Two Ancient Peaks

Nirvana Cave, Sword Valley

Today was the day that the 20,000 seeded contestants would enter the fray.

Ji Bolin was quietly cultivating and suddenly an impressive calamitous force was exuded from his body, he had just broken through to the Seventh level of the celestial Phenomenon realm. He was finally about to step out of the cave and leave the trial space.

A bright light shone as soon as he expressed his intent to leave, to immediately warp him outside of the cave and as such Bolin reappeared right on the stone platform before the cliff that holds the Immortal Slaying Sword Play. As soon as he appeared a vicious sword beam was directed at him.

The malevolent Zhuyan astral soul was manifested and Bolin's Hundred Asura Physique was activated. This physique of his was now innate to himself and no longer considered the product of an innate technique. In many years when he will become an existence beyond the Immortal Emperors then his physique will birth a supreme bloodline or even an entire new race.

Terrifying blackish runic light could be seen within the several cracks appearing onto Bolin's body.

With a single casual-looking punch the sword beam was blocked yet not without consequences. A deep cut was perceivable over his knuckles, the laceration upon Bolin's right fist went all the way down to his bones so much so that the many small runes inscribed onto could be seen. An undying force promptly acted and the fist's flesh immediately regenerated.

The young Fairy Pei Yun'er could be seen floating, a shortsword in her hands, and her face was tremendously red.

"Shameless Scoundrel!!" The harsh words of the fairy hit Ji Bolin instantaneously.

Just as he prepared to argue with her because of her improper words, he shockingly registered and understood what she meant. In fact, Bolin had been butt naked for over a few months and now was no different. His innate masterpiece was dangling freely before the sword wielding fairy.

Nevertheless, how shameless was Bolin? Pei Yun'er was about to be one of the firsts to find that answer.

"Who is shameless!! You are obviously the one looking at my handsome figure. Lecherous woman!!" the falsely indignant voice of Ji Bolin echoed through the valley.

"You!!!!!!!!!!!" Pei Yun'er was flabbergasted, her face turned even more red from that secondhand embarrassment — she was going to dice that shameless fellow into millions of pieces.

She could not listen to Bolin's bullshit any more and sent thousands of hundred zhang long sword qi beams at him. The sword beams were extremely powerful, they oozed so much sharpness that the air itself was lacerated. A rain of massive heavenly swords befell on the naked Ji Bolin, his heavenly punishment Garuda astral soul appeared as opened his arm and casted a massive protective net of lightning.

Each line of lightning constituting the net was as thick as ten zhang and the lightning itself was the same colour as Bolin's pupils, a deep profound magenta hue. But the lightning web could only block the myriads of sword projections for so long.

Pei Yun'er had successfully cleared the nirvana trial and completely changed all of her five astral souls, she was now a true stellar sword cultivator. She also left the trial space much earlier and had a new, much deeper, understanding of the Immortal Slaying Sword Play, the her of now was in a completely different league of strength and might.

Ji Bolin too was now a completely different stellar cultivator with a much more horrifying physique but since he no longer was proficient with swordsmanship and had not cultivated other innate arts, he was very clearly outmatched.

The time was right to dip out of the fight plus he was butt naked. Before fleeing, Bolin's eyes caught sight of something interesting at one side of the stone platform, the demonic beast egg that he had acquired during his adventures back in his early teenage years and nourished in his yuanfu since then.

Only now at the sight of the glossy azure coloured egg did Bolin remember of its origin. The egg had already bred a thread of spiritual wisdom so the immortal light had prevented Bolin from entering the nirvana space with the unborn demonic beast.

The ape silhouette behind Bolin's back had the character "General" on his prominent chest as bright violet-gold light flooded the perimeter. Subsequently with a single roar of the malevolent Zhuyan astral soul, several astral warbeasts in the form of hundred zhang long dragons were summoned from the starry sky. All except one sped towards Pei Yun'er as they were ordered to devour her.

The outlier warbeast was tasked with taking back the egg to Ji Bolin's custody.

