Chapter 2031 High Immortal Realm!
The only caveat with the current plan was that he had not compiled a perfect High Immortal realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art. He also was not sure if he would be able to do so in the near future.
I can’t afford to wait that long anymore…
As his cultivation progressed, it was only natural that the number of cultivation technique manuals that he had would reduce. He could not possibly stop cultivating just because he was unable to compile a perfected Heaven’s Path Divine Art, right?
It was time for him to overcome his fears!
Besides, he had also advanced through the realms of Ancient Sage back when he was on the Master Teacher Continent even though he had not managed to compile the corresponding Heaven’s Path Divine Arts.
Perfection or safety, this was the trade-off that he had to make at this moment. Currently, he viewed the latter as a more urgent need.
If he did not raise his cultivation fast enough, disaster would soon befall him. He did not think that he would be able to avoid the Hall of G.o.ds for too long.
“I should start.”
Having made up his mind, Zhang Xuan uncorked the jade bottle and swallowed the Breakthrough Pill inside of it.
Boom!
The rich energy harnessed within the pill gushed through his entire body, leaving him feeling as if a flame had been ignited within his body.
He focused his attention on concentrating all his zhenqi toward overcoming the bottleneck that hindered his path to becoming a High Immortal.
The Heaven’s Path Divine Art was like a key to the gate between each cultivation realm. As long as he acquired this key, no matter how heavy the gates were, he would be able to open them with ease. However, since he did not have the key with him right now, he had no choice but to crush the gate with brute strength!
As long as he could gather sufficient energy to build up enough momentum, he would be able to reach the High Immortal realm.
Weng!
A resounding reverberation echoed as zhenqi gushed forward to break down the wall. Blood immediately spurted out from Zhang Xuan’s lips.
It’s more resilient than I thought…
He had thought that it should not be too difficult for him to reach the High Immortal realm with his current cultivation, but the bottleneck was like a secure metal vault. No matter how hard he charged into it, it simply would not budge.
“Are you trying to achieve a breakthrough via brute strength?”
Noticing what Zhang Xuan was trying to do, Pavilion Master Kui Xiao and the others were appalled.
The High Immortal realm was one of the hardest obstacles for a cultivator to overcome on the Forsaken Continent. There were many experts who had devoted their lives to uncovering tricks and methods to overcome this bottleneck. Yet, this fellow actually wanted to overcome it with brute strength!
This was as good as trying to knock down a hundred-meter-thick wall on a steed!
How could it be possible?
If it was possible to do it through brute strength, those cultivators stuck at the Heavenly True Immortal realm would not have been at such a loss as to what they could do!
Meanwhile, Zhang Xuan realized that his attempts were not working well, so he turned to the crowd and asked, “Do you, by any chance, have any Premier Immortal Pills?”
Superior Immortal Pills were insufficient for him to build up enough momentum to achieve a breakthrough to the High Immortal realm. If he wished to succeed, he would need something even more potent.
“I have two of them,” Pavilion Master Kui Xiao said as he took out a jade bottle.
There were not many Premier Immortal Pills on the Forsaken Continent. Even as the head of the richest organization in this world, he did not have many of them.
“I’ll repay the favor to you after we arrive at the Sea of Exiled Stars,” Zhang Xuan said as he took the jade bottle without any reservations.
He knew that these two Premier Immortal Pills would play a vital role to him in achieving a breakthrough. Without any hesitation, he took out the two pills and popped them into his mouth.
“…”Pavilion Master Kui Xiao’s eyelids twitched in shock.
Even a Semi-Divinity realm expert like him would take at least three days to a.s.similate the energy in a Premier Immortal Pill, but the young man before him, a Heavenly True Immortal, actually swallowed two of them at once.
Was he not afraid of blowing up?
Pavilion Master Kui Xiao walked over to Zhang Xuan and ordered the others, “Everyone, focus your attention and keep a close lookout!”
Such a forceful breakthrough came with huge risks. They would have to keep a close lookout so that they could intervene in time if the young man’s cultivation was about to go berserk.
The First Elder, Elder Hong Wu, and the others quickly gathered around.
This young man before them was the hope of the Sevenstar Pavilion. Be it Sect Leader Zhang Xuan or Hall Master Zheng Yang, the likes of them could not possibly be a match for this monstrous genius. Thus, they were willing to give their all to protect him.
Boom!
