Immortal Road.

To be honest, the fact that Qu Gong was able to borrow the Tongtian Lingbao shows that he is quite capable.

Venerable Yushe asked in a deep voice:
When are you ready to go to Penglai?

Qu Gong patted his chest and guaranteed.

"When my brother is ready to undergo his tribulation, it will probably take a few more years, but not long."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

The confrontation ended there, turning hostility into friendship. They almost came to blows, but fortunately, Qu Gong, with his silver tongue, successfully resolved the crisis and even managed to borrow the treasure.

The important thing is that they have a key ally from Penglai!
The group then took their seats and, fueled by the momentum, drank heartily. The three Nascent Soul stage sea creatures then ordered the palace banquet to continue, with singing and dancing creating a lively atmosphere.

After the excitement subsided, Qu Gong and Lin Shan took their leave and withdrew from Beiyang Market together.

They walked around the underwater city, especially along the main roads, and found that the goods traded by the sea creatures were indeed different from those on the mainland, and were mostly aquatic spiritual items.

Some rare treasures that are hard to find in the outside world are dirt cheap here, while ordinary spiritual items from the outside world are still dirt cheap here!

This shows that the sea creatures had long been engaged in trading on the mainland, taking treasures from the deep sea out to sell at high prices, and then continuously transporting resources from the mainland to the deep sea.

Over time, their racial heritage has grown rapidly, while the mainland human race remains unaware of it.

"Could it be that these sea creatures harbor ulterior motives and plan to launch a counterattack against the mainland in the future?"

Lin Shan became increasingly alarmed as he looked at the scene, feeling that things were not going to turn out well.

"That's for sure. Those who are not of our kind must have different intentions!"

Qu Gong was not surprised and explained the history to him.

"According to ancient records in this world, the sea creatures have launched large-scale, all-out invasions of the continent at least eight or ten times, and there have been countless minor skirmishes."

"Not to mention anything far back, the most recent time was last Wanhui year, when they successfully conquered five border countries of the Northern Continent. The leader was none other than Venerable Yu She, who just made a deal with us!"

"However, back then, there were many geniuses in this world, but the most eye-catching one was Penglai Cangyan. This guy clearly had his territory in the East Sea, but he actively interfered in the affairs of the North Sea. He joined forces with the alien race of the Ice and Snow Alliance to defeat the sea race and shatter their ambition to colonize the North Sea!"

"That's why he agreed so readily when we suggested attacking Penglai."

Hearing this, Lin Shan, combining what he had heard before, suddenly felt that Zang Yan was not only a legendary figure, but also not as evil and villainous as he had imagined.

After all, the people he came into contact with were all people who had grudges against Zang Yan, but in the eyes of others at the same time, they might be great heroes.

Qu Gong affirmed his idea.

“Zang Yan was the chosen one in the last Wanhui year, and he was a household name in the cultivation world, admired by everyone.”

"And regardless of whether it's me, the great demon, or the plant-like prodigies like the Red Lotus Ancestor, or the hellish demon Lord like the Demon Dog Lord, or the otherworldly godfather like the Jade Star God Lord, they are all outliers among outliers, heretics among heretics!"

"He dealt with and sealed away these people one after another. What do you think of him?"

Lin Shan thought about it and realized it made sense!

Those who were dealt with by Zang Yan were all carefully selected individuals with blemishes on their records, so they were completely justifiable in terms of righteousness. No one would speak up for them, which explains why they have been sealed away for so many years without anyone coming to their rescue.

Xing Jinshu led the alien race to abandon darkness and embrace light, which seemed perfectly normal to people at the time. No one thought there was anything wrong with her, as justice triumphing over evil was the beautiful vision of the vast majority of cultivators at the bottom of society.

"But why did Zang Yan only seal you away instead of eliminating you completely? If he could find your true forms, eliminating you shouldn't have been that difficult, right?"

He used to think that it was difficult to kill a powerful being with a primordial spirit, and even a peerless figure like Zang Yan couldn't do anything about it.

But now that I've reached this point, I've found that it's not as scary as I imagined. Didn't the Joyful God Lord die at my and Zhang Yunxi's hands? Wasn't the Supreme Elder of the Pill Cauldron Holy Land also killed by my cheap master?
As the Holy Lord of Penglai, how could Zang Yan be without a plan!
"I don't know. This is an unsolved mystery throughout the ages. If you are able to ascend to the Immortal Realm in the future, why don't you go and ask him yourself?"

Qu Gong couldn't answer, and seemed unwilling to answer the question.

The two returned to the surface from the deep sea together, and then rushed towards the Nine Heavens Gale, moving at an extremely fast speed.

We travel above the clouds and arrive at a world separated by barriers.

