Chapter 2288: Trend of Immortal Ascension
After spectral heaven formed, it gradually stabilized. The beast groups that escaped earlier returned and lived in the new heaven again. All the various grotto-heavens’ doors were tightly shut as they condensed into one spot, although there were some losses, they had managed to survive at least.
Despite Spectral Soul Demon Venerable’s dominance of spectral heaven, he rarely moved.
The two heavens’ grotto-heavens tried not to open their doors and connect to the outside world, otherwise, it was possible that Spectral Soul Demon Venerable might approach them.
Fang Yuan, Star Constellation, and Giant Sun were busy refining natural dao marks, they were competing with each other as they fell into another deadlock.
While the venerables had ceased fire and everyone gained some respite, a large number of Gu Immortal seeds started to prepare for the attempt at immortal ascension!
Central Continent.
Heavenly Lotus Sect’s headquarters.
“Mu Huai greets first supreme elder.” A newly advanced rank six Gu Immortal knelt on the ground and greeted.
Heavenly Lotus Sect’s first supreme elder nodded and gave Mu Huai some words of encouragement before telling the immortal beside him: ”Wu Zhang, you nurtured Mu Huai so you will be the one making arrangements for him now.”
“Understood.” Wu Zhang answered as he brought Mu Huai out of the hall.
Wu Zhang was the fifth supreme elder of Heavenly Lotus Sect, long ago, he had created the Five Virtues Sect in Central Continent under his own name.
Five Virtues Sect had the five virtues elders, among them, Mu Huai was the wood virtue elder.
This time, he took a risk to undergo immortal ascension and succeeded, obtaining a medium grade blessed land. Wu Zhang brought him to Heavenly Lotus Sect as he gained the first supreme elder’s recognition.
From now on, Mu Huai was a member of Wu Zhang’s faction.
Days later, in Northern Plains.
An immortal ascension had just ended. Ouyang Bi Sang only had half of his body remaining, but he barely survived.
“Second brother, you succeeded!” Mo Shi Kuang shouted loudly as he ran forward in excitement.
Ouyang Bi Sang could only smile as he could not speak, he looked towards Liu Wen Wu with a grateful gaze.
If not for Liu Wen Wu’s help, Ouyang Bi Sang would have definitely died.
Right now, all thanks to Liu Wen Wu’s immortal killer move, Ouyang Bi Sang managed to survive.
Liu Wen Wu was once Liu tribe’s Gu Immortal seed, he was the sworn brother of Ouyang Bi Sang and Mo Shi Kuang, they had participated in the Imperial Court contest.
Liu Wen Wu was already a Gu Immortal, with his help, Ouyang Bi Sang also succeeded.
Liu Wen Wu understood what Ouyang Bi Sang was thinking, he smiled gently: ”Second brother, go ahead and rest. With me here, you will be safe.”
Ouyang Bi Sang did not even have the strength to nod, he shut his eyes and fell asleep. This showed how much trust he had in Liu Wen Wu.
“Big brother! Second brother has already succeeded in the immortal ascension, I can do it too. When are you going to help me? I want to try it too.” Mo Shi Kuang showed a heated gaze and spoke in an anxious tone.
Liu Wen Wu smiled bitterly: ”Third brother, calm down. You’ve seen what happened to your second brother, the immortal ascension is very dangerous, he almost failed to balance the three qi and nearly failed completely.”
“With just my help, it is very unreliable to try and go through the unpredictable immortal ascension calamities and tribulations.”
“We were lucky this time because the calamities and tribulations were within my abilities. But you need to know that there are all kinds of tribulations, by the time you undergo immortal ascension, we may not be so lucky.”
“This...” Mo Shi Kuang scratched his head.
Liu Wen Wu added: ”Let’s wait a while for your second brother’s cultivation level to stabilize. Once he has some immortal methods, we can work together to help you, that will be safer.”
“Brother, you are right, I’ll wait.” Mo Shi Kuang agreed with the words and changed his decision.
But he did not know that Liu Wen Wu was sighing internally.
