Chapter 854: Entering Heaven Ascension
In Black Wind Valley, there was less than a day left till the end of the training.
Most disciples had managed to get their footing on the fifth level, while a minority of disciples only barely entered the fifth level before they immediately returned to the fourth level. However, this meant that they still passed the training. Although it did not seem like a bona fide pass, and it was quite contemptible, it was within the confines of the rules.
Cang Mang glanced at those people with heavy eyelids and he secretly shook his head. By barely being able to pass, and without any impressive show of ability at the Ancient Fey Edifice, these disciples were most likely to be eliminated immediately once they entered the Luo Divine Hall trials.
They were the cream of the crop amongst ordinary disciples, but when all the geniuses of the Luo clan were gathered in the Luo Divine Hall trials, they could not even stand on the proper stage.
Yi Yun was the only one who could stand neck to neck with those geniuses amongst the disciples present that Cang Mang eyed. Even Luo Tian was slightly off the mark.
"However, the Xushui Ran clan will not forget this matter. Let's see how he plans on dealing with it." Cang Mang thought to himself.
And at this moment, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from within Yi Yun's body!
The sound was like rolling thunder and everyone's gazes were instantly focused on Yi Yun.
A vortex appeared out of nowhere in front of Yi Yun. All the blood dragon's essence energy on the seventh level was sucked into the vortex.
With a loud shrill scream, the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow totems appeared simultaneously behind Yi Yun.
The totems that were more than a hundred feet tall descended like Ancient Fey. The nine snake heads looked extremely ferocious, while the Golden Crow's flames burned intensely.
And after that, a dragon's roar suddenly boomed as the Heaven Devouring Flood Dragon's phantom image appeared as well.
The blood dragon essence energy was devoured so incessantly that the black shadows on the eighth level distanced themselves away.
In Yi Yun's body, Yuan Qi seemed to flow like endless waves as it vigorously circulated around his body.
Boom!
Instantly, it was as though the heaven and earth had opened up at the beginning of life. A Dao Tree appeared in front of Yi Yun.
The tree leaves swayed as though they were producing Dao chants. The Dao Tree was already tens of feet high.
"Yi Yun is about to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm." Lie Ya said.
"He was at the Yuan Opening perfection realm, so it's reasonable for him to break through." Another disciple said.
Yi Yun had first absorbed the Ancient Fey bone before absorbing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. It was no wonder that he could make a breakthrough after consuming such treasures.
At this moment, Luo Tian already had a distasteful feeling whenever he looked at Yi Yun. At the Black Wind Valley trials, all the limelight had been stolen by Yi Yun. The best things were also obtained by Yi Yun, so how could he feel comfortable?
Originally, Luo Tian was able to mentally console himself that Yi Yun's cultivation realm was lower than his. It was only at the Yuan Opening realm.
But now, once Yi Yun broke through to the Heaven Ascension realm, Luo Tian would be in the same realm as Yi Yun. Although Luo Tian was a subrealm higher, it was not a major advantage.
If that was the case, the decades that he had over Yi Yun in cultivation had been sent to the dogs?
"How old is Yi Yun?" Luo Tian suddenly asked.
"His bone age should be in their thirties, definitely not even forty." A Fire Cloud State disciple said.
This made Luo Tian knit his brows even tighter. He himself had broken through the Heaven Ascension realm at the age of forty-two!
Now, Yi Yun was just in his thirties.
"Too young!" Luo Tian shook his head. "Even a Luo clan genius would wait till they were nearly forty before they chose to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm. Yi Yun grew up in a lower realm, so be it resources or heritage, there is no way that the lower realm can compete with the 12 Empyrean Heavens."
"Yi Yun has just come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, so he should take advantage of the rich resources here and cultivate for a few more years to ensure he has a solid foundation. Yi Yun's nomological insight is impressive, and his body has absorbed the Ancient Fey bone. So he could be called unique and incomparable."
"But one's cultivation level and foundation cannot be accumulated without the passage of time. If those Luo clan geniuses want to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm, they could do it before the age of thirty as well, but they would drag it out for more than a decade so they could ensure that their foundations were perfect. Once they break through to the Heaven Ascension realm, their Dao Trees would be more than ninety deca-feet tall, some would even reach ninety-nine deca-feet!"
In a warrior's cultivation, they would plant a Dao Seed at the Yuan Foundation, grow a divine tree from the Dao Seed, laying the path to Heaven Ascension. The taller the Dao Tree was, the smoother the warrior's path would be in the future.
At this moment, on the Phoenix Firmiana State’s side, someone interrupted, "What Senior Brother Luo said is true. However, Yi Yun is choosing to break through now because of the pressure that the Xushui Ran clan will bring him. Although the Xushui Ran clan would not blatantly deal with Yi Yun, it is inevitable that they will retaliate within the confines of the rules. Who knows, Yi Yun might also end up in the same state as Ran Yu. Yi Yun must have considered this to choose to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm in his thirties."
The moment this Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said this, the others fell silent. Putting themselves in Yi Yun's shoes, they would probably make the same choice. After all, there were still opportunities to slowly make up for a poor foundation. If one’s personal strength was too weak, they might suffer a mishap in the trials due to someone from the Xushui Ran clan, and he might even lose half his life.
"What you said is right. What Yi Yun did is a wise choice." Luo Tian sighed as he felt mixed emotions.
And at this moment, the Dao Tree in front of Yi Yun was beginning to grow taller.
The energy within his body was constantly transforming into nutrients for the Dao tree. It was as if the Dao Tree would become towering and pierce straight into the clouds.
Heaven Ascension meant that the tree grown from the Dao seed becomes a path to heaven ascension.
