Chapter 155: Entering the Immortal Gate for the Fourth Time

"Pfft!"

An instant later, Wang Ping clamped his eyes shut. A sweet taste rose in his throat as a trail of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. Two lines of bloody tears slowly trickled from his tightly closed eyelids.

The moment he clearly saw the martial dao rune of the Heaven's Will Profound Blade, he had instinctively used his spiritual sense to trace it, engraving it into his soul sea. But before the characters could fully form, while they were nothing more than a blurry outline, an incomparably sharp aura violently slashed into his mind.

"Clang—!"

A melodic yet merciless blade hum followed, threatening to shatter Wang Ping's soul sea and grind every last one of his thoughts to dust.

However, at that exact moment...

The Life-Stealing Thief, Time-Stealing Thief, and Void Joy Non-Dual Guardian Consort Talisman lit up simultaneously, forcefully suppressing the violently erupting blade light.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Wang Ping's face paled as he coughed uncontrollably, yet joy surged in his eyes. To think a mere name possessed such profound and mystical might!

Was this a spiritual treasure?

'Heaven's Will Profound Blade...' Wang Ping silently recited the name. Looking into his soul sea, he saw that five incomplete, blurry runes had already been fully outlined.

'This treasure is fated with me!'

Heavenly Work spiritual treasures ranked even higher than divine weapons and dharma treasures. If dharma treasures were prepared for Tribulation Transcending Stage cultivators, didn't that mean spiritual treasures were exclusive to Qi refining practitioners?

'Hiss!'

At this thought, Wang Ping couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath. After all, based on this logic, a spiritual treasure was the equivalent of a Qi refining practitioner among weapons.

Even if it wasn't equal to a true Qi refining practitioner, it had to be close, right?

Wang Ping subconsciously touched his chest. The First Seat's Divine Intent was hidden within his heart, but it remained completely motionless right now. It was clearly hiding from this spiritual blade hanging above the furnace.

After taking several deep breaths, Wang Ping finally calmed his surging emotions. He was only at the Tribulation Transcending First Layer; this kind of mighty power was far beyond what he could touch. By comparison, the truly valuable prize was the set of five incomplete characters he had forcibly engraved into his soul sea. They possessed genuine power!

'If I simulate them with my spiritual sense when drawing my saber, might it produce a miraculous effect?'

Wang Ping pondered this for a long time before suppressing the urge to test it immediately. Upon recovering his wits, he noticed Daoist Xuanhe scrutinizing him intently.

"Are you... really not afraid of death?"

Daoist Xuanhe spoke coldly, "Did you think your resurrection methods would still work under the mighty power of the Heaven's Will Profound Blade? You're too naive."

Would they not work?

Wang Ping recalled his past experiences and felt no panic at all. The reason was simple: back in Longxing County, even with a Qi refining practitioner present, he had still managed to resurrect and restart successfully.

From this, it was clear that the resurrection level of the Outer Heavenly Demon was incredibly high. Even Qi refining practitioners couldn't stop it or detect it, so a spiritual treasure would certainly be no exception.

Despite thinking this, a look of profound shock quickly surfaced on Wang Ping's face. His vitality surged, flushing his cheeks and raising his body temperature. Finally, his expression morphed into deep, lingering fear. He swallowed hard. "I was too rash... I apologize. This sort of thing won't happen again."

"It's good that you understand."

Daoist Xuanhe gave a slight nod. "The Immortal Gate is vast. Those crude resurrection methods you used in the Eight Trigrams Furnace are nothing but unorthodox tricks here."

"Here, you only have one life!"

Wang Ping nodded obediently.

Finally, as the starlight gradually dimmed, Wang Ping found himself standing on a towering flying boat. Daoist Xuanhe's true body was standing on the deck, observing him.

"...Senior?"

Wang Ping cupped his hands in greeting. He didn't shy away, calmly meeting the man's gaze... only to be greeted by a profound darkness capable of bringing all things to a standstill.

A middle-tier divine power, Corpse-Still Dragon Manifestation!

Almost simultaneously, a faint light flared in Wang Ping's eyes. A thunderous explosion rang out from his chest, and he instantly vanished from where he stood.

