From a martial arts disciple to a god through countless trials and tribulations

Chapter 399 Chen Xuanming on the Road to Immortality
In Yaoguang Prefecture, in the southern wilderness, the mountains lie like sleeping tigers.

On Tiger Mountain, after hearing a lot of information from Hua Liuli, Chen Xuan was lost in thought for a long time. Was this the price he paid for breaking the destiny of the gods?

"He's gone mad! A human Great True Monarch stood outside Yaoguang Prefecture, staring at the Southern Wilderness, for a full two hours. Suddenly, he let out a scream, coughed up blood, his hair disheveled, and rushed into the Chaotic Void!"

A black tortoise shell rolled up Tiger Mountain, its head and limbs sticking out. The old tortoise stood up, swaying like seaweed, and cried out in terror.

And this is only what is happening right now; in the distance, even more terrifying things are happening.

"With the Empress here, those True Lords dare not set foot in the Southern Wilderness."

In Tiger Mountain, a flash of platinum light appeared, and a majestic little mongrel appeared, its tail swaying gently like a blade of grass, and a golden mark on its forehead gleaming with divine luster.

It is the mountain king who has successfully ascended to godhood!
It lacked the necessary qualifications and struggled to become a god for many years. However, Yan Yushu secretly lent a helping hand and put in a great deal of effort, even managing to disrupt the other's mortal tribulations halfway through. Now, the Mountain Lord has finally become a local mountain god.

"They wouldn't be thinking of begging the Empress to do what that old emperor did and help people by spreading the Dao, would they?!" the old tortoise muttered.

The gods and deities of heaven and earth have shown compassion for humankind. Throughout ancient history, it has been common for deities to be willing to sacrifice their own lives to save unrelated beings.

Chen Xuan frowned upon hearing this. He knew in his heart that if the Human Emperor hadn't intervened and taken over the Immortal Palace to suppress the decline of the Five Lands, the Empress would probably have already taken similar actions.

This was his intuition; the Empress's dark ascension to immortality had successfully circumvented the influence of some divine mandates... Otherwise, Old Zhang would not have gone so far as to hold back the most loyal Zhenyuan Immortal Lord.

That evening, many forces sent invitations to the Southern Wilderness, requesting an audience with the Mountain Spirit Goddess. When they received no response, they settled for a visit to Chen Xuan instead.

Upon seeing the visiting cards, Chen Xuan discovered that they were all from incredibly powerful forces, including ancient Daoist temples in the Southern Region, various kingdoms and dynasties in the Central Plains, and even the long-vanished Taiyi Forbidden Land, which had been discovered to be seeking an audience with their ancient true gods.

Clearly, some True Lords, having exhausted all other options, have begun to set their sights on the Goddess... The Human Emperor has already passed away, so what is the Mountain Spirit Goddess waiting for? She was meant to pass away anyway!
"I won't see you!" Chen Xuan decisively refused, not minding offending those powerful forces with True Monarchs as a result.

late at night.

In a cave on Tiger Mountain, Chen Xuan was fiddling with precious materials he had picked up from the Celestial Palace when suddenly, the Empress's gentle voice descended from the heavens, like a handful of spring water soaked in morning dew, flowing into his heart.

"The genuine 'Mountain Spirit Technique'!"

Chen Xuan's breathing quickened. "The Empress has bestowed a divine power upon us! This is an extremely profound and mysterious scripture!"

Unlike the spell recited by the Empress Fairy in the Great Wilderness, this Mountain Spirit Spell has been improved and perfected by the Empress over millions of years.

"It can cultivate to the True Monarch Realm, and in some aspects, it has even touched upon the realm of Immortals!" He made this judgment after only a cursory glance. Without a doubt, this Mountain Spirit Scripture could save him a lot of trouble.

After bestowing the true scriptures, the Empress disappeared again.

"She's very aloof, not as cute as she was when she was young," Chen Xuan muttered to himself, thinking that the Mountain Spirit Lady was not as lively as the Imperial Daughter Immortal Nianhen. She was too serious, beautiful and dignified, but difficult to get close to.

