Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 843 - 826: An Enraged Zhouyang
Qiao Yangming's expression of shock and anger was genuine, which made Zhouyang dispel the idea of punishing him.
At this moment, Qiao Yangming was stunned upon seeing the divine statue of the [True Monarch Guangming] being struck by the golden flame sword.
He saw that the statue, which he had regarded as mere clay and wood, was now emitting dazzling spiritual light, effortlessly blocking the attack of the golden flame sword.
"This..."
Qiao Yangming was shocked as he looked at the divine statue of the [True Monarch Guangming], and then turned to Zhouyang, hesitating to speak.
"Fellow Daoist Qiao, as the Palace Master of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, do you not know what's going on here?"
Zhouyang pointed out what Qiao Yangming left unsaid, his tone slightly cold.
Qiao Yangming was immediately startled, hurriedly bowing and saluting him, "Immortal Venerable, please discern clearly. This junior really doesn't know what's happening. I implore the Immortal Venerable to enlighten me!"
Zhouyang didn't look at him, only smiled coldly at the divine statue and said, "I cannot enlighten Fellow Daoist Qiao, but Fellow Daoist Qiao can ask the entity hiding within this statue themselves to see exactly what kind of demon dares to usurp the statue of the Immortal Sect's Ancestor and receive the worship of its disciples!"
Qiao Yangming was immediately shocked, looking at the divine statue of the [True Monarch Guangming] with horror.
He did not have Zhouyang's ability and couldn't see what was hidden inside the statue.
But he knew very well that Zhouyang wouldn't deceive him about this, and the current state of the statue already explained a lot.
However, he also understood that the entity that could hide inside this divine statue in the [Bright Hall] was definitely not some "demon," but perhaps a renowned Ancestor from the history of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, or even...
Given the situation, he truly didn't know how to speak for a moment.
Zhouyang also understood Qiao Yangming's feelings at the moment and didn't press him too hard. Instead, he raised his eyebrows slightly, coldly looking at the statue and said, "Will you come out on your own to explain, or should I take action to drag you out for a soul search?"
Upon hearing Zhouyang's words, the statue's spiritual light flickered slightly, and a long sigh suddenly emanated from within, "Alas! Why must your excellency press me so hard? I am already this way, what threat can I possibly pose to you?"
Zhouyang wouldn't be swayed by such words. He only looked at him coldly and asked himself aloud, "I am now very curious, are you a remarkable Palace Master from the Immortal Palace's history, or perhaps an elder from the Immortal Palace's history? Surely you can't be the [True Monarch Guangming] himself from thousands of years ago!"
Upon hearing this, the existence within the statue couldn't help but respond again, "These details are no longer important. I am now a mere struggling residual soul. Does a True Immortal of your stature really need to spare even a residual soul?"
"If you had peacefully remained struggling within the statue, I naturally wouldn't have cared. But you shouldn't have, shouldn't have developed malice towards my son!"
As Zhouyang spoke, his expression turned grim, and he said coldly, "For a mere residual soul to dare even harbor thoughts about my son, do you truly believe that after becoming an immortal, I can't take action to kill?"
Before finishing the sentence, he stepped forward, his figure instantly appearing above the statue, and punched down directly.
Boom!
With a loud bang, the statue's water-cylinder-sized head was smashed to pieces by Zhouyang's punch.
He then pressed the advantage and kicked towards the statue's chest.
At this moment, the statue finally reacted, hurriedly raising its arms in an attempt to block his kick, but in the end, both its arms and chest were shattered by Zhouyang's kick.
Clearly, compared to Zhouyang's True Immortal Body, refined by the thunder tribulation, this divine statue's material was still entirely inadequate.
The existence within the statue quickly realized this, and soon transformed into a ball of white light, flying out from the statue, directly aiming to seize Zhou Guangzheng, who was in Qin Yue'Er's grasp, as a hostage.
But at this moment, an invisible sword instantly struck the ball of white light, causing it to scream and fall towards the ground.
Zhouyang's figure then darted, and before the ball of white light hit the ground, he directly caught it in his hand, setting up layers of seals to transform it into a golden light sphere.
"You claimed you were a mere residual soul with no capability to take hostages in front of me. Answer my earlier question honestly, and I may grant you a quick end. Otherwise, I'll let you taste the pain of refined soul with true fire!"
Zhouyang spoke while a golden flame suddenly appeared between his fingers and flicked into the golden light sphere.
"Ahhhh... stop burning, stop burning, I'll tell you everything..."