In the meantime Bolin and his army of astral warbeasts waged war against Pei Yun'er. He deployed all five of his astral souls in an attempt to boost his strength to its apogee. Deep magenta coloured bolts of calamitous lightning could be seen dancing in the skies, blocking swords everywhere.

Ji Bolin, wielding a conjured staff, had closed the gap between him and the sword maiden as long ranged combat against a sword cultivator was pure death seeking. This was even more true now that he was limited in innate techniques. The butt naked Bolin appeared immeasurably fearsome as he clashed with Pei Yun'er.

After a three hundred stroke exchange, Bolin had cuts all over his body. The cuts were filled to the brim with sinister sword qi and caused soul wrenching pain to the young hero. The undying attribute energy was at full work to restore the Hundred Asura Body of Bolin.

Without innate techniques Bolin had zero chance of coming out on top.

At last the sole surviving astral warbeast brought back the egg to Bolin's custody. The latter immediately took off but not without first teasing the cold lady.

"Lecherous woman, you not only defile my body with your lewd gazes but also beat me to near death. This won't go unpunished. I promise to subdue you the next time we meet. After my victory then I'll have you acknowledge your faults!" the false indignant voice of Bolin echoed throughout the entire region one last time.

This time however he was met with no words but a 1,000 zhang tall sword. The gargantuan sword, product of an immortal-ranked sword art, cleave downwards seemingly to annihilate Bolin. The sword cleave appeared to be extremely slow at first glance but how could that fool him. Bolin ran all of his attribute energies to the maximum as he raised his arm in a boxing guard stance and took the undodgeable sword strike head-on.

The head-on clash was so tremendously brutal that the two arms of Ji Bolin were sliced off. However his life was in no danger as he used the momentum of the attack to propel himself into fleeing; by combining that push alongside his Soaring Dragon Immortal Art learnt previously, Bolin was already out of harm's way.

As Bolin was in his lightning speed escape, he could not help but think about the egg who accompanied since so long. The day he steps into immortality is the day that this egg will finally hatch.

A divine dragon shone resplendently, tearing apart everything as it soared upwards, madly fleeing from Pei Yun'er. She did not choose to pursue Bolin because understanding the sword play was of greater importance; she was bound to meet that shameless idiot again after all.

Moments after he left, Pei Yun'er could be seen deeply contemplating the severed forearms of Bolin on the stone platform. That fool was so strong with only releasing his astral souls and without the blessing of any innate techniques, he had such a heaven-defying physique.

Pei Yun'er herself had been blessed with a variation of the runic skeleton similarly to Bolin and hers were in the form of a peerless Sword Formation. She could not help but guess that he already had a very powerful physique from the jump and that the trial only ever reinforced that body of his.

Even more impressive was his five astral souls; most were extremely rich violet-gold in colour and a peculiar one was even more magnificent. That fool had four astral souls from the 7th Heavenly Layer and one from the 8th Heavenly layer in the Celestial Phenomenon realm.

That level of talent is not something she had ever imagined.

Her eyes flashed with cold light as Pei Yun'er thought about her encounter with that scoundrel. A fearsome battle sword qi enveloped her, she was ready to fight him or anyone else for dominance over their generation. She is a genius herself and never once doubted in her abilities to defeat others.

At last she forgot about Bolin and went on with her self-seclusion to further deepen her understanding of the Immortal-ranked sword play.

The now mummified forearms of Bolin laid on the stone platform, first witness of the of a true heaven chosen who could very well shake the ages.

𝛀 𝛀 𝛀 𝛀 𝛀 𝛀

Hundred Demon Mountain.

A massive magenta dragon surrounded with crackling lightning swooped downwards from the skies near an ominous mountain. This was no other than a transformed Ji Bolin and surprisingly enough as he returned to his human shape both his arms had already recovered thanks to his newly acquired unfathomable physique alongside his undying attribute energy.

