Chapter 320: Cannot Ascend

The moment Song Jiulai heard this, she thought, ’Isn’t this the start of a familiar, melodramatic story?’

No wonder she’d said Yin Chu and Ke Yuning were both at the Early-stage Nascent Soul Realm yet were still at each other’s throats.

Noticing Song Jiulai nodding with a look of sudden realization, Chihe Zhenren immediately added, "Don’t go spouting nonsense when you leave, and don’t say it was your master who told you."

Song Jiulai nodded vigorously. "Master, I get it!"

’The most basic rule of gossiping is you never sell out your source.’

’Without Chihe Zhenren, where else would I hear all this juicy gossip?’

Chihe Zhenren watched Song Jiulai nod and then fall silent for a long moment. He was a little puzzled. "Don’t you have anything else you want to ask?"

Song Jiulai was stunned for a few seconds. "Master, what else is there to ask?"

’I’m supposed to ask about the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, but it’s so huge. Where would I even start?’

Seeing Song Jiulai’s expression, Chihe Zhenren sighed and suddenly waved his hand.

The space before them seemed to stretch on infinitely, as if a curtain depicting a real landscape had been unfurled across the sky.

"How much do you know about our Ten Thousand Immortals Sect?"

Song Jiulai answered honestly, "I only know that the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect is one of the Five Great Immortal Sects."

Beyond that, she knew very little.

Chihe Zhenren shook his head. "Then watch..."

As Chihe Zhenren began his unhurried narration, scenes from a distant past started to play out upon the curtain.

"Our Ten Thousand Immortals Sect has existed for more than eight thousand years..."

In the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, not only was the first-generation patriarch gone, but several generations of patriarchs after him had vanished as well.

They had long since perished.

The current Sect Master has only held the position for a little over a thousand years.

The lifespan of a mortal is, at most, a hundred years or so.

After beginning Cultivation, those in the Qi Refinement Realm can live up to around one hundred and fifty years.

Upon reaching the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Stage, one’s lifespan can extend to two or three hundred years.

A breakthrough from Golden Core to Nascent Soul can extend one’s life past five hundred years, and a Nascent Soul cultivator can live for more than a thousand.

From ancient times to the present, Cultivators have sought to defy the heavens, all in pursuit of the great path to eternal life.

The history of the Yunzhou Continent stretches back into antiquity, with records of Cultivators dating back tens of thousands of years.

"The era of ten thousand years ago is known as the Ancient Period."

On the curtain, Cultivators appeared and vanished one after another.

Illusory scenes collapsed one after another as time flowed by.

"Beginning ten thousand years ago, the Yunzhou Continent became restricted. Now, even if a Cultivator reaches the final step, they can no longer achieve Ascension."

"No Ascension?"

Hearing this, Song Jiulai’s eyes widened in an instant. "Master, what do you mean, no Ascension?"

’At least in the present-day Yunzhou Continent, she’d never heard a single thing about Ascension being impossible.’

Chihe Zhenren stroked his white beard and sighed faintly. "If I knew the answer, would I still be at the Initial Stage of Divinity Transformation?"

Song Jiulai was even more shocked. "You’re at the Divinity Transformation Stage?!"

Chihe Zhenren’s beard bristled as he glared. "What? Don’t I look like it?"

"...You really don’t."

’At least in the novels she’d read, experts at the Divinity Transformation Stage were Great Powers capable of moving mountains and filling seas. Chihe Zhenren just looked far too ordinary in comparison.’

That went for Master Ziyan and the others, too.

Chihe Zhenren shot Song Jiulai a look. "Why would we Cultivators need to be so high-profile all the time? If I were to unleash the Divine Sense of my Divinity Transformation Stage, a little girl like you wouldn’t even be able to stand in front of me, let alone speak!"

’That was true.’

’The spiritual pressure between different Realms was like a predator-prey relationship in the natural world.’

’If Chihe Zhenren truly unleashed the might of his Divinity Transformation Stage, she probably wouldn’t be able to utter a single word.’

Song Jiulai gave a little laugh and shot Chihe Zhenren a thumbs-up. "That’s because you’re benevolent, Master!"

"..."

Chihe Zhenren couldn’t shake the feeling that Song Jiulai was just trying to sweet-talk him.

Song Jiulai quickly changed the subject. "Master, you still haven’t explained why Ascension is no longer possible on the Yunzhou Continent. If that’s the case, what is there for us Cultivators to pursue in the end?"

"The pursuit of living longer, of course," Chi River Taoist tutted. "Regardless of whether we can achieve Ascension, every breakthrough in our Realm grants us several hundred more years of life. Naturally, we must cultivate with all our might. As for Ascension..."

Chi River Taoist waved his hand, and the scene on the curtain changed once more.

A cataclysmic war. A lightless age.

On the curtain, meteors rained down from the sky. It was a scene of utter cataclysm.

Song Jiulai saw a person.

A female cultivator, her face no longer young.

She was aged but resolute, gripping a sword as she thrust it toward the heavens.

The power of that single strike seemed capable of sundering the heavens and splitting the earth.

It looked as though it could punch a hole straight through the world itself.

But in the instant she thrust toward the sky, her figure soared higher and higher, as if she could break through the very firmament of the planet.

And cross into the vast cosmos beyond.

But a second later, high above the Yunzhou Continent, the sword seemed to strike an invisible barrier. The barrier itself looked harmless, yet it sent the longsword rebounding back.

The female cultivator abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Afterward, she launched several more strikes and unleashed all manner of world-shaking Magic Treasures, but she could not move the sky above her by even a fraction of an inch.

It was as if an unseen power had sealed the heavens.

Ultimately, the female cultivator fell, unwilling to give up. Her Spiritual Energy depleted, she plummeted like a kite with a broken string.

And there were several other Cultivators just like her.

Chihe Zhenren stroked his white beard and sighed. "Disciple, did you see?"

Song Jiulai saw.

She was stunned.

’The heavens above seemed to be sealed shut.’

But there was something she understood even less. "So that’s Ascension?"

’If you pierce the sky, you can ascend to another world?’

Chihe Zhenren nodded. "As long as we can get out, as long as we can escape the shackles of the Yunzhou Continent, we who practice Cultivation can reach another sky. That is Ascension. Ancient texts record that in that place, stars are countless, the sun and moon reside together, and it is a true immortal paradise. But as you saw, any method we try now is blocked by that invisible barrier."

"No one can achieve Ascension anymore."

Song Jiulai: "..."

’So, it’s Ascension in the most literal sense of the word?’

Even the system couldn’t contain itself. "Don’t tell me they mean literally flying off the planet into outer space? That’s what it sounds like."

’Being able to fly into space with just your physical body... that’s no different from being a god,’ Song Jiulai realized. ’I just never imagined there would be a barrier in the sky blocking their path to Ascension.’

The system asked the million-dollar question: "So, could a rocket get through?"

Song Jiulai: "..."

’Good question!’

’How should I know!’

’Can players even build rockets at this stage?!’

Song Jiulai returned to her own line of questioning. "Why did Ascension become impossible ten thousand years ago? Did something happen to affect it?"

Chihe Zhenren was silent for a few seconds. "That is something beyond my knowledge."

Song Jiulai thought for a moment. "Master, why are you telling me all this? I’m only at the Early Stage of Qi Refining."

’Whether Ascension was possible or not, it was all far too remote for her.’

’Besides, wasn’t Chihe Zhenren afraid her Dao Heart would be damaged by learning that Ascension was impossible?!’

’Who practices Cultivation for any reason other than to achieve Ascension?!’