a long time.”

“In the end, the powers of that era managed to drive the invaders back and seal the spatial passages.”

Countless formation patterns appeared across the projection, linking mountains, rivers, and the remaining spiritual veins.

Light flared.

Then everything disappeared.

When the image returned, the Western Spirit Province was gone. An endless desert stretched beneath a gray-yellow sky.

Van Du Tu looked at the desolate land.

“The price was the near-total destruction of the entire region. Its spiritual veins were severed, the land dried out, and the laws of heaven and earth suffered damage that could never fully recover.”

“From then on, the Western Spirit Province became known as the Western Wastes.”

The plaza grew even quieter.

Hao Nhien said nothing.

He had always assumed the Western Wastes were simply a naturally harsh region. Only today did he learn that the vast desert was the scar left behind by a war more than a thousand years ago.

Van Du Tu continued.

“The desert itself is not the most important consequence of that war.”

He raised his hand, and the projection shrank into a map of the entire Western Wastes. A pale red layer spread across almost the whole region.

Hao Nhien looked at that faint red glow and felt a vague sense of foreboding. If this were merely an ordinary wasteland, there would have been no reason for the Sect Master to personally explain all of this in such detail.

“After the sealing formations were completed, the laws of that land developed an extremely unusual restriction.”

Van Du Tu looked down at the disciples.

“Anyone at Golden Core or above cannot enter the Western Wastes.”