The Stars Beyond

Chapter 369: The Heavenly Herb In The Crater

A whale falls, a person dies, immortals are born? Such a path is incomprehensible; the six great masters all felt a chill to the bone, was there once a special person?

Within this tale, there seems to be cruelty, bloodshed, betrayal, and in the end, extreme guilt and endless regret.

However, everything is too vague; they only saw partially blurred fragments, much of it filled with their own assumptions and guesses.

"The general direction is correct; can we actively find that special small planet containing real substances?" Zheng Yuantian's eyes were deep, bringing up this matter, the atmosphere suddenly quieted down.

......

Zhang Daoling arrived with a forceful presence, making his way into the tenth layer of the spiritual relic. Looking up, he saw two faces peering down at him.

Zhang gave them a glance, "You two, stop spying on me."

"Crunch." Wang Xuan was enjoying a piece of cactus, savoring every bite.

Chen Yongjie's mouth radiated a red glow, as if he was gnawing on sugarcane, eagerly chewing on a radiant celestial herb.

"I...!" Zhang was stunned; the sight was a bit too striking. Those two youngsters, each holding a celestial herb as if nibbling on a radish!

To think, Zhang, the grandmaster, had never indulged in such luxury at their age. Where did these kids get their celestial herbs, showing off their wealth to him?

"Immortal, want some? It's quite crunchy," Chen Yongjie called out.

"We're separated by a barrier; he can't eat it," Wang Xuan remarked.

"You two, don't you know celestial herbs are better used for refining pills? Keep them, and I'll make you Nine Turns Dragon Tiger Immortal Pills!" Zhang shouted.

The two grinned, their mouths gleaming, making Zhang wish he could slap them both. Showing off for what?

"No need, refining pills takes too long. Better to eat them directly, breaking through barriers is more urgent," Chen Yongjie said.

He mumbled to himself, doubting how many pills Zhang would actually give them after refining.

Beside him, Wang Xuan was radiant, with real substances steaming off him. Indeed, he was about to break through, advancing to the ninth realm of the mortal world.

As they spoke, Chen also made a breakthrough, stepping into the eighth realm, his body enveloped in crimson aura, emitting red energy from his ears and nostrils.

"You two!" Zhang pointed at them, wanting to kick each. Is this how celestial herbs are meant to be used? Such a waste, best saved for major breakthroughs.

Like transitioning from the mortal realm to the Xianxia realm, or from Xianxia to the realm of nurturing life, not for minor advancements.

This is the epitome of extravagance! He watched in agony.

"Immortal, next time we find celestial herbs, we'll save them for your pill refining," Chen Yongjie shouted, his body shining with golden Buddha light, his aura enhanced by the circulating Daoist energy and the radiant purple qi, adding to his extraordinary demeanor.

As Wang Xuan advanced into the ninth realm, he was enveloped in various substances nearly touching the essence of reality, all forcefully reined back into his body. Each of these substances, of the highest caliber, originated from the Misty Lands.

He remained serene, and his breakthrough didn't cause any disturbance in the world around him; all remained peaceful and undisturbed.

Zhang Daoling watched them, then turned away, diving into the deep cosmos to follow the six great masters. Soon after, the two Specter Kings also vanished in a flash, trailing behind.

"The Specter Queen from the Three Specter Mounds is one thing, but that old astronaut too?" Wang Xuan expressed his astonishment.

"Those two cultivators are indulging in celestial herbs, thieves, fishermen!" A powerful being from the eighth layer of the spiritual relic who had arrived at the tenth layer caught sight of the two sitting atop the barrier, their envy palpable.

"Disciple, help me take them down!" Chen Yongjie joked, glancing at a demon cultivator with a black hair bun adorned with a golden feather.

The demon cultivator ignored him, turning away as if he hadn't heard.

"They squandered celestial herbs for their breakthrough, what extravagance, what waste, disgraceful!" Some lamented bitterly, convinced the celestial herbs rightfully belonged to them and should not have been used in such a manner, believing the two lacked understanding of the herbs' true value.

"Let's go!" Wang Xuan whispered. Many had witnessed his advancement, and with everything appearing normal, it was time for deeper cultivation, to plant some cacti.

Determined, he and Chen Yongjie made their escape, aiming for a secluded spot outside the City of Lightning for seclusion, ready to make a bold move and shake the world of the supreme masters.

They were pursued by a primeval bird of prey with a thousand wings, which seemed reluctant to leave the relic behind, ultimately watching them break through the dense lightning area.

