Chapter 483: Wait Until I Reach Mahayana Stage Peak Before Going to the Immortal Realm
“Without a system, how did you manage to defeat all those geniuses, especially Bai Hongtu and Yu Yin.”
“Just needed hands to do it.” Jiang Li said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
If you become the Human Sovereign by relying on a system, then who exactly is the Human Sovereign—you or the system?
If one blindly depends on a system, it would be better to let Bai Hongtu or Yu Yin become the Human Sovereign instead.
Jiang Li chose to become the Human Sovereign not to prove how strong he was, but because he believed he could do a better job than Bai Hongtu or Yu Yin.
“You rely too much on your system.” Jiang Li delivered the verdict with finality.
The Idle One Jiang Li glared furiously at the other, feeling this conclusion was drawn too recklessly.
“I completed every single system task! Do you have any idea how difficult those missions were? Defeating enemies two major realms above me, competing against disciples from major sects without any foundation and still taking first place—I accomplished all of that! Completing those tasks relied entirely on my intelligence and effort! Tell me, how exactly am I dependent on the system!”
Jiang Li sneered mockingly. “Intelligence and effort? How do you know the system didn’t calculate all that in advance?”
“My Counterattack System was five hundred years late. Its first task was to defeat Jiang Yixing, the second was to defeat Yunbo… Even if I didn’t complete the previous task, the system would still issue the next one.”
“Do you understand what that means? It means the system had all the tasks planned out from the very beginning.”
The Idle One Jiang Li felt as if he’d been struck by lightning, thunder roaring through his mind. He had always believed he wasn’t overly reliant on the system—sometimes it issued seemingly impossible tasks, yet he completed them all, which he credited to his own abilities.
But now? The other claimed this was all within the system’s plans.
The blow was devastating.
Jiang Li comforted him, “Don’t be too disheartened. If my system had activated late too, I probably would have made the same choices you did.”
“Really?” The Idle One Jiang Li felt hope returning to his life.
“Just comforting words. Take them with a grain of salt.”
“…With a mouth like that, how did you ever find a Dao Companion?”
“Don’t change the subject. Let’s talk about what you did after getting your system—I’m quite interested in that.”
“After I transmigrated and got the system, it gave me a newbie starter pack. It was only thanks to that package that I could defeat Jiang Yixing.”
“Later, I completed other tasks one after another, like defeating Yunbo from the Huayun Sect, taking first place in the Profound Mystery Secret Realm trial—nothing worth mentioning really. Oh right, the Profound Mystery Secret Realm had a follow-up mission to resurrect Meng Chun. During the process of reviving her, we gradually developed feelings for each other.”
“Was resurrecting Meng Chun one of those ‘not recommended to abandon’ tasks?”
The Idle One Jiang Li looked somewhat embarrassed. “Give me some face here. I understand what those kinds of tasks imply.”
“After leaving the Profound Mystery Secret Realm, I encountered my first special mission ‘Celestial Realm’s Trace,’ which required getting first place in the Great Zhou Imperial Academy entrance exam to unlock it… Why am I explaining this in such detail to you? You just said getting into the Great Zhou Imperial Academy was no challenge at all, so presumably becoming the top scorer in the entrance exam five hundred years later wouldn’t be difficult for you either.”
Jiang Li remained completely unruffled. “You can elaborate on this special mission. Perhaps our completion methods differed.”
The Idle One Jiang Li spoke honestly, “Celestial Realm’s Trace, as the name suggests, was about investigating why the Immortal Realm disappeared.”
“Rather than ‘Celestial Realm’s Trace,’ it was more like ‘Immortal Elder’s Emotional Baggage.’ I completed many tasks, like going to the Red Dust Pure Land to find Mortal World Celestial’s portrait, learning about Dao Ancestor’s life story, and similar things. Eventually, Immortal Elder told me the truth about the Immortal Realm—the Outer Realm Demons were his fabrication. The Heavenly Dao had gained sentience, and the immortals themselves were the Outer Realm Demons.”
