Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 161 Wuji Proves His Dao
However, this number is indeed somewhat dismal. After all, although most of Liang Yu's generation fell behind in the Great Sage Realm, there were still more than two hundred people who could be nominated.

Originally, Wuji's generation should have had more than 300 nominees, but under his punch, most of them failed directly, and the few who caught his punch also realized the gap between them and chose to give up.

Now, with Wuji's own thirty-six prodigies, all of them are true gems refined by the test of time, and their average level is indeed frighteningly high. If not unprecedented, it is certainly unparalleled.

At this time, the ultimate ancient road also opened.

Thirty-six prodigies from various locations embarked on the final conquest of the Starry Sky Ancient Road by stepping into the ultimate ancient road.

During this round of battles, the thirty-six prodigies reached a tacit understanding: each maintained rapid progress without blindly pursuing upgrades. Their goal was to be both courageous and diligent, yet steady and methodical, at every level of the Great Saint Realm. Within each level, they would engage in countless battles to determine the victor.

Within just a few decades, some prodigies began to struggle, unable to maintain both the speed and depth of their cultivation, and thus fell behind. They either were surpassed in their cultivation realm or failed to reach their peak combat strength while trying to catch up, and in short, they had no choice but to withdraw from the competition.

A hundred years have passed, and only sixteen prodigies remain to continue on the ultimate ancient path.

Of the fifteen prodigies Liang Yu selected, only twelve are still among the sixteen. The three remaining after Wuji are prodigies whom Liang Yu has not yet found.

However, this does not mean that Liang Yu misjudged them. Rather, they did not reach that level at the time, but they have undergone a complete transformation over the years, breaking through their limitations and reaching new heights.

Three hundred years have passed, and Wuji has reached the peak of the Great Sage realm. At this time, only seven geniuses are still vying for power.

Ultimately, Wuji and Yuanxiang Wang reached the Quasi-Venerable level first, followed closely by the other five prodigies.

However, after reaching the Quasi-Venerable Realm, only Wuji and Yuanxiang King's cultivation speed increased, while the others were hindered by various obstacles and eventually slowed down.

This time, in just one hundred years, only Wuji, Yuanxiang King, and Bifang of the Kunlun clan remained, and they all reached the fifth level of Quasi-Venerable.

Of course, if Ying Shenxiao hadn't conducted in-depth research on the Kunlun Immortal Scripture over the past ten thousand years, thus creating a secret technique to enhance the strength of Kunlun Immortal Blood and help Bifang improve his bloodline power, he would have fallen behind long ago. But this was already his limit. In the end, he could only watch as the two of them left him behind.

Another hundred years passed, and Wuji and Yuanxiang King reached the ninth level of Quasi-Venerable Realm, at which point they were only about seven hundred years old. This speed was arguably the fastest among those of the mythical era. During this process, Wuji and Yuanxiang King engaged in a protracted battle, but neither could gain the upper hand.

Wuji was also very surprised by this. This Yuanxiang King, who was once his defeated opponent, was able to keep breaking through his limits and take the path of proving the Dao through strength to this extent, and even keep pace with him for hundreds of years.

It can be said that if he hadn't met him, Yuanxiang King would most likely have been the protagonist of this era.

Ultimately, a result was determined between them. Wuji emerged victorious once again. But this time, his victory was not easy. By this time, they were both near-perfect cultivators on the verge of attaining enlightenment.

However, this also means that the competition on the path to enlightenment has finally come to an end.

Yuan Xiangwang was not discouraged. He said, "Wuji, you have won, but I have not admitted defeat yet."

Wuji laughed and said, "You are indeed a formidable opponent, but I will say it again: I will give you a chance to catch up until you can no longer see my back."

Yuan Xiangwang suddenly revealed a strange smile and said, "Wuji, with your talent, you may not have to wait long to make the ultimate leap, and then I will have no chance at all. But I have a way to make you stop on your own, giving me time to catch up and surpass you."

Wuji frowned slightly and asked, "What method?"

Yuanxiang King laughed loudly, "Didn't you want to reach the strongest at every stage? Then go and see the Kunlun Clan. As long as you meet one person, you will definitely slow down your progress in proving your Dao and give me a chance." He turned and left. Through years of battles, he had a deep understanding of Wuji, so he knew that Wuji would definitely take the bait after he said that.

