Chapter 192: Chapter 35: 9-Layered Jade Stairway, Entering the Dream Again

A vast, sea-like expanse of Immortal Spiritual Qi surged chaotically throughout the entire Daoist School.

This was only possible within the Sanqing Temple. If such potent Immortal Spiritual Qi and Divine Essence were released into the outside world, it would be enough to trigger a storm of Primordial Qi and tear Langya City to shreds.

Lu Xuan’s eyes were shut tight. For the first time, he wasn’t multitasking. Instead, he focused his entire mind on controlling, mobilizing, and refining the various terrifying energies within his body.

His skyrocketing lifespan had already surpassed three hundred thousand years, and faint, shimmering Immortal markings even began to appear on his physical form…

An ordinary Celestial Human had a lifespan of a thousand years, while a top-tier one had at most five thousand. Upon becoming an Earth Immortal, one’s lifespan could reach ten thousand years, and only a True Immortal could possess a base lifespan of one hundred and twenty thousand years.

Once those one hundred and twenty thousand years were up, even a Grand Grade cultivator would face the Calamity of Five Decays, meeting their end with both their body and Dao destroyed!

But Lu Xuan’s raw lifespan had already exceeded three hundred thousand years, equivalent to the natural lifespans of three Great Grade True Immortals!

’Climbing the Divine Ladder…’

His eyes remained closed. In the space between his physical body, Divine Soul, and True Spirit, the Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps bloomed with a splendid and profound divine radiance. Dao Rhyme flowed across its surface, and the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth were inscribed upon each and every step!

’Teacher said that the Supreme Celestial Human Chapter is different from the usual method of Climbing the Divine Ladder. It also involves the Truths of Heaven and Earth… But what are the Truths of Heaven and Earth?’

Lu Xuan kept his eyes closed, his hands unconsciously tracing patterns in the air. Wisps of starry lines representing his Skills flickered in and out of existence.

’For the Jade Tower stage, three hundred and sixty Acupoints is considered Perfection. Opening five more leads to the Extreme Realm of Jade Tower, so…’

’What, then, is the Extreme Realm for the stage of Climbing the Divine Ladder?’

’It lies in… the Unity of Body and Soul!’

Deep in thought, Lu Xuan had a sudden realization. He clapped his hands and laughed, only for his expression to turn troubled again as he muttered to himself.

’There’s an insurmountable gap between the body and the soul. They are connected by the Divine Ladder, but ultimately, the ladder itself—the Supreme Jade Steps—is still a barrier… How can they become one?’

After the construction of the Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps was complete, Lu Xuan could faintly perceive the so-called “Truths of Heaven and Earth.” But he could only perceive them, not manipulate them even slightly as his Teacher had described.

He could also see a magnificent Celestial Gate standing at the very top of the Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps. It seemed that if he willed it, he could push it open at any time, he could…

…transform into an Earth Immortal.

But Lu Xuan didn’t want that yet.

“Unity of Body and Soul… Unity of Body and Soul…”

As he murmured, he sighed softly and slowly opened his eyes.

The moment he opened them, his two pupils shone like a pair of intensely brilliant Great Sun Golden Lamps, releasing a terrifying divine radiance that illuminated the entire Profound Daoist School!

It took Lu Xuan several breaths to retract the violent divine radiance erupting from his eyes. He stretched languidly, a smile returning to his face.

He quickly took stock of his current situation. He had constructed and ascended the Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps, and his cultivation had reached the peak of the Celestial Human Realm, making him a Great Celestial Human. If he wished, he could perform the Heaven Ascending Gate at any time.

There hadn’t been any major improvements in his Mediation of Creation or Slaying Sword Form. He had comprehended two hundred fifty-four aspects of the former and one hundred ninety-nine of the latter.

The Dao Generating One was among his fastest areas of progress; fifty-one of the eight hundred brilliant golden characters had been fully analyzed, understood, and comprehended. His other fastest-progressing area was the Primordial Body.

