Devine Sovereign Ascension Art

In the cave after an hour, Zhao Yun opened his eyes. They were no longer confused and overwhelmed. They were peaceful and calm. I this session of meditation all he did was digest his new knowledge and got used to his own cultivation base. He was now ready to take the heavy responsibility of the scroll too. Illusionary figure of Ling Yun appeared in front of him. He stood u and bowed "Senior."

Ling Yun saw the serene emotions of the young boy and felt some admiration toward him.

'His state of mind and will power alone would put him above others' he thought.

"Don't worry about anything else, just focus on your cultivation and power. Once you are strong enough you can control your own fate." In truth Ling Yun was also clueless about the Dao Plane before today. Just before Zhao Yun's awakening he was transmitted with all those knowledge, so he also understood how hard it was to digest all these information in a short time. He continued, "For now you should study the cultivation manual first and then ask me if you do not understand anything."

Zhao Yun nodded and immersed his mind into his sea of consciousness. There the ancient scroll was floating lightly above his soul sea. His mind body appeared in front of the scroll and stretched his hands. The scroll quietly floated up to him and landed in his hands. He slowly unfurled the scroll and immersed himself into it. Divine Sovereign Ascension formula. This was the name given to the cultivation manual. 'The name sure is domineering.' He thought and then continued to read on. As he read he learnt that it was actually three cultivation manual merged into one. He read on to the introduction of the manual-

'Human are the weakest individuals, but also one with most potential. They do not have a strong body, are born as mortals, with a dispersed soul in the form of sea. If one look at these stats one can say that o particular aspect of humans stand out. Beasts have strong body, divinities are born with great Qi and demons have strong soul. Humans on the other hand have the best comprehension. They do not have any high standard stats but with their comprehension, they have succeeded in cultivation of all three. Some cultivate their Qi. Some increase their soul force while others delve into the potential of body. Tao has many paths but all lead to one. Theoretically everyone has a chance to reach the peak with their Dao. The path they follow is not perfect though. Qi refiners ignore body and soul, body refiners do the same and so does the soul refiners. Human body has a soul, flesh and bone and blood as well as Qi. How can one reach perfection without reaching the perfection as a human?'

The manual stated that the way to reach true perfection is to cultivate body, qi and soul. Only after harmonizing these seemingly different paths into one would one gain perfection. Zhao Yun was stunned. So he has to cultivate body, Qi and soul then will he gain perfection? He raised his doubts in front of Ling Yun. The old man was surprised at first then murmured, "So the manual they created is just three manuals combined in one, but the catch is this has a way to harmonize and augment these paths into one. This sure is one heaven defying manual, worthy of something countless experts laid down their life to create."

Zhao Yun was surprised. So the redeeming feature of the manual lies in the way to harmonize different energies. He then turned a bit bitter. After all this meant that not only he had to cultivate three times what others do, he also has to go through a lot of pain. After all the path of body refining and soul forging were not easy ones. One tested tolerance and dependant on passing the limits while other needed a strong will power. He sighed but at the same time felt that if he wants to reach the peak then what was the pain needed to do so. Some seniors who were already at the peak of cultivation can sacrifice their own life and bitter cultivation just to snatch a chance from destiny. He, on the other hand easily gained everything from those seniors on a golden plate (here a scroll :p). If he can't even endure some pain then he won't be worthy for the scroll. Thinking about this he was alarmed. Just because he held a key to the peak in his hand his will was already wavering. He quickly composed himself and then became serious. He can't be too proud just because he gained one fortuitous encounter. The peak he's pursuing is not easy. He had to preserve and pave his own path too. Unknowingly his mentality was changing. The moment he learnt about the various planes, the things he considered as a vast ocean now turned out to be worth only a drop. His eyes became focused and his gaze became determined. Ling Yun saw these changes in the boy and nodded inwardly.

Zhao Yun's luck was too good. His road to the peak was made, he had a guide to advise him and all he needed to do was to pass the stumbling blocks and take that final step. Even after all that if he couldn't reach his goal then he would be the most cursed individual under the heavens. As his thoughts cleared Zhao Yun was now excited about the journey he was about to make. He was in no hurry to cultivate now. Earlier he was a martial maniac who chased after the peak without even knowing what to do; now he knew where to go and how to go, he just needed to rush there and one day he would be able to achieve it. With all that into account his mentality changed a little. He was more cool headed than he was before. He started viewing the bigger picture and started thinking about his path he intended to take. Taking his plight from before as he was chased around by second elder and keeping in mind that to achieve his responsibilities his own strength is not enough, he started to think about possible solutions and decided to consult Ling Yun about this matter later on. He also had to take up his cultivation to body tempering first so he decided to focus on it for now. He inspected his body and knew that the scroll had tempered his body for both Qi refining and body refining. Now he only had to concentrate in cultivating the soul forging part of the divine sovereign ascension art and when he reached the peak he would be able to harmonise his cultivation.

He read through the soul section and found out that it was extremely easy for him to temper his soul. All he needed to do was to face pressure of cultivation realm at least two realms above his and with his will power condense his sea of soul into 9 small drops. For the perfection, he had to combine the 9 drops into one and then compress it to the size of a single drop. For that he needed the pressure of someone at 4 realms higher than his own. It might be difficult for others, but for him with monstrous will power and with Ling Yun's help, who was a soul cultivator himself, it took him only a day and night to achieve his desired results. When his soul cultivation reached perfection, the three different cultivation systems in the Devine Sovereign ascension formula started circulating on its own forming a clear yet a subtle connection in between the three different types of energy. They form a straight line with the spiritual energy (soul cultivation) occupying his sea of consciousness in the forehead, Essence energy (body cultivation) accumulating at his chest in the heart, and finally Zhen Qi (Qi cultivation) gathering in his dantian. Once the connection was established, his aura grew stronger than before, and then it receded completely. If Zhao Yun from before looked like a sharp blade then now he appeared to be a lotus leaf, ethereal and mysterious. He was the first and only person who achieved the true perfection of cultivation in the tempering realm.

Finishing his cultivation, he opened his eyes, to see Ling Yun staring at him with expectation. He chuckled and punched the air casually. To his horror the entire cave collapsed. Dirt faced Zhao Yun was staring blankly at the place the cave used to be, and a wide eyed Ling Yun was staring at the little monster. When he came to his senses, Zhao Yun looked towards Ling Yun to get gauze to his strength. Ling Yun coughed lightly to gain his composure and stated incredulously, "the might of that casual punch was enough to turn an ordinary cultivator at the peak of foundation establishment into a meat paste. Judging from this, if you fight seriously then your might would be comparable to early core formation experts. If you use suitable weapon and techniques, you could beat grade 4 core formation experts and fight again grade 5 or grade 6 ones." The more Ling Yun spoke the more excited he became and the more he learned, the more shocked Zhao Yun became. 'Jumping almost two realms, just how strong was this ah' he wondered excitedly. Then he calmed down. It was a technique created by the peak masters of the Dao plane. And he was in the lowest mortal plane. If this technique can grant him such strength, it was only normal and it shouldn't be something he should be proud of. Now that he calmed down, he decided to return home. When he thought of home, he thought of his parents. A warm smile appeared on his face. It was replaced with a thick killing intent when he thought of Zhao Ling. For the current him, Zhao ling was nothing to worry about but he needed a force of his own to move higher I power and to have another card to face the future crisis. He also don't want to leave his family behind when he goes higher and higher so he decided to first clean up the family and then increase it strength. When this plan was made, he discussed it with Ling Yun and after gaining latters approval set out for Zhao clan.