The Endless Road to Ascending Heaven! Lu Changsheng Merges Avatars, the Ancestor Realm Reappears!

"You truly weren't the ones who killed him?" Lu Changsheng was somewhat surprised. Before, it had merely been his conjecture. Now that the three of them had admitted it, he was genuinely taken aback. If they hadn't killed him, could they have accomplices? Or perhaps... Realizing their doom was sealed, the three chose not to hide anything further. They explained everything they knew in full detail. "This Road to Ascending Heaven is actually a dead end." "One cannot ascend to the heavens through it at all. Instead, it has been cursed." "There are undying wandering souls roaming within it. Any living being that enters is relentlessly hunted down by them." "We simply didn't want to die. We intentionally caused disturbances to lure people onto the Road to Ascending Heaven. As long as others entered, the undying wandering souls would hunt them instead, and we wouldn't have to die." "That swordsman was actually killed by an undying wandering soul, not by us..." These three Boundary Sea Limit Realm cultivators revealed a shocking secret. The hidden truth of the Road to Ascending Heaven! The commotion on the Road to Ascending Heaven had actually been orchestrated by them on purpose. Their sole purpose was to lure more people into it to distract the undying wandering souls, allowing them to survive. It was utter madness. "Wait. Trapped on the Road to Ascending Heaven, you can still affect the outside world?" Lu Changsheng noticed something amiss. If they were trapped inside, how could they exert influence outside? That made no sense. If they truly possessed the power to affect the exterior, how could they be unable to escape? One of them spoke up. "The Road to Ascending Heaven is extremely peculiar. On the fifteenth of every month, its barrier weakens to its lowest point. At that time, our power can seep through to the outside." "Yet that is merely seepage. We've tried everything to leave, but even the Sovereign Realm cannot do so. Perhaps only the Ancestor Realm can tear through the Road to Ascending Heaven. That is why we continually stirred up disturbances to give everyone the illusion that we were entrenched in Shannan Prefectural City." "That way, the Wenhua Divine Dynasty couldn't remain indifferent. If sending wave after wave of people proved useless, they might eventually deploy a national divine item." "A national divine item can unleash the power of the Ancestor Realm. Once it entered the Road to Ascending Heaven, it might shatter the path and allow us to escape with our lives." Understanding dawned on Lu Changsheng. Everything finally made sense. No wonder the prefect had claimed an otherworldly godly being was entrenched in Shannan Prefectural City. Lu Changsheng had found it strange at the time: what an otherworldly godly being needed was divine items, so what purpose was there in occupying Shannan Prefectural City? Was it courting death? Now, the truth was laid bare. The otherworldly godly beings weren't seeking death; they were attempting to save themselves. Only by drawing the serious attention of the Wenhua Divine Dynasty was there a chance they would deploy a national divine item—their only hope of escape. Even if they had to face a national divine item and risk a nine-in-ten chance of death, at least there was hope. It was far better than their present state of absolute despair. *Can Ancestor Realm power perhaps shatter the Road to Ascending Heaven?* Lu Changsheng's heart stirred. Ancestor Realm power—couldn't he unleash Ancestor Realm power himself? However, he was in no hurry. This was the Road to Ascending Heaven! It was an immense opportunity that countless Ancestor Realm figures dreamed of. Lu Changsheng also wanted to uncover the secrets of the Road to Ascending Heaven. After all, it very likely held the secret of Ascending Heaven. In the past, supreme beings beyond the Ancestor Realm had used the Road to Ascending Heaven to ascend into the Heaven Realm! *Buzz.