Song Shuhang, Su Clan’s Sixteen, Shi, and Little Cai withdrew from the large formation.

Su Clan’s Sixteen, who rode on her saber, took Shi along with her as she retreated. Song Shuhang took Little Cai, and rode on his saber side by side with Sixteen.

After they all withdrew, the light coming from the large formation became even more dazzling. Even Song Shuhang could no longer see through the bright light and view the changes happening within.

“I hope that Fellow Daoist Melon Eater will succeed,” Song Shuhang prayed.

…One should avoid exploiting others. With them having just greatly benefited from Sage Monarch Melon Eater, they now hoped that he could successfully complete the ceremony. It would be best if they were able to see him ascend to the Ninth Stage after completing the ceremony.

At this time, Su Clan’s Sixteen said, “The ceremony seems to be approaching completion very smoothly. When I was exiting the formation, I noticed that Senior Melon Eater’s fleshly body had already successfully transformed into a body of virtue. Now, the only thing left to do should be for his body of virtue to leave his physical body.”

Song Shuhang nodded.

In the large formation, the light of virtue grew more and more dazzling, and the area covered by the formation simultaneously became larger and larger.

Song Shuhang and Su Clan’s Sixteen could only choose to retreat slightly more not to be affected by the formation.

❄️❄️❄️

Time quickly flew by.

After more than half an hour, the formation was still emitting a dazzling light, and it did not seem like it would be over any time soon.

Song Shuhang brought out his ‘silver dragon puppet’, and had it float over the ocean. Afterwards, he sat together with Sixteen, Shi, and Little Cai on the puppet to take some time to rest.

It appeared that Sixteen was very tired. Shortly after having sat on the silver dragon puppet and leaning on Song Shuhang’s shoulder, she fell asleep.

In actuality… Ever since early this morning, she had been feeling mentally exhausted and weak. Her ability to endure through the ceremony until the end of the distribution of the benefits was a display of her strong willpower.

Right next to Sixteen, Shi had also ended up snoring. It was possible that she was relatively sleepy due to her body being in a state of growth recently.

Song Shuhang gently supported Su Clan’s Sixteen, and then sent her and Shi into his Inner World so they could enjoy a large bed, where they could have a good sleep.

Song Shuhang asked, “Little Cai, do you want to go back into the Inner World to rest?”

Little Cai shook her head, her eyes staring intently at the huge formation filled with light of virtue. “Teacher, I want to stay here. I feel that as long as I stand here, my power of virtue is continuously growing!”

As Song Shuhang heard this, he immediately checked his own state.

It appeared that it really was the case—as long as he stayed near the formation, his power of virtue would slowly grow. However, the speed of this growth was very slow. For Song Shuhang, it could not even be considered anywhere near substantial, which was why he ignored it.

However, Little Cai’s power of virtue was not as rich as Song Shuhang’s, so even if the increase was tiny, she would still be quite sensitive to it.

Song Shuhang said, “Alright, you can stay here, but to avoid any accidents, don’t get too close to the large formation.”

Little Cai nodded.

As Song Shuhang sat cross-legged on the silver dragon puppet, he pulled out his phone, and habitually opened the ‘Nine Provinces Number One Group’. He wanted to check it out, and if he encountered True Monarch Eternal Fire, he would tell him about his encounter with ‘Daozi’, the head of the Tribulation Transcenders of the scholarly faction.

Although it was early in the morning, all the people in the group were cultivators, and it was normal for a cultivator not to sleep for several days and nights. As such, there were still a lot of people who were online.

After Song Shuhang went online, he first sent a message. “Seniors, I have finally reached the Fourth Stage!”

Northern River’s Loose Cultivator was confused, and asked, “Huh? Weren’t you already at the Fourth Stage during the time of your show of divinity?”

Tyrannical Song: “It’s like this. When I had just ascended, there was actually a small problem: I had only ascended halfway. My illusory core was not completely formed, but after receiving a wave of benefits today, my illusory core has finally finished forming. My first immortal bone has also condensed and was completely tempered along the way.”