Wang Xuan looked back at the giant head enshrouded in electric light, finding the place too gloomy for his taste. The spiritual world was vast, and it took them flying nonstop for three thousand miles before they found a quiet spot to settle.

There, they released their physical bodies to merge with their spirits for a better breakthrough. "Hold onto the celestial herb, Chen. If anything goes awry and you can't hold on, just take a few bites," Wang Xuan advised. Previously, they had only nibbled on tiny bits of the leaves, barely consuming the precious herb.

"Okay!" Chen Yongjie agreed.

In his spiritual form within his life-soil, Wang Xuan mused, "This is truly a strange place, the origin of myths, where the transcendent is born, surrounded by substances nearly real, teeming with life. Everything starts here."

Wang Xuan wielded an iron pick, the same ancient tool that had pierced through the roots of the celestial herb, surprisingly also brought into this realm. He used it to strike the Life Furnace, lifting its lid only to smash it down repeatedly, causing his own life-soil to quiver.

"What's going on? Are we crashing?" Chen Yongjie staggered, nearly falling as he guarded Wang Xuan. This wasn't just a bumpy ride but a full-on roller coaster, making him nauseous.

His life-soil trembled wildly, forcing him to hastily consume a small piece of the celestial herb to calm his nerves with its real substance.

After striking the Life Furnace 108 times, even Wang Xuan felt dizzy, his life-soil roiling with the real substances stirred up to near boiling.

Outside, chaos reigned with cries and commotions everywhere.

In the grand scheme, the Human World Sword and the Leisure Boat appeared again, with Zhang Daoling, Fang Yuzhu, and the Red Garment Demon Lord's true forms vying for them.

Zheng Yuantian, the Chaotic Immortal, Demon Ancestor Qi Yi, Mingxue, and others rushed to the scene, their eyes blazing with fervor, emitting intimidating beams.

In the real world, the transcendents were overwhelmed, those with shaky foundations seemed drunken, collapsing in droves, their physical bodies trembling uncontrollably.

Some were sick, their spirits shaken loose, their mental vigor drained, and their realms utterly destabilized, with some beginning to fall.

"Let's leave it at that for now. I doubt many will be shaken down; we'll see later. It's more important to go to the Land of Nothingness to plant herbs. The major tremors during realm advancement are the loudest."

Wang Xuan set aside the furnace lid, ready with the cactus, the Slash God Banner, the silver beast skin book, and the pale gold beast skin with two holes burned through it from the super-mythical civilization's remnants, preparing to set off. He decided to bring the iron pick as well, potentially useful for mining meteorites at crucial moments.

Whoosh!

He dived into his life soil, using his spiritual eye to ensure the path was correct, descending all the way. Before leaving his life soil, he expanded the banner and beast skin, taking a large amount of life soil with him.

He entered the silent void, a vast universe without stars, filled only with substances nearly real.

This time, he moved faster, or rather, after planting the celestial herb, the distance between the two places seemed shorter, feeling like "a month" had passed before he reached the silver-shining Pool of Life.

Splash! Not only did Wang Xuan jump into the pool, but he also threw the cactus in, soaking it here. Soon, it would be planted in an extremely dry area, so he "nourished" it in advance.

The life soil he brought was continuously watered with the silver elixir, eventually piled beside a mound.

The mound grew larger, shrouded in mist and silver light, like dragons swimming and various fierce birds circling, an astonishing spectacle.

The Nine Tribulations Celestial Lotus indeed mutated into a vine on the mound, with tendrils as long as an arm, covered in tiny dark red spikes with strong self-defense capabilities. It bore four leaves gleaming with silver light, bursting with life.

"It could be called the Nine Tribulations Celestial Vine now. Is this an evolution?" he mused.

After arriving in the Land of Vagueness, the "ritual" didn't diminish; he once again bungee-jumped into the entrance of hell, succinctly summarized as: a death-defying cultivation method!

Each visit, he challenged the red clouds, wrapped in the Slash God Banner, not considering it serious cultivation unless he was burnt to the brink of life or struck crispy by lightning.

He indeed pushed himself, dancing on the wire between life and death, challenging his limits to the extreme.

"The golden beast skin is potent, indeed. Despite the holes, its material is no less formidable than the silver beast skin or the fabric of the Slash God Banner."

During his grueling cultivation, wrapped in the pale golden beast skin, he genuinely sensed its extraordinariness; this item was undoubtedly not simple. He couldn't help but feel, perhaps it was an illusion, that the beast skin, after being struck by red lightning and scorched, had changed somewhat.