Ten deca-feet, twenty deca-feet… fifty deca-feet... eighty deca-feet, all the way to ninety deca-feet!
With every additional growth in height of the Dao Tree, its appearance would change. It was obvious at a glance at what level the Dao Tree was. In fact, even without these changes, a warrior's eyesight was able to visually estimate the Dao Tree's height.
Upon seeing Yi Yun's Dao Tree reach ninety deca-feet, Luo Tian's heart shrunk. It was already that tall? That's too fast!
Seeing Yi Yun's Dao Tree grow unabated, it was definitely not a problem even if it hit ninety-five deca-feet at this rate.
"Senior Brother Luo, how high was your Dao Tree when you broke through to the Heaven Ascension realm?" Someone beside Luo Tian asked.
Luo Tian had quite an ugly expression on his face. Back then, his Dao Tree had grown to a height of ninety-seven deca-feet. That height was considered not bad, but in the Luo clan, there were people with higher Dao Trees than Luo Tian. There were many who had their Dao Trees attain the height of ninety-eight deca-feet, while there even a handful of people reaching ninety-nine deca-feet.
Luo Tian also knew that there was a difference when he compared himself to the top geniuses who grew up in the royal capital. He was still satisfied with his Dao Tree reaching the height of ninety-seven deca-feet. It was something to be proud of, but seeing how Yi Yun's Dao Tree had already reached ninety-five deca-feet without slowing down, how could he mention that he only had a ninety-seven deca-feet Dao Tree?
He had broken through to the Heaven Ascension realm at the age of forty-two... seven or eight years older than Yi Yun.
If even Yi Yun surpassed him with this, what did he amount to? He was inferior to Yi Yun in laws, inferior to Yi Yun in bloodline, and even now, his foundation… that he cultivated for forty-two years was inferior to Yi Yun's just over thirty years.
"Yi Yun's Dao Tree should be at the height of ninety-seven deca-feet now!"
The moment the disciple finished saying that, he realized that Yi Yun's Dao Tree was growing higher again.
Luo Tian's heart shrank as his expression turned extremely ugly.
"Could it be… ?"
"Ka-cha!"
A lightning bolt struck down from above the nine heavens, right onto Yi Yun's Dao Tree.
And at the same time, two sharp calls echoed as the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow circled around the Dao Seed's tree before entering the tree's crown and flying amidst the clouds.
Nine-eight deca-feet!
"Roar!"
A dragon's roar was emitted from Yi Yun's body as the Heaven Devouring Flood Dragon phantom image appeared and flew straight into the Dao Tree.
Ka! Ka! Ka! As though the Heaven and Earth was being split apart, thunder rang again.
The Dao Tree grew ten feet higher once again!
Ninety-nine deca-feet!
Yi Yun's Dao tree had grown to a height of ninety-nine deca-feet in one fell swoop. From afar, it looked like it was connected to the firmament.
The numbers of 99 was the pinnacle of Dao. By reaching the height of ninety-nine deca-feet, that Dao Tree had obtained perfection. However, perfection was not something ridiculously difficult. Amongst Luo clan geniuses, they still existed despite being exceedingly rare.
Yi Yun looked up at his Dao Tree. His Dao Tree had stopped growing at the height of ninety-nine deca-feet, and it did not reach a hundred deca-feet.
However… Yi Yun's Dao Tree looked somewhat different. Every leaf of the Dao Tree contained strange textures that resembled the Dao Leaf that Yi Yun had obtained at the Pure Yang Sword Palace.
As the gentle wind blew, the tree leaves rustled. The rustling seemed to contain a strange melody that was quite fascinating.
However, the mystery contained within the leaves was naturally not something that Luo Tian and company could see.
In fact, just reaching the height of a Nine Nine Dao Tree was something that they could not accept.
Ninety-nine deca-feet, perfection!
Luo Tian looked at Yi Yun's Dao Tree and he felt like his face had been brutally smashed in by a fist. He felt his brain buzz.
They had just speculated that Yi Yun was forced by the Xushui Ran clan to make his breakthrough in a haste. But before they were even done with their conversation, Yi Yun's Dao Tree had grown to a height of ninety-nine deca-feet!
Can you stop doing that? Can you spare us a living path?
Being first at the collective training and obtaining all the benefits. Breaking through to the Heaven Ascension realm and even obtaining a Nine Nine Dao Tree!
Luo Tian suddenly felt discouraged and disillusioned. His looking forward to the Luo Divine Hall trials had even reduced.
He finally understood that he should not have competed with Yi Yun to begin with.
He was not a genius on the same level as Yi Yun, which resulted in such a disparate gap. At the collective training session, he was put down by Yi Yun in every single way, with him unable to lift his head up.
"Nine Nine Dao Tree. Yi Yun, you are pretty fine, but do not become complacent. A Nine Nine Dao Tree does not ensure great success in the future."
At this moment, Cang Mang's voice echoed in Yi Yun's ears.
A Nine Nine Dao Tree was a basic, a necessary condition that a top mighty figure had to have. However, there were people with Nine Nine Dao Trees who ended up exhausting all their potential when they reached a certain stage.
"Yes, thank you, Senior Cang Mang, for your sincere advice. This junior is well aware. My martial path has only just started… "
As Yi Yun said this, the Dao Tree in front of him gradually shrunk and it flew into his Dantian. At that moment, Yi Yun's eyes became more profound, and the bottom of his eyes seemed to have Dao Tree leaf veins flashing.
At this moment, Yi Yun felt that he was even closer to ‘Dao’, but that feeling disappeared very quickly.
The truth of Great Dao was not something that was easy to touch.