Chapter 770: Path To Heaven (II)
The War God Hall was indeed impressive and had benefited him considerably. Compared with Forbidden Mountain, however, it was still far less valuable. Forbidden Mountain was what Lin Zheyu valued most about his journey to the Ascension Assembly. The War God Hall had merely been an unexpected bonus.
Over the past five days, he had used his Heavenly Eye during battle in an attempt to peer into the secrets of the Divine Martial Guards. Unfortunately, although the spiritual Heavenly Eye was powerful, only pure physical strength could be used within the War God's Path, greatly suppressing the eye's abilities. His physical senses, however, remained unaffected. Although he had been unable to gain a deeper understanding of the profound principles of the Great Dao contained within Divine Martial Dao, his visit had not been entirely fruitless.
Five days of fighting and the immersive experience of more than ten thousand recordings of battles between powerful experts had brought Lin Zheyu's understanding of Martial Dao another small step forward.
Inside the War God Hall, the golden-armored man who had just fought Lin Zheyu said in surprise, "Huh? Why did that kid leave?"
"Who left?" asked the man beside him.
𝘧𝗿𝖊𝖾𝑤𝓮𝑏𝓷𝚘𝚟𝗲𝒍.𝖼𝒐𝖒
"That promising young prospect I told you about. I have no idea how he cultivated. He has only broken free of his third shackle, yet his unaugmented physical strength is already comparable to that of a cultivator in the mid-stage Golden Core realm. What a freakish little monster," the golden-armored man said with a laugh. When he had been at the same realm, he had been nowhere near as powerful.
The man was immediately intrigued. "He's that impressive? Has another extraordinary genius risen within the family?"
The golden-armored man shook his head regretfully. "He's not a martial artist of the Wei Family. He's from the Martial Alliance. What a pity!"
After learning that Lin Zheyu was not a martial artist of the Wei Family, the man sounded equally regretful. "It truly is a pity. He has only broken free of three shackles, yet his physical body is already this powerful. If he cultivated the Divine Martial Dao, the amount of faith power his body could contain would be astonishing. With such immense latent potential, he might even have the slightest chance of glimpsing the Void Cavern realm."
"Do you think we could ask the Hall Master to..."
Before the golden-armored man could finish, his companion cut him off. "Don't even think about it. The Hall Master would never agree. Otherwise, he would not have established the rule that we only recruit martial artists from the Wei Family."
***
Golden light flashed through the void. Ripples spread across the tranquil sky as Lin Zheyu stepped out from within the radiance. He glanced back at the illusory projection of the War God Hall in the sky, smiled freely, and turned to stride into the distance. The Divine Martial Dao might be powerful, but he could neither comprehend nor cultivate it. Since that was the case, there was no reason to remain fixated upon it.
Lin Zheyu used the Earth Shrinking Technique and strolled through the sky. A gentle breeze swept past, carrying the faint fragrance of wildflowers from the mountain forests.
Both the War God Hall and Forbidden Mountain lay outside Black Tortoise City, where the restrictions against flight no longer applied.
Several streaks of light from flying shuttles swept past nearby. Lin Zheyu was traveling at a leisurely pace, and along the way he saw many cultivators arriving from the direction of Black Tortoise City. They were presumably heading for the venue at Forbidden Mountain.
Suddenly, two streaks of golden light shot past Lin Zheyu and stopped ahead of him. When he saw who they were, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Lin Zheyu greeted them with a smile. "Are you two fellow cultivators also heading to the venue at Forbidden Mountain?"
The two cultivators were the sisters Pan Xinyu and Pan Xinwen of the Extreme Cold Palace. Lin Zheyu seemed to share a certain affinity with them. Although their previous attempt at cooperation had fallen through, their paths had crossed again at the Ascension Assembly.
In contrast, it had been a long time since he had seen Ji Ziyang, Ji Zitong, Shi Mulan, Lei Li, and the other fellow cultivators he had previously worked with and become reasonably familiar with.
"We are. Are you also interested in the Formation Dao, Fellow Xiao?" Pan Xinyu asked.
Both sisters wore somewhat aloof expressions, a consequence of the techniques they cultivated. Lin Zheyu did not mind.
"I am somewhat interested. Although I am a martial artist, that does not prevent me from studying the Formation Dao. I would merely be at a slight disadvantage compared with immortal cultivators. If Martial Dao proves to be a dead end in the future, cultivating the Formation Dao alongside it would be a decent alternative," Lin Zheyu said with a smile.
Pan Xinyu and Pan Xinwen nodded slightly. Although they privately disagreed with Lin Zheyu's description of it as a slight disadvantage, they did not show it. Saying so aloud would have been far too discouraging. Could that truly be called a slight disadvantage? It was an enormous disadvantage! Attempting to cultivate the Formation Dao with the body of a martial artist was a foolish choice that demanded immense effort for little reward.
"Flying to Forbidden Mountain would take nearly half a day and consume a great deal of spirit power. There is still room aboard our flying shuttle. Would you care to join us?" Pan Xinyu invited.
