Chapter Thirty-Two: The Struggle for the Sacred Land

Stealing someone from the Immortal-Locking Tower was no easy feat; this wasn’t a situation like with the Dragon Prince. The prisoner likely had no desire to leave in the first place. Thus, if they wished to whisk someone away without a trace, they needed to create chaos within the Three Mountain Towers—the only possible breach lay with the Demon-Suppressing Tower.

The Three Mountain Towers imprisoned several Earth Immortals and True Demons, but the two Earth Immortals held in the Immortal-Locking Tower were treated fairly well, often debating the Dao with the Earth Immortals of Supreme Dawn Palace. Attempting to rescue them would only result in being struck down immediately. The demon kings in the Demon-Refining Tower, though yearning for freedom, coveted the inheritances of the demon race’s sacred grounds; freeing them would bring even greater disaster, and Tu Shan’s life would be forfeit.

Therefore, the only way was to find someone in the Demon-Suppressing Tower.

Of course, the demons imprisoned within had no ties to Ji Feichen and Tu Shan, and might well turn against their would-be saviors.

“I’ll find a chance to visit the Demon-Suppressing Tower another day; perhaps something unexpected will turn up.”

That afternoon, as usual, the two kept watch over the jade mine. In the evening, they returned and cultivated thunder arts.

“Traveling the world as a loose cultivator of the Mystic Gate named Qing Hong, aside from the Azure Tide Pearl and the Yin-Yang Dragon Whisker, only thunder arts can avoid exposing my identity.”

The Azure Tide Pearl was easily countered by shell-spirits; the Yin-Yang Dragon Whisker, though currently unmatched, held unpredictable risks for the future. If one day he encountered a true heir of the orthodox line, it would mean certain death. Only thunder arts could be relied upon as a trump card.

Today, when Immortal Zhenguang taught the “Art of Thunder Sublimation,” Ji Feichen gained much insight. Thunder was not immutable. To cultivators, it was a part of nature yet transcended the natural order, stepping into the realm of the Dao.

By fusing one’s own Grand Dao with thunder arts so that thunder answered one’s will, it became a unique power symbolizing one’s path.

“Hence, the Mystic Gate possesses supreme thunder arts such as the Supreme Purity Divine Thunder, the Dual Polarity Divine Thunder, the Violet Firmament Divine Thunder, and so on.” After pondering for a while, Ji Feichen flicked his finger, lightning leaping from his index, which with a flick of his hand coalesced into a sword of thunder.

He had witnessed this very method—transforming thunder into a sword—in the hands of Jing Xuan. The Supreme Purity Divine Thunder was the Supreme Purity Sect’s most exalted technique. In Jing Xuan’s hands, thunder imbued with Supreme Purity’s mysterious radiance would attach to the Nine Clouds Divine Sword.

A bright moon hung in the dark night, lone stars fell into the abyss of the sky.

Thus a night passed.

Ji Feichen threw himself into the study of thunder arts, and when he returned to his senses, dawn had already broken on a new day. Several fellow disciples, including Guo Shaoyang, went to attend a lecture. Ji Feichen and Tu Shan took charge of letting the prisoners out for exercise.

The two took the keys and proceeded layer by layer to inspect the cells.

The interior of the Immortal-Locking Tower was a hollowed-out mountain, fashioned into seven layers, each a world of its own, like a blessed realm. Seven circular discs were stacked within the tower. The outer rings held the Mystic Gate’s prisoners, while the centers were dwellings for the disciples of Supreme Dawn Palace. The core residential area linked all seven layers of the tower via a pillar of colored glass light, allowing passage up and down. In Ji Feichen’s past life, he would have called this an elevator; stand at the bottom, and it would automatically transport you through the seven levels.

If a prisoner wanted to escape, the only exit was this rainbow-hued pillar. There was no other way out.

The seven levels of the Immortal-Locking Tower: the first and second levels held ordinary disciples; the third to fifth levels, Human Immortals; the sixth, Earth Immortals; and the seventh was the core, home to Supreme Dawn Palace’s Earth Immortals.

Typically, the fourth and fifth layers imprisoned those with the gravest crimes, some even sentenced to death and destined for the Execution Platform. These individuals must never be released.

Ji Feichen and Tu Shan always chose laborers from the first three layers. Ji Feichen had never set foot on the fourth; even Chen Luo in the past had not visited the fourth or fifth levels.

On the third level, which contained sixty cells—named after the sixty-year cycle—there was capacity for sixty Human Immortals. Currently, only fifty-six were occupied.

