Early on—several hundred years in the past—Lin Yuan had tasked his Yin Primordial Spirit with setting up the spread of the Martial Path. Of course, this was done in secret, and at most, the Yin Primordial Spirit gave it a little push.
Yet under the massive dominance of the Immortal Dao, the results of disseminating the Martial Evolution Path were not particularly impactful. After all, with the Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Way ahead of them, any living being with the opportunity would certainly choose the Immortal Dao first. As for the Martial Path?
With Lin Yuan still in hiding, and the Martial cultivation system lacking high-level powerhouses to safeguard it—even if its potential was unlimited—it was not the first choice for most.
“Relying on just a few centuries of buildup, spreading the Martial Path is still too slow,” Lin Yuan thought to himself.
His own invincibility was one thing; promoting his own cultivation system was another. Unless he could remain in the Immortal Realm permanently and keep an eye on its progress, as soon as he departed, the development of the Martial Path could be suppressed at any time.
In the Boundless Void, the Martial Path had spread so swiftly only because of tens of thousands of years of groundwork in the Azure World. But in the Immortal Realm—so vast it dwarfed the Boundless Void—Lin Yuan had arrived to find that they had never even heard of the Martial Path. Establishing it from zero would require not just effort, but a great deal of time for it to take root.
After all, not every practitioner of the Martial Path was another Lin Yuan. Even the most dazzling Martial genius would need multiple generations to climb to the pinnacle of the Martial Path.
“In truth, the Immortal Realm isn’t without the foundation for martial cultivation,” Lin Yuan suddenly realized. His gaze shifted toward a certain direction—beneath the Immortal Realm, among the 3,333 lower realms, the one that included the Spirit Realm.
At the end of his eighth transmigration, Lin Yuan had basically laid the groundwork for the Martial Path in the Spirit Realm, ensuring it took root. He had left many safety measures to guarantee its steady progress.
Its underlying strength in the Spirit Realm stemmed from the even lower-level world of the Immortal World, whose Daoist Immortal Sect had made an agreement with Lin Yuan to protect the Martial Path during its vulnerable beginnings.
From there, cultivators of the Martial Path in the Immortal World would ascend via Daoist Immortal Sect’s “Ascension Platform,” entering the Spirit Realm and thus joining Daoist Immortal Sect. By the time Lin Yuan descended in his eighth transmigration, the Martial practitioners had already formed a group known as the “Martial Temple.”
Taking time-speed ratios into account: from when Lin Yuan concluded his eighth transmigration to now, about a million years should have passed in the Spirit Realm, relative to the main universe’s flow.
“It looks like the Martial Path in the Spirit Realm has done quite well,” Lin Yuan remarked, his gaze piercing multiple layers of time and space to observe. Even without relying on seventh-level time-space comprehension, he could sense the flourishing of the Martial Path in the Spirit Realm.
Being the founder of the Martial Path, Lin Yuan could feel the “points of starlight” each time someone practiced it. Currently, more than half the Spirit Realm was dotted with such starlight—a sign that the Martial Path had grown into a truly colossal force there, even strong enough to keep the Immortal Dao system in check.
“Seems Li Qing and the others have performed admirably,” Lin Yuan mused. Before concluding that eighth transmigration, he had forcibly nurtured his disciple Li Qing to Martial Eighth Rank.
Yet that level was only comparable to the “Tribulation Stage,” and the Spirit Realm had many tribulation cultivators. Although Lin Yuan’s personal renown still lingered, with him gone for a long while, Li Qing and the rest would have to maintain things on their own.
“If I brought these Martial practitioners up from the Spirit Realm, it would surely make promoting the Martial Path in the Immortal Realm much easier,” Lin Yuan thought. Starting from nothing is the hardest step in any endeavor.
Over the past few centuries, with only secret efforts by his Yin Primordial Spirit, the Martial Path had only gained tens of thousands of adherents, and the strongest among them were at Martial Sixth Rank. But in the Spirit Realm, after a million years of growth, more than a thousand practitioners had reached Martial Eighth Rank, while those at Martial Seventh Rank and Martial Sixth Rank were legion.
“With my current time-space mastery, that shouldn’t be an issue.”
Lin Yuan observed carefully for a moment, then gave a faint nod. Technically, there was a way for people in the Spirit Realm to reach the Immortal Realm on their own: climbing all nine layers of the “Heavenly Steps” in the Spirit Realm, and if one were lucky, entering the Immortal Realm.
Yet because of Lin Yuan’s presence, the Spirit Realm’s top-tier lifeforms were extraordinarily powerful, and future generations, whether Immortal Dao cultivators or Martial practitioners, could get past the eighth layer but invariably found themselves crushed by Lin Yuan’s imprint guarding the ninth layer. Consequently, over the million years, no one in the Spirit Realm had actually ascended.
“It’s time,” Lin Yuan decided. A wisp of his consciousness drifted away from the Immortal Realm, plummeting downward until it melded into the Spirit Realm.
