Immortal of the Ages

Chapter 503: Boundless is the Dao, Open is the Celestial Path!

But why did this cloudy star feel so familiar?

Lian Xi was the first to grasp the truth. Squeezed into the cabin of the Skyruler Sword Vessel, she excitedly told Yun Xiao, "This star is actually the myriad worlds!"

After a pause, she added, "It’s the realm we grew up in, along with thousands upon thousands of other mortal realms... It only appears smaller now because we are so far from it."

"The myriad worlds?" Yun Xiao was puzzled. The myriad worlds were a giant, murky star. It was like a celestial egg divided into countless worlds, teeming with life. And the Primordial Ruins were sailing among them.

He remembered the barrier aglow with starlight and Arbiter Lu calling his home the Pale Blue Dot Mortal Realm.

"So, the myriad worlds are shaped like a star that harbors all creation!"

How could the beings living within the myriad worlds believe this without seeing it with their own eyes?

"The world is truly wondrous," Yun Xiao realized, acknowledging his profound ignorance of the world's true structure.

"If the myriad worlds are a star, what is the Great Dao Celestial Realm then? Are the other stars something similar?" Lian Xi wondered aloud, her curiosity unabated.

Yun Xiao was about to speculate when his face suddenly froze in amazement.

He turned his head to the side and said with a sense of wonder, "Lian Xi, look over there."

Lian Xi blinked her large eyes towards the direction he indicated and saw, not far from the myriad worlds, another star appeared.

This star was even larger than the myriad worlds. It too was clouded with murky starlight, within which shadows flickered and, faintly, the sounds of thunder and the voices of many beings could be heard.

"Could this larger star be the Great Dao Celestial Realm?" Lian Xi guessed.

"No," Yun Xiao replied with a firm gaze, somewhat astounded. "This must be another mortal realm?"

"Another mortal realm?" Lian Xi was stunned.

"More precisely," Yun Xiao continued, "it should be another mortal realm formed by a collection of worlds."

"Why are you so sure?" Lian Xi asked, curious.

"As the Skyruler Sword Vessel moves away from these two stars, its blade points towards the Great Dao Celestial Realm. Although these two stars differ in size, they share the same level. Moreover..." Yun Xiao pointed in another direction, "look there, you can vaguely see three more stars. Together, these five must all be star-shaped mortal realms. Or perhaps, should we call them five Stellar Mortal Realms?"

"There are five mortal realms? That's too many beings!" Lian Xi said, sticking out her tongue.

"Five?" A light flickered in Yun Xiao's eyes.

He knew the Skyruler Sword Vessel was still speeding forward! As they moved further from the myriad worlds, their field of view expanded. Indeed, As they continued to move away, more and more stars appeared!

The myriad worlds where they had been embedded slowly transformed into a vast, dark sky. And in the sky, more and more stars appeared in their sight. At first, there were only five. Soon, dozens of stars were visible. Then, thousands! And it didn't stop there!

In the end, tens of thousands of star points appeared in his field of vision. And they completely filled the sky!

For a moment, Yun Xiao felt as if he were back in his childhood, gazing up at a sky filled with countless stars. What he had seen in his youth were merely points of light. But now, there were tens of thousands of stars, each one a mortal realm the size of the myriad worlds. Mortal realms were embedded in the sky like stars!

In Yun Xiao's mind, the structure of the mortal realms and the Celestial Court had been simple—a two-tiered tower, with the mortal realms below and the Celestial Court above.

But now, the mortal realms appeared as stars embedded in the sky, illuminating the world. This was beyond his imagination!

"Yun Xiao!" Lian Xi suddenly struggled to turn her face towards the front of the Skyruler Sword Vessel, her voice filled with surprise. "Look ahead!"

Both of them, born in the Pale Blue Dot Mortal Realm and not widely traveled, found this journey imbued with a naïve beauty.

Yun Xiao held her close and finally managed to see ahead! As he turned, a blaze of sunlight forced him to instinctively shut his eyes. When his eyes adjusted, he slowly opened them, his mind shaken by the sight.

"Is the Great Dao Celestial Realm a sun? Is the Celestial Court built upon a giant sun?" Lian Xi asked, stunned.

Indeed, ahead of their sword vessel, a burning sun appeared, illuminating the surrounding dark clouds with unparalleled brilliance. Thousands of streams of celestial energy mingled above it, like a fierce, dreamlike world.

Yun Xiao took a deep breath and said, "More precisely, the Celestial Court is built on an enormous Celestial Sourcecore!"

As for its true size, they could not estimate the distance and were unsure.

Under this intense glow, their young faces, and the four eyes between them, shimmered with golden light.

It was the awe of a vast world and the aspiration for a future on the Immortal path.

Yun Xiao, not a particularly experienced man, gazed at the vast Great Dao Celestial Realm with a mix of awe and agitation in his heart. But soon, his eyes hardened, the confusion turning into a desire to conquer.

