Chapter 338
Chapter 338
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [Unknown]
Chapter Title: The Severed Tribulation and Ascension Realms
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Tribulation Transcendence Realm and Ascension Realm—were they cut off by the True King?
Chen Shi's mind buzzed. He had long ago noticed that the techniques from the True King Tomb differed greatly from those of the outside world. The True King Tomb techniques lacked the four realms of Divine Shrine, Divine Embryo, God Descent, and Void Refining, but included the two additional realms of Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension!
He had once speculated that the decline of the True King's era led to a break in civilization. Many techniques were lost or suffered major damage that later generations couldn't bridge, particularly for Tribulation Transcendence Realm and Ascension Realm. As a result, they had no choice but to borrow power from the True Gods.
But what he hadn't expected was that these two realms—Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension—had been personally severed by the True King himself. Were Yang Bi's words certainly the truth? Or was Yang Bi simply deceiving him?
He hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself, *It's also possible that the information Yang Bi obtained was fake news deliberately spread by his enemies.*
Yang Bi continued, "The True King severed Tribulation Transcendence Realm and Ascension Realm, and added the four realms of Divine Shrine, Divine Embryo, God Descent, and Void Refining. Daoism on West Ox New Continent regressed dramatically, and later came a catastrophe that destroyed the True King era..."
"Wait a moment!"
Chen Shi couldn't help interjecting.
"Young Master Hu, why did the True King sever the two great realms of Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension? And why add the four realms like Divine Shrine and Divine Embryo?"
Yang Bi replied, "Our ancestor said that the True King made a trip to Despair Slope and, upon his return, issued an order to seal off immortality. He cut the two great realms of Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension.
"Our ancestor also said that in the late True King era, some incomprehensible events occurred. People dug up some rather unpleasant things from the imperial capital, causing massive pollution. Afterward, a calamity-level disaster erupted.
"The True King's sealing of immortality and severing of the realms was related not only to Despair Slope but most likely also to those incomprehensible things."
Chen Shi's heart stirred slightly. He had heard rumors about the True King relocating the capital. Legend held that the True King's first capital was in New Village, which was called the Imperial Capital at the time.
Later, it moved to Bath Capital, and after that to West Capital.
"According to the ancient records of my Yang family, the True King relocated the capital about four times, and all four were tied to catastrophes," Yang Bi said. "A hundred li breeds demons, a thousand li breeds disasters, ten thousand li breeds calamities.
"These four calamitous events inevitably caused immense destruction, forcing the True King to migrate from the east coast all the way to the west coast.
"After the heavenly transformation, the True King severed the two great realms of Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension to cope with it."
Chen Shi frowned slightly.
Much of what Yang Bi said didn't add up—for instance, why would a trip to Despair Slope compel the True King to sever two great realms and add the four realms of Divine Shrine and Divine Embryo?
Why did the True King seal off immortality, leaving no immortals in the world?
However, since the True King himself never explained, Yang family's ancestor knew little about his trip to Despair Slope, and Yang Bi naturally knew even less.
"Could Young Master Hu say more about the True King sealing off immortality?" Chen Shi asked.
Yang Bi shook his head.
"Our ancestor only mentioned that the True King sealed off immortality but didn't specify how it was done."
He glanced at the white-clothed female immortal sitting under the willow tree beside Chen Shi. His expression shifted slightly, but he said nothing more and continued, "Our ancestor said that the downfall of the True King era made him realize the True King had made a mistake.
"The True King should not have sealed off immortality or severed the two realms of Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension. The True King was too weak and timid in the face of Despair Slope.
"This action left him with no power to resist when Despair Slope struck West Ox New Continent! That glorious era collapsed overnight. The gods from Huaxia were wiped out one after another, trapping the Great Ming's people on this isolated island of West Ox New Continent.
"The True King is a sinner!"
As he spoke these words, a surge of anger welled up in his heart as well.
Chen Shi wanted to speak but ultimately decided to listen quietly as he continued.
"The ancestors of our thirteen families personally witnessed the destruction of the True King era. At that time, their power was insufficient, so they could only watch helplessly as the True King was assassinated. They had no choice but to compromise.
"But that upheaval also led the ancestors of the thirteen families to resolve to accumulate power and never be as weak as the True King.
"We—the thirteen families that have produced cabinet chief ministers—decided to seize all power and grow strong in secret!"
Yang Bi declared, "The thirteen families first sought to control the power of the yang world. Then, from the yang world to the yin world, we seized control of the yin world's power as well. We condensed the incense offerings of the entire world to gain the strength to contend with Despair Slope and the True Gods beyond the heavens!"
"For six thousand years, the successive sect masters of the thirteen families—all Still Void and Great Vehicle cultivators—have contributed their Void Great Realms. Before their deaths, they all contributed their Void Great Realms to build the Realm Upon the Realms."
"The Realm Upon the Realms is the primordial spirit world crafted by our thirteen families, a place to accumulate power.
