Shrouding the Heavens: Starting by joining the Holy Land of Yao Guang

Chapter 257 Overcoming the Tribulation
The Thirty-Six Heavens is the core of the Feathered Ancestral Temple, where the dragon energy of the first ancestral vein in Central China converges. Hundreds of millions of immortal lights flow between heaven and earth, with countless auspicious rays, making it incomparably beautiful.

Even though the ancestral lineage is now severed, this place is still extraordinary, because in the past, it has long been transformed into a pure land, and it will not change because the ancestral lineage is severed.

After entering the Thirty-Sixth Heaven, Li Yao headed directly into the depths.

There are clusters of temples nestled among the mountains, rising and falling, radiating a sacred glow that highlights their extraordinary nature.

Upon closer inspection, a new discovery was made: countless chains of divine order swirled around the temple.

The reason for this is that the ancient characters carved on the temple are actually the insights left by ancient sages.

The ancient temple spewed out divine light, various kinds of divine radiance, clearly not made of the same material, but without exception, they were all extraordinary.

However, these things were not enough to attract Li Yao's attention. At this moment, all his attention was on the insights of these ancient sages.

The sound of chanting and recitation emanated from the temple, as if deities were reciting the Great Dao scriptures, filled with endless Daoist charm.

Li Yao listened carefully, while quickly digesting the insights gained from the Great Dao. For a moment, he didn't even pay much attention to the stone embryo floating at the only cave entrance of the first ancestral vein in Zhongzhou.

Because he knew very well that the place should have been the place where the Feathered Emperor transformed into a Holy Spirit, but he had long since left.

In other words, that stone embryo is just an empty shell and certainly cannot compare to improving one's strength.

Several days later, having digested the insights he had gained from the previous encounter, Li Yao entered the realm of creation and began to study the Taiyin Taiyang True Scripture.

He frequently created new realms of cultivation, and his spiritual power grew ever higher. Furthermore, this place was a Pure Land; one day of cultivation here was equivalent to more than ten days outside.

Therefore, his cultivation improved at an astonishing speed, and he felt himself breaking through the bottleneck in just one month.

Li Yao did not rush to break through, but suppressed it, using the Immortal Gold Furnace to suppress himself and the Heaven-Deceiving Array Pattern to conceal his aura.

This is the ancestral temple of the Ascension God. If a heavenly tribulation is triggered here, this place will be destroyed by the tribulation.

Naturally, the enlightenment of the sages here, inevitably, will also be destroyed.

This was naturally something Li Yao didn't want to see. These insights from the sages could help him quickly digest and understand them, so he couldn't miss them.

Before he knew it, half a year had passed since Li Yao entered the ancestral temple.

During this period, he entered the realm of creation more than thirty times, which would take at least three to four years from the outside world.

This frenzied frequency naturally caused his cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. At the same level, the combat power he can now unleash is much greater than before.

Originally, after breaking through to the Saint level, his number of restrictions would decrease, which was unavoidable.

The Eight Prohibitions are not all the same, and similarly, the Eight Prohibitions of a semi-saint and the Eight Prohibitions of a saint are very different.

Some prodigies reach the eighth level of the forbidden realm when they are half-saints, but after breaking through to sainthood, their combat power may drop to the seventh level, and they need to cultivate again to return to the eighth level.

Li Yao was naturally not exempt from this law. After breaking through to the Saint level, he could feel his forbidden number falling.

Of course, because of his high level of cultivation, even if he fell, he was still at the pinnacle of the Eight Forbidden Zones and could freely enter the Divine Forbidden Zone.

Although the changes are not significant, it is a fact that his ban count dropped. However, now, he has not only made up for it, but has even reached a higher level.

If people knew about what happened to him, they would probably be so shocked that they wouldn't be able to speak, as this completely violates common sense about cultivation.

"Buzz!"

Within the cave of the first ancestral vein in Central China, the stone core undulated continuously, as if it were breathing.

If Li Yao hadn't known beforehand that it was empty, he probably would have been fooled.

After emerging from the realm of creation for the ninth time, he had fully comprehended all the insights of the ancient sages in the temple.

This process lasted for more than two months.

Li Yao summoned the Immortal Gold Furnace and plunged it into the cave, where it floated and sank with the stone embryo. The profound meaning of the Divine Mark Purple Gold was activated, and it began to capture the Ascension Immortal Scripture on the stone embryo.