I’m that little white crane at the edge of the Earth’s End: “The crane says: F*ck!”

Tyrant Flood Dragon wants to father a football team: “The flood dragon says: F*ck!”

Frice Reckless Mad Saber: “The reckless says: F*ck!”

Cave Lord Snow Wolf: “The wolf says: F*ck!”

Young Master Phoenix Slayer: “The cat says: F*ck!”

Monk Swallow Cloud: “The monk says: F*ck!”

Song Shuhang: “…”

Fairy Lychee: “Congratulations to the first Sage in a thousand years, Profound Sage Tyrannical Song, for reaching the Fourth Stage!”

Tyrannical Song: “Thanks, Fairy Lychee. It is still you who’s the best.”

Frice Reckless Mad Saber: “You are too naive, young man. Do you really think that Fairy Lychee was praising you? Profound Sage Tyrannical Song, the first Sage in a thousand years, has finally reached the ‘Fourth Stage’. Fairy Lychee was likely laughing at you in secret.”

Song Shuhang: “…”

Fairy Lychee: “…”

When the Bright Moon Appears: “Greetings from the people of Foshan and congratulations to Profound Sage Tyrannical Song for reaching the Fourth Stage.”

Scholar Drunken ***n has been desperately trying to show his presence recently lest he be forgotten.

Island Master Tian Tiankong: “Greetings from the people of the Free Island and congratulations to Profound Sage Tyrannical Song for reaching the Fourth Stage.”

Vice-Island Master Tian Tianwei: “Content same as above.”

Fairy Firefly immediately followed. “Greetings from the people of Yunnan and congratulations to Profound Sage Tyrannical Song for reaching the Fourth Stage.”

The topic which the group had been talking about had suddenly been lost.

Northern River’s Loose Cultivator: “By the way, is little Sixteen with you?”

Song Shuhang replied, “Mm-hm, Sixteen has also gained quite a lot. She successfully tempered four immortal bones in one go, and even formed her fifth immortal bone.”

Northern River’s Loose Cultivator raised his head to look at the sky. I only asked you if little Sixteen was with you. I didn’t ask you what she gained.

The pressure had become very big as ever since little friend Song had joined the group, the younger generation of the Nine Provinces Number One Group was cultivating and advancing like crazy. Recently, the topics they’d been hearing the most in the group were about who had transcended and who was going to transcend their tribulation…

As an old senior, Northern River’s Loose Cultivator felt greatly stressed.

It appeared that the old seniors would also have to speed it up a bit; otherwise, if they were to be caught up to by their juniors, it would simply be too shameful.

At this time, Spirit Butterfly Island’s Soft Feather went online.

As soon as she went online, she saw that Song Shuhang was online, and greeted him happily.

Fairy Cherry Boat [Soft Feather]: “Senior Song is awesome. I’ve just managed to finish condensing my first immortal bone, yet you have already caught up to me! It seems that I have to work harder, or else I’ll probably be overtaken by you!”

Song Shuhang: “Soft Feather, we both have to work harder!”

Fairy Cherry Boat [Soft Feather]: “Mm-hm, we do. By the way, I just received today’s Daily Cultivator. Senior Song, you made the headlines again.”

Treasure Forging Heavenly Mansion’s Yang Xian curiously asked, “Headlines? What happened? Yesterday, didn’t little friend Shuhang merely force Sage Monarch Winter Melon to retreat with his ‘nuclear deterrence’? That can also make the headlines?”

“Yang Xian, it seems that you aren’t aware. Yesterday, after little friend Shuhang deterred Sage Monarch Winter Melon with nuclear deterrence… At the night of the full moon, he had met Sage Monarch Winter Melon again. Hahaha,” Northern River’s Loose Cultivator explained.

