Chapter 401: Zhenren

Time returned to several days ago.

"For the next few days, I ask Master and you all to wait outside for me."

Looking at the valley before him, where a strange aura faintly emanated, Li Ang spoke to Zuo Zuo Ruotong and the others beside him.

Although the mysterious place left behind by Zi Yang Shanren could not affect him, it might not be the same for the Sanyi Sect members beside him.

Upon hearing this, Zuo Zuo Ruotong nodded slightly: "Alright."

Seeing no need to say more, Li Ang did not hesitate and immediately stepped into the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Valley.

As soon as he entered the valley, he keenly sensed a foreign qi mechanism attempting to influence him from beyond.

More accurately, it was guiding Li Ang's qi circulation.

"Hah."

Li Ang willingly released his control over himself and allowed the valley's qi pattern to affect him.

Feeling the energy within his body begin to slowly flow along his spine like a great dragon, a flash of understanding appeared in his eyes.

"Three-Cart Power."

This concept is mentioned in internal alchemy texts such as the Zhong-Lü Chuan Dao Ji, and since Zi Yang Shanren, the Song Dynasty master of the Southern School of internal alchemy, practiced this Famen, it was nothing surprising.

Rather, many current Xuanmenzheng Sect qi pathways are related to this concept.

'If this is all there is, it won't lead to immortality.'

With this thought, Li Ang continued walking deeper into the valley.

In his view, the qi pattern within the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Valley seemed less about granting immortality and more about making living beings more human.

'Teaching without discrimination?'

Fortunately, this world isn't the Fengshen universe, or else Li Ang would worry a Taoist riding a leopard might suddenly appear and call out, "Friend, please stay a moment."

But if this were the original, orthodox Fengshen Yanyi, his current strength would make him unafraid.

Of course, if some modern-era Honghuang or other bizarre things had been stitched in, Li Ang would have to consider what god he'd be appointed as after ascending.

Fortunately, this world's setting leans toward traditional cultivation, with little relation to derivative works like Fengshen Yanyi.

As he pondered, Li Ang followed the qi pattern's guidance to a cave entrance.

What is a human cave?

Looking at the dark, black opening before him, Li Ang did not step in immediately but stood still, lost in thought.

What is a human? What is a human?

After a long while, he finally walked in with a thoughtful expression.

Regarding the 【Immortal】's requirement of 【Heaven-Earth Principle, Immortal Technique】, Li Ang now had a general idea.

The cave inside had many branches; any ordinary person entering rashly would soon become lost.

As for Li Ang,

With his Reincarnation Eye, it was no different from playing an FPS game with wallhack—he couldn't be fooled by any of the branching paths.

He only wanted to fully traverse the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Valley; otherwise, he could have gone directly to the final location.

Soon, Li Ang arrived at a somewhat spacious cavern.

Along the edges of this cavern lay scattered items; in the center stood an ordinary, unremarkable pavilion.

The former were Wu Wu Gensheng's belongings, while the latter was naturally the trial to reach the final place.

Li Ang ignored the scattered items and walked straight into the pavilion, where a cluster of footprints lay on the ground in the center.

This trial is called the "Heaven-Supporting, Earth-Standing Trial"; having read the original, Li Ang knew exactly how to solve it.

He lightly tapped his fingers, and two milky-white qi orbs struck precisely the Yongquan acupoints of the footprints.

Boom—

With a heavy rumbling, a taiji-shaped mechanism slowly opened, revealing a passage leading underground.

Seeing this, Li Ang walked in calmly, and immediately a wall covered in dense, intricate characters came into view.

At this time, Wu Wu Gensheng had not yet destroyed these Daoist scriptures left by Zi Yang Shanren, nor had he carved the five characters "Nine-Turn Winding Cave" to warn future generations.

After carefully observing the characters on the wall for a while, Li Ang reached out and gently touched four of them.

"Human body is hard to obtain."

Since entering the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Valley, the character "human" seemed inescapable.

After briefly recalling the original plot, Li Ang's gaze grew brighter.

Even the Eight Marvelous Techniques, to some degree, were connected to this character "human."

"Zi Yang Shanren's ambitions are vast, but something seems missing."

Though he had grasped the general idea, Li Ang still felt something was off.