The shrill screams resonated throughout the [Bright Hall]. Witnessing this scene, Qiao Yangming felt a chill down his spine, his face turning pale.
"Don't try any tricks with me. You might have had extraordinary skills in the past, but now you're just a residual soul, entirely unqualified to make demands in front of me!"
Zhouyang waved his hand, dispersing the flames inside the golden light sphere, while reminding the residual soul inside once again.
After he extinguished the golden true flame, the screams of the residual soul finally halted.
Time passed, and just as Zhouyang was about to give the residual soul another taste of pain, it finally spoke.
"Your previous speculations were close, in fact, I am both a residual soul of the [True Monarch Guangming] and the former Immortal Palace Master Han Qi!"
The revelation from the residual soul shocked both Zhouyang and Qiao Yangming inside the hall.
"That's impossible! If you are a residual soul of the [True Monarch Guangming's] ancestor, how can you be the nineteenth generation Palace Master Han Qi?"
Qiao Yangming couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief, his eyes filled with astonishment.
As the Palace Master of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, he naturally knew the names of all the Immortal Palace's generations of Palace Masters by heart.
According to his knowledge, the time of the nineteenth generation Palace Master Han Qi, known in the Immortal Palace's history, was at least seven to eight thousand years apart from the eternal rest of [True Monarch Guangming]!
Additionally, that Palace Master Han Qi was nearly twenty thousand years removed from the present!
"Perhaps it's not impossible. If I have not misunderstood, did your excellency possess the Immortal Palace's Palace Master named Han Qi?"
Zhouyang's face flashed with surprise, and he spoke heavily about his own speculation.
As an outsider, this aspect was actually easier for him to see through than Qiao Yangming.
"Possession!"
Qiao Yangming's expression changed, as if he had thought of something, his face instantly becoming unsightly.
The residual soul, however, didn't pay any attention to Qiao Yangming's demeanor, and candidly admitted, "Indeed, because Han Qi bore the Light Spirit Body, after his cultivation advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage, he was possessed by me, the old man!"
"But at that time, the old man had not expected that he would have some fortuitous encounter outside, cultivating a bizarre Primordial Spirit Assimilation Secret Technique. Although I succeeded in possessing him, my own residual soul was also affected by his secret technique, and was forced to merge with a part of his personality and consciousness!"
"So now I am both the residual soul of True Monarch Guangming and the nineteenth Palace Master Han Qi of the Immortal Palace!"
Upon hearing this, Zhouyang's expression moved, and he couldn't help but follow up with his question, "But something doesn't add up, Fellow Daoist Qiao said earlier that True Monarch Guangming had offended a Great Power in the Upper Realm, dare not ascend, ultimately exhausting his lifespan and dying in this realm. If it's true that he exhausted his lifespan and died, how come there's a residual soul left behind?"
"Moreover, since you possessed Han Qi and lived another life, why didn't you later ascend and become immortal? Why didn't you use this new identity to ascend to the Upper Realm?"
The residual soul heard this and gave a sorrowful smile, "Your question is a good one. At that time, I originally wanted to do as you said, but when my cultivation reached the Ninth-Layer Nascent Soul, I found that I had to break through the Immortal Sect once again!"
"As you know, the Immortal Sect is extremely difficult to open, and because my body and primordial spirit were inherently difficult to harmonize due to the possession, there was almost no chance of knocking open the Immortal Sect!"
"Had I known this earlier, I'd rather have risked everything trying to ascend to the Upper Realm!"
As the saying goes, 'Regret is too late', the words of regret from the residual soul at this moment are just the lament of a failure, not something that could change reality.
But what Zhouyang wanted to hear wasn't this.
Seeing Zhouyang's face darken, he coldly asked again, "You have still not answered me, Zhou, how could you leave behind a residual soul if you exhausted your lifespan and died? And how does this residual soul manage to linger on until today?"
The residual soul answered slowly, "This is where you are uninformed. Who says that one can't leave a residual soul after dying in the Lower Realm? If the primordial spirit of a Tribulation Crossing True Immortal were so easily extinguishable, then how is it that the ancient demon sealed in this realm hasn't perished after ten millennia?"
"The truth is, the life span of a Tribulation Crossing True Immortal in this Lower Realm is limited to about ten thousand years because the immortal soul and the immortal body are sculpted by the Heaven and Earth Laws of the Lower Realm, which must abide by the limitations of the Heavenly Dao Laws here!" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"But if one can surpass the Late-Tribulation Crossing Stage and practice beyond the confines of this realm, reconstructing the immortal soul and immortal body under the Heaven and Earth laws of the external world, upon returning to this realm, one would naturally not be entirely restricted by the Heavenly Dao Laws of the Lower Realm!"