The two walked carefully past the cells, glimpsing Immortals meditating within.

These Immortals had committed crimes of varying severity, but as members of the Mystic Gate, each possessed excellent cultivation of inner calm. Many chanted scriptures or studied techniques within their chambers. Supreme Dawn Palace treated these prisoners with a measure of courtesy; Chen Luo and Wu He had always shown them the respect due to elders.

“Chen Luo, come here.” Suddenly, an old man in cell Renzi called out to him.

Ji Feichen’s heart tightened. According to Chen Luo’s memories, he had a close relationship with this elder, having learned many arts from him. Though Ji Feichen had imitated Chen Luo perfectly in the illusion, could he truly fool this teacher?

“Master Ding is looking for me?” Ji Feichen, playing Chen Luo, approached and peered into the cell. Inside, a plain but clean-robed elder sat, serene and composed, as though he had forgotten he was a prisoner.

The cells in the Immortal-Locking Tower were spacious, each over a hundred square meters. A barrier at the door separated inside from outside, unbreakable without a key even for Immortals. Staff regularly cleaned and provided food and medicine. For ordinary itinerant cultivators, such treatment was enviable.

Master Ding’s full name was Ding Shan, styled Jade Rosy Clouds. Because of a lapse in judgment that led to several disciples’ deaths by deviation, he exiled himself here for a century of atonement.

The kindly old man smiled, “I’ve had some insights lately and wish to get some fresh air today.”

Ji Feichen, in Chen Luo’s guise, grinned cheekily, “Then today, Master Ding, you’ll have to answer five of my questions at least.” As he spoke, he opened the cell.

Ding Shan wore iron cuffs that sealed his power, forbidding him from using his cultivation freely within the tower. Yet the supervision here was more relaxed than in the Demon-Suppressing or Demon-Refining Towers. If Ding Shan truly wished to remove the cuffs, Ji Feichen could not stop him.

In truth, it guarded against gentlemen, not villains.

Ding Shan accompanied them to find others. Along the way, Ji Feichen inquired about difficulties in the “True Thunder of Nine Heavens’ Response” and the cultivation of the Gui Water Divine Thunder.

“In the Mystic Gate, all cultivation revolves around Primal Unity and Supreme Polarity, Two Forms and Three Powers, Four Symbols and Five Elements, Six Harmonies and Seven Stars, Eight Trigrams and Nine Palaces, as well as the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. The thunder arts of Supreme Dawn Palace begin with the Heavenly Stems, drawing from Yin-Yang and the Five Elements: first dividing into two types of thunder, then each separates into Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. Your Gui Water Divine Thunder is a transformation of Yin Thunder’s water aspect. This suits your nature, but not perfectly. You can either use the Gui Water Divine Thunder to form a thunder core and attain Human Immortal status, or pursue further transformation.”

The key lay in how to transform it!

Ji Feichen pressed for guidance, but by then Tu Shan had found his target: a Mystic Gate Immortal who, having failed in the struggle for sect leader, was banished here under a pretext, bringing with him secrets of the demon race’s sacred land.

Tu Shan released him as well, then selected three more Human Immortals—five in all from the third level. In the first and second levels, they chose dozens more for jade mining.

But Human Immortals were unlike common cultivators; they sat in reed pavilions, basking in the sun, cultivating, and refused to toil in the mines.

Ding Shan and Ji Feichen sat in a corner. The elder sipped tea, calm and content. “If you wish to further sublimate your thunder, you can try combining Ren and Gui. Cultivate the Ren Water Divine Thunder to form a core of true water primordial thunder; then all water-based arts in the world would be at your mercy. You could draw water from metal, swim through water, extinguish fire spirits. The only things to fear are those skilled in Wood or Earth arts.”

Earth overcomes water, wood is born from water, and thunder in water is checked by earth and wood.

Ji Feichen committed this to memory. “What other transformations are possible for Gui Water Divine Thunder?”

“In Supreme Dawn Palace, I recall there being a thunder art of the Five Elements called the Annihilating Profound Yin Divine Thunder. It is forged from the five thunder arts of Yi Wood, Ding Fire, Ji Earth, Xin Metal, and Gui Water, forming the Profound Yin Thunder—a true Yin Thunder corresponding to Yin in the Supreme Polarity. Its power is such that it can pierce all Five Element arts.”

