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

Chapter 336 The Land of Immortals
After the tenth trial, Li Yao did not participate in the Ancient Road Trial anymore, and the guide tacitly allowed him to pass directly.

When a person is powerful enough, the rules can be broken.

Li Yao was happy to have some free time. He didn't come to the ancient road for trials; his purpose was to use the ancient road's Daoist charm to comprehend the Dao and cultivate himself.

Therefore, during his subsequent journey, Li Yao would experience the ancient charm of each city he visited and comprehend the secrets of the previous character.

His cultivation progressed rapidly, and Li Yao returned to his familiar rhythm of practice.

And so, in the twentieth city, the secret of the former character was broken!
The sky was clear and blue.

A majestic mountain stands tall on the earth, with thick clouds gathering halfway up its slopes. Climbing to the summit, one can see all the other mountains below.

At the summit, Li Yao opened his eyes and gently exhaled a breath of stale air.

This breakthrough is much more difficult than the previous ones.

However, the rewards after breaking through the level are incomparable.

This is not due to the special nature of the "Qian" character, but rather to its own inherent characteristics.

The so-called "breaking the limit" actually means surpassing one's current limit.

When he broke through the limits of the Xingzi Secret and the Jiezi Secret, his realm was that of a Saint King. Now that he has broken through the limits of the Qianzi Secret, his cultivation has reached the level of a Great Saint.

Therefore, the limits are also different.

For example, when a person reaches the Saint King realm, once the Secret of the Word "Xing" and the Secret of the Word "Jie" are broken through to their limit, they can no longer comprehend them. However, as their realm breaks through, these two Daoist techniques can continue to be comprehended, and their upper limit is broken.

The most obvious one is the change in the character "皆".

When the Saint King was in power, he could gain ten times the combat power as long as he activated the technique, but that's no longer the case. He has to activate it two or three times before he can trigger the All-Encompassing Secret.

If you want to become like a Saint King, you must continue to comprehend and surpass the limits of the Great Saint realm, which is to break through the limit again!

This is not difficult. Although the upper limit has changed, his understanding of the "All" and "Previous" secrets is extremely profound, only slightly weaker than the creator of the law. With a little more comprehension, he can break through the limit again.

For Li Yao, practicing Taoist arts was never difficult; in comparison, improving his cultivation level was much harder.

A year has passed since I broke through the tenth level, but there is still a long way to go before the next breakthrough.

After the Great Sage, every breakthrough in a minor realm is like an insurmountable chasm, requiring an exaggerated amount of energy.

Of course, this is also related to his cultivation rhythm this year. He focused on enlightenment first, and then on improving his cultivation level. If he shifts his focus, he can go further.

But that's impossible. Li Yao's advantage, or the advantage of the Heavenly Book, is that his cultivation is advancing rapidly and his Taoist magic is divine. He won't trap himself by giving up his advantage.

Anyway, his current cultivation speed is already incredibly fast, in a league of its own, so there's no need to pursue faster breakthroughs; this is enough for him.

Li Yao withdrew his thoughts, formed a hand seal, and boundless divine laws burst forth. His forehead shone brightly, emitting a beam of immortal light that illuminated the world.

The myriad laws of nature permeated the air, and the chaotic energy surged, evolving into a divine furnace that floated between heaven and earth, releasing unparalleled power.

Ten Thousand Furnaces!
This great technique, accumulated over time, has no limit; it all depends on how the practitioner refines it, and it will never break through its limits!
Since creating this technique, Li Yao has been refining it, and the power of the Myriad Dao Furnace has become increasingly terrifying.

Now, the secret of the previous character has been broken through, and its path can be evolved, imprinted on the furnace body, and its power enhanced.

Li Yao was already very familiar with this process, and it went very smoothly.

On the Wan Dao Furnace, a divine character '前' (qian, meaning 'before') was deeply engraved, adding to the furnace's divine power.

Next to the character '前', there are many densely packed divine characters, all representing a kind of Taoist method, but the most brilliant are the ancient characters '行', '皆', and '前'.

However, this is only relative. Other divine runes are also very powerful, just slightly weaker. Once activated, they are divine punishments that are difficult for others to withstand!
This shikigami technique was created by Li Yao and has been refined to this day. It has already begun to show its power. Once it is unleashed, it will definitely be a trump card and also his forbidden domain.

After the refining was completed, Li Yao dispersed the furnace shape, preparing to continue his enlightenment and cultivation. However, his gaze changed slightly, and he stopped.

"Lord!"

A divine light flashed, and the white tiger flew to the mountain peak, landing beside Li Yao. It said, "There's news about what you asked me to inquire about."

