Chapter 823: Chapter 44: Achieving the Nine Sword Saint Sources Realm!
The heavens and earth returned to the same tranquility as before, this world unchanged, still as it was.
Only the ancient Heavenly Destiny Ancient Tea Tree above was still swaying with withered leaves, rustling in the cold wind.
Zhou Yan sat cross-legged beneath the tree, attaining enlightenment under its boughs, incorporating all his past cultivation experiences into his understanding, thereby undergoing a fundamental transformation.
In this transformation, Zhou Yan was like a point, turning into a circle, a circle that suddenly expanded in an unseen way, becoming another circle.
A point is merely a point, its scope very small.
But when a point becomes a circle, the area it encompasses grows larger.
Yet as the diameter of the circle gradually enlarges, just like Zhou Yan’s present transformation, the increase in diameter reveals a broader range of containment both in area, volume, and even higher dimensional levels.
With such growth, the day will surely come when this circle encircles everything. At that time, it will be endless, it will be immortal.
Zhou Yan quietly comprehended as the third heavenly tribulation descended, a self of black soul power flew out from within him to face the tribulation.
With a lift of his hand, the now pure Demon Heart Sword Body evolved outward, the Eight Great Primordial Sword Bodies unified, deriving chaos, forming Tai Xu.
As the heavenly tribulation fell, it directly merged into the constitution of the Demon Heart Sword Body, causing Zhou Yan’s realm to abruptly escalate by a level.
"Sizzle sizzle—"
Within his body, the so-called ’genetic chains’ deemed by modern science were constantly shattering, the Heavenly Pivot Ancient Town, shackles originating from flesh and soul, directly broke apart.
His body suddenly became buoyant, in an instant, the pressure he felt, magnified billions of times before, completely vanished, Zhou Yan even felt as if he might soar into the sky, as if he was not subjected to gravity.
No longer confined, no longer suppressed, without the Heavenly Pivot Ancient Town, Zhou Yan in a flash ascended to the soul level of the ’domain’, instantly perceiving the myriad Supreme Dao and grasping the origin of this world.
"Ten Thousand Buddhas’ Extinction, Ten Thousand Immortals Suffering...So this was once the River of Enlightenment of the Buddha, the so-called ’Cutting Meat to Feed the Eagle’, the truth should be like my transaction with the Immortal Phoenix Peacock? The heart of Subhuti, breaking the Heavenly Pivot Ancient Town, thus untouched by earthly dust.
Wanxiang Dust, the Tao of Ancestor Worship. It signifies the blending and liberation of heart and spirit.
Always diligently dust it off, let no dust settle, this is the norm for a cultivator.
But inherently, there is nothing, where can dust gather, that is true transcendence in ancestor worship."
"So, the path of ancestor worship is a realm, a realm visible after breaking through the Thirty-Three Heavens."
"The western journey for enlightenment is not about the journey itself but about the tempering of the spirit. The soul sea within is the ocean, is the Ganges."
"Emotions of the heart are the source of the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, are the Heavenly Destiny Ancient Tea Tree, are the heart of Subhuti, present everywhere yet nowhere."
"I, Zhou Yan, have finally transcended, broken the eternal seals, unlocked the path of the Heavenly Pivot, breached the sealing of the Ancestor Witch Bloodline, and penetrated deep mysteries of the Emperor Blood to truly find myself again."
"From now on, I am beyond the calculations of anyone, beyond sensing by anyone."
Zhou Yan murmured to himself, he rose from his cross-legged position, his garments fluttering, his bearing transcendent.
The endless heavenly tribulation, after the third one, surged forward, becoming endless energy, all absorbed and refined by Zhou Yan, becoming the energy for his realm’s growth.
The Swallowing Heaven Divine Skill, performed calmly, yet already infinitely terrifying, overwhelmingly invincible.
"Nine Refinements of Sword Tribulation."
"The great tribulation of transformation and longevity, nine-fold ultimate."