Lu Xuan could feel that with the leap in his understanding of Dao Generating One and the manifestation of the Primordial Dharma Aspect under the Daoist School’s amplification, his progress with the Primordial Body had also surged.

If before he had only scratched the surface, now he could be said to have an Initial Glimpse.

He was essentially hovering between initiated and uninitiated. The difference was that when he was in the Sanqing Temple or holding the Jade Void Glazed Lamp, he could be considered initiated, able to manifest an illusory Primordial Dharma Aspect.

But without the amplification from those two, he was still a hair’s breadth away from initiation and couldn’t manifest the Primordial Dharma Aspect.

Shaking his head, Lu Xuan gently exhaled a breath of turbid air. A terrifying ripple of Immortal Spiritual Qi spread out as he said to himself,

“As for turning my Acupoints into heavens and earth… that’s a bit too dangerous. I’ll leave it for now and think about it after I become an Earth Immortal.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the Acupoint in his left hand, at the Microscopic Innate Great Sun and Microscopic Taiyin Star steadily revolving within it. Lu Xuan reined in his thoughts, stretched, and suddenly asked with a smile,

“A dream… It’s time to dream. Can I achieve A Dream of a Thousand Years?”

“If not, a dream of a hundred days would be good too.”

As his voice fell, the young man sat cross-legged on his meditation cushion, his head suddenly drooped, and his eyes snapped shut. In an instant, he began to snore.

…

In the void of illusion.

This time, Lu Xuan did not fall directly into Ancient Times, nor did he plunge straight into the Spring and Autumn Period.

The Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps released wisps of profound light, stabilizing his Divine Soul and True Spirit. It held Lu Xuan in a state of profound mystery—dreamlike yet not a dream, sleeplike yet not asleep.

Within the illusion, stabilized by the Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps, Lu Xuan opened his eyes.

He saw a river, vast and mighty, flowing from the ancient past to the present. It was a current of years and time, containing All Realms and all worlds within it.

Looking upstream, he could vaguely see all the myriad events of the human world since ancient times. But looking downstream, he could see nothing at all.

In other words, the point in time where he now stood was the very end of the river’s downstream course. He was on the crest of the great wave surging at the very forefront of the river.

Beneath his feet was the end of the river; behind him were the ages of antiquity.

“So this is what Teacher meant…” Lu Xuan’s eyes shone. “The past is set, but the future is not yet written?”

The river’s past was already determined, but it was still surging ceaselessly forward, having not yet constructed the “future.”

“So, every time I enter a dream, I’m actually falling into this river—the River of Time.”

Lu Xuan’s eyes glittered. The Dao Generating One began to operate on its own, and mottled lines of starlight appeared in his vision.

He could feel a heavy pulling force trying to drag him into one of the waves far upstream, but the Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps were glowing, holding him firmly in place!

Straining his eyes to see into the distance, he could barely make out a blurry scene within that wave: the three thousand li of Luoyang, the end of the ten-thousand-year Zhou Dynasty, the Dukes and the Masters, the chaotic wars between states, and the contention of the Hundred Schools of Thought!

’The source of this pulling force is…’

Following the threads of Cause and Effect, guided by the insight from his Dao Generating One and his five Divine Communication Acupoints of Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch, Lu Xuan found it.

HUM!

He opened his hand, and a simple, ancient Bronze Fragment slowly materialized. Carved upon it were mountains, rivers, and clouds, along with the countless profound and supreme truths of Heaven and Earth!!

This was the Bronze Fragment Grandpa Chu had left under his bed.

Lu Xuan’s heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran down his spine.

Seven years ago, Grandpa Chu had taken him in, and he had slept in that small wooden cabin. It was also seven years ago that he had entered a dream for the first time, traveling to that magnificent, turbulent era and arriving in the Guardian Storage Room!!

With a single thought, the second and third Bronze Fragments—the ones he had taken from Grandpa Chu’s coffin and his own—also materialized.