Wuji frowned slightly. The Kunlun clan?
Although he was full of doubts, he was indeed very curious about what Yuanxiang King meant. However, for now, he did not intend to go directly to Kunlun, but instead began to advance his cultivation to a higher level.

Another hundred years later, Wuji, at the age of eight hundred, reached the stage where he could make the ultimate leap. In other words, if he did not deliberately stop, he could attain enlightenment at the age of eight hundred.

This was absolutely unprecedented in the mythological era. Although the age at which one attains enlightenment does not determine the level of one's final achievement, those who can reach this stage in the shortest amount of time must possess exceptional talent.

Even by today's standards, this progress would be considered phenomenal, and only a very few people could match it.

Now it's time to go to Kunlun and see what Yuanxiang King really meant.

He rode a golden beam of light, heading towards the horizon. After all, before the so-called ultimate leap, it was essentially equivalent to the initial stage of alternative enlightenment. This can be seen from the fact that Ye Fan certified Ye Tong and the Holy Prince, who had initially achieved enlightenment, as being no weaker than the Sun Holy Emperor and the Fighting Holy Emperor before their ultimate leap.

Because Bi Fang had fought with him for many years, they were quite familiar with each other, so he knew the current location of Kunlun Ancient Star.

However, he had barely arrived near the ancient star when he understood what Yuanxiang King meant. He sensed Ying Shenxiao's aura. Despite his unorthodox path to enlightenment, his aura was unimaginably powerful.

After the brief meeting, he was utterly shocked. Ying Shenxiao was actually a senior who had competed with the Wuji Heavenly Venerable for the position of Dao Proof, and excluding the time he had been sealed away, he had lived for 33,000 years!
Because of the Kunlun Immortal Blood, Ying Shenxiao had a lifespan of ten thousand years in one lifetime. He also lived a second life by transforming himself and a third life by using the White Tiger Immortal Elixir. He also used Kunlun Immortal Liquid to prolong his life, which is why he had such a long lifespan in total.

Even because of the Kunlun Immortal Scripture, he and the Kunlun Immortal Mountain seemed to merge into one, which greatly slowed down his aging process, so he could live for thousands more years.

The fact that someone who attained enlightenment through unconventional means could live for over 30,000 years left Wuji speechless. After all, many who achieved enlightenment throughout history had not lived that long.

In later generations, when the scarcity of materials made it difficult to refine the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill, the vast majority of those who attained enlightenment would not have survived to the time of Ying Shenxiao.

Moreover, with over 30,000 years of accumulation and Ying Shenxiao's cultivation and refinement of the Kunlun Immortal Scripture, although he attained enlightenment through an unconventional method, he had already reached a level of strength comparable to a true Daoist.

Yuanxiang King only realized how powerful alternative paths to enlightenment could be after meeting Ying Shenxiao. That's why he used this as bait to lure Wuji into exploring the realm of alternative paths to enlightenment, thus buying himself time.

Wuji did indeed take the bait. He abandoned the achievement of attaining enlightenment at the age of eight hundred and instead suppressed himself to explore an alternative path to enlightenment.

This exploration lasted for two hundred years. During this time, the Yuanxiang King, who had attained enlightenment through unorthodox means, challenged him again, but was defeated once more.

However, at this point, Yuanxiang King could still place his hopes on the alternative path to enlightenment exemplified by Ying Shenxiao. If he could continue to evolve and progress in this alternative path, he might not be weaker than those who had attained enlightenment, even without formally proving it. Although the hope was slim, there was, after all, the precedent of Ying Shenxiao.

At the age of one thousand, Wuji had reached a level of complete and unconventional enlightenment, but he also sensed that if he wanted to make further progress, he would probably have to seek a way to live out his next life, just like Ying Shenxiao, or work hard on his own path and constantly break through his limits.

But these things were unnecessary for Wuji. Because at this time, no one was vying for the position of Dao Proving, and no one was suppressing him by proving Dao ahead of time, so Wuji chose to trigger the tribulation of Dao Proving.

In other words, he is finally about to attain enlightenment.

(End of this chapter)