Chapter 162: One Sect Occupies Three Enlightenment Platforms

By the time Li Meng returned his attention to the valley floor, six Foundation Establishment disciples from the Joyous Union Sect had already retreated from the platforms. They stumbled back, faces pale and chests heaving.

The Enlightenment Platform had rejected them. None had lasted more than five breaths.

“Why has your cultivation regressed?” Li Meng’s eyes narrowed. The auras of his returned Senior Brothers and Sisters were chaotic, trembling like candle flames in a gale. Two of them had suffered a catastrophic drop, plummeting from the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment back to the early stage.

One Senior Brother shook his head, a bitter smile twisting his lips. “That platform is cursed. It doesn’t just consume Qi; it devours vitality. I held on for mere seconds, yet I feel as though a decade of my lifespan has been ripped away.”

Li Meng glanced at the others. They nodded grimly, confirming the horror.

He turned his gaze back to the stone pillars. His expression grew thoughtful. It was standard for a formation to require Spiritual Power to function, but feeding on the lifespan of a cultivator? That crossed the line from a trial to a trap.

Li Meng rose to his feet.

With a thought, he rode the wind, soaring straight upward. He didn’t stop until he hovered a thousand meters above the valley floor, looking down like a god surveying an ant farm.

“Is this… a Formation?”

From this vantage point, the truth revealed itself. The Enlightenment Stele and the seven Enlightenment Platforms weren’t independent structures; they were nodes in a massive, ancient grid. The Qi and vitality drained by the platforms were being funneled directly into the central Stele.

As the energy converged, the Dao Rhyme radiating from the Stele thickened, pulsing with a rhythm that felt almost biological.

It was… as if the stone were coming alive.

“Interesting.”

His Heavenly Eye remained silent, offering no analysis. This suggested the array was incomplete—a remnant of something far grander that had lost its primary function over the aeons.

Do not pry. You may occupy two Enlightenment Platforms.

The voice exploded in his mind, bypassing his ears entirely. It was a Divine Sense transmission, heavy with age and authority.

Li Meng froze in mid-air. He immediately turned toward the empty sky and bowed deeply, his posture respectful.

“Understood, Ancestor.”

That voice didn’t belong to any Golden Core Senior. The pressure behind it was absolute. It was the sect’s Nascent Soul Ancestor, secretly protecting their way from the shadows.

Li Meng suppressed his curiosity. If an Old Monster was watching, digging deeper was a quick way to die. He turned and descended toward the platforms.

I didn’t expect a Nascent Soul cultivator to be here personally. The major sects of the Tianlan Continent must value this Stele far more than I realized.

As Li Meng landed on one of the empty Enlightenment Platforms, the reaction from the surrounding cultivators was immediate. Several Foundation Establishment cultivators who had been rushing toward it violently changed course, scrambling for other spots.

The memory of Li Meng slaughtering an entire sect team just days ago was still fresh in their minds.

This man might only be at the early Foundation Establishment stage, but he fought with the casual cruelty of a tyrant. He possessed Talismans of devastating power and would annihilate anyone at the slightest disagreement.

“The Restriction didn’t activate?”

Standing on the stone platform, Li Meng frowned.

Not only had the pressure failed to descend, but the golden ancient characters carved into the stone beneath his boots dimmed. The Dao Rhyme that had been swirling around the pillar vanished instantly, leaving him standing on what felt like a mundane rock.

“It seems the Enlightenment Stele has no fate with me.”

Enlightenment required a gap in understanding, a need to comprehend the laws of the world. But Li Meng possessed the System—the greatest Dao of all. The stone likely had nothing to teach him.

He looked toward the adjacent platform.

Fellow Daoist Lu truly lived up to her reputation as a child of Luck. The golden script beneath Lu Zimo’s feet shone with blinding intensity. The Dao Rhyme from the central Stele poured into her platform like a river meeting the sea.

The other disciples weren’t nearly as fortunate.

Except… Senior Sister Li?