The floating Bolin still had no clothes on but with a simple thought conjured regal looking robes made up of lightning out of thin air. This would do for him until he finds somebody to rob of his clothes.

In the air, Bolin's eyes were fixed on the majestic sight below. The Immortal Gorge Mountain Range was boundlessly vast and there are a countless number of secret places where one could seek good fortune from. He had no plan to go on a killing spree to cull the numbers of geniuses, the only thing Bolin wanted was to borrow this opportunity to strengthen himself further. This was a true paradise for them geniuses so why bother wasting time, they could always fight after.

Ji Bolin was also somewhat dazzled by the efforts and resources spent once every hundred years as the Darknorth Immortal Dynasty did their best wanting to recruit the strongest and most outstanding disciples.

The Dynasty actually spared no effort to allow the participants to grow stronger before selecting the cream of the crop. All of this simply by allowing them access to that sacred training ground. If he and his fellow Sky Pill World friends succeeded in this mission, they would be able to obtain so many benefits or even be accepted by an Immortal Emperor as disciple.

With an Immortal Emperor as backing, walking throughout the Azure Mystic Immortal realms would be so much easier.

Furthermore, participating in this selection test had already far exceeded any usefulness of cultivating alone in self-seclusion.

Ordinary genius wouldn't dare to soar high up through the skies because they could be easily spotted by others and suffer attacks. After all this was a vicious selection test where only 1,000 participants per group could be successful. Ji Bolin as a freshly promoted seventh level ascendant was now competing in the most ruthless and dangerous of the three groups.

Ji Bolin indeed saw quite a number of people below him.

There were many geniuses who occupied secret places, or cultivated alone, or fought against each other to gain sole access to the immortal technique found and or fighting for no purpose at all. Many had attacked him but with his speed, they stood no chance of entertaining the conflict. His speed was simply too quick.

Finally at this moment, Bolin shifted his focus on the ancient ominous peak below him. There were many stone platforms located there and runic inscriptions could be seen engraved on the mountain walls, transforming into many diagrams.

The young hero's silhouette flickered as he descended onto a stone platform and stared at the mountain walls. Dazzling demonic light flashed, and the light was actually emanating from numerous runic diagrams that arranged themselves into a seal in the shape of a circle, sealing away the entrance to the cavern leading to the interior of the ancient peak.

Obviously there also was a secret place for cultivation within there but to enter it, one first had to break the sealing diagram.

This was perhaps the reason why no one was wasting their time by lingering in the surroundings here.

Standing on the platform, he contemplated the seal for a moment before walking towards it. Bolin stretched out his hand to touch the circular seal as streams of runic inscriptions glimmered with light. In just an instant, a dazzling baleful light erupted forth from the circular seal as all the runic diagrams congregated together transforming into a door that swung open, allowing him entry within.

After stepping through, the door closed again.

The interior of the cavern suddenly opened up to a wide panorama as a slaughter and bone chilling demonic intent drifted over. In front of Bolin there was yet another stone platform for cultivation and there were bloody waterfalls by the left and right side to him. Traces of scarlet mist permeated the air, causing one to feel as though they stepped into a battlefield the morning after a macabre war.

Right ahead, there was a simple and unadorned statue that exuded immortal qi and seemed to have the great dao engraved within it. That statue sat cross-legged and there were also many immortal scrolls situated right in front of it.

"Junior apologises for any disturbance." Ji Bolin deeply bowed to the statue to show his unrequited respect to a senior. He walked up and took the immortal scrolls to read, sinking his God-given perception into them. A moment later, a countless number of words floated before his eyes, entering into his sea of consciousness.

The words in the immortal scrolls weren't an innate technique or cultivation art. But rather, it was a very detailed recording of the experiences of this immortal, his views on cultivation as well as his will.

Only after a long moment did Bolin place the first immortal scroll down. He turned his gaze onto the statue as his eyes flickered with a hint of zealous respect. How many senior-level characters would record their experiences down for the latter generations to view? Not many.

