Sovereign of the Three Realms

Thanks to Jiang Chen’s experiences of two lifetimes, he possessed great wisdom and determination. After suitable assessment of the situation, he knew he had no other choice and decided not to focus and start cultivating.

To be honest, there had been all sorts of ties and concerns in the Regal Pill Palace that had prevented Jiang Chen from sitting down and concentrating for long periods of cultivation. This was actually an opportunity for him. Thus, Jiang Chen began his attempt on sixth level origin realm after swallowing some Origin Fostering Pills.

He’d been at the peak of the fifth level origin realm to begin with, so it was only a matter of time before he made it into the sixth level. Jiang Chen successfully broke through after roughly half a month, and was in no hurry afterwards. He took his time in fortifying his new realm, and then took out another pill flask when he had solidified his grasp on sixth level origin realm.

There were three Origin Doubling Pills within it. When Jiang Chen had gifted the Longevity Pill to the Regal Pill Palace, Palace Head Dan Chi had given Jiang Chen a storage ring, and Elder Yun Nie had presented Jiang Chen with these three pills.

The Origin Doubling Pill had been refined from the Firstwind Dew and could be viewed as a pill that had absorbed some of the qi of the heavens and earth. Jiang Chen had felt that Elder Yun Nie was completely wasting the Firsthand Dew in using it in the Origin Doubling Pills, but he didn’t think so now. The higher quality these pills were, the better they were for Jiang Chen as they could unconditionally increase one’s cultivation by one level within the origin realm.

Jiang Chen had been planning on using such an amazing pill when he needed to assail the sky origin realm. Now that he was at the peak of the origin realm, at sixth level origin realm, what better time to take the pill?

Any pill useful in ascension could only be taken once. It would have almost no effect when taken a second time. This applied to the Origin Doubling Pill since taking one of them meant unequivocally ascending one level upward, with no effect if taken again. Thus, Jiang Chen put the other two pills away after he took one and then sat down cross-legged, beginning to refine the medicinal power held within the pill.

These kinds of pills usually had very domineering effects. How would it unconditionally help the cultivator ascend one level otherwise? The process of condensing a decades worth of toil and cultivation into a day or a half meant was filled with great agony and struggle. It was a good thing that Jiang Chen was mentally prepared.

Three days later—

Large beads of sweat continuously trickled down Jiang Chen’s face, but the joy of advancing danced on his lips. “This is a pill refined from the Firstwind Dew alright! Simple and direct, the effects were quite domineering! If it wasn’t for me practicing the ‘Nine Transformations of Demons and Gods’ and my physical body quite strong as a result, I likely would’ve been in for much more pain!”

Compared to others taking this pill, Jiang Chen hadn’t suffered as much physical pain. Breaking through to the seventh level origin realm instantly catapulted Jiang Chen into a new level, one of a true sky origin realm cultivator.

But even so, he wasn’t proud of himself at all. There was still eighth level origin realm, ninth level origin realm ahead. He’d then have to use ninth level origin realm as a foundation and reach for the peak of the origin realm, the border of half step sage realm.

Only when he found the clues to half step sage realm would he have the chance for enlightenment and set foot into the sage realm. This meant that he had at least three or four more steps to take before sage realm, and none of these steps were easy ones to make.

Jiang Chen wasn’t in a hurry after breaking through to seventh level origin realm, but remained within the library to peruse the ancient tomes and understand more of this residence. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to start exploring, but that he had no right to venture into the area beyond the library with his current strength. Layers upon layers of strong formations had become a natural barrier, making him only able to stare blankly at the area behind the residence.

According to the records in the journals, there should be a Tower of Inheritance behind the residence. All of the treasures that the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect left behind would be in that tower. Jiang Chen would have to break through each layer of formation testing in order to obtain what was in the tower.

Jiang Chen wasn’t depressed. It was better to have a goal than to not have one. He wasn’t the sort to halt in his tracks and look on, nor was he the sort to flee on the advent of battle. He could understand the caution of the owner of this residence. Considering how all in the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect had fallen in battle, he naturally needed to design layer upon layer of tests to select the proper individual to pass the sect’s inheritance onto.

For one, it would test the individual’s mind and personality, and the other would be to hone the individual’s will. If the one being tested couldn’t overcome even a bit of testing, what right would he have to receive the sect’s inheritance?

According to the journal, Jiang Chen would need to overcome three tests in order to make it through the Tower. The first one had to do with the Minor Artifice Formation. This was a formation that combined the tangible and the intangible. What was the tangible? It was what the eye could see, the ear could hear, the nose could smell, the hands and feet could touch. Anything that was, was also a fabrication.

This Minor Artifice Formation was real and illusory. Everything one saw, heard, smelled, and touched after entering the formation could be real, and could also be an illusion. One had to rely on only the consciousness and not the five senses in order to break through the formation. Now that Jiang Chen broken through to the seventh level, his consciousness had grown much stronger and he wanted to challenge this Minor Artifice Formation. However, there was risk in all the formations here. If he set one foot wrong in the formation, he could trigger all sorts of attacks.

