Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension Chapter 1353 - 729: Borrowing a Path to Ascension (Part 2)

Zhao Changjin, being a member of the Zhao’s Central Sect, naturally advocated for the interests of his own lineage.

Inside Unity Hall, a brief, meaningful look passed between Zhao Daxian, Zhao Dingpian, and the other three Nascent Soul Supreme Elders. Following this silent exchange, they all turned their attention toward the formidable figure occupying the highest seat.

As the years progressed, Zhao Dingshan had grown increasingly "reticent," frequently remaining silent for periods of ten or even twenty days.

Nevertheless, whenever he chose to speak, none of the other five Zhao’s Nascent Souls dared to offer a word of dissent; such was the absolute authority commanded by a Primordial Spirit Puppet.

Even after the passage of so much time, that terrifying display remained scorched into the memories of the four Nascent Souls.

They recalled how Zhao Dingshan had once paralyzed them all by releasing a mere wisp of his pressure. The sheer dread of facing certain death had never truly left their hearts.

After a brief pause, Zhao Dingshan finally spoke. His voice carried a frigid, metallic edge: "The Ancestor... is currently in seclusion. No one shall disturb him!"

Upon hearing this command, the expressions of Zhao Daxian and his companions shifted slightly, and they found themselves temporarily robbed of speech.

...

In the silence of the night, the Ascension Platform stood abandoned.

The heavens were brilliant with stars, casting down rays of starlight that struck the crystal array pillars, creating a mesmerizing refraction of vibrant, flowing lights.

Zhao Sheng materialized silently at the base of the Ascension Tower. He ran a hand along the tower’s polished surface, his senses finely tuned to the constant flow of the Power of Laws circulating within.

The Ascension Tower served as the vital "heart" of this Great Ascension Array; however, it was plagued by internal damage that could not be mended.

This Great Ascension Array was essentially ruined unless it was completely dismantled and reconstructed from the ground up.

Though he had deciphered the fundamental secrets of the Great Ascension Array, building an identical one was currently impossible.

He simply lacked the necessary Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and specifically, he was missing the essential Space-time Principle Crystals.

Pulling his hand away, Zhao Sheng looked up at the vast tapestry of stars before shifting his gaze toward the eastern horizon.

That was the place where the sun would eventually emerge!

With a sudden flicker of light, Zhao Sheng teleported away from the Ascension Platform, leaving no trace of his destination.

In a remote corner of the Outer Void, billions of miles distant from the Tianzhu Realm, a figure drifted into view.

Zhao Sheng hung suspended in the void, looking east toward a massive, radiant orb of fire that dominated the view thousands of miles away.

It was the Sun, the sovereign ruler of this star system!

In the following instant, Zhao Sheng performed another teleportation.

After three consecutive Space-Time Teleportations, his entire field of vision was consumed by a boundless sea of shimmering white flames.

Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but a vast, blinding ocean of fire.

Even at a distance of millions of miles from the Sun's actual surface, the heat in the surrounding void was unfathomable—intense enough to turn a piece of thousand-year Mystic Iron into vapor in a heartbeat.

Rumble—

In the distance, a massive "swell" of incredible proportions suddenly rose from the turbulent sea of fire.

A second later, this "swell" erupted with a deafening blast that defied the silence of the vacuum, letting out a roar that seemed to tear through the void itself.

At the same time, a monstrous "tongue of fire" lashed out from the fiery depths, momentarily blotting out everything else.

Zhao Sheng’s pupils contracted. He vanished on the spot, narrowly escaping the incinerating reach of the solar flare.

He reappeared a hundred billion miles away, yet below him still lay that infinite, white-hot sea of flames.

Occasionally, patches of Golden Crow True Fire would drift up from the depths, floating through the air in an unpredictable, rhythmic dance.

At Zhao Sheng’s current level of Cultivation, the Golden Crow True Fire posed little threat, unless it were to evolve into the Divine Fire Level’s Great Sun Divine Flame.

After waiting for a moment, he observed that the fiery sea had become "relatively" stable.

With a slight nod, Zhao Sheng flicked his wrist, releasing a collection of damaged Spiritual Weapons. They tumbled through the air, bobbing within the sea of flames.

Before his eyes, the shattered armaments began to melt, transforming into pools of shimmering silver "liquid metal."

