Chapter 194 - 175: Conditions to Unlock the Second Heaven!

Chapter 194: Chapter 175: Conditions to Unlock the Second Heaven!

Inside the First Heaven.

Chen Sha appeared on the hillside and looked up. The boundless sky was filled with a sacred radiance shooting out in all directions. Behind the firmament, phantom images of various worlds flickered.

"What is this light..." he wondered. Startled, he immediately withdrew his gaze and looked at the temples on the hillside.

He saw that the temples closest to him—including those of Zhang Daoxuan, Sister Taie, and Bu Feiqing—were all shooting out beams of light toward a specific world behind the sky. That world was situated at the edge of the sky. Although it was not perfectly clear, he could vaguely make out the contours of its space and time. It was indeed... the Divine Land!

Meanwhile, as Chen Sha looked at the temples in front of him, he realized they were exhibiting a blurry, shifting appearance between the ethereal and the solid. He took a few quick steps forward and reached out to touch Zhang Daoxuan’s temple.

WHOOSH.

His hand passed straight through the air. The once solid and tangible temple had actually become an illusion. It was as if the temple’s true form was no longer in the First Heaven, but was undergoing a transition between reality and illusion, heading toward the Divine Land.

Chen Sha immediately thought of the various mirages that had recently appeared across the Divine Land. A crystal-clear answer emerged in his mind.

"When all the temples in the Immortal Realm’s First Heaven disappear, the mirages over in the Divine Land will solidify. These temples will truly descend from the First Heaven onto the Divine Land."

However, this transition between the ethereal and the physical would take some time.

"There is more than just the Divine Land World up there..." Chen Sha thought as he looked up at the contours above his head, realizing they belonged to more than just the Divine Land. Looking into the distance, the landscape of the First Heaven was covered in temples. Only a portion of them were returning to the Divine Land; the vast majority were connecting to other mysterious worlds at the edge of the sky.

At this moment, Chen Sha realized something. He left his spot and approached Dugu Qiubai’s temple not far away. He saw that the light shooting out from Dugu Qiubai’s temple was not directed at the Divine Land, but rather at another world at the edge of the sky.

"Are those the True Remnant Worlds?" he wondered.

To verify his theory, he went to observe several clay-figure temples belonging to Ascenders who were not from the True Realm. Sure enough, the Corpse Charm, the Mountain Crossing Snake Lord, and Hong Qigong—whose scene he had entered for his first trial—all had temples on this hillside. The beams of light shooting from each of them flew toward other worlds at the end of the sky.

An incredibly clear answer surfaced in his mind.

"Inside the gate is the Immortal Realm, and outside the gate is the All Realms Cosmos. No matter what world people are from, they can Ascend to the Immortal Realm and wait for an era of revival to appear...

"Now that the Divine Land has revived, the Ascenders from what is called the True Realm are going to return to the Divine Land.

"Meanwhile, those who Ascended from the True Remnant Worlds will also return to their respective True Remnant Worlds.

"This means that it is not only the True Realm of the Divine Land that is reviving, but the various realms outside the gate as well. In other words... the entire All Realms Cosmos is ushering in an era of extreme decline turning into prosperity."

Hong Qigong, Dugu Qiubai, the Corpse Charm, the Mountain Crossing Snake, and all kinds of other beings from different worlds within the First Heaven were all returning to their own past worlds.

"True Realm... True Remnant World..." Chen Sha caught the crux of the issue. He thought, "There is only a one-word difference. Could it be that a long time ago, these many True Remnant Worlds were also part of the True Realm? Perhaps they shattered and scattered to other parts of the universe, becoming True Remnant Worlds... In that case, with the revival of the Heaven and Earth Rules, will the Divine Land World encounter these worlds in the future?"

He felt his guesses were straying a bit too far. That shouldn’t be something happening at this current stage.

At this moment, his thoughts shifted to the most crucial matter. He watched the spectacular scene within the First Heaven, with beams of light flying toward their respective worlds. He had no idea how long this transition between reality and illusion would last.

And this was only the First Heaven... One had to remember that there were Nine Heavens behind the Southern Heavenly Gate.

He looked up at the high sky once more and wondered, "Above the First Heaven should be the Second Heaven. What level of legends reside in the Second Heaven?"