* Just then, a chilling wind blew past. The gale pierced straight to the marrow. Even though Lu Changsheng was already at the divine body level and ordinary extremes of temperature couldn't affect him in the slightest, he still felt chilled to the bone. The three from the Boundary Sea seemed to realize something. Their eyes went wide as they stared fixedly into the pitch-black depths of the Road to Ascending Heaven. "It... it's here..." Their voices trembled. "What is here?" Lu Changsheng spun around abruptly. Behind him lay the same impenetrable darkness, extending into endless, eerie depths. Yet that bone-chilling sensation was unmistakable. It wasn't the chill of temperature, but a coldness rising from the depths of the soul. "What do you know?" Lu Changsheng demanded. Gritting their teeth, the three Boundary Sea cultivators blurted out in haste, "It's the wandering soul! An undying wandering soul is here! It comes to harvest life! We must flee immediately, or it will be too late..." The three were frantic with panic. Evidently, they understood the undying wandering souls all too well. These undying wandering souls were the most terrifying entities on the Road to Ascending Heaven; countless powerhouses had perished at their hands. "An undying wandering soul..." Lu Changsheng's eyes narrowed slightly, but he made no move to leave. He truly wanted to see for himself just what an undying wandering soul was. To constantly hide, relying on stirring up trouble on the fifteenth of every month to lure others into the Road to Ascending Heaven to act as scapegoats—to Lu Changsheng, that held no meaning. Of course, that premise required having sufficient backing! Lu Changsheng's nearly three hundred avatars gave him that confidence, granting him the courage to face an undying wandering soul. Since he had already sealed the power of the three Boundary Sea cultivators, Lu Changsheng didn't have to worry about them at all. He focused his gaze entirely on the profound darkness ahead. His divine consciousness seemed unable to pierce the depths of the Road to Ascending Heaven. Eventually, a figure emerged from the deep gloom. The figure looked quite ordinary—a saber-wielding swordsman clad in black robes. However, there was no light in the figure's eyes. His face was utterly slack and vacant, exuding a grotesque aura. Moreover, there wasn't the slightest hint of life emanating from him. Carrying his saber, he approached Lu Changsheng step by step. With every pace he drew nearer, the bone-chilling cold intensified. *Whoosh.* In the next instant, the black-robed figure slashed his saber forward. The slash seemed capable of freezing the void itself. Lu Changsheng felt his entire body stiffen, as if paralyzed. *Hm?* *This power... is infinitely close to the Sovereign Realm?* *It's not just a step away from the Sovereign Realm—it is the very limit! The absolute pinnacle beneath the Sovereign Realm!* Lu Changsheng's eyes widened. That single slash allowed him to immediately gauge the opponent's strength. Beneath the Sovereign Realm, he was virtually invincible! This referred solely to the sheer potency of the strike. Because it didn't cross the threshold from the Limit Realm into the Sovereign Realm, it wouldn't trigger rejection by the Kunwu World. Lu Changsheng knew that using Limit Realm power would merely turn the fight into a war of attrition, which was entirely pointless. "Merge!" Without hesitation, Lu Changsheng merged his avatars once more. Instantly, the merged avatar broke through to the Sovereign Realm! The moment he breached the bottleneck and reached the Sovereign Realm, the familiar repulsive force reappeared. Lu Changsheng's mind stirred. A possibility suddenly occurred to him: if Ancestor Realm power couldn't shatter the Road to Ascending Heaven, could he use the Kunwu World's repulsive force to directly leave the Kunwu World? Leaving the Kunwu World would naturally be equivalent to escaping the Road to Ascending Heaven. Even if the Ancestor Realm ultimately failed to break open the path, he still possessed a way out. After all, that repulsive force was an intrinsic rule of the Kunwu World. The potency of this rule seemed capable of extending even into the interior of the Road to Ascending Heaven. Otherwise, given the bizarre nature of this place, the strength of the undying wandering souls wouldn't be capped just below the Sovereign Realm; they would likely have reached the Sovereign Realm already. At this moment, Lu Changsheng felt truly confident, free of all lingering worries. *Boom!* Lu Changsheng held nothing back. He threw a punch. The entire Road to Ascending Heaven trembled violently. After all, this was true Sovereign Realm might. Unleashing Sovereign Realm power granted him only ten breaths of time. Yet he didn't need ten breaths. A single breath was enough. As Lu Changsheng's fist slammed forward, the undying wandering soul instantly blew apart, dissipating into nothingness. "What?" "The undying wandering soul... gone?" "He blew the undying wandering soul apart with a single punch?!" The three stared, dumbstruck. They, too, had clashed with the undying wandering souls, but they had collapsed almost on initial contact. They were no match for them at all. Later, whenever they encountered one, they fled with everything