The divine power that should have halted all of creation had absolutely no effect on him.

Seeing this, Daoist Xuanhe immediately pulled a long face, but he quickly adjusted his expression. Raising his eyebrows, he smoothly shifted into a smile.

"My young friend truly is a dragon and phoenix among people."

Wang Ping's eyes twitched slightly at the sight. Turning hostile and attacking one second, only to act like nothing happened the next—this speed in changing faces truly proved he was a disciple of the Immortal Gate.

With this thought, he pressed his hand against his chest again. Daoist Xuanhe's sudden attack had clearly been an attempt to capture him; they had practically fallen out. If the First Seat's Divine Intent hadn't suddenly exerted its power, Wang Ping probably wouldn't have even had the chance to commit suicide before being taken down.

'Strength really is the key.'

They had talked so much about cooperation before, but when it came down to a face-to-face encounter, only strength could make the other party truly value the alliance.

"Phew..."

Wang Ping let out a long breath, burying his thirst for strength deep in his heart before asking softly, "Senior, may I ask if you can take me to the Immortal Gate now?"

"Of course."

Daoist Xuanhe smiled faintly, entirely unbothered by the shift in Wang Ping's attitude. After all, the boy was just a lucky bastard in the end. How much ability could he really have?

In his eyes, Wang Ping was nothing more than that crazy woman's pawn. Since she couldn't appear openly, she had specifically found this mortal to bear her Divine Intent... What else could it be? Could this mere mortal really be the one calling the shots? What a joke.

"Follow me."

Reining in his thoughts, Daoist Xuanhe acted just as he had before. After leaving behind a puppet double, he steered the flying boat, carrying Wang Ping deep into the universe.

...

An enormous gateway stood amidst the starry sky.

Its outline was entirely formed by the converging light of stars. Among them, twelve stars shone the brightest, serving as the foundation of the gateway's frame.

Eleven of them orbited on the outside in progressive layers—eight below and three above. These eleven lights clustered together, revolving around the single brightest star. Meanwhile, that central star remained completely stationary, immune to the celestial rotation, fixed in place for all eternity.

'This is the Immortal Gate!'

Even though he had seen it once before, witnessing this magnificent spectacle on a cosmic scale again still left Wang Ping in utter disbelief.

Soon, the flying boat drew near one of the bright stars.

"That is...?" Wang Ping asked in a low voice.

"Bliss Immortal Peak."

Daoist Xuanhe also lowered his voice. "Senior Sister You is in seclusion here... and so is that person. You know who I mean, so don't say it out loud."

Don't say it out loud? Who?

Wang Ping froze, but he quickly realized who it was. 'It's Daoist Nun You's Qi refining practitioner master, Great Cultivator Mingyou. He's here too?'

And he wasn't allowed to say the name.

Why?

Although full of doubts, Wang Ping gave a solemn nod and kept his questions to himself as the flying boat formally descended into the bright star.

Only as they got closer could Wang Ping vaguely make out the star's features. Its vastness far exceeded the Earth in his memories; he couldn't see the end of it at a glance. As the flying boat approached, piercing through the atmosphere and plunging toward the ground, a boundless landscape of mountains and rivers reflected in his eyes.

A hundred thousand great mountains, mighty rivers, deep lakes, and vast seas.

A magnificent immortal land; a miraculous grand cosmos.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by an earth-shaking rumble, the flying boat finally came to a steady halt. It landed perfectly on a cliff towering above the clouds.

"We've arrived."

With his head held high and his hands behind his back, Daoist Xuanhe took the lead and stepped off the flying boat. Wang Ping followed closely behind, but the moment he stepped out, he froze in place.

The reason was simple: the instant he exited the ship and took his first breath, a terrifying surge of spiritual energy—far beyond his imagination—violently flooded his nose and mouth, completely disregarding whether he could handle it. If his physique hadn't undergone three consecutive qualitative transformations, this single breath would have likely caused his body to explode!

"Hiss..."

In an instant, the skin all over Wang Ping's body flushed crimson. His muscles turned rock-hard as his vitality and true astral energy circulated frantically. Only after a good while did he let out a long breath.

