Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme - Chapter 74

Chapter 74: 52 Chapter: Conclusion_l

Translator: 549690339

Time flew by like a shuttle, six hundred years later.

In the midst of a vast desert.

“Anomalous magnetic field fluctuation!”

“Determine the target’s location!”

A fighter jet passed by, out of thin air, dropping several people.

The group landed on air, each taking a corner, manipulating some kind of instrument in their hands.

At this moment, ripples in the void began to swell, resembling illusions of flowers in mirrors and the mirage of a castle in the sky. It turned out to be a palace, ethereal and illusory.

“Target has been confirmed!”

“Indeed it’s the Temple of War supreme-ruler!”

Several people stood at their positions, controlling the instruments and transmitting their joy.

Just then, the void cracked open, and a figure stepped forth.

“Master!”

“Your Majesty!”

“Data analysis indicates that this magnetic field should maintain stability for about an hour.”

“Shall we allow one of us to proceed first?”

Each of them bowed respectfully and offered their suggestions. Xu Yang shook his head, “No need, you all may withdraw.”

“Yes!”

Hearing this, the group did not say more and retreated one after another.

Xu Yang too took a step forward, walking towards the ethereal palace.

The Temple of War supreme-ruler, the greatest secret of this world and the most elusive place of all.

It is said that within, lies the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas, the source of all martial arts and the foremost of the four great ancient texts.

Throughout history, many who possessed great luck and destiny stumbled upon this palace by chance and thus comprehended earth-shattering, unparalleled martial arts.

Longevity Jue, Heavenly Demon Strategy, and Mercy Sailing Sword Scroll all originated from here; each bears traces of the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas.

Therefore, as being the foremost of the four great ancient texts and the source of all martial arts, only by mastering the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas can one truly reap the fruit of this world’s essence.

This has been the grandest goal of Xu Yang’s rule for eight hundred years.

He wanted to enter the Temple of War supreme-ruler!

But the Temple of War supreme-ruler was not so easily entered, as it wasn’t a fixed place but an independent space, a realm on its own, that shifted constantly, with its appearance location always uncertain.

Over the past few centuries, it had appeared many times, but Xu Yang always missed it by a hair’s breadth, only able to glean information about the temple and the atlas from the lucky few who had gained entry.

But while those fortunate souls were lucky, their talents and perceptions were not particularly remarkable—at least not to the extent that they could fully comprehend the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas.

Thus, they only brought back incomplete records or even mere fragments of speech, which, after being compiled, could at best create incredible skills like Longevity Jue and Heavenly Demon Strategy but were incapable of replicating the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas in its entirety.

Fortunately, through the evolving martial arts technology and various means, Xu Yang had deduced the movement pattern of the Temple of War supreme-ruler

Therefore, this time he caught it successfully.

This was also his last opportunity.

He had ruled this world for more than eight hundred years!

A Condensing Spirit Martial Artist, attaining Grandmaster status, could, with the marvel of the Martial Arts Scripture, live up to three hundred years.

A Co-Dao Martial Artist grasping the Golden Core, if they did not break through the void, would have a lifespan of five hundred years.

Xu Yang had already reached the realm of Embracing Core and co-dao eight hundred years ago, utilizing the Evil Emperor’s relic.

Only then could he have a battle that flattened Emperor’s Step Peak and eradicated the nine Grandmasters.

Absolute power prevailed.

After embracing Core and co-dao, his lifespan directly increased to eight hundred and fifty years, nearly two-thirds longer than that of an ordinary

This was the result of various skill traits augmentations.

But that was the limit.

Eight hundred fifty was the extremity; there were no more means to extend it.

Thus, in just over a decade, he would die once again.

This was his last chance.

If he could not obtain the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas this time, then he would have to consider breaking through the void to gaze upon the rumored wonder of the “Upper Realm.”

Xu Yang took a step forward, walking into the palace of illusion and mirage.

