Chapter 401: 400: Changes in the Immortal Realm
The standing of the deity of the Immortal Realm within the Immortal World needs no further explanation. He was one of the top brass in the Immortal Realm and had successfully completed the Three Corpses Beheading Method, achieving boundless Dao.
Despite this, the cruel truth struck Jiang Li that the deity of the Immortal Realm, known as the foundation of all Dao, had died.
He picked up the stele and softly recited the contents inscribed on it, the sound resonated above the dead body of the deity:
“Survivors of the Immortal Realm: If you can read this stele, it means you’ve defeated Ah Qing, my mount.”
“There has been great chaos in the Immortal Realm. The Heavenly Dao has developed spirituality and wants to annihilate all beings in the Ten Thousand Realms. I tried to stop it, but I suffered a catastrophic defeat.”
“The thoughtless Heavenly Dao developed its own thoughts, reversing the cultivation methods. Those below the Immortals in the Immortal Realm all went mad and died. The Earth Immortals couldn’t fully comprehend the Heavenly Dao, couldn’t completely meld with it, yet they were no longer mortal. Caught between humans and immortals, their minds got jumbled, they devoured each other, turning into incomprehensible monsters. Only the Heavenly Immortals, attuned to the Heavenly Dao, managed to escape hardship, but also fell under the command of the Heavenly Dao.”
“Left with no choices, I led your ancestors to escape to this world. Those on the same Dao as us had become enemies, and they pursued us relentlessly. I fought back, but they were too powerful. I was grievously injured, defeated, and managed to escape here.”
“I transformed myself into a continent to provide a refuge for you. They wouldn’t dare kill you directly then, but they might corrupt my Ah Qing, to which I could no longer resist, I’m sorry.”
“During the escape, I shattered all the ladders leading to immortality, severing the connection between the Immortal Realm and the Ten Thousand Realms. Perhaps because I was in a hurry, some fragments of the ladder might have been left behind.”
“Do not gather the fragments of the ladder leading to immortality and venture into the Immortal Realm. There are no immortals in the Immortal Realm, if you come across an Immortal, flee. Remember! Remember! Remember!”
With every verse Jiang Li recited, his heart trembled.
As he repeated the text on the stele, his gaze eventually rested on one line: “The Heavenly Dao has developed spirituality and wants to annihilate all beings in the Ten Thousand Realms.”
He had thought of many possibilities, but had never expected the truth to be this.
“Ah, when something receives sufficient spiritual energy and essence of the sun and moon or other materials that have spirituality, it can acquire spirituality, and thus develop a new soul.”
“An Immortal Artifact can generate a new soul, the Mysterious Secret Realm’s elder Dream Pure can generate a new soul, Red Dust Immortal’s body can create a new soul… The Heavenly Dao would naturally have this potential…”
From the scriptures of the Merpeople’s ancestors, Jiang Li learned that the ancestor of the Dao Sect may be one of the three corpses of the ancestor of the Immortal Realm, which puzzled him. If the ancestor of the Dao Sect is one of the three corpses crucial for the ancestor of the Immortal Realm’s confirmation of the Dao, then how could he have perished due to the internal struggle of the Immortal Realm? This would be an act of hindering the ancestor of the Immortal Realm’s confirmation of the Dao, and the ancestor of the Immortal Realm would surely protect his three corpses.”
From then on, Jiang Li began to suspect that there was a problem with the Immortal Realm, suspecting that the struggle in the Immortal Realm was intense, and the ancestor of the Immortal Realm was unable to take care of other things.”
But he never thought that there was indeed a problem with the Immortal Realm, it’s just that this problem far exceeded his expectations.
It was not the ancestor of the Dao Sect who died, but the ancestor of the Immortal Realm!
“So that’s how it is, that’s how it is.”
Jiang Li almost didn’t dare to believe this answer. The revelations and sights of today were too shocking, overturning all his suspicions.”
Jiang Li respectfully bowed to the corpse of the Immortal Dao Sect in honor of this pioneer cultivator.
Upon learning that the ladder to immortality was destroyed, the elites at the Transcendence Tribulation Stage flocked to the Dao Sect, asking Elder Chang Cun for guidance.