The Black Tortoise Realm was vast, and Forbidden Mountain occupied an unusual location within a separate space inside the realm. This entire space had been created through layers upon layers of powerful, interlocking spatial formations. Even after entering it, one still had to fly for nearly half a day to reach Forbidden Mountain. This was why most cultivators traveling there used flying shuttles.
Lin Zheyu cupped his hands and lightly landed on their flying shuttle. "Then it would be rude of me to decline. Thank you, fellow friend."
As cultivators who all belonged to the Vermilion Bird Sect's formation division, they would soon face the approaching great tribulation and the opening of the Extraterritorial Battlefield. Cultivators were therefore doing their utmost to find trustworthy companions to cooperate with. Pan Xinyu and Pan Xinwen had a fairly good impression of Lin Zheyu, and they had witnessed his battle with Monk Jingkong that day.
The sisters also thought highly of Lin Zheyu's strength. A cultivator proficient in the power of spatial laws had a far greater chance of surviving on the Extraterritorial Battlefield than most. Lin Zheyu had therefore been added to the list of cultivators Pan Xinyu and Pan Xinwen wished to befriend. This was why they had taken the initiative to stop, greet him, and offer him a ride.
"This isn't your first time attending the Ascension Assembly, is it?" Lin Zheyu asked.
"Whenever the Ascension Assembly is held, we make time to attend unless we have pressing matters to handle," Pan Xinwen replied.
"Do you come for Forbidden Mountain?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously.
Before attending the Ascension Assembly, he had specifically consulted information about it. Of everything the assembly offered, Forbidden Mountain interested him most. The so-called Forbidden Mountain truly was a mountain. The entire mountain had been constructed from formation restrictions and stood fifty thousand kilometers tall, presenting an extraordinarily majestic sight.
On the mountain's eastern face was an ascending path known as the Path to Heaven. Countless trials of the Formation Dao had been arranged along it in order of increasing difficulty, testing challengers' comprehension, aptitude, and latent potential in the Formation Dao. Lin Zheyu wanted to experience the Path to Heaven on Forbidden Mountain for himself.
𝖋𝒓𝒆𝚎𝙬ⅇ𝒃𝚗ℴ𝙫𝐞𝕝.𝘤𝔬𝔪
"Yes. As the supreme creation of the Formation Dao, Forbidden Mountain is one of its greatest treasures. The Path to Heaven progresses gradually from simple to profound and contains everything from first-tier to fifth-tier formations. It is the finest place to comprehend the Formation Dao and improve one's mastery of it.
"In Great Wei, no cultivator who studies the Formation Dao would miss the opportunity to visit Forbidden Mountain during the Ascension Assembly unless they were already capable of arranging fifth-tier formations," Pan Xinwen explained.
In ascending order of complexity, first-tier through fifth-tier formations corresponded respectively to the realms from Qi Refining to Deity Transformation. Anyone capable of arranging a fifth-tier formation possessed strength rivaling that of a Deity Transformation realm great expert.
"It even contains fifth-tier formations?" Lin Zheyu exclaimed in surprise.
He knew that the Path to Heaven existed on Forbidden Mountain, but he did not understand it as well as Pan Xinwen and her sister. He had assumed that it was merely an ascending trial used to test cultivators and select promising talents in the Formation Dao. He had never imagined that it would contain formations ranging from the first tier to the fifth, arranged in ascending order of profundity.
"Yes. If you are interested in the Formation Dao, you could try ascending the Path to Heaven. If you can climb three thousand meters, the Directorate of Celestial Observation will make an exception and admit you even though you are a martial artist," Pan Xinyu said with a smile.
Under normal circumstances, even a martial artist who met the Directorate of Celestial Observation's requirements for formation cultivators could not gain admission without switching to the Immortal Dao. Reaching an altitude of three thousand meters on the Path to Heaven, however, was a different matter.
"Are you also members of the Directorate of Celestial Observation?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously. He knew little about the sisters beyond the fact that they were disciples of the Extreme Cold Palace.
"No. We are true disciples of the Extreme Cold Palace and are not permitted to join other factions. That prohibition applies even to organizations such as the Directorate of Celestial Observation and the Heavenly Works Pavilion," Pan Xinwen replied, shaking her head.
Understanding dawned in Lin Zheyu's eyes. Due to the nature of the Martial Alliance, it had no distinctions between inner sect disciples, outer sect disciples, and true disciples. It was merely an alliance of martial artists who had banded together for mutual support and to explore the path of martial cultivation. Consequently, Lin Zheyu had never heard of any Martial Alliance rule prohibiting members from joining other factions.
Lin Zheyu had assumed that other factions operated the same way, but it seemed they still imposed certain restrictions. This was only reasonable. If even a sect's true disciples joined Great Wei institutions controlled by the Wei Family, the entire sect would sooner or later be stripped of its power.
The flying shuttle sped onward. Ripples suddenly spread through the void, and the shuttle plunged into them before disappearing. Lin Zheyu quietly opened his spiritual Heavenly Eye and observed the so-called separate space.
"This entire area was actually created from layer upon layer of interlocking spatial formations. How incredible," Lin Zheyu marveled.