Aspiring To The Immortal Path

The Divine Will projection in the sky grew more and more defined, and as it did, a majestic power began to radiate outward, affecting everyone.

It was like the descent of a god, making everyone tremble and want to prostrate in worship.

And then, countless auspicious clouds appeared, transforming into golden dragons and disappearing into the projection. These were followed by various phantom mountains, which left everyone shocked and confused.

Only a few cultivators understood what was going on.

On Sunwatch Peak, Yan Changfeng sighed at this sight. "Floating clouds transforming into dragons, a mind set on the world. The Celestial Sovereign truly has lofty ambitions."

"Master, what secrets lie behind these floating clouds turning into dragons and mountains entering the projection?" Wei Tianchong asked.

After several hundred years of cultivation, Wei Tianchong had finally reached Soul Transformation. But while he was in the same tier as Yan Changfeng, he continued to act as his disciple, showing all due respect. After all, whether in terms of cultivation or strength, there was still a vast difference between Wei Tianchong and Yan Changfeng.

Yan Changfeng chuckled at Wei Tianchong's question. "Having a will connected to the world really means to implant one's own heart in the heart of the heavens, making the world one's body and making the heavens act according to one's whims. You understand this, correct?"

Wei Tianchong nodded. "This disciple understands. Starting from Celestial Heart, cultivators emphasize merging the mind with the world, making the world one's hands and feet so that all things will go as one desires. Thought casting is simply another stage of this."

Yan Changfeng replied, "Correct! Starting from Celestial Heart, everything is actually done with this goal in mind. Condensing the Celestial Heart is really a seed of our will planted into the will of the heavens. At Heart Demon, this seed buds, the will gaining a form, and at Soul Transformation, it is like a sapling, the will further evolving to the border of reality and illusion. At Infant Tending is the flowering, the will taking on physical form. It is only then that the cultivator's mind is connected to the world and able to cast with a thought. But the flowering is not the end of cultivation. The fruit is! Deification is the fruit of this mind-world connection. It is also why it was known for eons in the Great Stellar Chiliocosm as the first summit of cultivation and called Deification."

"What is the difference between the flower and fruit?" Wei Tianchong asked.

Meanwhile, the clouds around that projection of Tang Jie in the distance had grown turbulent, flashing with lightning and rumbling with thunder.

Yan Changfeng seemed enchanted, replying in a casual tone, "The Infant Tending cultivator can merge their will with the world, using the world as their body to cast arts with a thought, but the world is vast and not something a human can easily control. Thus, their soul entering the world is like a child trying to wield an axe, clumsy and slow."

In other words, while an Infant Tending cultivator could thought cast, the power of the world was so vast that they found it hard to control. This could be seen from how Lin Xin's soul was unable to control the Azure Dragon's body. A weak soul entering a powerful body would find it difficult to handle.

This was why Infant Tending cultivators were still limited in speed when thought casting. To use past battles as an example, the likes of Silver Eyes and Thunder Blade had been at the early phase of Infant Tending, so while they could thought cast, they could only cast about one art per second, and some powerful Divine Connections needed the assistance of hand signs. Meanwhile, when Xiao Biehan had tested Tang Jie, with one thrust of a finger, he had used almost twenty different spell arts, and he wasn't even using his full strength!

The greatest function of Deification was to strengthen the soul, enhancing one's control.

And to reach this stage, one had to further substantialize the soul.

While the soul had a human form, its insides were still chaos. Deification's purpose was to unlock the five senses and open the meridians, endowing it with human form both externally and internally, making the Divine Connection even stronger.

This was the transformation the cultivator sought.

From seed to bud to tree to flower, and finally, to fruit.

When one completed this step, one could be said to have reached the first summit.

When those clouds had turned into dragons, this was actually a sign that the Primal Infant had formed its meridians.

Each golden dragon had a corresponding place inside its body, the little Primal Infant creating meridians and veins for itself.

A dragon for a vein, a mountain for an energy point!

Every step of Deification was difficult, so for Tang Jie to start off with so many at once made him more bold and dashing than the vast majority of his predecessors, and it was this daring that had earned him a sigh of praise from Yan Changfeng.

He didn't know that this was because Yun Tianlan was secretly protecting Tang Jie, and Tang Jie also had the boon of the Nine Heavens Luan Grass. If he weren't so bold, then he would be wasting all his advantages.

The projection had started out unreal, but the addition of those dragons and mountains made it more and more real.

What once had been only a human-shaped puppet now seemed more and more like a real living being.

Only at this moment could a Primal Infant be called a Primal Divinity!

When the Primal Divinity was attained, the mind had no bounds!

At this moment, a howling storm had built up in the heavens.

Large rocks were swept into the air, and giant trees swayed.

The light seemed to go out of the world, and Tang Jie seemed to be the sole inhabitant.

Everyone knew that this was a critical moment in Tang Jie's ascension, and they waited with bated breath.

The features of the projection grew more distinct, and countless blood vessels began to form under the skin, wriggling like earthworms across its body, and as they expanded, the Primal Infant's aura grew more and more powerful.

Suddenly, the heavens rumbled with thunder.

The dense mass of dark clouds suddenly coalesced.

These clouds clearly weren't created by Tang Jie's own power, for they had stopped right over his head and were flashing with lightning.

"Heavenly Tribulation!" someone gasped.

When a Violet Palace cultivator merged their soul with the heavens to take control of the world, they naturally had to deal with the resistance of the world's will.

This will was the Great Dao, Karma and Fate, the punishment levied by the heavens on the temerity of the humans who dared to usurp the heavens, an expression of its wrath!

