Cultivation Begins From The Desert

At Zhou Xuan Yu's request, Zhouyang first took her to Yuquan Lake Oasis.

When the Zhou Family obtained the Red Tiger Mountain Oasis, Zhou Xuan Yu was still trapped in underground ruins. So for her, home wasn't that unfamiliar Red Tiger Mountain, but Jade Spring Peak where she grew up.

Especially after learning that the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had committed suicide on Jade Spring Peak, and before his death left his wish to entrust Zhouyang to find her and her mother, Zhou Xuan Yu was even more unwilling to go elsewhere.

As leaves return to their roots, the older one gets, the more nostalgic they feel about their hometown. Zhouyang can say he quite understands Zhou Xuan Yu's feelings.

Therefore, halfway through, he asked his Dao Companion Xiao Ying to first ride the Eagle Lion Beast back to Red Tiger Mountain Oasis to oversee the clan, while he himself switched to the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle to take Zhou Xuan Yu and her mother to Yuquan Lake Oasis.

Time has passed and Zhou Xuan Yu's appearance has changed dramatically. Moreover, almost all cultivators of the Zhou Family who were of the same age or had seen her before have died. Even if she showed her true face when appearing at Yuquan Lake Oasis with Zhouyang, none of the Zhou Family cultivators guarding this Spirit Mountain could recognize the real identity of this elderly woman one step from the grave.

As for her identity as a Demon Cultivator, it is not something Foundation Establishment cultivators can see through.

The Zhou Family currently has only Zhou Guangtai, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, stationed at Red Fox Ridge, who wouldn't easily come to Yuquan Lake Oasis.

But to prevent any potential issues, upon arriving at Yuquan Lake Oasis, Zhouyang sent most of the stationed cultivators to Haoyang Mountain and Red Fox Ridge, leaving only a few Early-Stage Qi Cultivators to tend to the Spirit Field at the foot of the mountain, strictly forbidding them to disturb Zhou Yuanyao, who was nominally resting there.

"Godmother, please rest on this Jade Spring Peak. I have some matters to verify. Once I've clarified the situation, I will return and tell you about the changes in the clan over these years."

On Jade Spring Peak, Zhouyang brought Zhou Xuan Yu and her mother here, familiarizing them with the situation for half a day before he couldn't help but say goodbye.

He must verify and confirm the speculation in his heart, or else he could never rest peacefully with this matter on his mind.

Thus, upon leaving Jade Spring Peak, Zhouyang rode the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle straight to Yellow Sand Sect.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou has suddenly visited, what urgent matter brings you here?"

Within Yellow Sand Sect, Zhang Yunpeng was surprised to see Zhouyang unexpectedly visiting and asking to see him.

Zhouyang, however, did not bother with politeness and directly said, "Forgive the intrusion, but indeed I have something I need Sect Leader Zhang's help with."

"I want to ask Sect Leader Zhang for help in retrieving all the information your sect has on the Great Brightness Immortal Palace for review. I wonder if Sect Leader Zhang would be willing to assist?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yunpeng was immediately stunned, then his expression changed slightly as he looked at Zhouyang with deep eyes and asked, "Forgive my presumption. May I know why Fellow Daoist Zhou suddenly wants to review these materials?"

Information on the Great Brightness Immortal Palace is even more strictly controlled by Yellow Sand Sect in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm than in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

Many years ago, the true ruler of the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm was actually the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, not any local sect.

Now Zhouyang suddenly visits saying he wants to review this information, which in Yellow Sand Sect is accessible only to high-tier cultivators. How could Zhang Yunpeng not be curious?

Since Zhouyang was asking for a favor, he knew he had to say something substantial.

With a faint smile, a calm face, he said, "It's nothing too serious. Just that one of our clan members who went missing many years ago was trapped in an ancient cultivator ruin and was only recently rescued by me."

"And within that ruin, I discovered some items related to the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, which prompted me to come to your sect to review the information to see if I could determine the origin and purpose of those items!"

"Related to the Great Brightness Immortal Palace? Did you discover a Golden Core Stage cultivator's cave mansion from thousands of years ago?"

Surprise flashed across Zhang Yunpeng's face as he looked at Zhouyang with astonishment and questioned.

Zhouyang didn't respond, merely smiled while looking at him.

Seeing this, Zhang Yunpeng assumed he was affirming and couldn't help but show a look of envy, murmuring to himself, "Fellow Daoist Zhou is truly lucky to find such a level of an ancient cultivator's cave mansion in the desert sea. It seems my master was right; Fellow Daoist Zhou indeed has great fortune!"

Despite its barrenness now, the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm had its moments of prosperity in the past.

When the Great Brightness Immortal Palace hadn't split due to internal strife, the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, backed by this giant, was not as closed-off and backward as it is now. Back then, Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and numerous Golden Core Stage cultivators also emerged from here.

Those Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, upon becoming Nascent Soul cultivators, generally left this remote place; some even relocated their sects and families.

But many Golden Core Stage cultivators remained in the desert sea, cultivating and establishing cave mansions.

Golden Core Stage cultivators, with their remarkable divine techniques, would hide their cave mansions deep within the desert sea, making them hard to discover.

