Immortal Gate

The starry sky was vast, magnificent, and profoundly wondrous. Standing on the bridge, Yaoguang looked out over this boundless ocean of stars through an observation deck that offered an exceptional field of view and was equipped with a sensory formation. Two things in this world struck the deepest awe into the soul: one was the moral standard in the heart of a noble person, and the other... Was the vast, brilliant river of stars overhead. At this moment, Yaoguang was immersed in that starry river, roaming freely within it. Even though the power he commanded could shatter stars across the heavens and extinguish every sun within sight with just a slight stir of the Grand Dao's might, he still... Remained utterly captivated by this splendor. "In the end, I have cultivated for too short a time—less than six centuries to this day. Many mortal ways of thinking still hold sway over me," Yaoguang remarked. And in the eyes of a mortal... If one could truly embark on such a journey through the stars someday... Even dying would be well worth it. Above all, the civilizations he occasionally passed along the way brought him constant wonder. Though tasked with the goal of traveling to a foreign land to become a Human Immortal, Yaoguang would still pause to linger whenever he passed distinctive planets. On worlds whose beings possessed an extraordinary sense of taste, he would sample every food they had to offer. On worlds whose inhabitants were acutely sensitive to sound, he would lose himself in their highest musical performances. Sometimes, his warship would come to a halt in an area where a supernova had recently detonated, quietly observing the radiant streams of light blasting across the heavens. At other times, he sailed along the event horizon of a massive black hole, watching it drag one or several stars into long ribbons of light. This long cosmic voyage was never lonely; it was rich and full of wonder. Of course, annoying matters arose from time to time as well. Cultivators were the mainstream of the universe. In particular, the Dao Lords who commanded Grand Daos held the fundamental rules of the cosmos in their grasp, standing atop the universe. Their sheer might naturally led cultivation civilizations to flourish across swath after swath of the starry skies. Yet Dao Lords were ultimately few in number. Planets like Cangwu Great World were far more common. Species that possessed sufficiently high cultivation and had attained a degree of longevity often became targets for star-faring technological civilizations to hunt and dissect. He had seen civilizations imprison Golden Core realm cultivators to study their longevity. He had also seen technological civilizations wage wars against cultivation civilizations through naturally formed star gates. He had even witnessed a civilization deploy a specialized substance that induced a grotesque mutation in an entire world's cultivation system, turning cultivation into every practitioner's living nightmare. Naturally, there were also cultivators who modified or rebelled against these technological civilizations. Although their clashes were mostly confined to the Golden Core level, Yaoguang had traveled so far that he inevitably witnessed more strife. More than half of the civilizations were rarely free from turmoil. If they had rival factions, they fought rivals; if they had no rivals, they fought civil wars. Often, a long-awaited peace would arrive only after one side suffered losses too grievous to bear, or when their civilization was utterly destroyed. Even Yaoguang himself had been ambushed by a formidable technological civilization capable of harvesting zero-point vacuum energy. Boasting a history of well over a hundred thousand years, this civilization had utilized zero-point energy to the point where they could ensnare Void Cavern realm cultivators. They had even imprisoned more than one Void Cavern realm cultivator within their borders. Treating primal caverns and Void Cavern realm cultivators as energy sources, they continuously researched and developed this power. At one point, the light of their civilization had spread across an entire galaxy, conquering world after world. Within that sprawling empire, their living worlds numbered in the tens of thousands, while their resource planets were beyond count. Yaoguang had not intended to bother with such a civilization, but... A patrol warship at their border evidently mistook him for some Void Cavern cultivator, launching an assault in an attempt to capture him. Yaoguang did not waste words on them. Employing the Grand Dao of the Void, he directly altered the parameters of the void throughout that galaxy. With just that minor adjustment, the mighty empire harnessing zero-point energy descended into chaos, collapsing in mere months. Coupled with the factions and cultivators they had suppressed rising in revolt... One could foresee that within decades at the fastest, or centuries at the slowest, this powerhouse that had endured for over a hundred thousand years would crumble into historical dust, heading toward irreversible ruin. Continuing this far-from-lonely journey, it took Yaoguang eighty years to reach the location of the Star Gate marked on Dao Lord Yuanxu's star chart. The reason it took so long... Was mainly because he had spent time upgrading his warship. Furthermore, having never undertaken such an extensive cosmic voyage before, Yaoguang found it novel and had lingered, thereby delaying his progress. Now, however... A continent entered Yaoguang's sight. This landmass bore some resemblance to Cangwu Great World, yet it was far vaster. It was as though an enormous spatial node had collapsed to form it. Because this collapsed spatial node naturally created a unique spatial barrier, hardly any cultivator could sense its existence unless they drew near, or happened to be a Void Cavern realm cultivator or above living within a million light-years