Within the Splendor of the Many Realms, the vault of heaven suddenly turned into a deep void, and the Chaos Sea faintly emerged.
The vitality and spirituality of all living beings surged intensely. The entire world trembled, gradually rising and slowly drawing near to the Chaos Sea.
In Wei Yuan's perception, where the woman had fallen, the Chaos Sea manifested once again, churning with surging waves. With every heave and swell of the billows, an endless radiance of spirituality spewed forth, crossing time and space like a starry river before descending into the Splendor of the Many Realms.
This spirituality was the very essence Wei Yuan had drawn from all living beings in the beginning. Having now undergone the cycle of a world's birth and destruction and been tinged with the breath of the Chaos Sea, it returned to the Splendor of the Many Realms.
After entering the Splendor of the Many Realms, the spiritual light converged at the firmament, gradually condensing into a vast Chaos Auspicious Cloud.
Wei Yuan manifested atop the auspicious cloud and looked down.
Within this auspicious cloud lay chaos, spiritual vitality, as well as karma and the Heavenly Dao. With a single thought, Wei Yuan could claim it to replenish his own foundation. Paired with that drop of inky blood, it would immediately bring his mindscape world near completion; after just a few decades of arduous cultivation, he could ascend to the Immortal Heaven.
The spirituality of billions of living beings was like countless birds, each scooping a drop of water from the Chaos Sea before returning to the Splendor of the Many Realms.
Now Wei Yuan faced another choice. He could accept all of this chaotic feedback to patch and bolster his own foundation, reaching the standard for ascension to immortality in one fell swoop. The other choice was to return the spirituality to all living beings, keeping only the true meaning of chaos and the cycle of a world's birth and destruction. Done this way, his foundation would still fall short of perfection, requiring more than three thousand years of cultivation, but his status would elevate once again.
Only after the battle beyond the heavens did Wei Yuan discover even more wonders of status. For instance, that stream-of-light strike, traveling in higher dimensions on the strength of an exceptionally high status, had left the immortals entirely helpless, unable to intervene even if they wished to sacrifice themselves.
Another example: if one's status was high enough, major fishing methods such as heavenly secret arts and karmic luck steering would become ineffective, and various curses would either fail or rebound.
This Chaos Auspicious Cloud could basically mend the final shortfall on Wei Yuan's path to immortality. Along with the inky blood and the growth of the outer world, ascending to immortality was right before his eyes. This time was different from the last: without needing the assistance of the twelve Heavenly Pillars, the Splendor of the Many Realms could ascend to the Immortal Heaven on its own. If the immortals tried to obstruct his path, they would face not only a backlash of karmic luck and merit, but heavenly tribulation as well. Wei Yuan had to admit that at this moment, it was quite tempting. He turned his head to look; Zhang Sheng stood not far away.
Seeing Wei Yuan look over, Zhang Sheng said, "Do whatever you wish. This is the resource for attaining the Dao that you rightfully earned."
Wei Yuan said, "Then I must think it over carefully."
Zhang Sheng said, "Take your time. I'll wait for you." There was actually a hint of gentleness in her voice.
Wei Yuan looked up at the sky. In the endless void, he seemed to see that battered boundary stone from back then, which had barely maintained the last scrap of environment in the Shattered Lands.
Afterward, Qingming developed bit by bit. Within the Shattered Lands, the abandoned people had a place where they could barely scrape by for the first time, no longer having to soak in rotting water all day long. When the surrounding people heard of such a place, they put everything into migrating over. In the beginning, often less than half lived to reach Qingming, but they pressed on without hesitation.
Then came land reclamation, mining, and refining weapons, pills, and brocades. Relying on their own hands, people were able to eat their fill every day for the first time. Thus, when the Shaman Clan attacked in force, people stepped forward wave upon wave. Even when Wei Yuan was forced to use trench-filling tactics, sending civilians up to plug the defensive lines, those people who were normally cowardly and selfish, seeking only to survive, knew full well that going meant certain death, yet they went without looking back, marching onto the battlefield batch after batch.
Following the great calamity, Qingming changed with each passing day; its output of resources erupted, and cultivators sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. By now, even Dao Foundation cultivators were so numerous that they needed to seek flexible employment.
Along the journey, Wei Yuan had crushed formidable foes and slain immortals, up until today when he extinguished the avatar of a mighty figure. Every time he stood in a desperate plight, it was karmic luck that turned the tables. The Splendor of the Many Realms could be called the soul of Qingming, possessing the miracle of turning the impossible into the possible, yet in essence, it was the sum of the sapience and wisdom of billions of living beings.