Having obtained the new "Mountain Spirit Method," he immediately sat cross-legged on the stone couch, comparing the "Mountain Spirit Method" with his own practice.

"Many things have become clear." Chen Xuan immediately immersed himself in cultivation. Although he had a high level of comprehension, this was, after all, the crystallization of the Empress's wisdom over millions of years. In many places, just one glance was enough to make Chen Xuan feel as if the clouds had parted.

"This sutra only needs a slight modification to fit my current path-building practice."

My spirit travels through the nine realms.

The first three realms are dedicated to cultivating the soul.

In the middle three realms, while cultivating the divine soul, one must also gradually refine the Ascension Ground, which is what truly stumps Chen Xuan.

Because he never ascended to the land of gods.

“Opening up the inner realm, without needing to seek externally…” Chen Xuan studied the Mountain Spirit Method, which secretly conformed to the Taoist method of returning to simplicity and truth, and also had the Buddhist concept of seeing one’s true nature. It integrated the methods of various schools of thought and was extremely profound.

This method, which involves traveling to higher levels, creates a false, smaller world within the body, allowing it to spontaneously generate new immortal energy.

"This method even secretly aligns with the Heavenly Mandate Scripture?" he thought to himself, having already created a false microcosm within his body for the Heavenly Mandate Daoist practitioners to live in.

Because of his experience, Chen Xuan quickly learned the Divine Travel Scripture from the Mountain Spirit Technique, and then went into seclusion.

After ascending to godhood, the slow, ant-like path of cultivation finally began to accelerate, and the nascent immortal energy surged forth like a stream.

"The effect of the Mountain Spirit Scripture in cultivating Qi is more than a hundred times greater than that of other true scriptures!"

Chen Xuan's innate talent, refined through tribulations and the Golden Core, is already comparable to that of ordinary immortal geniuses. Therefore, even in his cultivation at the Divine Travel level, his progress is quite remarkable.

Time flies like water.

Winter goes and spring comes, flowers bloom and wither, and in the blink of an eye, autumn arrives again. Nearly a year has passed quietly.

During this period, Chen Xuan was studying the Mountain Spirit Scripture in Tiger Mountain, detached from the ruins and chaos, and engaged in arduous cultivation to improve his strength.

He sometimes received messages from Hua Liuli of Yunmeng Prefecture, learning about intelligence from the Five Directions Land.

"Many extraterrestrial beings have returned to the Five Directions Earth and back to this world. The Human Emperor's Celestial Palace is still tacitly approving of this. I'm afraid a major event is about to occur..."

"Even a Great True Lord who attempted to leave the Five Directions Land in search of a way to survive failed! The Five Directions Land remains a forbidden region isolated within the Great Ruins!"

"The power of the divine spirits seems to still be influencing the five directions of the land, and more bizarre and wondrous things are happening..."

Chen Xuan pondered this intelligence, but didn't care much, his fingertips twirling a wisp of newly formed immortal energy.

In any case, with the goddess presiding over the Southern Wilderness, it is already beyond the reach of worldly affairs, like a divine mountain in the midst of a giant wave, indestructible, and able to block all storms.

"Buzz!"

On this day, a white, ethereal spirit emerged from the cave and landed atop Tiger Mountain.

Chen Xuan's soul, enveloped in a faint divine glow, drifted down to the mountaintop like a cloud. A wisp of his soul solidified, and when it touched the air, it even produced fine, shimmering patterns of light.

"Second Divine Journey, well done." On the cloud, the Mountain Spirit Goddess was captivating, dressed in a magnificent blue robe that accentuated her perfect curves. Her hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and although she exuded a faint, dark immortal power, she also appeared gentle. She praised Chen Xuan generously.

"The Human Emperor Banner laid the foundation in advance, which is why it rose quickly," Chen Xuan replied. In fact, it could have risen even faster, but for a new scripture with an uncertain future, it was best to prioritize stability.

In just one year, he successfully advanced to the second level of the Divine Realm, a truly astonishing speed.