For thousands of years, many cultivators' caves of these senior figures have been excavated by later generations, and the treasures left inside have been completely scavenged.

As the overlord of the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, the Yellow Sand Sect also unearthed some caverns of senior cultivators in the past.

Therefore, Zhang Yunpeng did not doubt Zhouyang's account and merely envied his good fortune.

However, envy is just envy. Since Zhouyang took the initiative to ask for help, Zhang Yunpeng was definitely willing to lend a small hand.

The Yellow Sand Sect blocked the news about the Great Brightness Immortal Palace and the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm mainly to prevent the lower-level cultivators from becoming delusional and weakening the authority of the Yellow Sand Sect upon learning of the existence of these colossal forces.

But for a high-tier cultivator like Zhouyang, who can leave the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, such news blockade obviously holds no significance, so it would be better to extend a friendly gesture.

Immediately, Zhang Yunpeng personally visited the Yellow Sand Sect's Scripture Pavilion to take out all the available materials regarding the Great Brightness Immortal Palace and allowed Zhouyang to read them in a quiet room.

The information preserved within the Yellow Sand Sect about the Great Brightness Immortal Palace wasn't as detailed as Zhouyang had previously imagined due to the passage of thousands of years.

Upon reflection, it made sense. When the Yellow Sand Sect was established, the Great Brightness Immortal Palace had already severed ties with the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm for many years. How could they have detailed knowledge of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace? At most, they could only inherit and organize the materials collected by their predecessors.

Fortunately, some of the situations Zhouyang wanted to understand were recorded in the relevant materials.

First, there was the "Bright Hall" and the White Jade Divine Statue.

According to the documentation, almost all the Great Brightness Immortal Palace's branches would build a "Bright Hall" and place a statue of the founding ancestor of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace inside.

The founding ancestor of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace was also called "Master Hanguang," who was a Tribulation Crossing True Immortal. Later disciples often referred to him with respect as "True Monarch Guangming" or "Venerable Guangming."

"True Monarch" is the honorific for a Returning Void Stage Earth Immortal. The disciples of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace affixed the title "True Monarch" to their founding ancestor to distinctly differentiate the title from "Zhenren" used by other sects' founding ancestors, which Zhouyang thought was rather shameless.

Of course, this wasn't the main point. Other sects didn't care about these titles, so why should he bother?

The main point was that the "Bright Hall" and the statue of "True Monarch Guangming" both confirmed his previous speculations.

The large remote teleportation array was indeed established by the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, the real overlord of the Land of the Far West. The remains of the "Fake Infant" cultivator were clearly also those of a cultivator from the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, and one of considerable status.

Furthermore, he found some clues about the white eye treasure he had obtained.

Based on the contents he saw in a book that should be considered a legendary account, the founding ancestor of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace was the owner of the legendary "Light Spirit Body."

The precise date of the existence of this "True Monarch Guangming" is untraceable, but he was at least several tens of thousands of years old.

The legendary account records that this "True Monarch Guangming" did not choose to go to the dwelling place of the Celestial Immortals like some renowned immortals of his time, but instead chose to pass away in this realm.

And before his passing, it is said that his Primordial Spirit emerged, and he personally dismantled and refined his own immortal body, creating several immensely powerful Tier Seven Immortal Artifacts and many Tier Six Spiritual Artifacts for his disciples.

These artifacts, made from the immortal body of "True Monarch Guangming," contained the power of a Tribulation Crossing True Immortal and were imbued with a light attribute power that was difficult to counter.

The Great Brightness Immortal Palace was able to dominate this realm for tens of thousands of years because it controlled numerous powerful artifacts refined from the sacrificed immortal body of its founding ancestor.

And among those many artifacts refined through the self-sacrifice of "True Monarch Guangming," the most famous are undoubtedly the several Tier Seven Immortal Artifacts.

According to legend, the "True Monarch Guangming" used his immortal body to refine three Tier Seven Immortal Artifacts in total: the "Eye of Light," refined from his eyes; the "Scepter of Light," refined from his spinal bone; and the "Skull of Light," refined from his skull.

These three Tier Seven Immortal Artifacts are the sect's inheritance Immortal Artifacts of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace. Any Nascent Soul Stage cultivator from the Great Brightness Immortal Palace need only gain the recognition of the artifact spirit to wield the Immortal Artifacts and become nearly invincible at their tier unless they encounter peers also wielding Immortal Artifacts.

Moreover, if a Ninth-Layer Nascent Soul cultivator at the "Half-Step True Immortal" realm gathers all three Tier Seven Immortal Artifacts, they can even rival ordinary Tribulation Crossing True Immortals without defeat.

The illustrious reputation of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace was built on these Immortal Artifacts.

However, during an internal conflict in the Great Brightness Immortal Palace thousands of years ago, the bearers of the three Tier Seven Immortal Artifacts reportedly had a massive fight among themselves, ultimately leading to the downfall of the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator wielding the "Eye of Light."

Interestingly, after the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator's fall, the Tier Seven Immortal Artifact "Eye of Light" did not end up in anyone's possession and was instead lost.

Zhouyang suspects that the white treasure pearl he obtained is one of the two missing "Eyes of Light."