CHAPTER 426: BREAKTHROUGH AT LAST, NIRVANA CLEANSING REALM

"The real problem is still Lu Yi," Jiang Chen muttered, narrowing his eyes. Whoever gets to him first wins, just like that.

In this race to find and kill him, the Purple Crest Immortal Sect has the upper hand. No doubt they’ll try to take him out quietly and send in a fake instead—bait for the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace. He let out a short laugh and shook his head, brushing the thought aside as he turned back to counting his spoils.

This time, he’d taken down seven Nirvana Peering realm experts: two at Peak-stage, four at Late-stage, and one at Middle-stage.

He’d drained every last drop of their qi and blood energy.

On top of that, he absorbed about a fifth of their pure cultivation. Put together, it was more than enough to match a full Late-stage Nirvana Peering realm cultivator.

And that wasn’t all. Jiang Chen also walked away with a huge haul of spiritual plants, rare natural treasures, and a mountain of spirit stones and spirit jades. On top of that, he’d picked up a complete set of ten immortal tools.

The number of spiritual plants alone was more than what he’d gotten after killing Sun Tianlin and the others.

He now had five at the Nirvana Cleansing level, a hundred and fifty-three at Nirvana Peering level, and over thirty-three thousand at the Transcendence level—an absolutely staggering amount.

With these spiritual plants and the pure cultivation energy I gathered, breaking into the Nirvana Cleansing realm is a sure thing! His eyes lit up.

First I’ll absorb the spiritual plants, then tap into the pure cultivation, he thought, pulling them all out and starting with the five high-level ones.

Crunch. Crunch.

Without the slightest hesitation, he bit into a Nirvana Cleansing-level spiritual plant and devoured it.

A powerful wave of medicinal energy exploded through Jiang Chen’s body the moment he swallowed the spiritual plant—even he was caught off guard by how strong it was. In the blink of an eye, it was pulled straight into the Burning World Red Lotus in his Dantian.

Fueled by the Nirvana Cleansing-level spiritual plant, two new petals slowly opened on the Burning World Red Lotus’s second layer, bringing the total to eight.

At the same time, a rush of pure cultivation energy and a strange, miraculous force began flowing back into him from the Burning World Red Lotus.

The cultivation energy sank deep into his cells, reshaping them like tiny dao palaces, pushing his Great Dao Immortal Body to an even higher level.

That mysterious energy didn’t stop there—it kept sharpening his natural talent, locking in his place as one of the true Peerless Grade cultivators.

These Nirvana Cleansing-level spiritual plants are insane! Let’s go for another! Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up as he grabbed the second one and ate it without hesitation.

Another surge of medicinal power exploded inside him, flooding into the Burning World Red Lotus. His cultivation and aptitude both jumped again.

One by one, he kept going—steadily consuming the rest of the high-level spiritual plants.

By the time he was done, the Burning World Red Lotus had been fully pushed to the Nirvana Cleansing level.

Not only were all the petals on the second layer restored, but three new ones had started to bloom on the third.

The trace of spirituality deep inside the Burning World Red Lotus was getting stronger too—almost like it was about to come alive.

At the same time, the Burning World Raging Flames surged in power, breaking straight through to the Nirvana Cleansing level alongside the upgraded lotus.

But the biggest change came from the cultivation energy pouring back into him from the Burning World Red Lotus—it pushed Jiang Chen’s realm to Half-step Nirvana Cleansing.

His Great Dao Immortal Body was nearly complete now—99.9% done and just shy of perfection.

Time to use the pure cultivation base. Death Calamity Dark Star Moon Dao Embryo! With a single thought, Jiang Chen channeled the vast pool of energy into his body.

One by one, the last of his normal cells merged with the power of the Great Dao, transforming into dao palace-like cells.

In a flash, every remaining trace of his old self was gone. His Great Dao Immortal Body was finally complete.

Bang!

A powerful shockwave burst out from him, carrying the force of a full breakthrough.

Right after that, an overwhelming aura burst from his body—dozens of times stronger than anything from the Nirvana Peering realm.

At that moment, Jiang Chen officially broke through to the Nirvana Cleansing realm.

His body had fully transformed into a flawless Great Dao Immortal Body. Every part of him could now act as a Dao Palace, and every inch of his flesh worked like flowing meridians.

The Immortal Origin Power in each cell skyrocketed, multiplying his total reserves many times over.

But it wasn’t just about having more power—the quality had risen too. His energy now carried a deeper, more majestic force.

And with this breakthrough, he broke through a hidden limit as well. His very existence had evolved, lifting his life to a whole new level.

At this stage, a cultivator’s body became incredibly adaptable—able to absorb different Great Dao laws and even handle all kinds of powerful secret techniques with ease.

Without a fully perfected Great Dao Immortal Body, even someone who had mastered forty-nine Dao forces wouldn’t be able to contain them all, let alone use them freely.

"What insane power..." Jiang Chen could feel the strength rushing through him, and a satisfied grin spread across his face.

In a world like this—brutal, strange, and full of danger—strength was everything.

Next up: gather the rest of the Great Dao laws. All forty-nine. Then complete my Nirvana and step into the Void Tribulation realm.

His excitement simmered down as he pulled himself back into focus.

So far, Jiang Chen had mastered fifteen different Great Dao laws—Sword, Fire, Metal, Wood, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Water, Ice, Darkness, Rock, Soul, Yin, Yang, and Gravity.

He was also right on the edge of unlocking the Dao of Death. The awakening of his Death Calamity True Dragon bloodline had pushed that door wide open.

The same went for the Dao of Stars. The Ten Thousand Stars Dao Embryo bloodline was quietly guiding him toward that path, helping him piece it together bit by bit.

But right now, the most important one was the Dao of Space. He’d only scratched the surface—just a few spatial techniques here and there—not enough to truly say he understood it.

He also planned to explore Daos that blended both Human Dao and Heavenly Dao. Sword Dao, for example, was one of those—a mix of mortal insight and divine law.

Other related Daos included Knife Dao, Spear Dao, Great Axe Dao, Bow Dao, and Fist Dao, just to name a few.

These laws of the Great Dao came from a mix of the Human Dao’s spirit and will, combined with combat techniques and touches of the Heavenly Dao. Over time, they evolved into higher-level paths.

The range of the Human Dao’s essence and intent was incredibly broad.

It covered everything from fighting spirit, killing intent, bravery, fearlessness, and cunning, to hatred, grudges, rage, and more.

As for the higher levels of the Human Dao, they pointed toward three major laws of the Great Dao: Karma, Worship, and Fate.

Jiang Chen had already seen the power of the Karma Dao for himself—back when Lu Tingyun used the Square Inch True Expanse to lock onto his location.

Karma Dao should be a bit easier to grasp. Worship Dao, though—that one’s going to be harder. Still, I need to understand both, Jiang Chen thought. If I can master Cause and Effect, it’ll be much harder for others to track me down.

As for Worship... it’s a scary power. But that’s exactly why I need to study it. Not to use it, but to build up a defense in case someone tries to use it against me.

When it came to the Dao of Fate, Jiang Chen had no doubts—it was the most difficult one out of all the laws of the Great Dao. Probably on the same level as the Dao of Time.

Heavenly Fate, Black Heavenly Fate—those terrifying forces that kept backing him into a corner—all fell under Fate Dao’s domain.

One day, I’ll crack the secrets of the Dao of Fate. Only then will I truly control my own destiny. Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up as he clenched his fist.