"Intricacies of Fate" was the name of the Xianxia novel Jiang Ruyin had originally read back on earth.
It was published by an unknown author, and included the originally recognized realms of Immortal Cultivation up to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm back on earth.
Even though the current strongest mighty figures of earth were only around the Golden Core Realm, records of Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivators were found after the recovery of Spirit Qi, introducing many changes on the global scale.
However, Jiang Ruyin was far from these matters.
The novel Intricacies of Fate had yet to introduce any major realm beyond the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, but after completely integrating the memories of the original villainess, Jiang Ruyin finally knew about the final two mortal realms.
The Immortal Ascension Realm and the Half Immortal Realm!
Jiang Ruyin was somewhat suspicious of the author of Intricacies of Fate, as she had read plotlines where higher beings wrote stories for fun back on earth.
However, she couldn’t do anything about it and just decided to accept it.
"I just turned a thousand years old a few weeks ago, and when this villainess was first introduced in the story, she was already over 5,000 years old, at the Nascent Soul Realm. I still have a lot of time left. With my novel knowledge, I can get the opportunities of the original female protagonist while gathering the many powerful side characters and supporting characters."
She muttered to herself calmly, a small smile spreading across her features.
In the original novel, the role of Jiang Ruyin was very powerful, most likely being the final antagonist of the mortal world arc.
She was the one who instigated the death of the female lead in her past life because of various reasons, some of them being typical like the two male leads, Wang Daoyun, someone whom she loved dearly, and her own eldest brother, Jiang Chengxuan, completely disregarding her and fawning over the female lead.
However, the female lead regressed with her past life memories, a common regression trope.
All of this was revealed when the female lead originally reached a relatively high cultivation realm.
Now that she had transmigrated, she would definitely change the original plotline in her favor.
But...the plot progression doesn’t feel right, specially with the appearance of unknown figures like the Master of Eternal Peak and events that originally did not happen, like the genius convention of the Eastern Continent.
Something is off.
Snapping back to reality, she couldn’t help but think of these things as her mind wandered towards the direction of the Eastern Continent.
She should still be around the Acquired Realm at this point in time...
Let’s see how well I can fare against this main character.
Yan Jingfei, do not disappoint me!
...
In an instant, 20 years passed by without any great turbulences in the world.
At this moment, Eternal Peak.
In Tian Yongheng’s cave abode, he sat cross-legged and cultivated meticulously.
In his Sea of Consciousness, the Nascent Soul’s form dissipated and reappeared continously, its small spiritual form starting to expand and mature.
The Spiritual Energy wrapped around it before being absorbed by it repeatedly, as if even such a vast amount of Spiritual Energy couldn’t satisfy the hunger of the Nascent Soul.
At the same time, Tian Yongheng’s physical body also toughened up, his internal organs, bone structure, muscles, skins etcetera becoming far more powerful compared to before.
Even the full powered attack of a Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivator wouldn’t be able to do anything to his physical body, let alone when he was using his Spiritual Energy and other abilities.
His Sea of Consciousness also expanded rapidly, more and more Spirit Qi from the outside world pouring in and directly transforming into Spiritual Energy.
In the long years of cultivation, Tian Yongheng had become extremely familiar with the process of converting Spirit Qi into Spiritual Energy, and combined with his various Connate Providences, this process had become almost automated for him.
Alongside all of the changes happening within him both physically and spiritually, he was also rapidly improving mentally, far surpassing his previous state at the peak of Nascent Soul Realm.
His understanding of the heavenly rules improved dramatically, and he stepped closer onto the path to immortality bit by bit.
Suddenly, at this moment, he felt himself leaving his body behind as his consciousness arrived at a strange space where all he could see or sense was darkness.
What arrived here wasn’t his soul, but his consciousness, his will.
Body, soul, and will were all different aspects of existence. Soul and will shouldn’t be mistaken for the same thing.
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His will looked around, trying to find anything, but all he could see was darkness, or rather, the void.
After some time, a strong light appeared in his vision, dazzling and almost blinding.
Looking over, he saw that the light radiated from a golden ladder ascending far beyond the reaches of his vision. He had a feeling that if be ascended the ladder, he will reach another higher plane of existence, a dimension beyond the Lower Realm.
Immediately upon seeing the ladder, a thought appeared in his mind.
The Ladder of Ascension!
As Tian Yongheng observed the Ladder of Ascension, he felt as if he was standing before and observing the very heavenly rules themselves, his understanding and cultivation increasing rapidly.
Right now, if he stepped onto the Ladder of Ascension, he could leave the Lower Realm behind and ascend into the Upper Realm!
The Ladder of Ascension, a staircase which led to the Upper Realm after one had reached the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.
It was considered a legend even among Immortal Cultivators below the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, and only those who had reached it could ascend it.
Many Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivators directly ascended to the Upper Realm as soon as they first saw the Ladder of Ascension, while those who were a bit more realistic and thought that they could still improve in the Lower Realm chose not to ascend and waited till they had reached their limits.
This was why the number of cultivators above the Tribulation Transcendence Realm beings in the Lower Realm was greatly inferior to that of Nascent Soul Realm and below.
Seeing the Ladder of Ascension was a clear indication of one having reached the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.
It meant that Tian Yongheng had already become a Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivator!
As he continued to comprehend the heavenly rules, he felt a strange pull from the Ladder of Ascension, as if it was beckoning him to ascend.
However, having clear intentions and still being cautious, he paid no heed to it, continuing to comprehend the heavenly rules instead.
He couldn’t figure out the flow of time in this place, but quite some time had passed since he came here.
After an unknown period of time.
Tian Yongheng’s consciousness was struck awake as the Ladder of Ascension and the dark void around him began to disappear, as if submerging into nothingness, cracks appearing in the space around him.
The cracks continued to expand, and the entire place which seemed like a separate dimension of its own shattered like glass, as if a dream crumbling apart.
Tian Yongheng finally woke up from his state of comprehension and opened his eyes, only to find himself back inside of his cave abode.
There were various system notifications before him, but he didn’t pay them any attention and slowly stood up, stretching his body.
He slightly clenched his fist, which was now powerful enough to crush an average Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator even without any Spiritual Energy.
His mind and comprehension were far more clearer than before, and his Sea of Consciousness was tens of times bigger than when he was at the peak of Nascent Soul Realm.
His Nascent Soul was no longer the size of an ordinary soul, it had grown bigger and its defenses had become stronger.
His regenerative abilities had increased a lot, and external injuries like a broken bone would only take a few days to heal unless there was a higher power suppressing his healing factor.
While internal injuries may still take longer to heal, they weren’t impossible to heal completely.
This was already very similar to having an Immortal Body, but Tian Yongheng knew that he was still far from achieving the actual Immortal Body.
If just the Tribulation Transcendence Realm was this powerful, then how powerful were the Immortal Gods beyond the Half Immortal Realm?
At this moment, Tian Yongheng spread his Divine Sense, which immediately covered over ten thousand miles of distance.
Many things had become clear to him after reaching the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, including the secrets of the worldly laws and heavenly rules. He could even see them.
They were everywhere in the world, serving as the foundation of everything. If the heavenly rules collapsed, the world will also collapse.
The Great Dao was higher than the heavenly rules, and the heavenly rules only served as a way to reach the Great Dao.
Even though Tian Yongheng already showed signs of invincibility, being at the Tribulation Transcendence Realm combined with his strength which was unmatched by even those in the Perfected Immortal Ascension Realm along with the Dao Field which should be capable of blocking even Human Immortals now, he would still never be careless and continue to cultivate cautiously.
The road ahead was still long and he needed to be diligent!