Suddenly, the world spun, the space shifted abruptly, and everything around him changed drastically.

He had arrived at an astonishing place.

In the void, Yuan Qi was abundant; all around, unique flowers and alien plants filled his sight.

There lay a colossal palace, mountainous in front of him.

In an instant, his human body felt so insignificant.

Xu Yang stepped forward, walking towards the titanic hall, seeming like a tiny being lost in a land of giants.

In front of the great hall stood a stone tablet, inscribed with three ancient seal characters of an unknown language.

Though the language was unfamiliar, Xu Yang miraculously understood its meaning.

Temple of War supreme-ruler!

He took another step closer; behind the tablet stood a massive bronze gate, towering dozens of Zhang high, thick and formidable as a mountain flank.

In front of it, Xu Yang resembled an ant, utterly inconsequential.

Fortunately, the bronze gate was already slightly ajar, allowing him to enter without having to exert any force to push it open.

Xu Yang passed through the gap and entered, coming inside the hall.

Immediately, the scene within the hall left him shaken.

The space inside the grand hall was even more vast than the outer world, with the dome above displaying the sun, moon, stars, and the Milky Way, forming a complex and mysterious constellation map.

In the void, forty-nine relief sculptures floated, each as large as a mountain, suspended without any support in the midst of the void.

Xu Yang walked forward and saw that the first relief depicted a supreme-ruler clad in strange armor and masked.

The supreme-ruler seated beneath him was a beast resembling but not quite a dragon, diving down from the nine shattered thick clouds,

Each piece of thick cloud bore inscriptions from the ‘Ninefold Heaven’ down to the ‘First Heaven’. Above the relief, there were also unidentifiable ancient seal characters spelling ‘War supreme-ruler’s Atlas I’.

War supreme-ruler’s Atlas!

The supreme Mysterious Skill from the legends!

Had he finally found it?

Upon seeing this, Xu Yang did not get excited, but instead, his attention was captured by another object.

Was that… a person?

Aside from him, there was still another person sitting in the Temple of War supreme-ruler!

Upon noticing this, Xu Yang was not surprised and directly approached, coming to the side of the person.

The person had a solemn appearance, with a gentle smile still on the lips, the clothes on the body had weathered away to dust, revealing a well-defined body with drazon-like muscular knots.

Xu Yang reached out and gave a gentle press, but the figure did not budge an inch.

He channeled his strength, fingers firm as vajra, yet the body remained unmoving.

This person, or to be exact, this corpse, had a physical hardness that even surpassed that of Mysterious Iron or refined steel.

With Xu Yang’s current strength, there was no metal or mineral in the world that could withstand his full-strength finger.

But the corpse withstood it, and he could not even leave the slightest dent on the body despite exerting all his strength.

This…

Xu Yang, upon seeing this, was not surprised either and calmly lowered his gaze.

In front of this person, on the ground, lay a line of script, written in oracle bone characters.

“Guang Chengzi certified Broken Vajra here!”

“Guang Chengzi?”

“Broken Vajra?”

Although he had already heard of this existence from the lucky few who had gained access to the Temple of War supreme-ruler, it was only after witnessing with his own eyes and feeling with his own hands that Xu Yang truly understood the significance of the words “Broken Vajra.” What kind of realm was this?

How was it different from the Broken Void?

Why did Guang Chengzi not ascend to the Broken Void but died here, or rather, left his physical remains here?

How many earth-shattering secrets did the Temple of War supreme-ruler truly contain?

No one could provide Xu Yang with the answers.

Xu Yang didn’t care, and simply sat down cross-legged, becoming neighbors with Guang Chengzi, and began to contemplate the forty-nine reliefs amidst the void.

This was the inheritance of the “War supreme-ruler’s Atlas,” which required extremely high natural talent and comprehension ability to grasp the martial arts contained within.

If the talent was inadequate and the understanding insufficient, it would be no different from a book without words, utterly incomprehensible with its various shapes and unknown characters.

