Chapter 44

【Does the host wish to open it?】

"Yes!"

The next moment, the wooden box opened.

A scent of decay and antiquity surged out from within.

This box was also peculiar; having been soaked in water for so many years, the items inside were not damaged in the slightest.

Brushing away the dust, Li Xiang saw a book and a white jade bottle inside.

【Spirit-Gathering Technique】 and 【Spirit-Awakening Pill】 lay quietly inside.

This was an Immortal Dao opportunity near Shihe Village, a very special path to transcendence.

It required a high amount of Luck to obtain.

Without any hesitation,

Li Xiang took out the 【Spirit-Gathering Technique】 and flipped through it gently.

In but an instant, he had memorized all the content within.

This was a most basic breathing mantra that could absorb the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth for one's own use.

It was a breathing technique used by Immortal sects to absorb spiritual Qi and nourish one's own Spirit Platform.

Martial Dao cultivates the power of Blood and Qi, while Confucian Dao cultivates Haoran Righteous Qi.

Immortal Dao is different; it begins by opening the Spirit Platform and uses the Spirit Platform to nurture the Divine Soul.

It cultivates the intangible spirit.

Using spiritual Qi to nourish the Spirit Platform, using the Spirit Platform to nurture the Divine Soul, and then using the Divine Soul to invoke various Dao principles between heaven and earth.

Traveling through the heavens with the spirit, carrying the Great Dao, and performing various mysterious and extraordinary Immortal means.

Of course, there are also some cultivators who take a side path, not using the Spirit Platform to carry the Divine Soul, but choosing to entrust their Divine Soul to certain Spirit Treasures.

Like the sword cultivators deep in the Southern Wilderness who suppress demons, they are such people.

Setting aside idle talk, Li Xiang began to breathe gently, and rolling spiritual Qi emerged from the surroundings, rushing into his body.

His comprehension was now frighteningly high; cultivating the Immortal Dao took but a snap of the fingers.

The spiritual Qi condensed, turning into nectar, and circled his Spirit Platform once.

In the blink of an eye, the once dim and lusterless Spirit Platform revealed a hint of vitality.

The next moment, a faint Immortal light rose from his entire body.

Looking inward, the dim Spirit Platform suddenly shone with great light.

His Immortal Dao had entered the ranks!

On the Spirit Platform, he could clearly feel the existence of his own consciousness.

That was the foundation of everything he was.

The Divine Soul!

With his entry into the Immortal Dao, the Time River shook once more.

In a trance, Li Xiang saw a flash of cyan light.

In the infinitely distant future, an Immortal Venerable wearing purple-gold Eight Trigrams Immortal robes was smiling and looking at him.

Beneath him rode a strange beast, stepping across the Time River as it came.

Before long, it leaped gently and arrived here, smiling and looking at Li Xiang.

This was an Immortal Venerable!

A mighty figure who would stir the trends of heaven and earth in the future and attain the Supreme Venerable position.

At this moment, he had crossed the Time River to come and assist him.

Having cultivated the Immortal Dao, he corresponded to an additional timeline—a path where he would attain the Supreme Dao Venerable in the future.

Borrowing Yang Mei's ability to pierce through time and space, this supreme existence crossed the river and arrived.

*Roar! *

The strange beast roared.

Li Xiang felt that the strange beast beneath the Dao Venerable seemed familiar.

It was somewhat like the bear demon he had taken in at the Zen Monastery.

Only now, this fellow was swallowing the sun and moon, its body wrapped in chaotic Qi; he did not know why it had switched from Buddhism to the Immortal Dao.

"Daoist friend, help me!"

Li Xiang nodded gently toward the Immortal Venerable.

He was him, and he was him.

Everything was understood without words.

Only, he did not know why this Dao Venerable looked at him but did not step forward to bestow his power.

Instead, he looked at him with a smile, as if waiting for something.

After a few breaths,

Li Xiang, sitting on the stone platform, suddenly shook slightly, and a strange feeling emerged from his heart.

The body is the boat that crosses the world; the soul is the foundation of all things.

