"Land God."
Chu Bai called out softly.
"I am here."
The Land God struggled to maintain his form as he bowed deeply to Chu Bai, his ancient face showing a relieved sense of release. "Lord Envoy, there is no need to worry on my account."
"I was born of this realm’s Earth Qi. Now that the skin is gone, to what can the fur cling? To have witnessed you, Lord Envoy, achieve Godslaying and preserve the Commanding Officer’s final Dharma Body... I have no regrets."
Chu Bai looked at him and shook his head.
"The Mountain God’s Divine Body is an inanimate object, so I can refine it and take it away. But you are a living spirit, bound by this realm’s Laws. I truly cannot bring you through this gate between worlds."
The Land God smiled bitterly. "I understand. It is fate..."
"Fate?"
A slight smile touched Chu Bai’s lips, and a majestic golden light, one he rarely showed, flashed in his eyes.
"As for me, I’ve never believed in fate. I only care about merits and demerits."
He slowly raised his hand. At his fingertip, a sphere of purple-gold light, so dense it seemed almost solid, began to coalesce.
It was the immense Incense Fire Will Power and Divine Dao Origin that his Golden Seal Decree, Jade Scroll of Heaven Fate Chart had forcibly plundered after he had just slain three Foundation Establishment Evil Gods.
Though these three Divine Spirits were evil, the Origin they had accumulated over ten thousand years was nevertheless substantial.
Now, this power—enough to drive any Divine Spirit to madness—was gathered unreservedly at Chu Bai’s fingertip.
"You inherited the will of the Mountain God. In a chaotic era where all gods were evil and all beings devoured one another, you alone stayed true to your conscience, performed the virtue of a guardian, and protected thousands of cultivators of my Human Race."
Chu Bai’s voice became grand and solemn, like a verbal decree of the Celestial Canon:
"Those with merit shall be rewarded."
"The merit gained in this realm... I shall bestow it all upon you!"
As his voice faded, Chu Bai lightly tapped his finger, striking the center of the Land God’s brow, right where his form was about to dissipate.
"Decree!"
A blindingly brilliant golden light instantly erupted from the ruins of the Underground Palace, at the very center of the collapsing world.
The Land God’s once-turbid eyes widened instantly, his face filled with utter disbelief and shock.
"Lord Envoy... what is this...?"
He felt a boundless, ocean-like torrent of Divine Power surging madly into his body. His Origin, once as fragile as unfired clay, underwent a fundamental transformation under the deluge of this power!
His clay form shed away, and a Golden Body manifested.
His Status, originally that of the lowest, Unranked Wandering God, was forcibly elevated and reforged by the infusion of this immense Origin!
Regular Ninth Grade... Junior Eighth Grade... Regular Seventh Grade!
As the golden light faded, an old man reappeared before Chu Bai. He was clad in an ornate official robe and held a Jade Staff, his entire being wreathed in a flowing Merit Golden Light.
He was no longer a wandering spirit on the verge of fading away, but a True God who genuinely possessed a Divine Status and profound Magical Power!
"You are now the only Divine Spirit left in this realm."
Chu Bai withdrew his finger and looked at the transformed old deity, remarking calmly,
"Though this realm is about to collapse, by bestowing this upon you, I have left you a sliver of hope for survival. This Golden Body will allow you to slumber in the turbulent void without being destroyed. If this place should one day reopen or encounter a turn of fortune, you will be its Realm Lord."
The Land God felt the surging Divine Power within his body. He looked at the young man before him—a figure not particularly tall, but who seemed as majestic as the Celestial Emperor himself—and tears streamed down his aged face.
Ten thousand years of solitude, with countless years since he’d last seen a living person.
He had thought himself a mere disposable pawn, a guide to be discarded. He never imagined that just before his departure, this ruthlessly decisive Lord Envoy would not only remember him but also grant him a fortune of heavenly proportions!
"Lord Envoy, your great benevolence... I... I..."
The Land God trembled, about to kneel in worship, but a gentle breeze from Chu Bai held him up.
Just as Chu Bai was about to step into the Light Gate, the terrifying scene behind him—of the world violently collapsing and all things being annihilated—froze without warning.
The rampaging blades of void wind hung suspended in the air. The encroaching dark Abyss, which had been devouring everything, seemed to strike an invisible wall, unable to advance another inch.
Immediately after, a grand and majestic voice, filled with the indisputable authority of the Dynasty, seemed to descend directly from the Dayuan Prefecture high in the heavens, resonating within every survivor’s Sea of Consciousness:
"This realm’s nexus has been stabilized, its Earth Veins reconnected. It is now incorporated into the territory of the Great Zhou. There is no longer any danger of collapse."
"All you examinees, there is no need for alarm. Continue your ascent as before."
As the voice faded, the once-trembling Celestial Ladder erupted in brilliant golden light, becoming completely stable.
Hearing this, Chu Bai paused for a moment, a cold, knowing smile playing on his lips.
’Just as I expected.’
’The so-called Celestial Examination isn’t just for selecting talent. It’s using the combined Qi signatures of us ten thousand Qi Cultivation Cultivators as a catalyst to forcibly activate and assimilate the remnant will of this Wild Secret Realm.’
’Now that the Cyan Nether Realm has been completely captured by the Great Zhou, our mission as catalysts is complete. The real competition for the rankings starts now.’
「Outside the Underground Palace, upon the Celestial Ladder.」
The five-thousand-some cultivators who had thought themselves doomed heard the grand, celestial voice, and the tension that had been stretched to its breaking point finally snapped.
"We’re... we’re alive!"
"We’re not going to die! The world has stopped collapsing!"
Some wept with joy, while others collapsed to the ground in relief. But soon, this euphoria of survival was replaced by a rekindled ambition.
Now that their lives were no longer in danger, what lay before them was the final thousand zhang of the Celestial Ladder—the segment that symbolized a place in Qingzhou’s top one hundred and represented supreme glory and resources!
"Everyone! Since we’re not going to die... it’s time to compete!"
"There might just be a spot for me in the top hundred!"
After a brief respite, the surviving experts’ eyes grew sharp once more.
With no need to attack each other, their only enemy now was the increasingly terrifying dynastic pressure on the Celestial Ladder.

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