Chapter 939: The Laws of Ascension (II)

The man who looked exactly like Senior Brother Yuan from Mount Shu sat down beside the table, lifted the teapot, and poured himself a cup of tea before pouring one for Chu Liang as well. As he did so, the ropes binding Chu Liang loosened on their own and slipped away, vanishing into the man’s sleeve.

Now that Chu Liang was free, he rose to his feet and said, “Could it be...”

His eyes flickered with thought before he continued, “Esteemed senior, did you perhaps pass through the Mount Shu region some forty years ago?”

"

Cough, cough.

" The middle-aged man had just raised the tea to his lips when he nearly choked. He quickly set the cup down and said, "What nonsense are you imagining? How could someone from the Divine Ruins Monastery simply... do... Well, in any case, the one on Mount Shu is merely one of my three thousand incarnations."

"An incarnation?" Chu Liang exclaimed in surprise.

"You could think of it that way," the monastery overseer replied. "The Divine Ruins Monastery remains secluded from the world, so it's easy to lose touch with current affairs. Each generation of the monastery’s overseers must send incarnations into the mortal realm to stay informed. The leading immortal sects, such as the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten, must be watched especially closely.

"But an incarnation is not the same as a clone. That Senior Brother Yuan Zhuo you know has no idea I exist. He simply lives and cultivates as an ordinary Mount Shu Sect disciple, but everything he learns eventually becomes known to me."

"Is Senior Brother Yuan Zhuo really just a regular person?" Chu Liang asked with an awkward chuckle.

Now that he thought about it, all the strange things about Senior Brother Yuan began to make sense. His cultivation wasn’t particularly high, yet his intellect was remarkable. He always acted dull and clumsy, yet somehow seemed to know everything about the world.

If he was merely a vessel for gathering knowledge, then it all made perfect sense.

What if every sect in the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten had one of these so-called square-headed memory vessels, and no one had ever realized it? That possibility couldn’t be ruled out. After all, just like the divine abilities cultivated by the Conservation Master, there were indeed techniques in this world that dealt with the cycle of reincarnation and had the power to alter a person’s perception.

At that thought, Chu Liang’s expression suddenly changed. "This is bad."

"What is it?" the monastery overseer asked.

"If you know everything that Senior Brother Yuan knows, then doesn’t that mean you’ve seen the account books from Red Cotton Peak...?" Chu Liang smacked his left palm with his right fist. "I guarded against everything, but I never thought to guard against this!"

For a moment, the monastery overseer’s face seemed caught between exasperation and disbelief.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke. "Do you really think I care about your little account books?"

"Fair enough," Chu Liang said with a chuckle. "But I truly am curious, Esteemed Senior. What is it that your Divine Ruins Monastery actually cares about?"

This was something he had long wanted to know.

The Divine Ruins Monastery was immensely powerful and mysterious. It had gathered a group of formidable cultivators in seclusion, passing down its legacy from one generation to the next. But what was the purpose of this?

The monastery overseer looked at Chu Liang, paused for a moment, and then replied, "I can answer all of your questions."

He began to explain, "The purpose of the Divine Ruins Monastery is to protect the mortal realm."

"Protect the mortal realm?" Chu Liang repeated the lofty claim, his tone both skeptical and puzzled. "But during the great calamities of the past, the Divine Ruins Monastery was nowhere to be seen. Take the Demon God Crisis three thousand years ago, for instance. If the elders of the Mount Shu Sect hadn’t sacrificed themselves to stop it, wouldn’t the mortal realm have already been destroyed?"

"What you speak of is not the mortal realm," the monastery overseer said, gently shaking his head. "That concerns only the human race in the land of the nine provinces."

Chu Liang remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

The monastery overseer continued, "Whether humans, demons, or even ancient beings like the Jiuli or the sea clans, they are all creatures born of this world. The rise and fall of different races as the dominant force in the mortal realm is simply part of the natural cycle of history. No matter who holds power, the world itself remains unchanged. It is nothing more than the ebb and flow of spiritual qi, gathering into the heavens and earth, then dispersing again."

“So when you speak of the mortal realm,” Chu Liang asked, beginning to grasp the monastery overseer's meaning, “you’re referring to the world itself, not the individual lives within it?”

“Of course,” the monastery overseer replied. “You cultivators always take pride in slaying the evil and upholding the Dao, constantly praising the elders of the Mount Shu Sect for saving the mortal realm. But does the mortal realm truly need saving? Even if the demon race ruled for several thousand years, it would simply be another kind of life taking the lead. Even if every living being died, the world itself would remain alive. As long as spiritual qi still lingers, new life will rise again in ten million years.”

“So what you’re saying, Esteemed Senior, is that the true harm to this world would be a complete loss of spiritual qi?” Chu Liang asked, catching on to the deeper meaning.

“Correct,” the monastery overseer said with a faint smile. “There is only one path that leads to this world’s destruction.”

"Ascension?" Chu Liang guessed.

“Precisely,” the monastery overseer replied with a nod.

“Then the purpose of the Divine Ruins Monastery... is to forbid ascension?” Chu Liang asked, startled.

