Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension Chapter 1437: 777: First Entry into Divine Palace Heaven, Chance Encounter with an Old Taoist (Part 2)

Within mere moments, Zhao Tianlin's garments hung in shreds, resembling those of a street beggar.

Astonishingly, whenever Zhao Tianlin tried to rise and shove the Thunderbolt Dog aside, the beast would promptly unleash strands of thunderous glow, easily quelling his feeble attempts at defiance.

As the pair romped and tussled, their combined aura grew ever more synchronized and fluid, with their power steadily rising in noticeable increments.

This bizarre spectacle stunned the onlookers completely.

“Ah, that's the secret behind the rapid cultivation progress!” Zhao San Yue exclaimed in sudden understanding, her excitement surging instantly.

In truth, Zhao Tianlin had unknowingly grasped the Spirit Control Path, allowing the man and the beast to merge as one and pursue enlightenment jointly.

As everyone knows, the Four Saints Continent, home to the Divine Artisan Zhao Clan, falls under the influence of the Spirit-controlling Immortal Sect. This sect holds overlord status within the Taiyi Spirit Realm, and its core treasure manual is the “Spirit-controlling Immortal Ascension Scripture.” At its heart lies the “Spirit Control Path,” a technique renowned for being simple to grasp yet profoundly challenging to perfect.

Throughout history, individuals like Zhao Tianlin who self-realize the “Spirit Control Path” have proven exceedingly scarce.

Each time such a heaven-blessed prodigy emerges, it draws the immediate attention of the Spirit-controlling Immortal Sect, leading them to send a sect elder of great prowess to recruit and train the individual specially in the “Spirit-controlling Immortal Ascension Scripture.”

The founding ancestor of the Divine Artisan Zhao Clan, Zhao Xuanjing, also practiced the “Spirit-controlling Immortal Ascension Scripture.” Yet, when stacked against talents like Zhao Tianlin, his affinity for it fell short by multiple levels.

Thoughts whirled through Zhao San Yue's head in a frenzy.

In her thrill, she quickly spotted a key point and sent an urgent transmission to Zhao Xiandu.

Zhao Xiandu's face shifted abruptly, then he gave a solemn nod.

The Zhao Clan's two Divinity Transformation forebears reached a unanimous choice. They promptly extended their divine senses to cover the entire square, imposing the most stringent vow of silence and classifying Zhao Tianlin's presence as utterly classified.

Following that, Zhao San Yue vanished in a streak of escaping light, racing toward Ancestor Xi's hidden retreat.

…

Several days passed, and then a massive building project erupted at Spirit Beast Mountain in the northwest of the Wolong Mountain Range.

In only half a day's time, the Mountain Spirit Beast underwent a total overhaul, gaining three fresh zones: Flame Mountain, Storm Valley, and Five Thunder Peak, while also welcoming three formidable rare spirit beasts.

Meanwhile, Zhao Clan members at Golden Core Realm and higher vied enthusiastically to access these three spirit domains, aiming to subdue the Fire Qiu, Wind Nest Loach, and the elusive Thunderbolt Dog.

Over the ensuing centuries, fewer than a hundred managed success, with almost half hailing from the Red Dragon Son bloodline.

This outcome left everyone astounded.

Myriad Zhao Clan folk puzzled over the cause, yet the sharper minds soon linked it to the blood ties between Ancestor Xi and the Red Dragon Son line, deducing some profound mystery at play.

Eight centuries on, a standout true disciple arose in the Spirit-controlling Immortal Sect. He was none other than “Thunder Lion” Zhao Tianlin.

Zhao Tianlin's meteoric ascent not only rattled the various “cliques” inside the sect but also elevated the Divine Artisan Zhao Clan's renown sky-high.

Of course, these events belong to future tales, and we'll skip them for now.

…

Zhao Sheng's initiation of the Nine Nether Tower trial had been a mere whim.

Without a fitting “destined heir,” he paid little heed to how it ended.

But since Zhao San Yue had come to him in haste, Zhao Sheng generously shared guidance and passed the Fire Qiu Three Beasts to her for management.

To Zhao Sheng, barring a handful of exceptional items, nothing outweighed his drive to advance to the Unification Realm.

…

Chaos and enigma cloaked the Dark Sky, where endless space-time tempests twisted and howled without cease, obliterating all nearby voids.

All at once, a silhouette materialized from nothingness in this turbulent gloom.

With a mere flicker of intent, a domineering divine sense burst forth, quelling the space-time gales across hundreds of miles in an instant.

Zhao Sheng scanned the area, giving a faint nod of approval.

The very next breath, his form ballooned outward, becoming a colossal figure standing forty-nine zhang high.