There's no need to break through the void; the primordial spirit can pass right through!
next moment.

An endless chill surged forth, and countless tiny flakes of skin clung to the primordial spirit. Even countless unknown striped insects emerged from the void and clung to it!
"what?"

Lin Shan quickly put on the Void Silver Scale Armor he had prepared. The treasure flashed with a bright light, all the scales stood up, and the insects on his body crystallized and fell off, and the skin flakes were also driven away. It turned out that they were moths!

Although Qu Gong's primordial spirit was also separated from his body, he was not in such a sorry state. He could feel that there was also something invisible eroding him, and he dealt with it very calmly.

"These are Void Mayflies, which live in the void and steal the world's spiritual energy. They come in a wide variety of species. Once someone leaves their physical body and their primordial spirit departs, they become an unsuspecting and delicious meal for them, and they will come after you as soon as they smell it!"

Void mayfly?

Lin Shan felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the tiny insects that had died and disappeared.

Fortunately, he had the treasures of the sea creatures to back him up on this trip; otherwise, he would have been unable to move an inch in the void, and those messy mayflies alone would have been enough to give him a hard time.

"Actually, from a normal perspective, as long as your primordial spirit steps out of the void, even if you are wandering in the heavens, you can immediately return. There is no requirement to stay for a certain period of time in the conventional sense."

Qu Gong looked around, his eyes filled with reminiscence. Then he looked back at his own world, its earthy yellow light radiating an aura of profound virtue and enduring vitality. Despite the vicissitudes of time, it was still full of life, and he couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of creation.

"Now that I'm protecting you, and the Void Silver Scales are keeping you safe, you can try to venture deep into the void. You might as well forget yourself and everything else outside this world!"

Lin Shan was taken aback.

"To forget oneself and the external world? To be in the vast emptiness?"

"if not."

Qu Gong sneered, his eyes filled with disdain.

"Those Nascent Soul stage cultivators only briefly wander outside the heavens to fool people. Afterward, they quickly return to the main world, enter a blessed land, take pills, and enter meditation to lock in the state of wandering outside the heavens. They simulate the experience of wandering outside the heavens and forcibly replace the forgetting of self and things with the unity of heaven and man. What kind of bastard is this?"

"Only by truly roaming the void beyond the heavens, where one day of spiritual travel is equivalent to one month of enlightenment, can one truly come into contact with the laws of the void, lay a solid foundation for the future Void Realm, and pave the way to the heavens!"

"Forgetting oneself and the external world means completely merging the body into the void. This is a different concept from becoming one with the world. How vast is the void? How big is the world? These two are worlds apart, and the combat power of the Nascent Soul stage after breaking through will naturally be different as well."

"These are all things my master told me, and I'm telling you them exactly as they are. The choice is yours. If you want to quickly achieve the Nascent Soul stage, then turn back now. If you have ambitions to reach the Void Realm, then come with me into the depths of the void!"

"how?"

Qu Gong stared intently at Lin Shan, wanting to know whether he was a coward or a hero!
"That goes without saying, of course it's to delve into the void."

Upon hearing that it was his master, the Immortal in the Bamboo Hat, Lin Shan knew he would blindly side with the immortal; only a fool would go back. "Hahaha, brother, I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

Qu Gong gave a thumbs-up in genuine admiration, then looked pitiful, as if he was about to see how Lin Shan would suffer a setback.

“But having ambition alone is not enough. Coordinates in the void are constantly changing. Even if I go too far away from the world, I may get lost. So ensuring that I can return is of paramount importance.”

"The main purpose of your spiritual travel is to capture the light traces in the void. This thing can help you comprehend the laws of the void, which is the primary objective of your spiritual travel beyond the heavens."

"Finally, it's about perseverance. The longer you persevere, the more your primordial spirit will adapt to the void, and your understanding will also improve accordingly. This is the process of accumulating foundation."

"Only when you experience it firsthand will you know how difficult and challenging it is. It's a breakthrough for the brave; when your body reaches its limit, your willpower will carry you out of the fray. No, what are you chewing on?"

Qu Gong suddenly roared, realizing that while he was teaching, this kid was actually daydreaming and eating snacks.

"I'm just taking a pill, what's wrong with that?"

Lin Shan puffed out his cheeks and chewed hard. You have to admit, this pill was really chewy!

"Well, I knew it. You had already planned ahead, intending to go back and muddle through, just like those fake primordial spirits!"

Qu Gong pointed at his nose and cursed him, expressing his disappointment and shaking his leg.

"Thank goodness I went to all that trouble to borrow the Void Silver Scale Armor for you. If I had known you were so unambitious, I shouldn't have come to help you!"

"No, I just took a pill, what's wrong with that?"

