Immortal Residence

The Jade Dragon Valley

The mist clung to the ancient peaks like forgotten memories as I finally reached the legendary Jade Dragon Valley. My journey had been long, weeks, and the valley greeted me with an sight that made my soul tremble ~ not from fear, but from recognition of something vast and primordial.

The gigantic illusion barrier shimmered before me, its protective enchantments woven with such complexity that I spent a day watching towering beasts infront of me. Even though I have fought with some in TDG world, these things were massive even for them.

True God realm beasts roamed freely, their massive forms moving with deceptive grace through the valley's depths. But the appearance is just a projection of a node from God's domain. Any one of these creatures possessed enough power to obliterate an entire Great thousand realm without effort.

As I drew closer to the heart of the valley, I noticed the sparse number of cultivators examining the area from a respectful distance. Their cautious behavior confirmed my suspicions ~ the immortal mansion had only recently manifested here, waiting for its destined inheritor. The entrance test was synchronized with Luo Zheng's arrival, predestined by forces beyond mortal comprehension.

I had no interest in mingling with the other observers. Instead, I found a secluded position under a concealment array and settled in to wait to cultivate for a while.

My soul had already transcended the realm of limbo in several aspects after the last upgrade, but as I attempted to refine my cultivation using Qi techniques infused with life essence from the knowledge of Qing Yun Sect's library, something extraordinary occurred. My cultivation base exploded upward, breaking through to the innate realm as life essence began generating rapidly based on my heavenly fate life level.

Essence energy and gang energy formed alongside my soul force, transforming into pure Qi through channels I had never experienced before. The self-made technique I practiced carried a demonic nature that sought to infect and assimilate, yet the sensation was entirely different from the heavenly fate qi flowing through my soul force meridians.

My LoHP proved invaluable in harmonizing these opposing energies at their fundamental levels. My body adapted to conduct both soul force and qi simultaneously through my channels, causing my realm to surge upward with frightening speed. Within a single week, I had reached the peak of the innate realm, though my raw power remained unchanged.

Days turned to weeks, and still no one came. It seemed Luo Zheng would take his time arriving, as fate dictated. Growing impatient with endless waiting, I decided to take matters into my own hands and attempt the entrance myself.

My fate remained unreadable ~ a blessing that meant the great worlds had no interest in my destiny, leaving their triggers dormant. I expanded my scope of duplication, which now encompassed nearly two and a half miles after my recent improvements.

The process was simple: I needed only to visualize any concept within my range, and creation energy would manifest it into reality, even if it was a projection or what not.

A blip of my creation energy vanished in an instant as a new formation entrance materialized before me, it was a space node ~ an exact copy of the hidden entrance located far beyond the protective statues that warded off unworthy challengers. The array outside remained mercifully inactive.

I relocated to a desolate area, still within the mansion's illusory influence but far from the growing crowd of inspectors. Here, I carefully placed my replicated entrance and used LoHP to arrange the formation according to the knowledge I possessed from the story. The formation opened without triggering the lethal safeguards, designed to guide only the truly fortunate.

"Three thousand years," a voice echoed as Af'u materialized before me. "It has been since the last challenger. Welcome to the immortal mansion... wait." He paused, his artefact eyes narrowing as he studied his surroundings. "This is not the place of entrance."

"Does that matter?" I challenged, keeping myself sound steady despite the risk I was taking. "According to the mansion's rules, If I have completed the entrance test and wish to proceed with any other trials can't I do that?."

Af'u's expression shifted between confusion and curiosity. "No... this should not have happened. Come with me. I am Af'u, guardian of this place."

He transported me to the dreamscape trial realm, where the first test awaited ~ a seemingly simple tug of war. Yet as I gripped the rope, I felt its power adjust to match my true strength rather than my perceived innate realm. The balance was precarious, but I managed to disrupt the rhythm just enough to claim victory in the first trial.

The second trial manifested as a towering staircase, its steps wreathed in soul restraints that pressed against my consciousness with proportional force to my true soul power. Having practiced the perfect soul force cultivation technique and formed fate fires within my being, I ascended gradually using the anatta mental state, allowing illusions to pass through me without taking root.

The visions that came were unique to my nature. I possessed no fear of death, for my wishes never placed me in such situations unless I chose them voluntarily. The only that shown was myself aging. My shielded mind turned the illusions outward, where they played out harmlessly in my consciousness.

When I saw the vision of Xiao Ning's death at the hands of the dark guild, I felt no terror ~ considering she was a peak demigod who had mastered lightning law, such a fate seemed nearly impossible considering the small realm she is in. Besides, I could always return to change the timeline if necessary.

Maintaining the state of forgetfulness and anatta, I passed through every disturbing challenge the trial presented with ease.

"Congratulations," Af'u announced as I emerged from the final test. "Miss, you are now the temporary owner of the mansion. You may undergo the test for the visualization manual if you wish. Your soul strength is remarkably high for someone only in the innate realm."

The subsequent battles proved disappointingly simple. Ancient beasts, wrathful souls similar to my dantian cultivation that had been absorbed into my fate fire and refined into soul cultivation, and finally a cultivator in the limbo realm ~ likely introduced because of my ease in passing the previous tests. This final opponent had reached perfection in his realm, but being a saint race origin by now, I was no ordinary adversary.

Without even activating LoHP, my sword found its mark in close combat. My reaction speed and soul force cultivation granted me victory, and with it, the ultimate map of cosmos was gifted.

