Yuan’s Ascension

"What, you're the newly arrived Dao Master Imprint bearer? Ming Jian?" The purple-robed girl's eyes flashed with surprise.

Evidently, while she had not met Wu Yuan before, she had heard of him.

Wu Yuan had already resided on the Spacetime Island for a hundred years. Though he rarely made appearances, basic information about him had long spread far and wide. Any imprint bearer would pay close attention to such intelligence.

"It seems you both know of me, so I'll skip the self-introduction," Wu Yuan smiled faintly. "Fellow Daoists, please introduce yourselves."

Wu Yuan could only be certain of one thing – these two were likely not from the Taiyuan Divine Court faction. Of the over eight million imprint bearers on the Spacetime Island, Wu Yuan had only met a small fraction of them.

"Hehe, since you don’t recognize me, let's follow the usual convention. You can call me Metal Devil," the man in special metal armor laughed. "I specialize in the Law of Metal, and within the Law of Space, I comprehend the Law of Spatial Rift. My strength lies in attacks."

Metal Devil? Wu Yuan nodded slightly. This was an unspoken rule – if teammates didn't recognize each other during a spacetime mission, they would generally use code names. Wu Yuan was simply too famous.

"Then call me Purple Secret," the purple-robed girl smiled. "I specialize in the Law of Water, and within the Law of Space, I comprehend the Law of True Domain. I excel at domains."

Having spoken, they both looked to Wu Yuan.

This caused Metal Devil and Purple Secret to exchange a glance, both frowning slightly. Under normal circumstances, imprint bearers on the Spacetime Island would not solely cultivate the Law of Space. Moreover, the Law of Space was mostly used as a supplementary ability.

Although they were only temporary allies and thus wouldn't fully reveal their true capabilities, it was common courtesy to give a general idea of one’s abilities to facilitate cooperation. In their view, Wu Yuan seemed somewhat uncooperative.

Wu Yuan naturally understood what the two were thinking, but couldn't be bothered to explain further.

"Alright!" Metal Devil suddenly smiled. "Fellow Daoist Ming Jian, though you're a Dao Master Imprint bearer, I believe this is your first or second spacetime mission. I've completed over a hundred spacetime missions. This time, let me serve as temporary captain. Any objections?"

"None."

"Go ahead." Wu Yuan and Purple Secret naturally had no objections. Captain was merely a title with no real authority.

"Mm." Metal Devil nodded. "The difficulty of this mission may vary among us, but our mission objective is the same.

The mission is divided into two stages. The first stage is to protect Earth Immortal Yin Yan. The second stage is to kill Earth Immortal Yin Yan.

According to the information provided, Earth Immortal Yin Yan is at a critical stage of pill refining. He hails from a major sect with High Immortals in their ranks. Though these sects lack Archimmortals behind them, they are still affiliated with other Archimmortal sects," Metal Devil said.

Wu Yuan and Purple Secret both nodded.

For weaker sects to survive, they usually had to rely on larger sects. Complete independence? That only existed in dreams.

"Normal protection missions are actually much easier to complete because we don't have to rely solely on our own strength, but can 'borrow power' by informing the sect backing Earth Immortal Yin Yan." Metal Devil's gaze swept over the other two.

"This way, leveraging the great power of the Chong Gu Galaxy's forces, we can have his sect dispatch Earth Immortals or even High Immortals to protect Earth Immortal Yin Yan," Metal Devil said.

"But that won't work this time." Wu Yuan shook his head decisively. "The more powerful the protectors they dispatch, the more trouble we'll have later."

"Exactly." Metal Devil nodded. "Because after protecting him, we still need to kill Earth Immortal Yin Yan, so we can't borrow external power. If Earth Immortal Yin Yan is under the heavy protection of numerous immortals, our chances of escaping would be very low even if we manage to kill him.

Therefore, for the first stage of the mission, we need to accomplish two things: prevent Earth Immortal Yin Yan from dying, and take advantage of the hunters to strip away Earth Immortal Yin Yan’s combat capabilities as far as possible.” 𝐑åΝŐВĚ𝘴

"You want us to minimize exposing our true strength?" Purple Secret mused. "That balance will be difficult to strike. If we reveal too little power, Earth Immortal Yin Yan might easily be killed. But if we show too much strength, Earth Immortal Yin Yan might retain enough power to resist, making the assassination stage troublesome."

"This is precisely where the mission's difficulty lies..."

Metal Devil and Purple Secret went back and forth, with Wu Yuan occasionally chiming in. The three swiftly formulated a detailed plan, each step linking tightly with the next.

Spacetime missions tested not just raw power, but also wisdom and strategic planning – using limited intelligence to extrapolate the situation and construct numerous contingency plans.

After a long while, they had hashed out numerous plans.

“There are no glaring oversights, no need to drag this out until the day's end. Spacetime Spirit, we request to descend.” Metal Devil called out loudly.

"Do you confirm your descent?" A cold, impassive voice echoed simultaneously in the minds of Wu Yuan and Purple Secret. The approval of every team member was required.

"Confirm!"

"Confirm!"

Rumble~ A surging, magnificent, and bizarre power instantly enveloped the three of them, swiftly sweeping them into an extremely high spatial dimension before they rapidly descended.

These were the rolling tides of dimensional space. Wu Yuan, who had crystallized True Intent, felt his heart tremble as he perceived them with utmost clarity.

And swiftly, as the dimensional descent proceeded, Wu Yuan understood that they had arrived at the Chong Gu Galaxy. The spacetime mission was about to begin.