they had, lacking the courage to fight to the death. Yet before Lu Changsheng, the creature had seemed completely vulnerable. "That's it?" Lu Changsheng looked at the annihilated wandering soul, feeling rather surprised. The undying wandering soul had died just like that? For it to be so weak caught him somewhat off guard. "It's not that the undying wandering soul is weak, but that you are far too strong!" "You wield Sovereign Realm power?" "B-but why haven't you been expelled from the Kunwu World?" The three were bewildered, their faces filled with confusion. They could clearly sense that Lu Changsheng's strike had reached the Sovereign Realm tier. "Disperse." Lu Changsheng immediately dismissed the avatars, ceasing the merger. The repulsive force around him naturally vanished as well. Of course, he had no obligation to explain anything to them. "Didn't you claim the undying wandering souls were terrifying? How could..." Before Lu Changsheng could finish speaking, he suddenly darted sideways. *Whoosh!* A vicious wave of saber qi cleaved into the space where he had just stood, narrowly missing him. Fortunately, he possessed the Rainbow Transformation Divine Body. Had he still been relying on the Reincarnation Divine Body, he likely wouldn't have had the speed to dodge and would have had to endure the blow directly. The strike was so terrifying that taking it head-on might have shattered his divine body. "Not dead?" Lu Changsheng spun around abruptly, fixing his gaze on the black-robed figure behind him. Or rather, the undying wandering soul! The figure stood entirely intact, unchanged in every respect. Even its aura hadn't diminished in the slightest. Yet Lu Changsheng had personally blown it to pieces. There was no mistaking that. "That is the nature of an undying wandering soul," the three Boundary Sea cultivators said with bitter smiles. "On this Road to Ascending Heaven, an undying wandering soul is truly undying. No matter how you kill it—even if you slaughter it a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times—it will not die. It instantly restores itself." "Otherwise, how could it be called undying?" The truly terrifying aspect of an undying wandering soul was its inability to die. Once targeted by one, the only option was to flee—as far and as fast as possible. Earlier, the swordsman Wang Jiuzhen had been formidable as well, but what good did that do? Once trapped by an undying wandering soul, he had perished all the same. "I don't believe it!" "Can a truly undying entity truly exist?" Lu Changsheng's gaze turned frosty. "Merge!" In the next instant, he merged his avatars once more. His strength surged violently into the Sovereign Realm, reaching the very pinnacle of that level. Then, another punch obliterated the undying wandering soul. This time, Lu Changsheng stared with unwavering focus, not daring to relax for an instant. Yet staring closely availed him nothing. In the blink of an eye, the undying wandering soul restored itself to its original state. Without warning, as if stepping out of thin air, it reappeared with an identical aura. "Again!" Lu Changsheng blasted the undying wandering soul apart once more. Once, twice, three times, four times, five times, six times... He tried repeatedly. Sometimes, as the ten-breath limit neared, he promptly dispersed the avatars, dodged the wandering soul, and then merged them again to shatter it once more. This cycle continued for several hours. After several hours had passed, however, Lu Changsheng's expression turned grim. The undying wandering soul remained, completely unscathed, showing not the slightest hint of injury. It truly was "undying"—at least on the Road to Ascending Heaven. "Let's go!" Lu Changsheng wasted no more words. Grabbing the three Boundary Sea cultivators, he streaked away as a rainbow of light. At his speed, the wandering soul couldn't hope to keep up. Lu Changsheng was not stubborn. Carrying the three, he sprinted all the way until they reached an area devoid of wandering souls before finally stopping. The three gazed at Lu Changsheng with looks that seemed to say: *Now you know how terrifying the undying wandering souls are, don't you?