This was why people called it the Heavenly Tribulation.

But others called it the Heavenly Wrath, or the Heavenly Punishment.

The fury of the heavens, the punishment of lightning!

This was the most dangerous part of the ascension to Deification.

This was why Yun Tianlan helping Tang Jie pass the tribulation would cause him to lose the blessing of fortune and stall for fifty years.

It was one thing for the person ascending to fight back against the heavens, but another for a bystander to intervene, as it would earn them the resentment of the Heavenly Dao, the abandonment of fortune. It was like the anger or displeasure one felt for a particular person. While it might not last for a lifetime, for a certain time period, they would not favor them. The old dragon had calculated that this period would be about fifty years.

Swords of lightning began to coalesce in the air.

Tang Jie looked up at them and smiled.

With that single smile, the dazzling lightning abruptly dimmed.

This was because Tang Jie had entered the Dao of Fate. The influence of Fate meant that even the punishment of the heavens was lightened somewhat.

Alas, Tang Jie couldn't make the Heavenly Punishment disappear, only weaken it.

Even so, this was still very hard for many people to do.

A moment later, countless swords of lightning shot down.

Tang Jie, who had always used Heavenly Blades on others, finally got a chance to experience it himself, the swords of lightning shining with a lethal light as they stabbed at him.

But Tang Jie was fearless, and as the swords came down, he simply called out.

With one shout, the lightning swords began to shatter.

"Stop!" Tang Jie used a single Four-Nine True Word to easily resolve the first assault of the Heavenly Tribulation.

While the first wave of lightning swords had been shattered, more and more clouds were gathering.

This time, these were fire clouds, preparing to unleash a raging inferno.

The flames coiled together and transformed into a mighty flame dragon.

Tang Jie opened his mouth, and the Pale Cloud Flame bird flew out, greeting this flame. Not only did it block the flame dragon, Tang Jie thought that this wasn't enough and used the Contraflame Mantra to take this flame for himself.

The fire assault passed with no effect, and the heavens responded by forming a mighty river that threatened to engulf Tang Jie and sweep him away.

Tang Jie didn't panic, and the firebird took flight again, transforming into a sea of fire that evaporated the river into steam.

Tang Jie used this opportunity to absorb the essence of this third wave of Heavenly Tribulations.

The Heavenly Tribulations were a trial, but they were also an opportunity.

Any cultivator could use it to comprehend the world and strengthen the self.

This power was also the last thing they needed to complete their ascension.

This was why, although Yun Tianlan had promised to protect him until he succeeded, he would only protect his Primal Infant from annihilation, not help Tang Jie endure the tribulations himself. Tang Jie wanted a perfect ascension, so he needed to have the power of the Heavenly Tribulations temper his body and refine his Divine Soul. Only then did he have a chance of attaining the supreme Great Dao in the future.

The power of the Great Dao was right before him. Within the Heavenly Tribulations were Karma and Fate, Slaughter and Destruction, Yin Yang and Five Elements. If Tang Jie didn't use this chance to make himself stronger, then he wouldn't be Tang Jie.

This was why Tang Jie courageously took it all on, excitedly rather than fearfully.

That raging river seemed never-ending, and while under Yun Tianlan's protection, Tang Jie decided to analyze this river.

Back in the Verdant Cloud Domain, he had absorbed the essences of the Five Elements and had managed to immerse himself deeply in the Dao of Five Elements. But as these were not comprehensions he had come to on his own, he often knew what something was but not why it was. With the Water Tribulation descending, Tang Jie focused and circulated the Dao of Wisdom, analyzing the structure of the tribulation, and his Primal Divinity began to incorporate the insights he gained into the Dao of Water. Besides that, it also began to incorporate the Lightning Tribulation and Fire Tribulation.

Once the river had subsided, the heavens shifted again, and this time, a giant mountain descended.

Tang Jie saw this and laughed.

This Earth Tribulation was no threat at all to him.

His body suddenly grew to the size of a giant, joining together with his projection. Raising his arms, he held up that mountain.

As if holding up the mountain was no big deal, Tang Jie began to analyze the Earth Element power contained within.

Other people had to focus on how to resist a Heavenly Tribulation, but not Tang Jie. With the Four-Nine True Words and the Pale Cloud Flame bird, he barely had anything to worry about, requiring no spell arts or Divine Connections. Even to hold up this mountain, he was using his physical strength, not spell arts. Added onto this was Yun Tianlan's protection, so Tang Jie could use seventy percent of his strength on analyzing the tribulations, and the remaining thirty percent to continue his ascension.

When the fourth Heavenly Tribulation ended, Tang Jie was untouched, leaving the crowd below sighing in wonder.

One person said, "I have long heard of the Freedom Celestial Sovereign's divine strength, and it seems that the rumors were true. If things are like this, Deification isn't far off at all. I just wonder how many more Heavenly Tribulations are left."

Someone heard this and replied, "Each Heavenly Tribulation is more dangerous than the last. While he managed to get through these ones easily, it only gets harder from here. The Celestial Sovereign still might not make it to the end."

"What's difficult for others might not be difficult for Tang Jie. I'm confident that he can safely pass," a voice sounded out.

The speaker this time was none other than Cai Junyang, confidently gazing at Tang Jie. Next to him stood Qi Shaoming and the others.

Despite Tang Jie's position, Cai Junyang never called him "Celestial Sovereign", continuing to use his name. And no matter what Tang Jie did, Cai Junyang always, almost blindly, believed that he would succeed.

His tone was so certain that everyone around him was momentarily speechless. While they didn't believe him, none of them dared to argue.

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