Qin Yun flew through the clouds using his Beam Transformation Art, but he only went at thirty percent of his maximum speed. It was best to keep a low profile in the Effulgent Great World. After all, there were too many experts there. For instance, many cultivators that ascended from Small Worlds became illustrious figures who made a name for themselves in the Effulgent Great World! There were also existences from extraordinary backgrounds who were born as Skygods or Skydragons…
The numerous top-factions in the Effulgent Great World even had backers who were powerful figures in the Heavenly Courts! Some were backed by a particular Daoist Golden Immortal or Buddhist Buddha.
There were even the magi, dragon, demons, and fiends who thrived in the Effulgent Great World.
"Here, Skyimmortals are considered true experts," thought Qin Yun. "Those at the Essence Soul realm are uncountable. The reason why Ancestral Master Zhang has never come here is one, to protect his homeworld, the Great Chang world, and because he does not wish to be repressed by the other experts here. He is the Dao Ancestor's personal disciple, after all."
Ancestral Master Zhang had the Dharmic formulations that the Dao Ancestor had imparted. All he lacked was time.
The Scenic Jade Palace was a hundred and fifty thousand kilometers from Lianyang Lake. This was the first time Qin Yun was flying such a great distance. And as he was using only thirty percent of his Beam Transformation Art's speed, he took a full day to arrive in Scenic Jade Palace.
His journey went safely since powerful existences like immortals and fiendcelestials would not attack mortals. And among mortals, the Connate Golden Core was the limit.
Therefore, Connate Golden Cores were especially safe when they traversed the world.
In contrast, Essence Souls had to be wary while traversing the world. If they were not careful, they might be captured by a random fiend.
"I'm here." Qin Yun looked at the mountain cluster that was entirely illuminated. It was the Scenic Jade mountain range that stretched out contiguously for slightly more than fifteen thousand kilometers. There was a lake amid the mountains and cities around it. Large numbers of humans and demons lived in these cities.
The entire Scenic Jade mountain range was the Scenic Jade Palace's territory.
"As expected of a top sect of the Effulgent Great World," thought Qin Yun. "Rumor has it that it's a Daoist line left behind by three Daoist Golden Immortals."
Sou!
He swooped down and flew to the entrance of Scenic Jade Palace.
The moment he landed, Qin Yun saw an azure-robed Daoist approach him. The man traversed a thousand feet in one step and in a few steps, he arrived in front of Qin Yun.
"Lianyang Dragon Palace's Qin Yun?" greeted the azure-robed Daoist with a smile. "You came rather early. Follow me. I'll get you settled in. You can set off with the rest when the Ancient Augury World trip begins."
"Sorry for troubling you." Qin Yun smiled as he followed.
The duo passed through the sect entrance and flew amid the mountains. Soon, they appeared in a towering and grandiose city that had numerous active array formations, sending out streams of light. The city had a huge populace with humans and demons living in harmony.
"My Scenic Jade Palace has numerous disciples. The daily expenditure is immense and we require mortals to provide our resources," explained the azure-robed Daoist enthusiastically with a smile. "The city is mostly filled with human and demon mortals as a result. Only a few Essence Soul realms are here to manage it."
"A city with a population of millions. As expected of the Scenic Jade Palace," marveled Qin Yun.
"There are many mortals that wish to enter from the outside world. After all, when my Scenic Jade Palace recruits disciples, we naturally select first from our own," said the azure-robed Daoist. He led Qin Yun to land in a beautiful residence inside the city.
"Steward Yu." There was already an elder waiting in front of the residence. He immediately greeted the azure-robed Daoist in a sycophantic manner.
"This is a guest of our Scenic Jade Palace. Arrange to have him settled in," instructed the Daoist.
"Yes, yes." replied the elder immediately.
"Qin Yun." The Daoist smiled at Qin Yun. "Just be at ease and enjoy your stay here. Once the other cultivators arrive, you can set off with them."
"Thank you," said Qin Yun.
"Fellow Daoist Qin, please follow me," said the elder in a somewhat toady manner. He was only in charge of welcoming guests and none of the ones that came were people he could afford to offend! The itinerant cultivators without any background were beneath him but Qin Yun had Dragon King Lianyang as his sponsor, allowing him to be a guest of the Scenic Jade Palace! Thus, the attendants were very polite to him.
The residence was extremely scenic. Be it the tree, roof beams, or the tiles on the ground, they were made of treasured materials. On the walls hung portraits drawn by Skyimmortals. The fish in the ponds were Essence Soul realm demons that were prisoners there. After touring the residence, Qin Yun felt that the entire residence would be worth an inferior-grade Numinous treasure even if it was sold at a discount.
