Eternal Emperor's Path to Ascension

The thought caused Tian Yongheng’s eyes to darken slightly, an indescribable feeling surfacing in his heart.

No matter how strong the Sword Venerable was, he had ultimately despaired. This alone was enough to explain many things.

Just what was coming in the great upheaval to even make an existence such as the Sword Venerable unable to muster up any thoughts of resistance?

An Earth Immortal?

Although strong, there was only one major realm difference, the Sword Venerable, even if he were unable to defeat them, wouldn’t have appeared so hopeless.

So, was it a Heaven Immortal?

An Origin Immortal?

Or was it not just about the cultivation realm?

After all, throughout sixteen million years, the Sword Venerable had stood at the absolute apex of the Lower Realm.

Connected to a supreme power like the Kunlun Divine Mountain, his vision and understanding probably far surpassed ordinary Immortals.

The thing he feared could not possibly be so simple.

The more Tian Yongheng thought about it, the heavier his heart became.

At the same time, the Sword Venerable’s final words surfaced in his mind once more.

The Heavenly Dao is cruel but those Immortals and Gods above are even crueler.

Just what did he mean by those words?

A strange light flickered within Tian Yongheng’s eyes.

For a brief moment, he found himself wondering, were Lower Realm beings truly no different from livestock in the eyes of those supreme existences?

Were they merely crops waiting to be harvested, ants that could be trampled beneath someone’s feet whenever desired, no different from roadside weeds?

Was this the fate of the Mortal World?

Was this the destiny of every cultivator who struggled desperately to climb upward?

The thought lingered within his mind as his gaze towards the sky deepened.

However, just then, something happened.

Something... stared back from the sky.

Tian Yongheng’s body suddenly froze, his pupils contracting violently as his breathing halted.

The world seemed to stop for an instance.

The rain, the clouds, Kunlun Divine Mountain, the Second Great Mortal World, and even the entire Lower Realm vanished.

Everything disappeared.

An indescribable sensation surged through his soul.

It was as if he had accidentally touched something he should never have, a taboo, a forbidden truth, of a realm far beyond his current understanding.

At that very moment, a gaze descended.

It crossed endless time and passed infinite space, traversing the surging River of Time as it pierced through countless dimensions, landing directly upon him.

*Boom!*

Tian Yongheng’s mind exploded, his entire body turning rigid!

For the first time since obtaining the system, no, for the first time since reincarnating into this world...

He experienced true terror.

Not fear, caution, or unease, but extreme terror.

It was pure, instinctive terror originating from the deepest depths of his very existence itself.

In both of his lives combined, he had never felt anything like that before.

That gaze was unlike anything he had ever encountered.

It was extremely vast, much, much vaster than his mind could comprehend; he couldn’t even understand a fraction of the complexity contained in that gaze.

Nothing he had ever experienced become came even remotely close to it.

It felt as if the owner of that gaze stood at an unreachable height beyond all imagination, an existence overlooking the endless heavens, capable of suppressing infinite spacetime.

It was as though there existed endless heights separating him from that existence.

Before that gaze, Tian Yongheng suddenly felt incomparably small, like dust, a grain of sand before the starry sky.

No, even dust possessed greater significance.

At that moment, he felt less than nothing, as if his entire existence could be erased with a single wisp of a thought.

Yes, just a wisp of thought, not even a complete thought, but merely a passing idea.

The sensation was extremely difficult to describe.

The closer he attempted to comprehend it, the more impossible it became.

His true body cultivating in the Eternal Peak abruptly opened his eyes, looking up in horror, only to discover that gaze had actually locked onto his true self as well!

Forget the Dao Field, it could even see through the Dharma Idol Manifestation Technique!?

His soul trembled violently as his Dao Heart shook, his Immortal Body instinctively tensing.

Even the Vagrant Immortal Realm Grand Perfection cultivation he had painstakingly accumulated seemed utterly useless, and even his status as a True Immortal appeared inadequate.

That gaze carried a supreme majesty capable of suppressing all ages, a heavenly might so terrifying that Tian Yongheng instinctively felt it could shatter and rebuild the endless Immortal heavens themselves in an instant without the slightest difficulty.

The concepts of distance and time seemed meaningless before its owner.

Tian Yongheng couldn’t understand, comprehend, or even imagine it, but somehow, he could feel it.

Within that gaze existed an incomparably profound Dao, a Dao that resonated with Time and Space.

Perhaps even saying Time and Space felt insufficient; rather, it was almost as if those concepts themselves originated from it.

Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the gaze vanished.

Everything returned to normal.

The Lower Realm reappeared, the Second Great Mortal World reappeared, and Kunlun Divine Mountain reappeared, as though nothing had happened.

