Cultivating with Top Enlightenment

Immortal ascension was right before his eyes, yet Ning Qi didn’t think much of the current, old Immortal ascension system.

Even someone like Mountain Ancestor, who sacrificed all living beings, could become an Immortal, so Immortals didn’t seem so worthy of reverence.

”The Transcendence Realm... if I truly break through to the Rule Realm, would that count as becoming an Immortal?”

From within his Inner World, Ning Qi gazed down at the True Martial Spirit Realm continent below, his eyes flickering with light.

”Transcendence, the Great Dao... with such a vast True Martial Spirit Realm, who knows what kind of changes will occur?”

He pondered in the depths of his heart. By now, he had already confirmed that the next realm after the Realm Lord cultivation system’s First Realm would be the Transcendence Realm.

Unlike cultivators who become Immortals, those who become Immortals must burn away all the Sea of Realms energy within their bodies, then completely transform their Power of Rules into immortal power, condense the Immortal Door and then knock it open, thus attaining the Dao and becoming Immortal.

But Ning Qi was unwilling to do that.

First, the Infinite Evil Qi and Sea of Realms energy within his body were things Ning Qi was unwilling to abandon.

Now the Sea of Realms was boundless, while the Immortal Realm had instead become one of the few landmasses within the Sea of Realms.

If, in the future, the Sea of Realms energy completely eroded all landmasses that existed within the Sea of Realms, then the Immortals who had now discarded their Sea of Realms energy would likely have only one road left—death.

Ning Qi faintly felt that this was the trend of the great tide.

He flipped through ancient records, which also vaguely mentioned the history of the two realms in bygone days.

The Celestial Realm had originally been lofty and above all, the dwelling place of Immortals, looking down upon the Lower Realm.

But later, for some unknown great upheaval, the Celestial Realm shattered, connected landmasses such as Buzhou Mountain collapsed, and the past glory had long since become history.

Now, there was no sign of the situation reversing; on the contrary, those who became Immortals were becoming ever rarer.

Second was the nature of the Infinite Evil Qi and Sea of Realms energy.

Through his previous actual battle with the Immortal Mountain Ancestor, Ning Qi had discovered that both of these powers could contend with immortal power.

Since Mountain Ancestor had said that, in the future, he would likely be targeted by every Immortal in the Immortal Realm, then there was even less reason for Ning Qi to make himself the same as them.

Ning Qi’s resolve was set.

His Yin Yang Dao Map perfectly accommodated both powers; he was willing to try continuing forward instead of cutting off half his own power.

What Immortal, what human or demon—those were all labels defined by others.

He, Ning Qi, would define his own existence.

To those who were friendly, he would be an Immortal; to his enemies, he would be a demon...

Ning Qi’s mindset changed in an instant.

Deep in his soul, within the Great Dao prison.

Mountain Ancestor’s Immortal soul seemed to sense Ning Qi’s thoughts, and his whole being began to tremble uncontrollably.

He had once said that Ning Qi could no longer become an Immortal.

But in saying so, Mountain Ancestor had hoped Ning Qi would seek his guidance and ask how he might return to the Immortal Path.

Yet Ning Qi clearly had no such intention at all...

”This child’s ambition swallows the heavens, and he actually refuses to walk the path of becoming an Immortal. In the future, I fear another terrifying demon lord will emerge.”

He actually had the face to call Ning Qi a demon lord, without reflecting in the slightest on his own deeds.

Perhaps, in Mountain Ancestor’s eyes, those who went against orthodoxy and defied the canon were the true demon lords.

And so long as one did not go against orthodoxy, then no matter what methods were used, that was still an Immortal!

If Ning Qi were to know his thoughts, he would surely let out a cold laugh.

If the Immortals in the Immortal Realm were truly like that, then there would already be no Immortals in this world; he would not mind replacing them all—perhaps that would in fact be a good thing.

Ning Qi sat cross-legged in the void.

”Since I cannot transform the power within my body into immortal power, then I will skip this step and replace it with a new power.”

His brows knit slightly.

”Through perfecting those two Immortal Dao Techniques, I’ve come to understand that, to become an Immortal, possessing immortal power is only the first step. But the most crucial thing isn’t possessing immortal power; it is allowing oneself to condense the Fruit of the Great Dao.”

”I can condense the embryonic form of a Great Dao sigil array; this proves that even without immortal power, I can still take that step. In that case...”

Ning Qi suddenly opened his hand.

A small Yin Yang Dao Map condensed in his palm.

The Yin Yang Dao Map slowly rotated, immortal power and Infinite Evil Qi within it generating and restraining each other.

”Fuse for me!”

Ning Qi gave a cold snort, and at once his Spiritual Sense manipulated the two powers.

One black and one white stream of qi, like two nimble Dao fish, collided with each other.

The black represented Infinite Evil Qi, the white represented immortal power, yet the two were not entirely black and white.

The black fish bore white pupils; the white fish condensed black eyes.

Within both bodies, each contained the other’s power, intertwined.

All these changes were the result of the Yin Yang Dao Map, when Ning Qi first fused Infinite Evil Qi, allowing immortal power and Infinite Evil Qi to merge more perfectly into the Dao Map, naturally producing this outcome.

Back then, Ning Qi did not forcibly alter it, but instead followed the trend.

Thus there was now this state of mutual symbiosis, black within white and white within black.

And it was precisely this state that allowed Ning Qi to fuse the two powers into one.

As the two Dao fish collided, the black and white gradually mixed together.

Staring at the black and white colors slowly blending in his hand, Ning Qi recalled those Immortal woods and Immortal herbs before the Central Peak of Ten Thousand Venerable Mountain.

Back then, the shattered remains of Buzhou Mountain had fallen into the Sea of Realms, constantly scoured and eroded by the Sea of Realms energy.

Within them was originally a dense immortal power, which ceaselessly resisted the Sea of Realms energy.

Thus, at the center of this struggle, a particularly special Immortal wood and Immortal herb were born.

Ning Qi named it Chaos Immortal Wood.

”Perhaps everything has already foreshadowed that the future will inevitably be a great tide of fusion between these two powers. Now that I open a new Dao, I will call it Immortal Demon Power.”

In Ning Qi’s hand, the black and white qi completely fused, turning into a strand of gray energy.

The moment this energy appeared, it was as if heaven and earth were being opened, radiating in Ning Qi’s palm.

It was still somewhat weak, like a newborn infant, yet it contained infinite possibilities.

Ning Qi observed it with his Spiritual Sense.