Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Ascension (2)
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The ascension procession advanced eastward at a rapid pace.
After traveling along the Grand Canal shrouded in a concealment barrier for some time, they finally reached the coastal region.
They needed to rendezvous with the merfolk before venturing into the open sea.
Damcheong, sipping honey tea, spoke to Seoran.
“I’ll go fetch the merfolk now.”
“Are you going alone? Why not take Senior Brother Deng with you?”
“It’s fine. It’s not some particularly difficult spell.”
With that, Damcheong stepped out of the Shiksan Daepung.
Immediately, a fierce gale whipped up.
Damcheong revealed his true form.
Scales that glittered in the sunlight, the yeouiju beneath his chin, and his left horn broken off at the base.
Aside from having just the one horn, it was a dragon straight out of a painting.
Its size, however, was rather modest.
Though they had known each other for quite some time, this was the first time Seoran had laid eyes on Damcheong’s true appearance.
It was worlds apart from the sky-obscuring majesty of the Poison-Eyed Dragon.
Now she fully understood why the previous Dragon God had called Damcheong a young dragon.
Damcheong busied himself twisting his body this way and that.
He seemed unaccustomed to his true form after such a long time.
A moment later, now somewhat adjusted to his draconic shape, he plunged into the sea.
Seoran turned to Senior Brother Deng beside her.
“Do dragons naturally have such big differences in size among their kind?”
“Fitting for an immortal species, it’s proportional to age. Some True Immortal Realm dragons are said to influence the tides just by revealing their true forms.”
“Oh...”
To affect the natural world simply by existing.
They were essentially celestial bodies of flesh and blood.
A gasp of admiration escaped her lips.
Seoran closed her eyes and let her imagination wander.
She pictured herself, having transcended all limits to become a cosmic entity, playing marbles with planets.
Pointless, but it passed the time nicely.
In the meantime, Damcheong returned.
He clutched a now much shrunken Dragon Palace tightly to his chest.
To carry an entire species on ascension—glory to the dharma treasures.
After merging with the merfolk, the flying fleet accelerated in earnest.
The winds dared not bar the path of the Incarnation Cultivators and the dragon, parting in haste.
Their several-month odyssey continued.
In early winter, the group arrived at the world’s center.
Just then, the Ascension Gate yawned wide.
They had adjusted their flight speed along the way by observing the heavenly omens.
As the Nether Realm’s entrance sealed shut, draconic vapors surged skyward.
Seoran and Damcheong swiftly climbed atop it.
The irresistible current lifted the entire flying fleet toward the Ascension Gate.
A cloud path laden with Heavenly Tribulation awaited the ascension procession.
Seoran conjured a barrier against the dimensional pressure.
An amorphous Dharma Fire Barrier enveloped the group.
Through the cloud path, pitch-black void glimmered faintly.
Seoran cast a final glance at the ground below.
The Nether Realm’s firmly sealed entrance met her eyes.
A sudden insight flashed through her mind.
Could the great rift in the Great Forest’s depths have been modeled after the Nether Realm’s entrance?
They plunged into the Ascension Gate before the thought concluded.
*****
Immense dimensional pressure battered the Dharma Fire Barrier.
Shouldering two major sects for ascension placed unimaginable strain on it.
No ordinary Incarnation Cultivator could have endured.
Seoran’s golden core thrummed.
Five-colored primal dharma power fueled the barrier.
The dharma flames cradling the flying fleet blazed fiercer, defying the pressure.
A clash unfolded between the Dharma Fire Barrier and the dimensional pressure.
Naturally, Seoran emerged victorious.
The opposing forces gradually balanced.
With breathing room, Seoran surveyed her surroundings.
Damcheong grunted, shrouded in five-colored mists.
Then, seizing the knack, his barrier expanded rapidly.
Stabilization seemed imminent.
Seoran’s gaze shifted to her companion.
Senior Brother Deng shared the control room with her.
She meant to ask about ascension.
But she didn’t get the chance.
Senior Brother Deng’s gem-forged eyes stared into the distance.
He was sightseeing the exterior via the Shiksan Daepung’s real-time shared vision.
Only then did Seoran truly grasp that Senior Brother Deng hailed from the Immortal Realm.
Even she, who seemed omniscient save for her own history, had uncharted realms.
Senior Brother Deng was entranced by the universe’s form, a first for him.
Seoran swallowed her words.
She didn’t wish to disturb him.
Instead, she took in the cosmos.
The Heaven-Gazing Eyes revealed a universe not dark or void, but radiant in every hue.
Varied stars and interstellar matter accounted for it.
It felt like beholding an artist’s palette post-masterpiece.
Most striking among them was the void current bearing Seoran’s group.
Similar currents tangled like veins, blanketing the cosmos.
Their complexity ensured eternal wandering without reading the heavenly omens.
Seoran regarded Damcheong.
He had stabilized his barrier by now.
