Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 245 Trial Operation of the Ascension Plan

The path to immortality had completely vanished, leaving only that immortal gate in the universe, still emanating waves of immortal energy. Gradually, even this gate disappeared, and the universe fell into complete silence.

Their conversation, as well as the final words of the Primordial Celestial Venerable, naturally entered the minds of all cultivators in the universe.

The Immortal Sect has been established?

This news plunged the cultivators of the mortal realm into a state of extremely complex emotions. The good news was that achieving immortality seemed truly possible. Whether it was the Limitless Heavenly Venerable, the Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Venerable, the Moral Heavenly Venerable, or the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, they were all enlightened beings; they had no reason to deceive them. Therefore, their plan, and even the immortal gate they had established, should naturally be genuine. After all, in this era, the four of them were the most authoritative figures. If even they, working together, couldn't achieve it, then the path to immortality would be utterly hopeless.

With over a dozen Dao Proving Beings existing alongside them and conquering various forbidden zones, their worldview was already in danger of being overturned. Therefore, they naturally have little doubt about the affairs of the Immortal Sect now.

But this is also bad news in some ways. After all, the Supreme Celestial Venerable Wuji and the Primordial Celestial Venerable clearly stated that even those who have attained the Dao may not be able to enter and achieve ascension. This means that their pursuit of the Dao over countless years may not even meet the conditions for ascension to immortality, which is enough to make many people despair.

Of course, for those proud and ambitious geniuses who truly aspire to achieve enlightenment, this actually illuminates their path forward. After all, how can one be invincible without the ambition to surpass their predecessors?
However, Yuanshi Tianzun himself did not enter. Does that mean even he did not meet the standard?

The Primordial Celestial Venerable said, "The Immortal Gate is not yet stable. It will be truly accessible tens of thousands of years from now. At that time, the Immortal Gate will not require the right time, but only the right person to encounter it, and it will naturally manifest. I hope that those who come after will diligently rest and not slacken."

After saying that, he disappeared into the starry sky.

Liang Yu and his group's performance was actually a prelude to their ascension plan. Their immortal sect wasn't entirely deceiving them, since they consistently referred to ascension, not immortality. Furthermore, they never mentioned that ascension led to the Immortal Realm.

Entering the strange world is naturally considered ascension. Moreover, it is indeed possible to cultivate into an immortal in the strange world, although the difficulty is extremely high. Even if you don't become an immortal, as long as you survive by relying on this longevity substance, you will eventually gather three mortal immortals to guide you, and then you will be able to ascend a second time into the immortal realm.

Therefore, Liang Yu and his group's plan was naturally to be honest and fair to all, young and old, and to offer genuine products at fair prices.

As for the fact that even ordinary enlightened beings find it difficult to enter this realm, this is naturally a rhetoric to encourage future enlightened beings. After all, if they know there is a path ahead after enlightenment, then future enlightened beings will have a higher chance of going further. This also serves to raise the average level of future enlightened beings.

This revealed gate to immortality is actually just a grand array they've set up, merely opening a portal on the path to immortality. Only by entering it will you discover the true ascension array within, and ascend through it.

However, this portal will only appear at the right time, that is, when future enlightened beings can no longer make progress in the human world.

Liang Yu, along with the Celestial Venerable of Morality and the Celestial Venerable of Spiritual Treasure, entered the path to immortality, but did not delve too deeply. In fact, with their combined strength, they might have been able to clear this path, but they had already chosen the strongest and most promising path of mortal immortality, and therefore did not continue to try.

Before long, Yuanshi Tianzun, who was in the mortal realm, also quietly entered the path to immortality and joined the three of them. Yuanshi Tianzun said, "Now, all I need to do is relinquish the Heavenly Heart Mark in my next life and make the gesture of entering the Immortal Gate, and the matter of ascending to immortality will truly resonate with people."

The Celestial Venerable of Morality said, "Next, shall we refine the array patterns and truly test the Ascension Array?"

Lingbao Tianzun said, "Yes, although we have simulated this great formation countless times, we still need to actually run it once to truly understand all the problems and achieve perfection."

Liang Yu said, "Then let's run it once and see. There are quite a few cultivators in that world. When I opened the world barrier last time, there were still a dozen or twenty beings who were similar to Dao Proving Ones. The strongest one was probably equivalent to my first life. Now another 50,000 years have passed. I wonder if anything has changed."

"This time, we will try to open up the world's barriers for a while, exchange a few words with them, and reach a cooperation agreement to avoid future conflicts."

The other three supreme beings naturally agreed.

The four of them worked together to truly activate the grand formation that had already been deduced. The source techniques and formation patterns intertwined almost seamlessly. Now, Lingbao Tianzun's mastery of formation patterns had reached a new level, and Liang Yu's source techniques had also greatly improved. Therefore, they made a small improvement and upgrade to the previous formation patterns.

The only thing they lack now is a core immortal artifact. However, they already have more than one immortal artifact, so this is not a big deal.

Liang Yu took out the Immortal Bell and used it as the array's core. The Immortal Bell was the designated immortal artifact array core within their grand formation. Of course, this came with conditions. The immortal artifacts here were currently being replaced every two hundred thousand years. Furthermore, Liang Yu, Lingbao Tianzun, and Daode Tianzun had jointly added array patterns to temper the immortal artifacts, ensuring that they wouldn't deplete their own power here and might even continue to improve.

In other words, although the immortal artifact here has been without freedom for two hundred thousand years, it receives meticulous service almost equivalent to a Heavenly Emperor personally refining its form and perfecting its laws. With the source technique drawing upon external energy, this array pattern can operate stably without their dedicated maintenance. Therefore, this naturally cannot be considered persecution of the immortal bell.

The Immortal Bell was chosen as the first artifact because of its undeniable strength. Throughout the entire universe of *Covering the Sky*, it was the only one that remained completely undamaged, and even a Heavenly Emperor couldn't capture it. Therefore, making it the first artifact was also due to its seemingly superior characteristics compared to other immortal artifacts.

Seeing that the grand formation was ready, Liang Yu controlled his power and unleashed an attack roughly equivalent to the full-force strike of an ordinary Dao Proving cultivator.

After this power entered the grand formation, it was quickly absorbed into it. Then, the Origin Heaven Divine Runes continuously drew upon the essence of heaven and earth, transforming it into an even more immense power. Next, this power surged into the Immortal Bell, reviving it. Boundless immortal light emanated from it as the Immortal Bell slammed into the world barrier, smashing a hole large enough for a person to pass through in the thick boundary.

Countless longevity substances and higher-purity essence of heaven and earth surged forth, a considerable portion of which was quietly swept into the mortal realm by the grand formation, completely replenishing the energy consumed this time, and even leaving a large surplus. After all, no Dao-proving cultivators entered this time, but the energy equivalent to that of a Dao-proving cultivator was still recovered.

(End of this chapter)