The Golden Pagoda was impressive by its appearance—a large, towering structure built from golden wood.
Hengsheng thought, "This wood must come from the Golden Tree I saw from afar on the mountain foot of the Golden Pillar."
It had the shape of a pentagon—in fact, it exactly resembled the Pentagon building of the country ASU from his past life—but this one was also as tall as 50 meters.
Hengsheng thought it looked more impressive than his Lan clan library tower. His expression was not particularly pleasant, since he didn't like it when others had things better than him.
"Fellow Daoist Lan, please follow me," Cao Feng said as he led him toward the Golden Pagoda.
On the way, he saw the training ground. It was a wooden camp surrounded by a wooden wall—the wall was not so dense that he could see inside. He saw many people training in the training ground.
Most people he saw inside the training ground were dressed like Cao Feng, in the Golden Sword Sect uniform, though he also noticed others from different forces.
Surprisingly, he spotted some of his clanmates among the others, now sparring with Golden Sword Sect disciples. They didn’t seem to be faring well against the disciple in the golden robes.
However, he decided not to approach or show his face and left them to suffer from being beaten for now. With Cao Feng's escort, he was brought inside the Golden Pagoda.
Inside the building, Hengsheng observed the place, and his eyes widened as he witnessed once again how rich the Golden Sword Sect was!
The interior is decorated with all sorts of expensive items—all equally valued as divine-grade treasures. This is just the first floor; Hengsheng bets that this entire building is worth more than his entire Lan clan.
He clenched his fists hard, nearly causing blood to leak, and then he secretly vowed to himself that one day he would become rich—richer than everyone else, especially the Golden Sword Sect, who had unknowingly humiliated him time and again.
He secretly positioned himself as a competitor to the Golden Sword Sect in wealth without the other side knowing it.
"Fellow Daoist Lan!" Hengsheng snapped back to reality at the sound of Cao Feng, who had called him multiple times.
"A-hem, I just felt the surge of spiritual Qi here was especially dense, so I blanked out for a bit. Let's continue," Hengsheng excused himself to Cao Feng, not letting the other know that what really paused him was not the environment but the wealth. Cao Feng nods in understanding.
"This is my mistake, I forgot to warn you—inside the pagoda, the Spiritual Qi is much denser than outside. The higher the floor, the greater the Qi density, so please be careful, Fellow Daoist Lan." Cao Feng spoke as if this high dense spiritual Qi were a normal occurrence, he even having forgotten to mention it.
This attitude made Hengsheng even more angry and humiliated, it made him realize that he was poorer than he thought.
As Lan Hengsheng and Cao Feng stood at the entrance, Hengsheng's senses pricked. A group of dozen Golden Sword Sect disciples was approaching. Their expressions were anything but friendly.
Cao Feng noticed them as well, his brows furrowing. He immediately stepped forward, placing himself between Hengsheng and the group.
"Zhu Mingjun, stop right there!" Cao Feng's voice was firm, his stance unwavering. Yet, there was something unnatural about it—like he was merely pretending, concealing his true feelings beneath the facade.
At the front of the group stood a man with long striking red hair, his posture exuding arrogance.
It was Zhu Mingjun, the very person Cao Feng had addressed. He stopped a few steps away, his gaze sharp as he glanced between Cao Feng and Hengsheng.
"What do you think you're doing, bringing an outsider into the Pagoda?" Zhu Mingjun sneered, folding his arms.
Hengsheng sighed, glancing at Cao Feng and the newcomer. Trouble, huh? He had only just arrived, and already people wanted to pick a fight.
"Zhu Mingjun you back off! This person is an important guest. Senior Brother Jian himself allows him to stay inside the Pagoda!" Cao Feng said, his voice carrying a hint of worry even as he tried to act fearlessly in front of Zhu Mingjun.
When Zhu Mingjun heard the name of Senior Brother Jian, the veins on his head bulged in anger. It was like the name triggered a bad memory in his mind.
"How dare you mention that person's name in front of me!" Zhu Mingjun yelled with anger in his voice.