"They devised a comprehensive and detailed plan, amassing power for five thousand years. Fifteen hundred years ago, they finally decided to make their move on the underworld.
"Our thirteen families gradually devoured the power of the Ten Temple Yama Kings, dismantling the underworld's judges, yin masters, and officials, replacing them with our own people. To this day, all Ten Temple Yama Kings have fallen into our hands."
"The thirteen ancestors calculated that the heavenly transformation would reach its most intense point when the True Gods were at their weakest. That would also be when Despair Slope was at its weakest—the perfect time for us to strike."
Yang Bi fell silent for a moment before saying, "Chen Shi, the deeds of our thirteen families may not be glorious, and we have indeed committed many evils. But we do it all to restore the True King's golden age! Whether supporting the young masters or seizing the positions of the Ten Yama Kings in the underworld, it is all in pursuit of that goal!"
Chen Shi replied, "What do you mean the thirteen families have merely done evil? You treat the world as your private plaything and all living beings as mere grass. You have already become thirteen colossal evils.
"Everything you do is only to bolster your own strength.
"Even if you win, you'll just crown yourselves kings—what does that have to do with the common people?"
Yang Bi pondered for a moment before replying, "Chen Shi, you're right. The thirteen families do indeed harbor great selfish ambitions.
"After using the heavenly transformation as an opportunity to eradicate Despair Slope, we will surely descend into infighting over power and the True King's throne.
"But before then, I will unite the thirteen families."
He rose to his feet and looked at Blackie Pot playing nearby, a smile crossing his face.
"Chen Shi, I will convince the thirteen families to stop bothering you all. Let the Qingtian Great Lord stay here on this yellow earth slope, living quietly as a carefree little girl. Chen Shi, don't interfere in underworld affairs anymore."
He gazed all around and laughed.
"This place is truly wonderful—mountains and rivers, the True King Tomb right here, and the former imperial capital nearby.
"When the heavenly transformation arrives and West Ox New Continent falls into eternal night without day, I will marshal the thirteen families' power for a decisive battle with Despair Slope. In the future, if we triumph, I will return to this yellow earth slope and cut you rebels down to the root, slaughtering you all.
From the darkness came Blackie Pot's uneasy growl, full of threat. Yang Bi paid it no mind and walked down the slope.
Chen Shi's voice came from behind him.
"Young Master Hu, what if the thirteen families lose?"
Yang Bi halted and turned back with a smile.
"If the thirteen families lose, won't we still have you?"
Chen Shi was stunned.
Yang Bi reached the base of the yellow earth slope and boarded the carriage, laughing as he said,
"But I will win! There will never be a second possibility! In the future, I will return to the yellow earth slope and send you rebels on your way."
Chen Tang watched him, his expression calm.
"I'm right behind you."
Yang Bi laughed.
"But right now, there's no need for you to act against me, is there?"
Chen Tang thought for a moment and nodded lightly.
The three azure birds pulling the colorful cloud carriage took to the air and flew off with flapping wings.
Chen Shi watched the carriage depart. At that moment, Chen Tang's voice came.
"This Yang fellow is extremely dangerous. He's young, but his strength is extraordinarily high."
Chen Shi asked, "How high?"
Carrying his wooden chest, Chen Tang climbed to the top of the slope.
"I observed that his primordial spirit and flesh body are perfectly integrated. He should be on the verge of breaking through to Integration Realm."
Chen Shi was moved. Yang Bi appeared to be only about sixteen or seventeen, yet his cultivation had reached such a level!
Was Despair Slope truly that formidable? It required the thirteen families to accumulate power for six thousand years, gathering the world's incense offerings, just to dare clash with it.
He gazed in the direction Yang Bi had left and murmured, "If Despair Slope is powerful enough to make even the True King despair, does the current thirteen families truly possess the strength to contend with it?"
Chen Tang said, "The ancestors of the thirteen families were powerhouses of the True King era. As chief ministers of the cabinet, they must have been among the strongest of that time.
"In their era, it should have been possible to cultivate to Ascension Realm.
"Can existences at Ascension Realm still be alive today?"
Chen Shi's mind reeled at the words.
He himself was at Soul Transformation Realm, with a lifespan already exceeding two thousand years.
Could beings from the True King era at Ascension Realm still be alive now?
"What exactly did the True King encounter at Despair Slope? Why, upon his return, did his personality change so drastically—becoming weak and proactively severing the two great realms of Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension?"
Chen Shi murmured, "And the True King's sealing of immortality, the four calamities—Yang Bi didn't explain any of it clearly. Plus, the thirteen families' calculation that the future will bring eternal night... will it really happen?"
He gazed up at the full moon in the sky. Its light was pristine, and faintly, one could make out the outline of the outer-heaven True God's face.
Was the downfall of the True King era truly connected to the outer-heaven True God? During eternal night, would the outer-heaven True God's power truly wane? What would happen during eternal night?
A crucial point suddenly occurred to him.
"Eternal night without day means only that the True God's two solar eyes have closed. But what if the vertical eye in its brow closes as well? What would happen then?