These senior-level characters would much rather leave behind immortal techniques and arts, seeking for an appropriate successor because recording down their views and experiences couldn't guarantee instant success or any clear advantage; to many of them this would only be a waste of time and energy.

But in reality, the experience through one's cultivation processes was of invaluable aid to the latter generations.

A second scroll and more was quickly read by Bolin, the more he read and the more engrossed he was. Bolin had now completely forgotten about the flow of time as he fully committed himself to finish reading through the experiences of this immortal.

Ji Bolin's eyes gleamed as many thoughts were birthed and died in his mind. He stared at the statue ahead and the cavern before thinking about how the eerie and ruthless feeling of the cave did not match with the temperament of the senior. Some characters were simply beyond his understanding.

After which, he then moved to the stone platform and sat down cross-legged.

Violet-gold light flashed, Ji Bolin actually directly released his first astral soul. Instantly, a violet-golden light illuminated the cavern, painting the space with a resplendent glow. Behind him, a violet-gold malevolent zhuyan appeared.

This ape silhouette was more corporeal compared to illusory and its body flowed with fearsome runic inscriptions which conglomerated on his chest into the character "Enlighten", granting his master a marvellous boost to his understanding and perception.

The malevolent ape strengthened the body with his demonic qi and the reinforced physique nursed the mind and soul.

From the immortal scrolls, he gained that the immortal as well as the other supreme powers in the immortal realms believed that for those below the immortal-foundation level being able to condense a violet-gold astral soul would make that person a supreme genius, one in a billion. Those like Bolin who could condense astral souls from the 8th Heavenly layer were even more outstanding as well as rarer; rare as a unicorn horn or a phoenix feather, they were truly one of a kind.

These tremendously rare individuals were worthy of nurturing and no matter where these people went to, there would be experts willing to take them in because of how powerful violet-golden and above astral souls are.

The strength of a violet-golden and above astral soul was recognized by everyone. But why were they so strong?

Other than the fact that the astral energy within these were of a higher quality, this specific immortal believed that those who possessed a violet-golden astral soul have an innate advantage in cultivation allowing these people to step into the immortal foundation realm quicker compared to others.

But of course this wasn't any huge secret, many were also aware of this but what this immortal was interested in, was the question. . . why?

This immortal felt that violet-golden astral souls contained their very own law energy. The shimmering runic network that flowed around them was by itself a kind of law. It was only because Celestial Phenomenon Ascendants were still too weak, hence they had no way to excavate that might.

The immortal also felt that for those who possess a strong bloodline power or physique, both surely contained the might of law energy. These types of law energy couldn't manifest themselves when one was still weak. Only when they grew stronger and stronger would the law energy within their bloodline or physique manifest, granting them abilities they never knew they had before.

Bolin who had read the original work knew far too well how that immortal was spot on. If only the immortal had not fallen then he would have surely become an impressive figure revered throughout the ages.

He could not help but sign at the cruelty of the Immortal road. As fun as the cultivation marathon was to him, Bolin was forced to acknowledge that this was only possible because of his favourable circumstances. Those who bore the weights of responsibilities thought of the immortal road as much less enjoyable than him.

Hence after being reminded of those various insights, Bolin started to analyse his own astral soul deeper. Ji Bolin had overlooked several points in his cultivation so far despite his foresight about the future, he was only human after all. He had been so engrossed in cultivation that he even forgot to learn about inscriptions for weaponsmith or formation making.

That fool had forgotten that he needed to have a deep understanding of runes if he ever wanted to acquire the much powerful God Hand of the Ancient Emperor Yi from the Battle Saint Clan.

After his nirvana, Ji Bolin was finally on the right track and all these previously overlooked points came back to life.

So Ji Bolin, more focused on being more in tune with himself, sensed the power of his physique since he did not have any bloodline. He sank into a marvellous state, knowing nothing of the conflict and bloodbath of the world outside, caring nothing for it.