All this completed in just a moment.
Yet, Zhou Yan’s realm had just barely reached the degree of the First Refinement of Sword Tribulation.
The heavenly tribulation, however, had not completed thus.
"Sizzle sizzle—"
The heavens and earth roiled, the heavenly tribulation nine times more formidable than before, came around again.
The same three rounds of heavenly tribulation forms unchanged.
Reappearing.
This time, Zhou Yan merely raised his hand, Swallowing Heaven Divine Skill, Emperor Qi Dragon Transformation, powerfully slaying.
Sword Tribulation Second Refinement.
As if forming a cycle, such tribulation, once disappeared, returned nine times stronger again.
As if endless.
But the outcome remained the same, having grasped the origin of the ’domain’, Zhou Yan’s Original Dao had achieved great success, uniting the eight great sword forms, integrating the Twelve Beast Sword Soul, deriving the first Chaos Sword Body of the ninth ancient origin, thus directly transcending the Nine Sword Ancestor Paths, rendering the comprehension of those nine supreme paths unnecessary.
Before the Sword Saint Realm, there were originally no shackles needed, now there were no obstacles at all.
That was a bright path, when the energy was enough, the realm would ascend.
Now all tribulations were just energy.
The tribulations grew increasingly furious and ferocious.
But in Zhou Yan’s heart, the tribulation was part of his body, so no matter how fierce, the tribulation could not destroy him.
With each round of heavenly tribulation, Zhou Yan’s realm ascended one layer.
In less than an hour, the dense tribulations propelled Zhou Yan’s realm to the brink of the Nine Refinements of Sword Tribulation, followed by the descent of the supreme path, divine light refining his body, Zhou Yan directly achieved the realm of the Sword Ancestor, his body imbued with the ancient aura of the ancestor land.
This piece of land formed a world will centered around him.
The will of heaven and earth enshrouded him, five-colored divine light forming behind him like the Immortal Phoenix Peacock, a large ring glimmering around his back.
Ancestor, just ancestor.
It grants him the right for others to kneel in respect, recognized by the will of the ancient land, becoming a master of a realm of heaven and earth.
Zhou Yan clasped his hands together and gently bowed to heaven and earth, murmuring to himself, "With me, invincible; Only I Am Supreme."
This is akin to ’Immeasurable Venerable’, ’Amitabha’, once you decipher the mysteries of the ’domain’, you gain the qualification for your own ’Heaven’s Will Command’, allowing you to chant your slogan.
This is the capability belonging to the ’True Ancestor’.
Ancestral Realm, grasp the rules of the domain, thus becoming a ’True Ancestor’, earning the qualification of ’Ancestor Worship’.
After Zhou Yan achieved Sword Ancestor, he did not stop. All the energy of this world, including all accumulated cultivation before, Soul Path Vast Qi, Killing Spirit Tai Chu power, etc., converged entirely.
From the Immortal Phoenix Peacock, each Vast Qi Pill gradually appeared in Zhou Yan’s hands, which he then consumed one by one.
His realm continuously elevated, as Demon Heart Sword Body inherently faced no shackles, not to mention this is the true Ancestral Land, the Land of Enlightenment of the Buddha once, where countless ancient soul energy has accumulated, all available for Demon Heart Sword Body absorption.
Zhou Yan absorbed the power of this world, breaking through the nine path constraints, achieving Sword Saint Realm.
Saints, akin to the original source of heaven and earth.
Zhou Yan had already comprehended the Original Dao with Great Success, and the realm naturally advances, energy arrived, realm instantly continues to elevate.
This time, the energy of this world nearly exhausted, time flowed for a long while, Zhou Yan’s realm reached the peak state of Nine Sword Saint Sources, only then did he suddenly halt.
All accumulation has been consumed, this world further nearly exhausted completely.
The Black Water River has dried up, revealing cracks at the riverbed.