"That possibility isn't out of the question!"
Riding the colorful cloud carriage, Yang Bi entered the Realm Upon the Realms.
The scale of this Realm Upon the Realms far surpassed that of West Ox New Continent. Towering primordial spirits a thousand zhang tall presided over it. Some godlike, colossal primordial spirits were reinforcing the Realm Upon the Realms—wielding star rivers with a wave of the hand, uprooting mountains, carving rivers, and stomping out lakes.
In their hands, the Realm Upon the Realms reshaped itself.
If ordinary mortals from the outside world saw it, they would find it utterly inconceivable. But here, it was commonplace.
The colorful cloud carriage traveled into a jade-like stretch of heaven and earth, arriving at a misty, cloud-shrouded land. Yang Bi disembarked to find the ground everywhere sprouting lingzhi and immortal herbs in a scene of perfect harmony, with immortal qi drifting about like a true immortal realm.
Atop the clouds sat men and women, old and young, with majestic physiques, their backs against the void. Yang Bi paid his respects, bowing deeply.
"Junior Yang Bi pays homage to the ancestors."
These majestic-figured men, women, elders, and youths were precisely the ancestors of the thirteen families—a total of thirteen individuals.
Their auras were profound and imposing, in perfect harmony with the heavenly dao. Every movement carried inconceivable power. They resembled immortals, their strength unfathomable.
"Rise."
An elder spoke.
Yang Bi stood straight.
That elder was a cabinet chief minister from the Yang family in the True King era, named Yang Shizong—the ancestor of the Yang family.
"Yang Bi, what were the results of your trip?"
Yang Bi replied, "The Ten Temple Yama Kings are now a done deal. This disciple also had a brief clash with a successor from Despair Slope, forcing him to retreat. As for Child Scholar, I've stabilized him—he won't oppose us for the time being."
Yang Shizong laughed.
"Good. You've done well."
Yang Bi kept his eyes fixed on the ground, avoiding eye contact with the ancestors of the thirteen families.
The thirteen ancestors had majestic physiques and boundless, inconceivable cultivation. Yet their fleshly bodies were profoundly strange.
Thick tendrils of blood and flesh extended either from them or from the void—one end rooted in the void, the other embedded in their bodies!
These fleshy tendrils bore no skin, only raw crimson strips of meat like arms or thighs skinned bare, with no bones visible. Occasionally, bulges stirred beneath the flesh, as if something were wriggling inside, entering the ancestors' bodies from the void!
From their bodies emanated a thick evil qi, so intense it was nauseating.
Yang Shizong's voice boomed and reverberated.
"This heavenly transformation—we must succeed in one decisive stroke and thoroughly eliminate Despair Slope!"
That night, the white-clothed female immortal returned to Chen Shi's small temple and lay down on the divine shrine to sleep. Chen Shi also went home to rest.
In the middle of the night, Chen Shi jolted awake. He lifted the quilt and looked—only to see the white-clothed female immortal curled up beside him, sleeping. She had apparently been startled awake by him lifting the quilt. The girl blinked her two glossy black eyes at him with a soft "Ya!"
Chen Shi dropped the quilt and went back to sleep, ignoring her.
The next morning, the white-clothed female immortal had slipped out of the quilt at some point. As Chen Shi was about to get out of bed, he suddenly felt his qi and blood surging, his lower abdomen warm and toasty.
Only then did he realize certain parts of his body had changed—a proud pillar standing tall, refusing to subside. He hurriedly calmed his mind and regulated his qi. It took a long while before things returned to normal.
During the day, this change happened to him multiple times, leaving him quite troubled.
Worried about the changes in his body, Chen Shi grew pensive. His mother, Witch Qinghao, noticed his absentmindedness over the past few days and said to Chen Tang, "Your son has something on his mind. He's been frowning these days—go ask him."
Chen Tang was puzzled.
"What could he possibly have on his mind?"
Even so, he went to inquire.
Chen Shi's face flushed red. He hemmed and hawed for a good while before describing the changes in his body that morning. Chen Tang suddenly understood and laughed.
"You've grown up. You can take a wife now."
Chen Shi was both shocked and delighted.
"Really? Last year, Grandpa said I was still too young."
"Of course it's real."
Chen Shi was overjoyed. He turned to Blackie Pot.
"Blackie Pot, I can take a wife now! Good brother, lend me some of your blood—I'll make a few Peach Talismans!"
Blackie Pot was green with envy.
Chen Tang warned him not to use Peach Talismans recklessly or share a bed with the white-clothed girl at night. Only then did he return to tell Witch Qinghao, "He's grown up and is troubled by the changes in his body. I've told him how to handle it. That white-clothed girl may have lost her memory, but she's very dependent on Little Ten. They could make a good match as husband and wife."
Witch Qinghao shook her head.
"I think she's quite a bit older than Little Ten. It doesn't seem suitable."
Chen Tang shrugged it off.
"They're both cultivators. What's a few years' difference?"