Chapter 611: Can I Join the Sword Sect?

In comparison, those cultivators who had not yet reached Full Return to Void were also stunned by the phenomenon spanning the entire world, and thus developed a faint yearning for “Ascension.”

But that was all.

Soon, lotuses radiating golden light arranged themselves in rows, forming a staircase that stretched upward, reaching all the way to the “Gate of Ascension.”

Various wonders continued to shift, their Dao sounds echoing.

Xi Li stood motionless on the Ascension Platform for a long time, then, under the gaze of all mortals, slowly ascended the celestial staircase rising into the nine heavens.

“The Immortal Path never ends; may those who follow strive hard.”

This line had just been revised by Xu Xing.

After all, the Beast God Realm was a world of Dongzhen-level power, so there was no need to add the phrase “Return to Void incomplete.”

The Tai Ping Realm was different.

When the Ascension Platform was first integrated into the world, little thought had been given to it.

Later, You was preoccupied with the “Law of Karma Fire Punishing Evil,” so details were overlooked.

Of course, the impact of having or not having it was negligible.

The beings of the Earth Immortal Realm watched intently as Xi Li stepped steadily toward the Gate of Ascension, observing the ever-changing wonders that emerged around her.

The sun and moon encircled her body; starry veils draped her form, as if countless landscapes and rivers guarded her.

Until she reached the Gate of Ascension, the shadows of countless sages from past and present appeared together.

A single ray of dawn light blazed brilliantly at the center!

Hum~!

Yan Tian Zhou Huo.

The dawn light pierced through twilight, parting the clouds and purging all demonic miasma!

The great sun rose, illuminating all eight directions, dispelling calamities and misfortunes from the mortal realm!

Its shadow was no taller than an ordinary human, yet it held aloft the great sun, and merely by its presence, overshadowed the thousands of ancestral shadows beside it.

No!

Rather, all the ancestral shadows of the Earth Immortal Realm bowed in heartfelt reverence, willingly serving as mere accompaniment!

Xi!

Xi—the one who once stood against the Beast God, whose single trace of Dao essence had protected the human race of the Earth Immortal Realm for a hundred thousand years—seemed to have crossed vast eons and descended at this moment!

“Xi…”

Fu Mo’s voice was dry.

She had cultivated under Xi’s Dao essence protection, achieving what she had today; to witness this scene, how could her heart not be stirred?

Even Xi Li stood motionless before the Gate of Ascension for a long while, gazing at the peerless shadow beside her, of equal height, holding the great sun aloft.

The dawn light burned brilliantly, illuminating all directions.

Then, from behind her, a hazy, ethereal shadow emerged, walking past her to stand beside the other shadows.

Xi Li froze, but soon a flicker of understanding passed through her eyes.

She turned to look back.

All scenes of the Earth Immortal Realm came into her vision at once.

Fu Mo and representatives of the major factions waiting outside the Ascension Rift, along with the many disciples of Han Yue Sword Palace standing on either side of the rift entrance.

Farther still, the Han Yue Sword Palace, resembling an ice kingdom, the sacred ancestral grounds now reduced to ruins due to internal strife, and…

The battlefield where two races clashed, soaked in blood and fire, where smoke still had not yet cleared!

As if inspired by sudden insight, Xi Li bowed deeply toward the distant heavens, toward the ancestral shadows of the Earth Immortal Realm, toward all beings of heaven and earth!

Then!

She turned back to face forward!

The Gate of Ascension, entirely white jade, crystal-clear, with divine dawn light swirling within, slowly opened amid the chanting of Dao sounds, golden immortality light pouring forth, as if brimming with boundless Dao essence and spiritual vitality.

On the other side of the gate, a vast, immeasurable supreme world revealed a mere fraction of its grandeur.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xi Li stepped forward into it, vanishing into the endless immortality light.

