Chapter 403: Ascension to Immortality
“This is the Violet Thunder Annihilation Tribulation, one of the more formidable among Ascension Tribulations,” Immortal Elder Changcun explained.
The Golden Daoist’s Golden Vajra Body lived up to its reputation. When the violet immortal thunder struck him, it only tore his clothes without leaving any marks on his body.
After the violet immortal thunder came another tribulation that made everyone tense. This was the obstacle no cultivator could easily overcome—the Inner Demon Tribulation.
The Golden Daoist stood motionless, trapped in his inner demon tribulation. With their enhanced hearing, the observers could clearly hear his murmurs despite the thunder.
“The immortal realm knows I’m undergoing tribulation and has sent someone to repair the Celestial Ladder. The Nine Provinces have reconnected with the immortal realm. I’ve become immortal… I’ve become immortal…”
“…No, this must be a trick. Such coincidence is impossible…”
“…Yet it’s not entirely impossible. I’m destined to become a Celestial Immortal. The immortal realm welcoming me specially isn’t beyond reason…”
“Ascend! Ascend! Ascend! No one shall stop me from ascending!”
The Golden Daoist’s eyes turned vacant as his body instinctively accepted the immortal thunder’s tempering.
“Disaster! He’s forging an immortal body! Stop him!”
The crowd panicked. Trapped in the inner demon tribulation, the Golden Daoist was tempering an immortal body with the immortal thunder. Without immortal energy to sustain it, possessing only an immortal body meant certain death.
Everyone tried various methods to call out to the Golden Daoist, attempting to snap him out of it. But the Ascension Tribulation rejected all external interference, blocking all communication attempts.
Bathed in immortal thunder, the Golden Daoist’s body visibly strengthened. At this moment, he broke free from the inner demon tribulation and regained clarity.
“Fellow Daoist Golden, quickly halt the tribulation! There’s still time!” Yuan Shang shouted desperately.
Feeling his body now rivaling that of an Earthly Immortal, the Golden Daoist turned and smiled at the crowd. “It’s too late now.”
He spread his arms, basking in the fading thunder’s glow, savoring this fleeting moment of power with a hint of resignation.
“Longbrow, I deceived you. I’ve been secretly cultivating these past twenty years.”
“Why?” Longbrow Buddha never expected this from the Golden Daoist.
“I couldn’t help it. Immortality was within reach, yet just because the Celestial Ladder was gone, I couldn’t ascend. I couldn’t accept it.”
“We’re cultivators. Our entire journey has been for this moment of ascension. Now that we don’t know when the immortal realm will rebuild the Celestial Ladder, should we just wait indefinitely?”
“If immortals return in a hundred years, fine. But what if it takes a thousand? Ten thousand? I couldn’t bear wasting my life waiting…”
Before he could finish, his body—lacking immortal energy to sustain it—disintegrated into ashes before everyone’s eyes, returning to dust.
All the scheming and cultivation of his lifetime vanished with his death, nourishing the Nine Provinces instead.
After the Golden Daoist’s demise, a heavy silence fell. The crowd mourned him while also worrying about their own futures.
Indeed, having reached the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, who would willingly wait indefinitely for the Celestial Ladder’s uncertain return?
Yet what alternative did they have? Follow the Golden Daoist’s path, letting the obsession with ascension consume them until they perish in the inner demon tribulation?
Previously, none feared the inner demon tribulation. Before reaching the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, they had polished their spiritual platforms to perfection—flawless and impervious to the inner demons’ tricks.
But now? None could guarantee surviving the tribulation.
…
Eighty more years passed with no sign of the Celestial Ladder’s return. The Nine Provinces’ elite fell into despair, seeing no hope of ascension. All wished to cultivate, yet none dared progress too far, lest they accidentally meet the ascension criteria and share the Golden Daoist’s fate.
As for the Outer Realm Demons, no one paid them much mind. There was no need to cultivate specifically to counter them.
Immortal Elder Changcun had said the Outer Realm Demons were mere insects to the immortal realm—the celestial powers would eliminate them, keeping the Nine Provinces safe.
Before the Celestial Ladder’s disappearance, the Nine Provinces had peaked. By Immortal Elder Changcun’s estimate, three or four might have ascended within a century—an astonishing number.
Yet these potential ascendants all went into seclusion instead.
There was one silver lining: demonic path practitioners at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage no longer slaughtered indiscriminately to advance, bringing rare stability to the Nine Provinces. Ordinary cultivators no longer lived in constant fear.
Those below the Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivated diligently, aspiring to stand atop the Nine Provinces. Ironically, those nearing mortality’s limit—the Tribulation Transcendence cultivators—all grew despondent, drowning their sorrows in wine for fleeting pleasure, trying to forget about ascension.
But upon sobering, they’d stare blankly at where the Celestial Ladder once stood, lost in thought.
The agony was unbearable.
Twenty years, eighty years—mere moments for Tribulation Transcendence cultivators, equivalent to a single meditation session.
Time wasn’t the issue—it was the complete absence of hope.
Had they known the Celestial Ladder would return in a hundred, two hundred, or even five hundred years, none would have worried—they’d simply wait.
But they needed some timeframe.
Many visited Immortal Elder Changcun, hoping the ancient sage might offer reliable news.
He could provide no certainty, only advising them to wait patiently.
Though telling others to remain calm, Immortal Elder Changcun was the most restless of all.
The Celestial Ladder wouldn’t return. Even if it did, the immortal realm wouldn’t descend to welcome the Nine Provinces—better it never came back.
He renamed his abode the Self-Sealing Cave and stopped receiving visitors.
Until shocking news forced him to emerge.
“Longbrow Buddha suffered cultivation deviation?!”
Immortal Elder Changcun rushed to Sumeru Mountain upon hearing the news.
The entire mountain now lay under ominous clouds so thick even Buddhist light couldn’t penetrate them.
Longbrow Buddha sat with tightly shut eyes, muttering incessantly as tribulation energy surged uncontrollably.
“What happened?”
Immortal Elder Changcun couldn’t comprehend this. Among all Tribulation Transcendence cultivators, Longbrow Buddha had the steadiest temperament—cultivation deviation should’ve been impossible.
The situation was dire. Longbrow Buddha struggled desperately to suppress his raging spiritual energy, resisting the final breakthrough that would trigger his Ascension Tribulation.
A young monk explained, “Master had been acting strangely—abandoning regular sutra chanting to study spatial pathways and alternative ascension methods. When I asked his purpose, he said he sought to locate the immortal realm through spatial manipulation or bypass the Celestial Ladder entirely.”
“I thought it was just another grand vow and paid no mind. Now I realize his behavior was abnormal.”
“Earlier, as usual, Master multitasked—chanting sutras in the main hall while researching spatial pathways. But gradually, he stopped his research. His chanting grew increasingly frantic, the words shifting from sutras to just ‘ascension’ repeated endlessly.”
Hearing this, Immortal Elder Changcun finally discerned what Longbrow Buddha kept muttering.
He sighed deeply. After the Golden Daoist’s death, Longbrow had been closest to ascension. What began as a goal had become an obsession.
Longbrow Buddha’s single-minded pursuit had led him astray. Continuing down this path would only end in utter annihilation.
“This isn’t just Longbrow’s problem. Other Tribulation Transcendence cultivators share similar obsessions—though none as severe as his.”