The stone embryo still retained the aura of the Great Emperor, and the Immortal Gold Furnace easily captured the scripture. It was only a fragment, making it impossible to cultivate, but it was enough for Li Yao.

Although he has been using the creation techniques of the Heavenly Book almost exclusively in recent years, he has not forgotten that the Heavenly Book can supplement and deduce scriptures.

With this fragment, he could obtain the complete Ascension Emperor Scripture.

Now that he has reached the level of a saint, creating his own scriptures must be put on the agenda.

In the process of creating scriptures, it is inevitable to draw on other ancient scriptures.

Therefore, the more imperial scriptures the better, so that he can absorb the essence of all schools of thought and create the strongest immortal scripture.

Having obtained the Ascension Emperor Scripture, it was inscribed on the pages of the Heavenly Book. However, since the insights gained from the Taiyin and Taiyang True Scripture remain, the text cannot be completed.

Li Yao entered the ancient hall and began his search.

Among these ancient temples, one is engraved with a star map, which includes Earth's coordinates.

Once the coordinates are obtained, the Earth's location can be pinpointed in the vast sea of ​​stars.

There are more than eighty temples in the Thirty-Six Heavens. After passing through more than thirty of them, Li Yao arrived at the ancient hall with a star map engraved on it.

The ancient hall was very spacious, and the metal walls around it were covered with stone carvings, on which the sun, moon and stars twinkled, making it incredibly dreamlike.

Li Yao reached out and gently touched the stars on the stone carving. Instantly, the entire hall lit up, becoming dazzlingly bright.

"Crack!"

Suddenly, a faint sound came, and a stone door appeared out of thin air in the eastern corner. When it opened, a putrid smell wafted out, revealing the secret chamber behind it.

Li Yao became interested and slowly walked over.

The secret chamber was not large, only about ten feet in size. It reeked of decay and contained a pile of rotting mud with protruding bones that gave off an ominous black color.

“Ancient sages?!” Li Yao asked, somewhat puzzled.

It's strange that even if ancient sages perish, their bodies do not decay, and their flesh and blood remain lifelike even after the passage of time.

However, very few of them remain in the world; almost all of them transform into light and rain after death, leaving nothing behind.

However, the rotting corpse of the saint did indeed exist in the secret chamber.

Li Yao paid no attention and calmly entered the secret room, where he began to observe carefully.

A secret room like this was definitely not built for fun; there must be some kind of mechanism inside.

Sure enough, after searching for a while, Li Yao found a groove. After pressing it, the stone wall in front of him moved aside, shooting out a dazzling divine light and revealing a spacious temple.

"Found it." Li Yao was overjoyed, gazing at the countless stars in the hall, each one dotting the void.

This feeling was as if he were in a foreign land.

In the starry sky, there are four stars that are exceptionally special. They are about the size of a fist, much brighter than the other sun, moon, and stars, and they are solid, not illusory, floating in the air.

Li Yao's gaze almost instantly locked onto a star, a water-blue planet with oceans covering about 70 percent of its surface.

Li Yao was very familiar with this star; he had lived on it for over twenty years in his previous life.

Even though more than 30 years have passed, he still recognized him at a glance.

That is—Earth!
Besides Earth, there was another star that shone with a purple light, which Li Yao also recognized; it was the Ziwei Ancient Star Region.

As for the other two, Li Yao did not recognize them.

The starry sky is vast and boundless; even a quasi-emperor wouldn't dare claim to fully understand the universe.

After memorizing the star map, Li Yao plucked four stars, which were the keys to the Five-Colored Altar, containing the coordinates of the stars and were priceless treasures.

Even if we don't have the five-colored altar, such a treasure certainly shouldn't be wasted.

Next, Li Yao continued downwards, passing many temples and reaping great rewards, including a piece of Nine Heavens Divine Jade King the size of a human head and Great Luo Silver Essence, among other materials.

These things are the hard currency of the cultivation world. Whenever they appear in the trading market, they must be exchanged for divine sources. Ordinary pure sources are not even worth mentioning.

Soon, he passed through more than eighty temples and walked deeper into the area, where there were no ancient buildings, no ancient forests, no life, and it was extremely desolate.

After walking for a while, a thick, gray fog suddenly appeared, giving off a sense of oppression.