Lin Shan was baffled and suddenly burped; the pill he had just taken immediately took effect.

A six-petaled transparent flower took root at his feet, drawing in beams of light from countless stars, which instantly refracted and laid out tracks leading to the depths of the void!
"Void Flower?"

Qu Gong was greatly surprised and stared wide-eyed, asking what kind of elixir it was.
"The Void Star Guiding Pill is a sixth-order spiritual pill specifically used for spiritual travel beyond the heavens. Now we have a void track, so we don't have to worry about getting lost anymore."

"Where did you get this pill?"

"It was a gift from a wealthy young woman."

Lin Shan was unwilling to say more. Then, a cloud of mist appeared on his chest, illuminating the entire space within a radius of three zhang. Strands of void were clearly visible, and there was even a glowing insect moving around.

"Is this also a void mayfly?"

"No, this is a trace of light in the void!"

Qu Gong roared, reached out and pinched the glowing insect in his hand, examined it carefully, and had to admit that Lin Shan was lucky.

"This place is relatively close to the main world, and void light traces are very rare. Only by going deeper into the void can we find more light traces."

Returning the little worm to Lin Shan, and looking at the three-zhang-wide halo around him that could directly reveal the light traces in the void, I couldn't help but feel envious.

"The grandmaster who refined the pills for you must be a late-stage or even peak Nascent Soul cultivator, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to create such a countermeasure against the void light traces. If it's convenient, could you introduce me to him?"

"this."

Lin Shan guessed that Zhang Yunxi must have cheated when it came to refining pills, otherwise, how could she have refined pills that could capture void light traces without even having a primordial spirit? That would be unbelievable.
When Qu Gong saw that he refused to agree, he became furious.

"I took you to visit the sea tribe as soon as you were born, but you wouldn't even introduce me to an alchemist. How stingy!"

"No, she is no longer in this realm. How can I introduce her to you?"

"Could it be that they have already ascended to heaven?!"

"Well, that's right."

Lin Shan didn't have time to explain this to him, because at this moment the Void Star Guiding Pill continued to take effect, and an hourglass appeared above his head, slowly changing the state of his primordial spirit.

"What is this?"

Qu Gong was confused, but Lin Shan knew that, according to the description on the enhancement panel, this was the legendary Sand of Time, which slowed down the flow of time during divine travel. One day of divine travel was equivalent to one year of comprehension, and it was specially used to cultivate the foundation of the Dao.

"Alright, let's get going. We'll talk about the rest on the way!"

The two followed the star trails laid out by the Void Flowers into the depths of the void. Along the way, they encountered many traces of void light and took them all. Lin Shan ate them one after another. After eating them, he found that his primordial spirit was clear and his whole body was light. He had an indescribable feeling, as if he was closer to the void and nature.

They continued until they reached the deepest part of the void, where even the faint light traces were too much to grasp. Within a radius of three zhang, every detail was clearly visible, and he and Qu Gong struggled to grasp them until their hands were sore.

After refining a certain amount, my mind suddenly went blank!
His pupils lost focus, his body stood stiffly in the void, motionless, his thoughts scattered and unfocused, and he wandered in the ocean of emptiness.

Qu Gong quickly came to his side to protect him.

"This is a state of complete absorption, where one forgets oneself and the external world. An average person might be able to maintain it for three to five hours, while a person with strong willpower might be able to do it for three to five days. Let's see how long this kid can last!"

Lin Shan stayed in the dark depths of the void, with no one visiting except Qu Gong who protected him. He wore a silver scale armor to protect himself from being corroded and passed the days without feeling anything.

A whole month has passed, and he is still immersed in a state of complete absorption, showing no signs of waking up. Qu Gong even wondered if the boy might have lost consciousness.

Without consciousness, the primordial spirit is nothing but an empty shell, becoming a useless 'plant element'.

He wanted to wake Lin Shan, but he was afraid of disrupting the process, since it concerned the boy's future potential. He would definitely regret it if he interrupted it in advance!

"Alright, let's wait a few more days."

He stayed by his side for another half month, almost a month, when Lin Shan suddenly unleashed a powerful soul pressure that almost crushed Qu Gong beneath him!
How long was I distracted?

"Six times nine equals fifty-four days, which perfectly matches the number six and nine. This is the limit of the seven-step primordial spirit realm for you!"

Lin Shan nodded.

Fifty-four days is equivalent to a spiritual journey of fifty-four years. How many detours can be avoided in this way?

He felt that his control over the void had reached an extraordinary level, and he could vaguely grasp a certain part of space and then suddenly crush it!

Suddenly, another small light bug rushed out from it.

"Is this still a trace of light in the void?"

Upon seeing this, Qu Gong roared.

"No, this is the essence of the void!" (End of Chapter)