Crackling sounds filled the air.
Wu Xiangyan hadn’t managed to flee far before the surrounding space-time twisted and compressed, finally condensing into Lin Yuan’s palm.
“You?”
“You’re not Gao Wuyou?!”
“Who are you?!”
Wu Xiangyan’s face was filled with terror. He had once glimpsed a Jade Immortal’s celestial chariot crossing the sky from afar, and the oppressive mastery over the rules he had sensed at the time had remained etched in his memory.
But the disparity between that celestial chariot and the level of rule mastery Gao Wuyou now displayed was like comparing dust to the heavens. They weren’t even on the same plane of existence.
“Who am I?” Lin Yuan smiled faintly.
“You don’t need to know.”
With a thought, Lin Yuan completely erased Wu Xiangyan’s body and soul, leaving only fragments of his mind that carried memories.
New to the Immortal Realm, Lin Yuan naturally wanted to understand its dynamics. In addition to Gao Wuyou’s original memories, Wu Xiangyan’s memories would provide valuable insights.
“Hmm?”
“Not dead?”
After obliterating Wu Xiangyan, Lin Yuan sensed a faint karmic connection to a distant location where traces of Wu Xiangyan’s essence remained.
Deep underground, in a dark and secluded space.
As Lin Yuan erased Wu Xiangyan, a black pool rippled violently. From its depths, Wu Xiangyan’s fragmented will awakened.
“I died?”
His newly revived mind was momentarily stunned before scenes from his final moments flashed through his memory.
The black pool was a Life Pond—a creation Wu Xiangyan had painstakingly refined at great cost. If his true body perished, the fragments of his mind within the Life Pond would quickly mature to completeness.
In other words, he had “resurrected.”
“What terrifying power. What’s going on with Gao Wuyou? How can he have such mastery over the rules?”
Now revived, Wu Xiangyan was still trembling with fear.
“This is impossible. If Gao Wuyou possessed such strength, how was I able to injure him so gravely before?”
Wu Xiangyan couldn’t comprehend it.
“Thankfully, I spent nearly all my resources to refine this Life Pond. Otherwise, I’d have truly perished just now.”
Calming himself, Wu Xiangyan felt a lingering sense of relief.
For a cultivator at the Tribulation stage, crafting a Life Pond was no trivial matter.
Only someone like Wu Xiangyan, who secretly plundered weaker cultivators, could have scraped together the resources needed for such an endeavor.
“Gao Wuyou must harbor an incredible secret. If I can reveal it to the Golden Immortals or Jade Immortals, I should be able to earn a reward.”
Although Wu Xiangyan had “revived,” he was effectively starting over and urgently needed resources to recover.
Gao Wuyou’s secret was the key to his resurgence.
Even if the Golden Immortals weren’t interested in Gao Wuyou himself, the opportunity tied to the Jade Immortal would undoubtedly attract attention.
Wu Xiangyan now had no illusions about reclaiming the Jade Immortal opportunity.
In fact, he didn’t dare face Gao Wuyou again. The sheer mastery over space-time and countless rules that Gao Wuyou had displayed left him trembling with dread.
It was too horrifying.
While he wouldn’t confront Gao Wuyou directly, he could still sell information about Gao Wuyou and the Jade Immortal opportunity.
Just as Wu Xiangyan planned to rest briefly before leaving his underground sanctuary, an invisible attack traveled along the threads of karmic rules, spanning countless miles, and descended upon him.
“No!!!”
Before Wu Xiangyan’s will could react, the black Life Pond shattered into dust, obliterating the fragments of his mind within it.
“That’s settled.”
Lin Yuan withdrew his right hand. Upon discovering Wu Xiangyan’s survival, he had casually executed a karmic curse.
Lin Yuan’s true cultivation level was at the peak of the eleventh rank, while Wu Xiangyan was merely at the eighth rank. Killing someone of Wu Xiangyan’s level required no effort and incurred no cost for Lin Yuan.
“Now to find a place to recover from these injuries.”
Lin Yuan surveyed his surroundings before silently vanishing.
Although the demonic marrow poison had been neutralized, his severely injured body still needed time to heal.
Deep within a mountain range.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged inside a cave.
“The environment of the Immortal Realm far surpasses that of the Spirit Realm.”
For the first time, Lin Yuan had a moment to sense the Immortal Realm’s energy.
Even in such a remote mountain range, the pervasive density of Immortal Qi was astonishing.
In this environment, the chances of reaching the Tribulation stage were vastly higher compared to the Spirit Realm.
“The Ancestor of the Immortal Dao.”
Lin Yuan looked up at the sky. At his level, he could faintly perceive a colossal existence, like a blazing sun, gazing down upon all living beings.
The countless cultivators of the Immortal Dao all traced their origins back to this mighty entity.
“Truly an ultimate being.”
Lin Yuan nodded slightly.
He was now certain that the Ancestor of the Immortal Dao, who propagated the Immortal cultivation system, was indeed an ultimate existence.
“However...”
Lin Yuan frowned slightly.
Beyond the celestial radiance of the Ancestor of the Immortal Dao, he also sensed another unfathomable being deep within the earth. Its aura was the antithesis of the Immortal Ancestor’s, brimming with madness and destruction.
“Another strongest one?”
“The ultimate being of the Abyss of Demons?”
Lin Yuan, familiar with Gao Wuyou’s memories, was aware of the Abyss of Demons.
