The colossal guardian spirit of the mountain crumbled, yet its final struggle seemed to echo with lingering sound.

“I am… the mountain guardian…”

“Mountain guardian…”

“Guardian…”

Fragmented and intermittent, it ultimately faded into nothingness.

The towering tree, occupying a third of the mountaintop, vanished abruptly before their eyes.

Ye Qingyu momentarily forgot to accept the Divine Ability Fruit.

“The mountain guardian was destroyed long ago; it’s this Divine Ability Fruit that sustained its lingering image,” Jiang Wang stated.

Jiang Wang, with his understanding of illusions, identified some clues and analyzed, “What we witnessed was its final moment of demise. The time anomaly of Chiyun Mountain means it likely happened in the past.”

Merely a lingering image possessed such substantial pressure that Jiang Wang and Ye Qingyu once believed the mountain guardian was truly present, prompting them to exercise utmost caution.

How powerful was such a colossal mountain guardian at its peak? Yet it was destroyed with a single strike! How terrifying was the existence that destroyed the mountain guardian? What was its origin?

What truly happened in Chiyun Mountain’s past?

“Perhaps the nurturing of the Divine Ability Fruit isn’t the sole purpose of Chiyun Mountain’s existence. Chiyun Mountain merely uses thirty-three years to condense a single Divine Ability Fruit to maintain an opportunity…” Ye Qingyu analyzed, “Therefore, Dou Mian said that once the Divine Ability Fruit is plucked, Chiyun Mountain’s time will end.”

“The Divine Ability Fruit is now in hand. So, do you wait to see the true opportunity within Chiyun Mountain, or end the timeline prematurely?” Jiang Wang asked her.

“If it were you, what would you choose?” Ye Qingyu countered.

Jiang Wang smiled, “One’s bowl may be snatched, one’s pot may be overturned, but what is eaten… is one’s own.”

“Great minds think alike!”

Ye Qingyu smiled charmingly and reached out to grasp the Divine Ability Fruit.

She didn’t hesitate. Acquiring a Divine Ability was the purpose of her journey.

As the translucent fruit landed in her hand, it underwent an immediate transformation. Cloud-like patterns spread and unfurled across the fruit’s surface, while the pulp within seemed to churn with misty currents.

In an instant, the translucent fruit transformed into a white fruit swirling with clouds and mist, a mesmerizing sight.

“It seems to be drawing closer to me…” Ye Qingyu murmured.

Jiang Wang, observing this scene, pondered silently.

Indeed, a Divine Ability is a fundamental aspect of every cultivator and cannot be bestowed by external forces? Even legendary treasures like the Divine Ability Fruit, said to grant a Divine Ability upon consumption, cannot directly impart a Divine Ability. Instead, it changes according to the person who touches it, essentially unlocking the cultivator’s own Divine Ability potential?

Then, considering Ye Lingxiao’s cultivation of Ye Qingyu, what Divine Ability potential does she possess?

“Quick, test its flavor,” Jiang Wang urged.

Even at such a critical moment, Ye Qingyu couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him.

She was pursuing a Divine Ability, a Divine Ability, something that determines the level of one’s Inner Palace; yet, he asks about the flavor? It seems Jiang Anan’s gluttonous nature has its roots here.

Then, parting her delicate lips, she brought the Divine Ability Fruit to her mouth.

The Divine Ability Fruit swirled with clouds and mist, contrasting beautifully with her red lips and fair skin.

With a gentle bite, the entire Divine Ability Fruit dispersed into clouds and mist, which she inhaled in one breath.

Ye Qingyu’s eyes fluttered shut. Standing on the Seven-Colored Cloud Banner Chariot, her naturally flowing hair danced without wind. The swirling clouds and mist spun around her, creating an ethereal and immortal aura.

Meanwhile, Jiang Wang could clearly sense Ye Qingyu’s aura surging upward in a natural and smooth manner.

Her Soaring Dragon was already perfected. Her Inner Palace opened naturally. In an internal transformation unknown to outsiders, she had attained a Divine Ability.

Without any dazzling lights or shadows, in a calm and serene manner, Ye Qingyu opened her eyes.

Her eyes were already exceptionally beautiful, like shattered stars, but now, misty clouds swirled within, adding a layer of seemingly nonexistent moisture, enhancing their charm.

“How is it?” Jiang Wang asked.

Ye Qingyu smiled, her voice like a clear mountain spring, tinkling and sweet, “The flavor is good!”

Seeing Jiang Wang’s helpless expression, she stopped laughing and said seriously, “The Divine Ability seed I plucked is called ‘Cloud Seal’…”

She paused mid-sentence because another change occurred on the mountaintop.

The mountain guardian’s true form was a towering tree, occupying a third of the mountaintop and reaching deep into the clouds, seemingly touching the sky.

After the mountain guardian crumbled, the world felt empty.

After Ye Qingyu completely absorbed the Divine Ability Fruit and attained her Inner Palace, a massive hole silently spread and expanded in the sky above Chiyun Mountain’s peak.

Then, the slow-moving clouds outside the mountain gathered quickly, like swimming fish… condensing and transforming. They eventually formed tiers of cloud steps.

When Ye Qingyu descended directly from the Lingxiao Secret Realm to Cloud City, there were also cloud steps, but compared to the scene before them, those steps seemed small and insignificant.

Because the current cloud steps… seemed to lead straight to the heavens!

Meanwhile, at the Guest Welcoming Pavilion south of the mountain, Dou Mian stepped inside and his surroundings shifted.

He initially thought the Guest Welcoming Pavilion connected to a certain space, but upon appearing, he found himself still on Chiyun Mountain.

More accurately, it was Chiyun Mountain many, many years ago…

An antique pavilion stood by the mountain path.

The pavilion was named “Welcoming Guests.”

A couplet adorned the front of the pavilion: “Welcome friends from all directions, greet benevolent companions from all realms.”

There were many people.

The usually desolate and empty mountain path was now bustling with people.

Some were bare-chested, with strange patterns tattooed on their bodies. Some wore vine clothing with grass leaves still attached. Some wore stone armor, their footsteps like thunderous drums…

People dressed in bizarre ways came and went.

Some shouted loudly, some chatted freely, and some trembled in fear.

However, the Tianye Blade in Dou Mian’s hand told him they were not real. They once existed, but only in the past.

In the vast records of the Dou Clan, such things were recorded. Certain scenes from the River of History are sometimes preserved for various reasons. However, only the scenes themselves are preserved – lost phantoms from history.

Everything was unreal, including the four white-robed Daoist children in front of the Guest Welcoming Pavilion.

They smiled modestly and spoke to each person climbing the mountain. Some were greeted with a bow and sent back down the mountain, while others were given a cloud-patterned token from their sleeves.

Only those who received the cloud-patterned token could continue up the mountain.

Dou Mian walked among them, as if witnessing a glorious moment from Chiyun Mountain’s past. As a descendant of the prestigious Great Chu clan, he was not easily moved by these scenes. He had witnessed true grandeur and did not care for false prosperity.

But this was the past, a scene from the past frozen in this moment.

Moreover…

Old Man Yunyou was real.

The cloud-patterned token held by the Daoist child on the far left in front of the Guest Welcoming Pavilion… was also real.

The faint fluctuations it emitted were completely different from everything else in the scene. It was genuinely connected to the present world!

It turns out the so-called secret realm access token was simply a mountain entry token issued by a Guest Welcoming Daoist child from the Cloud Top Immortal Palace. In that era, it must not have been valuable.

But in the present day, after countless years, its value is immeasurable.

Because it might help its owner open the long-lost Cloud Top Immortal Palace!