Chapter 91

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Chapter 91: Ascending!

The pain started to burrow into every inch of skin, not missing a single bit, even causing the soul to shiver.

However, Wen Yun stood firm on the half-yard wide green stone at the peak, never once stepping back, tightly pressing her lips, frowning, standing straight like a green pine or bamboo.

If one got closer, they would notice that she was trembling all over, her face pale like gold paper, her white clothes soaked through with fresh blood.

Yet, she remained with her back to everyone, refusing to turn around.

From clear skies to dusk, the mountains near The Tenth Peak were empty, even the usually noisy crows frightened away by thunder, the color of the cloud above thickening, like a dark ink blot, moonlight and starlight blocked out, only occasional flashes of golden-purple lightning illuminating the sky, casting a heroic glow on the slender figure.

Pain, but she had to endure.

This was her trial of ascension, and also her opportunity for ascension.

The little fire dragon beside her was spinning anxiously, watching Wen Yun with closed eyes, feeling both heartache and reluctance to approach, repeatedly asking, "Can I sing you a song to distract you? Or should I perform a tail dance for you?"

In the past, Wen Yun would have playfully made it sing and dance by now.

Unfortunately, Wen Yun couldn’t lose focus at this moment, as nobody knew when the dreadful thunder would strike. She had to stay alert and be prepared.

While the little dragon was scratching its head anxiously, another thunder fell.

Startled, it asked Su Yuan in a rush, "How many now? Ninety thunders?"

Wen Yun stood her ground, while Immortal Su Yuan took a few staggered steps back, releasing a long breath with barely contained joy, too happy to speak.

The little dragon forgot to count, its only concern was for Wen Yun to endure past the ninetieth thunder and finish quickly, impatiently flapping its big wings.

Finally, a slender white hand gently patted its wing tip.

Ye Shubai’s gaze was still fixed on the nearby girl, his voice slightly hoarse.

"It’s the ninety-first thunder."

The lightning she endured surpassed Immortal Su Yuan, and most of the "geniuses" above.

However, Wen Yun still had no intention to give up.

She vaguely understood the meaning behind Immortal Su Yuan’s words, "the lightning trial is fate."

As the lightning struck into her body, it stirred up the power of heaven and earth within her, cleansing her body of impurities and old injuries. After enduring a hundred bolts of lightning, Wen Yun felt her body renewed, as if ready to merge with the world at any moment.

The new lightning no longer tempered her body, instead, it began to refine her soul!

The pain of the soul far exceeded the physical body, that’s why even Shang Wuyang from Dongxuan Sect couldn’t withstand more than a hundred and one bolts of lightning.

Yet, Wen Yun let out a sigh of relief.

Great, the torment of her soul was what she feared the least.

After all, a woman bold enough to dare learning any magic, even dabbling in forbidden curses, had endured occasional mental backlash in her few centuries of magical studies. Though her soul didn’t become stronger because of it, she gradually became accustomed to the pain.

Never expected, this habit now comes in handy!

In the gap before another thunder strike, she closed her eyes and listened. It was silent around her, but she could faintly hear the clear sound of dew dropping on the grass, as well as the cackling sound of a chicken laying eggs on The Second Peak a hundred miles away, and could even smell the various fragrances of cosmetics coming from the Sixth Peak…

Every time she was struck by a thunder, she felt her control over this world increase by a bit, although painful, she was indeed finding joy in it.

Not perishing in suffering, but transforming in suffering!

Charmander looked at Wen Yun with a strange look in his eyes, "Did I see it wrong? Why is she still smiling? Could she have been struck silly?"

Ye Shubai, "You didn’t see it wrong."

Even Immortal Su Yuan was surprised, hesitating, "She has already endured it a hundred times, is she really okay?"

Wen Yun knew better than anyone else about her condition and how long she could endure.

When her spirit was on the verge of disintegrating, she finally let out a sigh, reluctantly pulled the corners of her mouth, trying to smile but couldn’t.

One hundred and twenty-two thunderbolts.

At this moment, Wen Yun surprisingly also drifted away in her thoughts, jokingly thinking, this is really not a very pleasant number.

But it’s time to end, this is already her limit.

As she made this decision, the calamity cloud that had been hanging over the sky for half a year seemed to gradually dissipate with a spiritual touch. In that instant when the sunlight shone through, a golden light fell in front of the young girl from the sky, paving a path to ascension.

It was dawn, with the world quiet and peaceful. The little gray sparrow who had been away from home for a long time fluttered back to its nest on The Tenth Peak, the frost on the branches condensed, and after the terrible thunder had gone, everything returned to normal.

Wen Yun turned back, took a glance at the few people who had accompanied her for several days, then looked down at The Tenth Peak, to the various peaks of the Qingliu Sword Sect, and finally gazed at the vast four continents.