"Naturally, the place where they house guests can't be bad," thought Qin Yun to himself. "Is this because they want to uphold their reputation?"
Qin Yun took up residence and enjoyed rare delicacies daily.
In the following days, esteemed guests constantly streamed in.
The eighth day was the day they set off!
"The passage of time in the Effulgent Great World is different from my homeworld. Time passes slower here. A day here is three days in my homeworld. In that case, I can't spend too much time here. If I spent four years here, that would be more than ten years in my homeworld." As Qin Yun ruminated over the matter, he was brought to the yard of the residence by an attendant.
"Fellow Daoist Qin."
"Fellow Daoist Cang."
"Fellow Daoist Lian."
From the moment Qin Yun arrived, he was having nice chats with the other guests.
They were not Scenic Jade Palace disciples, but visitors just like Qin Yun!
Moments later.
A large group of cultivators descended from high in the sky and landed in the yard. Leading them was a silver-haired, white-robed man. He swept his gaze over the group, causing Qin Yun and company to feel suppressed.
"Skyimmortal." Qin Yun immediately determined that the man was a Skyimmortal existence. After all, he himself was approaching a Skyimmortal in strength.
Behind the man were twenty-three cultivators. There were some at the Essence Soul realm as well as some at the Connate Golden Core realm.
"The five of you and my Scenic Jade Palace's twenty-three disciples will be the candidates my Scenic Jade Palace will send to participate in the Ancient Augury World's trials," said the man nonchalantly. "I'm warning you five. When you are in the Ancient Augury World, you are representing my Scenic Jade Palace. Thus, do well. Don't you shame my Scenic Jade Palace."
Qin Yun and company naturally agreed.
"Let's set off then." The silver-haired man waved his hand.
A cloud rose and carried the group of people.
Whoosh—
On the gigantic cloud, the silver-haired man sat cross-legged right in front. Behind him were the twenty-eight trial candidates.
"There are five outsiders this time."
"Hmph, there are outsiders every time. If there had been more spots for us, my junior brother would definitely have been able to head to the Ancient Augury World."
"The grand sect competition only allowed for eighteen nominees! With my strength, I would definitely have obtained a spot if twenty spots were offered based on my ranking in the sect. There's no need to waste so much effort to exchange for this opportunity."
The Scenic Jade Palace disciples discussed this. A few of them looked at Qin Yun and the other four outsiders unhappily.
They also made no effort to hide their voices. Clearly, they wanted Qin Yun and company to hear them.
"These outsiders mostly have strength inferior to our Scenic Jade Palace's disciples. They will only embarrass our Scenic Jade Palace by going."
"Our Scenic Jade Palace is a top sect. Those that can go are those that ranked in the sect competition! Everyone is extraordinary. How can we be comparable to outsiders that only got the chance because of their background?"
Despite Qin Yun and company hearing them loud and clear, they acted as though they could not hear them.
"There's no need to bother with them. Once we arrive in the Ancient Augury World, we can split up and take action."
"Hmph! These top sects have monopolized the Ancient Augury World! Which one of us didn't pay a huge price to obtain a spot?" Qin Yun and company chatted via voice transmission.
"Brother Qin, among us five outsiders, you and I are the only two mortals," said an ox demon with a voice transmission. "Why don't we travel together? We can watch out for each other. Of course, we can separate whenever you wish."
"Sure," said Qin Yun with a smile.
"Then, do you have any information on the Ancient Augury World? I'm willing to exchange what I have with you," said the ox demon with a voice transmission.
Qin Yun took a look. "That's definitely negotiable."
Despite traveling very fast on the cloud, it took half a day for the silver-haired Skyimmortal to bring the twenty-eight trial candidates to their destination.
"Bam! Bam! Bam!"
Following that, they tore through layers of clouds.
The first cloud layer was most ordinary but it became more and more dangerous beyond the second cloud.
When they charged through the sixth cloud layer, there were hundreds of millions of electric bolts on the cloud's surface. Even after they flew far away, the sky remained bright. There was a massive planet in the distance.
The planet floated in the sky.
"The Ancient Augury World."
"We are reaching the Ancient Augury World." The eyes of the trial candidates lit up. They looked in awe at the distant planet.
Sou!
The silver-haired Skyimmortal steered the cloud to bring the candidates flying towards the planet after transforming into a beam of light.