Thus, looking back across his decades of cultivating the Dao: he had relied on people at the start, relied on people to break through deadlocks, and in reaching the summit, he still relied on people.
Wei Yuan slowly opened his eyes, finally understanding that his path did not lie in the Immortal Heaven, nor did it lie in the world beyond the heavens, but in the Splendor of the Many Realms and the billions of living beings in Qingming.
Wei Yuan waved his hand, and the Chaos Auspicious Cloud suddenly dissolved. The Splendor of the Many Realms quaked violently, and vast expanses of rosy mist rose across Qingming as well. Every living being felt a resonance in their hearts and looked up toward the vault of heaven.
They saw a boundless sheet of glazed immortal light illuminate the sky, brilliantly bright yet not dazzling, stirring an endless yearning within all beings at a single glance. Faint music followed, and every living creature heard the voice of the Great Dao from within its own heart. Countless immortal blossoms drifted down from the heavens, swirling and falling into the divine souls of creatures great and small.
Countless beings felt that a missing piece had been restored to them, along with something else indescribable. They felt their thoughts growing crystal clear; much of what they had not understood suddenly became clear, and much of what they had not been able to see became visible. Even more fell into profound bewilderment: Who am I?
In Wei Yuan's eyes, every living being began to radiate spiritual light, shining brighter and brighter. Tiny sparks of light joined together into a continuous expanse, turning into an ocean of spiritual radiance!
Above the Immortal Heaven, the Venerable Master suddenly opened his eyes. A mysterious tremor ran through him, yet he did not know what had transpired.
He rose, intending to step out of the secret realm to investigate, but hesitated at the realm's exit. His gaze flickered repeatedly, yet he could never bring himself to step outside. Once he left the secret realm, he would lose his state of being undetectable, undivinable, and untainted by karma.
Looking at the bright glow of spirituality below, Wei Yuan finally smiled. This was the world he wanted to see; this was how heaven and earth were meant to be.
In Qingming, many creatures wore contemplative expressions for the first time, and countless tiny species that had lived purely by instinct showed marked changes.
Within half a day, Old Daoist Chuhe's guinea pig herd experienced dozens of riots. Swarms of guinea pigs rose in revolt, overthrowing their cruel, licentious king. Countless rodent lovers were finally united, but before they could do anything, the guinea pig that had led the rebellion crowned himself the new king. The lovers were once again forcibly torn apart, and the pretty guinea pig was delivered into the king's harem burrow, plunging back into a life of darkness.
Old Daoist Chuhe was overwhelmed with trouble and didn't even notice the little changes among the guinea pigs. His entire attention was fixed on his most precious paddy of spiritual rice plants. The spiritual rice in the field had pulled up their roots, threatening to cut off their water and spiritual energy, swearing to defend the right to life of the few weeds in the field to the death. No matter whether Old Daoist Chuhe coaxed or reasoned with them, they simply refused to listen.
Meanwhile, the weeds outside the paddy saw an enormous opportunity. Claiming to be relatives of the few weeds in the spiritual field, they wanted to move their entire clumps right in.
Before Old Daoist Chuhe could figure out what was going on with the spiritual field, another conflict erupted over by the immortal chicken. It turned out that the spiritual rice offered to the immortal chicken had suddenly awakened, refusing to let the immortal chicken eat them unless it obtained their consent and provided a proper sense of ceremony.
The immortal chicken, however, had a temper, and swallowed them all in a single gulp.
Then the immortal chicken instructed Old Daoist Chuhe to add more rice—it wanted to see just how many grains of spiritual rice dared to kick up a fuss.
Behind all these bizarre and grotesque spectacles were countless beams of spiritual light soaring into the sky. The Chaos Auspicious Cloud beneath Wei Yuan's feet had vanished; Wei Yuan had distributed all of it to the sentient beings endowed with spirit. Every being that had contributed spirituality not only received back what it had given, but also gained the true meaning of the cycle of a world's birth and destruction and the breath of chaos carried within that spirituality.
Borne aloft by this ocean of spirituality, Wei Yuan felt his divine soul grow incomparably lively and ethereal. His divine sense climbed higher and higher until it gradually touched the Chaos Sea. He suddenly realized that this small patch of the Chaos Sea seemed capable of being sensed and contacted.
Chapter 1455