Yuan’s Ascension

Chapter 949: Breakthrough, Sovereign Ming Jian (2)

The divine bird soared through the nine heavens, its cries echoing through the void. Wu Yuan felt his consciousness merge with the divine bird, soaring through the nine heavens, traversing myriad realms in a single day.

Freedom, control over destiny. Wu Yuan gradually began to sense the will of the divine bird. It was also the desire of the Sovereign who had left behind this ultimate technique.

“Soaring through the nine heavens, there must come a time to land; the river of time must eventually flow to the sea… My heart is like a roc, yet ultimately unable to transcend this heaven and earth, unable to break free of this samsara.” A sigh was transmitted from the divine bird.

Regret, unwillingness, and various emotions involuntarily enveloped Wu Yuan’s heart.

Whoosh! Wu Yuan’s eyes fully opened. His gaze regained its calm, but it had grown more profound.

He grasped the intent imbued in the stele without actually attempting to cultivate the technique. Thus, with his Great Dao Body, comprehension was extremely swift.

At Wu Yuan’s level, unless it was an ultimate supreme technique, techniques such as those from other Sovereigns were often inferior to moves he could create on a whim.

Life is diverse and ever-changing. The best choice is the most suitable one.

This is the will of a Sovereign, the regret he felt when facing the descent of samsara. In Wu Yuan’s spirit, a trace of that Sovereign’s will lingered.

It has indeed influenced me somewhat. Wu Yuan mused silently as he continued on to the next stele.

It too was covered in images, its aura pulsing with the fluctuations of the Creation Dao. The difference was that this stele bore fifty-five images. With experience, Wu Yuan quickly immersed himself, attempting to comprehend the core principles of this Sovereign technique.

Time flowed on, year after year.

Wu Yuan studied stele after stele, and the more he comprehended, the more he began to notice the differences between them.

Some techniques were clearly created by early-stage Sovereign powerhouses. Most had broken through to Creation Dao Field just before creating these techniques, leading to relatively shallow profundities. Wu Yuan could often grasp their core principles in just a year or two.

Others were evidently left by late-stage Sovereign powerhouses. These were unfathomably profound. Wu Yuan needed at least ten to nearly a hundred years to glean some of their profundities, and even then couldn’t perfectly master them.

Though more time-consuming, the techniques created by late-stage Sovereign powerhouses often yielded greater rewards for Wu Yuan and impacted him more deeply.

However, the ultimate techniques of these Sovereigns shared two common traits.

First, their creators had all fully comprehended either one or both Greater Laws of Life or Death. This was extremely important for Wu Yuan’s comprehension of the Law of Life. Never before had he obtained so many ultimate techniques from Sovereigns walking the same path.

Second, these Sovereign powerhouses had imbued their wills into their techniques as samsara approached.

Some wills were filled with regret and unwillingness. Some wills were filled with a yearning for life and fear of death. Others revealed boundless madness. But a rare few were filled with calm acceptance, as if they could face the descent of samsara with a smile.

Each will was incredibly powerful, each from a Sovereign, each with its own reasons. To reach the level of Sovereign, who among them wasn’t an unparalleled genius? Who didn’t have a lifelong obsession?

Yet, under samsara, whether a peerless prodigy, tyrannically domineering, or kind and benevolent, all life was equal. Unless one achieved eternity, all would perish. Struggle or acceptance, all was in vain.

Each Sovereign has their own will, their own unshakeable resolve, their own obsession. Wu Yuan silently contemplated as he studied stele after stele, comprehending the Creation Dao while also deducing the Laws of Life and Death.

The wills of the Sovereigns lingered in his heart, a pressure, but also like whetstones, honing his inner spirit.

The years passed.

Gradually, the consciousness of Wu Yuan’s body refiner self forgot everything, including pushing open the stone door, purely focused on comprehension.

In the blink of an eye, six thousand years passed, and Wu Yuan had studied over eight hundred steles.

On this day, he opened his eyes.

Comprehending the steles didn’t involve seeing with the eye, but rather sensing with the mind. Thus, about a hundred years into comprehension, Wu Yuan had closed his eyes. This was the first time in nearly six thousand years that he had opened them.

Is this the meaning of eternity? Wu Yuan mused silently.

At this moment, he had undergone six thousand years of tempering. After spiritual collisions with eight hundred Sovereigns, experiencing the feelings of eight hundred Sovereigns on the brink of samsara, his spirit finally began a metamorphosis.

Rumble~ It was a silent, invisible transformation.

Astral Monarchs each had an extremely powerful spirit, which was capable of withstanding the long years of an entire samsara cycle of heaven and earth without collapse, thus their psyches were called Eternal Psyches.

But there were still many inadequacies, many flaws. The spirit of an Astral Monarch was only able to put up passive resistance, resisting the erosion of years, striving to endure the passage of time.

The next level up was embracing it. Not just enduring time’s erosion, not just enduring the flow of time, but savoring every moment, treasuring every instant, bearing all with one’s powerful spirit. This was a perfected state of mind.

Let alone one samsara cycle of heaven and earth, even five or ten cycles couldn’t shake such a spirit. Because at this level, they had truly seen through their inner selves, understanding what they sought.

My mind is a saber, cleaving through all thorns.

My mind is a sword, piercing all darkness.

My mind is one, forever facing toward the light. At this moment, Wu Yuan’s spirit had become clear and flawless.

The dying wills of the Sovereigns from before, whether positive and uplifting or despairing and unwilling, could no longer affect him in the slightest.

A spiritual metamorphosis. In the future, whether in cultivation or facing soul, destiny, or spiritual attacks, I will be able to face them with great composure. Wu Yuan smiled slightly.

Most importantly, it has allowed me to understand my inner self. Even the future has grown far clearer.

