Volume 1, Chapter 399 – Incarnation

Shi Lan did not deny it. The magic power fluctuations carried by immortal-path techniques differed quite a bit from the true qi of the martial path. Ordinary people might not be able to sense it, but to a Human Emperor-level powerhouse, the truth could be seen through at a glance.

“When cultivating methods from beyond the outer realms, it is best to be more cautious. If you bear power from another world, then when you step into the Heaven-Man Realm, the lightning tribulation you face may bring horrors beyond ordinary imagination.”

“Why is that?”

Shi Lan’s heart tightened slightly. Chu Hanzhou was not someone who spoke without reason, nor did he have any need to deceive her.

“There are some secrets you simply had no access to before. It is only natural that you would not know them.”

Some matters were destined to be passed down only by word of mouth among certain people. If one’s standing had not reached a certain level, then no matter how much effort one exhausted, one would not learn even the slightest hint.

Even though those same secrets might be nothing more than casual after-dinner conversation to some.

“It has long been rumored that the human race’s Martial Dao was born from the battle arts of the Ancient Gods, and only after later generations refined it did it flower into what it is today.”

Chu Hanzhou did not speak in riddles. He frankly told Shi Lan what he knew.

“In truth, within the Vast Land of Shenzhou, though a hundred paths contend, they all lead to the same destination. No matter how they change, most still belong to the martial path. Among the other minor paths, although many have all kinds of mysterious peculiarities, none has ever produced a powerhouse above the Heaven-Man level.”

“Since the Primordial Age, countless Human Emperors have broken the shackles of heaven and earth, journeyed into the outer realms, sought methods stronger than the Martial Dao, and brought them back to the Lingyang Realm.”

“At first, the purpose was simply to free themselves from the Ancient Gods’ enslavement. But later, after repeated verification, it was found that once an external method was cultivated to a realm equivalent to the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul Realm, the moment it drew down lightning tribulation, the cultivator would certainly die a violent death.”

“Does the lightning tribulation become much more terrifying?”

Shi Lan’s mouth felt slightly dry, and an inexplicable restlessness rose within her.

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“Not necessarily.”

Chu Hanzhou shook his head.

“Some people face lightning tribulations of perfectly ordinary power. But when they cross them, all sorts of accidents inevitably arrive one after another, until in the end they die on the spot.”

“Without a single exception?”

Shi Lan’s brows knitted tightly. This kind of unforeseeable situation was the most frightening. Because nothing was known, there was no way to guard against it.

“Of course there are exceptions.”

Chu Hanzhou nodded slightly.

“They are the three strongest branches in the world’s Martial Dao today: Chan Buddhism, Daoism, and the Confucian school.”

“In the outer starry sky, however, they are called the Buddhist sect, the Daoist religion, and the sorcerers.”

“The foundations of those three powers are unimaginably deep. In the myriad heavens and worlds, traces of them can be found in the vast majority of worlds. Among them are Supremes, and even figures above the Supreme level.”

Before Shi Lan could feel any relief, Chu Hanzhou continued at once:

“But the reason these three kinds of power were able to remain is that in ancient times, all three factions once had existences above the Supreme reach the Lingyang Realm, causing tremendous upheaval in this world.”

“And what was the result?”

Shi Lan could not help asking.

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“Shijie of the Buddhist sect transformed himself into an immeasurable golden body. To this day, he is still suppressed on the far shore of the River of Forgetfulness, never to be reincarnated for all eternity.”

“Dongxuan Taishang of the Daoist Tianxiao Palace was engulfed by heavenly punishment. His Dao body collapsed, his Nascent Soul dissolved into the Dao, and he merged into the entirety of the Lingyang Realm.”

“As for the sorcerer lineage, one member of the Heavenly God race entered the Lingyang Realm and directly made a great vow. Speaking with the authority of heaven, he transformed into a boundless divine land, raising the entire continent by three hundred zhang and completely separating it from the Boundless Sea.”

“One could say that these three figures above the Supreme shed their blood upon Lingyang, split open their own Dao fruits, and submitted them to the Heavenly Dao for examination. Only then did they win the continuation of their lineages.”

“Even so, compared with the orthodox traditions of the outer starry sky, these three lineages still had to make certain adjustments to their cultivation methods in accordance with the laws of the Lingyang Realm.”

Chu Hanzhou paused for breath, then shook his head again.

“These events are far too ancient. Even I do not know much. The annals of the human race may contain clearer records. There are many truths there that remain unknown to the world.”

“Among the demon and devil races, does no one cultivate these three systems?”

Shi Lan’s brows remained tightly furrowed. These three foreign lineages could not possibly have been meant for the human race alone.

“The demon and devil races only revere the power of bloodlines. They have no interest in lineages of this sort. And in ancient times, it was the age when the human race alone flourished. Only humanity accepted all things and fully absorbed and digested them.”

“The reason I am telling you all this is to urge you to think carefully. Your cultivation is not high yet. If you cut away some of that cultivation and start over now, your losses would not be too great.”

Chu Hanzhou had placed enormous hopes on Shi Lan. He did not want her to encounter some mishap and die young halfway down the road.

“I cannot abandon this path.”

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Shi Lan pondered for a long while, but in the end she still slowly shook her head.

In the unseen workings of fate, she had already inherited the karmic ties brought by the Tiancang Xuanling Scripture. Even if she gave up cultivating it, it would still change nothing.

Chu Hanzhou tapped his fingers on the tabletop and fell into thought. After a while, he raised his head.

“There is one other method. It may help you avoid the tribulation.”

Shi Lan’s eyes brightened.

“Please instruct me.”

“Refine a Nascent Soul avatar and sever that portion of your power out of your body. If this method works, then perhaps when the time comes, you can use that dharma body as a substitute to take the tribulation in your place.”

…

…

Tianbai stood obediently outside the door, utterly motionless, her body tense at every moment. Her snow-white hair hung loose around her, like a snow leopard poised to spring.

There were simply too many human experts here, and it left her feeling profoundly unsafe.

Creak.

Shi Lan pulled open the door of the private room. When she saw Tianbai standing stiffly by the entrance, her mood eased a little, and she could not help smiling.

“My lord.”

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Tianbai let out a huge breath of relief. Her heart settled, and she moved a little closer to Shi Lan. From the corner of her eye, she glanced into the room, only to find it already empty.

One human and one demon left the pavilion, boarded a carriage, and headed back toward the palace where they were staying.

A faint stick of incense was burning inside the carriage, calming the mind and focusing the spirit. Shi Lan sat with her eyes closed, resting, while passages of scripture passed through her mind one after another.

There were no fewer than six methods in the Tiancang Xuanling Scripture for refining an external incarnation. The Yuqing Creation Art also contained a technique for condensing an external incarnation.

Shi Lan had never been someone who refused good advice. Since Chu Hanzhou had already explained the stakes so clearly, she naturally had made up her mind. It was only a matter of sooner or later.

…

…

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

During those three days, Shi Lan did not go out. She calmed her mind and gathered her spirit, adjusting herself to her peak condition in preparation for condensing her Nascent Soul.

Yun Yu came by once and delivered the remainder of her spirit crystals. That pushed the amount in Shi Lan’s possession past the two-billion mark in an instant, an astonishing fortune by any measure.

…

For Yunlai Immortal Palace, opening the Yunlai Secret Realm even once was no easy task. Small secret realms with such superb cultivation environments had mostly been passed down from the ancient era.

As time passed, these secret realms were vanishing one by one. One day, all of them would fall silent.