A Dao Ancestor-level being could roam beyond the Immortal Realm at will; the Immortal cultivation systems of the Spirit Realm and the Immortal World trace back to the Dao Ancestor. Although Lin Yuan was not a Dao Ancestor, his seventh-level time-space comprehension let him accomplish something quite similar—surpassing the Dao Ancestor in certain respects.
Spirit Realm, the Eighth Layer of Heaven—
Li Qing sat before the gateway leading to the Ninth Layer.
“Even after a million years, I’m still nowhere near Teacher’s level,” she whispered, gazing up at the gate to the Ninth Layer. Over that span, she had advanced to the pinnacle of Martial Eighth Rank; all the secret methods Lin Yuan had left behind were fully mastered. She thus stood at the apex of the Spirit Realm.
Not even those ancient tribulation cultivators from the previous epoch could match her. Yet she could more keenly sense the gap between herself and Teacher. She could pass the eighth stage, but confronting the imprint “Lin Yuan” had left on the Ninth resulted only in her utter defeat.
“I wonder how Teacher is faring in the Immortal Realm…” Li Qing murmured, her mind drifting to memories of him. She had been Lin Yuan’s disciple since his days in the Immortal World, and she still held a deep reverence for him.
“Huh?”
Just then, time-space rippled like waves. A majestic figure seemed to cross infinite dimensions, descending onto the Eighth Layer. A wave of instinctual awe surged within Li Qing; she stared, tears gathering in her eyes.
“Teacher…”
“I still meet with some resistance,” Lin Yuan muttered to himself. A mere wisp of his mind had come into the Spirit Realm, and he could already sense the realm’s fear and trembling.
Yet it was nothing more than fear. Even just this small portion of his spirit could level the Spirit Realm if he wished. Simply by wielding time-space mastery, he could unleash an unprecedented temporal storm that might send the realm prematurely into collapse.
So profound was Lin Yuan’s aura now that the Spirit Realm’s semi-sentient “will” could only quiver.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you recognize me?” Lin Yuan asked with a gentle smile, looking at Li Qing, whose body quaked at the sight of him.
“T-Teacher, you’re… really back?” Li Qing blurted, abruptly snapping out of her stupor. Moments earlier, she thought she might be dreaming. In all of the Spirit Realm’s recorded eras, once someone stepped into the Ninth Layer, no instance had been recorded of them returning to the world below. Yet here stood Lin Yuan, returning for real.
After a while, Li Qing was able to gather herself enough to accept that the imposing figure before her was indeed her Teacher.
“You’ve worked hard all these years,” Lin Yuan said, looking her over with approving eyes. The success of the Martial Path in the Spirit Realm undoubtedly owed much to her tireless dedication.
“Teacher, now that you’re back—” Li Qing started, excitement flooding her as she yearned to carry out his wishes once more.
“Nothing complicated,” Lin Yuan replied.
“I plan to bring you all up to the Immortal Realm.”
“Bring us… to the Immortal Realm?” Li Qing’s eyes went wide. From ancient times to the present, no one had ever spoken of “carrying” others into the Immortal Realm. By all accounts, you had to climb the Ninth Layer. But here was Lin Yuan saying he would bring them up—plural.
“All of us?”
“Get ready,” Lin Yuan said.
“Everyone in this realm at Martial Sixth Rank or above may come to the Immortal Realm.”
After all, the Immortal Realm’s environment was vastly superior, and once there, the upper limits of these practitioners’ cultivation would become higher.
“All Martial Sixth Rank?!” Li Qing was startled. Martial cultivation in the Spirit Realm was flourishing, and there were countless who had reached the sixth rank. Bringing them all?
…
Deep in the Abyss of Demons—
Though the Abyss of Demons Progenitor had ordered all fiends to withdraw, he hadn’t ceased watching the Immortal Realm. Owing to Lin Yuan’s presence, the Progenitor’s consciousness had nearly awakened in full. He kept constant watch, especially over every development in the Xuantian Immortal Domain.
“What’s this?” the Progenitor muttered.
“A wave of time-space activity? That being has opened a time-space pathway linking the Immortal Realm to a lower realm?”
He was highly sensitive to shifts in time-space. The more he watched, the more startled he became.
“Such a stable time-space passage…”
Even for a Dao Ancestor, it might be feasible to roam outside the Immortal Realm or forcibly gather lower-realm beings to the Immortal Realm, but creating such a stable passage—fully piercing from a lower realm to the Immortal Realm—would mean going head-to-head with the Immortal Realm’s innate “restorative” forces, requiring absurdly high mastery of time-space.
“Which lower realm is he connecting to?” he wondered, summoning wisps of devilish power to investigate. Suddenly, the Progenitor’s expression shifted. Not far off, time-space energy condensed into the figure of a young man. That youth’s avatar easily bypassed the many barriers of the Abyss of Demons, appearing with a smile and saying:
“You must be the Abyss of Demons Progenitor?”
“And who might you be?” The Progenitor grew tense, understanding that this was the very person he’d been trying to observe—the one who had killed his Fiend Emperors.
The young man smiled.
“I am the Martial Ancestor.”
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
69