Rain continued falling from the heavens as thunder rumbled, lightning occasionally streaking past the skies as the wind blew through the garden.

The entire process had lasted less than an instant, yet for Tian Yongheng, it felt like an eternity had passed.

His body remained frozen, cold sweat covering his back. His breathing had also become noticeably heavier even though Void Refinement cultivators didn’t need to breath, much less Vagrant Immortals.

For a long moment, neither of his bodies moved.

Beside him, Tian Yun frowned slightly.

"Fellow daoist? Tian Yongheng?"

No response came from him.

Di Tianyang’s expression changed, immediately noticing something was wrong.

"Fellow daoist?"

Only then did Tian Yongheng slowly return to reality.

The terror lingering within his heart had not disappeared, and his hands were still slightly trembling.

Such a sight sight would shock the entire Lower Realm if witnessed by others.

A being capable of slaughtering Vagrant Immortals as a Half Immortal, a monster who became the strongest beneath heaven in less than a thousand years, was ctually trembling.

Tian Yongheng took in a deep breath, his breathing gradually stabilizing.

However, the shock within his heart refused to fade.

"What happened?"

Hu Xuanji asked quietly.

Tian Yongheng remained silent.

How could he explain it?

Was it even possible to explain it?

For a moment, he considered speaking, but the next instant, he immediately abandoned the idea.

Instinct told him not to speak anything about what had just occurred. Some things were better left unsaid, especially matters involving an existence of that level.

Thus, he merely shook his head.

"Nothing."

The others looked at him strangely, clearly not believing that answer.

However, none of them pressed further.

After all, every cultivator possessed their own secrets.

Eventually, the matter was dropped.

Only Tian Yongheng knew the truth.

Slowly, he raised his head once more.

This time, however, he no longer attempted to look beyond the heavens.

The previous experience remained fresh in his memory.

His eyes gradually deepened.

Can a cultivator... truly reach such a level?

The question involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

For the first time since obtaining the system, Tian Yongheng felt uncertain.

In the past, his confidence had always been absolute. He has always believed that as long as he continued cultivating, no realm would remain forever unreachable, and no existence would be permanently beyond him.

Strength was his answer to everything.

But now... that confidence had actually wavered slightly, and not because he doubted himself, but because the gap was simply too vast.

Compared to that gaze, the current him felt no different from an ant looking up at the heavens, and even that comparison was far too generous.

Tian Yongheng slowly clenched his fists.

The sensation of helplessness and powerlessness lingered in his heart, and along with it came back a long forgotten sense of crisis.

It had been hundreds of years since Tian Yongheng felt something like this.

After he became an Immortal, even when he knew how strong his future enemies were, he always felt that there was still a lot of time, and he was temporarily safe, which caused that sense of crisis to gradually disappear.

But now, it had returned, and it was stronger than ever before.

Only beings above the Origin Immortal Realm should be able to see through the existence of the Dao Field, and that being was obviously far higher than that, undoubtedly higher than even Immortal Sovereigns, so it wasn’t surprising for them to be able to see through it.

What truly put immense pressure on him was the fact they could even distinguish between his clone and main bodies, and that overwhelming majesty, that divine ability to suppress heaven and earth, they could surely kill him any moment they wanted to!

Had that great existence not been wary of something, he doubted even the Heavenly Dao would have been able to stop them.

Fortunately, they didn’t descend to finish me off right then and there, only giving a warning...

His thoughts gradually settled.

Regardless of what that existence was and whether it had been warning him or merely observing him, one fact remained unchanged; he was too weak, far too weak.

The current Tian Yongheng might stand at the summit of the Lower Realm, but what about the Upper Realm? What about the 33 Heavens?

He knew nothing, and he was nothing there.

The path ahead was still unimaginably vast.

A faint light gradually appeared within his eyes.

The uncertainty and hesitation vanished, leaving only determination.

Could cultivation reach that level? He didn’t know.

But one day, he would find out.

If such a realm truly existed, then he would eventually reach it.

And if it did not exist, then he would create it himself.

The rain continued falling, the dark clouds above the Nine Great Mortal Worlds showing no signs of dispersing.

However, at this moment, Tian Yongheng’s Dao Heart had become firmer than ever before.

No matter what calamity awaited or what terrifying enemies stood beyond the heavens, there was only one thing he could do, and that was to become as strong as possible.

Only then would he possess the qualifications to uncover the truth behind everything, to protect himself and those around him, to continue walking this grand path that leads towards eternity until the very end, and... to understand what kind of existence had looked at him just now.

As this thought settled in his mind, Tian Yongheng stood silently under the rain for a long time.

His crimson eyes reflected the darkened heavens above, containing the same calmness that once regarded everything in the world with indifference, except now, it was not due to any curse or law.

A brand new long term goal had already taken root within his Dao Heart.