Chapter 183 - 166: Re-entering the Ascension Chart

Chapter 183: Chapter 166: Re-entering the Ascension Chart

Little Martial Uncle had descended the mountain, and it was unknown where he would go to investigate the survival of Chen Sha’s old father. Chen Sha couldn’t stop him, so he had to let him be. However, for Chen Sha himself, unraveling the mystery of his father’s whereabouts required focusing on the deduction of Long Zaitian’s Golden Body and the path of the Broken Void ahead.

More than half a month had passed in a flash since Chen Sha returned to Dao Yi Mountain.

During this period, he utilized the frozen time within the First Heaven, constantly going in and out to enter secluded cultivation and comprehend the secrets of Long Zaitian’s Broken Void. The situation at Copper Mountain that day replayed before his eyes day after day. Chen Sha memorized it, then entered the First Heaven to deduce it and create a Fist Technique.

About twenty days had passed in the outside world. Within the Cosmic Light Fragments, however, five or six years had elapsed. During this time, Chen Sha had completely mastered Long Zaitian’s Demon Heaven Tribulation Cultivation Technique. Through his day-to-day observation and comprehension, he gained some new insights.

"The Demon Heaven Tribulation has nine layers in total, divided into the Injury Tribulation, Poison Tribulation, Soldier Tribulation, Water Tribulation, Fire Tribulation, Wind Tribulation, Earth Tribulation, Thunder Tribulation, and Heavenly Tribulation... Each time a First Layer is broken through, one can master the symbolic power behind that tribulation. For example, controlling water, fire, wind, and thunder, and turning the Power of Celestial Phenomenon for one’s own use. The main philosophy of this Cultivation Technique is Tribulation Crossing. Tribulations are terrifying to any sentient being in this world; they are hurdles where one has a slim chance of survival. However, the Demon Heaven Tribulation demands that the Practitioner continuously rise to the challenge, seeking survival amidst various near-death crises!"

Chen Sha stood in place, his gaze rippling like water as he muttered to himself, "Perhaps it’s precisely because the Demon Heaven Tribulation differs from other Cultivation Techniques that Long Zaitian was able to complete the transformation of the final layer, the Heavenly Tribulation, within his body at the last moment when he received my certain-kill punch. This resulted in an outcome where his life or death remains unknown.

"Although I don’t know if he truly achieved the Broken Void, the Golden Body he left behind is real, and the heaven and earth Qi dynamics I sensed at that time were real..."

The five or six years of contemplation and research within the Cosmic Light Fragments allowed Chen Sha to form the prototype of a Fist Technique in his mind. Accurately speaking, it was just a single stance. However, unlike the Dao Yi Seal, this Fist Technique stance was born from the final tribulation of the Demon Heaven Tribulation—the Heavenly Tribulation. Nourished by Chen Sha’s comprehension of the Broken Void, it formed a unique fist posture.

WHOOSH.

On the mountain peak, Chen Sha slowly moved his feet. With one hand held vertically in front and the other raised high in a fist, he assumed an extremely unique fist posture.

As soon as this fist posture appeared...

BUZZ.

Immediately, a strange Qi dynamic bred within Chen Sha’s flesh and blood. This Qi dynamic squeezed the Life Force within his body, first forming a terrifying pressure internally, and then...

Broken!

A Fist Intent that seemed to crush and break life itself overflowed from the fist posture Chen Sha had assumed, accompanying his fist as it slowly pressed down into the void.

POP.

The True Qi phantoms within this Cosmic Light Fragment immediately boiled over. Crushed by this punch, they instantly collapsed.

The scenery shifted, returning to the Sect Leader’s Hall.

Chen Sha revealed a look of surprise and silently withdrew his fist. "It seems that although this stance is only a prototype, after incorporating the Mental Realm of the Broken Void, the scene formed within my small Cosmic Light Fragment was crushed by its imposing aura before my fist could even land."

Promptly, he thought of the best scenario to test the power of his new Fist Technique.

He mused, "When I descended the mountain, having just entered the Great Innate realm, I was instantly crushed by the combined strike of the ten Three Religions Innate experts in Elder Zhang Daoxuan’s second section, ’Three Religions’ Joint Ascension Chart.’ That nightmarish strike completely severed my thoughts of challenging that level again for over a year.

"Now, after gaining experience down the mountain for more than a year, I have reached the pinnacle as the number two expert in the Divine Land Martial Arts. My strength and Realm have improved by an unknown margin compared to back then.

