KaiserBlak
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Chapter 532: Will-o-Wisp
🕑 Added 2024-11-13 14:00:10 +0000 UTCAfter the Concealed Divinity said those words, he didn’t speak any more. He brought Tianyi to the edge of the Primordial Realm before vanishing. Even with Tianyi’s vast immortal senses, he could not sense how the divinity disappeared. He didn’t think too much of the matter and returned to his Nine Heavens Peak.
Naturally, he reported what happened to the high echelons of the Immortal Court. They didn’t show any surprise. Tianyi suspected that the Concealed Divinity already informed them. The reason why only the Concealed Emperor appeared and not any immortals was because he likely chose to take action himself to secure the Bodhi Tree. Only, no one expected the Buddhists to have their own divinity.
Tianyi didn’t dwell on the matter. The final battle with the Demon Clan will happen within a hundred years. He needed to increase his strength as much as possible before then. Not to mention about the hidden risk currently in his mind.
The Concealed Divinity asked him if Tianyi wanted him to resolve the flames burning his thoughts, but Tianyi rejected it. Although the flames were troublesome, he was not without a way to deal with it. The simplest and most arduous method was to grind away at it until he could extinguish it. The fastest method was simply for Tianyi to cut away a portion of his consciousness, but that would indirectly hurt his soul.
Tianyi hadn’t had his soul damaged since he entered the Immortal Realm, and he did not want to find out how long or difficult it would be to heal a universe’s soul. So, he chose the simplest method. It had the side effect of tempering his willpower, so why not?
After healing his ailment, Tianyi would consider increasing his strength. Although he was strong now, it was not absolute. He had the confidence to survive against a divinity, but only that. None of his conduits could survive fighting a divinity. He wanted to find a method that allowed him to survive in a head-on confrontation, even for a few minutes would be fine.
He sat in the main hall of the Nine Heavens Palace for three years. He only stopped because his youngest disciple, Ming Xingyun wanted to see him.
“Master, I hope to leave for a while,” Ming Xingyun said, kneeling on one knee.
Ming Xingyun still looked delicate and petite, but hanging on her back was an absolutely gigantic sword that contrasted against her image. Although time left no marks on her face, there was a trace of age in her eyes that revealed the vicissitudes of life.
Tianyi didn’t immediately answer. Instead, his gaze covered the entire Nine Heavens Peak. With his current insight into the Law of Spacetime, he could see traces of those with strength below him. In his eyes, he saw Ming Xingyun’s life in the past few years.
He instantly figured out the reason for his disciple’s visit. Ming Xingyun did nothing but accompany her sister, Ming Yayun, for the past few decades. Ming Xingyun could become immortal because she had the potential and Tianyi’s support. Even if she failed her Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation, Tianyi could just pull her into his inner universe. She could never appear in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System again, but her life would be saved.
The only reason Ming Yayun reached the venerable level was because of the sheer amount of resources poured into her. It might not be enough to turn a genius into a true immortal, but it was enough to turn a genius into a top saint. Still, no matter how strong a mortal was, their lifespan would end at three thousand and six hundred years unless they entered the Immortal Realm.
The same could not be said for the Nine Heavens Universe. Tianyi could transport her into his inner universe, where he could take off the three thousand and six hundred years lifespan limit, but Ming Yayun rejected it. One part was because she did not want to leave a bad impression and harm her sister, but she had another reason.
Ming Yayun grew weary of life. Although she was a servant, that was only in name. Her life of luxury exceeded that of mortal emperors. After experiencing everything in life, she had no more expectations. Part of the reason was due to her lacking willpower, but that was also another talent needed to become a true immortal.
If a true immortal lacked willpower and died in a few thousand years, what’s the point of the Immortal Court training them with vast amounts of resources?
“I understand,” Tianyi said without asking Ming Xingyun to elaborate. He raised a palm, and the spacetime above it distorted before condensing into a tiny bead. The bead drifted forward and stopped in front of Ming Xingyun. “Take it. Once used, the area within a hundred meters will remain unchanged for at least a thousand years. Even if you bury her in a mountain and it collapses, the hundred meters would remain in the exact same spot. Of course, if someone deliberately destroys it, the spacetime shackle will fail.”
Ming Xingyun’s shoulders trembled. “Thank you, Master.”
After bidding goodbye, Ming Xingyun took her sister’s corpse and left the Immortal Court. She wanted to bury Ming Yayun where she was born. When Tianyi upgraded the Huang Realm to the Primordial Realm, he had only merged ninety-nine realms and merged Heaven Continent and Earth Continent into one, meaning that the land remained mostly the same. So, the two sisters’ birthplace still existed. A few thousand years was far from enough for it to change noticeably.
Accompanying Ming Xingyun were the members of the Ming Clan. Ming Xingyun remained unmarried, but Ming Yayun did not. After a few thousand years, their numbers reached over a few thousand. Unlike Ming Yayun, they stayed outside of the Immortal Court.
Ming Yayun’s husband was a servant-disciple of the Immortal Court. Thanks to his relationship with Ming Yayun, he also received a large amount of resources from his sister-in-law, allowing him to become a venerable, but he died earlier than his wife. After the two’s child reached adulthood, he had to leave the headquarters of the Immortal Court.
To this day, no clan member showed enough talent to join the Immortal Court. But thanks to their connection to Ming Xingyun, few forces or factions would make things difficult for them as long as they did not cross the line.
***
Tianyi sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Daoyi asked. She was sitting across from him, testing a few notes on her guqin, the Nine Nether Notes Guqin. The two weren’t in the Primordial Realm, but in Shangri-La.
“My disciple’s sister died,” Tianyi said and explained.
