Immortal of the Ages

Chapter 532: Spirit Journeying Through the Cosmos!

Sun Xiaoqi had spoken plainly. Yet, from her words, Yun Xiao sensed the core elements of a spirit’s departure from the body.

"The soul resides in the body, the spirit wanders the earth and sky, and the mind follows its will."

Previously, the Genesis Spirit was confined to the Dantian. So, how could it depart from the body?

Driven by a fierce hunger, Sun Xiaoqi’s simple mindset actually made it easier to glimpse the Celestial ways.

This underscored the importance of a sincere heart.

Many people tended to overcomplicate things, their minds cluttered with too many thoughts, their spirits in turmoil, inadvertently shackling themselves.

So, from Sun Xiaoqi’s advice, Yun Xiao grasped a second clue. That was to simplify. To let one’s thoughts and desires become straightforward and focused, like an infant fixated on a curious toy.

In that instant, in his world, there was only that one thing; all else was an empty nothingness. Suddenly, he seemed to have a direction. So, he sat down on a dark blue stone outside the city gates, facing the direction from which the light of the Celestial Sourcecore was soon to come.

There was still some time before dawn!

He closed his eyes to nurture his spirit, adjusting his thoughts, now perceiving the world not with his senses, but with his spirit. With sight, hearing, taste, and smell shut off, the spirit became his sole perception.

In his true mortal guise, Yun Xiao gazed upon his white Worldly Dao Heart, the vast Primordial Sacred Wheel, the Nine Suns Dantian, and the channels connecting to the Nine Heavens Star Meridians…

At this moment, Yun Xiao felt as though he had returned to his days in the Cloud Nation. The spirit’s hands, feet, and torso… were all his true self. What was real, and what was illusion? For now, none of that mattered. Viewing the world through his astral self, his entire universe was the body of the Creator Immortal.

“To step out from the body of the Creator Immortal is to truly enter the cosmos.”

When Yun Xiao saw his body as a shackle, a true longing emerged. This desire, sudden and fierce, was several times stronger than Sun Xiaoqi's craving for roasted chicken.

It sprang from Yun Xiao’s puzzlement over his own situation, a yearning for all the secrets of the Creator Immortal. Though his Creator Immortal body had lifted him to the heavens, he felt his true self was locked within it.

He wished, after his rebirth, to truly see the world with his own eyes! This longing was like a caged bird's desire for the forest. It was a wild yearning for freedom, like that of the mythical beast gone mad.

His spirit gazed fiercely at everything around him—Dantian, flesh, skin—all seemed like layers of worldly barriers, shackles each one!

From his gaze sparked a powerful desire and fighting spirit, igniting into a fierce blaze that spread throughout his body.

This mundane fire, perhaps ordinary, was yet pure and steadfast, reflecting Yun Xiao's relentless pursuit over more than a decade.

The spirit clenched its fists, bathed in its own flames, screaming and roaring inside, waiting for the Celestial Sourcecore to bring daylight.

His body on the blue stone, outwardly calm as the stone itself, contained a spirit ablaze like a wildfire, spreading through the Dantian, channels, flesh, and skin.

“I…” The mundane spirit, with all its mental focus, intensely observed the Creator Immortal body that imprisoned it.

“I am the Creator Immortal! But, I am also Yun Xiao! Today, I will use my own eyes to truly see the path of the Immortal!” As this thought exploded, sweeping through his body, the long-awaited moment finally arrived.

BOOM! The tail of the dark celestial canvas swept over him, unleashing a torrent of Celestial Sourcecore power like wild horses breaking free. And it was like an army on the charge!

When the fiery force of the Celestial Sourcecore struck Yun Xiao's body, he understood why the moment of dawn was so suited for the spirit's departure.

Because both were about breaking free, exploding forth, exuberantly unchained!

As the explosive power of the Celestial Sourcecore collided with Yun Xiao's body, his spirit beheld the fierce light of the true cosmos!

It was like a bright lamp!

It showed Yun Xiao's spirit the way.

"Break!" Yun Xiao's mortal spirit, driven by a fierce blaze of intent, rushed headlong toward that bright beacon, as madly as Sun Xiaoqi once charged at a roast chicken. But her intent was but a fraction of Yun Xiao's!

BOOM! In an instant, it was as if he shattered a layer of paper that had never been there, and his spirit suddenly found itself in a searing, radiant world.

The true heat of it was hard to bear. His spirit shielded its eyes, suspended in midair, bewildered...

"Uh." Gradually, as the dawn's explosion passed and day properly arrived, everything settled down to normalcy.

Yun Xiao looked down. What he saw was a small figure, misty and white. Looking forward, a stunningly handsome young man in white sat calmly on the blue stone, his eyes tightly shut.

"Whew..." The spirit exhaled, the fierce fire around him slowly relaxed, and then a smile appeared on his face.

"I have successfully separated my spirit."

This meant he could now observe the world from the perspective of his spirit.

His spirit could absorb the spiritual forces of heaven and earth, strengthening itself through a process of inhalation and exhalation, together with his Worldly Dao Heart, controlling the celestial power within his Dantian.

