Chapter 359: 359. Chapter 356: The Immortal Connection Passage

359. Chapter 356: The Immortal Connection Passage

Ding Huan said firmly: "As long as this vortex is, as I suspect, a path to a higher star continent, we will surely meet again."

Jia Baihe fell silent for a long time before saying: "Then I'll go first. Take care."

"Alright." Ding Huan found Jia Baihe's behavior no surprise.

To Jia Baihe, he might be her only friend.

He not only helped her remove the poison from her Dao foundation, but also helped her perfect the Poison Dao. Anyone else would be grateful to him.

Especially someone like Jia Baihe, who had no friends at all.

Watching Jia Baihe vanish into the vortex, Ding Huan threw out a series of array flags—he intended to retrieve the Mirror of Life and Death.

Whether the outer space would vanish or the cultivators within it would perish was beyond his control.

The chance to survive was equal for everyone; some seized it, some didn't—that was all.

As the array flags settled, Ding Huan forcibly rolled up the Mirror of Life and Death and sealed it inside the iron pot.

The entire space shuddered repeatedly; Ding Huan clearly felt it compressing and contracting.

To Ding Huan's relief, the vortex did not disappear.

Ding Huan did not immediately enter the vortex; instead, he began setting up a protective array.

He spent a full day erecting a Level Nine self-repairing protective array here.

Any cultivator who reached the Earth Immortal realm could smash through this array and enter the vortex passage.

Cultivators below the Earth Immortal realm could only sigh helplessly before the array.

Although Ding Huan didn't know whether the vortex held danger, he was certain one thing: cultivators below the Earth Immortal realm entering the vortex had little chance of survival.

After completing this, Ding Huan implanted two more high-grade spirit veins before plunging into the vortex.

Upon entering the vortex, Ding Huan first sensed a faint aura of heavenly and earthly qi.

The rules governing this qi were certainly superior to those of the Three Heavens Star Continent's qi.

This even made Ding Huan feel that if he found a place here to seclude himself and cultivate, he might comprehend a higher realm.

After absorbing a little of this heavenly and earthly qi, Ding Huan immediately realized he had overestimated.

The qi's rules here were indeed superior to those of the Three Heavens Star Continent, but the qi was far too thin. Cultivation under such thin qi could not lead to advancement.

He wondered whether the Earth Immortals who had entered before had felt the same. If anyone truly tried to break through to the Immortal-Flesh Bridge realm here, they would fail utterly.

Moreover, cultivation here was impractical, because the vortex carried a powerful force of impact.

If anyone dared to cultivate here, they would soon be blasted out of the vortex.

Ding Huan guessed no one would dare cultivate here, or even pause to rest.

No one knew whether they could re-enter after being blasted out.

Fortunately, the outward force wasn't overwhelming; Ding Huan didn't rush forward, moving steadily and calmly.

He had a premonition that he might have to stay here a long time.

A month later, Ding Huan felt that even without other attacks, prolonged exposure to this unceasing vortex impact would eventually break anyone.

Even with his dantian star and the Great Dao universe in his mind sea, he doubted he could endure for many years.

As for others like Jia Baihe, surviving a year would be impressive.

As Ding Huan grew uneasy, his spiritual sense suddenly detected a spot free of vortex suction.

Ding Huan immediately landed there; upon arrival, he sensed someone had once rested here.

This place had absolutely no vortex suction and could restore true qi and spiritual soul.

Prolonged use of spiritual sense damaged the spiritual soul; since there was a resting place within the vortex passage, there was no harm.

Ideally, there would be more such resting spots—enough for everyone to catch their breath.

His spiritual sense swept across the platform; Ding Huan sensed at least a dozen spiritual sense marks, including one left by Senior Ji Gu.

Ding Huan understood why everyone left spiritual sense marks here—they feared there might be no more resting places ahead, and if they couldn't escape the vortex, they could return here to rest.

Ding Huan doubted such a scenario would occur; if someone truly couldn't go on, they could still summon a flying treasure.

Which Earth Immortal here didn't own several top-tier flying treasures?

Leaving the resting platform, Ding Huan summoned the iron pot as he advanced again.

Ding Huan quickly realized his idea was naive.

The moment he summoned the iron pot, it was as if he had violated heavenly law.

The vortex's force, more than a hundred times fiercer than before, slammed directly onto the iron pot—there was no question of advancing; any flying treasure would be torn apart in moments.

His iron pot wouldn't be torn apart, but other flying treasures certainly might.