And only now, under the amplification of his Fifth-Layer Divine Communication Acupoints, the Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps, and the Dao Generating One, could Lu Xuan truly perceive the mysteries held within the Bronze Fragments for the first time.

On the first, flowed the light of time and years.

On the second, flowed great wisdom and intellect.

And on the third, flowed an ethereal and traceless “Fortune.”

The three Bronze Fragments slowly revolved in Lu Xuan’s hand. ’Grandpa Chu… who in the world was he?’

After pondering for a long time, Lu Xuan shook his head, took a deep breath, and put the other two Bronze Fragments away. He left only the fragment that flowed with the light of time, the one that wanted to cast him into the Spring and Autumn Years.

His Divine Thought immediately latched onto it. The Ninefold Supreme Jade Steps resonated in unison, and his five Acupoints peered into its great marvels.

“This is…”

Lu Xuan’s eyes lit up.

“The Truths of Heaven and Earth?”

He was stunned at first, but then it dawned on him. Weren’t time and the years one of the fundamental truths of Heaven and Earth?

’Since it’s one of the Truths of Heaven and Earth, even if I can’t tamper with it on a grand scale, can I at least influence it slightly?’

He acted on the thought immediately. The Supreme Jade Steps erupted with an unprecedentedly brilliant light, causing Lu Xuan’s body and Soul to glow radiantly.

For a brief instant, Lu Xuan perceived the dense and profoundly mysterious Truths of Heaven and Earth. He then turned his gaze to the Bronze Fragment, using the brilliant light of the Supreme Jade Steps to illuminate and nudge it.

DONG!!

It was like the resonant toll of a great bell, or a giant wave stirred up in the River of Time!

Lu Xuan analyzed the Truths of Heaven and Earth within it, his entire mind operating with unprecedented efficiency. Dense star-lines filled his eyes, flowing with Chaos Qi, and the whites of his eyes erupted with a dense network of bloodshot veins!

He used every ounce of his strength to push the Supreme Jade Steps to their absolute limit, finally succeeding in disturbing the grand and supreme Truths of Heaven and Earth within the Bronze Fragment.

Although it was only a sliver—an almost imperceptible one—it was enough to create a degree of separation between his self being sent upstream into the river and his self in the Current World, differentiating the flow of time between them.

It wasn’t much, just enough to achieve a dream of one hundred days.

The exhausted Lu Xuan exhaled a turbid breath and retracted the profound light blooming from the Supreme Jade Steps. Without the restraint of the Steps, the pulling force sent him plummeting rapidly upstream into the river.

As he fell, a thought surfaced in Lu Xuan’s mind. ’Grandpa Chu’s story is too strange. I must show the three Bronze Fragments to Teacher. I have to tell him about Grandpa Chu…’

His vision suddenly went dark.

…

When he opened his eyes again, he was already on the cyan chariot. Beside him was Duke Mu of Qin, and behind him were the Eighty-One Armors and the Mighty Hundred Riders.

“Lu Zi,” Duke Mu of Qin said softly. “In about seventy days, we should reach the Qi Region.”

The young man, dressed in the Supreme Daoist Robe and wearing the Supreme Crown, did not respond. He simply sat there in a daze.

“Lu Zi?”

Duke Mu of Qin was a little puzzled. He cautiously reached out and gave him a gentle push, and Lu Xuan suddenly snapped back to his senses.

“Oh, oh… Right.”

He seemed groggy, shaking his head, but he was still in a daze.

“Lu Zi, is something wrong?” Duke Mu of Qin asked softly.

Lu Xuan blinked, looking a little confused and bewildered.

“I don’t know. I just feel like… I’ve forgotten something.”

“What was it I was going to do?”

“I was going to…”

Muttering to himself, Lu Xuan grew unusually agitated before suddenly slapping his forehead.

“Oh, I was going to tell Teacher, tell him…”

“I forgot.”

In the end, the young man sighed. He really couldn’t remember.

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