Elder Chang Cun, as the only remaining immortal in the land of Jiuzhou, far exceeding others in both experience and cultivation.
Elder Chang Cun waved his hand, remaining silent. His face was weathered, aging rapidly, and he no longer had the leisure to smile and play.
“Let me think about it first.”
With this dull reply, Elder Chang Cun returned to his cave dwelling with a heavy heart and faltering steps.”
As soon as he returned to his cave, Elder Chang Cun laid out a grand array, isolating any chance of outside observation.
Like a puppet that had lost its power, Chang Cun was devoid of strength and collapsed on the ground. Facing the direction of the Dao Sect, he cried a heart-wrenching cry.”
“Master… Master… Master…”
The cultivation of an Earth Immortal seemed utterly useless at this moment.
“Master, has the Heavenly Dao truly developed in the worst possible way?”
Elder Chang Cun slowly picked up a wooden box. Inside it was a rare ancient tome he had obtained from the Immortal Realm.
He still remembered a few years ago when he went to see his master, who told him that he would soon become one with the ancestor of the Immortal Realm and become the strongest entity in the Immortal Realm. When that time came, his master planned to open a session preaching his cultivation insights.
Elder Chang Cun prepared the ancient tome as a gift for his master.”
A few months ago, he went back to the Immortal Realm to see his master again. By then, his master had already achieved Three Corpses into One, inheriting the cultivation, insights, and memories of the three corpses.”
One could say his master was both the ancestor of the Dao Sect and the ancestor of the Immortal Realm.”
Traces, and even sources, of thousands of cultivation methods could be found in his master. The “Dao” which immortals could not understand in their entire lives revolved around his master, appearing and disappearing. Every movement of his master seemed to be determined by the Dao, and his actions were natural.
His master seemed to be standing at the end of the immortal Dao, with a perfect cultivation.”
Elder Chang Cun was happy for his master, asked when to open the session of preaching, but his master’s expression was grave, his words ambiguous, only mentioning that the Heavenly Dao seemed to have changed and could possibly develop spirituality.”
As the ancestor of the Dao Sect, who could craft the top-ranked Immortal Artifact, the Yin Yang Heaven Seal, at the Transcendence Tribulation Stage, he was the most familiar and sensitive to how spirituality could develop.”
Ordinarily speaking, the Heavenly Dao developing spirituality was supposed to be a fortunate event. The Heavenly Dao was formed by the gather of beliefs of beings and such Heavenly Dao would only protect all beings.”
But his master still felt something was amiss. No matter how much he calculated, he could not determine whether this was good or bad.”
His master said, before it was known whether it was good or bad for the Heavenly Dao to develop spirituality, they should not hold the sermon or reveal the fact that his three corpses have combined.”
Chang Cun received the order anxiously returned to Jiuzhou to wait for the result.”
Today, the result was finally revealed, and it was the worst possible outcome his master had been worried about.”
With one glance, Chang Cun could tell that the giant hand belonged to his master.”
Having spent tens of thousands of years together, Chang Cun had never seen his master injured. In Jiuzhou, the ancestor of the Dao Sect equated to being unparalleled, creating top-ranked Immortal Artifacts with just the cultivation at the Transcendence Tribulation Stage. In the Immortal Realm, regardless of whether it was the ancestor of the Dao Sect or the ancestor of the Immortal Realm, he was impervious to all methods.”
Not to mention getting injured, not even his robes had ever been made dirty.”
Now that his master had suffered such serious injuries, it could only mean that his master had failed. He was defeated by either the Heavenly Dao, or more likely, by several powerful beings at a level with his master in the Immortal Realm, defeated thoroughly, with no hope of turning the tide.”
Elder Chang Cun speculated that his master broke the ladder to immortality to prevent the Immortal Realm from locating the positions of the Ten Thousand Realms, disconnecting the direct connection with the Heavenly Dao.”
This method could only delay the invasion from the Immortal Realm, it couldn’t solve the problem thoroughly.”
“Elder brothers, elder sisters….”
If his master ended up like this, it was even less likely that his elder fellow apprentices would survived.”
Elder Chang Cun thought about every moment he had spent with his master and fellow apprentices, grief welled up in him.