Chapter 521 – The Great Dao Numbers Fifty, Heaven Derives Forty-Nine, One Escapes Through Man!
by spirapira“The one that escapes…”
Su Xing murmured, his mind sinking into deep thought.
Faced with the foreign race’s aggressive invasion, faced with the terrifying Sovereign of Death, the Void Sovereign, and perhaps even more powerful enemies…
If there truly existed some strategy to break through this deadlock, it seemed the only hope lay in the emergence of a Saint among the human race.
But an ordinary Saint would not be enough!
Only one who had comprehended the supreme Great Dao — the Time Dao — would have any hope…
“So, is the Time Dao the key to breaking through?”
Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly, looking at the girl before him who called herself Mo’er, waiting for her to continue.
Mo’er’s heart was no longer calm.
She looked at Su Xing before her, still filled with a sense of disbelief.
The Time Dao — a Great Dao that existed only in legend — had actually appeared…
Moreover, it had appeared right before her eyes, alive and in the flesh!
After a moment of silence, she spoke:
“The Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master once performed divinations on the war between the human race and the foreign race…”
“Peering through countless ages, divining hundreds of thousands of times… the chances of humanity’s victory are exceedingly slim…”
“There was only one single instance!”
Pausing briefly, Mo’er continued:
“That one and only chance involved a Saint who had mastered the Time Dao, traveling back to the past…”
“Sealing off the foreign race’s channel of invasion into the Three Thousand Worlds at its very source, and only then finally driving them out…”
“Because the foreign race’s power is simply too overwhelming… According to the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master’s deductions, it is not only our world that has suffered the foreign race’s invasion…”
“Beyond the Five Great Domains, there exist other worlds that have similarly suffered the foreign race’s invasion!”
“Among the foreign race, those at the Saint realm are called Sovereigns… and a Sovereign’s combat power is in no way inferior to that of a Saint from our cultivation world!”
“What’s even more terrifying is that among the foreign race, there is more than one Sovereign!”
After hearing Mo’er’s words, Su Xing fell silent.
The news that the foreign race had more than one Sovereign was something Su Xing had long known.
Among those already known were the current Void Sovereign and the future Sovereign of Death!
Su Xing even suspected there were other powerhouses at the Sovereign realm.
But as for the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master’s divination results, Su Xing could not agree.
Using the power of time to travel to the past and prevent the foreign race’s invasion…
This seemed achievable on the surface, but based on Su Xing’s understanding of the Time Dao, the rules of time did not work that way…
The present is not the future, and even less so the past!
No matter how the future or the past were altered, those would all be different timelines — the present would not change in the slightest!
It was even more impossible to return to the past, seal the passage, and thereby make the foreign race vanish from reality.
Because they would not belong to the same timeline!
To defeat the foreign race, there was only one method: to truly defeat them in the present timeline!
“Among countless possible futures, the one and only chance… doesn’t even exist…”
Su Xing sighed inwardly.
But soon, Su Xing thought it through.
Though the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master was powerful and skilled in the Dao of Divination, he was not a Saint after all.
His understanding of the Dao of Time was likely no more than superficial, so it was perfectly normal for him to have gotten this part wrong…
“Since the one and only chance doesn’t even exist, then I shall forge a sliver of hope myself…”
Su Xing said silently.
As long as Su Xing’s strength was sufficient, it didn’t matter whether it was the Void Sovereign or the Sovereign of Death — none would be his match!
If Great Firmament Golden Immortal wasn’t enough, he would ascend to Saint!
If Saint wasn’t enough, then he would create a realm beyond Saint!
A light called confidence blazed in Su Xing’s eyes.
…
The immersive simulation soon ended, and Su Xing’s consciousness returned.
“This time meeting the Celestial Secrets Avatar yielded quite a lot of information…”
Beyond learning of the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master’s divination — that the Time Dao would play a crucial role —
Su Xing had also learned many hidden secrets.
For instance, the Celestial Secrets Avatar!
The Celestial Secrets Avatar cultivated by the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master was Body Transforms at Will. Each avatar possessed independent thought and mastered its own supernatural arts. This was completely different from Qingyunzi’s One Qi Transforms into Three Purities.
After all, One Qi Transforms into Three Purities split oneself into three copies of equal strength as the original body.
But Body Transforms at Will required starting cultivation from scratch!
Every single avatar needed to cultivate on its own…
And according to Mo’er, whichever avatar was the strongest at any given time became the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master!
Therefore, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master could be any one of those avatars!