This behemoth wielded tremendous might, his every motion stirring swirls of countless lightning arcs, evoking the image of a thunder-wielding god.

Having unleashed his utmost power anew, Zhao Sheng experienced an odd rush of boundless capability, perceiving the encircling space-time as brittle as flimsy parchment, ready to tear at a touch.

No, in this very instant, those space-time veils truly resembled sheer, see-through sheets.

At the zenith of his divine sense, the formerly unseen space-time divides abruptly revealed themselves, and Zhao Sheng's piercing gaze, sharp as lightning, caught a glimpse of an enigmatic realm on the far side.

“Part for me…!”

A surge of inexplicable thrill gripped Zhao Sheng, and he bellowed fiercely, charging straight into the divide.

In that split second, the void before him “buckled” inward before silently crumbling, as Zhao Sheng plunged through, carving out a gaping “emptiness” hundreds of zhang wide.

This “emptiness” contracted swiftly against the force of space-time, erasing itself in a blink.

By now, Zhao Sheng had crossed the Dark Sky, stepping into a wondrous alternate dimension.

Everywhere the gaze fell, infinite blackness stretched on, brimming with enigma and serenity amid the swirling murk.

The relentless tempests had vanished, replaced by an immense, placid ocean of void,

where space-time directions blurred into ambiguity, stripping away any clear sense of up, down, left, or right.

Under this abyssal dark “ocean,” flickers of “luminous glimmers” sporadically bloomed from the ether; some hovered briefly, others winked out in a flash.

A handful of these “luminous glimmers” quietly fractured, dissolving into fainter “light filaments” that plunged wordlessly toward the Lower Realm, fading from sight entirely.

Drawing on ancestral chronicles, Zhao Sheng confirmed that Divine Palace Heaven defied description.

Those “luminous glimmers” were clearly threads of Tao Spirit Mechanism.

Tao Spirit Mechanism, or “Law Light” as it's also called, represents the nascent stage of Principle Crystal and an elevated version of Mystic Crystal Origin Qi.

Per ancient texts, ten matching Tao Spirit Mechanisms can fuse into a single Principle Crystal.

The wonders of a Principle Crystal require no explanation.

From Integration Realm titans to lowly Qi Refinement practitioners, all crave it as supreme treasure.

Zhao Sheng felt the pull strongly and set off without delay toward the nearest Tao Spirit Mechanisms.

But the moment he stirred, shock hit him—the ambient space clung with unusual viscosity, like wading through molasses, draining vast quantities of mana nonstop.

Without the immense “density” of an Integration Realm expert, Zhao Sheng found every action in Divine Palace Heaven a grueling effort.

Divine Palace Heaven wasn't meant for Returning to Void Realm cultivators to enter, but Zhao Sheng dared it at the Eighth Layer of Returning Void—news of this would undoubtedly rock the Taiyi Spirit Realm to its core.

The reason was plain: such a feat spat in the face of heaven itself!

Soon enough, Zhao Sheng “inched” onward through the air, snaring a thread of scarlet Tao Spirit Mechanism and locking it within the Immortal Awakening Tripod.

This marked his initial Tao Spirit Mechanism haul, bearing the fire law attribute.

The whole effort guzzled nearly a tenth of his mana reserves.

Brushing at phantom perspiration on his brow, Zhao Sheng glanced about, met only by the same profound shadows.

Inside Divine Palace Heaven, his divine sense's reach had mysteriously contracted by orders of magnitude, limited to a mere twelve or thirteen miles.

This restriction hampered him severely while breeding a creeping anxiety and tension.

Zhao Sheng roamed Divine Palace Heaven for quite some time, soon learning that Tao Spirit Mechanisms abounded here in fair numbers, though seizing them proved a herculean task.

Roughly half a day in, after securing the third Tao Spirit Mechanism thread in the Immortal Awakening Tripod, Zhao Sheng spotted a gleam piercing the forward gloom.

Exhilaration flared within him, and he sped toward the glow's origin.

Upon approach, the radiance swelled and sharpened, unveiling an octagonal stone gazebo in his view.

The octagonal stone gazebo bore an archaic style, floating serenely in the boundless dark, free of any arrays or seals guarding it.

Stunned, Zhao Sheng focused his sight once more, faintly discerning an elder Taoist of ethereal bearing seated at the gazebo's heart.

Right then, the elder Taoist was absorbed in sketching some form.

The instant Zhao Sheng spotted him, the elder Taoist lifted his head, offering a gentle smile.

Startled, Zhao Sheng whirled to flee.

But a soft laugh rang out, accompanied by words: “Young friend, since you’ve arrived, why hurry off? I am Wu Hua, come join me in the pavilion for a talk.”

Hearing this, Zhao Sheng drew a steadying breath and drifted gradually toward the stone gazebo.