If he deduced this using the sequence of the first to the eighth tribulation that Zhang Daoxuan had mentioned, could it be that in the other eight heavens above the First Heaven, the higher the firmament, the older the slumbering beings? They might be entities from the Eight Tribulations, Seven Tribulations, or even the periods of the first to Three Tribulations.

Just as Chen Sha was pondering this possibility...

BUZZ.

The Southern Heavenly Gate inside his body stirred. Lines of text flowed down like a curtain of water.

"Reminder to the Sect Leader: The rules of the All Realms Cosmos are reviving. The Immortal Realm’s First Heaven will be unable to maintain its eternal time after two hundred days in the time of the All Realms Cosmos. The flow of time here will become identical to the outside world in two hundred days...

"Please unlock the Second Heaven as soon as possible so that you can continue experiencing the trial scenes.

"Conditions to unlock the Second Heaven: Broken Great Vajra Level / Yin Spirit Emergence / Ascension Token (satisfying any one condition is sufficient)."

Broken Great Vajra Level. Yin Spirit Emergence. Ascension Token. Chen Sha quickly committed these three conditions to memory.

Broken Great Vajra Cultivation...

"Does merely stepping into the Broken Great Vajra count?" he wondered, his eyes flickering.

He knew that Sister Taie had set the standards for the Broken Realm and the Broken Great Vajra Realm. In later generations, the Ascension and cultivation realms of all people in the True Realm were based on Sister Taie’s Sutra of the Great Vajra Shattering and Tai’e Vajra Four Truths. According to Sister Taie, a standard Broken state meant that one’s Cultivation had reached the conditions permitted by the Heaven and Earth Rules for Ascension. They could then Ascend from the True Realm to the Immortal Realm and obtain eternity.

Being Broken did not equate to being a Great Vajra. Broken Great Vajra meant taking one’s Cultivation a step further within the Broken Realm. Sister Taie divided the Broken Great Vajra into Four Truths. The Tai’e Vajra Four Truths that Chen Sha had obtained contained the exact cultivation method for this.

Simply put, within the Broken Realm, the hierarchy of strength was divided into: Broken Void Realm—Broken Great Vajra First Layer, Second Layer, Third Layer, and Fourth Layer. The Fourth Layer was the Peak of Perfection of the Broken Great Vajra.

This was stated very clearly in Sister Taie’s text on the Sutra of the Great Vajra Shattering. For standard shattering, one’s Cultivation did not need to reach the Great Vajra Realm at all in order to shatter the void. Sometimes, one could even rely on the help of external objects.

Chen Sha’s heart stirred. "Could the external objects she mentioned be the ’Ascension Token,’ one of the three conditions for unlocking the Second Heaven? What exactly does this token refer to? Could it be like the Heavenly Emperor’s Jade Decree in mythology, where if someone achieves merit and Perfection, they can Ascend in broad daylight?"

Chen Sha had no clue and could only focus on another point. As these people’s temples returned to their respective worlds, would the Dao Marks kept in his Southern Heavenly Gate—the anchors used to manifest the Cosmic Light Fragments—still exist after they left? He immediately tested it out and found that they were still usable.

"This means that the temples here won’t completely disappear until after the two hundred outside days mentioned by the Southern Heavenly Gate. Before then, I can still continue my trials," he thought.

He looked again at the rows of temples on the hillside, then walked down to the ground below the mountain. He made another discovery. It seemed that the lower the temple owner’s Cultivation, the faster their temple turned illusory here. This meant they would be able to return ahead of the others.

"Is it related to the degree to which the Heaven and Earth Rules have revived?" he wondered.

He found the answer in his heart. Currently, the rules of the Divine Land had indeed revived to the Broken Realm, allowing him to break through to the Broken Void Realm. However, they likely had not yet recovered to the rules of the Broken Great Vajra Realm. Therefore, although the people in the temples were all returning, those with Broken Void Cultivation could appear on the ground a step ahead of those with Broken Great Vajra Cultivation.

Thinking of this, Chen Sha was suddenly startled. "Are there any people in the Broken Void Realm who have already emerged from their clay bodies on the Divine Land?" Since he had already become the first Broken Voider in the Divine Land, it meant that a Broken Voider could now survive there.