Since time immemorial, the technique that the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master cultivated had been Body Transforms at Will!
This legacy had been passed down through countless ages…
Thus, every successive Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master could be said to be the same person — just different avatars!
And the nature of Body Transforms at Will meant that even if the original body perished, the remaining avatars would continue to survive.
This ensured the legacy would never be broken.
Thinking of this, Su Xing sighed and said:
“No wonder the Celestial Secrets Pavilion has endured from the ancient era until now. Even through the ravages of time and the fall of Saints… even as the Wu Clan and Demon Tribe declined…”
“Even when the holy path was severed, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion still endures…”
“This Body Transforms at Will technique that the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master cultivates is truly outrageously powerful!”
“It’s hard to imagine how many legacies the Celestial Secrets Pavilion has accumulated over countless years… how many hidden secrets it knows…”
Su Xing drew a deep breath. No wonder the Celestial Secrets Pavilion’s legacy was so formidable.
With the accumulation of countless ages, it would be strange if it weren’t…
“Moreover, the Celestial Secrets Avatars include more than just one Great Firmament Golden Immortal…”
Su Xing narrowed his eyes, recalling what Mo’er had told him.
The current Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master was none other than the Celestial Secrets Girl whom Su Xing had met millions of years ago!
She had now reached the half-saint realm, and was not far from proving her Dao to become a Saint.
Beneath her were Mo’er, Bai’er, and Qing’er!
These three were avatars of the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master.
Yet they cultivated One Qi Transforms into Three Purities… effectively adding three additional Great Firmament Golden Immortals!
“So… the human race’s strength in the Eighth Heaven is actually quite formidable!”
“It’s a pity that the Celestial Secrets Avatars have been guarding the Secret Realm that leads into the Ninth Heaven all along…”
“Otherwise, the Eighth Heaven wouldn’t have only those Supreme Unity Golden Immortals fighting…”
Su Xing recalled the final and most important piece of intelligence Mo’er had shared with him!
The Ninth Heaven held the secret to becoming a Saint!
This was not mere rumor…
Because the Ninth Heaven had been created in the ancient era when ten Saints, at the moment of their fall, used supreme treasures and greater divine arts to jointly seal away the ancient world!
The entire Ninth Heaven was essentially a Saint’s Secret Realm!
Within it, the spiritual energy, magical treasures, and even opportunities had been preserved in an almost perfect recreation of the ancient era!
Therefore, within it very likely lay the secret to becoming a Saint!
Even more crucially, remnants of the Heavenly Dao lost during the ancient era might still linger within the Ninth Heaven…
Only within the Ninth Heaven could one have the possibility of comprehending the Great Dao of the Eighth Heaven.
And… surviving the Ten Tribulations of Sainthood!
“It seems I need to find a way to reach the Ninth Heaven as soon as possible…”
“Setting everything else aside, the dense spiritual energy within the Ninth Heaven alone, along with the inexhaustible resources and the more complete Heavenly Dao, would all be of tremendous use to me!”
“Within the Ninth Heaven, the speed of Great Dao comprehension could be more than ten times faster than in the lower realm!”
“Only there could I more rapidly comprehend the Great Dao…”
However, reaching the Ninth Heaven was no simple matter…
Su Xing’s expression grew grave, because the foreign race had been constantly preventing the human race from entering the Ninth Heaven.
Moreover, the Advent Cult’s Blood Immortal — Blood River Ancestor — was currently inside the Ninth Heaven, contending with the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master for the opportunity to become a Saint!
Beyond that, there appeared to be an avatar of a Sovereign within the Ninth Heaven as well.
However, thanks to the Ninth Heaven’s unique terrain and numerous Secret Realms, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master, being a half-saint, was able to hold her own against the Sovereign’s avatar and Blood River Ancestor.
But Mo’er, Qing’er, and Bai’er — the Celestial Secrets Avatars who cultivated One Qi Transforms into Three Purities — had to remain in the Eighth Heaven to prevent the foreign race from continuing to enter the Ninth Heaven!
Beyond that, these three Celestial Secrets Avatars also carried an important task left behind by the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master long ago!
To await a “person of destiny” — a cultivator with the potential to save the entire human race!
Afterward, through the hidden passage left by the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master, he would enter the Ninth Heaven directly and rendezvous with the Pavilion Master!
One must understand that whether it was the foreign races or the human race, entering the Ninth Heaven required tremendous fortune.
Because what separated the Eighth and Ninth Heavens was not an ordinary barrier, but a chaotic temporal flow!
