Chapter 985: Chapter 553: Breakthrough, Marriage, and Audience with the Fei Hong Ancestor

Clang!

The tip of the Dragon Head Sword struck the ground, sounding like it hit an iron plate, emitting a crisp sound, almost sparking.

Zhao Sheng was quite surprised at this, and he couldn’t help but increase the force in his hand.

Only after exerting ninety percent of his strength did he manage to chip off a few tiny pebbles.

Clang, clang, clang!

A series of chiseling sounds emanated from the shop, drawing the curious gazes of nearby stall vendors, but no one got up to check.

They were all experienced people, naturally knowing what was happening inside.

Zhao Sheng chiselled for a while, and gradually more and more stones of various sizes accumulated on the ground, roughly equivalent to two handfuls.

At this moment, the repulsion force between heaven and earth had grown exceedingly strong, and he could be expelled at any moment.

Seeing this, Zhao Sheng put away the Dragon Head Sword and began picking up the stones one by one, placing them into the Sumeru Space on his forefinger.

These stones might look small in size, but they weighed ten times heavier than the same volume of Five Elements Essence.

Once he had gathered all the stones, Zhao Sheng suddenly felt the repulsion force swell countless times.

The next moment, he disappeared from the shop without a trace.

…

After a dizzying whirl, when Zhao Sheng regained consciousness, his Divine Sense and Spiritual Power instantly returned to normal. His whole body felt as if he had just taken a sauna, utterly refreshed and almost ethereal.

Crack, crack!

Suddenly, the sound of something breaking reached his ears. Zhao Sheng opened his eyes and looked down, just in time to see a Jade Plate shattering abruptly, instantly turning into a pile of Jade Powder.

Hmm?

Something’s wrong!

Almost at the same instant, Zhao Sheng’s face showed surprise as he sensed an immense influx of pure and boundless nature’s spiritual energy manifesting out of thin air within his limbs and bones, swiftly pouring into his Core Energy Sea.

The quantity was so vast that it nearly burst the Dantian.

Without a moment to spare, Zhao Sheng immediately sat down cross-legged, rapidly operating the Mysterious Skill to fully refine the spontaneously emerging nature’s spiritual energy.

In just a short moment, the Spirit Power Vortex expanded nearly by half, the dense and viscous Spiritual Power completely filling the entire Core Energy Sea.

At this moment, Zhao Sheng’s cultivation had surprisingly reached Qi Refining Perfection.

However, nature’s spiritual energy continued manifesting unceasingly from his limbs and bones.

Seeing this, he decided to go for broke and instantly began breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

An hour flew by.

With the last wisp of nature’s spiritual energy being refined, a new layer of pure, water-like light blue Spiritual Power had formed deep within Zhao Sheng’s Dantian.

The next second, a faint trace of Divine Light appeared between his eyebrows as his Divine Sense expanded silently in all directions…

Twenty zhang,

Thirty zhang,

…

It stretched continuously until it reached one hundred and twenty-five zhang, where Zhao Sheng’s Divine Sense finally reached its limit.

This distance was nearly ten times greater than that of an ordinary first-level Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Hu!

Zhao Sheng slowly concluded his cultivation, then exhaled a three-foot-long column of air.

At this time, the air in the room was filled with a foul stench, and Zhao Sheng was covered head to toe in a thick layer of black-red sticky filth.

Seeing this, he immediately stood up, took off his robes, and used Divine Thought to encompass his body, shedding the filth to the ground, and then performed the Clean Dust Skill three times in succession to completely eliminate the residual grime from his skin.

Once he had changed into a new set of robes, the excited voice of Chen Fu came from outside the door: “Young master, may this old servant come in?”

Zhao Sheng was not surprised, knowing that the commotion he caused during his breakthrough had been noticeable, even shattering the surrounding barriers.

“Hold on!”

As he spoke, Zhao Sheng moved forward, waved his sleeve across the floor, and all the Jade Powder was collected into his Sumeru Ring.

“Chen Fu, you may enter.”

As soon as the words were out, Chen Fu pushed the door open and entered. Upon witnessing the powerful aura emanating from Zhao Sheng’s upper body, he couldn’t help but be overjoyed: “Congratulations, young master…”

…

Unintentionally breaking through to Foundation Establishment, Zhao Sheng’s accomplishment circulated only within the small circle of the Chen Family. Aside from the five Nascent Soul Ancestors, only Family Head Chen Daqian, adoptive father Chen Dacheng, the two servants Chen Fu and Chen Shou, and the seven women including Chen Ying knew of this event.

His breakthrough had been so sudden that Chen Dacheng and others feared he might have hastily practiced some Evil Skill, but after repeated checks, they found no lingering issues and instead discovered Zhao Sheng’s astonishingly powerful Divine Sense.

To this, Zhao Sheng used sudden enlightenment as an excuse to barely muddle through.

Whether the Chen Family believed it or not was their affair. Either way, he believed it!

However, this incident also made Chen Dacheng and others feel caught off guard.