Li Yao walked through the gray mist, and soon a five-colored altar appeared ahead. Time had not eroded it, but it was incomplete, with only two corners remaining.

Upon arriving at the five-colored altar, Li Yao carefully examined the patterns on it.

In the years to come, traversing the stars will be his main theme, and the Five-Colored Altar will play a major role in it. If he can understand it, it will be a great help.

A day later, after memorizing all the patterns on it, Li Yao sighed softly.

"Unfortunately, it's just a small teleportation array, and it leads to the Forbidden Land of the Ancient Wilderness." He sighed inwardly.

If he wasn't mistaken, this altar might have been the starting point of the Ascension Dynasty's star path, but its coordinates were later altered, leading to the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.

Without knowing the coordinates of the next five-colored altar, one cannot embark on the star route to Earth.

Just like a bus or subway, starting from the starting point, there are more than a dozen stops along the way (the Five-Colored Altar) before reaching the destination (Earth). But now, the starting point is leading to the next stop incorrectly, instead heading to other places (the Ancient Forbidden Land), and cannot reach the second stop. This star road is therefore cut off.

Li Yao was still unwilling to give up and continued searching through the thirty-sixth heaven to see if he could find any clues.

If we can find the star path leading from the Feathered Dynasty to Earth, we can use it to find the coordinates of the next Five-Colored Altar and embark on the ancient star road.

Unfortunately, he found nothing. He turned the entire Thirty-Six Heavens upside down and dug three feet into the ground, but he still couldn't find a star path to Earth.

"It seems that the Ruthless Great Emperor does not want the Beidou cultivators to go to Earth."

Li Yao gave up, knowing that he could not find a star path to Earth.

That ancient starry road was artificially erased, and now the five-colored altar of the Feathered Dynasty leads to the desolate forbidden land.

If you didn't know all the inside stories, you might not think anything of it, but Li Yao knew all the inside stories clearly.

The Ruthless Great Emperor did not want anyone to travel to Earth in the past and let the mortal world know about the existence of cultivation, thus interfering with Ye Fan. Therefore, she erased the star path, making it impossible for anyone to travel to Earth through the star path of the Feathered Dynasty.

Putting aside these speculations, Li Yao left the Feathered Ancestral Temple.

Although we didn't find the star path, we learned Earth's coordinates and its approximate location in the universe, which can be considered a preliminary achievement of our goal.

In less than a quarter of an hour, he rushed out of the Big Dipper Starfield and arrived outside the field, where he began to undergo the Heavenly Tribulation.

This was an incredibly massive tribulation of lightning. A vast sea of ​​lightning filled the entire starry sky, and all the stars that were affected were reduced to ashes and dispersed.

It took a full five days for the great calamity to finally end.

This was only a minor tribulation, and although it was immense, it was still no match for Li Yao. Instead, he took this opportunity to refine his weapon in the sea of ​​lightning, and refined the newly acquired Immortal Tear Green Gold into the Immortal Gold Furnace.

Li Yao stood proudly in the starry sky, his body radiating a dazzling brilliance, like an eternally burning divine fire. Every inch of his flesh and blood seemed to be celestial gold formed through countless hammerings, solid and indestructible.

"boom!"

The crimson aura surged like a galaxy, sweeping across the sky. Its powerful aura was not concealed in the slightest, making it extremely terrifying.

"call out!"

He recalled the Immortal Gold Furnace, which, after being tempered by the lightning tribulation and with the addition of the new Immortal Tear Green Gold, greatly benefited the Immortal Gold Furnace.

The five-colored divine light was dazzling and eye-catching. The entire furnace body was larger, the aura was more powerful, and the patterns on the furnace body were more intricate than before. The deity on it had also become more powerful and active.

Li Yao was somewhat delighted and threw the Immortal Gold Furnace in his hand into the starry sky.

"boom!"

Five-colored immortal light exploded, the Immortal Golden Furnace trembled, endless Dao traces flew out from the furnace body, the Great Dao Divine Laws boiled, and that part of the starry sky collapsed directly, as if the world was destroyed.

This attack was incredibly powerful, and his strength surged once again, reaching another level.

And now, only a little over half a year has passed since his last breakthrough.

If outsiders knew about this speed of cultivation, who knows what kind of uproar it would cause.

For the four immortal saints, once they reach this stage of cultivation, each breakthrough takes a very long time.

