To be replaced later.

The next second, he saw Gong Shaojun stepping on a mass of thunder, parting the layers of clouds and mist. A colossal lightning pillar reaching to heaven appeared before his eyes.

Who is it?!

A roar that could shatter eardrums echoed from the clouds, its fury threatening to tear apart the heavens.

Gong Shaojun's face remained unchanged. He raised his head and, with a single pinch, tore a streak of dark purple lightning from the towering thunderbolt pillar.

With a light sweep of her arm, Lin Qi vanished instantly. In the blink of an eye, she appeared before the next thunder pillar.

After half an hour, the Mahayana cultivators hidden in various places hastily gathered together to discuss.

"Have you heard that someone with great ability stole four pillars of Heavenly Lightning in just a few breaths?!"

Who is so arrogant?!

"Arrogant? You should all now consider when such a powerful figure appeared in the Cangwu Realm! With this ability, taking your and my heads would be as easy as lifting a finger."

A white-bearded old man sighed, “Last night, divine punishment struck with thunderous roars across the desolate city. I sensed danger brewing, and today, a cultivator dared to steal the extreme purple lightning. Heaven's wrath… who knows what terrible consequences this will bring.”

After hearing this, a group of people couldn't help but sigh together.

Someone cautiously asked, "With these strange occurrences happening one after another, could it be that something big is about to happen in the Cangwu Realm in the coming years?"

"This matter, I'm afraid I still need to ask the Heavenly Machine..."

……

Gong Shaojun took Lin Qi to the Four Poles and then dove with her into the depths of the four seas, extracting four strands of extreme cold energy.

After preparing everything, she sealed the four qi of extreme cold and the extreme purple heavenly thunder within Lin Qi's body using a drop of Bing Huang essence blood from Lin Qi.

Stroking Lin Qi's ice phoenix mark on her brow, she instructed in a cold voice: "These eight Heavenly Sources are the first gift your mother gives you."

After you cause it to enter your body, you must spend three years laying the foundation, ten years cultivating a golden elixir, thirty years becoming a nascent soul, and fifty years reaching the Great Ascension stage. If you can accomplish this, these eight heavenly sources will help you reach even greater heights, shed your mortal flesh, and forge an immortal golden body.

Lin Qi widened her eyes and listened, before finally speaking after half a day: "What if it can't be done?"

Gong Shaojun lowered his gaze, looking down at her from above. His eyes were deep and dark like clouds.

"His soul was utterly destroyed."

Lin Qi's heart was startled by the slow-paced fear, her small mouth slowly opened, and her childish voice revealed an odd calmness.

"Will you die?"

Gong Shaojun calmly said, "Are you afraid?"

Lin Qi nodded blankly after half a minute.

"You have no chance to regret." Gong Shaojun's gaze shifted from her small face to the birthmark between her eyebrows, "An orphan girl can die, but she cannot become someone else's stepping stone!"

"To defy fate and alter one's destiny is not something that can be achieved with a single word."

Lin Qi reacted slowly and nodded.

"I will try my best not to die."

She still needs to go to the upper realm to find her mother.

Gong Shaojun looked at her innocent and naive appearance, he couldn't help but frown.

Not long after, Lin Qi received her second gift from her mother, a storage bracelet inlaid with a blue gemstone.

The bracelet was very ordinary, with no trace of spiritual energy on its surface. It looked like any other common piece of jewelry and gave no indication that it was a congenital treasure.

Lin Qi happily put on the bracelet, but she found that she couldn't open the space inside at all.

He raised his big eyes in confusion and looked at his mother.

Gong Shaojun nonchalantly said, "When you become a cultivator, you'll naturally be able to open it."

Soon, Gungrong led over a girl with big eyes that were half a head taller than Lin Qi.

The girl's eyes looked like they had been punched hard, black and blue. Her skin was unnaturally white, and her appearance...was a little eerie.

"This is the last gift I'm giving you from my heart."

Lin Qi and the short man in front of him looked at each other for a long time, and then slowly asked: "A gift?"

Gong Rong explained at the side, "Young Master, from now on, Zhi Yi will be your personal maid."

Lin Qi muttered halfheartedly, "No."

She meant that the sect wasn't allowed to bring maids back, so giving her one wouldn't be any use anyway.

Zhiyi blinked his eyes and stared at her for a long time, as if he suddenly understood Lin Qi's meaning. He blushed and said, "I can go through the back door."

Lin Qi looked at her with doubt, and after a long silence, she finally spoke: "Back door... Is it easy to get through?"

Zhiyi nodded, then shook his head.

Lin Qi now truly wonders, is it good to leave or not?

These two people, one slow and timid in their reaction, the other awkward and naive, took half a day to say a single sentence each, as if they were communicating across dimensions.

Palace Rong, who was watching from the side, was anxious for the two of them.

I'm very worried about whether we can communicate effectively in the future.

Lin Qi's black and white eyes swept over Zhi Yi, finally landing on her mother.

As if suddenly understanding something, a trace of reluctance and dependence flashed in his eyes.

It was night, and Lin Qi woke up suddenly from her dream.

She circled the room, but saw no sign of her mother.

He threw off the covers and ran to the next-door practice room.

'Mother' sat with her head bowed, cross-legged on a cushion. Lin Qi didn't even glance at her and ran straight toward the back garden.

A tear drop.

As the tear fell to her face, the moment the massive gate was burst open, a phoenix cry echoed across the heavens.

A faint blue light enveloped the entire deserted city, and the powerful pressure of the emperor descended like a tidal wave.

Lin Qi was immediately captivated by the gigantic ice phoenix that soared straight into the clouds.

A pitch-black sky appeared with countless vortexes, purple-black lightning filling the whirlpools, one more powerful than the last, radiating an apocalyptic might.

The Ice Phoenix, enveloped in frost, showed no fear in its eyes. Abundant spiritual energy hovered around it.

Five Dao patterns of morality—Filial piety, Righteousness, Benevolence, Honesty, and Propriety—lit up on the ice phoenix's body one by one, transforming into a blizzard that swept across the heavens and earth.

Lightning bolts fell one after another, like raindrops falling densely.

The ice phoenix flapped its wings, carrying with it a sweeping frost and icy chill, charging forward relentlessly, straight into the clouds.

A rift tore through the sky, allowing slivers of white light to pierce through.

A mysterious aura that transcends the heavens permeates the Azurewood Realm.

The figure of the Ice Phoenix vanished in a blink of an eye.

A drop of crimson blood slid from Gong Shaojun's finger, transforming into an ice-blue bead as it fell, drifting towards a corner of the Cangwu realm.

Lin Qi clasped her hands together, catching the drop of ice-blue blood.

A bone-chilling coldness spread throughout her body. Lin Qi raised her head, her clear eyes gazing at the sky that was gradually returning to calm. A mist suddenly appeared in her eyes.

After a long silence, she calmly spoke: "Mother is gone..."

A voice from afar drifted in, "Nine Realms, Ice Phoenix Temple, waiting for you..."

Lin Qi suddenly woke up, wiping away the remaining tears from her eyes with one hand. She cupped her hands like a megaphone and shouted: "Mother, wait for me, I'll find you soon!"

In the vacuum, Gong Shaojun didn't have a flicker of emotion in his eyes as he heard Lin Qi's shout. She strolled to the corner of the sky.

She raised her eyes to look at the sealed boundary path. A thoughtful glimmer flashed in her cold eyes.

"That's why no one has ascended from the Cangwu Realm in a million years."

Palace Shaojun lightly raised her wrist, the sealed boundary under her divine power's boost, broke open a crack, expanding bit by bit.

(Editor in charge：novel rick riordan)