This sight actually surprised Daoist Xuanhe a little.

He had originally thought this mouthful of spiritual energy would make Wang Ping explode and had even prepared to step in and neutralize it. He never expected the boy to forcefully endure it.

"Not bad."

Daoist Xuanhe withdrew his hand and said plainly, "Being able to breathe on Bliss Immortal Peak means you won't embarrass me if I take you out. Nobody will say I'm running around dragging an independent cultivator with me."

"..."

Wang Ping felt somewhat speechless. They were both in the Immortal Gate, yet the world Pingjiangzi lived in didn't possess such high-density spiritual energy. That was why he had been caught off guard just now.

'Indeed, if it were an ordinary independent cultivator like Pingjiangzi, they probably wouldn't even have the qualifications to live on this Bliss Immortal Peak and breathe its spiritual energy. A single breath would make them explode... This means that anyone capable of entering Bliss Immortal Peak must be an outer sect disciple at the very least—a cultivator who has formed magic power.'

'As for the rest of the independent cultivators who claim to belong to Bliss Immortal Peak, they're probably all scattered across the minor worlds under its jurisdiction. They have absolutely no right to enter the true immortal peak.'

'No wonder the chain of contempt is so severe.'

'They're practically no longer species from the same ecosystem. When an outer sect disciple looks at an independent cultivator, they probably just think: "Ugh, a stinking independent cultivator is here on the immortal peak to beg for food..."'

Thinking up to this point, a question suddenly surfaced in Wang Ping's mind:

"Senior, may I ask... how many disciples are there in total on the immortal peak right now?"

At these words, Daoist Xuanhe cast a sidelong glance at him. After pondering for a moment, he smiled. "Not that many. Roughly calculated, only about a thousand or so."

"Just in the outer sect?" Wang Ping's scalp tingled slightly.

"It's not that extreme. That's the total number of the outer sect, inner sect, and true transmission disciples combined. The immortal peak is vast and boundless, so everyone rarely interacts casually on a day-to-day basis."

Hearing this, Wang Ping breathed a sigh of relief, yet he still couldn't help but bare his teeth.

Was a thousand or so a small number?

It was quite a lot!

Across the entirety of Great Shun, the total number of martial dao Grandmaster Rank and Great Grandmaster Rank experts combined was likely only a few dozen. Even if one counted the extraordinary people and Loose Immortals, there were probably only a hundred or so in total.

In comparison, a single Bliss Immortal Peak possessed over a thousand Tribulation Transcending Stage cultivators. And the Immortal Gate had seven more peaks exactly like this one—not to mention the Three Great Academies above the Eight Immortal Peaks, and whatever lay even higher... To say that 'magic power walks everywhere, and Divine Powers are as common as dogs' would not be an exaggeration in the slightest!

"Where are we going next...?" Wang Ping continued to ask.

"We're already here."

Daoist Xuanhe's words left Wang Ping momentarily stunned. He looked around, only to see a towering cliff surrounded by a surging sea of clouds. He couldn't spot anything unusual.

However, that changed in the next second.

As Daoist Xuanhe's voice faded, the originally calm sea of clouds abruptly churned. Accompanied by loud rumbles and rolling thunder, billions of radiant beams erupted from the clouds.

Immediately following that, earth, water, wind, and fire seethed within the sea of clouds, manifesting into towering mountains and rushing rivers. Billowing flames and howling gales closely trailed them, merging into the radiance. Like forging a weapon or constructing a building, in just a few breaths, pavilions, terraces, and majestic palaces crashed down into place.

In the blink of an eye, a complete world had been formed!

'A divine power!?'

Wang Ping's pupils instantly shrank as he recalled the minor divine power he had seen before, Heaven Within the Pot. Soon enough, however, he noticed how the scene before him was different.

'No, it lacks a certain spirituality.'

'The world created by Heaven Within the Pot wasn't this rigid. This world wasn't formed at will; it was constructed following a predetermined sequence.'

Wang Ping shifted his gaze again.

Soon, directly in the center of those overlapping pavilions and palaces, he spotted a towering stone stele. Upon it, four characters were written in bold, flowing strokes:

Sea of Learning Cave-Heaven.