After the Nascent Soul Ancestors convened, they decided to advance the marriage arrangements, ensuring that the youngster would soon wed the seven women.

When Chen Dacheng personally informed him of this, Zhao Sheng was quite surprised but quickly agreed straightforwardly.

The eighth day of the ninth lunar month was an auspicious day, perfect for marriage ceremonies.

Zhao Sheng’s wedding was set for this day.

According to Da Chun Realm tradition, Chen Ying, Chen Qi, and the seven women were not to meet the groom-to-be before the wedding.

Subsequently, Chen Ying and the seven women quickly moved out, returning to their parents.

As for Zhao Sheng, he wasn’t left idle for long and soon had specialists visiting to instruct him on the rituals and rules for the wedding.

Meanwhile, Chen Dacheng and his wife also began preparing the dowry!

Overall, everything proceeded methodically, without the slightest chaos.

In less than three days, Zhao Sheng was so bothered and confused by the myriad rituals and rules that he had to use the excuse of unstable realm needing seclusion for recuperation to retreat and find some peace.

This matter quickly reached Bai Mei’s ears.

Consequently, Bai Mei uncharacteristically became angry, summoned Chen Daqian, and gave him a harsh reprimand before sternly ordering that the marriage arrangements be simple, low-key, and confidential, with no large-scale publicity allowed.

…

On the eighth day of the ninth lunar month, the weather was clear, and the sun was shining brightly.

Approaching noon, a splendid carriage drawn by six majestic Immortal Cranes approached from afar, landing in front of the Hidden Dragon Pavilion.

The gate slowly opened, and Zhao Sheng, dressed in a Big Red Dragon Robe and wearing the Cloud Soaring Spirit Crown on his head, walked out from inside, taking a few steps to the front of the carriage.

The immortal carriage driver stepped aside, presenting the Imperial Crane Whip with both hands.

Zhao Sheng reached out to receive the whip and sat in the driver’s seat at the front of the carriage.

With a snap of the whip!

The six majestic Immortal Cranes spread their wings together, lifting the carriage into the sky, and in a blink of an eye, they flew into the cloud sky, heading towards a certain dwelling in the Big Chun Tree Crown.

Zhao Sheng spent an hour bringing Chen Ying and the seven women into the carriage one by one.

Then, instead of returning to the Hidden Dragon Pavilion, he steered the immortal carriage to the entrance of a massive tree hollow located mid-way up the Da Chun Divine Tree.

With a solemn expression, Zhao Sheng led the seven women out of the carriage and into the tree hollow.

This tree hollow was actually a cave mansion; the inner space was neither too large nor too small, but shrouded in mist and fog, with the Spiritual Energy so dense it was nearly liquefied.

As Zhao Sheng and the seven women walked into the depths of the tree hollow, a voice that was hard to distinguish as male or female, warm and elegant as jade, suddenly sounded: “Children, come over!”

The voice seemed to come from the deepest part, and upon hearing it, Chen Ying and the seven women were immensely excited.

Suppressing his emotions, Zhao Sheng nodded to the seven women, indicating they should follow him as they proceeded deeper in.

After walking a dozen steps, their view suddenly opened up.

At this moment, a “young man” with emerald green hair and beard, with a rosy white complexion, just emerged more than halfway from the tree wall, gazing intently at Zhao Sheng a few steps away with eyes as green as jade, a hint of smile and appreciation in his gaze.

Upon seeing this person, Zhao Sheng promptly knelt and bowed: “Ming Xi, pays his respects to Fei Hong Ancestor, wishing the ancestor longevity and eternal life!”

Chen Ying and the seven women also knelt and bowed, paying respects to the Chen Family Ancestor.

“Stand up. I do not like seeing people kneel,” Fei Hong Ancestor waved a hand, and an unseen undercurrent swept over, effortlessly lifting Zhao Sheng and the others to their feet.

Fei Hong Ancestor was the “Stabilizing Pillar” of the Chen Family. He rose to fame three thousand years ago, and after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, he successfully signed a mutual participation contract with the Tree Spirit of the Da Chun Divine Tree, becoming one of the rare “Tree Venerables” in the world.

To this day, Fei Hong Ancestor’s cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul Limit, just half a step away from breaking through the God Transformation Barrier.

Alas, this half-step was like ascending to heaven, only possible if the Da Chun Divine Tree successfully crossed its third Tribulation of Decay.

As a co-participating “Tree Venerable,” only then could Fei Hong Ancestor ride the momentum to ascend into the Divine Transformation ranks.

Consequently, the Chen Family spared no expense to “court” a child with Thunder Spirit Root qualifications.

Zhao Sheng became a part of the Chen Family under such circumstances.

It was imaginable how important he was to the Chen Family.

Thus, Zhao Sheng did not need to worry at all about the problem of raising his strength too rapidly.

Fei Hong, Bai Mei, and other Chen Family Nascent Soul cultivators were eager for him to break through to the Nascent Soul early, to aid the Divine Tree in Crossing Tribulation.