Ye Bufan was one of them.
He was currently stuck at the peak of the Great Ascension Realm, unable to break through to the Earth Immortal stage.
His mental cultivation remained firmly blocked at the peak of the Great Ascension Realm; if he forced a breakthrough, inner demons would inevitably invade his body.
Ye Bufan sighed: "Su Yuan, how can I ever catch up to you..."
He murmured Su Yuan's name softly, his memories drifting back thousands of years (with hundredfold time acceleration in the Time Chaos Realm).
"Not bad ambition." A voice tinged with laughter sounded beside him.
Ye Bufan's expression changed, and he turned to see Su Yuan standing right beside him, watching him with a faint smile.
Ye Bufan immediately bowed: "Ancestor Master!"
Su Yuan waved his hand: "Ye Bufan, we're disciples from the same cohort. You can just call me senior brother!"
Ye Bufan's mouth twitched as he nodded: "Yes, Ancestor Master!"Su Yuan chuckled: "You want to surpass me?"
Ye Bufan's face flushed red.
Su Yuan smiled: "That's excellent. Every cultivator should have the ambition to surpass everything. I'm just a cultivator too—a mighty figure's reincarnation who's actually lived countless years."
"When I was your age, I was only at the Refining Soul to Void stage, just approaching the Void Refinement Realm! You've already surpassed me at that time. There's no reason you can't reach my current height in the future, or even exceed me!"
Su Yuan was completely talking nonsense.
Hearing this, Ye Bufan's eyes lit up, and his mental state that had been stuck at the peak of the Great Ascension Realm showed faint signs of breakthrough.
Su Yuan patted his shoulder: "Ye Bufan, I have high hopes for you!"
"Th-thank you for your praise, Ancestor Master! This disciple will definitely cultivate diligently and continuously reach new heights!" Ye Bufan said with newfound confidence.
Su Yuan smiled and nodded, then said: "I have a mission for you. Are you willing to accept it?"
"Willing! This disciple will spare no effort to complete Ancestor Master's mission!" Ye Bufan said with utmost seriousness.
"Good. I've discovered a special world where magical power serves as the foundation of cultivation, and the path of faith is the mainstream practice. I'm sending you there. Your mission is to help me spread the fame of the Big Dipper to the best of your ability. You can also explore whether their cultivation methods suit you—sometimes foreign stones can polish our own jade."
Ye Bufan immediately nodded: "Understood! Ancestor Master!"
"Anything you need to prepare?" Su Yuan asked.
"Nothing, I have everything with me."
"Then I'll send you directly!" Su Yuan said.
"Please proceed, Ancestor Master!"
The next moment, Ye Bufan vanished from his spot.
Simultaneously, throughout the Seven Stars Sect, nearly every disciple saw Su Yuan's figure flash by their side as he poured motivational encouragement into each of them, urging them to advance courageously.
Ye Bufan felt the scenery before him shift, and he appeared in another world.
Looking up, the familiar Big Dipper still hung in the sky, which gave him some inexplicable comfort.
Except for the Big Dipper, however, the entire starry sky was enveloped by boundless black mist, creating an exceptionally oppressive atmosphere.
Taylor Plane.
Currently, the entire plane seemed to have fallen into apocalyptic conditions.
The Nameless Mist had already wrapped around the entire world.
Some ground areas were also covered by black mist.
The Light Empire was a nation that worshipped the Light God Orr.
They too faced invasion by the Nameless Mist.
The Light Empire gathered its top combat forces at Prayer Light City, a border fortress, to jointly resist the erosion of the Nameless Mist.
Looking east from Prayer Light City's walls, one could see numerous crimson eyes staring at the city from within the black mist.
At one moment, the black mist churned and slightly contracted like a breath, revealing the owners of those crimson eyes—a massive army composed of various creatures, including even residents and soldiers of the Light Empire who had now become corrupted beings.
Freed from the Nameless Mist's cover, these corrupted troops seemed to break their restraints and immediately charged toward Prayer Light City.
On the city walls, soldiers stood ready.
Cultivators prepared themselves, mages began chanting spells, and archers condensed magical arrows.
As the corrupted army approached, archers launched the first attack. Each magical arrow that hit a corrupted being would explode, killing the target while injuring surrounding corrupted creatures.
One archer fired an arrow, reached for another, but found nothing in his quiver.