Daoyi nodded. “There’s no need to feel sorry for her. It’s already amazing that she could live for over three thousand years. How many mortals wished to be able to live so long, yet aren’t able to? She also lived a life of luxury without much worries. Her life can be said to be perfect except for her early years.”
“I’m not saddened by her death. I’m just lamenting the cruelty of time. Ming Yayun won’t be the first person I know that will die of old age, nor will she be the last. Elder Fanli, the master of Xi Ri, has already returned to dust. Even the people of our generation, Wei Daying, Heng Huesheng, and Ji Shuye, died. Some earlier than others because they failed their Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation or perished in the war against the Eight Pillars Sect.”
“That’s life,” Daoyi said, as she played a few notes, making the atmosphere more melancholic. “By the way, did you hear a rumor about me?”
“Rumor?”
“Yeah, they say that I’m keeping a lover behind the great Nine Heavens Emperor’s back,” Daoyi said, hiding a smile behind her sleeve.
“Hah?” It took Tianyi a few seconds to process what Daoyi said.
“According to rumors, my secret lover stays in my room and never leaves when there are people. Some suspect it’s Ba Shifang or a young hero from the Numinous Sword Sect. Your admirers are up in arms because of the rumor, either disdaining the rumor or glaring at me. Some even went to report it, hoping to alert you,” Daoyi continued.
Tianyi’s lips twitched. He knew the rumors were describing him. To hide his presence, he rarely left Daoyi’s room, but for extra security, he also changed his aura and appearance. Only, he never expected that rumors of his wife’s infidelity would spring up because of it.
“Moving on,” Tianyi said, desperate to change the topic. Although he knew Daoyi wasn’t cheating on him, he didn’t like to hear such rumors. Still, Tianyi kept a record. Once he found out who spread such a rumor, he would make sure to reward them as they deserved. “I told you about my encounter with the Sūryaḥ Buddha and his technique, right?”
Daoyi nodded. “You did.”
“Recently, I made some progress in controlling the flames. My Law of Fire has improved and so has my Law of Five Phases, just not as much,” Tianyi said. Then, he raised a finger and a small ember appeared above his fingertips. “I can extract a tiny portion without letting it run out of control. How is it, do you have any insights on … it?”
“Daoyi?” Tianyi called out. Had he not been able to sense her unperturbed soul, he would have wondered if he accidentally infected Daoyi with the flame. Instead, she was staring at the ember at the tip of his finger in a daze. He recognized the look, it was the look of enlightenment.
Several hours passed with Daoyi still in the same state. During that time, someone knocked on the door and Tianyi had to answer. He told them that she was currently in a critical period of her cultivation and could not attend to any matters. Of course, he changed his voice to emulate Daoyi in order to avoid suspicion and not feed the rumor mill.
Tianyi dared to proclaim that his mimicry skills were unmatched. If his personality was suited and he had the acting abilities, he would have made for a perfect spy.
Three days later, Daoyi’s aura surged. Tianyi didn’t do anything to block it and allowed her aura to flow past the doors. It wasn’t a bad thing.
Daoyi blinked and regained clarity in her eyes. A small smile graced her lips. “Finally. I’ve become a second-step monarch.”
Thanks to her heavenly water spiritual root, the Law of Water was the easiest for her to comprehend. Because she had been focusing on merging the Law of Death and the Law of Life, she didn’t place much focus on the Law of Water. After becoming an immortal monarch, she spent a few decades mastering fifty percent of the Law of Water and became a first-step monarch.
She raised a single finger, mimicking Tianyi’s actions. A second later, a ghastly blue flame appeared above her fingers. It emitted an eerie note and a frightful glow.
Tianyi stared at Daoyi’s flame while he released his own. He sensed some characteristics of the Sūryaḥ Buddha’s flame’s in the ghastly flame. With a glance, he could tell that the flame was a soul method and not a normal spell. It should be able to cling onto its target and burn the target’s soul using their soul essence as fuel. As for the burning effect and heat, they were merely secondary. It was like the opposite of the Sūryaḥ Buddha’s flame.
“Is that what you realized from the Sūryaḥ Buddha’s flame?” Tianyi asked.
Daoyi nodded. “Let’s tentatively name it Will-o-Wisp for now.”
Afterward, Daoyi explained the principles behind her technique. Although it couldn’t decode the Sūryaḥ Buddha’s flame, it expedited Tianyi’s speed in dealing with the divine fire. In the next few years, Tianyi continued to discuss with Daoyi about the divine fire once he had any insights. The Sūryaḥ Buddha’s flame was primarily yang, and Daoyi was more talented in yin, but yin and yang were just two sides of a whole.
Tianyi also found Yan Nie to discuss the divine fire. He only did this after he was confident in his control over the flame. Daoyi was a soul immortal, so she had a high resistance to soul methods, but Yan Nie was not. So, Tianyi delayed it to be safe.
Yan Nie benefited immensely from the discussion and research on the Sūryaḥ Buddha’s flame. Tianyi didn’t benefit as much, but it still helped him. In total, he spent thirteen years removing the divine fire from his consciousness.
Yes, remove. After he eliminated ninety-eight percent of it, he extracted the remaining two percent and sealed it. Although it was dangerous, fire at the divine level was too rare.
After solving the trouble from Sūryaḥ Buddha’s flame and tempering his willpower, Tianyi focused on his main agenda. Increasing his strength as much as possible before the final battle. His comprehension of the worldly laws was almost always increasing at a steady rate, and expecting him to suddenly gain enlightenment was foolhardy.
So, he could only use other avenues.
Comments
KaiserBlak
yes
Duy
Wait just for clarification, Xingyun is alrdy an immortal right? Cause her sister is only 10 years older than her at most, and she’s dead alrdy that make xingyun nearing the 3000 years max lifespan of a mortal. So she must be an immortal now
Duy
Tftc