Long ago, Liu Wen Wu was just a Gu Master, he did not have such a wide vision, thus, he became sworn brothers with Mo Shi Kuang.
But after becoming a Gu Immortal, he realized that the world was ruled by humanity, all variant humans were marginalized.
Mo Shi Kuang’s inkman identity was increasingly sensitive.
After Liu Wen Wu helped Ouyang Bi Sang to become an immortal, the latter would become Liu tribe’s external supreme elder. He would be Liu Wen Wu’s supporter and stand on the same political side as him.
Even though Ouyang Bi Sang was a purebred human, Liu tribe’s other factions still attacked them —
Why was Liu Wen Wu helping an external member instead of nurturing Liu tribe’s own Gu Masters?
If Mo Shi Kuang became an immortal through Liu Wen Wu’s help, it would be an even worse situation when he becomes a member of his political faction.
This would be a weakness for the other factions to target!
Sometimes, Liu Wen Wu envied the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent.
The supreme elders of these ancient sects were able to create their own sects under their personal name to gather and distribute Central Continent’s resource points. If they were able to nurture Gu Immortals, then those would become their subordinates or companions.
This was a superb political method by the ten great ancient sects to control Central Continent.
But this could not work in the super clan dominated regions. Creating one’s own force was too much of a taboo.
Like in Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s lifetime, he wanted a hereditary monarchy, he wanted to unify and rule the entire world.
Eastern Sea’s Hua Ben Ku, Central Continent’s Mu Huai, and Northern Plains’ Ouyang Bi Sang...
With the deep foundation of the super forces, they knew the secrets behind immortal ascension, thus, many of their Gu Immortal seeds were quickly using the opportunity to ascend.
Southern Border.
“Oh no!” Yi Peng had a grim expression, he watched as the heaven, earth and human qi lost their balance.
Within the qi lump, Gu Master Yi Chong failed the immortal ascension, by the time the three qi lump dispersed, he was almost reduced to a stick, his arms and legs were gone, his entire body was a bloody mess.
Calamities and tribulations could be resisted by allies, but the balancing of three qi was something that only the Gu Master could handle, no one else could help.
“Sigh, you were too immersed in the natural inspiration. I already told you not to be greedy!” Yi Peng landed beside Yi Chong and sighed regrettably.
Yi Chong did not move, after a few breaths of time, he died.
Half a month later.
On an unknown mountain in Central Continent, Ben Duo Yi succeeded in the immortal ascension.
“I’ve finally become a rank six Gu Immortal.” He had a complex emotion, while he felt joy and excitement, there was also regret.
In order to resist the calamities and tribulations while balancing the three qi, he gave up on the chance of natural inspiration.
Ben Duo Yi’s master was Yu Mu Chun, a refinement path quasi-great grandmaster, and also a member of Shadow Sect. From this aspect, Ben Duo Yi was also a remnant of Shadow Sect.
He was chosen by Yu Mu Chun due to his exceptional talent. Ben Duo Yi was more witty than the average hairy man, he had clear thoughts and did not lose to humans in terms of spirituality.
This successful immortal ascension also proved that Yu Mu Chun had great foresight.
After cleaning up, Ben Duo Yi quickly left the mountain.
Not long after, a Gu Immortal arrived at this place.
“This is it.”
“The star array calculation formation showed that someone underwent tribulation here.”
“Oh? Seems like a lone cultivator.”
After inspecting, this Gu Immortal obtained some clearer clues.
His eyes started to shine.
The immortal ascension of lone cultivators was very difficult, since they succeeded, it meant that they were very valuable.
“If I can recruit this person successfully, I will earn a huge sum of contribution points. This person can also be in my faction in the future.”
Places with people would have competition for benefits, leading to conflict.
As long as the internal conflict of a sect was well managed, it would be a great system for eliminating the weak and nurturing the strong.
The sect higher-ups were willing to see this.
However, this Gu Immortal did not know that the person undergoing tribulation was not a purebred human but a hairy man.
Ben Duo Yi’s immortal ascension was just one of countless others.
First, the five regions’ super forces’ Gu Immortal seeds made their attempt, afterwards, lone immortals and demonic cultivators also gave it a shot.