* Lu Changsheng offered no comment. The strength of the wandering soul was ordinary enough, but its undying trait was infuriatingly stubborn. It was utterly repulsive. Facing an opponent that could never die, how was one supposed to fight? What meaning was there in killing it ten thousand times? It was utterly meaningless! "How many undying wandering souls are there on the Road to Ascending Heaven?" Lu Changsheng asked the trio. The three offered bitter smiles. "How could we possibly know the total count?" "All we know is that there must be quite a lot. In the time we've been here, we've encountered no fewer than thirty..." Lu Changsheng fell silent. No fewer than thirty wandering souls. And that wasn't even the total number. What if there were fifty? Or even a hundred? How could he deal with that? Right now, it was just a single wandering soul. If dozens ambushed him at once, even with his avatar mergers, he would find himself in grave danger. His only choice would be to let himself be rejected and expelled from the Kunwu World to save his life. Yet Lu Changsheng was unwilling to accept that. Having finally reached the Road to Ascending Heaven, he didn't want to die here. *Still, at my peak, I can unleash Ancestor Realm power.* *If a hundred undying wandering souls truly corner me, I can unleash an Ancestor Realm strike to wipe them all out at once!* *Then, I can break through the encirclement before they recover.* *Completely killing an undying wandering soul may be impossible, but surviving on the Road to Ascending Heaven shouldn't be an issue.* Remembering his original purpose, Lu Changsheng felt less anxious. He had come only to explore the Road to Ascending Heaven. There was no need to clash head-on with the wandering souls; he simply needed to stay clear of them. If even these three Boundary Sea cultivators could survive here for so long, how could he fail to do so? "Besides you three, are there any other Boundary Sea cultivators on the Road to Ascending Heaven?" "There shouldn't be. When we discovered the Road to Ascending Heaven, we only intended to enter and explore, but ended up trapped here." "In the beginning, we were the only ones on the road. We didn't encounter anyone else." Lu Changsheng nodded. He questioned the trio thoroughly regarding the conditions within the Road to Ascending Heaven to see if they had discovered any unique locations. However, all three shook their heads. The Road to Ascending Heaven seemed endless. They had once walked for an immense distance, yet all they encountered was endless darkness and deep gloom. They had reached nowhere else. It seemed as though the Road to Ascending Heaven was merely a single thoroughfare, forcing one to march endlessly into the dark. Later, consumed by fear, they had wandered about simply to evade the wandering souls. Thus, they didn't even know where they currently were—whether in the middle or near the beginning. "The Road to Ascending Heaven..." "'Tis said the heavens are exceedingly high, beyond mortal reach." "In the past, supreme mighty figures who broke through the Ancestor Realm to step into the Immortal Realm could ascend to the heavens via the Road to Ascending Heaven." "Without breaking through the Ancestor Realm, one cannot ascend to the Heaven Realm no matter what." "If that is truly the case, then even if we walk along this Road to Ascending Heaven for our entire lives, we will never reach the end..." Lu Changsheng murmured softly, gazing at the profound darkness ahead. *Boom.* These words struck the ears of the three Boundary Sea cultivators like a resonant bell, jolting them awake. The Road to Ascending Heaven held such a mystery? Without breaking through the Ancestor Realm, one could never reach its end. No wonder that no matter how far they walked or how much time passed, they could never reach the end of the road. Yet Lu Changsheng felt it wasn't quite that mystical. The reason for this phenomenon likely involved the Dao of Space, or perhaps even the Dao of Worlds. However, since he had not stepped onto the Immortal Dao, he couldn't be certain. Still, while he knew that only those who had broken through the Ancestor Realm were meant to tread the Road to Ascending Heaven, the records never said one couldn't leave after entering. Clearly, this Road to Ascending Heaven had changed. It was no longer the path recorded in the ancient texts. Lu Changsheng continued his exploration through the dark Road to Ascending Heaven. He lost track of time. One day, two days, three days... In short, he encountered undying wandering souls many times. With his strength, he had no fear of being killed by them, but since he couldn't kill them either, he could only temporarily avoid them. Along the way, Lu Changsheng spotted corpse after corpse. Most belonged to the people he had seen in the provincial office, now all dead. And those were only the ones whose corpses remained; far more had left behind not a trace, their bodies utterly obliterated. "Stop." "A month... a full month has passed..." "The Road to Ascending Heaven has weakened." The three Boundary Sea cultivators suddenly spoke up. "Hm?" Lu Changsheng