Fortunately, as a Sanyi Sect disciple, he had some understanding of Zi Yang Shanren.

Zi Yang Shanren's original name was Zhang Baiduan, though he later changed it to a single character: Cheng.

Cheng means sincerity.

When sincerity is combined with "human," it can be described by a term with special meaning in Daoism.

Zhenren.

A Zhenren embodies emptiness and void, unites with the Dao in truth, becomes one with nature, is capable of all things, knows all things, understands all things.

Of course, omniscience and omnipotence are exaggerated, but they still reflect the prestige of a Zhenren.

As for his transformation 【Immortal】—

The emphasis lies both in "immortal" and in "human."

And don't forget—the left side of "immortal" is also "human!"

"So that's it. So that's it!"

Li Ang steadied his increasingly turbulent emotions and sat cross-legged on the spot.

Once he had grasped the so-called principles of heaven and earth, the immortal's technique naturally followed as a matter of course.

Just as the Eight Wonders fit their creators perfectly, the immortal's technique Li Ang had comprehended was naturally the same.

As a touch of enlightenment rose in his heart, a prompt also appeared on his class panel at just the right moment.

【Successfully changed class: Immortal】.

Li Ang gazed at his own hands, fair as polished jade, and could not help murmuring softly, "This is—"

"An immortal."

When the words fell, he no longer suppressed his aura and began to proclaim his existence to this very heaven and earth.

Unlike the other systems, the 【Immortal】 rooted in the 【Qi Refiner】 did not erupt with an aura that made one feel dread; there was only centered harmony and peace.

Of course, this was only with regard to the aura Li Ang radiated; as for the strange phenomena he had triggered—

The Qi of the myriad heavens surged mightily. A milky-white mass of Qi, centered on the Twenty-Four Solar Valley, suddenly spread outward in all directions.

Ten-thousand-zhang rays of colored light descended from the vault of heaven, bathing the entire Twenty-Four Solar Valley, as if heaven and earth themselves were celebrating the birth of an immortal.

At this moment, whether they were disciples of the Sanyi Sect, members of the Celestial Masters' Residence and Wudang, or Quanzhen demons, all stared blankly at the strange phenomena before their eyes.

"What's going on?!"

Just as everyone was at a loss, a voice suddenly rang out in their ears.

"Go with the current to evade the tribulation of the kalpa's reckoning; go against the current to attain the Primordial Art."

"Master—"

"I've succeeded."

Following the voice, they looked toward the figure in the vault of heaven, held aloft by the milky-white mass of Qi. The colored light flowing with five hues now draped over him like a Daoist robe.

And upon hearing the figure's words, the assembled Xuan Sect high priests could not help but feel a sense of absurdity rising in their hearts.

This is—

Ascended to immortality?!

How could it be?! In this day and age, there was actually still someone who could ascend to immortality?!

But combined with what Zuo Ruotong had said earlier, it seemed this was the only possibility.

The Sanyi Sect had produced a true immortal.

At this moment, the contemporary Celestial Master Zhang Jingqing looked at the young man in the sky, and for once a hint of losing composure appeared on his face.

After a long while, he muttered to himself in an exceedingly complex tone, "To think the Sanyi Sect actually pulled it off."

One had to know that just minutes ago, Zhang Jingqing had still been advising the Weizuo Sect elder opposite him to think carefully before acting.

Hearing his words, the squinty-eyed man beside him finally shed his earlier arrogant demeanor.

He scratched his cheek and said softly, "There are always people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens. Today I've truly broadened my horizons."

Saying so, the squinty-eyed man could not help but turn the name over in his mind.

Li Ang.

How could he never have heard of such an existence before?

Meanwhile, the Wudang and Shangqing members of the Xuanmenzheng Sect on the other side reacted just like the two from the Celestial Masters' Residence, expressions of utter loss of composure on their faces.

One had to know that given their level of mental cultivation, they ought not to have been so.

But ascending to immortality—

What a foreign phrase that was.

Yet this ultimate goal, which on ordinary days seemed utterly ethereal and unattainable, had now appeared vividly before their very eyes.

After a long silence, the assembled Xuan Sect high priests exchanged glances, then bowed toward the figure in the sky.