Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 197 Alchemy
Liang Yu only needed to briefly compare the differences between these four methods of achieving immortality to know that the Celestial Immortal method created by the Ascension Plan would definitely be the mainstream. After all, this was indeed the path suitable for the vast majority of those seeking enlightenment.

However, this approach is actually detrimental to cultivating the most outstanding enlightened beings. After all, people are inherently lazy; once they know there's a shortcut, how many can resist taking it?
Moreover, this is immortality, becoming a celestial being—the ultimate goal pursued by cultivators on their path of cultivation. The allure of this is unimaginably great.

Even if they could resist the temptation, knowing they had the option of ascending to a strange world as a fallback, they would find it difficult to exert all their strength to seek sublimation and transformation. After all, theoretically, entering a world with substances that grant immortality should make cultivation much easier, far better than enduring hardship in the mortal realm.

This idea is correct for most people; a good environment can indeed help one achieve greater success on the path of spiritual practice. After all, theoretically, a better environment should lead to a higher average level and a higher potential.

However, the situation is different in the world of Shrouding the Heavens. The underlying logic of our Shrouding the Heavens world is that the more difficult the situation, the stronger one becomes; only those who can transcend their environment are the top-tier powerhouses. Moreover, this principle is not limited to the human universe; this can be seen from the fact that the Red Dust Immortals are highly valued in all worlds and systems.

Therefore, the same achievement will be completely different whether you achieve it in the human realm during the Dharma-ending Age, in a strange world where longevity substances exist, or in the celestial realm.

In fact, given the later strength of the Desolate Heavenly Emperor, repairing the human universe would have been extremely easy for him; it could be said that he could do it with a mere thought. However, the human universe remains in a state of decline.

Why would this happen? The reason might be that the Desolate Emperor is in a critical situation and cannot spare the time; or it could be that the Desolate Emperor is afraid of exposing his homeland, so he deliberately does not repair it to reduce the possibility of the enemy noticing it, since the more powerful a world is, the more attention it will attract.

But Liang Yu believed even more strongly that this was intentional on the part of the Desolate Heavenly Emperor, who wanted to use this Dharma-ending environment to cultivate the strongest geniuses. Only such individuals could help him, alleviate his pressure, and even turn the tide. This was, of course, because the Desolate Heavenly Emperor had once been a mortal immortal who had undergone countless transformations, and therefore he was very clear about the boundless potential of this state.

Therefore, Liang Yu felt that they should add some restrictions to the ascension plan to prevent future Dao attainers or those top-tier alternative Dao attainers born in the wrong era from perceiving the ascension as soon as they attained Dao.

These descendants must first withstand the pressure of death, cherish the faint but real hope of becoming immortals, and constantly push their own potential until they are truly at their wits' end and can no longer transform. Only then should they participate in the ascension plan.

After all, transformation in the mortal realm greatly enhances one's abilities. Even if one cannot become a mortal immortal, undergoing several transformations will allow them to progress more smoothly and further on the path to becoming a true immortal.

This might cause some enlightened beings to die during the transformation process, but it can indeed select the most outstanding small group of people.

In that case, it might require those few who follow the mortal path of immortality and those who follow the earthly path of immortality to take time to pay attention to future Dao-proving individuals and inform them of the ascension plan at the appropriate time. However, in order to select the best of the best, this is a necessary measure.

Of course, under such circumstances, there might be slightly more immortals who walk on earth or those who transcend death. After all, it is indeed too difficult to transform oneself in the mortal realm.

Just as Liang Yu was pondering how to improve the ascension plan, a supreme and transcendent aura of immortality subtly emanated from him. Then, this aura shifted again, as if returning to its original simplicity, with only a faint Daoist charm dissipating.

This was naturally the Celestial Venerable of Morality, who resided in the Wuji Immortal Mountain, seeking the method of transformation through studying the ancient tea tree and the Bodhi tree. His change in aura also interrupted Liang Yu's thoughts.

Clearly, the Celestial Venerable of Morality had also successfully mastered the method for transformation into his next life. However, since his current lifespan had not yet ended, he, like Liang Yu, suppressed himself and did not immediately begin the next life. Nevertheless, the Celestial Venerable of Morality's fifth lifespan had already exceeded 40,000 years and was still not over, demonstrating his immense power.

Of course, Liang Yu's fourth incarnation is now nearly 50,000 years old and still not over, and he is equally extraordinary. However, they have actually reached the late stage of this incarnation and have long since begun their decline. Seeing that the Celestial Venerable of Morality had finished his seclusion, Liang Yu cupped his hands and said, "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist of Morality."

Seeing the faintly interwoven chaotic laws on Liang Yu's body, the Celestial Venerable of Morality knew that the other party had also completed his accumulation, so he said, "Congratulations, congratulations. However, I felt that something was happening earlier, but I was in seclusion and did not take a closer look. I wonder what it was?"

Liang Yu laughed and said, "It is Fellow Daoist Changsheng who has opened up an alternative path to immortality, which we call Earth Immortal."

He then revealed the secrets of the Earth Immortal's Method to the Celestial Venerable of Morality.

Even the Celestial Venerable of Morality couldn't help but exclaim in amazement: "Although this method is confined to the mortal realm, it is still incredibly ingenious. I never expected that Fellow Daoist Changsheng could achieve such a feat."

Seeing that Daoist Daozun seemed to want to go into seclusion again, Liang Yu quickly said, "Fellow Daoist Daozun, please don't rush into seclusion for research. I have another matter I would like to ask you for help with."

Upon hearing this, the Celestial Venerable of Morality put his mind at ease and said, "I wonder what brings you here, Fellow Daoist Wuji? Without your Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree, I fear I would have had a difficult time succeeding. If you have any requests, please feel free to ask, and I will certainly do my utmost to assist you."

With a wave of his hand, Liang Yu conjured a pile of various divine treasures, including several fruits of the Fusang laurel tree and ginseng fruit. Aside from the immortality elixir fruit, most of these materials were actually collected during his second life. Although he was merely deceiving those supreme beings of the forbidden zones at the time, he did indeed collect a considerable amount of materials for refining the Nine-Turn Immortal Pill. While he didn't specifically pursue collecting them later, he still acquired quite a few, accumulating this pile.

He also presented the method for refining the Nine-Turn Immortal Elixir, which the Carefree Celestial Venerable had later researched and which could slightly mend the cracks in the Immortal Platform and prolong life, to the Moral Celestial Venerable.

He then said, "I have long admired Fellow Daoist Morality's superb alchemy skills. I would like to ask you to refine a new Nine-Turn Immortal Pill to temporarily restore those self-severed Supreme Beings to their peak state of thousands of years ago."

The Celestial Venerable of Morality was quite interested in alchemy and weapon crafting, and thus possessed profound expertise in these arts. Moreover, Liang Yu not only had all the necessary materials but also a modified version of the Nine-Turn Immortal Elixir as a base. Therefore, his request was indeed not that difficult for the Celestial Venerable of Morality.

After a moment's thought, the Celestial Venerable of Morality said, "Fellow Daoist Wuji, how many do you want?"

Liang Yu said, "About ten or so. The more the merrier."

The Celestial Venerable of Morality considered the materials and said, "That should be enough. When do you need them, Fellow Daoist Wuji?"

"Before the path to immortality opens five hundred years from now."

"it is good."

(End of this chapter)