Luminous Sanctuary!


    The golden light slowly faded, and Jared''s figure emerged from the Teleportation


    Array.


    He stood on unfamiliar ground. Green mountains rolled away in every direction, and farther off, mist curled around the peaks.


    Through the haze, he could just make out pce halls and towering buildings perched above them, with sweeping roofs and carved eaves that carried an overwhelming presence.


    The sky was a clear, washed blue. Sunlight spilled bright across thend, and the air was thick with spiritual energy, several times richer than in Cloudhaven City.


    "So this was the Luminous Sanctuary?"


    Jared narrowed his eyes a little and felt the flow of spiritual energy around him.


    The spiritual energy here really was abundant, and unbelievably pure. The name "Sanctuary" fit it well.


    He could also sense an invisible pressure hanging over this world, as if some kind of rule bound everything in it.


    He lifted his head and swept his gaze across the area. It did not take long before he spotted a small town near the foot of a distant mountain.


    The town was notrge, but the buildings were neat and orderly. People moved through the streets in a steady stream, and the ce looked lively.


    Jared did not head over right away. He first pulled in his aura. In an unfamiliar ce, keeping a low profile was never the wrong move.


    A momentter, his figure shifted. He turned into a faint streak of light and shot toward the town.


    Silverbrook.


    It sat against the mountains and beside the water, with a clean, graceful kind of beauty.


    Shops lined both sides of the streets in town. Some sold healing elixirs, some sold magical artifacts, and some sold spiritual nt materials. It had a little of everything.


    There were quite a few people on the street, and their cultivation ranged from High Immortal Realm Level Five to High Immortal Realm Level Nine.


    Jared walked slowly along the street, his gaze moving over the surroundings without drawing attention.


    He noticed the way the cultivators here looked at people was a little unusual, like they were sizing something up. There was no hostility in it, though. It was more curiosity, more scrutiny.


    He had only gone a few steps when a burst of noise rose from ahead.


    Jared looked up and saw a crowd gathered not far away, as if they were watching something.


    He walked over and looked through the gaps in the crowd. A massive stone monument stood there, and threerge characters were carved across it—"Bloodrite Stone."


    A few men and women in white robes stood in front of it, and a golden lotus was embroidered across each of their chests.


    At the front stood a middle-aged man with refined features and a smile on his face. He was speaking loudly to the crowd.


    "...Fellow adepts, the Hallowmere Order has always honored bloodline above all else. Anyone with a superior bloodline may enter our order, enjoy our resources, gain a cultivation partner for dual cultivation, and seek the Great Dao together!"


    "Today happens to be the day our order is epting disciples. Anyone with fate on their side maye forward and test if your bloodline proves superior, even the Vice


    Preceptor will receive you in person!"


    Jared''s brow lifted slightly.


    The Hallowmere Order?


    Bloodline above all else?


    He remembered what Rnd had said before. The Luminous Sanctuary was a ce where righteous cultivators gathered, with sects and orders everywhere.


    It looked like the Hallowmere Order was one of them.


    Still, this idea of bloodline above all else caught him a little off guard.


    In the celestial realm, bloodline did matter. But using it as the standard for entering


    the order, and openly recruiting disciples this way, made this sect''s style feel unusually high-profile.


    "Fellow adept, want to give it a try?"


    The middle-aged man seemed to have noticed Jared. His eyesnded on him, and he asked with a smile "You carry yourself differently from the rest, fellow adept. Your bloodline cant he weak. If the test shows a superionbloodline and you enter the Hallowmere Order, your future will be limitless."


    Jared only looked at him and said nothing.


    He hade here to find the Celestial Basilica and gather information. He had no intention of stirring up extra trouble.


    But if the Hallowmere Order held some influence in the Luminous Sanctuary, then maybe he could learn the location of the Celestial Basilica from them.


    And besides, he wanted to see what these so-called righteous cultivators were really like.


    "How does the test work?" Jared asked tly.


    The middle-aged man''s eyes lit up, and he quickly said, "Simple. You only need to ce your hand on the Bloodrite Stone and circte your spiritual energy The Bloodrite Stone ww.automatically sense the purity of your bloodline and show its grade. Inferior, medium, superior, exceptional, and Sacred Grade. Five grades in all."


    Jared nodded and walked toward the Bloodrite Stone.


    The crowd watching automatically parted to make a path, and every gaze fell onto Jared.


    Some were curious. Some were waiting for something. Some looked down on him. Jared stopped in front of the monument and raised a hand to press it against the surface.


    The Bloodrite Stone was entirely green, cold to the touch, and packed from top to bottom with dense carved runes.


    The instant his palm touched it, those runes red to life. A strange force rushed in through his hand and poured into his body, as if it were searching through him for something.


    Jared''s brow tightened slightly, and his body instinctively moved to resist that force.


    But then the thought turned. This was only a bloodline test, so he let that force continue its inspection.


    A momentter, the runes on the Bloodrite Stone suddenly burst with dazzling light!


    That radiance was first azure, then it turned purple, then purple became gold, and finally... it actually began to faintly show seven colors.