All the sword cultivators of the Qingliu Sword Sect held their swords solemnly at the mountain gate, bowing deeply.

Across the four continents, all the cultivators who were watching this direction also bowed deeply!

"Send Ancestral Master Wen on the path to ascension!"

"Taoist Friend Wen ascended to the immortal path!"

The girl looked around, her gaze eventually settling on a small courtyard, a faint look of bitter smile on her face.

Wen Yun withdrew her gaze, solemnly bowed to the surroundings, and finally embarked on the path of ascension.

She left very quietly, on that peaceful morning.

It seemed like just an ordinary dawn, she was just going up to practice sword in the morning.

As dusk approached, the girl would confidently return with a blunt, oddly-shaped wooden sword in hand.

As the last shred of golden light faded, the group of sword cultivators in the courtyard slowly sat up straight. Although no one seemed drunk, their eyes were red, their expressions melancholic.

Xu Wanfeng held his cup, unable to look up, "Have they all left?"

"Yes, they have all left."

Upon hearing this answer, Bai Yushan hugged his giant sword, choked up, and called out "Master" with a hoarse voice, silently shedding tears.

The courtyard returned to silence once again, until Mengran accidentally knocked over a wine glass, making some noise.

Without any help, she sat stiffly on the stone bench, speaking in a voice as soft as a sigh, "Martial Sister Wen and Ancestral Master Ye have left, perhaps we will never see them again in this lifetime, right?"

Zhu Erchong retorted firmly, "Martial Sister Wen said she would come back!"

As soon as he said it, he felt his tone was too harsh, so he lowered his head and softly apologized, then explained earnestly, "She said that once her cultivation reaches a higher level where she’s no longer afraid of the celestial beings from the upper realms, she will come back. Besides, we can also ascend."

Bao Pilong chimed in, "Exactly, we cultivators stand tall and firm, why be so tearful when saying goodbye?"

"Younger martial sister has paved the way to immortality for us, how can we betray her by idling around? Let’s not look back, just keep moving forward, not only do we need to move forward, but we must also lead all the cultivators of the Four Continents out of this realm!"

With Yue Xingzhou’s words, Zhu Erchong’s initial disappointment turned into admiration right away. He raised his wine glass admiringly, saying, "Indeed, Brother Yue, your vision and breadth of mind…"

Before he could finish speaking, Yue Xingzhou reminded him expressionlessly, "Zhu Erchong, I am your ancestor."

"I thought since we’ve been practicing together for so long, it’s okay to call you senior brother, right?"

"It’s not okay, Zhu Junior Brother."

…

She finally ascended and left.

Everything that had happened seemed like a distant dream, whether looking back on the steps or recalling past events in the sea. It didn’t seem like much time had passed, but it felt like a long, blurry story now.

Before that, his youthful ambition was only to achieve Golden Core, wield his sword, and travel the world as a righteous sword cultivator.

Looking back now, achieving Golden Core was not as impressive as he thought. The world was vast, and the path of cultivation was not easy, it was going against the natural order!

Shen Xinghai stood up silently, gazing at the sky before picking up his firestick and heading off to practice without saying a word.

"Junior Brother Shen, wait for me! I will ascend before all of you!"

"Don’t worry, I’m going to fly up and find Martial Sister Wen to establish the Qingliu Sword Sect in the upper world. Then you will be our ancestors…"

Maybe they were born with a lively and cheerful personality deep down, or maybe they just didn’t want to bring up the parting. The sword cultivators all shook off their hesitations, picked up their swords and sticks, and chased after them.

As the sky grew brighter, with swords flashing, it seemed like just an ordinary dawn.

It was just missing two people for now.

*

It turns out that the "sky" is like heavy iron armor, like a piece of easily torn paper.

When Wen Yun’s power of heaven and earth touched that invisible barrier, it was like sunlight on snow, quickly dissolving the layer of restriction that prevented cultivation realm from ascending.

After Wen Yun and her companions left, it slowly closed again, enclosing the sky in captivity once more.

Before her eyes was a dazzling light. When the golden light faded, Wen Yun and the others found themselves plunged into endless darkness.

Wen Yun slowly opened her eyes, and after seeing the scene in front of her clearly, her breath slightly paused.

In the darkness, countless points of light, varying in size and brightness, appeared. The realm of cultivation behind her also became smaller and smaller. At this moment, Wen Yun was facing the vast sky, scattered with billions of burning stars. Now, they were standing on a land that seemed both real and unreal, where not a single blade of grass grew, and there was no sign of any life.

Ascending through the shattered void might be a glorious feat in the eyes of many cultivators, but Wen Yun, at this moment, felt nervous and remained on guard, instinctively raising her wand in preparation for battle.

