Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 196 The Four Immortals of Heaven, Earth, Man, and Ghost
In fact, although the Underworld Lord placed his hopes on the Prison Suppressor Emperor, he still had a backup plan, namely the ancient corpse that was about to become sentient, which would become the future Corpse Emperor.

The future Corpse Emperor is indeed well-suited to become an Earth Immortal through the Netherworld. After all, he is an ancient corpse buried in the Netherworld for countless years, long since imbued with the laws and Dao traces of the Netherworld. Not to mention, he has also formed the Reincarnation Seal. It can be said that he is a low-budget version of the Netherworld Lord.

The compatibility between the Underworld Lord and the Underworld is even higher than that between the Eternal Celestial Venerable and the Immortal Tomb. It would be almost effortless for him to switch paths to become an Earth Immortal, and he would likely have a much smoother path than the Eternal Celestial Venerable. Furthermore, due to his achievements in Source Arts, he would have a significant advantage in the process of managing and expanding the blessed land during the sixth stage of Earth Immortal cultivation.

Although the Corpse King is merely a degraded version of himself and may not be able to master the Source Techniques, his compatibility with this path will naturally not be low. This means that even as a lower-tier version, the Corpse King's compatibility with the Netherworld Scripture will be very high, and his compatibility with the Netherworld will naturally be very high as well.

In some ways, the Corpse King might be more suited to becoming an Earth Immortal in the Underworld than the Prison Suppressor King. However, whether the Corpse King, who is connected to the spirit of the ancient corpse, is willing is another matter entirely. After all, no matter how high the compatibility, there's nothing that can be done if he doesn't want to leave.

Now that the Prison King is willing to become an Earth Immortal, that's naturally the best outcome; after all, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This time, however, he still needs to be careful not to let his remaining remnants cause any major disaster.

The Prison Suppressor Emperor was very familiar with the three divine embryos and the Corpse Emperor, and he had also devoted a lot of effort to them. So he said, "Fellow Daoist Netherworld Venerable, you can rest assured that I will do my best to nurture them."

However, even with the departure of the Underworld Lord and the reincarnation of the Celestial Lord of Annihilation, the Underworld's foundation is still considerable. As long as they reach the Primordial Era, they can still produce four more powerful imperial-level experts.

The Underworld Lord said, "Since that's the case, then I will help you become an Earth Immortal."

As he spoke, he activated the Netherworld Scripture, beginning to draw upon the primal power of the Netherworld. The Origin Heaven Divine Patterns permeated the entire Netherworld, as if making it completely transparent, revealing only countless laws and Dao traces.

Liang Yu can facilitate the union of the Eternal Heavenly Venerable and the Immortal Mausoleum, and the Underworld Venerable can naturally facilitate the union of the Prison Suppressor Emperor and the Underworld.

The King of Hell said, "Fellow Daoist Netherworld Lord, your lifespan is already nearing its end, why waste it on me?"

The Underworld Lord said, “I know you can become an Earth Immortal on your own. I’m just helping you save time. Whether it’s the Spirit-Communicating Ancient Corpse or the three Divine Embryos, I created them. It’s only because I’m troubling you with your efforts that I’m paying you a little something in return.”

The King of Hell wanted to speak, but he was influenced by the origin of the Netherworld, and began to resonate with it. So he could only shut his mouth and begin to concentrate on cooperating with the actions of the Lord of the Underworld.

In his years of cultivation, Zhenyuhuang has actually met the requirements of the second stage of Earth Immortal, which is to transform himself with the Dao traces of the laws of the strange land and become a completely new physique.

The current King of Hell is a true being of the Netherworld. It can be said that this outsider is more likely to have originated from the Netherworld than any native creature.

The Celestial Venerable of Longevity used the method of transforming into a Holy Spirit tens of thousands of years ago, but in the Underworld, the Emperor of Hell used the method of causing himself to perish, becoming almost entirely an ancient corpse except for a trace of his immortal true spirit.