looked outward from the Road to Ascending Heaven. A month meant the fifteenth of the following month had arrived. At this time, the restrictive power of the Road to Ascending Heaven would weaken. Those trapped within could trigger disturbances that would be visible to the outside, though nothing more. Lu Changsheng threw a punch. It was a strike of a Martial Dao Sovereign. The entire Road to Ascending Heaven shuddered violently, yet no change occurred. He still couldn't leave. On the outside, however, it set off an immense uproar. Ever since a massive number of experts had entered Shannan Prefectural City, the prefect had sensed that something was dreadfully wrong. Once those people entered the city, they vanished like clay oxen plunging into the sea. Not a single person returned. Not one. Furthermore, he couldn't establish contact with anyone. Subsequently, the prefect dispatched squad after squad of soldiers inside, but the result was the same: none returned. The prefect waited continuously, hoping for a miracle. Yet day after day passed, and a full month went by without the slightest change in Shannan Prefectural City. A look of despair crept onto the prefect's face. He knew everything was ruined. Most likely, the experts who had entered were all dead. There had been so many of them, all experts at the divine body and spirit body levels. What tremendous backing did they possess? Now they had all fallen in Shannan Prefectural City, and all because of him. His tenure as prefect had effectively come to an end; even being stripped of his post and investigated would be a lenient outcome. The prefect wanted to weep, but had no tears left. This had diverged completely from his original expectations. How could a few otherworldly godly beings entrenched in a prefectural city possess the strength to slaughter dozens of divine body and spirit body powerhouses? It was simply unbelievable. Unless... it was a trap! Yet what meaning was there for otherworldly godly beings to clash directly with the divine dynasty and lay such a trap? Once the divine dynasty was infuriated and deployed a national divine item, no matter how strong those otherworldly beings were, they would be reduced to ash. Did they do this merely for mutual destruction? Or were they courting death? The prefect was thoroughly perplexed. Naturally, he couldn't comprehend it. It involved the Road to Ascending Heaven, after all; how could anyone understand without stepping inside? *Rumble!* Suddenly, an earth-shaking roar erupted from the void ahead. "What is happening?" The prefect instantly tensed, a flicker of anticipation rising on his face. He prayed for a miracle. Having lost the Delusion-Breaking Divine Body expert, they could no longer see Shannan Prefectural City; the space ahead appeared completely vacant. Only now did a colossal rumble burst forth, as if some great upheaval had occurred. Soon, everyone noticed something bizarre. "That is..." Crowds widened their eyes, staring fixedly ahead. Shannan Prefectural City had indeed reappeared. Yet within the city, an enormous, pitch-black road seemed to run right through it. That gigantic black road was expanding continually, as if threatening to swallow the entire city whole. Such a cataclysmic anomaly was utterly unprecedented. The commotion was simply too massive. The soldiers under the prefect's command broke instantly, retreating in panic, none daring to advance a single step. "Who is that?" Suddenly, an indistinct figure appeared upon the black road. The figure was colossal, its facial features clearly visible. "Is that... Shengzhou City's divine body expert, Mister Lu?" The prefect remembered him. After all, divine body experts were figures of immense significance. Even though he had assembled quite a few of them, he remembered every single one clearly. What was more, Lu Changsheng had left a deep impression on him, having visited the academy to read its archival collections. For a divine body expert to visit an academy just to read archives—how could the prefect fail to remember such an occurrence? "He isn't dead! Mister Lu isn't dead!" "Yet Mister Lu seems to be bombarding that black road, as if trapped by it." "Could it be that all the experts this official assembled are trapped inside that black road?" The prefect's expression shifted erratically. "Retreat!" "This matter is no longer something we can handle." "This official will report to the court immediately and request the deployment of a national divine item to suppress the otherworldly demons!" Gritting his teeth, the prefect finally made his decision. With so many eyes watching, he couldn't cover it up even if he wanted to. Since