Li Yao's expression shifted, signaling Baihu to continue.

He possessed profound cultivation, but what restricted his realm was the vast energy. Therefore, whenever he arrived at an ancient city, he would send the White Tiger to inquire about places with abundant energy for cultivation.

As for the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon, Li Yao did not let it travel with him. Its cultivation level was too low, and forcing it to follow him would not bring any benefit.

"The twentieth city is similar to the tenth city. Not far away is an ancient life star, where powerful beings abound. There is a celestial treasure land that will open soon. I've heard that it contains countless divine treasures and should be a place abundant with divine energy." The White Tiger recounted everything he had learned.

Li Yao became interested and immediately straddled the white tiger's back, saying, "Let's go take a look."

With a leap, the white tiger transformed into a streak of white lightning, soaring into the sky and disappearing towards the ancient star in the distance.

Its speed was extremely fast, and its cultivation was profound. It could traverse millions of miles in an instant and quickly rushed into the starry sky.

But Li Yao felt it was a bit slow, and golden divine light emanated from his body, enveloping the white tiger as well.

The secret of the character "行" unfolds, creating a field where anyone within it can experience a significant increase in speed.

This is an extraordinary method, using Taoist magic to change the external world and forcibly grant others power they do not possess.

At that moment, the White Tiger's speed soared, increasing many times over, and in the blink of an eye, it left countless meteorites behind.

"This ancient star is incredibly powerful, its spiritual energy is frighteningly dense, the Great Dao is active, and there are divine sounds that resonate in the ears during enlightenment and cultivation." Outside the ancient star domain, the White Tiger exclaimed in astonishment.

Li Yao naturally sensed it as well. The star's spiritual energy was terrifyingly powerful. Just by getting close, the spiritual energy gathered and transformed into radiant light that entered his body.

This is the body's natural way of absorbing nutrients, just like parched land that desperately needs water.

As he went deeper, his essence became more and more concentrated, and he transformed into a small sun, falling towards the earth.

His high-profile arrival attracted a lot of attention, and Li Yao felt that many eyes were fixed on him.

But it was only a fleeting moment. After sensing his power, she immediately looked away, afraid of offending him.

This is a powerful ancient star that has always been in a golden age of cultivation. With just a slight exertion of magical power, one can hear the sounds of heaven and earth in harmony and the great Dao resonating in unison.

If an ordinary trial participant were to descend, they would be extremely cautious and would never dare to do so, for fear of attracting too much attention and being targeted by powerful creatures.

Unlike Li Yao and his ilk, who are unrestrained and run rampant throughout the world.

In no time, they landed on a volcano, where flames roared and lava gushed forth, the heat was intense. In an ancient cave, several fire crows huddled together, showing signs of fear.

Li Yao glanced up and saw that they were several fire crows that had recently become saints, and then stopped paying attention to them.

"Where is that immortal treasure you mentioned?" Li Yao asked. His divine sense was powerful, and he roughly scanned the area within tens of thousands of miles, but found nothing unusual.

"I don't know the exact location, but it's roughly in the far south." After saying that, the white tiger identified the direction, leaped forward, and flew towards the far south.

In the blink of an eye, they had traveled 100,000 miles and passed by a Taoist temple where there were dozens of powerful cultivators, including some ancient saints.

This made Li Yao somewhat emotional; it seemed that saints were everywhere, appearing far too frequently.

Ten thousand miles may seem like the ends of the earth to mortals, but to a sage, it is merely a short distance away.

How can one allow another to snore beside one's bed? It seems rather strange that a sage would live so close by.

But soon, he was no longer surprised, because in the mountains tens of thousands of miles away, he discovered a giant serpent that was thousands of feet long, swallowing and spitting out huge serpent pearls. It was also a Saint-level ancient beast.

Such situations are commonplace and are not at all surprising.

"We've only been traveling along the way, and we haven't seen any holy lands or divine dynasties yet, but we've already encountered many ancient saints. This ancient star, which isn't particularly magnificent, is truly awe-inspiring."

After a pause, the White Tiger added, "It's no worse than the ancient star under the tenth level. I wonder if there are any Great Sages there?"

Li Yao was speechless, and somewhat sighed. In the same universe, sometimes the differences can be really huge.

On this ancient star, strangely beautiful and rugged peaks can be seen everywhere, extraordinary and unique, with flowing springs and waterfalls, full of spiritual energy.

On many ancient cliffs, the Daoist spirit is naturally present. Sitting cross-legged there and emptying one's mind, one can hear the Daoist chanting, as if someone is reciting scriptures. One can easily enter the Daoist realm. With accumulated experience, it would be unrealistic not to make progress in one's Daoist practice.