Gradually, the trend of immortal ascension was formed.
The immortal ascension trend involved the righteous path, demonic cultivator, and even lone cultivators. Many lone cultivators like Ben Duo Yi emerged and showed themselves, surprising the world with their appearance.
The super forces of the five regions were also involved. Among super forces, there was even some hidden competition!
Tie clan’s Tie Ruo Nan became a rank six metal path Gu Immortal.
Shang clan’s Shang Xin Ci succeeded in her immortal ascension.
Two of Western Desert’s Lin clan’s Gu Masters became immortals at the same time.
Eastern Sea’s Nan Gong clan did not fall behind, in just seven days, two Gu Masters took a risk and succeeded, they both had considerable gains.
Next, Southern Border’s Tie clan spread joyous news again.
The revived Tie Mu Bai and Tie Bai Qi both succeeded in their immortal ascension.
The one that shocked the five regions’ Gu Immortal world the most was Southern Border’s Wu clan.
Wu clan’s Zhong Yi, Wu Shen Tong, Divine Doctor Sheng Shou, Wei Shen Jing, and others became rank six Gu Immortals, there were a total of nine people who succeeded, this was the number one record in the five regions!
Wu clan was lacking Gu Immortals previously, but under Wu Yong’s reform, they took in a large number of external elders.
With these Gu Immortals’ presence, Wu clan immediately became the Southern Border’s super force with the most number of Gu Immortals!
Immediately, all sorts of congratulatory letters from various forces were sent to Wu Yong via treasure yellow heaven or information path Gu worms.
Wu clan gained a huge amount of fame but Wu Yong only snickered coldly without feeling happy at all.
“Such celebrations are just a form of self-consolation for the chaotic future under the rule of the venerables. So what if we have more Gu Immortals, can we be safe? Against the venerables, we are all ants.”
“Moreover, in terms of numbers, Heavenly Court, Longevity Heaven, and the Heaven and Earth Great Love Alliance definitely have the most number of immortal ascensions. They are huge and possess too many super forces under them.”
Wu Yong was extremely clear of the situation.
He knew that the true trial was not the number of successful immortal ascensions, it was the huge impact that these new external supreme elders would cause after joining Wu clan, when they go against the traditional factions that had been long established through time.
As the first supreme elder of Wu clan, Wu Yong needed to maintain the stability of the clan, if there was too many internal conflicts, they would weaken themselves. In that case, he might as well not implement this change.
Central Continent.
Xiao Qi Xing descended from the sky. There was some dust on his white robe.
His eyebrows were sharp like swords, his body was straight like a spear, his expression was cold and he gave off an aura of pride.
“Good, good, good.” Gu Immortal Xiao Bai Hong laughed as he stroked his beard, looking at Xiao Qi Xing with a gaze of appreciation: ”As expected of my beloved great-grandson. You went through the immortal ascension without external help.”
Xiao Qi Xing replied: ”Great-grandfather, this is nothing to be proud of. Many lone cultivators could achieve it, so why can’t I? Rank six is merely the starting point.”
“Hahaha, well said!” Xiao Bai Hong’s laughter became even louder.
Next, Xiao Qi Xing asked the other nine children of human path.
“What? Sun Yuan Hua, Gu Ting, and the rest became rank six Gu Immortals but did not refine their vital Gu into an Immortal Gu?”
“Hehe, they are really trash!”
Different from the others, the immortal ascension of the ten children of human path were kept secret.
They were the key to developing human path in Central Continent, they were the future pillars of human path. Before they grew to a certain level, it was better to let them grow safely.
Some succeeded in their immortal ascension, some died while taking risks.
Some made their ancestors proud, their names were spread throughout the world, while some kept quiet and developed earnestly, keeping a low profile.
Some did not try to undergo immortal ascension, like Feng Jin Huang.
Some did not even have the qualification to try, for example, Southern Border’s Xia Cha and Ba Shi Ba.
There were also some who were preparing to undergo immortal ascension, like Western Desert’s Mo Li, and sovereign immortal aperture’s Gu Yue Fang Xiang.