it couldn't be hidden, he had to report it truthfully to the Wenhua Divine Dynasty and let the court decide! Lu Changsheng knew nothing of what was transpiring outside, nor was he aware of the prefect's decision. In truth, he hadn't intentionally set out to cause a scene; he had merely been testing the waters. Today was the fifteenth, supposedly the time when the Road to Ascending Heaven was at its weakest. Naturally, Lu Changsheng wanted to see if he could break through its shackles and escape. He had just tested it using the power of a Martial Dao Sovereign, but to no avail. Even at its weakest point, the Road to Ascending Heaven could not be shattered by Sovereign power. Thus, he remained temporarily unable to leave. Having tried without success, Lu Changsheng gave up for the moment. He continued to journey deeper into the Road to Ascending Heaven. One month, two months, three months... Another three months slipped by. Yet the Wenhua Divine Dynasty never deployed a national divine item. Investigators had arrived and seemingly "recognized" the Road to Ascending Heaven. And after that... there was no after. Everyone was evacuated, and the vicinity of Shannan Prefectural City was designated a forbidden zone. Put simply, anyone who had stepped onto the Road to Ascending Heaven had effectively been abandoned. Evidently, the upper echelons of the Wenhua Divine Dynasty were aware of the road's bizarre nature: once one entered, there was no leaving. Therefore, the dynasty chose not to mobilize a national divine item, effectively letting the matter go cold. After several months or a few years, those inside would surely be dead. With time, people would gradually forget, even forgetting Shannan Prefectural City entirely. Shannan Prefecture simply constructed another prefectural city elsewhere. As time passed, Shannan Prefectural City was destined to fade from memory. It had become a restricted zone, meaning that no matter how much those trapped inside struggled, it was in vain. No one else would ever enter. The three Boundary Sea cultivators clearly realized that something was wrong. "Three whole months, plus the month before you entered—that makes four months." "Four months have passed, yet not a single person has stepped onto the Road to Ascending Heaven." "Has the outside world sealed off this place?" "It's very likely. Once the outside seals this area, no matter how much noise we make, no one else will enter. Without a steady stream of living beings coming in, those undying wandering souls will latch onto us relentlessly. When that happens, we're finished." The three Boundary Sea cultivators wore expressions of despair. In truth, over these past few months, they hadn't encountered a single living soul. Moreover, the intervals between attacks from the wandering souls were growing shorter and shorter. Had it not been for Lu Changsheng's formidable strength, which allowed him to shatter the wandering souls and swiftly flee, they would have been surrounded long ago. Even so, this boded ill for them; it was nothing more than a slow death. Even if they could hide for a moment, how could they hide forever? On this day, Lu Changsheng was once again surrounded by a horde of undying wandering souls. He shattered one wave, only for another to surge forward. Lu Changsheng could no longer protect the three Boundary Sea cultivators. He watched with his own eyes as the trio was torn to shreds. The three Boundary Sea cultivators were dead. On the entire Road to Ascending Heaven, Lu Changsheng was likely the only living person left. How was this Road to Ascending Heaven an opportunity? It was clearly a dead end! *Theoretically, only those of the Ancestor Realm are qualified to set foot upon the Road to Ascending Heaven.* *In fact, only by breaking through the Ancestor Realm and reaching the Immortal Realm can one tread this path to enter the heavens.* *The Ancestor Realm? By merging all my avatars, I can attain the power of the Ancestor Realm for the span of a single breath!* *Time to try.* Lu Changsheng took a deep breath, preparing to make the attempt. Now that even the three Boundary Sea cultivators were dead, he had nothing left to hide. He no longer needed to worry about his secrets being exposed. "Merge!" In the next instant, Lu Changsheng's two hundred and seventy-six avatars—nearly three hundred in total—instantly fused. His power shattered all shackles, surging relentlessly past each bottleneck. Limit Realm! Sovereign Realm! Ancestor Realm! *Boom!* A deafening roar echoed through Lu Changsheng's body. At this moment, the merger of his avatars was complete. And Lu Changsheng stood as a true Ancestor Realm being!