And the heart is the navigational beacon for the boat to cross the fog.

Martial Dao, Confucian Dao, Immortal Dao.

These three paths all have the foundation for transcendence!

Realizing this point, Li Xiang suddenly felt his Spirit Platform was incomparably clear.

Three unique patterns slowly emerged, like divine patterns, engraved into the Spirit Platform.

The Blood and Qi power of Martial Dao, the Haoran Righteous Qi of Confucian Dao, and the Immortal Spirit Qi triggered by his own Divine Soul.

The three coexisted and circled each other within the Spirit Platform.

The powers of three different systems suddenly reached a balance within his body.

And it was at this very instant,

An indescribable feeling emerged from his heart.

Perfection!

Great Perfection!

Martial Dao, Confucian Dao, and Immortal Dao had all entered the Ninth Grade.

With all three paths entered, his cultivation seemed to be truly complete.

He diverted some energy to ponder.

The next moment, he immediately understood the mystery within.

Unknowingly, he had already cast a Supreme Dao Foundation.

The Great Dao is hard to seek; transcendence is hard to prove.

If one wants to truly attain transcendence, then the physical body, the soul, and that extremely mysterious Dao of the Mind must all be walked through completely.

Although cultivating all three paths increased the difficulty of advancement countless times,

only by doing so, and cultivating each stage to the extreme,

would it be possible to truly transcend everything in the future.

Having now entered the ranks in all three paths, he had attained perfection.

Just at this moment, the familiar voice of the system rang out.

【Congratulations!】

【You have successfully cultivated to the Ninth Realm of Transcendence!】

"Good!"

The Dao Venerable nodded and chanted softly.

The next moment, two phantoms walked out from his body.

They nodded toward the version of himself that looked like an Immortal Venerable.

Then, the three turned around and spoke in unison to Li Xiang, as if celebrating the perfection of his Dao foundation.

"Good!"

Then the three phantoms began to crack gently, like a wisp of cloud and smoke, and slowly dissipated into nothingness.

Instantly, Li Xiang's strength plummeted, and he could no longer clearly see the future moves of Hongjun.

"This is?"

Li Xiang frowned slightly.

But in an instant, he relaxed again.

He already understood what had just happened.

To go a step further from the top of the pole.

His Dao foundation was now perfect, and a more powerful future had already been born.

It was so powerful that it had already completely encompassed the three and merged them into itself.

Thus, the timeline converged.

These three naturally vanished, as if they had never been born.

Replacing them would be a life trajectory that was powerful to the extreme, cultivating all three paths, and walking all the way to the supreme.

*Rumble—*

Sure enough!

The moment the three disappeared, a vast and grand sound suddenly came from the cyan light behind him.

On that incomparably mysterious Time River, a figure of ultimate majesty gently opened their eyes.

In just an instant, Li Xiang's aura began to elevate infinitely.

In but a moment, it had reached a level comparable to Hongjun.

And because the momentum was so astonishing, there was even a sense of wanting to suppress Hongjun.

Li Xiang's eyes changed, becoming extremely sharp.

At this moment, the person playing chess against Hongjun seemed to have changed.

It had shifted directly from the Li Xiang of the current state to that supreme existence from after the immeasurable eons.

He stood up, cupped his hands toward Yang Mei, and then smiled at Hongjun.

"Daoist friend, long time no see. I hope you have been well!"

Then, without waiting for Hongjun to react,

he picked up a piece and placed it directly on the board.

As the piece fell, a terrifying power spread rapidly.

In Hongjun's eyes, the future trend that had been clearly visible fell back into chaos at this moment.

The entire Time River fell into a state of riot because of this one move.

It was unobservable.

Li Xiang, cultivating all three paths, seemed to have grown into an existence even more powerful than the current Hongjun in the future.

The pinnacle of the Dao.

Covering the sky with one hand!

He sat on the stone platform and smiled slightly at Hongjun.

"Daoist friend."

"Please!"

There is one more chapter, currently being written; I will post it as soon as it is finished.

My lords, please wait a moment.

(End of this chapter)