If one forced their way in without enough time, they might waste an enormous amount of time, or even become trapped in some spacetime, for the rest of their life.
“The Ninth Heaven, the place where one proves their Dao to become a Saint… The Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master really did leave me quite a surprise!”
Su Xing said, a look of anticipation flashing through his eyes.
Clearly, if he could enter the Ninth Heaven, Su Xing’s speed of comprehending the Great Dao and cultivating would be greatly accelerated!
“Moreover, for me as I am now, although I can’t prove my Dao to become a Saint… as long as I can enter the Ninth Heaven, my speed of comprehending the Great Dao will definitely increase by a great deal!”
Su Xing did a quick calculation. It was currently only the three hundred and seventieth year of the simulation—there was still plenty of time.
“In this simulation, I can try entering the Ninth Heaven…”
Thinking this, Su Xing silently recited:
“Use immersive simulation, duration 100 years…”
【Ding…】
As the Chime sounded, Su Xing’s consciousness once again entered the simulated world.
…
In the familiar Eighth Heaven, beside Su Xing was still the Celestial Secrets Avatar, Mo’er.
Before the previous immersive simulation had ended, Su Xing and Mo’er had already arrived at the boundary between the Eighth and Ninth Heavens.
At this moment, standing before Su Xing were three women with identical appearances and auras.
The Celestial Secrets Avatars—Mo’er, Bai’er, and Qing’er!
Most crucially, all three of them had cultivation at the Peak Great Firmament Golden Immortal level!
Compared to Qingyunzi, who had failed to sever the Three Corpses, these three were not much weaker in strength!
And for hundreds of thousands of years, these three had steadfastly guarded the Eighth Heaven, all for the sake of protecting the last hope of the human race’s path to the Ninth Heaven.
One Qi Transforms into Three Purities—the three avatars shared one mind. Everything Su Xing and Mo’er had discussed before, the other two avatars already knew.
Even so, Bai’er and Qing’er still gazed at Su Xing with expressions of astonishment.
“I never imagined that in all the world, there would actually be someone who could comprehend the Dao of Time!”
“Perhaps you are the one the Pavilion Master has been waiting for all this time…”
“Although you’ve appeared a bit later than expected… but since it involves the Dao of Time, perhaps a miracle will occur?”
“Now, let us help you open a passage to the Ninth Heaven…”
With that, Mo’er extended a finger and touched the space between Su Xing’s brows. Instantly, new memories flooded into Su Xing’s mind.
It was a hidden route—a route through the chaotic temporal flow…
Between the Eighth and Ninth Heavens, that chaotic temporal flow made it extremely easy to lose one’s way.
But with this route, Su Xing could safely reach the Ninth Heaven.
“You now know the route. Next, we shall open the passage to the Ninth Heaven for you…”
“But remember—the route through the chaotic temporal flow must not be revealed to anyone besides yourself…”
So spoke Qing’er, one of the three avatars.
Hearing this, Su Xing felt a slight puzzlement. Was this route really that important?
The avatar Mo’er seemed to have sensed Su Xing’s confusion and explained:
“The chaotic temporal flow is the key barrier between the Eighth and Ninth Heavens… Once the route is exposed, the foreign races will be able to enter the Ninth Heaven with ease, and the hope of becoming a Saint will grow even more slim!”
“As of now, there should be only three beings in the Ninth Heaven—the Pavilion Master, the Blood River Ancestor, and one Sovereign’s avatar…”
“The Sovereign’s avatar was trapped by the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master’s design, temporarily lost within the chaotic temporal flow… But judging by time, it may escape soon.”
Su Xing nodded slightly. He had some understanding of chaotic temporal flows.
Unlike the spatial rifts found in the void, a chaotic temporal flow could cause anyone who entered it to become lost in some spacetime.
Unless one was a true Saint, anyone could become lost within.
And if the foreign races entered the Ninth Heaven in force, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master’s hopes of ascending to Sainthood would undoubtedly become even more remote.
Thinking of this, Su Xing couldn’t help but voice his confusion:
“If the Ninth Heaven is this important, then why not send more human cultivators inside?”
“That way, the chances of someone becoming a Saint would seem greater, wouldn’t they?”
The avatar Mo’er shook her head upon hearing this:
“The Ninth Heaven has a unique environment. Once too many people enter, the karmic energy of heaven and earth gets divided, and the chances of becoming a Saint actually decrease…”
“However, there has been one cultivator besides the Pavilion Master who entered… You should know of Qingyunzi from the Azure Cloud Sect, yes?”