The departure of the spirit was a fortifying process, like a newborn's first cry, beginning to draw in the strength it needed on its own.

With a thought, Yun Xiao's spirit returned to the Dantian!

It merged into the spinning Primordial Sacred Wheel, sparking a new transformation of celestial power within the solidifying Sacred Wheel—more robust, vast, and now, forming a new integration with the spirit!

From then on, Yun Xiao's power included the strength of the spirit!

Possessing the power of the spirit, the celestial power seemed to have its own intelligence, easier to control, more adept at drawing on the forces of heaven and earth, and smoother in handling formations, magic treasures, and sigils.

A new power, named True Celestial Power! From Yin-Yang Celestial Power to True Celestial Power, this was a leap in the tiers of power.

Although this leap did not imply a surge in destructive force, its impact on an Immortal was lifelong. Without crossing this threshold, one could never truly be considered an Immortal!

Never could they ascend to the true ranks of the Immortal path!

But now, Yun Xiao had ascended.

From then on, within his Dantian, a triangular power system formed—Dao Heart at the core, Sacred Wheel as the foundation, and the Genesis Spirit merging both, connecting soul and essence!

A strong spirit and Dao Heart bolstered the Sacred Wheel, allowing realms to be broken through.

"The initial stage of spirit projection is also the initial stage of true immortality." Yun Xiao could feel it. The leap from Yang Immortal to True Immortal didn't dramatically increase his combat strength, but the essential transformation was significant.

"Is this the difference between an Immortal and a mortal?" Yun Xiao was still somewhat perplexed.

He knew this transformation was profound, but it still didn't seem enough compared to the common mortal understanding of the vast gap between gods and the populace.

"You should discard the thinking of Immortals and mortals. In the ladder of the Immortal path, Immortal is always a concept of ascending, not just a specific group," Blue Star advised.

"I don't quite understand." Yun Xiao shook his head.

"Within the path to Immortality, it's not just mortals and Immortals, one below and one above. It is composed of cultivators at many different levels. Rather than dividing between mortals and Immortals, I suggest you consider Dao Tribulations as the accurate measure," Blue Star explained.

"I understand." Yun Xiao nodded. "In short, the difference between a True Immortal and a Yang Immortal is similar to the leap between the First and Second Dao Tribulations."

In other words, categorizing cultivators as mere mortals and Immortals was an oversimplification, imprecise, born from the conjectures of mortals and the arrogance of Immortals.

The real distinction should be based on which Dao Tribulation the cultivator was facing.

That was the precise and professional way.

"So you're saying, now that I've become a True Immortal, there's still a long way to go on this ladder?" Yun Xiao asked.

Blue Star smirked and said, "At the very least, you are unfathomably far from becoming a Cosmic Immortal. You’ve got plenty of climbing to do."

"Understood!"

The vastness of the cosmos and the infinity of the universe were beyond mortal comprehension.

"It's because it's so majestic and sublime that this path is interesting!"

To Yun Xiao, becoming a True Immortal was a new beginning.

"Spirit projection..." Yun Xiao gradually mastered this process, soon able to have his spirit and his true self face each other, both with open eyes.

His spirit saw the divine visage of the Creator Immortal.

And his eyes saw himself from the previous sixteen years.

"Which one is the real me?"

Yun Xiao was momentarily bewildered. But he knew that his newly departed spirit was in a fragile state, constantly departing drained his energy, and if it strayed too far from his true self, it might even dissipate.

The Spirit Manifestation Realm was the true battlefield for the spirit.

"My spirit is mortal, and my ancestors in the Cloud Nation couldn’t even count as cultivators. What kind of ancestral traits might resurface in me?"

This thought gave Yun Xiao a headache.

The Spirit Manifestation Realm seemed far away, yet he had already taken the hardest step. Maybe in a couple of days, he would reach it.

"Never mind, as long as it's not a turtle," Yun Xiao said with a wry smile.

Roaming the heavens and earth with his spirit indeed added a sense, making it easier for True Immortals to detect nearby enemies, scents, and the faintest traces.

For instance, right now, his spirit could see Sun Xiaoqi stealthily watching him from behind, murmuring to herself, "So handsome, I really want to touch him."

"Cough, cough!" Yun Xiao hastily retracted his spirit. He stood up! His muscles and bones snapped crisply.

After taking the hardest step, two things came to mind.

"With my experience, my body double and blood slave can also strive for the spirit departure state. Pale Revenant is stuck there too; she's smart, I should teach her."

But how to use them next, Yun Xiao hadn't decided. The Celestial Court, at least, was a world where demons were not allowed; Moon Fairy and Pale Revenant couldn’t come.

Anyway, spirit departure first!

"Here in the Celestial Court, everyone is a top Seed of Creation, but they still haven't surpassed those of Ye Xingchen and Ling Chen. I just need to keep absorbing these Seeds to stimulate my Nine Suns Dantian and Nine Heavens Star Meridians," Yun Xiao muttered to himself.

He had always been doing this, like the Primordial Martial Furnace on the martial cultivation side, it was also continuously being updated.

"There's one that could match those two Seeds," Blue Star suddenly said.

"Who?" Yun Xiao asked.

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