…

After his spiritual metamorphosis, Wu Yuan’s comprehension and deduction of the steles grew even faster. Of course, this was also greatly related to Wu Yuan advancing to higher levels.

Analyzing the ultimate techniques others had created was also a process of accumulation and learning.

After six thousand years of cultivation, Wu Yuan was still at the second-level Dao Field stage of Creation, yet his accumulation of insights grew, and he was not far from stepping into the third level.

Most crucially, he had broken through to the ninth-level Dao Field stage of the Law of Life, getting closer and closer to fully comprehending the Law of Life.

This kid. His comprehension is accelerating, and his aura has changed noticeably. The green-robed woman had been observing Wu Yuan the entire time.

It was a good break from monotony in her long years of existence.

To comprehend so quickly, could it be that he hasn’t cultivated for long? The green-robed woman marveled inwardly. Then why is he an Astral Monarch?

Her initial lack of confidence in Wu Yuan stemmed from a simple reason: in her understanding, true monstrous prodigies generally ascended directly to the Sovereign phase, rarely lingering at the Astral Monarch phase. But Wu Yuan’s speed of comprehension far exceeded her expectations.

Even among the Overlords under the Dao Master, few could match him in their youth. The green-robed woman mused. Could he truly be capable of pushing open the stone gate?

A flicker of anticipation sparked within her heart. In truth, she too hoped that someone would open the stone gate, allowing her to glimpse what lay beyond.

Hmm? He’s approaching the stele left by Overlord Xia Zhou. The green-robed woman observed from afar, not wishing to disturb Wu Yuan.

A hundred years passed.

This stele. Wu Yuan stood before the 912th stele.

He quickly noticed the unique nature of this particular stele. Unlike the others, which were fragmented and incomplete, its Dao resonance was nearly perfect, exuding an aura of flawless beauty.

Perfect? Could this be the one created by Overlord Xia Zhou? Wu Yuan realized, pouring all his effort into comprehending it.

A set of ultimate techniques left behind by an Overlord, created with their utmost devotion, was bound to be extraordinary.

Countless insights surged through his mind as myriad thoughts collided, guiding him step by step in unraveling the stele’s profundities.

Boom! In this state of total immersion, Wu Yuan unknowingly broke through some kind of bottleneck. Suddenly, he understood that he had advanced to the third-level Dao Field stage of Creation.

When comprehending a Great Dao, each step was a new world. Every breakthrough was incredibly difficult.

Hmm? A glimmer of joy flashed in Wu Yuan’s eyes, though not for his breakthrough in Dao comprehension.

My qi refiner self is finally about to become a Sovereign. Wu Yuan’s body refiner self’s smile left as quickly as it appeared.

He continued to contemplate the stele left by Overlord Xia Zhou.

…

In the distant Ling Jiang Universe, on Taiyuan Island of the Taiyuan Divine Court.

Within a meditation chamber.

The complete Law of Space. Wu Yuan’s qi refiner self sat in lotus position.

In the seven thousand years since returning from the Megaverse Crossroads, his qi refiner self had not left this hall. He had devoted himself entirely to comprehending the Law of Space.

Originally, Wu Yuan had estimated that breaking through within ten thousand years would be commendable enough. After all, shattering the final shackles of a Greater Law was no easy feat.

But the transformation of his spirit had likewise caused Wu Yuan’s qi refiner self’s speed of deduction and understanding to skyrocket. In the end, it took just over seven thousand years to break through the bottleneck.

True Domain, Spatial Rift, Qiankun. Wu Yuan silently contemplated. The three formerly independent Intermediate Laws now fused perfectly into one.

Fully comprehending the Law of Space provided no fundamental aid to Wu Yuan when employing supreme techniques like the ‘Nine Swords of Spacetime’, as he had already reached the fourth-level Dao Field stage of Spacetime.

The essence of the Dao of Space. Wu Yuan sensed the vast, boundless Dao essence of Space in the depths of existence.

Only by thoroughly comprehending it could one perfectly attune to it and harness its essence power to forge an immortal body.

Now that I’ve broken through, there’s no need to linger in the mortal stage. A smile touched Wu Yuan’s qi refiner self’s face. It’s time to break through and become a Sovereign.

With a thought, Wu Yuan left the hall and departed from Taiyuan Island. His departure drew little attention.

Just two days later.

Above the Bei You Realm, within the territory of the Eternal Sun Immortal World in the Greenridge Macrocosm, was an area other Astral Monarchs could not reach.

“Ming Jian, are you truly prepared to break through? Isn’t it too soon?” Sovereign Bei You couldn’t help but ask.

“Grandmaster, you’ve asked eight times now. I know what I’m doing,” Wu Yuan smiled faintly.

“Let’s do it here,” Wu Yuan said. “Please protect me, Grandmaster.”

“Rest assured, no other Sovereigns of the macrocosm can find the Bei You Realm,” Sovereign Bei You reassured him.

Wu Yuan nodded.

Whoosh! He took a step forward, sitting cross-legged in the void without a trace of hesitation.

Hum~ Wu Yuan focused his thoughts, communing with the essence of Space.

Instantly, surging waves of the Greater Law’s essence power manifested within Wu Yuan’s amethyst cradle. A grand, vast ripple of Dao fluctuations, centered on Wu Yuan, spread out to encompass the entire Bei You Realm.

The Dao essence of Space. Even though Sovereign Bei You knew it was coming, witnessing this scene still left him stunned. Is my grand-disciple truly about to become a Sovereign?

Hum~ A shadowy figure of black mist appeared from thin air, his form slightly ethereal.

“Once Ming Jian breaks through, he won’t be an ordinary Sovereign, But a late-stage Sovereign.” Overlord Xin Ya’s incarnation spoke softly. “The Eternal Sun Immortal World is about to have a new leader.”