Chapter 98: Chapter 87: Five Apertures Converging, Why Do You Seek Death?

A long time passed.

A smile graced Lu Xuan’s face as he opened his eyes. A divine light flashed within them, only to be restrained in an instant, leaving him looking perfectly ordinary.

The sense of perfect, rounded completeness emanating from him also slowly, gradually faded.

Within the Jade Tower realm, he had already reached the Extreme Realm and taken yet another step forward.

All that remained was to familiarize himself with his newly acquired Nine Orifices and obtain the Cultivation Technique for Climbing the Divine Ladder. Then, in a single step, he could undergo the Celestial Human Transformation!

RUMBLE!!

The cracked bronze statue completely collapsed at that moment, revealing two passages behind it: one leading up, and one leading down.

Lu Xuan felt a guiding, pulling force from the upper passage. His body lifted into the air, and he involuntarily flew toward it.

The three Celestial Humans, Wang Zhiyao, and the others were pulled toward the lower passage.

Halfway there, the elderly Celestial Human’s face twisted as he roared:

“Up there! There must be a world-shaking opportunity! A truly wondrous Dharma!”

Zhu Cun and the other Celestial Human exchanged a look. They both took a deep breath, and then the three of them simultaneously surged the Primordial Qi in their bodies. Their Spiritual Wills manifested, each transforming into a brilliant Great Sun!

Then, the three Celestial Humans joined forces. They shattered the pulling force and, like Great Suns rising, forcibly charged toward the upper passage.

Wang Zhiyao disappeared into the lower passage along with Sakata Izumi, Chong Shanhu, and Chu Han.

In the final instant, she saw the three Celestial Humans catch up to Wu Xiaoxu and enter the upper passage with him.

“Wu Xiaoxu is probably in trouble,” she murmured to herself, her expression turning grave.

Wealth can stir a person’s heart, to say nothing of an opportunity left behind by a Great Dao Monarch, an Upper Celestial Venerable, a Supreme Emperor from the Primordial Era.

……

It was a dim and gloomy place, with no up and no down.

“Where is this?” Zhu Cun was bewildered. He looked around, and a shocked expression appeared on his face. “What on earth is this place? Here… what is up? What is down?”

The other two Celestial Humans were also confused. There was no concept of up, down, left, or right here. It was a near-absolute void. As far as the eye could see, there was only dim gloom. This was no place they should have come to, and it was certainly not a place they could comprehend.

Only Lu Xuan sat cross-legged in this place with no up or down, no heaven or earth. A smile touched his lips. With the support of his five acupoints—Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch—he could, with some difficulty, still comprehend this domain.

It was the beginning and the end, the border between life and death. It was above the Thirty-Three Celestial Realms and also below the Nine Nether and Yellow Springs.

If one had to describe it accurately, perhaps only a single word would suffice.

And that was… the Origin.

Because the three Celestial Humans could not comprehend this place, their thoughts were in chaos. Terror involuntarily bloomed in their hearts. Their instincts told them that a truly great horror was hidden here, and they couldn’t stop trembling.

A chill ran down their spines, their hair stood on end, a tingling numbness spread across the back of their heads, and even the tips of their hair were quivering slightly!

The elderly Celestial Human saw Lu Xuan sitting cross-legged in the void with a smile on his face and demanded loudly:

“You, boy! What is this place!”

Lu Xuan glanced over calmly, smiled, and shook his head.

“I can’t explain it.”

A sharp glint flashed in another Celestial Human’s eyes as he demanded again:

“So you do know about this place? Spit it out! And also…”

As he spoke, he swallowed, a greedy look appearing on his face.

“Tell us everything about the four acupoints you were granted! There’s no one else here. Don’t think we care that your father is an Earth Immortal—so what if he were a True Immortal? If you die here, no one will ever know!”

Lu Xuan’s face still held the joyous expression of one who has just comprehended the Great Dao. He wasn’t angered, but simply asked with a smile:

“You three, how are the levels of the Celestial Human Realm divided?”

The three Celestial Humans were stunned, completely baffled.

After a moment’s pause, they exchanged glances, understanding each other’s intent. A cold light glinted in Zhu Cun’s eyes again as he asked Lu Xuan:

“Enough with the nonsense. Give us a detailed account of what you’ve obtained, and then tell us where this place is.”

Lu Xuan smiled and sighed.

“You won’t answer? Then I’ll just see, hear, and smell for myself.”

As his voice fell, his Form Acupoint, Sound Acupoint, and Smell Acupoint all opened.

Although he had only just obtained these three profound, Dao-like Acupoints and had not yet fully comprehended them—indeed, much like with his Primordial Body, he had only scratched the surface—even that small bit was enough.

Perhaps because they were in the Origin, the three Celestial Humans’ minds were in disarray. This allowed Lu Xuan to briefly hear their thoughts and smell the scent of their impending doom.

Finally, he saw that within the bodies of the three Celestial Humans, a Divine Ladder truly did exist. It extended from their physical forms deep into their spirits, all the way to the sea of their souls. But…

The Divine Ladder had nine sections, but these three Celestial Humans had only climbed the first.

Understanding dawned on Lu Xuan, and he said with a smile:

“So you really are the weakest of Celestial Humans… Of the Ninefold Divine Ladder, you’ve only climbed the first tier?”

He paused. Suddenly, his smile vanished, and his face contorted violently, reverting to his true appearance.

“It’s you!!” The elderly Celestial Human was first stunned, then a violent chill shot down his spine. The other two Celestial Humans’ expressions changed drastically, their pupils contracting.

Clearly, they had all recognized Lu Xuan.

“It is,” Lu Xuan said calmly. “I am not yet a Celestial Human, but only in this state can I borrow your strength to see…”

As he spoke, he looked up and grinned.

“…just how strong I’ve become.”

“Arrogant!”

“Insolent!”

“Ignorant!”

The three Celestial Humans all snorted coldly, their killing intent laid bare. Seeing that Lu Xuan was not the son of an Earth Immortal, they naturally cast aside their last reservation.

Although there was no up, down, left, or right in this place, the three of them used Lu Xuan as a point of reference to barely manage the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. After steadying themselves slightly, they closed in on the young man, eyeing him like tigers stalking their prey.

They used their Divine Ladders to connect to their Spiritual Worlds and the seas of their souls, reaching the true source of their spirits. This allowed them to project their wills outward, each one becoming like a brilliant Great Sun, surging with boundless might.

Lu Xuan’s expression, however, remained completely untroubled. He stared at the three of them indifferently, then calmly unleashed his full power.

The Qi and blood in his body began to surge, accompanied by a vibrating aura, all pushed to its absolute limit.

A dim and gloomy light appeared around his body. For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if a cosmos was rising and falling within it, but a closer look revealed only dark emptiness.

Next, a nine-colored radiance bloomed behind him. Faint, thread-like starlines traced themselves in his eyes, as if he could connect with a portion of the world’s Cause and Effect. In this place without heaven or earth, he gave off a feeling of infinite height.

Finally, Lu Xuan raised one hand above his head in the posture of Heaven and Earth Inversion. With his other hand, he formed a Sword Technique, and a strand of Sword Qi filled with the intent to ’Annihilate’ appeared in his palm.

Having done all this, the young man looked at the three somewhat stunned Celestial Humans, gave them a simple smile, and said sincerely:

“Please, allow me to test my sword. Let’s see how long it takes for me to kill you all.”

He paused, then added with a hint of regret:

“Really, if you hadn’t followed me in here, nothing would have happened… at least not for a while. Why did you have to seek death?”

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