Could this Daoist temple really be hiding a force capable of suppressing ninth-realm existences? That would be terrifying beyond reason.

“Not exactly,” the monastery overseer replied. “The Divine Ruins Monastery was founded by Hallowed Li before his ascension. He left behind three decrees, known as the Laws of Ascension.

“Firstly, before ascending, a ninth-realm cultivator must reap a harvest of spiritual qi to restore the spiritual qi of the mortal realm.

“Secondly, upon ascension, the ninth-realm being must leave their corporeal body behind to mend the Great Dao of this world.

“Thirdly, if the ascension fails, the ninth-realm being must never be allowed to return to life.”

As Chu Liang listened, he felt deeply shaken. In the vast expanse of the Great Dao of Years, Hallowed Li, the first to ascend, had set these rules for every ninth-realm cultivator who came after him.

The Laws of Ascension sounded extremely domineering.

After hearing the overseer’s explanation, Chu Liang finally understood the purpose behind the Laws of Ascension.

A ninth-realm cultivator had to reap a harvest of spiritual qi because a ninth-realm existence represented a high concentration of the spiritual qi of this mortal realm. There could only be one ninth-realm cultivator in this world because there was not enough spiritual qi.

Even among hallowed ones, there were disparities. Still, the weaker ones would have taken up ten percent of all the spiritual qi in this mortal realm. As for the stronger ones, they could even take as much as forty to fifty percent. If such a being were to ascend, the mortal realm’s spiritual qi would plummet.

It would only take a few such ascensions before this world became a spiritual wasteland where cultivation was no longer possible.

That was why anyone seeking ascension had to reap a harvest of spiritual qi.

When the heavenly tribulation descended and the path to the heavens opened, the cultivator seeking ascension had to slay someone or cleave something from the higher realm that contained enough spiritual qi to make up for what would be lost from the mortal realm. Only then could they ascend without any worries.

For example, before his ascension, Hallowed Li had cleaved the Divine Ruins from the higher realm, letting it fall to the mortal realm.

The land of the Divine Ruins held enough spiritual qi not only to offset what Hallowed Li would have taken, but far more than that. By striking it down before ascending to the heavens, he returned that spiritual qi to the mortal realm. This surge of energy provided the foundation for cultivators to begin breaking through to the eighth realm. From then on, it became clear that the ceiling of cultivation was no longer the seventh realm but the ninth.

As for the requirement to leave one’s physical body behind, the reasoning was quite similar.

Seventh-realm cultivators borrowed the power of the Great Dao, while those at the eighth realm could wield it as their own. However, ninth-realm existences would fuse completely with the Great Dao. Once that fusion occurred, they would become one with the very heavens and earth of the mortal realm.

If they ascended without leaving their corporeal body behind, the mortal realm would permanently lose this Great Dao.

For example, if Chu Liang were to attain the ninth realm using the Great Dao of Divine Clouds and then ascend to the heavens with it, this world would no longer have yang lightning. There would be no more thunder amid wind and rain.

After enough such cases, the natural laws of the world would begin to break down, and the entire realm would eventually collapse.

However, abandoning the corporeal body that had fused with the Great Dao and leaving that Great Dao behind in the mortal realm meant that the Hallowed One could only ascend with the primordial spirit. Without the Great Dao they had merged with, they would lose the very foundation of their power as a ninth-realm cultivator.

Such a Hallowed One would become something like a master of Heavenly Origin who had lost their Great Dao. Such existences might be slightly stronger than those at the eighth realm, but ultimately, they would be nothing more than an "eighth-and-a-half."

Taking a risk to achieve victory was one thing, but giving up one’s most fundamental strength was another. No ninth-realm cultivator would make that choice willingly.

Who would be willing to give up nearly everything just to repay a homeland they might never return to, even if everything they had came from that very homeland?

As for the rule that no ninth-realm cultivator could be resurrected when their ascension to heaven failed, that too was critical.

If resurrection were allowed after a failed ascension, a ninth-realm cultivator could, in theory, achieve immortality within this world. But since only one ninth-realm being could exist at any given time, all vitality and potential for growth would gradually be drained away. The world would eventually fall into stagnation, unable to foster new hope or advance to higher realms.

This world could only remain full of potential and continue to evolve if new Hallowed Ones were allowed to emerge and challenge the limits. Perhaps then the ninth realm would not always be the limit of this world. Maybe there could be a tenth realm or even an eleventh realm in the future...

Of course, in all the long and unending years since Hallowed Li’s time, no such person had yet appeared.

But even before he left, he had already foreseen what might come to pass. Even Hallowed Ones, if left without restraint, would struggle to rise above selfish desires. That was why boundaries had to be set.

To ensure the survival of this world, restrictions had to be placed on ninth-realm cultivators, and this was the true purpose behind the existence of the Divine Ruins Monastery.

After hearing all this, Chu Liang felt deeply moved. He had always believed the Divine Ruins Monastery was merely an ancient sect that had withdrawn from worldly affairs. Never did he imagine it carried such a profound responsibility.

From the bottom of his heart, he let out a sigh of admiration.

“Hallowed Li... was truly great.”