Li Meng spotted Li Xi on a nearby platform. She looked tense, her eyes darting warily at the surrounding crowd.

“Is your Joyous Union Sect too overbearing? One sect dares to occupy three Enlightenment Platforms?”

There were only seven platforms in existence. The Joyous Union Sect currently held three.

The dissatisfaction in the valley reached a boiling point. The State of Zhao alone had five major sects, and dozens more from the wider Tianlan Continent had gathered here tonight.

Li Meng traced the voice to a man in azure robes hovering in the air. Deng Wu of the Azure Cloud Sect.

“He’s right! The Joyous Union Sect is going too far!”

“By what right do they take half the spots?”

“Fellow Daoists, let us join forces and drive them off!”

“Agreed! If they want three, we’ll ensure they get none!”

Four different sect teams shifted their formation, aligning themselves with the Azure Cloud Sect. A mob of Foundation Establishment cultivators prepared to strike.

Li Meng glanced at Deng Wu, his expression bored.

He didn’t speak. He simply flicked his sleeve.

A single golden Talisman shot out, trailing a comet’s tail of light.

Mid-flight, the paper burned away, erupting into a blinding golden brilliance. It transformed into a colossal Golden Geng Spirit Sword, thirty meters long and humming with the heavy, crushing pressure of heaven and earth.

The sheer speed of the manifestation kicked up shockwaves that distorted the air.

Deng Wu’s face fell. He frantically formed hand seals, screaming, “Everyone, attack together! Break it!”

“Now!”

Dozens of cultivators panicked, summoning their Magical Artifacts. Deng Wu spat out his own life-bound flying sword. A dense swarm of glowing weapons and shields rose to meet the golden giant.

BOOM!

The collision sounded like a thunderclap shattering a mountain.

Spiritual light exploded in a chaotic storm, sweeping across the valley. But it was a massacre, not a contest. The mass-produced artifacts of the sect disciples shattered on impact.

Metal screamed as the Golden Geng Spirit Sword pulverized everything in its path.

The shockwave from the destroyed artifacts created a violent backlash of chaotic Qi, tearing through the cultivators’ defensive barriers.

“Pfft!”

Deng Wu and his temporary allies vomited blood in unison. Their bodies were flung backward a hundred meters, crashing into the dirt.

They looked up at Li Meng, terror written on their bloodied faces.

Who is this monster?

How could an early Foundation Establishment cultivator casually toss out a top-grade Tier 3 Talisman? That was an attack equivalent to a Golden Core strike!

“Hahaha! Glorious! I like his style!”

Nearby, the Purple Cloud Sect watched the drama unfold. Their leader, Gong Qi, threw his head back and laughed. He looked at Li Meng not with anger, but with pure envy and admiration.

He admired the domineering arrogance to fight an army alone. He envied the obscene wealth required to do it.

“Joyous Union Sect!” Deng Wu wiped blood from his chin, his voice trembling with rage. “Do you truly intend to make enemies of every sect here?”

The roar echoed through the valley. The crowd wavered. If the Joyous Union Sect monopolized the platforms, a massive alliance would inevitably form to crush them.

“Junior Brother, do not be rash.”

On her platform, Li Xi’s eyes flashed with regret. Among the three of them, Li Meng had the lowest cultivation but the highest combat power. Furthermore, as an Alchemist, he needed this enlightenment far more than she did.

“Junior Brother, take my spot. I will step down.”

Li Xi turned, preparing to leave the platform.

“Senior Sister, stay where you are.”

Li Meng stepped off his useless platform, floating into the air. “The Joyous Union Sect will occupy two platforms. No more, no less.”

He glided over to hover directly between the two adjacent platforms occupied by Li Xi and Lu Zimo.

Lu Zimo opened her eyes, guilt flashing across her face. She knew she was an outsider who had taken a Fated Chance belonging to his sect. A heavy karmic debt had been formed.

Li Meng ignored the crowd. He flicked his sleeve again.

Five sheets of golden Talisman Paper shot out, burying themselves into the earth around the two women in a perfect pentagonal formation.