Then he released his Spiritual aura, directing pressure at Cao Feng and Hengsheng, intending to humiliate them.
Cao Feng turned pale as he sensed what was happening. He tried to resist the pressure with all his might, but it was futile—he was forced to step back, clearly weaker than his opponent.
Hengsheng's brown frowned before he released a small amount of his own Spiritual aura to counter Zhu Mingjun's.
The auras crashed against each other, and then Hengsheng's aura slowly pushed Zhu Mingjun's back at a steady pace.
Zhu Mingjun turned pale, not expecting the outsider to possess such a strong Spiritual power. Soon, Hengsheng's aura pressed down on the entire group of Golden Sword Sect disciples, forcing them to drop to one knee.
Hengsheng gazed at them with a cold eye, Hengsheng was noticed that Zhu Mingjun who on one knee was staring back at him with vengeful eyes.
Zhu Mingjun's expression twisted in humiliation as he found himself kneeling before an unknown outsider!
No matter how he struggled, he couldn't resist the suffocating pressure of Hengsheng's aura. It was as if an invisible mountain had pressed down on him, forcing him to submit.
Other disciples who come with Zhu Mingjun's faces pale. Some of them already lost consciousness.
At that moment, a calm yet authoritative voice echoed from the staircase leading to the upper floor.
"I must apologize on their behalf. Will you forgive them, Fellow Daoist Lan?"
With those words, a surge of golden Spiritual Qi descended, sharp and refined like an unsheathed divine blade. It hovered close to Hengsheng’s aura, its razor-like presence pressing against him as if ready to cut through his aura apart the moment he refused to back down.
A tense silence filled the air. Hengsheng's eyes turned sharp as he sensed a familiar sensation within that sharp Spiritual Qi—It was the aura of Dao Heart!
Hengsheng observed the man standing on the stairs; his aura clearly belonged to the one who had already awakened his own Dao Heart, just like Hengsheng.
From the sharp Dao Heart aura hidden within him, Hengsheng could tell that this was a true swordsman—not merely a cultivator using a sword as a weapon, as he usually encountered.
"So this is the one I heard about? Someone who, like me, has reached the boundary of the Dao, even though he is still in the lower cultivation realm," he thought silently.
Hengsheng waited a moment before retracting his Spiritual aura.
When Zhu Mingjun and the others were free, they quickly left without even thanking the swordsman. They walked away as they hastened their pace and never looked back.
Except for one person—Zhu Mingjun. When he was a good distance away, he turned back, staring at Hengsheng's face as if trying to memorize every detail of his features. Then, without a word, he turned away again and left.
Hengsheng smirk on his face. "Even the overlord sect has this kind of person." It was the first time he had seen a Golden Sword Sect disciple acting like a bad guy.
"Thank you for your kindness, Fellow Daoist Lan." The swordsman stepped forward, his gaze steady as he clasped his hands in greeting.
"I am Jian Zixuan, a disciple of the Sword Golden Sect. It is an honor to make your acquaintance."
"I am Lan Hengsheng, The heir of the Lan Clan." He met Jian Zixuan's gaze with a calm expression, his tone neither arrogant nor humble. "The honor is mine, Fellow Daoist Jian."
"Once again, I apologize for the behavior of Zhu Mingjun," Jian Zixuan said with a smile, though anger simmered within him because Zhu Mingjun's behavior had embarrassed his sect in front of the guest.
But he can't do anything much about Zhu Mingjun, since his grandfather was one of the grand elders—a true immortal cultivator!
"I have heard a lot about you from my junior. It is rare for someone like us to emerge at the same time once in a thousand years, so it is fortunate for me that we have met."
When he finished speaking, his Dao Heart aura flowed out like the golden sea of blades—myriad waves of blades torrent crashed towards Hengsheng.
Hengsheng raises his eyebrows and smiles wide before he releases his Dao Heart aura—the countless threads of reality weaving the world in front of him into whatever result he desires.
The two powerful Dao Heart aura crash against each other!
At this moment, the battle of the Dao Heart occurred.