I Cheated While Cultivating

The bright green light radiated swiftly from this sky-piercing giant tree, expanding hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of miles… In an instant, the vast Pingzhou was enveloped in this dazzling radiance.

Above Liu Gaoyang’s head sprouted a mu-sized auspicious cloud, also shimmering with a bright green glow, which complemented the towering giant tree and the light that seemed to cover heaven and earth.

Boom! Rumble!

The sky echoed with bursts of thunderous noise. Within the bright green light, a divine dragon seemed to be condensing, ceaselessly roaming. At this moment, all laws related to the Wood Path in the world were intensely disturbed.

The disturbance of the Taoist principles affected all matters and beings in the world.

Outside the courtyard and the prefectural city, patches of trees and grasses began to grow wildly, swiftly submerging Xuan Ge and Tian Qiang, even attempting to draw upon their inner Qi and vitality for growth.

The two hastily exercised their martial arts, severing these plant growths, and uprooting them completely, temporarily halting their insane expansion.

However, before long, the movement of the Wood Path’s principles became increasingly intense. The severed plants began to twist, taking root on the spot, and growing rapidly.

Even the nearby thatched huts began to shake, the wooden pillars amazingly sprouting roots, anchoring themselves into the earth; the thatch, originally yellow and dried, atop the roofs turned verdant, as if regaining new life.

In Huangtong Mansion City, Yu He, who had just slipped out of the martial arts school on leave, intending to visit the newly opened Zhiyinfang to listen to the girls play music, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He saw the trees on both sides of the road growing rapidly, thickening, becoming taller and larger.

“Holy shit, what’s going on??” Yu He was dumbfounded.

The trees’ branches and leaves became lush in an instant, the roots buried in the ground thickened, actually lifting the cobblestones and paving tiles of the road, with a continuing tendency to grow.

Weeds that originally sprouted in the cracks of walls also suddenly grew rapidly, with their roots becoming thick and long, causing cracks to form in the brick walls.

The tight brick walls simply couldn’t withstand the shock of these thick and long assaults.

Patches of withered trees began to revive, crazily drawing nutrients from the already barren land, turning green in a blink of an eye, but the land where they grew progressively turned to desert.

Algae on rivers and lakes proliferated and spread rapidly, quickly covering the entire surface of the water and even starting to devour the fish and shrimp within, nurturing their growth.

Plants on many mountains began to grow wildly, whether they be trees, vines, or grasses, all growing quickly larger and taller, and even evolved aggressive traits, starting to prey on animals.

This influence wasn’t confined to just Pingzhou; all thirty-three states of Da Qi, as well as Da Jin and Da Zhou, were affected.

It was just that the further away from Liu Gaoyang, the smaller the impact, and in places with other Celestials or even higher beings, this effect was completely suppressed.

“How can it be so bizarre!?”

“A normal Celestial’s path to enlightenment would not be like this. Something has gone wrong during Liu Gaoyang’s ascension!”

On-site, You Ziheng and the Five Emperors’ Inner Seats spotted the abnormality in Liu Gaoyang and their actions didn’t slow; almost simultaneously, they launched attacks toward Liu Gaoyang’s Dharma Body.

The core of a Fourth Rank Celestial’s proof of enlightenment lies in the connection between the Dharma Body and the Tao; to prevent Liu Gaoyang from ascending, they had to sever the connection between his Dharma Body and the Wood Path.

The Five Emperors’ Inner Seats, who clearly practiced the Five Elements Tao, threw a punch that instantly gathered a five-colored brilliance, much like the Five-Color Divine Light Zhou Heng had used just now, soaring into the sky and striking at Liu Gaoyang’s Dharma Body.

As he punched, it seemed as if five emperors stood behind him, arranged in five directions, each presiding over one of the Five Elements, interweaving the logic of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, attempting to affect the connection between the Immortal Giant Tree Dharma Body and the Tao.

Under normal circumstances, with the Five Emperors’ Inner Seats at the peak of the Fourth Rank Cultivation Realm, a full-strength attack would definitely cause significant interference to Liu Gaoyang.

But after the punch was thrown, before the five-colored glow could touch Liu Gaoyang’s Dharma Body, it was blocked by an invisible, potent force and, in the blink of an eye, disintegrated, without achieving anything.

“How can this be?” The Five Emperors’ Inner Seats were shocked and puzzled, “Just now, that was the Celestial’s power, a Celestial is secretly protecting Liu Gaoyang!”

“There’s no Celestial aura nearby; it must be a Celestial lending aid remotely from tens of thousands of miles away!” You Ziheng made a judgment, drawing the Purple Virtual Sword within a mist of dense purple Qi.

“Slice!”

He let out a heavens-shaking long howl.

A mysterious purple sword light was seen slashing out from the longsword in his hand.

Crossing the void, splitting heaven and earth!

This sword was as if slashed before the heavens and earth were formed, before Yin and Yang were defined, containing incredible might, as if a supreme deity had split open the primordial chaos in ancient times—

Sword Emerges from Chaos!