It's important to understand that the Golden Crow God of the Southern Wilderness hasn't even taken this step in hundreds of years. Meanwhile, the world's immortal geniuses, such as the direct descendants of great sects like the Sparrow King at the Mountain and Sea Banquet, have no shortage of resources, yet they've cultivated for decades and are only at the Transcendent Realm Divine Travel stage.

Once you reach the stage of Tao Hongchen, you can no longer simply rely on resources to increase your realm. You need to unite your spirit, energy, body, and other aspects to align with the Dao in order to advance further.

"Thank you for your hard work," the Mountain Spirit Goddess said. The technique she was pursuing wasn't particularly outstanding; among techniques of the same level, it was only considered above average. Chen Xuan was using this technique as his main cultivation method, which was, in fact, a waste of his talent and a great misuse of his abilities.

"Nothing much, Your Majesty. Is there anything I can do to serve you today?" Chen Xuan was eager to try. When he saw the Empress suddenly emerge from the mausoleum, he knew that something big must have happened.

He was once controlled by the Empress and participated in a battle of immortals. The pleasure he felt was indescribable. He longed to experience it again... The Empress's Yu Xin Zhai technique was a hundred times better than that crude old tree at the Mountain and Sea Banquet!
Upon hearing this, the Mountain Spirit Goddess turned around, her clear eyes sweeping over Chen Xuan. Then, she shook her head slightly and politely declined, saying, "True immortals should only die at the hands of immortals."

"..." Chen Xuan suddenly felt bored.

"..." The Mountain Spirit Goddess preferred quiet and didn't say much, except for a slight upturn at the corners of her rosy lips.

Chen Xuan, who was observing the Empress's perfect figure and face, frowned immediately upon seeing this scene.

At the same time, he discovered that in the past year, the Empress's aura had become increasingly unfathomable, with faint signs of her reappearing in ancient times... However, this aura was becoming more and more unsettling, giving people a sense of taboo, as if falling into a bottomless abyss.

"boom……"

From the distant sky, terrifying fluctuations of immortal power emanated, like a giant drum beating deep within the Great Ruins. In all directions, the immortal energy of the Dipper Division boiled like a tidal wave.

The calamity of the demon immortal has finally arrived.

A figure shrouded in crimson and gold emerged from the crack in the Great Ruins, with a pair of scarlet eyes that could be vaguely seen staring coldly at the Southern Wilderness.

A year later, under the dual wear and tear of the power of the Heart Cleansing and the divine destiny, the Demon Immortal of Calamity could no longer maintain his peak fighting strength. Therefore, he came to the Southern Wilderness... to take away the celestial gods and earth deities who had ascended to immortality before he perished.

"boom!"

Suddenly, darkness rose around the empress, instantly spreading across the entire southern wilderness, as if an ancient night had descended.

"Buzz!"

Suddenly, azure-gold light patterns lit up the sky above the dome, outlining the majestic silhouette of the celestial palace. The Mountain Demoness and the Calamity Demon Immortal entered the void, far from the mortal world.

"Another immortal from the celestial palace is about to perish." Chen Xuan sighed as he watched the empress's disappearing figure.

He had faith in the goddess, and believed that the evil spirit would surely be defeated.

Then he thought, "Those Ox Immortal and Dragon Immortal don't seem to be simple-minded; they're cunning and treacherous. Would they accept their fate of extinction? They must have some unknown methods."

The immortals may all perish.

Most of the True Lords in the world are no longer viable and cannot escape the fate of their Dao dissipating. Perhaps only True Lords of destiny like the Black and White True Lords, or evil True Lords like the Little Azure Heaven Dao Master, have a chance to escape this calamity.

"The Empress's great battle among the immortals will last for a very long time..." Chen Xuan sighed, preparing to return to his cave to continue his cultivation.

Suddenly, he turned around at the top of Tiger Mountain and saw a tall figure walking through Taixu, strolling leisurely through the clouds and mist, accompanied by wind, rain, thunder and lightning.