Though some energy remains, the remaining energy is no longer sufficient for Zhou Yan to continue breaking through.
Moreover, after achieving Sword Saint Realm, Zhou Yan’s whole being now possesses the powerful invincible aura of the Saint; he is like a Holy Sword, where all weapons must tremble and submit before him.
However, after Zhou Yan came to his senses, experiencing the invincible merged feeling of past and present spirit and body, he felt somewhat regretful.
Ultimately, he did not achieve godhood in one step, which is a pity.
"With the Twelve Beast Sword Saint Body, alas, to become a god requires condensing Twelve Beast Sword Divine Body, and refining Twelve War Beast Divine Soul. This is a massive barrier for me."
"This world no longer holds hope for breakthroughs, even if siphoning the entire Ancestral Land dry, devouring this star system, it’s inadequate for my breakthrough."
Zhou Yan sighed gently, then composed himself.
His figure had become exceptionally towering, transforming from the initial form to over ten meters tall.
The ancient tree that once stood, now aligned in height with Zhou Yan.
Like transformations of circumstances, the ancient tree once visible to Zhou Yan now seemed diminutive.
Zhou Yan sighed, deploying the Tai Chu Rune Ancient Array, condensing and sealing this world, meanwhile deriving Silent Annihilation Purple Flame, using prior ancient materials to refashion combat armor.
This time, the same Green Lotus Armor now upgraded to the grade of Mid Grade Divine Artifact.
Having organized these, Zhou Yan sensed his present combat power, upon sensing this, Zhou Yan was tremendously astonished!
The current combat power is unimaginably fearsome; Rebellion Bone Heavenly Tribulation, Great Rebirth Catastrophe combined with derivations of nine great sword bodies following chaos, elevating power directly to six-nine level.
It means that in terms of combat power talent, he has already surpassed Gles of the Returning True Clan.
"My current combat power, compared with the Evil King, one sight can kill him ten thousand times. This combat power, truly fearsome."
"A single thought can annihilate heaven and earth, indeed strong."
After thorough introspection, Zhou Yan was highly satisfied with his current state.
Despite fully expending the accumulations of both past lives and this life, achieving complete fusion, Zhou Yan felt no regret.
With a mere thought, his figure immediately shrunk, form and meaning altered, allowing him to transform into innumerable forms without anomaly.
Zhou Yan reverted to normal human form, also restoring his original appearance, wearing the Taoist robe transformed from Green Lotus Armor, Zhou Yan carried the Xuanyuan Sword, took a step into the void, and left this world.
The next instant, Zhou Yan appeared outside the ancient cauldron of Pure Yang Sect.
Zhou Yan carefully examined this ancient cauldron, yet it had entirely formed a blood-linked bond with Zhao Xiaoxiao, showing no visible traces.
And Zhao Xiaoxiao’s presence too couldn’t be detected, only a faint connection seemed to exist with this ancient cauldron.
Upon close examination, despite Zhou Yan’s current abilities, he saw no signs of prior array setups.
Zhou Yan employed Space-time Origin Tracing Technique, yet saw merely a void, nothing detectable.
Zhou Yan’s heart sank, he moved once more, traversing the void, arriving at Fu Xi’s Ancestral Land.
Fu Xi’s Ancestral Land, a land of desolation.
It had become a wasteland, utterly devoid of human presence.
Ruined, desolate.
The once little wooden houses, etc., no longer existed.
In this place, Zhou Yan deployed space-time tracing techniques, glancing at the past, yet only beheld a frightful revolving black hole.
Aside from that, still, nothing else existed.
Zhou Yan returned to Kunlun Immortal Pool.
Immortal Pool dried up, spirit land withered, all things had perished.
Outside the immortal pool, modern facilities had already been spread nearby, seemingly aiming to turn it into a tourist attraction.
"What is... going on?"
Zhou Yan was filled with immense confusion.
He transcended, yet witnessed a completely different scene.