With his left horn broken, he couldn’t read the omens—easy prey for cosmic drift.
Via Mind Transmission Art, Seoran said.
“Damcheong, shall we pick up the pace?”
“Let’s.”
“Stay close behind me.”
The group accelerated steadily.
Forks abounded—up, down, left, right.
Yet the Heaven-Gazing Eyes charted the Immortal Realm path clearly, banishing all fear of loss.
Pressing on, a vast funnel vortex tunnel appeared.
They spiraled inside, emerging in a blink to spy the Immortal Realm afar.
Seoran said.
“Damcheong, look! The Immortal Realm!”
“Vast indeed!”
“We’re almost there!”
They hurtled through the void passage.
Time ticked by, yet arrival eluded them.
Approach only swelled the planet larger.
Senior Brother Deng pointed somewhere.
“Oh, look there.”
Seoran and Damcheong turned.
Their eyes met another spacefarer’s.
That group appeared mid-sect ascension too.
Damcheong said.
“You mentioned one Immortal Realm, many lower realms? They’re bound for it like us. What a coincidence—ascensions overlapping.”
Senior Brother Deng said.
“The Immortal Realm, Nether Realm, and countless lower realms together form the Three Thousand Worlds. Such encounters mid-ascension are commonplace. You’ll see more the nearer we draw.”
Seoran, focused on navigation, said.
“Their flow merges with ours at the fork ahead. Passage too narrow for side-by-side. We yield?”
Seoran’s group slowed to yield.
Yet relative speeds held steady.
The others had matched them.
Damcheong said.
“They’re yielding. Let’s pass quickly.”
Seoran’s group sped up.
Relative speeds unchanged once more.
Perfectly coordinated.
Observing, Senior Brother Deng said.
“To avoid mix-ups, halt fully.”
Seoran’s group braked sharply.
Fleeting glances flew between groups.
The other fleet accelerated.
The yielding dance concluded.
Both passed the merge unscathed.
The lead procession’s tail blinked lanterns in thanks.
Soon, both entered the Immortal Realm’s sphere.
*****
Senior Brother Deng was spot on.
Ascension processions multiplied nearer the planet.
Dizzying arrays of ascenders.
Seoran’s Heaven-Gazing Eyes caught irregularity.
The singular path splintered into thousands, tens of thousands.
Light streams lanced toward Immortal Realm locales.
Seoran divined the import.
“Ascension success, it seems. Land anywhere now? Suggestions?”
Senior Brother Deng urged.
“North. That direction.”
“North? Why?”
“No time. En route.”
Seoran complied.
In swift currents, she veered at forks.
Most processions plummeted central.
Entering a lone northern path, Senior Brother Deng explained.
“The Immortal Realm divides into ten districts: Jia-Yi, Bing-Ding, Wu-Ji, Geng-Xin, Ren-Gui. Paired adjacents align with directions, colors, five elements. Ren-Gui signifies north, black, water. Ideal for Damcheong, merfolk, Black Bamboo Sect’s affinities. Dragons abound nearby too.”
“Ah, so north over central like the rest?”
“Central’s insane land prices factored in. Most central descenders will flee peripheries soon.”
Seoran nodded firmly.
Land costs—relatable.
The fleet descended gradually.
Emerging under clouds, dense heaven-earth spiritual energy greeted them.
Mortal-to-Immortal gap rivaled rainy humidity to underwater.
Pure influx stretched Seoran’s lifespan to four millennia.
Shocked by instant doubling, Seoran eyed Senior Brother Deng—shocked anew.
Immortal Realm allowed unconscious ascent to Incarnation Realm—truth.
Motionless, he forged his golden core.
Seoran’s guard surged.
Recall: prior foe Deng existed origin-soul only, coreless, bodiless.
Instant core-forging sans reaction lent credence to near-True Immortal claims.
Sensing her stare, Senior Brother Deng said.
“No need for such wariness. It’s frightening.”
“Frightening?”
“Cloud Mist cultivator slaying a three-star spirit dragon—how not fear? Naturally. Eyes on Damcheong, please?”
Seoran glanced at trailing Damcheong.
Nearby spiritual energy gorged his spirit core’s three stars, rousing from slumber.
Damcheong’s true Supreme Star Realm dawning.
Five-colored mists pulsing ’round one-horned whelp—majestic.
Witnessing it, Senior Brother Deng said.
“Nearly complete. Time to land.”
Blue sea sprawled below.
Scouting, they picked an island chain for settlement.
Dragon Palace bedded nearby seafloor.
Black Bamboo Sect and Goldcraft Sect folk disembarked post-months; merfolk stirred from torpor.
Humans and merfolk bustled, erecting settlement.
Ascension ships dismantled, reborn as homes.
Gazing at lively worksite, Seoran asked.
“What now?”
Senior Brother Deng replied.
“To the bureau. Register unclaimed land claim.”