This person made no attempt to conceal his aura, appearing openly in the skies above the Southern Wilderness, riding on lightning, ethereal and otherworldly.

Chen Xuan's pupils contracted. This was an extremely dangerous expert, whose aura was as powerful as an abyss. It seemed that he was coming for him.
He was astonished. The Empress had just left, and someone was already plotting against him? How strange!

Chen Xuan had nothing to fear. As his divine soul wandered away, he voluntarily entered the void shrouded in wind, rain, thunder, and lightning.

The rain poured down, and streaks of lightning flashed, illuminating the void and clearly revealing the uninvited figure.

He was a young man in purple robes, around thirty years old, with jade-like skin that seemed to have preserved his youthful appearance. He possessed a refined and otherworldly air, yet also exuded a domineering and oppressive aura, making him a very dangerous individual.

“Xin Zhai—Chen Xuan, I’ve long admired your name.” He looked at Chen Xuan as he approached, nodded with satisfaction, but it was as if he were appraising a piece of merchandise.

Chen Xuan frowned. Clearly, the other party had ill intentions, which puzzled him. Where did they get their confidence?

He surmised that the other party cultivated Thunder Qi, and was probably not a Qi cultivator from the Five Directions Lands. After all, humans who cultivated Thunder Qi on the Five Directions Lands were extremely rare. Moreover, who in the world today did not know the names of the Empress and Xinzhai? Even True Lords dared not set foot in the Southern Wilderness.

"Are you from outer space?" Chen Xuan asked curiously. What kind of country bumpkin came from out of the sky? So reckless and ignorant.

The young man in purple smiled faintly, without speaking, but simply flicked his finger, and nine lightning bellows flew out, with bolts of lightning as thick as buckets falling from their wings, a truly terrifying sight.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas states: There is a bird that looks like an owl, with a human face and one foot. Its name is Tuofei. It appears in winter and hibernates in summer. If you eat it, you will not be afraid of thunder.

Chen Xuan frowned deeply. This person seemed to be a spirit traveler, but not a celestial being destined for immortality, yet he gave off an extremely dangerous and strange feeling.

Chen Xuan is very strong. In the realm of divine travel, apart from high-quality immortal geniuses, there is basically no one who can match him, not even those at the limit.

But the person before me seems to possess extraordinary talent, surpassing even the divine seed, and is quite remarkable. What's going on?!

"On the ancestral land of the gods, only a few young people, including you, Yu Zhexian, and Yu Tianzi, have the potential to achieve enlightenment." The purple-robed youth looked at him and smiled as he spoke.

Chen Xuan did not respond. He sensed something and looked towards the eastern sky. The sword light was like a white fish leaping from the water, breaking through the Taixu. A woman in a yellow dress rode out on a sword, exuding an air of noble immortality, which attracted a lot of attention.

Around her, wisps of sword energy swirled like hundreds of agile white fish, their flowing light highlighting her radiant beauty and ineffable nobility.

The young man in purple frowned, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, as if he recognized the girl in the yellow dress.

Chen Xuan turned his head again and looked to the west, where two demonic auras soared into the sky. A male and a female demon cleaved through the Taixu and headed towards Tiger Mountain.

"Is it this lively?" Chen Xuan thought to himself, his eyes scanning the surroundings. His intuition told him that these people were not the kind of ordinary, extraordinary individuals he had in mind.

He guessed that these extraterrestrial beings were all coming for him while the Empress was away.

The purple-clad youth withdrew his gaze, his eyes like two purple magic lamps, and continued to scrutinize Chen Xuan, saying, "He's a rough gem, not bad at all."

Then, he quickly approached, carefully examining Chen Xuan as if inspecting a fine piece of merchandise, and nodded slightly, as if he had taken a liking to him: "Come with me."

"Why should I go with you?" Chen Xuan asked calmly.

"I will bestow upon you an immense opportunity, and your name will be etched on the path to immortality!" The purple-robed youth spoke calmly, his words leaving no room for refusal, urging Chen Xuan to immediately embark on his journey.

(End of this chapter)