The result was that the Celestial Venerable of Longevity successfully explored the methods of Earth Immortals, and the Holy Spirit Transformation method he used was indeed easier to integrate with the wondrous land. This method also became the third stage of Earth Immortals. Methods like that of the Prison Emperor, who transformed into an ancient corpse, still did not fully integrate into the Netherworld. After all, a corpse and a tomb are indeed complementary yet separate parts. It is precisely because of this that the Prison Emperor was able to recover again over tens of thousands of years, becoming a living person once more, and thus unable to continue to deeply integrate with the Netherworld.

Of course, this process allowed him to fully master the Dark Nerve and completely transform his physical constitution. Therefore, he benefited greatly.

This time, under the guidance of the Underworld Lord, he also began to learn from the way of the Eternal Life Heavenly Lord to transform himself into a semi-holy spirit, merging into the Underworld itself, and moving towards the fourth stage of Earth Immortal.

At this time, Liang Yu returned to Wuji Immortal Mountain once again. He had already obtained the Chaos Dao Fruit in this life, so he did not continue his seclusion. However, he was nearly 50,000 years old in this life, and still had a considerable amount of lifespan left.

While organizing past achievements that had not yet been put to use on his own at Wuji Immortal Mountain, Liang Yu discovered that he had actually mastered four methods of becoming an immortal, and all of them were systematic methods that could be continuously learned and followed by future generations.

The first method involves ascending to a strange world or the Immortal Realm, and then cultivating to become a True Immortal in a great world where longevity substances and immortal laws exist. This can be called becoming a Celestial Immortal, since it can only be achieved in heaven. Of course, if you are the right person and fight your way into the Immortal Realm from the path to immortality, that can also be considered this type, since both involve ascension.

The second method, which they have just summarized over hundreds of years, involves merging oneself into a wondrous place to achieve immortality, becoming one with the heavens, and then cultivating a blessed land for earth immortals. This blessed land then continuously evolves and expands, transforming the blessed land and the human universe together into a celestial realm. This is the method of earth immortals.

The third type, naturally, is the path of immortality in the mortal world, which they have been exploring through countless lifetimes of transformation. This can also be called the path of human immortality.

The fourth method, though not yet successfully implemented, has largely completed its theoretical foundation: the method of transforming one's body into an immortal artifact, derived from the Boundless Dao Stele and the Primordial Spirit Merging with the Dao Weapon. This method of achieving immortality requires abandoning one's physical body, thus it can be called Corpse-Dissolving Immortality. Furthermore, based on the Primordial Spirit Merging with the Dao Weapon aspect, calling it Ghost Immortality wouldn't be out of the question, since it primarily relies on the Primordial Spirit.

Thinking of this, Liang Yu couldn't help but think to himself, when will someone create another method of becoming an immortal based on the power of faith? Then there will be gods and immortals, and the five immortals of heaven, earth, man, gods, and ghosts will be complete.

Of these four paths to immortality, the mortal path is naturally the strongest and most promising, but it is also the most difficult, and only a handful of people can succeed.

Earth Immortals and Corpse Immortals who transform their bodies into immortal artifacts are both alternative paths with unclear upper limits and future paths, and have many limitations, making them suitable only for a few special cultivators.

Therefore, ascending to the celestial realm to become an immortal is actually the most cost-effective method of achieving immortality.

First of all, in terms of difficulty, it doesn't require you to go through complicated research into other secret techniques, nor does it require you to explore any transformation methods. As long as you cultivate diligently in the strange world while waiting for enough mortal immortals to take you into the immortal realm, you can become an immortal in the immortal realm.

Secondly, the subsequent path is also very clear. After all, the realm of True Immortal is a realm that the Immortal Realm perfected many years ago and is completely systematic. As long as you enter the Immortal Realm, you can continue your cultivation step by step.

(End of this chapter)