https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-226-No-Wonder-He-s-the-Holy-Sect-s-Pillar-/13506343/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-228-Absorbing-Metal-Nature-The-Ten-Thousand-Lives-Scroll-s-Transformation/13506345/
Chapter 227: Soaring the Sacred Land, A Boat Upon the Sea of Suffering
Chapter 227: Soaring the Sacred Land, A Boat Upon the Sea of Suffering
The scene was ablaze with light.
Treasure-Child stood dumbfounded, staring at the chaos around them. All they could see were flaming torches, with the fiercest blaze erupting from the Mystic Iron Sword Master beside them.
Just moments ago, the two had barely escaped Guillotine Dragon Pass and were discussing plans to sneak into Jiangxi’s sacred lands. Then, without warning, the Mystic Iron Sword Master’s body erupted in radiant flames.
There was no time to react. His despair-filled eyes exploded into fireballs, his mid-stage Foundation Building cultivation igniting like oil. The inferno engulfed entire cities in an instant.
Silence blanketed the world. Flames spread in eerie quietude, painting the sky crimson. Trapped in the blaze, Treasure-Child felt as if they stood inside a colossal forge.
“The Jiangbei demon. The Primordial Sacred Sect—what a ‘Holy Sect’ indeed!”
In that moment, Treasure-Child’s hatred for the Primordial Sacred Sect—once as vast as the millions of lives and mountains reduced to ash—burned away entirely. All that remained was a residue of ashen fear.
A hundred thousand souls! And countless cultivators! Even if they’d wielded a blade themselves, it would take days of slaughter to match this devastation. Yet all had been consumed in a single, merciless blaze.
What was this creature?
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past Treasure-Child, carrying searing heat that forced them to squint.
“Wind? Here?”
They scanned their surroundings, then realized the truth: “Foundation Building Stage!? These are the Dragon-Binding Winds! The flames are burning into the Foundation Building Stage itself!”
The ground trembled.
Treasure-Child dove into the Foundation Building Stage, only to find an endless expanse of wildfire. Amid the inferno, they glimpsed countless palatial structures being reforged in the flames, rising from the earth. Landscapes shifted from illusion to reality under the fire’s searing touch, until the Foundation Building Stage radiated light like a sun preparing to ascend.
“Rise!”
A thunderous cry split the air. The blazing land—like a fiery sun—soared toward the heavens.
The sacred land was ascending!
“It’s working! Chongguang has begun his ascent to the Golden Throne! Once he reaches the Fruit Position and transforms into a Cave Heaven, he’ll become True Monarch!”
“The Millennium Cataclysm… draws closer by another step!”
At Guillotine Dragon Pass, True Man Yinshan’s face lit with excitement.
“Zhong Xin… So it’s Zhong Xin! Senior brother’s schemes run deep. With such meticulous preparations, and Snowfall True Monarch guarding the ritual, this ascension is assured!”
Beside him, a golden-robed man stepped forward—Hong Ju, whose face bore the sharpness of carved stone. His body, however, was riddled with fine cracks.
His time was nearly up.
Once the Fortune Immortal perished, their creation—Hong Ju—became like water without roots. Every strike he’d made since siphoned from his dwindling lifespan. This moment was his final gamble.
Success meant Chongguang’s ascension—and Hong Ju’s renewed vitality. Failure meant oblivion, his soul dissolving without a trace of reincarnation.
Yet Hong Ju remained calm.
He still carried the memory of Fortune Immortal’s own ascension. By comparison, Chongguang’s preparations were far superior.
“Protected by a True Monarch, the Pure Land’s attempt to intervene was severed at the source. The Dao Court and Sword Pavilion could only accept it. Chongguang himself has refined the Gold Essence, blood-sacrificed the entire Qing Kingdom, and harnessed its Wonder as the catalyst to elevate his sacred land—all while evading Heavenly Punishment.”
“A Wonder… Among resources for a True Monarch’s breakthrough, a Wonder ranks as the pinnacle. Were it not for the inevitable Heavenly Punishment, countless cultivators would vie for one.”
“With a Wonder’s blessing, elevating a sacred land is nearly effortless.”
“And through the Seizure Technique, he reversed the Dao Court’s rules, stripping the emperor of his position and shattering order itself. Surely, the Fruit Position itself favors him!”
Hong Ju lifted his gaze—not to the mortal sky, but to the heavens of the Foundation Building Stage. There, a golden light flickered into existence: the Restoration Lamp’s essence manifesting.
His conclusion?
“Victory… Ten out of ten.”
Indeed, in his eyes, Chongguang’s success was absolute, flawless in theory.
Within the Foundation Building Stage, Chongguang True Man stood with hands clasped behind his back. His entire being—essence, spirit, and divine abilities—coalesced into the Yangilluminate Cave Realm behind him.
The Restoration Lamp’s glow drew nearer.
For the first time, Chongguang felt relief, as if rising from the ocean’s depths to breathe fresh air.
Soon, the world shifted.
Before him stretched an empty void—the “sky” of the Foundation Building Stage, the realm of the Fruit Position, described across sects as a threshold between realms.
In Jiangnan and Jiangbei, the Morph-Refining Ascension Dao called it “Radiant light permeating all dharma realms, the void clarified like the heart of heaven aglow.”
In Jiangxi’s Pure Land, Buddhist cultivators named it “Neither born nor destroyed, clouds scatter, mountains clear, neither coming nor going, wisdom returns to meditation’s solitary moon.”
The Jiangdong Dao Court renamed it “From gradual to sudden, from action to non-action, from the unempty to the empty.”
Yet all agreed on one name:
The Sea of Suffering.
“Above the Foundation Building Stage lies the Sea of Suffering!”
“All mortals thrash within its tides!”
“The Fruit Position is a boat upon this sea. Only by becoming True Monarch can one elevate their sacred land, break free from suffering, and board that vessel!”
So where did the “Sea of Suffering” arise?
Soon, Chongguang sensed a surge of connection—a vision of cultivators who’d practiced techniques tied to the Restoration Lamp.
Refining Qi disciples were irrelevant. But those who’d built Dao Foundations around the same art were key. As Chongguang ascended, the Fruit Position—his “boat”—grew heavier with his presence.
Ripples spread.
Insignificant in the Sea of Suffering, but in the Foundation Building Stage below, they became winds potent enough to erode souls: the Dragon-Binding Winds.
Each True Man who’d forged a Dao Foundation tied to the Restoration Lamp bore these winds. Their lifetimes of cultivation lifted the Lamp itself. Why did the Foundation Building Stage suffer fire, wind, and thunder calamities? Because above it loomed the Fruit Position and Cave Heaven.
“So this is the secret…”
Chongguang’s eyes widened. This truth was visible only to True Monarchs—a reality Foundation Building True Men could never grasp.
But it made sense.
A Foundation Building True Man was a “man,” a Golden Core Sovereign a “sovereign.” Across the world, what sovereign did not exact heavy taxes from their people?
This was why Golden Core Sovereigns controlled the number of Foundation Building cultivators.
Too many people, and the taxes would spark rebellion. Too few, and the taxes collected would weaken the sovereign.
“The mortal world… a vast sea of suffering.”
Chongguang sighed, then quickly steeled himself with renewed excitement. He was about to escape its tides.
Yet—
“.Hmm?”
As the Restoration Lamp’s light neared, he froze.
The Lampfire… was not as he’d expected.
“This is… impossible!”
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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