Treasure Forging Heavenly Mansion ‘s Yang Xian: “Pfff~”

Fairy Cherry Boat [Soft Feather]: “According to the report of the Daily Cultivator, last night, Sage Monarch Winter Melon had changed the target of his challenge, yet suddenly ended dueling with Profound Sage Tyrannical Song once again, and then afterward, he went on to challenge an old senior called ‘Sage Monarch Melon Eater’. According to the report, this Sage Monarch Melon Eater is an old senior Winter Melon truly admires.”

“Winter Melon challenged Melon Eater? Their daoist names already show who would be subdued, was there still anything to fight about? 😁” Fairy Lychee sent a smiley emoji.

Frice Reckless Mad Saber: “I suspect that when Sage Monarch Winter Melon chose his Sage Name, perhaps it was to pay tribute to this ‘Sage Monarch Melon Eater’.”

Northern River’s Loose Cultivator: “Soft Feather, continue, what happened in the duel between Melon Eater and Winter Melon? Also, when did little friend Song Shuhang meet Winter Melon? What was the headline?”

Soft Feather began reading the introduction of the report. “Well, the report said that it was very coincidental. When Sage Monarch Winter Melon had gone to challenge Senior Melon Eater, he had met Senior Song halfway. Afterward, Sage Monarch Winter Melon came up with an odd thought to try out Senior Song’s secret weapon before going on to duel Sage Monarch Melon Eater, but the report does not describe what the secret weapon was.”

When Fairy Dongfang Snow heard this, she quickly said, “The so-called secret weapon should refer to the heavenly tribulation nuclear bombs, right? Hahahaha~ I can already guess the following scenes. Since Song Shuhang’s nuclear bombs can’t explode in the main world and can only be used to deceive people, Sage Monarch Winter Melon figured out the truth and beat up Song Shuhang until he was black and blue, right? I didn’t expect that Copper Trigram’s shady divination would still come true!”

Fairy Dongfang Snow, like Treasure Forging Heavenly Mansion’s Yang Xian, was not online last night, so she had no idea that Song Shuhang had used ‘Scarlet Heaven Sword’ to beat up Sage Monarch Winter Melon.

Fairy Lychee sighed, and said, “Fairy Dongfang Snow, this time you’ve guessed wrong.”

At this point, Song Shuhang, who was sitting on the dragon puppet, was swiping through the chat history and smiling. He opened his group info and changed his name to Song ‘Really Awesome This Time’ Shuhang.

It was so refreshing to finally be able to show off in the ‘Nine Provinces Number One Group’. Moreover, it wasn’t something he had to do himself—he just had to sit back and watch as his deeds came to light.

It was truly refreshing.

Fairy Cherry Boat [Soft Feather]: “No~ Senior Song and Sage Monarch Winter Melon made a ‘one-move deal’ wherein they would decide the winner in a single move. The Daily Cultivator reported that Profound Sage Tyrannical Song was truly worthy of being the first Sage in a thousand years as he slashed out a flaming saber that burned the skies and was akin to a small sun. When the slash of his sword came down, it broke through Sage Monarch Winter Melon’s defense and fulfilled the condition to decide the battle with one move, putting an end to the challenge. This is today’s headline: [The battle between the two Profound Sages: Profound Sage Tyrannical Song one-hit KO’d Sage Monarch Winter Melon].”

Northern River’s Loose Cultivator sighed with emotion as he sent a message. “Little friend Song Shuhang, you truly won this battle between the two sages. 👍”

Song ‘Really Awesome This Time’ Shuhang: “😁”

There was no longer a need to say anything more—everything had already been said.

Fairy Cherry Boat [Soft Feather]: “After that, the second biggest news of the day is about Sage Monarch Melon Eater descending down through a secret technique to battle Sage Monarch Winter Melon.”

Song Shuhang: “…”

F*ck, I forgot this! Sage Monarch Melon Eater’s last appearance was with my face, and he had even been crazily beaten up by Winter Melon at one point!