“Back then, he glimpsed a thread of the karmic energy needed to achieve the half-saint realm within the Ninth Heaven.”
“Unfortunately, it was merely the half-saint level… Moreover, the human race’s foundation ultimately lies in the lower realm. If too many powerful cultivators go to the Ninth Heaven, the lower realm would quickly fall to the foreign races…”
“After we send you into the Ninth Heaven this time, I’m afraid no other cultivator will be able to enter again…”
Su Xing nodded thoughtfully after hearing this.
Mo’er spoke of it all in vague and mysterious terms, but as for what the Ninth Heaven was truly like…
No amount of words could substitute for seeing it with his own eyes!
“So then, are you ready?”
“Once you enter the Ninth Heaven… leaving will be fraught with danger. Without becoming a Saint… you may never have a chance to escape!”
Mo’er gave her final warning.
Hearing this only made Su Xing more curious, and he gave a firm reply.
“I’m ready!”
As his words fell, the three avatars beside him began channeling their supernatural arts in concert.
Within this Secret Realm of the Eighth Heaven, the surrounding space began to ripple violently.
In an instant, the sky and earth changed color, and a massive rift appeared in the heavens above.
“Quickly—now! Go in now!”
The three avatars spoke in unison, as though holding open this spacetime passage was an immense strain even for three Peak Great Firmament Golden Immortals.
Su Xing didn’t hesitate. He turned and plunged into the spacetime passage.
The instant Su Xing entered, he sensed waves of foreign race energy rippling through the Eighth Heaven.
Clearly, the aura of the passage to the Ninth Heaven had attracted the attention of those powerful foreign race beings.
But fortunately, the spacetime rift had only been open for a single moment. The instant Su Xing entered, it snapped shut behind him.
After stepping into the spacetime passage, Su Xing felt the world around him undergo a dramatic transformation. After a bout of dizzying disorientation, everything plunged into darkness.
…
“So this is the so-called chaotic temporal flow?”
Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly, carefully observing his surroundings.
This was a unique space extremely similar to the void—there wasn’t a single trace of spiritual energy in the air, and the area was filled with a terrifying pressure.
Su Xing had no doubt that any cultivator below the Supreme Unity Golden Immortal level would be crushed to pieces under this pressure.
Fortunately, with Su Xing’s physical strength, the pressure had no effect on him whatsoever.
Just then, Su Xing noticed that at indeterminate distances away, something resembling “world fragments” seemed to drift about.
“Are those… world fragments? Destroyed worlds?”
Su Xing contemplated what he sensed for a moment, then gently shook his head.
“No, those aren’t world fragments… They’re chaotic temporal flows!”
Those chaotic temporal flows drifted like scattered stars through this dark space, constantly in motion.
Moreover, the positions these temporal flows drifted to followed no discernible pattern and were nearly impossible to predict.
Even a Great Firmament Golden Immortal, with one careless moment, could be swept into one of these chaotic temporal flows.
“Hmm? But the positions these flows drift to… don’t seem to be entirely without pattern?”
Su Xing blinked. He could faintly sense where the chaotic temporal flows were drifting.
“I see… To sense the patterns of these chaotic temporal flows, one needs not only profound Spatial Dao Comprehension, but also mastery of the Time Dao?”
The difficulty was staggering.
In all the Three Thousand Worlds, Su Xing was probably the only person who could sense the positions of these chaotic temporal flows.
“Though… the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master, relying on her Dao of Divination, should also be able to roughly deduce them…”
“It’s just not nearly as effortless as it is for me…”
Su Xing realized that the route to the Ninth Heaven that the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master had obtained must have required countless iterations of divination to derive.
“But since there are patterns that can be deduced, there’s no need to rush…”
Su Xing thought to himself.
Rather than hurrying toward the Ninth Heaven, he first began sensing the patterns of the chaotic temporal flow, approaching one of the “temporal flows.”
This chaotic temporal flow was like a curtain of sky suspended in the darkness—seemingly ethereal and intangible.
But if one accidentally touched it, they would be pulled inside.
“I see… A world-space from an era that doesn’t belong to this age?”
“This particular flow seems to lead to… several million years in the past?”
Su Xing examined the chaotic temporal flow with keen interest.
Clearly, through these chaotic temporal flows, Su Xing could travel to any era.
“This seems somewhat similar to the simulator’s time reversal ability…”
“However, time reversal only goes back a short duration and can’t bring cultivation progress back with you. But these chaotic temporal flows are different!”
“More importantly, each chaotic temporal flow has different conditions for returning…”