Looking at his empty quiver, he reluctantly stepped back. Magical arrows weren't easy to produce, and the city's supply was severely depleted. He could only take out ordinary arrows, imbue them with his magic power, and shoot at the corrupted beings.
An arrow struck its target, but the corrupted being only shook slightly before continuing its charge forward. Ordinary arrows dealt significantly reduced damage to the corrupted.
Shortly after the archers' attack, mages completed their spells. Various magical attacks fell upon the corrupted army, dealing considerable damage.
Among them were seventh and eighth-circle high-level spells that could clear large areas of corrupted beings with a single volley.
While the power was terrifying, mages had significant casting times—the more powerful the spell, the longer the preparation.
However, the corrupted beings were numerous. After one wave fell, another immediately followed, still flooding toward the city like tidal waves.
The warriors on the walls looked helpless. They could only wait on the walls for the corrupted to arrive, not daring to fight beyond the walls where they risked being killed and dragged away to become new corrupted beings.
The corrupted army pressed forward layer by layer.
The situation grew increasingly critical.
On the walls, a group of priests stood ready.
The Temple Priest led the Light Priesthood in prayers to their deity.
"Noble Light God, your devout followers offer our sincerest faith, beseeching you to bestow redeeming divine light upon us! Save the lambs trapped between life and death!"
A group of priests joined the prayer, channeling their holy power to the Temple Priest for use.
A massive redemption divine spell took shape like a rising sun, shining upon the countless corrupted beings on the battlefield.
Everyone's faces showed expectant expressions, hoping the divine magic would either redeem or eliminate the corrupted!
Divine magic was most effective against heretics!
But contrary to expectations, the redemption light only weakened the corrupted beings' aura by about half a percent when it shone upon them—not a single corrupted being died.
From within the corrupted army, a powerful dragon-type corrupted creature suddenly emerged from the ground. The giant dragon extended its massive claw and snuffed out the small sun-like divine spell in the sky!
The cultivators on the city walls paled in shock.
"A demigod-level dragon!"
"Damn it! How could there be a demigod among the corrupted! And a dragon demigod at that!"
Everyone looked panicked.
The prince overseeing the battle immediately asked Temple High Priest Alice: "High Priest Alice, the situation is critical. Please perform the Divine Descent technique!"
"Divine Descent?" Alice looked sorrowful but agreed, "I understand! With the empire in peril, it's time for me to make my sacrifice!"
Facing the sky, she chanted complex divine incantations.
She was preparing to use Divine Descent, where a deity would descend into the world using a believer's body. Although only an avatar manifestation, it would possess peak demigod combat power!
This naturally came at a cost—the body hosting the divine avatar might shatter completely.
All priests prayed with reverence and fanaticism, anticipating their deity's arrival!
The divine technique ultimately succeeded.
A great and luminous power descended from heaven, merging into Alice's body.
Alice's appearance and form underwent dramatic changes, transforming from a young woman into a blurred male figure.
Most believers were seeing a divine avatar for the first time and fervently offered their faith power.
The lesser light god Orr sensed the abundant, pure faith power around him and opened his eyes contentedly.
Then he saw the dense army of corrupted beings before him.
Orr initially remained composed, planning to put on a grand display before his followers.
However, after his appearance, several corrupted demigods emerged from the army and charged toward Orr.
Orr looked indifferent as he chanted: "Divine Technique—Sword of Light!"
A massive light sword materialized, radiating terrifyingly powerful energy as it shot forward to strike one corrupted being.
But the corrupted demigod extended its palm covered in black mist and grabbed the light sword directly.
Orr showed a contemptuous smile.
But his smile instantly froze!
The hand containing black mist actually caught the light sword.
The massive attack power solidified mid-air.
Taking advantage of his attack opening, the remaining three corrupted demigods quickly closed in, forming pitch-black weapons to strike down.
"Impossible! This is a powerful divine technique containing the power of light laws! How can a demigod block it!"
Orr exclaimed in shock and anger, but the corrupted demigods were already attacking.
He immediately engaged in combat with several corrupted demigods.
But when Orr made contact with the black mist, he immediately discovered strands of black energy breaking through his body and invading his avatar.
This black energy actually followed an intangible connection, transcending space to entangle the light god's true body who was watching performances in his divine kingdom.
The light god Orr got a fright and immediately channeled divine power to eradicate this strand of black energy. But the black energy proved incredibly tenacious—under divine power's expulsion, it only condensed into a cluster without being truly eliminated. If left unattended, it would again pollute his divine body and soul!