This was a Third-Rank supreme technique from the Purple Cloud Peak of the Pure Yang Palace, which You Ziheng, with his current level of cultivation, could only unleash once with the help of a Divine Weapon.

Boom!

It seemed as if the heavens and earth were split apart by this sword, an incomparable sharpness aimed at the unprecedentedly expanding Immortal Giant Tree Dharma Body.

The purple sword light spanned the universe, instantly enveloping the “Immortal Giant Tree” that had already pierced through the heavens, showering down endless sharpness and instantly slicing it into countless pieces.

Destroyed along with the Immortal Giant Tree Dharma Body was Liu Gaoyang himself, who had nowhere to hide under the vast expanse of purple sword light. He was annihilated on the spot, with not even his bones remaining.

After this sword strike, the strange phenomena in the heavens and earth that indicated an aberrant attempt at enlightenment finally ceased, as if everything was returning to normal.

However, neither the Five Emperors’ Inner Circle nor You Ziheng relaxed their expressions; both were tense. Zhou Heng also sensed an extraordinary aura brewing in the void.

Boom!

At that moment, the sky was suddenly pierced through, and an aquamarine finger as thick as a mountain penetrated the clouds and pressed down, directly deflecting the sword light that You Ziheng had unleashed with the Purple Virtual Sword into myriad shattered light fragments.

Immediately afterward, that finger gently rotated, and at the original location of Liu Gaoyang, an extremely concentrated vitality swiftly gathered.

In just a few breaths’ time, Liu Gaoyang, who had already been reduced to nothing but bones, was resurrected, his aura and condition as perfect as before.

Celestial Man!

A true Celestial Man had intervened from afar to protect Liu Gaoyang!

“A Celestial Man from the Five Elements Sect?”

“But the Five Elements Sect does not have a Celestial Man who has entrusted his Primordial Spirit to the Wood Element Tao.”

You Ziheng and the Five Emperors’ Inner Circle were both surprised by the situation before them, feeling it utterly unimaginable; what followed was a deep sense of powerlessness.

What should they do next to stop Liu Gaoyang?

Are they to simply let him succeed in entrusting his Primordial Spirit to the void and smoothly attain the position of a Celestial Man?

That cannot be allowed!

Yet with that hidden Celestial Man present, the Five Emperors’ Inner Circle couldn’t harm Liu Gaoyang, and You Ziheng, having unleashed Sword Emerges from Chaos, was now utterly exhausted and unable to make another move.

Hum!!

At that moment, the multicolored orb in Zhou Heng’s hand trembled suddenly, emitting a lamentation filled with immense sorrow and unwillingness.

The Primordial Spirit of the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal was eradicated.

The Primordial Spirit of a Loose Immortal was incredibly resilient; even for the multicolored divine light to extinguish it took quite some time, and this was thanks to a bonus effect against Yin spirits, allowing the process to finish faster. Otherwise, it would have taken even longer.

However, after the Primordial Spirit of the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal was eradicated, Zhou Heng discovered that the multicolored divine light did not vanish; instead, it maintained its state in his hand, sealing the residual mana of the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal within it.

— The multicolored divine light had only eradicated the Primordial Spirit of the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal, but the mana remaining in its soul body was not erased, meaning that the multicolored divine light still held mana equivalent to that of a Loose Immortal.

However, this seal was very unstable, and as long as Zhou Heng threw the multicolored divine light from his hand and deliberately released it, this vast amount of mana and the involved power of the multicolored divine light would burst forth with boundless potency.

It was equivalent to an “hand grenade” with power unimaginable.

“Senior masters, please protect me,” Zhou Heng suddenly spoke, causing both You Ziheng and the Five Emperors’ Inner Circle to be taken aback. Yet, without asking any questions, they complied, exerting their full strength to deploy their most powerful measures to protect Zhou Heng.

Simultaneously, Zhou Heng mustered all his strength and threw the multicolored divine light, which was hovering in his hand, towards Liu Gaoyang, who was preparing to manifest the Immortal Giant Tree Dharma Body again and assault the position of a Celestial Man.

Boom!!

The multicolored divine light burst open in the sky, full of brilliance, especially with the aquamarine light symbolizing “Wood” dominantly flourishing.

Moreover, as it obliterated the form and spirit of Liu Gaoyang, the radiant layers displayed a power so unfathomable that it directly solidified all Wood- related laws and essences within thousands of miles, preventing any power associated with the Wood Element Dao from descending to this place for a short time.

This directly cut off any possibility of that prior Celestial Man intervening again from afar.

“Congratulations! You have defeated an enemy ‘Liu Gaoyang,’ who had no chance of surviving and could have died ten times over. Please choose one of the following rewards.”

“® Open one door: Set a location where you currently are as a return point, which allows you to open a door and return at any time and place, ignoring any seals, bans, and other obstructions, and disregarding any spatial distance.”

Prophecy once: Make a prophecy about a certain event, declaring it will surely happen. The closer the prophecy aligns with logic, the closer the outcome will be to the prophecy.”

“® Luck once: Today, you will have unimaginable luck.”