“Is that actually cultivable?” a nearby Human Immortal, resting, interjected. “Supreme Dawn Palace derived two ultimate thunder arts: the Five Elements Annihilating Profound Yin Divine Thunder and the Five Elements Pure Yang Demon-Subduing Divine Thunder. They are the crowning jewels of the Heavenly Stems thunder arts. Yet both are so arduous that only the most determined can master them. The one from Supreme Dawn Palace who succeeded reached the rank of Earth Immortal—but among countless disciples, only he achieved it. The rest all went mad during cultivation. And honestly, if you want the Profound Yin Annihilating Divine Thunder, why bother with all five elements? You could, in theory, derive a wisp of the supreme essence just from the Gui Water Divine Thunder.”

“That’s even less reliable than what I suggested,” Ding Shan replied. “To distill the Annihilating Divine Thunder from only the Gui Water Divine Thunder is even harder than doing so from the complete Five Element Divine Thunders.”

Ding Shan’s method was a long and laborious one, but as long as one avoided the backlash of the Five Elements, once the Five Element Divine Thunders were mastered, the Annihilating Divine Thunder was within reach.

Theoretically, one could also study pure Yin arts from any of the Five Yin Thunders. But the odds of success were vanishingly small.

Nonetheless, Supreme Dawn Palace’s two thunder arts truly were extraordinary: the Five Elements Annihilating Profound Yin Divine Thunder countered all Mystic Gate arts, and the Five Elements Pure Yang Demon-Subduing Divine Thunder suppressed all demonic energies. If one could merge the two, the resulting “Supreme Primordial Unity Thunder Art” would rival the sect master’s own “Ninefold Divine Thunder of Divine Firmament.”

The “Ninefold Divine Thunder of Divine Firmament” was the highest art of Supreme Dawn Palace, said to be the very method cultivated by the Dao Sovereign.

“Exalted Divine Firmament, infinite and boundless, Ninefold Sacred Realm, azure skies and jade palaces. Clouds gather into firmament, held by the force of steel. Tread upon it as upon silk, endure a thousand tribulations on the jade platform, ten thousand ages in the golden palace. The sacred qi is vast, towering and all-encompassing.” To manifest the supreme thunder arts in the nine heavens of Divine Firmament was the mark of a true heir of Supreme Dawn Palace.

“This generation’s heir has already appeared; no one else may learn the Ninefold Divine Thunder. If you wish to shine in the same era, you must at least master one of the twin thunders of Yin and Yang.” Ding Shan said, “I remember you once said your goal was to reach Earth Immortal. If you stay by the Supreme Dawn heir’s side and can’t master the Five Elements Profound Yin Divine Thunder, you’ll never even reach the second echelon, let alone become an Earth Immortal.”

The heir of Supreme Dawn was revealed; could the heirs of Supreme Origin and Supreme Prime be far behind?

Soon, the Sacred Sea of Blood would produce a new direct successor for the demonic path. The future of the immortal realm would lie with these four. They would stand at the top; others could only vie for second place.

Thus, Ding Shan never considered letting “Chen Luo” cultivate the Supreme Primordial Unity Divine Thunder. It was simply impossible! Not only did Supreme Dawn Palace lack it, but the entire cultivation world had not seen anyone master such an art in five thousand years.

Ji Feichen fell silent. The two paths of Mystic and Profound, the four great sacred lands, had ruled the rise and fall of this land for several cycles.

“I refuse to bow to others. If I wish to contend with them one day, mere Yin-Yang Divine Thunder will not suffice; I must master a thunder art equal to that of the Supreme Dawn heir, or another supreme technique.”

Every so often, the four sacred lands produced a successor; the four debated the Dao’s heights and the fate of immortals and demons. They were the true favored ones of heaven, sure to one day attain Celestial Immortal status. Only thus could the thirty-six blessed lands of the Mystic Gate and the ten demonic ways truly acknowledge them.

Tu Shan listened intently, lightly tapping his palm with a wooden whip, lost in thought.

A sacred land! What is a sacred land, if not the pinnacle of the Dao? Now, the Mystic Gate has three sacred lands, the demonic path has the Sacred Sea of Blood. But what of the demon race?

“The future belongs to those four? Don’t make me laugh. Once I find the demon race’s sacred land, I’ll reign above them all! Supreme Dawn’s Divine Firmament Thunder is formidable, but my Formless Divine Thunder too has a supreme method. Once I complete it at the demon sacred land, it will be no less than theirs.”

One human, one demon—two young people, each with grand ambitions. Their goal was never to settle for second best in the world of cultivation.

If they were to strive, they would strive to be the strongest.