Xu Hei had been in the Le Kingdom for so many years, yet this was the first time he encountered such a situation.

Xu Hei immediately quickened his pace, bypassing one city and arriving at another, only to find it equally lifeless. It was as if the joy of the people had been stripped away.

He traversed through three cities in a row, all the same.

"Something strange is definitely going on; there might be a major event happening."

Xu Hei arrived at the once-familiar Yongle City, with its familiar streets and city towers, but everything had changed, and the people wore mournful expressions.

Xu Hei grabbed a passing young master and asked, "Why aren't you smiling?"

The young master looked up, giving him a look as if he were crazy, "Are you sick? Why should I smile?"

"Brother Wu, I think this guy is a lunatic!" someone beside him said.

"A lunatic? Beat him up!" The young master waved his hand, and his followers rushed forward, attacking Xu Hei without a second thought!

The young master trembled all over, staring at Xu Hei, as if recalling something, and exclaimed, "You are... the Green Bamboo Hermit?"

He remembered now, the person before him was none other than the Green Bamboo Hermit from ten years ago.

The young master was Wu Xiang, Old Wu's son.

"Stop immediately!" Wu Xiang hurriedly stopped everyone, saying, "So it's the Green Bamboo Hermit, sorry, I didn't recognize you at first."

Xu Hei got straight to the point and asked his question.

Wu Xiang's answer was as expected; he couldn't find any place of joy.

He seemed unable to feel any sense of happiness.

Everyone was like this; the entire Yongle City, even the whole Le Kingdom, had lost its sense of joy.

Xu Hei felt a strong sense of unease, as if something major was about to happen.

Suddenly, Xu Hei looked up, gazing into the distant depths of the Void.

There seemed to be a gaze watching, but it wasn't looking at him; it was directed at the capital of Le Kingdom, Extreme Joy City.

At that moment, the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth boiled, the Void rippled with terrifying waves, and a vast and boundless power of laws surged from the depths of the Void, rushing towards Extreme Joy City.

Not only did Xu Hei sense this change, but the entire Le Kingdom, even the Divine Continent Star, felt it.

"This is..."

Xu Hei's pupils contracted, thinking of an unbelievable possibility.

"Someone is about to undergo Divine Transformation!"

...

At the same time, at the headquarters of the Divine Puppet Sect.

Night Owl, the Sect Master, and numerous Ancestors all noticed the change in the laws of heaven and earth, looking towards the sky outside.

Everyone simultaneously had a thought.

"Divine Transformation?"

"Someone is actually undergoing Divine Transformation on the Divine Continent Star, who is it?"

Voices of surprise and doubt filled the Sect Master's hall, followed by several illusory figures appearing in the hall.

"Elder Night Owl, is it that Flood Dragon called Xu Hei?" one shadow asked.

Night Owl stared into the distance, shaking his head, "No!"

Everyone was astonished, and then someone angrily said:

"If it's not, then I will go and stop it!"

"Daring to break through to Divine Transformation on the Divine Continent Star is courting death!"

Immediately, two figures soared from the forbidden grounds of the Divine Puppet Sect's back mountain, two Ancestors at the Divine Transformation Stage.

They intended to stop anyone from achieving Divine Transformation on the Divine Continent Star!

"Wait!"

Suddenly, the wooden sparrow in the sect's main hall spoke, it was the Sect Master of the Divine Puppet Sect.

The Sect Master had always been the most mysterious existence, usually appearing as a sparrow puppet, known to outsiders as Daoist Sparrow.

"If it were in the past, I would have acted, but this person is not simple; she has attracted the attention of the Immortals and Gods, and cannot be rashly disturbed," Daoist Sparrow said solemnly.

"Immortals and Gods?" Everyone was stunned.

"Are we just going to let this person absorb the fortune of the Divine Continent Star?" one of the Ancestors said angrily.

Daoist Sparrow shook his head, "You have no idea what the Immortals and Gods are; this is her destiny, and it can only be so!"

The Divine Puppet Sect had a long history, and no one had ever seen the Immortals and Gods, with only a few having heard of them.

Only Daoist Sparrow knew what kind of existence they were.

Night Owl suddenly stood up, "I'll go!"

"You?" Daoist Sparrow's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Night Owl's figure flickered, leaving the sect's main hall, flying towards the other side of the Divine Continent Star at the fastest speed.

...

Xu Hei looked up at the top of the sky; the feeling of being watched had flashed by, but Xu Hei couldn't help but think of the gaze he saw on his way back to the Divine Continent Star.

That gaze had severely injured Xu Hei, almost causing him to die on the spot.

"What kind of existence is that?"

Xu Hei instinctively felt that the person undergoing Divine Transformation, who could attract such an existence's attention, was definitely not simple.

"Woo woo woo!!"

Suddenly, the sound of weeping came from beside him. Wu Xiang and his followers were all crying in grief, as if they had thought of something extremely sad, overwhelmed with sorrow.

"Why is it like this? What's the meaning of life?"

"I don't want to live anymore!"

In extreme pain, Wu Xiang slammed his head on the ground, blood flowing, dying on the spot.

The followers beside him also took out small knives and daggers, ending their own lives.

In an instant, the mortals of the entire Yongle City fell into extreme sorrow, choosing to end their lives.

Even Xu Hei himself felt a strange sensation.

He felt an emotion being extracted from him, that was happiness.

And a completely opposite sense of sorrow surged like a tide.

Xu Hei, having been tempered, was already calm and hard to sway by emotions. He closed his eyes, circulated his True Qi, and quickly calmed down.

"Extreme Joy Sect."

Xu Hei leapt up, took out his flying boat, and headed towards Extreme Joy City.

The closer he got, the stronger the feeling of his emotions being extracted became.

As he approached, he finally saw a figure.

It was a woman wearing a fox mask, dressed in light gauze, lying on the clouds, smiling at him.

"Oh my, isn't this my benefactor? Why have you come?"

Hearing the woman's sultry voice, Xu Hei remained expressionless, "Benefactor?"

"You contributed enough joy to help me undergo Divine Transformation, of course, you're my benefactor," the woman with the fox mask said.

Xu Hei could tell that the woman before him was just an illusory shadow, her true body was in a safe place, absorbing the joy of everyone in the Le Kingdom.

This was the way of the Extreme Joy Sect.

Absorbing others' happiness, using others' pain for one's own joy.

When joy reached its peak, one could take that step and achieve Divine Transformation.

"So, that old Taoist from the White Bone Sect, was that you?" Xu Hei asked.

"She's my good sister, she even sacrificed her life to deceive you, hahaha! She didn't hesitate to die, it's just too amusing, too interesting, hahaha!"

The joyful laughter echoed between heaven and earth.

But Xu Hei couldn't laugh at all, had he been played, used as a pawn?

The woman before him showed no remorse for her sister's death, laughing even harder.