CHAPTER 549: CHAPTER 438 CHONGMING FINALE: WALK THE UNIQUE PATH ALONE! [SEEKING MONTHLY TICKETS!]_3

In the cultivation holy lands scattered across the Nine Heavens, layer upon layer of formations were arranged.

These formations were also primarily rooted in the Five Elements.

Whether it was Divine Skills, Magic, or formations, all of these constituted the ’arts’.

The ’law’ provides the foundation, while the ’arts’ serve as the application.

The ’Five Elements Realm’ is akin to mathematical theorems and formulas, while the "Five Five Great Expansion True Scripture" delves deeply into interpreting and understanding these formulas, seeking to unravel their principles and thus master them.

Meanwhile, magic, Divine Skills, and formations focus on crafting various methods to apply these theorems and formulas.

There are countless ways to approach problem-solving.

The same universal truth, the same Dao insight, can be explained and understood in many ways, just as there are endless manners of utilizing them.

This has hence given rise to numerous cultivation methods and countless Divine Skills and magic techniques.

When Chen Jichuan studied formations, he explored formations related to the Five Elements. Through the myriad applications and countless ingenious ideas found within formations, he not only refined their usage but also gained deeper insights and inspiration in comprehending the ’Five Elements Realm.’

This is the essence of cultivation at the Fourth-order peak.

Using Heaven and Earth, the Dao, as the foundation, cultivation methods act as the mediating bridge. Through understanding, one delves into the manifest embodiments of the Dao scattered across the holy cultivation lands, explores other cultivation methods of the same category, and learns from various Divine Skills, magic, and formations.

Gradual accumulation leading to profound breakthroughs.

Drawing insights through analogy and interconnected understanding.

Through small, incremental efforts across various aspects, eventually, one achieves the might to wear away stone with dripping water and sees one’s Daoist attainment rise steadily, inching ever closer to the Fifth-order.

Yet, due to differences in comprehension and external resources,

Some progress slowly, faltering along the way, while others move swiftly and step into the Fifth-order.

Comprehension varies by individual and cannot be forced.

In terms of external resources, within the Chongming Realm, Chen Jichuan was unmatched. Cultivation holy lands rich with the mysteries of the Five Elements were accessible to him anytime without time limitations. Treasures and resources that advanced his Five Elements insights were often within his grasp. And the troves of cultivation methods and techniques accumulated over millions of years in the Nine Heavens were fully open to Chen Jichuan for study.

His external conditions were already abundantly sufficient.

In the early stages of his Daoist pursuits, Chen Jichuan indeed improved rapidly. Each day brought tangible progress, marking vast transformations in both his Daoist attainment and combat capabilities compared to when he had first achieved the Fourth Realm Ninth Layer.

Yet as the years rolled by and his progress began to slow, he still couldn’t see the hope of ascending to the Fifth-order.

The path of the Dao was arduous.

The path of immortality fraught with hardship.

Chen Jichuan understood that his treatment within the Chongming Realm was unparalleled, not seen in the vast stretches of history within its bounds. However, looking beyond the Chongming Realm to the myriad heavens, surely there existed better cultivation holy lands, superior treasures, and more comprehensive cultivation texts.

The cultivation path was the same.

The cultivators were the same.

In a better environment, perhaps one could achieve breakthroughs. But within the Chongming Realm, one was continually constrained and hindered.

This was a restriction imposed by Heaven and Earth.

This was also why Yu Ming Immortal Venerable and others longed to leave the Chongming Realm for the Upper Realm. Similarly, it explained Chen Jichuan’s unwavering determination to ensure Wang Yan’s ascension.

Perhaps there exists some extraordinarily gifted individual with outstanding comprehension who could, given such conditions within the Chongming Realm, penetrate the mysteries of the Heaven and Earth Dao, master its essence, and ascend to the Fifth-order.

But such individuals are far too rare.

Yu Ming Immortal Venerable wasn’t one of them.

The seven Immortal Venerables weren’t, either.

Wang Yan wasn’t.

Neither was Chen Jichuan.

Ever since the Chongming Realm’s inception and the rise of the Immortal Dao, untold numbers of Heavenly Venerates and Immortal Venerates have emerged, countless cultivators have been born.

But, according to the records, none had ever ascended to the Fifth-order.

At least, not while in the Chongming Realm.

"No predecessor has paved the way."

"And perhaps no one will come after."

"Failing to achieve a breakthrough doesn’t disgrace me."

Chen Jichuan maintained peace of mind.

In this lifetime, he would do his utmost to cultivate and advance his Daoist attainment. If he could not achieve a breakthrough in this life, he would await his next reincarnation in the next Dao Fruit World.

Within the Chongming Realm, he had already reached its pinnacle. He had triumphed outside the gates of the Immortal Sect, slaughtering numerous Heavenly Venerates and Immortal Venerates. By the time his current life concluded and he condensed his Dao Fruit, he would reflect thoroughly and, leveraging his accumulation from this life, hold much greater hope of ascending to the Fifth-order in his subsequent existence.

Reuniting with Wang Yan in this life had also been fortuitous. A powerful Immortal Venerate-level companion aiding Chen Jichuan in his cultivation saved him an unimaginable amount of time and enabled him to accumulate considerably. This was far superior to cultivating alone.

Chen Jichuan was deeply content.

In his leisurely cultivation, following his inspirations, he would deduce and refine Divine Skills one by one.

After attaining the Third Realm in the ’Guiyuan Cangtian Technique,’ Chen Jichuan attempted to open the Immortal Gate and ascend. However, the moment his Magic Power Avatar stepped into the Immortal Gate, it was obliterated.

Even then, it could not elude the Heaven and Earth’s mysterious mechanism.

Chen Jichuan settled down entirely, focusing wholeheartedly on cultivation, striving to improve in every way possible.

Daoist attainment.

Divine Skills.

Formations.

Alchemy.

Artifact Refining.

Talisman making.

By the time Wang Yan ascended, Chen Jichuan had only just reached sixty thousand years of age.

When he advanced to the Fourth Realm Ninth Layer, he had been barely seventy thousand years old, still far from his natural lifespan limit.

With time passing by,

His mastery over Divine Skills improved, and his proficiency in the four great arts grew steadily.

After Artifact Refining, his skills in formations soon broke through to the Fourth-order. He could now arrange and dismantle many Fourth-order formations and deploy the Small Sumeru Right and Left Nine Palace Immortal Formation in a far more fluid and flexible manner than before. Figures like the Golden Light Immortal Venerable who dared intrude again would find it nearly impossible to escape easily.

Guarded by such a grand formation, Fierce Bird Mountain would no longer have anything to fear.

Time flowed on.

Seventy thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

This lifetime finally approached its end.

...

Fierce Bird Mountain.

Sima Hanchuang arrived at the mountain.

Once a primary disciple of the Fierce Bird Mountain lineage, Sima Hanchuang had once endured great struggles to advance to Fourth-Pattern Upper Immortal. Many years later, he now was renowned across the Nine Heavens as the illustrious ’Fire Cloud Immortal Venerable.’

His master, the ’Wind Thunder Immortal Venerable,’ had long withdrawn from public sight, leaving the affairs of the Fierce Bird Mountain lineage in Sima Hanchuang’s hands. Under his leadership, the East Ning Immortal Court—formed through the consolidation of Fierce Bird Mountain and Yu Ming Immortal Court, and the annexation of the other seven Great Immortal Courts—rose to further prominence under the rule of the ’Fire Cloud Immortal Venerable.’