“There’s nothing for it. Now that I’ve broken through seventh level origin realm and have learned much in formations, add to that my knowledge of formations in my past life, a mere Minor Artifice Formation should be of no difficulty.” Jiang Chen leaped into the formation as soon as his thoughts travelled here.

The formation activated as soon as he jumped into it, surging and roiling with countless waves and instantly forming tidal waves that crashed upon mountain peaks. As Jiang Chen stood in the center, he heard thunder raging on all sides and enormous waves crashing upon him. Lonely wolves howled in his ears, and he almost thought that he’d plunged into the eighteenth level of hell for an instant.

Suddenly, a rip opened in a large wave as a posturing and snarling dragon pounced on Jiang Chen. Jiang Chen frowned and remaining coolly composed, shouting lowly, “You do not deceive me!”

Thunder clapped as he spoke as his angry roar roared out, smashing the enormous dragon into nothing and returning it to the void. It was indeed fake. Jiang Chen smirked. When it came down to things, this formation was a play on the mind. If one didn’t understand the profundities of the formation, then they wouldn’t understand the notion that all that was tangible was actually fake. This was at the heart of the formation.

If one actually tried to fight back against all the illusions that appeared, then that might actually plunge one into unredeemable depths. It was a good thing that Jiang Chen had a strong consciousness. If it was one with a weaker mindset, they might subconsciously form the desire to resist when they saw such a realistic dragon pouncing on them.

The Minor Artifice Formation was a game of minds. Even if the one knew that false images were attacking them, would their consciousness be able to withstand such an attack, would their minds falter, and would internal demons arise in the face of great fear? Once fear and internal demons appeared, the formation would detect it, thereby doubling down on this particular kind of illusion until one’s mind collapsed.

Jiang Chen however, had been tempering his mind with “Boulder’s Heart” ever since the spirit realm. The strength of his consciousness now now was on par with a cultivator of Dan Chi’s level. Therefore, even though countless falsehoods appeared in the formation, Jiang Chen remained unmoving as a mountain through it all.

However, this only meant that he wouldn’t be beaten by the formation, but he’d have to understand the foundation of this formation in the midst of all these illusions in order to break through to it. Unless his strength was so strong that he could forcefully crush this formation, he’d have to understand what made this formation tick in order to leave it. At his current level, he didn’t possess the strength and immense arts needed to crush the formation.

It was at this time that his memories from his past life proved their worth. Although he hadn’t studied this formation in his past life, he’d encountered similar ones. He’d never broken through one himself, but he’d read much about simulations and practical combat experience. Therefore, he ignored everything he saw, heard, and smelled within the Minor Artifice Formation and only used his consciousness to probe his surroundings.

The formation alternated between large fat flakes of snow drifting down, fiery flames from a volcano, hundreds of flowers blooming at the same time, and all growth withering and dying. All sorts of odd delusions and illusions assaulted Jiang Chen, but he ignored them all. Suddenly, his consciousness registered a faint ripple on the path of oval stones that he was walking on. “The foundation should be nearby!”

Jiang Chen’s strong consciousness had picked up on something, and he swept his consciousness over the path as if the light from a light tower. “This is it!”

He suddenly darted forward and slammed his hand down on a grey-white stone. A strong beam of light pierced his eyes in the next moment as the space around him seemed to peel off in layers, collapsing in front of Jiang Chen’s eyes. The stone transformed into a speck of pale-yellow light and landed in Jiang Chen’s hands.

In the next instant, the illusions created by the formation, as well as the countless oval stones on the ground, all turned into odd runes that looked like tadpoles, which in turn were slowly evaporating in the air.

Bam!

All of the runes and scenery had melted into the void, as if they’re completely evaporated. When Jiang Chen opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the middle of the corridor, less than ten meters away from where he’d just jumped into the formation.

“Tsk tsk. The Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect is well worthy of their name of being founded for formations. Such a strong formation was set up in a space of less than ten meters. There really is something to the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect!” Jiang Chen looked at his hand again and saw that the oval stone had turned into a formation disk.

He was delighted, this was the disc for the Minor Artifice Formation! So it turns out there are benefits to breaking through the formation. I’ve received a formation disk in return!

What was a formation disk? When it came down to things, it was the model for a formation. Not every formation had a disk, but if it did, one could quickly call upon the formation into being. Therefore, all strong formation masters had many disks on them. They would be able to set up a formation at any time necessary.

Formations without disks took too long to set up, and were impractical to use when needed to fight against enemies. That wasn’t of a concern with a formation disk, as one only needed to activate the disk and supply the proper amount of spirit stones. The formation master didn’t need to do anything else as the rest would be taken care of by the disk. The formation would even run automatically as well!