As the two Premier Immortal Pills melted, Zhang Xuan felt a tremendous amount of energy flooding through his meridians.
If the Breakthrough Pill had generated a river within his body, after consuming the two pills, the river had evolved into a ma.s.sive tsunami that charged right toward the resilient gates of High Immortality.
Boom boom boom!
With each attempt to crush the gates, Zhang Xuan would suffer significant damage due to the recoil. Blood was flowing from his nose, mouth, and ears, but even after several tries, the gates still refused to open. He had sustained significant injuries, and his body was on the verge of collapsing.
Thus, he quickly took out a jade bottle filled with the gourd’s bathwater, and only then did he feel himself recovering a bit. He gritted his teeth tightly together as a determined glint shone in his eyes.
Hu!
With a whip of his hand, he took out several more jade bottles. An incredible amount of energy was emanating from these bottles.
Those bottles contained the blood essence of the Heavenly High Immortals from the Hall of G.o.ds!
Prior to forging the corpses of those Heavenly High Immortals into Soulless Metal Humanoids, he had gathered their blood essences and stored them safely in jade bottles. These blood essences harnessed the power of those Heavenly High Immortals, so they were overflowing with energy.
Peng!
Uncorking the jade bottles, the blood essences quickly morphed into mist before flowing into his body through his acupoints.
A crimson glow appeared on the surface of Zhang Xuan’s skin, and his body was starting to show signs of drying up. It seemed like he had gathered so much energy within him that the energies acc.u.mulated within his body were trying to devour him instead.
“Humph!”
With a cold harrumph, Zhang Xuan bore the tearing pain and drove his True Immortal realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art to its limits. He forcefully took control of the energies rampaging within his body and channeled them toward the gates once more.
Jiya!
With the sheer amount of energies gathered, the gate began to waver.
It’s working! Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.
He quickly gathered the energies back together to make one attempt after another.
To be honest, the bottleneck to the High Immortal realm was much more terrifying than he had thought.
He had gathered so much energy within on him that he was starting to lose control even with the Heaven’s Path Divine Art. He had thought that he would be able to achieve a breakthrough easily after going so far, but even after so many attempts, it still was not fully torn down yet.
This was probably the greatest hurdle that he had faced in his cultivation so far.
“It’ll be difficult for him to achieve a breakthrough in the future if he doesn’t succeed the first time. We must lend him a hand!” Pavilion Master Kui Xiao ordered.
He placed his hand on Zhang Xuan’s back and infused a surge of pure energy right into the latter’s body.
He had seen plenty of geniuses who had anxiously rushed to push for a breakthrough to the High Immortal realm only to end in failure. Most of them would try again later in their lives, but the difficulty was really on a whole new level then, such that most of them ended up never managing to make a breakthrough.
Once the energies within the young man’s body calmed down, it would be hard for him to achieve a breakthrough in the future. If so, their hopes at the Azure Bridge would be shattered.
Thus, even if they had to gather the strength of everyone present, they needed to ensure that the young man was successful in his breakthrough!
Hearing those words, the First Elder and the others quickly gathered around.
Tzzzzzz!
They channeled their zhenqi into Zhang Xuan’s body, and their zhenqi was immediately a.s.similated into the roaring tsunami of energies within the latter’s body, enhancing its might and momentum.
“You have my grat.i.tude.”
Zhang Xuan did not think that they would go so far to help him achieve a breakthrough to the High Immortal realm, and he could not help clenching his fists tightly in agitation. He swiftly a.s.serted his control over the augmented tsunami of energies and channeled it toward the gates once more.
Geji! Geji!
The gate wavered even more. With the a.s.sistance of those experts, Zhang Xuan could feel his bottleneck loosening significantly.
However, the toll of having so many different energies on his body was also starting to show as well. Cracks were starting to surface on his body, signaling that he was on the verge of suffering a physical breakdown.
Zhang Xuan immediately swallowed several more bottles of gourd’s bathwater before focusing his attention back on his breakthrough.
Boom!
After innumerable attempts, the gates were finally forced open, allowing the surge of energies to burst through. As those energies quickly circulated around his body, Zhang Xuan’s aura surged.
High Immortal realm, reached!
With the aid of the Breakthrough Pill, High Immortal realm blood essence, Premier Immortal Pills, and zhenqi from Pavilion Master Kui Xiao and the others, he had finally succeeded!
Gugugugu!
