Chapter 136: Lin Yangyang Awakens

Because of your appearance, Buddha's Broken Eye does not dare to intervene in the growth of the Pure World Hong Lian.

Other great powers of Buddhism are insufficient, so their hindrance to the Pure World Hong Lian is limited.

Buddhist faith therefore suffers great damage.

To your surprise, Buddhism devised a method of using bodies to suppress the Hong Lian, mobilizing all its top masters, imprisoning the Pure World Hong Lian in countless special spaces, which evolved into individual small worlds.

Duanmou named these small-world spaces—Three Thousand Buddha Lands.

After some more years, Lin Qingfan, Lin Chuan's sealed daughter, awakened.

You set foot in the place where Lin Qingfan had slept.

She stared at you blankly, struggling to speak, "Master, my father…"

"Your father has gone to a distant place, to seek your mother."

You forced a faint smile and replied, "You will meet again, in the distant future."

These are words used to coax a child, but they work well on Lin Qingfan.

You manifested the Causal Seal linked to Lin Chuan's soul.

Lin Qingfan felt Lin Chuan's lingering soul aura, and tears fell like rain.

"Wuwuwu~"

That is the hope she has endured through endless years.

You sighed, "Your father made a Heavenly Dao Great Vow for you, wishing to protect the Merit of Mortal Dust to keep your longevity intact until the Merit is exhausted."

"With this Great Vow, as long as you do not offend the Heavenly Dao, you are near Longevity."

"First, follow my teachings and cultivate, striving to enter the Wangxian Realm; if that fails, then, as your father said, seal yourself into sleep."

"In the distant future, your father and mother will surely come looking for you."

In truth, you also do not know whether Lin Chuan can find that sliver of hope within the Boundless Chaos.

But people need spiritual consolation.

Lin Qingfan nodded heavily, bowing to you, "Thank you, Master, for your great grace."

Lin Qingfan's innate talent is already outstanding; even in the present age, she is only weaker than you and the Three Teachings Patriarchs, and compared to other True God Realm practitioners, she is neither stronger nor weaker.

She may be able to become a Wangxian Realm cultivator.

Afterwards came another long stretch of years.

When you awaken again from your secluded cultivation, the world has undergone earth‑shattering changes.

You can clearly feel that as this world continuously draws energy from the Chaos Universe to evolve, cultivators increase, and Heaven and Earth prosper.

To you, however, this is not a good thing.

The strengthening of Heaven's Will benefits countless sentient beings, yet you, standing atop them, gain no benefit at all.

The path to Immortal ascent instead becomes even more arduous.

Your gaze falls upon Mortal Earth, and at some point, countless cultivator nations have risen upon the mortal realm.

Imperial dynastic nations differ from the sects of the Three Teachings.

Most cultivation sects are situated atop the Mountain Sea, far from the mundane.

Although they protect the mundane and accept those with cultivation aptitude into entry‑level practice, there remains a boundary between them and Mortal Dust.

Cultivator nations are different; here the cultivators have broken the boundary with the mundane, establishing a legal order to protect the mundane in another way.

Or rather, to obtain the mundane's faith by another means.

A new concept thus arises—National Fortune.

Many cultivators attempt to follow the National Fortune Path, emulating the Three Teachings Patriarchs, to condense their life‑treasure and ascend to the Wangxian Realm.

But this road is destined to be harder.

You see countless failures; on their failing path they bring suffering to the mundane, are rebounded by the Imperial National Fortune, and perish as their Dao collapses.

Truly powerful cultivator nations remain only a few.

On the Baixiang Divine Land's Three Thousand Prefectures, the truly enduring strong nation that continuously protects its people and secures stable faith is only one.

Its name—Cloud Kingdom.

It is the oldest cultivator nation walking this path.

The Cloud Kingdom Empress is infinitely close to the Wangxian Realm, yet she still cannot condense her life‑treasure, and thus cannot truly set foot in the Wangxian Realm.

You sit and watch these events unfold between Heaven and Earth, feeling little turbulence.

Before entering the Wangxian Realm, the sentient beings of the mysterious Chaos are like frogs at the bottom of a well; they may not know how vast Heaven and Earth are, but they know there is sky above the well.

If they sit atop the pinnacle of sentient beings, standing where you stand, and gaze upon the Boundless Chaos, the endless cosmic sea, they realize sentients are like mayflies, life and death merely a grain in the vast ocean.

You fall into another secluded sleep.

When you awaken once more, you sense disciple Lin Qingfan's decline.

You arrive at Lin Qingfan's seclusion site.

Her appearance remains the same, like a girl from youthful days, yet her eyes are dim and lifeless, heavy with death.

"Master, I have no hope of progressing further."

Countless ten‑thousands of years have passed, countless sentient beings have experienced the cycle of birth and death, and innumerable great events have occurred between Heaven and Earth.

Yet those who can ascend to the Wangxian Realm remain only you and the Three Teachings Patriarchs.

Your disciple Lin Qingfan's talent is outstanding, yet she still cannot cross that threshold and clearly feels a bottleneck.

She says, "I don't want to gamble everything; I still want to wait for father and mother to return."

You know this is her obsession.

"Alright."

You say, "Seal yourself into sleep; I will lay the Heaven‑Earth Forbidden Array for you, and no sentient will disturb you."

"Thank you, Master."

Disciple Lin Qingfan bows to you again, solemnly saying, "I hope that when I awaken again, Master, like my parents, will be by my side."

"It will be."

The path you are cultivating, which is not the Merit and Fortune way, causes your lifespan to wane faster than that of the Ancestor of the Three Teachings; if you cannot ascend to Immortal, you will inevitably face a downfall.

You think of Lin Chuan again.

After sealing disciple Lin Qingfan within a pocket of Heaven-and-Earth space, you begin to vigorously activate the Causal Law, sensing the condition of Lin Chuan's lingering soul.

He has drifted for so long in the Boundless Chaos, the endless cosmic sea, and his lingering soul finally shows a hint of life.

You cannot help but feel joy.

After countless years, you smile again.

Lin Chuan is not only Qing Fan's obsession, but also yours.

"Thus he becomes Wu You."

In your mind you think that, over the coming days, you will frequently sense Lin Chuan's lingering soul, and its life force grows ever stronger.

You completely let go of your worries.

Lin Chuan truly survived! This is an unprecedented miracle, seemingly confirming your initial conjecture.

He is a ray of dawn, a Guidance of hope for many, and will not be easily extinguished.

You no longer have any lingering concerns.

Deriving the Causal Law consumed much of your energy, and you feel your own life beginning to move toward another end.

Perhaps it will be a long time before the end of death arrives, or perhaps only in the instant between slumber and awakening.

You have decided to close the Life-and-Death Seclusion.

If you do not ascend to the Immortal Realm, you will be consumed within the Seclusion; the path to Immortal has come to this point, and you have no choice but to stake everything on a single gamble.

…

In a room of Lin Fu's small courtyard, Lin Yangyang suddenly opened their eyes.

Scenes from the dream replayed in the mind, from slow to fast, ever faster, and a sharp pain followed.

Lin Yangyang suddenly realized:

"This all seems... not a dream."

…

…

Yang Zu·Ascending to the Immortal Vista