After an unknown length of time…

The ancestral shadows of the Earth Immortal Realm faded; the Gate of Ascension, which had poured forth boundless Dao essence and spiritual vitality, began slowly closing, dimming, and dissolving.

The golden clouds above the sky also gradually receded; all wonders returned to stillness, as if nothing had ever happened.

…

…

Outside the Ascension Rift.

Fu Mo still stared blankly at the direction where Xi Li had vanished, unable to return to herself for a long time.

She had felt it!

When the Gate of Ascension opened, she truly felt it!

On the “other side” of the gate lay the possibility of further advancement!

In that instant, a surge of impulse arose within her.

An impulse to abandon everything, to follow the Ascension, to seek greater advancement!

This was the instinct of every cultivator!

After a long while, Fu Mo finally drew her gaze back, and her agitated emotions slowly calmed.

No rush…

Her cultivation was sufficient; she could Ascend whenever she wished, no need to hurry.

Thinking of this, she said nothing more.

She turned and became a streak of flaming light, shooting upward, vanishing into the horizon in an instant.

…

…

Vast Chaos Sea.

A guiding beam of light descended from the highest realm, striking an absurd contrast against the eternal solitude of the Chaos Sea.

Threads of the Tai Xuan Immortal Net encircled the guiding light, targeting none other than Xi Li, the one who had just Ascended.

Xi Li now realized certain strange changes had occurred within her.

She could feel her perception undergoing a transformation; the blinding light that had once filled everything now began to soften.

Gradually, the full form of the Earth Immortal Realm truly appeared within her perception, though somewhat hazy and illusory…

But logically, for a Return to Void cultivator to perceive the entirety of a Dongzhen-level world was impossible!

Not to mention that each inhalation and exhalation of the Dongzhen-level world contained infinite information, far beyond what a Return to Void cultivator could endure.

Forcibly observing it would be like trying to contain the entire cosmos within a single drop of water!

Yet now, with the aid of the Tai Xuan Immortal Net and the “Perception Ascension” state activated, this impossibility had become possible.

Xi Li stood in stunned silence.

This immense world, like an eternal dam spanning the Chaos Sea, dwarfing all else—was this truly her home, the Earth Immortal Realm…?

A wave of dizziness washed over her heart; for a moment, she felt a profound sense of loss.

Especially as she realized she was rapidly distancing herself from the Earth Immortal Realm, the sense of loss grew heavier.

She recalled the former Mingguang Gathering.

Back then, she and her brother had just obtained the cultivation method, their realm barely Qi Refining; they had struggled desperately to stabilize the Gathering and secure a place to live.

Later, they were forced to leave due to unforeseen circumstances…

At that time, the emotions surging within her had been the same as now.

Leaving.

This time, however, she was leaving a world she had lived in for over a thousand years, a world filled with countless memories.

Watching the Earth Immortal Realm grow ever farther away, until it became invisible, she let out a quiet sigh.

Unbidden, she thought of her only true friend over these years…

Fu Mo’s attachment to the Earth Immortal Realm far exceeded her own; what would she feel when she Ascended?

Until the boundless Chaos Sea unfolded before her perception, and she witnessed countless worlds rising and sinking within the infinite chaos.

One world after another fell into ruin and silence; one world after another was born and evolved, every detail laid bare before her eyes—only then did her sense of loss begin to fade.

Xi Li had never been a sentimental person.

Even now, she used her peculiar state to observe these never-before-seen sights.

This was also an arrangement made after discussion by Xu Xing and the others.

Now that the Tai Xuan Immortal Net’s functions were gradually improving, future Ascenders could be granted a taste of the “Perception Ascension” state.

Perhaps it would help them gain insight, aiding their eventual union with the Dao?

When Xuan Ling Dao Ren later entered the realm covered by the Tai Xuan Immortal Net, this state would also be activated.

As for the first two Ascenders…

There was no way; at that time, even the initial concept of the Immortal Net had not yet been conceived—there simply were no such conditions.

…

…