Some cultivators, after breaking through to the Saint level, may need a hundred years before they have another opportunity to break through.

Many are even stuck in this situation for life.

Such a breakthrough as Li Yao, who achieved another breakthrough in just six months, is unprecedented in ancient history.

Even the most prodigious geniuses need time; sometimes, a single enlightenment can take years.

Li Yao was able to break through so quickly because his cultivation level was too high. Once his divine power and primordial spirit were fully accumulated, he could break through.

This alone is enough to determine that Li Yao's cultivation speed will be extraordinary.

This effect becomes even more pronounced later on.

While others spend decades in seclusion seeking enlightenment, Li Yao's cultivation progress remains constant.

Being stuck at a bottleneck actually means that one's cultivation level is insufficient to break through to the next realm. One's divine power and primordial spirit have already reached the limit of the current realm, but without sufficient cultivation level, everything is just empty talk.

This situation will not occur with Li Yao.

"Sixth level of Sainthood. It seems I was being conservative before. If things continue like this, I can suppress the dark turmoil two hundred years from now with my own strength." Li Yao's heart was surging with excitement.

This was not because he was arrogant, but because the speed of his cultivation gave him confidence.

He embarked on the path of cultivation in just over twenty years, yet he had already reached the sixth level of the Saint realm.

He has already completed more than half of the journey to becoming one of the four immortal saints, and is only three minor realms away from reaching the peak of sainthood.

With his level of cultivation, the bottleneck of the Sage King cannot stop him.

Of course, the divine power and primordial spirit required to break through to the Saint King level must be astonishing, but so what?

Accumulating divine power and primordial spirit is not a difficult thing, as long as the life essence can keep up.

At worst, it will take him two or three years.

Thinking this way, Li Yao felt more and more that he might really create a cultivation legend.

The Supreme Record of the Desolate Heavenly Emperor at Fifty-Six Years Old...

If we were to categorize the supreme beings of the Chaotic Ancient Era, they would roughly be equivalent to the Quasi-Emperor and Great Emperor realms in the world of Shrouding the Heavens.

The Desolate Emperor became a supreme ruler at the age of fifty-six. Li Yao was more inclined to believe that he became a quasi-emperor at the age of fifty-six.

If that's the case, it seems he still can't break it.

He is already thirty-six years old this year, and there are only twenty years left until he turns fifty-six.

The Saint realm is far from the Quasi-Emperor realm, with two more realms in between: Saint King and Great Saint. Not to mention, he hasn't even reached the Saint realm yet.

In twenty years, to reach the Quasi-Emperor realm—even with the Heavenly Book, Li Yao felt it was highly unrealistic.

"It's too difficult," Li Yao shook his head.

Although the cultivation environment in the Chaotic Ancient Era was much worse than that in the Immortal Ancient Era, it was undoubtedly much better than that in the Shrouding the Heavens World.

Moreover, the Desolate Emperor embarked on his cultivation journey at the age of three, giving him a time advantage. During this period, he traveled to other realms and immortal realms, reshaping his foundation with stronger Dao laws, and consuming divine medicines, elixirs of immortality, and many other heaven-defying treasures.

These are not blessings that the world of "Covering the Sky" can enjoy.

Although he was cheating, the cultivation environment of the Desolate Emperor was itself cheating compared to the world of Shrouding the Heavens.

"What's wrong with me? In the path of cultivation, the greatest truth is to compare yourself with yourself. What's the point of comparing yourself with others?" Li Yao chuckled.

The rapid pace of his cultivation did indeed put his mind at a disadvantage, and for a moment, he even had a feeling of not being able to admit defeat and wanted to compare himself with the Desolate Emperor.

They are not from the same time period, so what is the point of comparing them?

Half an hour later, he arrived outside the Qishi Mansion.

This journey across the starry sky will take at least several years, or even more than a decade. Before leaving, he will definitely spend some time with the two women.

Li Yao's arrival alarmed the Lord of the Qishi Mansion.

He did not conceal his aura, so cultivators of lower realms could not sense it, but the Lord of the Qishi Mansion, being a saint, could naturally detect another saint.

"Shh!"

At the gate of the Qishi Mansion, under the curious gazes of many young cultivators, a gaunt-looking old man appeared and gave Li Yao a polite bow.

"Fellow Daoist's presence truly brings honor to our humble abode," said the old abode master.

