At the same time, the Ascension Record appeared at his side without being summoned, opening on its own. Under the gentle golden light, several unfamiliar lines of text slowly and unmistakably emerged on the pages.

　　[Detected inheritor Lucas Warren, initiating inheritance program.]

　　[Spirit █ Mountain ███ error... Inheritance program unexpectedly interrupted, initiating backup program.]

　　[Mountain Lord inheritance complete, confirming transfer of Mountain Lord authority.]

　　[Confirming Lucas Warren as the 84th Mountain Lord of Spirit Mountain.]

　　At the same time, the doors of the Enlightenment Hall finally swung wide open, emitting a deep, muffled sound, as if a heavy drum had struck within Lucas Warren's sea of consciousness.

　　Even though his understanding had been tempered by all sorts of stories from his senior sister Olivia Warren, Lucas Warren still felt that his cognitive abilities were somewhat insufficient at this moment.

　　He was just supposed to go into seclusion in the Spirit-Fixing Hall to condense his core—how did the world become completely unfamiliar in the blink of an eye? His senior sister, master, and the others had all gone missing, the mountain was shrouded in poisonous mists, and then, inexplicably, he had become the Mountain Lord of Spirit Mountain?

　　Lucas Warren did not doubt the authenticity of the Ascension Record, because the origin of this unique Spirit Mountain artifact was tied to the immortal ancestor Chicheng himself. To deceive or alter the Ascension Record, one would have to bribe Chicheng in person. In all the millennia of the Immortal Calendar, not even the Mountain Lords of past generations could fabricate anything in the Ascension Record.

　　Moreover, as a Spirit Mountain disciple—especially as the personal disciple of the Mountain Lord—Lucas Warren was particularly sensitive to the position of Mountain Lord.

　　James Sutton had been grooming him as the successor... Although, in theory, among the next generation of Spirit Mountain disciples, Olivia Warren was the most outstanding, James Sutton had once made it clear in no uncertain terms: even if the next Mountain Lord had to be passed to a dog, it would never go to Olivia Warren!

　　At the time, it was right when Olivia Warren's secret workshop had been raided, and a large number of James Sutton's fan works had been exposed to the world—an awkward situation indeed. So even if James Sutton's words were spoken in anger, they were still quite credible.

　　In short, when the writing appeared in the Ascension Record, Lucas Warren became acutely aware that his identity was no longer that of an ordinary Spirit Mountain disciple.

　　He had truly become the Mountain Lord of Spirit Mountain.

　　But this was just too abnormal. Even if James Sutton had indeed been grooming him as the successor, the training period was supposed to last a century, and now not even a fifth of that time had passed. There were still elders like acting Mountain Lord William Sutton on the mountain—how had it suddenly become his turn to take the position?

　　To put it bluntly, judging by Lucas Warren's succession ranking at the time he entered seclusion, unless there was nothing left on Spirit Mountain but a dog, there was no way he would have inherited the position.

　　Fortunately, the answers to all these questions were right before his eyes. The Enlightenment Hall was open; all he had to do was enter and investigate.

　　Lucas Warren stepped into the hall, only to find that the scene inside was vastly different from his memory.

　　First, the space was much more cramped and oppressive. Second, the Enlightenment Hall, which should have been filled with a dazzling array of immortal artifacts and the jade map for arranging the mountain-protecting formation, now... in short, there was nothing left. It was as if Olivia Warren had cleaned the place out—only bare walls remained.

　　It was at this moment that Lucas Warren suddenly remembered a question.

　　The Ascension Record stated that he was the 84th Mountain Lord, but James Sutton was the 82nd—so who was the one in between?

　　Had Spirit Mountain really undergone a transfer of power during the short time he was in seclusion?

　　With this thought, Lucas Warren opened the Ascension Record again.

　　"Roster."

　　Now that the Enlightenment Hall was an empty shell, the only clue was this inexplicably inserted 83rd Mountain Lord... Although, judging by the familiar writing style, he already had a guess as to who it was, but by checking the roster, the culprit would be obvious at a glance.

　　However, in the next moment, as the pages of the Ascension Record turned to the roster section, a burst of golden light suddenly flared, catching him completely off guard.

　　It was a page filled with golden names.

　　And gold, on the roster, meant "this person has ascended"—the highest honor for any mortal cultivator.

　　In the more than ten thousand years since Spirit Mountain's founding, there had been 2,023 official cultivators recorded in the roster, with about ten percent of the names in gold—meaning over 300 people had successfully ascended. Against the backdrop of a general ascension rate of only a few in ten thousand, this was already like a dream. In truth, many Spirit Mountain disciples could have ascended but simply chose not to; otherwise, the rate would have been even higher...

　　Especially as the immortal path flourished over the millennia, the ascension rate across the entire Nine Provinces continent had steadily risen. When the immortal ancestor Chicheng pioneered the land, there might have been only one or two ascendants every few centuries, leaving Chicheng himself almost alone in the Immortal Realm... But by Lucas Warren's era, Spirit Mountain's ascension rate had reached nearly thirty percent. Whether someone could ascend could be predicted with eighty or ninety percent accuracy as early as the Golden Core stage, if not sooner.

　　For example, Mountain Lords James Sutton and William Sutton were guaranteed to ascend—it was just a matter of time. Third Uncle-Master Robert Carter had no chance of ascension, and he had long since given up hope. Fourth Uncle-Master Henry Benson had the strength but not the will, so he too was considered unable to ascend.

　　Among the current generation of Spirit Mountain disciples, Olivia Warren was a guaranteed ascendant, even with her eyes closed. Second Senior Brother Lily Foster was less talented, but still had a fighting chance—it was just a matter of cost and choices... Fourth Senior Sister and Fifth Senior Brother had long since agreed to reincarnate in the mortal world, with no intention of ascending.

　　Yet at this moment, on the last page of the roster reflected in Lucas Warren's eyes, the entries for James Sutton and the others were all gleaming gold, with hardly any other color!