It was a place where all evil and madness converged, spawning endless demonic creatures that were perpetually suppressed by the immortals of the thirty-three Immortal Domains.
“The Ancestor of the Immortal Dao and the Ancestor of the Abyss of Demons?”
“Interesting.”
Lin Yuan stroked his chin, surmising that this was a conflict between two ultimate beings. For now, it seemed the Immortal Ancestor held the upper hand.
At least within the Immortal Realm, the immortals generally dominated the demonic creatures.
Moreover, the Immortal Dao cultivation system was prevalent not only in the Spirit Realm but also in the Immortal World. The Demonic Dao system existed but wasn’t dominant.
This disparity subtly reflected the outcome of the conflict between the two ultimate beings.
Moving on.
Lin Yuan retrieved the fragment of Wu Xiangyan’s memory and began reviewing it.
Compared to Gao Wuyou’s memories, Wu Xiangyan’s were far more chaotic, filled with scenes of cultivation and plundering weaker cultivators.
In essence, Wu Xiangyan was someone who would stop at nothing to advance his cultivation.
Such individuals were not uncommon in the Immortal Realm. Betrayals for opportunities were a frequent occurrence.
“He did accumulate quite a bit of cultivation resources.”
Lin Yuan organized Wu Xiangyan’s spoils. While these resources were a fortune for a Tribulation cultivator, Lin Yuan found them unimpressive.
“Let’s examine this Jade Immortal opportunity.”
With a thought, Lin Yuan retrieved a translucent white jade stone.
A mysterious aura lingered around the jade stone, an aura surpassing that of Golden Immortals. This was Wu Xiangyan’s basis for identifying it as a Jade Immortal opportunity.
Other opportunities wouldn’t carry such an aura.
“A Jade Immortal?”
Lin Yuan’s interest was piqued. Jade Immortals corresponded to eleventh-rank beings in the main universe. For Lin Yuan in his prime, such opportunities were trivial.
However, now that he was effectively starting over, they held significant value.
With that thought, Lin Yuan directed a sliver of his consciousness to refine the jade stone.
The stone appeared to be a spatial artifact containing a vast internal space.
Before long.
Lin Yuan had fully refined the jade stone.
“These...”
When Lin Yuan’s consciousness entered the jade stone, he found a vast world filled with countless resources neatly arranged in piles.
“Cloud Crane Grass, Nether Water Lotus, Ten Thousand Soul Fruits, Twin-Life Trees...”
Many of these resources were legendary in Gao Wuyou’s and Wu Xiangyan’s memories, and some were things they had only heard of. Yet here they were, piled like small mountains.
And these were just the ones they recognized. Most of the resources were unfamiliar, but based on their energy and rule fluctuations, Lin Yuan could discern their immense value.
“This is a Jade Immortal opportunity? More like a Jade Immortal’s entire fortune.”
Lin Yuan shook his head slightly. The resources within the jade stone far exceeded what one would expect from an “opportunity.” Even the total wealth of many Jade Immortals might not compare.
The resources were meticulously arranged from lowest to highest quality, as if deliberately prepared for a successor.
“Am I really this lucky? My consciousness awakens, and I immediately gain such a boon?”
Lin Yuan mused to himself. While these resources wouldn’t restore him to his peak, they should suffice to bring him back to the tenth rank’s peak.
“Hmm?”
“There are also many Immortal Dao technique inheritances?”
Lin Yuan turned his attention to a corner of the jade stone’s internal world, where numerous jade slips were neatly arranged, evidently containing various techniques and inheritances.
He directed his consciousness to examine them one by one.
The complete Immortal Dao cultivation system could provide valuable insights for Lin Yuan’s efforts to develop an eleventh-rank martial evolution path.
“Golden Immortal? Jade Immortal?”
“Golden’s indestructibility, Jade’s immortality—a body as solid as gold, a soul as eternal as jade, unyielding in form and spirit.”
Lin Yuan quickly absorbed the techniques recorded within the jade slips. These Immortal Dao inheritances differed entirely from the eleventh-rank evolution paths in the main universe, offering a fresh perspective on the essence of cultivation and evolution.
As Lin Yuan continued to browse the jade slips, one particular slip, radiating a faint purple hue, caught his attention.
Before long.
Lin Yuan’s consciousness entered the purple jade slip.
Buzz!!!
A vast will awakened within the jade slip and rapidly extended through Lin Yuan’s consciousness, attempting to invade his soul.
“Hahaha! I’ve waited millions of years, and finally, someone has come,” the will exclaimed in excitement, eagerly pushing through Lin Yuan’s defenses to reach his soul.
“Fear not, little one. It is an honor for this grand ancestor, an unparalleled Jade Immortal, to possess your body. With me in control, your flesh shall command the thirty-three Immortal Domains.”
The will, emanating from the purple jade slip, rushed into Lin Yuan’s soul, attempting to seize control of his mind and body for its revival.
“With this ancestor at the helm, your body shall become invincible in all the Immortal Domains.”
However, as the invading will entered Lin Yuan’s soul, it suddenly stopped, its vast presence ceasing entirely.
Before it lay a towering figure seated cross-legged, radiating an aura that seemed to fill the heavens. This figure was supreme, vast, and all-encompassing.
Compared to this majestic presence, the Jade Immortal’s will, newly awakened from the purple jade slip, was as insignificant as a speck of dust.
“This...”
The Jade Immortal’s will fell into stunned silence.
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
75