Ding Huan hastily retracted the iron pot and continued flying forward with caution.

Flying treasures couldn't advance within this vortex passage; one could only proceed a short distance before finding a resting spot.

This made Ding Huan suspect the vortex passage was unlikely natural—it was very probably forcibly carved open by a powerful being.

Just as he had set up a protective array outside the vortex, one that allowed Earth Immortals in but blocked those below,

the one who carved this vortex passage likely intended only those with sufficient ability to pass through and enter a higher realm—if one lacked the strength, they shouldn't ascend at all.

Realizing the passage might be artificially constructed, Ding Huan deliberately slowed his pace further.

As he advanced, his spiritual sense communicated with the iron pot in his mind sea.

He didn't know how long it would take to traverse this passage, so he refused to waste time—he must continue refining the iron pot.

Time passed in this monotonous traversal; unlike ordinary cultivators, Ding Huan had a dantian star and nearly infinite spiritual sense.

Thus, he didn't need rest.

He simply moved slower than others because he was refining the iron pot.

After one year, Ding Huan refined the thirty-sixth seal of the iron pot and could no longer refine the next one; he decided to stop refining.

He next planned to continue refining the Evening Drum and the Mirror of Life and Death.

Logically, he should have refined the Mirror of Life and Death first, since it had some connection to this vortex passage.

Ding Huan felt the Evening Drum was more useful to him; if he could refine it to thirty-six layers of prohibitions, then in future battles, the Drum's Killing Art combined with the Wheel of Reincarnation Spear would surely satisfy him.

As Ding Huan prepared to begin refining the Evening Drum, his spiritual sense once again swept across a resting platform.

Though Ding Huan had no need to rest, he still stepped down onto the platform.

He wanted to see if Senior Ji Gu and the others had passed through; if they had, they would surely have left behind spiritual sense imprints.

The moment Ding Huan landed on the platform, he knew a battle had once taken place here, and someone had perished here.

Ding Huan was extremely sensitive to Dao rhythms; he immediately recognized the deceased as one of the group he had encountered earlier.

What reassured Ding Huan was that the deceased was not someone he knew.

After searching, Ding Huan found several spiritual sense imprints, but none left by Senior Ji Gu and the others.

Ding Huan decided to wait here for a while.

If Senior Ji Gu and the others had not yet left, he could wait here for them.

Had he known this vortex passage was so gentle—as long as one resisted the vortex's impact—he would have called everyone in together.

On this platform, Ding Huan did not continue refining his treasures; instead, he took out the Sixty-Six Earthly Illusions given to him by Lao Liu.

As Ding Huan's spiritual sense penetrated the Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions, he had barely finished reading the opening passage when he suddenly felt his memory had inexplicably gained the Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts and the Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions.

Ding Huan was stunned as he sensed the changes in his memory—the Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts and the Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions—then looked down at the fragmented, incomplete Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions in his hand.

It was a world apart.

Lao Liu's Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions were not only fragmented, but riddled with flaws.

Ding Huan had always believed Lao Liu simply had incomplete memories; given Lao Liu's nature, he wouldn't do anything sneaky after making a promise.

But now it was clear this was not the case.

The defects in the Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions Lao Liu gave him were not caused by incomplete memory—they were fundamental errors in Dao rhythm.

These errors did not hinder the cultivation of the arts, but left grave hidden dangers.

It was like covering one's ears while stealing a bell—this deception was easily seen through.

Ding Huan frowned; even without possessing the true Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts and Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions, he could detect the flaws the moment he began cultivating Lao Liu's version.

But Lao Liu lacked the subtlety to engineer such deception.

Mo Huiping.

It was 100% Mo Huiping—this woman was truly treacherous. He only hoped that when she returned to Lanxing Sect, the backup measures he had left behind would kill her.

Now that Ding Huan remembered the true Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts and Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions, he would never cultivate Lao Liu's version again.

On this platform, he simply began studying the true Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts and Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions.

Both branches were great arts, capable of transforming into all things.

The Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts were based on the Dao principles of heaven and earth, emphasizing the transformation of cosmic laws into primal form; the Seventy-Two Earthly Illusions were rooted in the "techniques" of yin-yang, the Five Phases, the Nine Palaces, and the Eight Trigrams, emphasizing lifelike appearances.

Logically, his current realm was too low to cultivate the Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts.

Yet his Great Universe Art evolved the genes of heaven, earth, and all things, probing the laws of all existence—so he could cultivate the Thirty-Six Heavenly Arts.