The only relief was that she had thought they would encounter many cultivators from Dongxuan World as soon as they arrived. However, the black land was eerily silent, without a single soul in sight.

Ye Shubai sighed softly, "It is only after ascending that one truly understands how insignificant we are in the vast universe."

Wen Yun nodded in agreement, tightly holding his hand, enveloping him with her own source of power, unwilling to let go.

He slightly turned his head, his clear and cold eyes fixed on her face like faint ink.

"Did I hurt you?" Wen Yun looked back at him, softly explaining, "I…I was worried that you might end up in some unfamiliar world."

She couldn’t shake the feeling that this vast black land was eerily similar to the chaotic currents of space, reminding her of the ordeal she had endured when she was severely wounded inside it, fearing that Ye Shubai might go through the same.

She let go with a sigh.

But Ye Shubai reacted faster than her, turning around to hold her small hand in his large palm.

He felt uncomfortable meeting her surprised gaze, so he awkwardly turned his face away, but managed to keep calm with his soothing voice.

"It doesn’t hurt."

Wen Yun didn’t think much about it; as long as it didn’t hurt, she could protect him with a clear conscience.

Immortal Su Yuan glanced at the cautious disciples, grinned, but quickly became serious again about the matter at hand.

"Each light spot represents a different world, but this area is all in the lower realm, a desolate place where beings cannot cultivate or survive. Few from the upper realm venture here. I myself stumbled here to escape for my life, without any magical assistance, enduring for more than three hundred years."

"The surrounding realms are all abandoned by Dongxuan World, so logically, they shouldn’t discover the two of you for a while."

Before Wen Yun could relax, Immortal Su Yuan let out a long sigh, "But I didn’t expect Little Yun girl to defy all logic and survive the numerous sky thunders! The commotion when you ascended was likely to have alerted Dongxuan World long ago!"

Immortal Su Yuan looked at Wen Yun with a complicated expression, remembering the shocking number that caused a hidden pain in his chest.

One hundred and twenty-two!

Who would believe it?

He thought he was exceptionally talented even in the upper realm, but facing Wen Yun, he felt the passage of time aging him, overwhelmed by the sense of defeat of being completely surpassed by the younger generation.

"We must quickly escape to another upper realm to hide, otherwise if they catch up, we might perish here."

Wen Yun, "Actually, there’s no need to be in such a hurry."

She coughed lightly, slightly embarrassed as she added, "To descend from the Dongxuan World to the cultivation realm, they must pass through the Dark Heaven Secret Realm, right? After observing for a while, I found a teleportation array inside and destroyed it with spatial rules before ascending. So, even if they want to come, they can only fly slowly over."

Senior Su Yuan had no magic treasures, so it took him three hundred years to arrive, showing the vast distance between the two realms. The others from Dongxuan World must have high-level magic treasures and still need three to five days, right?

Sorry, she had already run far away.

Immortal Su Yuan’s hand trembled as if his beard was nearly pulled out.

He looked at Wen Yun with a complicated expression and said, "Your way of doing things doesn’t seem quite like a sword cultivator’s."

Sword cultivators are known for being straightforward and not using sneaky methods.

In other words, they may not be very clever and focus all their intelligence on sword fighting, often being outsmarted in other matters.

Wen Yun modestly replied with a smile, "Oh, I’m just good at using some sneaky tricks to escape."

After all, she had plenty of experience in running away!

Immortal Su Yuan remarked, "You sound humble, but your smile seems a bit too smug."

Wen Yun chuckled, "Oh, I’m actually quite proud in my tone too."

The banter between the old and the young dispersed some of the tension from being chased.

Wen Yun pulled Ye Shubai along, heading towards a certain realm under the guidance of Immortal Su Yuan.

However, Ye Shubai lowered his eyes, seeming a bit distracted.

For some reason, since breaking free from the constraints of the world’s creation, he vaguely felt…

Someone was watching him.

*

In the eastern part of numerous realms, there was Dongxuan World.

The Dongxuan Sect’s Daoist tradition had existed for tens of thousands of years, establishing a school that had become increasingly prosperous within the past thousand years, producing many exceptional talents.

Deep in the lush mountains and forests was a towering black mountain, where a man in dark robes knelt quietly in front of a steep cliff.

Someone behind him whispered, "Martial Uncle Zu, the Sect Leader requests your presence in the main hall for a discussion, mentioning an unusually strong disturbance in a lower realm."

However, the man ignored everything, absentmindedly caressing the sword in his hand with gentle and slow movements.

He only looked down at the sword on his knee, saying coldly, "My swordsmanship has not yet reached perfection."

At that moment, the tip of the sword suddenly rang clear.

The man raised his head, and his calm eyes finally showed a slight ripple, a fleeting sense of something different.

"Finally, you have returned."