This could really be the case!
Zhouyang was surprised, having heard such a secret for the first time.
He hadn't heard about this from any other True Immortals of the Human Race, not knowing whether they also did not know or chose not to reveal it.
For a moment, he was captivated by the confidential information disclosed by the residual soul, and couldn't help following up, "If you were able to cultivate outside of this realm, why did you return?"
The residual soul, upon hearing this, retorted impatiently, "Your question lacks sophistication. Do you truly have no understanding of the dangers lurking in the Chaos Void? It's not just the old man, even those Returning to Void Great Powers dare not linger there for cultivation!"
"Besides, at the time, only my immortal soul and primordial spirit ventured outside, while my True Immortal Body remained in this realm serving as a return beacon. If not returning, should I just wait to die outside?"
Zhouyang's face turned red upon realizing that his previous question indeed lacked sophistication and did not align with his status as a Tribulation Crossing True Immortal.
However, he couldn't be bothered with trivialities at the moment. It was a rare opportunity to learn about the secrets from the mouth of a former Late-stage Tribulation True Immortal, so he had to make the most of this chance to extract information from this residual soul.
Soon, he asked, "Just now, you regretted not taking the risk to ascend to the Upper Realm. Why is that? As far as I know, the expanse of the Heaven and Earth in the Upper Realm is vast and boundless. Even if you had offended a Great Power there, wouldn't you be able to hide your identity after ascending, and find a remote place to cultivate in secrecy? Could he truly find you in the infinite expanse of the Upper Realm?"
"The Heaven and Earth in the Upper Realm is indeed vast, but ascending there is not as simple as you might imagine! Even if the old man could ascend on his own back then, upon doing so, I'd initially be directed to the Ascension Platform, and only after being recorded in the Immortal Record would I be authorized to begin cultivation in the Upper Realm. That enemy of mine was one of the Great Powers stationed at the Ascension Platform!"
"Moreover, even if you bypass the normal channels and use spatial rifts to smuggle your way in, you'll be spotted by the Immortal Official and taken to the Ascension Platform for scrutiny!"
"It's said that this is a law set by the Harmonious Celestial Immortals of the Upper Realm; every Tribulation Crossing True Immortal entering the Upper Realm from the Lower Realm must adhere to this, without exception!"
The residual soul responded to Zhouyang's inquiry, then couldn't help but chuckle, "Heh heh heh, if you ever have the luck to ascend to the Upper Realm, you'd better not mention you're ascending from this realm, lest that Great Power use you to vent their anger in my stead!"
"After all, when the old man didn't ascend on time, he was so furious that he destroyed the Ascension Platform linking this realm to the Upper Realm, claiming it would ensure the eternal downfall of the cultivators here!"
So, the Ascension Platform of the Spirit Realm was destroyed due to True Monarch Guangming!
Upon hearing the residual soul's revelation, Zhouyang resolved a puzzle that had plagued countless cultivators of this realm.
His expression contorted, almost igniting the residual soul in fury.
While he had initially sympathized with this fellow after hearing the reasons why he couldn't ascend to the Upper Realm, it turned out his actions deprived all future Tier Seven beings of the opportunity to ascend via the Ascension Platform!
Zhouyang believed that if he were to spread this news, handing over the residual soul, those Tier Seven beings would not hesitate to use the most cruel methods to torture this guy, making him understand the true meaning of agony!
Grinding his teeth, he uttered, "You seem quite pleased with yourself for single-handedly ensuring all Tier Seven beings in this realm suffer because of your personal vendetta?"
"That's not fair, the Ascension Platform wasn't destroyed by me, I too am a victim. Besides, you youngsters have no idea how shameless and cruel those Upper Realm True Immortals were back then. If it weren't for me killing the clone and son of that Great Power, wouldn't the Human Race in this realm be unable to live so comfortably now?"
The residual soul grew agitated, adopting an air of having once contributed to the Spirit Realm, rejecting Zhouyang's accusations staunchly.
"Oh really? Then I should thank you on behalf of the Human Race in this realm!"
Zhouyang practically snarled through clenched teeth, his fingers flicking a golden true flame into the golden light sphere.
What a joke!
A residual soul clinging to life after possessing a junior, a wretch trying to possess his son, dared to pose as a benefactor before him, truly tired of living!