The zhenqi within his body swiftly condensed together to become even more concentrated and powerful. As this concentrated zhenqi flowed through his body, the heavy injuries that he had sustained in the midst of the breakthrough swiftly healed up.
At the same time, his soul and body were being nourished as well.
“What pure zhenqi this is…”
As energy flowed through his body, Zhang Xuan felt vigor like he had never experienced before.
It was no wonder why High Immortals were so much more respected than True Immortals. The strength that he wielded was at least several times stronger than before.
As he did not have any more Premier Immortal Pills, he could only drink more blood essences from the Heavenly High Immortals in order to sustain his breakthrough. It took roughly a dozen bottles before his zhenqi finally settled down.
While he did manage to reach the High Immortal realm, due to the lack of the corresponding Heaven’s Path Divine Art, he was unable to progress any further than that at the moment.
Nevertheless, even though he was only at the Lesser High Immortal realm, the strength that he wielded was not something that should be underestimated.
If he was faced with those three Heavenly High Immortals who had made an attempt on his life once more, even without relying on any external help or trickery, he would still be able to easily smack them to death.
Barely after Zhang Xuan’s cultivation settled down, Pavilion Master Kui Xiao’s voice sounded. “It’s a relief that everything went well…”
Zhang Xuan raised his head and saw the elders who had helped him earlier looking at him with pale faces. The zhenqi in their bodies was on the verge of depleting entirely.
“I am extremely grateful to all of you for your help.” Zhang Xuan bowed deeply.
If not for their unreserved a.s.sistance in devoting their zhenqi for his use, there was no way he would have been able to achieve a breakthrough to the Heavenly High Immortal realm.
He quickly pa.s.sed a bottle of gourd’s bathwater to each of them and said, “Drink it. It’ll heal your injuries.”
The crowd accepted the bottles and quickly drank the water. A tinge of redness quickly returned to their pale faces.
The swift depletion of energy had resulted in some hidden traumas in their bodies, and those injuries would often prove difficult to recover from. However, the gourd’s bathwater had helped them recover from them in an instant.
They were still feeble from the lack of energy, but they were still able to recover quickly.
“This medicine…”
Pavilion Master Kui Xiao and the others were bewildered. The water that they had just drunk was more effective than any recovery medicines that they had consumed.
“It’s a recovery medicine I have specially concocted. Drink it if you sustain any difficult injuries,” Zhang Xuan said as he took out several more bottles of the gourd’s bathwater and distributed it among the crowd.
Considering how far they had gone to help him, he would not be stingy with them.
Following that, as the crowd from the Sevenstar Pavilion consumed all kinds of pills to recover their energy, Zhang Xuan also sat down to reinforce his cultivation.
It took three days for everyone else to recover completely from their previous exertion. At the same time, Zhang Xuan also managed to reinforce his Lesser High Immortal realm cultivation.
“Is there no cultivation ordeal for achieving a breakthrough to the High Immortal realm?” Zhang Xuan asked curiously.
On the Master Teacher Continent, those whose cultivation had reached Saint 5-dan would draw in a cultivation ordeal. It was hard to imagine there would be no cultivation ordeal for reaching the High Immortal realm.
“The Forsaken Continent is the land that the G.o.ds have abandoned. Even though there are no longer any G.o.ds here, it’s still an extremely powerful dimension. High Immortals aren’t powerful enough to sway the laws of the world yet, so the heavens won’t send heavenly retribution upon them,” Pavilion Master Kui Xiao said. “The only case where one will face a cultivation ordeal is probably when one attempts to make a breakthrough to become a real G.o.d.”
“Become a real G.o.d?”
“As exiles, we are unqualified to become real G.o.ds. If we attempted to make a breakthrough, it would immediately draw backlash from the Hall of G.o.ds. The heavens would also feel threatened by the act and invoke heavenly retribution upon the cultivator. A lightning tribulation would be the least of one’s worries; there would be heavenly flames and heavenly obliteration as well. There are many talented individuals on the Forsaken Continent who have attempted a breakthrough, only to lose their lives tragically in the end,” Pavilion Master Kui Xiao said with a bitter smile.
“Thus, the strongest realm on the Forsaken Continent is Semi-Divinity. Semi-Divinity is ultimately just a pseudo G.o.d, an existence that comes nowhere close in comparison to a real G.o.d. Besides, one needs to tap into the powers of the Hall of G.o.ds in order to reach Semi-Divinity. This is not a feat that one can achieve with sheer talent!”