"Having just created a stance for this Fist Technique that incorporates the Fusion of Long Zaitian’s Broken Void Mental Realm, isn’t this the perfect time to seek out those ten people and settle the score?"

Chen Sha’s mind stirred.

Zhang Daoxuan’s second section, "Three Religions’ Joint Ascension Chart," definitely hid a massive amount of secrets regarding the Nine Tribulations Heaven and Earth, as well as the secrets of Broken Ascension. Now was the best time to decipher the Broken secrets of his father and Long Zaitian.

Therefore, Chen Sha tightly closed his eyes right there in the Sect Leader’s Hall. His Heart Spirit stepped out, once again crossing the Southern Heavenly Gate.

He arrived at the First Heaven. On that hillside, he found Zhang Daoxuan’s temple and clay statue.

Just as he was about to enter, suddenly, Chen Sha stared intently at Zhang Daoxuan’s clay statue. Cracks had actually appeared on its chest.

His expression changed drastically as he thought, "Elder Zhang’s clay statue is also showing this condition!"

Previously, when he was at the Jade Capital Temple looking for a way to break the Mid-Yin Purification Body Spell for his sister Ancient Bell Spirit, he had sought out Sister Taie. That time, he had noticed faint cracks on many of the temple statues. Now, even Zhang Daoxuan’s statue was showing cracks.

What did these cracks mean? Were these people about to break out of the mud and emerge, or had their Immortal Mud life-saving method encountered a problem, causing their bodies to be Broken right then and there?

"I’ll enter the scene first and see!" he decided.

"Do you wish to enter Zhang Daoxuan’s second section, ’Three Religions’ Joint Ascension Chart’?"

"Enter!"

A sense of detachment and weightlessness brought by the shifting of time and space washed over him, with light and scenery rapidly pulling in from far to near. It was that towering, majestic Three Religions palace once again.

Inside the palace, ten figures with different builds stood in ten different positions. They included men, women, the elderly, Monks, Daoists, scholars, and great Confucians.

The moment Chen Sha appeared there, the Southern Heavenly Gate’s text surfaced in his mind:

"The Sect Leader has arrived at Zhang Daoxuan’s second section, ’Three Religions’ Joint Ascension Chart.’

"The characters in this scene are: Three from the Daoist Lineage: Zhang Daoxuan, Chen Fuyao, and Qi Taizhen. Three from the Confucian Lineage: Zheng Qiongjing, Zhou Bairu, and Jia Yi. Four from the Buddhist Lineage: Weituo Divine Monk, Wujie Divine Monk, Nun Chunyin, and Monk Guangxiao.

"The Sect Leader needs to defeat the ten people in this scene before he can..."

However, Chen Sha was well prepared this time. At the very first moment he appeared, he dashed straight toward the giant list situated in the middle of the ten people in the palace.

The Ascension Chart.

Without a word, he grabbed the chart and stuffed it into his clothes.

BOOM!

In an instant, the ten people in the hall transformed from their initial sluggish, statue-like state. They came alive as if their seals had been undone. The shift in their emotions and the sudden vitality in their eyes happened almost instantaneously.

"Who dares to trespass into the Three Religions Holy Land?!"

"Not good, the Ascension Chart has been snatched by him!"

"Attack, take him down!"

In the eyes of these ten Three Religions experts, they had just been discussing the contents of the Ascension Chart when suddenly, a tall, young Daoist appeared out of thin air and snatched the Ascension Chart right in front of them.

"How audacious!"

"Insolent!"

In a split second...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ten figures at the Great Innate level once again appeared before Chen Sha, launching terrifying attacks at him without a moment’s hesitation.

But this time, the change in Chen Sha’s strength compared to over a year ago was incomparable. Facing the ten grandiose attacks bearing down on him from all directions, he did not falter.

BOOM!!

Chen Sha stomped his foot, causing the entire palace to shake violently. The Divine Demon Blood Qi within his body surged out, dancing fiercely like a banner in the wind. At the same time, twenty-one streams of divine light surrounded him, and the Beidou Killing Power also howled outwards.

Various powers formed expanding Force Fields outside Chen Sha’s body. It was precisely the Celestial Demon Force Field from the Celestial Demon Strategy, capable of influencing the gravitational pull between all things.

Once the Celestial Demon Force Field expanded, the attacks of the ten Great Innate experts were completely suppressed twenty feet away from his body, unable to breach his defenses. Even though he withstood the fierce assault of the ten people and felt a terrifying amount of pressure, he had truly managed to hold his ground.

BOOM!

Immediately after, the Celestial Demon Force Field surged forward, carrying Chen Sha’s blood vitality, Qi Power, and killing intent, forming a terrifying mushroom cloud within the palace.

