Chapter 232: The Secret of Ascension

That's not right!

It doesn't matter whether copper tokens are abundant or scarce; after all, only one person can enter each cave heaven blessed land.

Moreover, even if one enters those obscure cave heaven blessed lands, the rewards will inevitably be inferior to those ranked within the top 118, so the most pressing task now is to determine which cave heaven blessed land one's copper token belongs to.

Unfortunately, one must collect three copper tokens of the same series before the information visible only to players can be displayed.

At present, Chen Shicheng can only try to figure out what those cave heaven blessed lands are like and what one can obtain after risking one's life to enter them.

"What are you thinking? You're so absent‑minded. Did you hear what I just said?"

Shuigu Tang's hand, waving before his eyes, jolted Chen Shicheng awake; he asked blankly, "What did you just say?"

"Sure enough, after becoming a great deity you refuse to listen to friends; your mind must be full of state affairs," Shuigu Tang retorted with some displeasure. "I just said, would you like to meet others and see if the copper tokens in your hand can be combined?"

"Forget it. Didn't you say there are only three in total? You and I aren't from the same series, and even if the remaining one is gathered it won't help. We'll talk about it later," Chen Shicheng replied without hesitation, refusing outright.

"You're the boss; your word is law."

Shuigu Tang didn't persist; she walked to the table, snatched the book recording cave heaven blessed land information from Chen Shicheng's hand, and said, "Then let's first see what this so‑called cave heaven blessed land is actually like."

She opened to the first page, and Chen Shicheng, seeing this, hurried over; the two of them read the contents by moonlight.

Seven hundred years ago, a senior from Zixiao Palace hit a cultivation bottleneck and decided to travel the world; after many perils, he arrived at a place called Qiyun Mountain.

There, he accidentally discovered a strange spot, perpetually shrouded in clouds; entering it caused disorientation, and even this peak‑level cultivator of the Zifu Realm lost his sense of direction and eventually returned to where he entered.

Out of curiosity, the senior settled there and began studying the odd location.

With the massive influence of Zixiao Palace and the senior's connections, he ultimately still couldn't enter the place, but he did figure out its problem.

The site, called Qiyun Mountain Taosu Cave Heaven, is an ancient celestial deity training ground; its interior overflows with precious celestial Qi, and it even harbors jade nectar, immortal herbs, and spirit mushrooms.

More importantly, within the cave heaven blessed land there is a high chance that ancient celestial cultivations remain, and obtaining them to ascend to immortality is not a mere fantasy.

Seeing this, Chen Shicheng and Shuigu Tang exchanged a glance and instantly understood: the cave heaven blessed land actually contains ancient celestial inheritances.

But soon a question arose in their minds: a cultivator's sole purpose is to ascend to the heavens, so if the cave heaven blessed land holds ascension techniques, why hasn't Zixiao Palace taken notice? Instead it has vanished without a trace, and records are hard to find.

The stone from another mountain can be used to polish jade!

Even if Zixiao Palace has its own inheritances and a step‑by‑step cultivation can lead to immortality, obtaining an extra technique—even without practicing—can still be useful, right?

The two continued reading downward, finally uncovering the hidden details.

During the ancient era, as the heavenly court deities inexplicably fell, cataclysms rippled to the mortal realm, causing a rupture in history.

But a broken history is no problem; the inheritance remains, and as long as someone lives, the lost era will eventually be uncovered. What is truly despairing is that with the fall of the celestial beings, the world became saturated with inexplicable resentment, impossible to eradicate, even manifesting as periodically spawning monsters.

Cultivation ultimately means absorbing the world's spiritual Qi into the body, and inevitably the resentment seeps in like maggots in the marrow.

Lightning, utmost firmness and yang!

The Lightning Tribulation even acts on behalf of Heaven!

Moreover, with the fall of the thunder deities who could temper the Lightning Tribulation, no cultivator reaching the Immortal Realm has since successfully passed the tribulation to ascend; countless dazzling heavenly elites turned into piles of dust in despair.

Nevertheless, Heaven leaves no dead end for people!

After countless years of exploration, someone finally discovered that although the Lightning Tribulation is formidable, it is somewhat lenient toward cultivators inheriting ancient celestial lineages; its visible power has noticeably weakened.

Later, based on fragmentary ancient sayings, it was confirmed that those who endure the Lightning Tribulation can not only ascend but also inherit the fallen deities' divine seats, becoming deities appointed by the heavenly court! Those who are slain by the tribulation become ordinary heavenly soldiers or free‑wandering immortals even if they survive by luck.

If the tribulation's power is weakened, surviving it grants a direct leap to the heavens, and then another ascent.

Anyone not foolish knows which choice to make.

Thus, in today's Earth Immortal Realm, the named sects are essentially inheritances of the ancient heavenly court deities; the rest have vanished without a trace.

The inheritances within the cave heaven blessed land have been abandoned by the current cultivation world; they are outdated techniques that no one cares about.

After they finished the last page, Shuigu Tang asked, a bit bewildered, "When they cultivated, they inadvertently absorbed some resentment and that was that. As players, we grind monsters daily—won't that cause our resentment to skyrocket, making ascension impossible for a lifetime?"

"Probably not."

Chen Shicheng shook his head, saying uncertainly, "Though this world is real, we still have a game system overhead; it can't trap us players at the ascension stage—there must be some way, and."

He pointed to the copper piece in his hand, "This thing was dormant for three years, then suddenly surfaced. Among the dozen‑plus of us at the gathering, three have obtained it; it's hard not to suspect premeditation. The most likely explanation is that it's a path reserved for players to ascend. We are players, after all, fundamentally different from the natives."

"Maybe," Shuigu Tang said, fiddling with the copper piece, then turned to Chen Shicheng and asked, "Are you really not joining us? With more people, our strength could be greater."

"Forget it."

Chen Shicheng thought it over but still refused.

If it were something else, indeed more people mean more power, and the spoils could be divided afterward.

But if the cave heaven blessed land truly determines whether a player can ascend, then common sense tells us the most likely scenario is like a divine seat: each cave heaven blessed land can only grant success to a single person.

And there are multiple cave heaven blessed lands; even if they gathered all three tokens in their hands, it still wouldn't be enough for the dozen‑plus people. Even if this is merely speculation with no evidence, Chen Shicheng doesn't want to test humanity, so it's best to eradicate everything while it's still in its infancy. (End of chapter)