…

Wu Yuan, Metal Devil, and Purple Secret made up the protection team and descended into the Chong Gu Galaxy.

Meanwhile, at the far end of the spacetime teleportation array, twelve figures sat in a dark region of space. Ten Divided Soul cultivators and two Dharma Body cultivators meditated silently, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

Suddenly, all twelve received a notification and opened their eyes in unison.

"The mission will begin in a quarter hour," a silver-haired youth who seemed to be the leader said in a low voice.

"Let me give a final reminder. Our mission is a hunting mission. We have twelve people, while they only have three. At the same time, they will only arrive a quarter-hour before us. Such a short time is insufficient for them to leverage the help of other factions.

This means the battle will likely only involve our team, their team, and Earth Immortal Yin Yan.

For confrontation missions, the overall strength of both sides is kept equal. This strength includes one's own power as well as the advantages that can be borrowed from terrain and timing.

So for this mission, the other side may have an incredibly terrifying powerhouse, or perhaps each of them will far surpass us in strength. Therefore, we must fight with everything we have. Only by giving it our all do we have a chance of completing the mission, the silver-haired youth said coldly. "This is an Elite-level mission for me, while it’s a Sovereign-level mission for all of you..."

The hearts of the other eleven grew heavy. Though their numbers far exceeded the enemy's, they were mostly on Sovereign-level missions. This indicated that the foes they were about to face were incredibly formidable.

"Don’t forget the six plans we’ve discussed. Remember, killing Earth Immortal Yin Yan takes top priority," the silver-haired youth said. "Enchantress, we're counting on you."

"Mm." A woman in red robes nodded.

Time ticked by as the twelve-person team waited silently for the moment of descent.

All had made their preparations for battle.

…

The Chonggu Galaxy was a colossal expanse. Within its bounds, billions of celestial bodies sparkled against the darkness.

Among these countless stars and planets, the number of hospitable worlds were few, yet they sustained the lives of a multitude of beings, nurturing a thriving cultivation civilization that spanned the entire galaxy.

The galaxy was ruled by the lofty Archimmortal Chong Gu, while numerous High Immortals and Earth Immortals held dominion over vast territories.

The Jiu Yan Star was a massive celestial body over a million li in diameter, meticulously transformed to serve as the stronghold of Earth Immortal Yin Yan.

Earth Immortal Yin Yan was a renowned master pill refining in this cultivation world. He hailed from a great sect, yet for reasons unknown, he seldom returned to his sect, preferring instead to seclude himself within the Jiu Yan Star.

In the core region of the celestial body lay an enormous space, over ten thousand li in diameter, where flashes of light danced and countless Dao patterns materialized, evidently part of an incredibly powerful array.

The space was awash with rivers of magma, causing the temperature to soar to terrifying heights.

At the center of this space stood a colossal pill-refining furnace, now pulsing with waves of light, clearly at a critical juncture of the pill refining process.

A middle-aged man in black Daoist robes and a long beard sat in lotus position before the furnace, channeling an endless stream of mana into it.

By his side crouched two massive beasts, one black and one white, both exuding overwhelmingly powerful auras, clearly spirit beasts he had tamed.

Not far away stood a series of slumbering puppets, though these puppets seemed to require manual control.

At the edge of this space, a group of Void Refiner/Elysian Field cultivators meditated silently, disciples or followers of Earth Immortal Yin Yan.

Hmm? Earth Immortal Yin Yan, who had his eyes closed, abruptly opened them, a flicker of shock crossing his gaze.

He sensed an incredibly strange power, seemingly bypassing all the defenses he had laid, directly penetrating the planet's core. In its wake, three figures exuding powerful auras materialized within the space.

"Who goes there?" Earth Immortal Yin Yan's eyes turned cold. "Have you come for revenge?"

He understood the gravity of his actions; to refine these medicinal pills, he had gone on a true massacre, devastating numerous hospitable worlds.

Whoosh! A figure suddenly darted out from his body. It was none other than his mana body. As it charged forward, waves of Earth Immortal-level mana surged outward, awakening the slumbering puppets around him, their auras flaring.

Masters of pill refining and equipment forging often excelled at controlling puppets.

"Intruders."

"Who?"

"This is bad." The two spirit beasts also sensed the threat. Their eyes snapped open, their auras erupting.

Simultaneously, the Void Refiner/Elysian Field powerhouses meditating at the edge of the space reacted with shock and fear. From the overwhelming aura of the intruders, they were undoubtedly Earth Immortals.

Everything unfolded in an instant. As Earth Immortal Yin Yan's mana body shot out, he activated the planet’s array without hesitation.

Boom! Countless Dao patterns materialized, forming a barrier that enveloped everything in a thousand li of the furnace. The barrier's surface blazed with dazzling light, coalescing into two terrifyingly powerful lightning bolts that exploded outward.

Their might was earth-shattering, sweeping across ten thousand li. In terms of raw power, it nearly reached the High Immortal phase, striking directly at the newly arrived Wu Yuan, Metal Devil, and Purple Phantom.

Earth Immortal Yin Yan didn't consider the possibility that they came with good intentions. This was his stronghold; the likelihood of these powerful intruders being enemies exceeded ninety-nine percent.

If they were friendly parties, they would have at least sent word from outside the planet.

"Earth Immortal Yin Yan, we are spacetime imprint bearers! We've come to protect you. Stay calm." Purple Secret's eerie voice echoed throughout the space.

Whoosh! Simultaneously, a stream of golden light materialized, appearing to rend space as it flew forth to meet the two lightning bolts.

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