The fires of combat in the external world had long been ignited between two sides. Those 20,000 geniuses who killed their way through a year of survival and the 20,000 seeded geniuses were crazily going at each other's throat. There were geniuses clashing against each other everywhere. Alliances had been created as geniuses with similar goals flocked together. None of the surviving characters were ordinary so naturally each of them had already comprehended quite a few innate techniques; all had grown stronger and stronger as time flowed by.

But with regards to all of this, Bolin, who was in the midst of that marvellous state, cared nothing about it.

That seclusion of Bolin lasted till the very day before he walked out of the cavern.

This time, Bolin sat on the stone platform outside the cavern and started practising the several immortal-ranked arts inscribed onto the mountain. There were a hundred of those arts and each had for the protagonist a certain type of demonic beast wielding a specific immortal arts.

The first immortal-ranked art Bolin practised was a staff technique, he followed and understood the movements of the massive Immortal macaque in images inscribed on the mountain.

In the images and diagrams the snow fur macaque blasted out a casual-looking staff thrust yet countless staff shadows covered the sky. Each of the staff contained overwhelming and incomparably fearsome law energy. As a 7th-level ascendant, Bolin was finally privy to the group who could barely sense law energies especially after his seclusion cultivation in the cave. The macaque was undoubtedly a Demon King. The staff shadows contained different insights and law energies, some were as heavy as planets whilst others felt as voracious as the deepest abyss but the one thing they all had in common was that they promised annihilation to any obstacle.

(A/N: Demon King — equivalent of Immortal King for demonic beasts)

If God blocks, Kill God. If Buddha blocks, kill Buddha. If Immortal Blocks, Kill Immortal.

Ji Bolin was slowly understanding the essence of the staff technique while infusing his new insights into them. Occasionally, he would also ponder over the law energy enchantment present throughout the mountain.

Gradually as he practised, just his casual attacks also received a boost in strength but Bolin was oblivious to all as he continued testing out his theories one after another. While all this while, the number of participants here were continuously dwindling.

𝛀 𝛀 𝛀 𝛀 𝛀 𝛀

Netherworld Ancient Peak

Atop one of the highest ancient peaks of the Immortal Gorge Mountain range exists thirty-three stone platforms. The peak had been levelled flat by either a sword slash or an axe chop such that the stone platforms could be built. There were three massive ones at the centre followed by three successive rings of increasingly larger stone platforms. Naturally each ring contained ten stone platforms.

A faint smell of iron reeked off the mountain peak as the blood of countless geniuses flowed in-between each platform. The stone platforms were visibly absorbing the blood and remains of the dead geniuses. After each instance of devouring the dead, the platforms would give off eerie runic light as if asking for more bloodshed. This could only mean more offerings were needed for the good fortune to be dispatched.

Atop one of the three main stones platform was an odd trio of ascendants, one was a 9th level ascendant whilst the other two were only 7th level ascendants. The crowd of geniuses were in awe before the one with the highest level cultivation base, he had been consistently protecting the other two and whilst doing so had been simply too heroic — a true lunatic.

In his hands were the tar black skulls of two peak 9th level seeded ascendants.

One of the skulls belonged to a disciple of the Violet Emperor Sect and the other one to a disciple of the Thundergod Hall. The sect was a powerful power of the Eastern Region of the Immortal realms whilst the Hall was a powerful power from the Central Region of the Immortal realms.

None of these two now deceased ascendants had been pushovers and yet here was that lunatic holding their only remains by means of his fingers through their skull's eyes sockets.

The ascendant face could not be seen as he was clad into a layer of five coloured flames, his sturdy and muscular frame highlighted, and only his eyes visible. His peculiar eyes shone with spirits as he looked down upon everybody else.

Nobody dared to make the first move against the trio any more until a young ascendant carrying several gourds approached — He wanted their platform.

The blazing ascendant then unclasped his hands from behind his back as then followed by forming a hand seal. Five different coloured lotus of bright flames were willed into the world just as the gourd wielding ascendant set foot onto the platform.

"Bring it!!" the serene and confident voice of both echoed down the flat ancient peak.