"From the Great Dao Celestial Realm, looking up at the sky, countless mortal realms are embedded like stars. The Immortals probably don't care if a single star might lose its luster..."

The myriad worlds would soon become a dying star! It would vanish from the sky of the Great Dao Celestial Realm!

Countless beings were about to lose their lives and everything else in a devastating calamity. Thousands of years of heritage would be destroyed in an instant! Such stark realities altered Yun Xiao’s sentiment as he approached the Great Dao Celestial Realm, his longing now mingled with a solemn resolve.

The mortal realms and the Celestial Court were not merely layers of a tower but rather the sun and the multitude of stars in the sky. All of a sudden, many previously incomprehensible things started making sense.

"No Immortal would concern themselves with the dimming of a star," Lian Xi said, her sensitive heart growing more melancholic upon witnessing all this.

"Lian Xi," Yun Xiao pinched her cheek gently to comfort her, "didn’t you say that the Celestial Court has celestial laws forbidding Immortals from descending to the mortal realms, indicating that it protects the path of mortals? So, think on the bright side."

"Are you always this optimistic?" Lian Xi asked, somewhat surprised.

"At least, you need to be responsible for being optimistic," Yun Xiao said with a smile. What he meant was, they couldn’t both afford to be pessimists.

Lian Xi understood him then. "Alright, I'll be the one to believe in the good," she said, smiling with dimples and her small canine teeth showing, looking utterly adorable.

And so, their fantastical journey chasing the sun was bound to reach its end.

Beyond a certain limit, only sunlight was visible ahead of the Skyruler Sword Vessel; the true size of the Great Dao Celestial Realm was no longer discernible. It seemed like a chaotic spherical forge in the void.

Even within the Skyruler Sword Vessel, Yun Xiao could feel its intense heat.

"This Skyruler Sword Vessel is a forbidden item for non-Immortals. We're essentially stowaways, not meant to openly pilot it into the Great Dao Celestial Realm," Yun Xiao stated earnestly.

"What shall we do then?" Lian Xi asked.

"Slow down, stop, then abandon the sword vessel and look for a safe way to enter," Yun Xiao said as he gazed ahead at the rolling flames.

"Alright!" It was Lian Xi’s first time as a stowaway, and she was terribly nervous. Whenever she engaged in misdeeds, her discomfort was palpable, almost as if she was afraid others would notice her sneaking around.

With a hum, the Skyruler Sword Vessel slowed to a halt, hovering in the void.

CLICK! Yun Xiao opened the hatch, and both emerged with flushed faces, finally climbing out of that confined space.

Once out, both Yun Xiao and Lian Xi instinctively shoved the grumbling little beasts back into their arms and shared a sheepishly amused glance.

"Arbiter Lu, your vengeance, I swear to seek it clearly and fulfill it," Yun Xiao declared, patting the Skyruler Sword Vessel, which then resumed its course toward the Great Dao Celestial Realm.

Like an ancient sword, it plunged into an endless ocean of volcanic magma!

Ahead, the heavens were entirely dominated by the fiery sea of the Great Dao Celestial Realm, its flames rolling up in thousand-mile waves, making Yun Xiao and Lian Xi appear like mere flies above a volcano.

"The Celestial Realm!" Yun Xiao took one deep look at this world of fierce fire, then turned back. At the edge of the dusky night sky, countless stars dotted the heavens, their dim light haphazard and lacking compared to the brilliant blaze of the Great Dao Celestial Realm.

"Let's go." Yun Xiao grasped Lian Xi’s hand, and together they descended.

They kept sinking! Suddenly, at some critical point, an abrupt change occurred! They felt a terrifying force spontaneously emerge between heaven and earth, locking onto their bodies!

It was like an imprisoning sphere, locking down everything about them, rendering them utterly immobile.

"Boundless is the Dao, open is the Celestial Path! Congratulations to the ascenders!"

A deafening voice suddenly echoed as if the entire Great Dao Celestial Realm itself was speaking.

"Yun Xiao!" Lian Xi called out in alarm.

Yun Xiao mustered all his strength to grip her hand tightly.

In the next instant, a formidable force propelled them forward!

Yun Xiao and Lian Xi embraced tightly, clutching each other like octopuses, not daring to let go, the little beasts in their arms squirming and cursing.

BUZZ! For a moment, they felt a speed surpassing that of the Skyruler Sword Vessel!

Who was controlling them?

Yun Xiao could only catch glimpses with the corner of his eye, watching the surrounding waves of fire and clouds morph bizarrely, every majestic scene flashing by in an instant.

Soon, ahead of them, a dazzling, colorful vortex appeared!

It was like a gateway to the Celestial Realm, or the eye of this blazing orb, with countless storms of colorful clouds and flames swirling around it, resounding with a deafening, majestic sound.