As he concluded this session of cultivation, dragging his nearly dead body away, he sensed an anomaly—was it an illusion? The golden light on the beast skin seemed a bit brighter.

"A hallucination? No matter!"

After numerous "recuperations" in the silver Pool of Life, signifying many sessions of arduous cultivation, by the time he was thoroughly finished, the beast skin seemed not so ancient anymore.

"It's peculiar, isn't it afraid of being scorched?"

Once again, he threw the pale golden beast skin deep into the dense red haze, where clouds churned terrifyingly, and thunder boomed incessantly. From afar, that area seemed as if boiling, with the red clouds almost bubbling.

In the past, during his cultivation here, he never dared venture too deep, merely drawing a bit of the red mist from the edges. He was sure his true body, even with the Slash God Banner, wouldn't survive there.

Now, daringly trying to throw the holed golden beast skin into that turmoil, he was surprised by the significant uproar it caused.

He stayed far away, fearing an accident.

As time passed, when the red clouds ebbed away completely, he hurried over and found the pale golden beast skin not only intact but also seemingly brighter. And perhaps it was a trick of the eye, but the two holes appeared slightly smaller.

Wang Xuan was motivated, waiting for the red haze to rise and fall, enduring cultivation and healing himself, not knowing how many times he repeated the process. This time, he was determined to ascend to a significantly higher level, aiming to challenge the grand realm of Free Roaming.

Whether he'd break through was irrelevant; he was set on forcefully attempting the breakthrough, to shake Zheng Yuan Tian and the others!

He felt as if he had been in retreat for years here, each time nearing death only to recover via the Pool of Life, far surpassing his previous cultivation durations.

"Almost there. This method of cultivation is becoming less effective for me. Merely enduring hardship and tormenting myself won't do. Next time, I'll need to find another way."

But his gains were immense, significantly boosting his strength!

Wang Xuan, the ascetic cultivator, is now an experienced ninth-stage expert!

Then, carrying the long-soaked cactus-like celestial herb and the life-giving soil, he swiftly headed towards the meteorite crater area.

Everything went smoothly. Once again at the meteorite land, he avoided the moments of intense tidal forces. After the red mist dissipated, he quickly approached and entered through the mine tunnel he had used before.

No changes here; it remained quiet with dense purple qi undulating like water ripples.

"I worried for nothing. This isn't truly a 'barren' land. Nourished by the purple substance, this cactus-like celestial herb should thrive."

Wang Xuan deliberately avoided the mine tunnel area where the demonic flower resided, choosing instead a new path deeper into the meteorite's core.

He had a lingering fear of the eternal "demonic flower," its undying nature, and its terrifyingly hallucinogenic potency. He decided not to challenge it this time.

With a pickaxe in one hand and the Slash God Banner in the other, he dug diligently, embodying a hardworking miner.

"After digging for what felt like years, this venture only went hundreds of meters deep, where I planted the cactus celestial herb in a secret cave."

"This celestial herb has an extremely strong adaptability!" Wang Xuan marveled.

He shattered the meteorite to create a large pit, arranged its roots properly, and filled it with a significant amount of life-giving soil. Instantly, it began absorbing the purple substance of this place, nourishing itself.

Especially since the mine's purple mist was thick and nearly liquid, indeed a substantial tonic, it made Wang Xuan's spirit gleam with a purple light, radiating a lustrous aura.

Soon after, the celestial herb, originally as clear and sparkling as crystal, began to show traces of purple, transforming in appearance.

"It seems celestial herbs immensely favor substances close to reality; there's no need to worry about their demise. Bringing them to the Void is like returning fish to the ocean," Wang Xuan pondered.

In the following years, dedicated to both mining and cultivating, he delved into various techniques and scriptures, including the Slash Path Sword, stone tablet scriptures, and the Sakyamuni contemplation chart.

Wang Xuan felt he had reached the late phase of the ninth stage, touching the threshold of perfection. He persistently challenged the major barrier, causing the meteorite cave to tremble and resonate with his efforts.

"I wonder how it's shaking outside."

He also keenly sensed as if hitting a ceiling, a suppression that made true breakthroughs elusive.

"Is it the realm of Xianxia, something special? Why do I feel like my cultivation here, aiming for a breakthrough, has led me into significant trouble?"

An instinctual intuition told him that breaking into the Xianxia realm might require passing through the meteorite crater, a daunting challenge.

"Does my cultivation level relate to the Void, to the actual environment I'm in?" He frowned, pondering if nearing the true source was necessary.