With this thought, Chen Sha lost all interest in analyzing what the third condition for unlocking the Second Heaven, "Yin Spirit," entailed. He walked straight out of the Southern Heavenly Gate, thinking, "If people at the Broken Realm have already appeared on the Divine Land, then I must return to Dao Yi Mountain as soon as possible and guard the sect to deal with any potential dangers."

Stepping out of the Southern Heavenly Gate, having gleaned considerable information and hypotheses in the First Heaven, Chen Sha immediately rushed back to Dao Yi Mountain. With Teng Zijing’s speed and his own Broken Void Cultivation parting the air currents, it only took a single day to arrive at Dao Yi Mountain.

His return was so swift that the news of his victory over Yuan Ruhua in the South Sea and his claim to the title of number one in the world hadn’t even reached them yet.

On Dao Yi Mountain, Song Yu and the others watched as Chen Sha, riding Teng Zijing, landed on the square in front of the Sect Leader’s Hall. However, their first reaction wasn’t to ask whether Chen Sha had beaten Yuan Ruhua. Instead, they said with urgent expressions, "Sect Leader, you’re back. Something strange has happened on the mountain. Over by the lake in the back mountain where our Junior Uncle is in secluded cultivation, phantom lights and shadows resembling a mirage have appeared in the sky."

Chen Sha’s expression tightened, secretly alarmed. "Dao Yi Mountain is actually a return coordinate as well? Someone is reviving from here?"

Before entering the Southern Heavenly Gate, he had heard that about eighty of these temple coordinates had been spotted, even appearing at the Primordial Palace, True Martial Sect, and Water Moon Temple. He hadn’t expected one to appear within Dao Yi Mountain as well. This proved that in the distant Eighth Tribulation Period, someone from the Dao Yi Mountain region had Ascended to the Immortal Realm. Now that they were reviving and returning, they were coming back to their Ascension Land.

Chen Sha immediately ordered, "Take me to see it."

Only on the way there did Song Yu and the others have the chance to ask Chen Sha about the outcome of his trip to the South Sea. Upon learning that Chen Sha had indeed defeated Yuan Ruhua, Song Yu and the rest were thrilled.

However, their excitement was quickly suppressed when they reached Zhou Santong’s residence in the back mountain and saw the phantom image of the temple in the sky. Chen Sha had finally become the number one in the world, yet... this bizarre event at Dao Yi Mountain made it impossible for anyone to relax. It was too mystical and had an eerie quality to it, making it impossible to simply ignore.

Chen Sha looked up at the temple’s phantom image and asked, "When was this discovered?"

Song Yu quickly replied, "It was on the twentieth day after you left. A disciple patrolling the back mountain unexpectedly discovered this temple in the sky. It’s been a month now, and it’s growing more solid day by day. I heard that other sects at the foot of the mountain, as well as in other places, are experiencing this strange phenomenon too. Sect Leader... do you know what exactly these temples are?"

Chen Sha gazed fixedly at it. Inside the small temple in the sky above the back mountain, the clay figure was in a "Daoist form." It was somewhat blurry, making it difficult to clearly see the facial features. Thus, he couldn’t immediately determine whether it was Ancestor Master Chen Fuyao.

But judging from the faintness of the phantom, this temple above Dao Yi Mountain was solidifying at a very slow pace. This indicated that its owner was at least at the Great Vajra Level and wouldn’t be stepping out of the First Heaven anytime soon.

Answering Song Yu’s question, Chen Sha said, "I do know some things about the origins of these temples, but I can’t go into detail with you all. You just need to understand that this temple is very dangerous. Starting today, no one is allowed in the back mountain. Everyone must move to the front mountain, and this area is designated as a forbidden zone."

Song Yu asked in alarm, "But what if something emerges from here..."

Chen Sha glanced at him. "I will personally stand guard here."

With that, Chen Sha looked toward the temple. He leapt into the air, flying toward it. An idea blossomed in his mind: he would call upon the Southern Heavenly Gate to see if he could perceive the identity of the temple’s owner from the outside.

His guess was not wrong. Sure enough, as Chen Sha flew closer and closer to the temple, words streamed down from the Southern Heavenly Gate in his mind, revealing to him the identity of the Ascender inside the temple that had appeared over Dao Yi Mountain...