Luo Zheng had used this treasure perhaps two or three times throughout his journey ~ such waste from someone so focused on external conflicts. He could rely on other treasures; this time, I would make proper use of it.

I used the map to visualize the energy of moon and stars, feeling starlight energy begin to condense and flow into my being. The energy merged gradually with my innate power, and whether through my saint race's innate comprehension or the gradual fusion of LoHP with my consciousness, I could sense every nuance of the transformation.

The starlight energy entered my body, compressing the existing innate power until it became incredibly dense. My realm dropped from great perfection to the third layer sky realm, but within three hours, my innate energy had become ten times more potent and refined. My realm began its recovery, and I felt the energy harmonizing beautifully with my soul force.

After returning from the experience several hours later, Af'u pressed the 'Xun' token into my hand, explaining that I could choose to gain strength and return later for the remaining tests.

I had different plans entirely. With the immortal mansion now within my perception, I extended my creation energy throughout its structure, reaching across areas until I touched the outer gates of God's Domain itself. The mansion's connection to that supreme realm allowed me to sense the tokens hidden in their designated locations.

"If I were to produce a token given to me by someone else," I asked Af'u carefully, "would I be permitted to use it?"

"Yes, according to the rules. Many contestants before you possessed multiple tokens, though not all types."

I produced the Kan and Kun tokens, responsible for the library and temporal cultivation tower respectively.

Af'u's eyes widened with genuine shock. "These were supposed to be originals with no duplicates. Yet I can still perceive my master's imprint within them. They are valid." He studied me intently. "Where did you obtain these?"

"They were a gift. I can say nothing more."

He accepted this explanation, though suspicion lingered in his gaze. At my request, he led me to the library room.

The world of apotheosis revealed itself in all its glory. The sheer volume of knowledge and its incredible versatility left me breathless. Though the books existed as conceptual entities, I moved from one to another on the lower floors, touching each tome and transferring its contents into LoHP with the library spirit's assistance. Two months passed before I completed this initial survey. Just to casually learn and relax visualizing author's experience.

Afterwards, it was time to create a perfect technique. Beyond the physical interaction, I consumed creation energy to directly copy information into my LoHP. Since I was duplicating knowledge rather than the books themselves, the process required very small of my current capacity of creation energy.

These were not mere collections of written pages. Each book contained living visions of its contents ~ experiences and philosophies in their truest form. Occasionally, I would plunge my consciousness directly into these records to experience their knowledge as lived reality. I sought not the best technique, but the understanding to create my own.

Since I had not produced the Gen token, requesting residence was impossible. Not that I couldn't have created it, but I preferred not to bend the rules further and risk appearing to work against the owner's interests.

After accepting all available information ~ a process that took another full year ~ I finally created the Dantian Qi cultivation technique I needed, merging all the experiences together into something uniquely mine.

Luo Zheng's journey made more sense now. He had endured countless troubles and hunts to obtain the laws and rules of small universes, seeking to improve what was already present here. Still, he had gained invaluable experience and cunningness through his survival outside these walls.

Even the supreme body cultivation techniques he had used, like the Nine Star Reformation technique, existed here in their original forms. Sanskrits, the true meaning of yin yang chaos deciphered by Gu Bei ~ all of it was preserved within these walls. LoHP integrated these true meanings with remarkable efficiency, until I discovered the sanskrits recorded in the side hall.

Two words into the scripture, I felt my entire being ignite as my energy reserves were completely consumed.

The library spirit watched in amazement as I sensed true meaning despite being relatively weak even among secondary beings. The true meaning itself was not difficult for LoHP to accept and integrate with my existing cultivation techniques that merged soul force and essence cultivation ~ I simply lacked the strength to comprehend its full extent.

LoHP spared no information within the library while copying it. Even the Qi soul left by the northern saint, invisible to the library spirit itself, was not beyond its reach. Imagine what all necessary knowledge left in the mind of a qi soul.

Yes it won't be his entire experience but yes, it contained knowledge of the chaos refinement technique, not the just the understanding of the technique translated for Luo Zheng, but the memory of original sanskrit recorded and about Saints attempts to create something like that inside his own universe.

Seeing profound contents, I returned, to copy the hidden chaos true Qi. This thing cannot be stored easily. So I enveloped it with a creation energy barrier and stored in dantian. 

The essence cultivation method I created was the Sovereign Energy Axis Sutra. It would absorb any kind of energy and convert it for true cultivation. At higher levels, it could create energy from nothingness or even tap into higher dimensions. The theory was sound, but I needed to begin actual cultivation to discover its practical applications.

It wasn't fully complete, but in theory it can devour energy of even 13th layer perfect world since the creation energy mill is a fundamental aspect of this technique to downgrade any energy as per life-level. Which isn't possible with any normal heaven defying cultivation technique in usual case.

With this foundation, I was able to incorporate the use of creation energy growing within me. It maintained its independent phase while allowing me to channel it as part of my cultivation rather than external manipulation. Although it neither improved my cultivation nor my ability to affect external laws.

Merging it with the soul force cultivation technique from my previous Boundless Ascension method and a new body cultivation technique that anchored my previous ten pillars while connecting to my dantian to condense ten runic stars within it ~ a superior version that would form in my dantian upon crossing the divine sea realm and creating a new world inside ~ I achieved synthesis.

All of these elements converged into a single three-way cultivation sutra: "Boundless Divine Transformations of Energy, Body and Spirit."

The foundation was complete.