“Did you complete the ‘Search for Celestial Ascension Ladder Fragments’ mission?”
“Of course! That one took tremendous effort. I lost count of how many worlds I traveled through, how many female companions I met, before finally assembling the complete Celestial Ascension Ladder.”
“After I completed the three special missions—’Celestial Realm’s Trace,’ ‘Search for Celestial Ascension Ladder Fragments,’ and ‘Path of the Human Sovereign’—and reached the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, the system issued the mission to go to the Immortal Realm.”
“You didn’t go?”
The Idle One Jiang Li scratched his head. “The Heavenly Dao gained sentience, meaning the entire Immortal Realm is enemy territory. With Celestial Immortals and Golden Immortals running rampant everywhere, even with my system, it didn’t feel safe. I thought it would be better to break through to the Mahayana Stage before going to the Immortal Realm.”
“Three hundred years ago, I broke through to the Mahayana Stage, and this time I didn’t rely on the system at all.” The Idle One Jiang Li emphasized this point strongly—his breakthrough to Mahayana was absolutely achieved through his own efforts.
The system wanted him to go to the Immortal Realm, but he refused, so the system got stuck and never issued any other tasks again.
“Immortal Elder Changcun said that cultivating to the peak of Mahayana Stage allows one to fight against Celestial Immortals thirty times. That became my goal.”
“I thought if I cultivated Mahayana Stage to its absolute limit before going to the Immortal Realm, it would be safer.”
Jiang Li’s expression turned peculiar. What limit was there to speak of in Mahayana Stage? “Did Immortal Elder only tell you that the Outer Realm Demons were his fabrication, but not mention that Mahayana Stage was made up too?”
The Idle One Jiang Li was shocked. “What? Mahayana Stage is made up?”
“That can’t be right! Before I transmigrated, all the cultivation novels I read said there’s a stage called Mahayana before ascending!”
Jiang Li had no choice but to explain the entire story from nine thousand years ago.
The Idle One Jiang Li felt completely rattled.
“No wonder something felt off. After Mortal World Celestial was resurrected, I sparred with her. I had to desperately suppress my power just to trade blows evenly with her.”
“At the time, I thought, Mortal World Celestial is a Celestial Immortal—no matter how strong my Mahayana Stage is, it shouldn’t be that much more powerful than a Celestial Immortal. So Mahayana Stage doesn’t actually exist at all.”
“I was worried that if Immortal Elder Changcun found out Mortal World Celestial had been resurrected, he would come looking for her, so I never told him about this.”
Jiang Li’s mind stirred, remembering something.
“You didn’t feel anything when you saw Mortal World Celestial?”
“How could that be possible? Mortal World Celestial is so beautiful, no man could resist her.”
“I mean, you weren’t driven mad by her charm?”
“Now that you mention it, it is indeed strange. Even Sect Leader Qingyu becomes mentally confused when she sees Mortal World Celestial, yet I remained completely unaffected.”
The Idle One Jiang Li left one thing unsaid—precisely because he wasn’t affected by Mortal World Celestial’s charm, he was able to develop an intimate, ambiguous relationship with her afterwards.
Jiang Li’s expression turned peculiar again. There was only one reason someone could resist Mortal World Celestial’s charm—being as strong as the Heavenly Dao, or even stronger.
Was this guy as powerful as the Heavenly Dao?
As for whether this guy was strong or not, Jiang Li’s answer was yes.
The Idle One Jiang Li lacked combat awareness, having been spoiled by the system, but in terms of raw power, he could rival the First Emperor.
However, the First Emperor had cultivated for two hundred years after reaching Mahayana Stage, while the Idle One Jiang Li had diligently cultivated for three hundred years after reaching Mahayana Stage, yet their power levels were roughly similar. Jiang Li didn’t know what to say about that.
Power and realm are interconnected—this indicated that the Idle One Jiang Li’s cultivation speed was lacking by more than just a little.