Seeing the old manor lord's solemn attitude, Li Yao returned the greeting with clasped hands: "I apologize for disturbing you so abruptly, and I hope the manor lord will not take offense and will forgive my offense."

The head of Qishi Mansion waved his hand repeatedly, welcoming Li Yao into the mansion with great respect.

This scene made even the disciples of Qishi Mansion who witnessed it doubt their own eyes.

The Lord of the Qishi Mansion is a sage with immense power, enough to be revered as the Big Dipper. How could such a person be so polite to someone?

"Who is he? Why is the Lord of the Prefecture treating him with such courtesy?" a cultivator from the Western Desert asked curiously.

Although Li Yao has gained considerable fame over the years, he has remained too low-key, and few cultivators have actually met him. Only cultivators from the Eastern Wilderness are somewhat familiar with him.

Unless you have specific knowledge of the other major domains, you really wouldn't know what Li Yao looks like.

"You don't know him, but you should know the Holy Lord of Yaoguang, right?" A cultivator from the Eastern Wilderness, unfazed by this, offered a reminder.

The news of Li Yao breaking through to the Saint realm had already spread throughout the Big Dipper in half a year. It was naturally not surprising that cultivators in the Eastern Wilderness recognized Li Yao.

The Lord of Qishi Mansion is a saint, and the Lord of Yaoguang is also a saint. Although there is a huge age difference between them, the cultivation world values ​​strength and they are equals.

"What! He is the Holy Lord of Yao Guang?!"

"Heavens! The Holy Lord of Yaoguang has come to Qishi Mansion. Could it be that he wants to use the road through Qishi Mansion?"

The news of Li Yao's arrival at Qishi Mansion spread like wildfire throughout the mansion, shocking countless cultivators.

Even some cultivators who were in seclusion chose to come out of seclusion after learning about it, wanting to see the demeanor of the Holy Lord of Yao Guang with their own eyes.

Qi Lin, the Southern Demon, has also emerged from seclusion. Over the years, he has become famous throughout the Five Regions and is recognized as one of the most powerful prodigies.

But that doesn't apply to Li Yao. Everyone has an unspoken understanding that Li Yao is in a league of his own.

For someone like Nan Yao, who hadn't even fought a single battle or seen anyone before, being relegated to a subordinate position must have been incredibly frustrating.

However, what is most frustrating is that it seems there is no chance for either side to fight.

The battle between Li Yao and Wang Teng was the closest their cultivation levels had ever been.

Then, Li Yao quickly widened the gap between himself and the younger generation.

Since then, every time Nan Yao heard about Li Yao's deeds, it meant that the gap between the two was widening.

For geniuses like them, the change in combat power is enormous with each advancement in their cultivation level.

Nan Yao was proud, but he also knew that he could not possibly rebel against Li Yao.

Therefore, over the years, he never thought of taking the initiative to fight Li Yao, but instead worked hard in silence, trying to catch up with Li Yao.

At first, everyone thought that as they progressed in their cultivation, the other top talents would have a chance to catch up with Li Yao.

But now, even the most outstanding geniuses don't feel they can catch up.

Nan Yao stood at a distance, his gaze incredibly complex. He had already touched the threshold of the Dao-Slaying stage and was confident that he would be able to slay the Dao in a few years.

But so what? Li Yao is already a sage; the difference is just too great.

Beside her, Qi Qi was a little worried, but didn't know how to comfort her.

"It's alright. The road ahead is long and arduous. There's no need to compare yourself to others." After a long silence, Nan Yao finally spoke with a sense of relief, and then led Qi Qi over.

Li Yao didn't expect Nan Yao to come forward, but since the other party greeted him politely, he naturally wouldn't refuse to turn him away.

Under the curious gazes of the disciples of the Qishi Mansion, Li Yao chatted with Nan Yao and his sister for a while until Yao Xi and Weiwei arrived, at which point they took their leave.

"Junior brother knows Nan Yao?" Yao Xi asked curiously after leaving Qi Shi Mansion.

Having cultivated in the Qishi Mansion for over ten years, Nan Yao's name was naturally widely known.

Although no one thought he could surpass Li Yao, everyone believed that his future achievements would be second only to Li Yao, enough to make him one of the top five in the world.

"I don't know you. This is the first time I've met you."

"It seems that Junior Brother has already won over the younger generation."

(End of this chapter)