or so. And a million light-years... Though it sounded vast and grand, it was negligible in the boundless cosmos. Finding it was harder than searching a whole planet for a hill that spanned just a single kilometer. "A very well-hidden Gate of the Immortal Realm. However..." Yaoguang sensed how the surrounding space "flowed" toward that world. This region was currently like a rapidly growing super-massive primal cavern. As time passed, it would ensnare the surrounding galaxies, dragging their planets and stars into its depths. More importantly, with time, it would reel in more and more galaxies across an ever-widening radius. One day, all galaxies within tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of light-years, would be pulled into it, forming a Great Attractor that would catch the attention of various Dao Lords and lead to its discovery. Yet that process would take at least several hundred thousand to a million years. In other words, within the next hundred thousand years, only cultivators within a few million—or at most ten million—light-years could possibly discover this Gate of the Immortal Realm. Unless someone deliberately broadcast the news. Yet judging from how Beihai Star, a mere three billion light-years away, knew nothing of this Star Gate... The powers entrenched in this sector had locked down the secret tightly. They intended to monopolize the Star Gate for themselves. As these thoughts crossed his mind, Yaoguang took a step through the void, descending straight toward that peculiar world surrounded by warped space. Yet just as he was about to enter, his rank-sixteen formation mastery alerted him to something. "A formation?" He cast a brief glance... Shrouding this special expanse was an enormous grand formation. A rank-fifteen formation. "There is a master in this world," Yaoguang murmured in heartfelt admiration. He then studied the formation carefully. Even if he fell into a rank-fifteen grand formation—even one maintained by a Dao Lord—he possessed the power to shatter it quickly and slay his foes. But... Who could say how many Dao Lords were inside? If it were merely eight or ten, that would be one thing. Having already forged the foundation of a Human Immortal, dealing with that many would pose little trouble. Yet what if there were not eight or ten, but dozens, or even a hundred? He was not yet powerful enough to rival the likes of Dao Sovereign Hongmeng or Dao Sovereign Zaohua. If a hundred Dao Lords swarmed him at once while backed by a grand formation, he too would face the risk of perishing. Yaoguang scrutinized the formation. Relying on his rank-sixteen mastery, he deduced its origin in just moments. Searching through his mind, he grasped its operational patterns and effects with near-total accuracy. "The Hundred Tribulations Realm Refining Formation. If there are no more than thirty Dao Lords maintaining it inside, I can break it within a year." Yaoguang felt confident. Yet just as he prepared to inspect the formation in detail, the grand formation rooted in the world below was suddenly pushed to its absolute limit. A gray mist resembling currents of chaos surged upward, sweeping Yaoguang inside in an instant. "This is... the formation's overlimit state?!" Yaoguang quickly realized what was happening. At the cost of reducing the formation's stability, its coverage area was dramatically expanded in a flash, drawing in and refining beings who had stood outside the perimeter believing themselves safe. The moment the formation enveloped him, Yaoguang immediately ignited the Light of True Spirit. Augmented by the Eight Desolations Heavenly Mirror, a semi-immortal artifact, this Dao art capable of piercing the soul's essence instantly illuminated the entire world. What appeared before him were thirteen figures capable of triggering resonance with the Grand Dao. "Thirteen Dao Lords!" Yaoguang let out a sigh of relief. If only thirteen Dao Lords ruled and monopolized this Gate of the Immortal Realm, matters would be simple. Though this lineup combined with the formation's might would overwhelm even an invincible Dao Lord, Yaoguang's present battle strength... Could no longer be measured against invincible Dao Lords who fought ten to one! After sweeping his gaze over the Hundred Tribulations Realm Refining Formation's flow, Yaoguang blurred into motion, heading straight to face the thirteen Dao Lords. His perception lingered for a fraction of an instant upon the three Void Dao Lords. However... He did not target the three Void Dao Lords first. Instead, he swiftly unrolled the Eight Desolations Heavenly Mirror. The moment the mirror unfolded, perception and communication among the thirteen Dao Lords were instantly disrupted. Yet four of them who also cultivated soul Dao arts broke free of the mirror's lockdown right away. One of them seemed to grasp a Dao art that linked their minds, ensuring seamless coordination among the thirteen. Seeing this... Yaoguang's eyes narrowed slightly. "The lynchpin, is it?" He drew a quiet breath. In the next instant, void energy on par with a peak Dao Lord was mobilized by a domain at the realm of an Immortal Venerable, condensing with terrifying intensity. The moment that void energy gathered, the Void Dao Lord who cultivated soul Dao arts to maintain lucidity sensed it immediately. "This gathering of void power... A top-tier Dao Lord?! No! An invincible Dao Lord! An invincible Dao Lord wielding an immortal artifact!" His divine sense burst outward in a frantic warning to the remaining twelve Dao Lords, especially the one trying to link everyone's awareness together: "Xuanmang! Watch out! Protect your life!" Yet almost the moment his divine sense rang out, the void power Yaoguang had gathered took shape. A cataclysm of void annihilation, far more comprehensive and complete than the Great Collapse Art, erupted outward, centered squarely upon Dao Lord Xuanmang. "Immortal Art—Great Void Art!"