Any impurities within the metal were instantly burned away by the extreme heat upon contact.

In less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, the volume of the "Liquid Spirit Gold" had decreased by more than half, condensing into a platinum-hued mass roughly the size of a human head.

Sweat poured off Zhao Sheng like a heavy rain, and the protective force field surrounding him began to flicker and dim.

In that short span of time, eighty percent of his origin will had been drained; he was reaching his absolute limit.

Recognizing this, Zhao Sheng quickly grabbed the "Liquid Spirit Gold," stowing it inside his Sumeru Space to cool before immediately teleporting away.

Once again, he traveled a hundred billion miles, returning to the cold, silent embrace of the Outer Void. From this distance, the Sun appeared once more as a simple, massive fireball.

Now far from the solar surface, Zhao Sheng exhaled sharply, a trace of lingering shock visible on his face.

He had not expected that even as a Half-Immortal of Returning to Void, he would be unable to actually stand upon the Sun’s surface. The sheer intensity of the surrounding heat alone had forced a hasty retreat.

"...Terrifying!" Zhao Sheng whispered, his eyes fixed on the Great Sun for a long time.

After resting for half a month, Zhao Sheng returned to the Sun's proximity. He spent his time casting various ores of spirit gold and numerous Magic Artifacts and Spiritual Artifacts into the fiery depths.

The majority of the spirit gold was vaporized instantly, leaving behind only a tiny "essence" that he had to retrieve with perfect timing; any delay meant losing the essence to the heat as well.

Following several such trips, his Sumeru Space was nearly twenty percent empty, yet he had only managed to gather a "small mountain" of refined material just a few feet high.

Through these repeated journeys, Zhao Sheng slowly grew accustomed to the Sun’s brutal temperatures, allowing him to edge closer to the surface with each attempt.

Three years passed by in an instant.

On this day, hovering over a "placid" section of the Sun’s fiery sea, a vibrant, circular disc floated in the air.

Zhao Sheng sat cross-legged at the center of the disc, his hands moving in a blur as he formed seals and launched them toward the massive, mountain-sized Big Cauldron in front of him.

The Immortal Awakening Tripod had expanded to a gargantuan size, looming like a peak.

A glob of liquid platinum was fused to a broken leg of the cauldron. Under the direction of his will, it slowly began to reshape, gradually forming a sturdy, new support.

Countless ancient runes began to manifest across the surface of the cauldron’s leg, weaving together in a mysterious pattern that resonated with the fluctuations of the Law.

After more than a hundred breaths, the damaged leg was fully restored. The Immortal Awakening Tripod suddenly erupted with a brilliant light, emitting a humming vibration that echoed through the void.

Zhao Sheng’s face went pale from the effort. He quickly gestured toward the treasure, watching as the Immortal Awakening Tripod shrank instantly into a bolt of white light and vanished up his sleeve.

With the treasure secured, Zhao Sheng did not linger. He quickly withdrew the Five Metal Treasure Plate beneath him and activated a Space-Time Teleportation, vanishing from the area in a flash.

...

Two years later, Zhao Sheng arrived once more in the Spring Birth Realm.

He bypassed the Cloud Mist Mountain Range this time, heading straight for the Central Continent. The Ascension Array of this world was hidden at the bottom of Infinite Lake in the eastern region.

Unlike the one in the Tianzhu Realm, the Ascension Array beneath Infinite Lake was clearly in perfect condition. Its Ascension Tower was radiant, swirling with more than two thousand strands of Mystic Crystal Origin Qi.

Zhao Sheng’s abrupt appearance immediately alerted the Guardian Divinity Transformation True Monarch.

However, the guardian was quickly suppressed by Zhao Sheng’s overwhelming aura and was forced to retreat outside the array’s boundaries.

Soon after, the guardian's face paled as a blinding pillar of light erupted from the array, shooting straight into the heavens.

It sliced through the vast shadows of the void.

In less than a breath, the light vanished, followed by the sharp sound of cracking echoing from the Ascension Array.

The Divinity Transformation True Monarch was struck with terror. He rushed onto the Ascension Platform, only to find that nearly a third of the array pillars were now covered in deep cracks.

The Divinity Transformation True Monarch’s face turned ghastly pale with terror as he dashed into the Ascension Platform, immediately spotting dense cracks covering nearly a third of the array pillars’ surfaces.

Moreover