Conversely, those with exceptional talent and extraordinary understanding could grasp the true meaning hidden within, even without any literacy, and achieve various insights and realizations.

The Longevity Jue, Heavenly Demon Strategy, and Mercy Sailing Sword Scroll from the four major marvelous books were slowly evolved from these realizations.

Regrettably, from ancient times to the present, no one has been able to comprehend all forty-nine reliefs with Heaven Reaching wisdom, integrating and deducing the complete War supreme-ruler’s Atlas.

Could Xu Yang do it?

He wasn’t sure himself.

His aptitude and comprehension were not bad, and with the aid of Skill Traits and centuries of accumulated knowledge, it wasn’t an overstatement to call him the foremost person of ancient and modern times, or else he wouldn’t have been able to integrate the three marvelous books with all the Martial Arts Scriptures of the world.

But facing the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas, he still had no confidence.

Because this martial art… let’s tentatively call it a martial art, was simply too profound, far surpassing the three marvelous books, and to call it a cultivation technique of cultivating immortals or supreme-rulers was no exaggeration.

Even Xu Yang suspected that among Cultivation Skills, it held an extremely high status, and the Temple ot War supreme-ruler itself did not seem like a creation of ordinary men, existing as a world of its own, with spatial shifting…

In short, the waters here were deep, and Xu Yang wasn’t sure how much he could probe.

Therefore, he could only do his best.

Xu Yang opened his mind, gazing at the forty-nine gigantic reliefs in the void, and suddenly saw countless magnificent and mysterious shocking sights that he couldn’t help but become immersed in.

And so he did, for an unknowable length of time.

In the real world, within the cabin,

Xu Yang slowly opened his eyes, looking bewildered and confused.

He… was dead?

Yes, he was dead!

How had he died?

Xu Yang wasn’t very clear himself, only remembering that he had been immersed in the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas, like a dry sponge soaking up water from the ocean of knowledge, utterly lost to the world and unaware of the passage of time.

Until his consciousness was jolted, and he woke up from a deep sleep, only to discover he was dead.

More accurately, “Xu Qingyang” was dead.

Xu Yang sat up and was dumbfounded for a while before he was able to stabilize his condition and sort out his thoughts.

He indeed had died, but it was not due to any attack or from not eating for too long and dying of thirst or starvation.

With “Xu Qingyang’s” current cultivation, he could completely sustain himself on air and abstinence, as long as he absorbed Yuan Qi from heaven and earth; not eating or drinking for decades would not be a problem.

And there were no enemies within the Temple of War supreme-ruler, only an old neighbor, Guang Chengzi, so he naturally would not have been attacked.

He had died because his lifespan was exhausted.

Immersing himself in the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas, he had contemplated for over a decade, reaching the life limit of eight hundred and fifty years.

So, he died.

This left him feeling somewhat regretful.

The War supreme-ruler’s Atlas was too vast and mysterious, and even after sitting in meditation in the temple for more than a decade, he still had not fully penetrated and cultivated the complete War supreme-ruler’s Atlas, only understanding some of its subtleties.

After organizing these subtleties, perhaps he could derive a world-shattering book that would even surpass the Longevity Jue, Heavenly Demon Strategy, and Mercy Sailing Sword Scroll, but still, it would not compare to the complete War supreme-ruler’s Atlas.

That was not something an ordinary person could cultivate.

Therefore, Xu Yang did not dwell on it too much, but sighed and mused to himself,

“I wonder how long my remains will last. If someone later enters the Temple of

War supreme-ruler and sees two dead men sitting side by side, will they think the War supreme-ruler’s Atlas is deadly and dare not contemplate and practice it?”

“If so, then the sin would be vast.”

“If I have another chance to enter this world in the future, I must uncover the secrets of the Temple of War supreme-ruler and figure out a way to pocket it, just like…”

As he murmured, Xu Yang looked down at a seal in his hand, a slight smile

appearing on his face..