Under the destructive force of the eleven peerless powerhouses, the massive palace instantly collapsed into a pile of ruins.

Within the ruins, dust billowed.

The ten Three Religions experts looked at Chen Sha, who had steadily taken their combined strike. Aside from turning slightly pale, he was completely unharmed.

In that instant, the others immediately turned to look at the two men dressed in Daoist robes.

"Zhang Daoxuan, Chen Fuyao, this person actually knows the Jade Emperor Tower and the Great Yellow Court created by the two of you! However, his foundation is still the bloodline of the Demon Sect and the Cultivation Technique of the Celestial Demon Strategy. What is your relationship with him?!"

Suddenly, internal strife broke out among the ten people. The reason was extremely simple: upon making their move, they actually discovered their "allies’" Martial Arts on this mysterious invading enemy. How could they not grow wary and suspicious?

As the others questioned those two, Chen Sha finally found a moment to carefully examine the ten people, especially the one called Chen Fuyao.

When Chen Sha saw his face, he was instantly shocked.

"This person’s face!" he thought.

The Daoist called Chen Fuyao was draped in a multicolored Daoist Robe. Though he appeared middle-aged, his sword-like eyebrows extended into his hairline, and his face was handsome, exuding an otherworldly temperament from head to toe.

Most importantly, his appearance was eighty percent similar to his father, Chen Canxuan.

Then, Chen Fuyao spoke indifferently, "Why do you only see our Great Yellow Court and Jade Emperor Tower on him, but fail to see the Buddhist Sect’s Mid-Yin Curse Power and the Confucian Sect’s Bright Qi? Although the auras of these two religions on him are faint and very sparse compared to my Great Yellow Court, they truly exist. Don’t just point fingers at our Daoist Sect."

Hearing this, the seven people from the Buddhist Sect and the Confucian Sect all began to scrutinize Chen Sha. Upon careful examination, the sixty percent resemblance between Chen Sha and Chen Fuyao was an even more glaring piece of evidence.

Even Chen Fuyao was slightly dazed when he turned around and saw Chen Sha. "Hm?" he murmured, wondering why this face looked so much like his own.

Among the ten, a man in a Confucian robe shifted his gaze back and forth between Chen Sha and Chen Fuyao. "Master Chen Fuyao," he said coolly, "just looking at his face, if you say this person has nothing to do with you, do you think we would believe it?"

Master Chen Fuyao, however, carefully examined Chen Sha and thought to himself, "How could this be? I actually feel a Moo Ming sense of closeness."

Among the ten, a fat Monk with a large head and big ears remarked indifferently, "Master Chen, he couldn’t be your son, could he?"

Chen Fuyao glanced over. "I did have a son, but he died young at the age of eighteen."

A beautiful nun asked, "Then how do you explain the Great Yellow Court on him, and the issue of your similar appearances?"

Standing in the center of the ten, Chen Fuyao replied, "As I’ve said, he possesses not only a Daoist Technique but also Buddhist Cultivation Techniques and a Confucian Sect aura. Coupled with that Demon Sect bloodline and the Celestial Demon Strategy, he is clearly a peerless figure of the Four Religions Convergence. As for his facial features, it might be a Disguise or something else. There has never been a shortage of methods to alter one’s appearance in this world..."

He looked at Chen Sha and added, "Perhaps what we should be asking him is exactly how he managed to learn the Cultivation Techniques of all four religions."

Chen Sha saw that the ten people finally had no intention of attacking again.

Although his goal was to pass the trial and defeat these ten people, it was equally important to communicate with them beforehand to clarify what the Broken Ascension of the Ninth Tribulation was all about.

Therefore, Chen Sha first gazed at Chen Fuyao. Looking at this multicolored-robed Daoist whose appearance was similar to his father, he said, "You all have good eyes to be able to see the auras of the four religions on me. However, I am neither of the Buddhist Sect, the Demon Sect, nor the Confucian Sect. Rather, I am a Daoist Sect Master. The Cultivation Technique auras on my body are due to my extensive learning. I only want to ask you all..."

Taking the Ascension Chart out from his clothes, Chen Sha said indifferently, "Since this is the Three Religions’ Joint Ascension Chart, how could you not invite me to the meeting?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the chart.

With just this first glance, his heart jolted. He saw that what was written on it were strings of names, and the first one was exactly:

"Nine Tribulations Period, First Ascender—Sister Taie."

"Nine Tribulations Period, Second Ascender—Ren Changshou."

...

There were a full several hundred names.