On a typical ancient star, a place like this would be a sacred place for cultivation. But here, it's not unusual. While not ubiquitous, it's not uncommon. Whenever Li Yao sees one, he closes his eyes and contemplates it.

Under this state of enlightenment, the speed of digestion and comprehension will increase exponentially, and one day can be equivalent to ten days!
Therefore, Li Yao was not in a hurry to travel. When he encountered places with a strong Daoist aura, he would contemplate them for a while, proceeding at a leisurely pace.

Half a month later, he arrived at the far south. During this time, he entered the realm of creation twice, both times to comprehend the secret of the character "皆".

This is a vast plain, boundless and endless. At the edge of the horizon, there is a giant city, majestic and tall, bustling with people and very prosperous.

This city is extraordinary; it contains many powerful auras, including two beings at the Saint King level.

"This city was built tens of thousands of years ago; it is a new city because of that place where immortals reside."

“That celestial treasure land opens once every ten to several decades, lasting for three days. Therefore, many forces joined forces to build this city and set up branches here.”

"The last time it was opened was twenty years ago. According to the predictions of the major forces, the opening this time will be soon."

Upon entering the city, Li Yao heard a great deal of news, such as the origin of the city and the opening time of the Immortal Treasure Land, without needing to specifically inquire about them.

Li Yao's arrival went unnoticed. He had not wasted the past year; his cultivation level had become completely stable, and his aura was well-controlled. Unless someone knew him personally, no one would know his strength.

There are many like him in the city, so naturally, he seems rather ordinary.

The white tiger he sat on also concealed its aura. Although it looked incredibly majestic, there were many ancient beasts with powerful bloodlines in the city, such as the Golden Hou and the Azure Peng, so it did not attract much attention.

No passersby dared to cause trouble. Anyone who could come here at this time was no ordinary person, and those who didn't know their background should try to avoid provoking them.

Therefore, after arriving in the ancient city, Li Yao spent half a month in peace.

"boom!"

Suddenly, the earth shook, and the vast plain seemed to be overturned.

A deafening roar resounded, shaking everyone to their core. Some of those with lower cultivation levels fainted instantly.

On the vast plain, a huge crack appeared, behind which was pitch black, but from time to time, strands of celestial light would spill out, dazzling and awe-inspiring!

This was just the beginning. The emanating celestial light gradually intensified, soon becoming like a magma in the night, or a flash of lightning across a gloomy sky, exceptionally conspicuous and dazzling.

The Land of Immortals has been opened!

Some people couldn't contain themselves and rushed out, wanting to be the first to go, their figures disappearing into the crevice.

There are quite a few people with this idea, numbering in the dozens, all of whom are ancient sages.

They disappeared into the cracks and vanished without a trace.

The others' expressions changed slightly. They were worried that something was wrong, so they didn't move and wanted someone else to take the lead. Now, it seems that they succeeded?

"what……"

Just as people were about to lose their patience, a piercing scream rang out, filled with despair.

These are the people who entered earlier; they met with misfortune and encountered danger in the crevice!

"He's bleeding!" someone shouted.

From that enormous crack, a large amount of blood seeped out, looking incredibly malevolent, like a gaping maw of fangs ready to devour its prey.

"Something's not right; this has never happened before," an insider said, puzzled.

The Immortal's Lair opens only once every few decades. Naturally, some of the people present were not entering for the first time, so they were familiar with the situation.

The current scene is clearly something that has never happened before.

"This is... someone's doing this?" In the ancient city, Li Yaotian opened his eyes, examining the large crack with interest.

In his eyes, behind the so-called great rift was a long and deep passage, but it was covered with array patterns, and its killing power was astonishing.

Those who entered earlier accidentally touched the array patterns and were all turned into blood mist.

What interested Li Yao was that after those people fell, their blood essence was absorbed by the array patterns and flowed into the depths along the passage.

This situation is extremely suspicious, and there are signs that someone has orchestrated it.

"Is this a scheme to use the Immortal Treasury to trap and kill all the cultivators?"

Just as Li Yao was pondering, someone else couldn't resist and flew into the great crevice, proceeding cautiously and constantly on guard against a sudden attack.

But this was useless. The passage was filled with powerful spiritual energy, which concealed the traces of the array patterns. If one was not careful, it would directly trigger a killing intent.

The piercing screams rang out again, sending a chill down everyone's spines and making them realize that something was wrong.

The cultivators with the ability to see the heavenly eye opened their eyes and looked at the great crack, beginning to deduce the situation. However, the person who devised the plan was very meticulous and left no flaws whatsoever.

Li Yao was able to discover that there was no manipulation involved; it was all based on numerical values!
(End of this chapter)