Chapter 111: The Secret of Mi Cang's Ascension

Upon returning to her living quarters, Ji Yao immediately entered her Sumeru space. Earlier at Lingtian Pavilion, fearing she might encounter other disciples, she had only taken a cursory glance at the scroll before stowing it away.

Generally, books from Lingtian Pavilion were strictly forbidden from being removed. However, this scroll was not listed in the pavilion’s catalog; it had been held separately by the artifact spirit and handed to her personally. With the spirit’s tacit approval, Ji Yao had naturally smuggled it out.

Spreading the array map across her desk, Ji Yao took a blank sheet of paper and drew a detailed layout of the Profound Sword City based on her memory. Comparing the two, the discrepancies became far more intuitive.

At a glance, the formation appeared to be a standard city-protection array. Had she not seen the original map, Ji Yao likely would not have suspected anything, as her own mastery of arrays had not yet reached such a level. But it was precisely because she had studied the genuine diagram and possessed a photographic memory that she was so sensitive to these anomalies.

According to the map, certain sections of this protective array could be modified. Once altered, the array gained the ability to extract and convert a specific type of energy. The Scarlet Sun Stone in the central plaza was exactly what was needed to suppress this energy. The primary function of the Scarlet Sun Stone was to purge and suppress demonic entities; thus, the array’s potential effectiveness against such creatures was immeasurable. Ordinary demons would not even dare to enter Profound Sword City.

But what did this have to do with Situ Jing? Could she have anticipated that demonic entities would emerge in the Mican Realm?

Situ Jing did not know how to construct arrays, but that did not prevent her from studying them. Furthermore, the diagrams she had studied since awakening were largely related to dealing with demons. Even so, this seemed to have little bearing on her reincarnation. Why, then, would she risk damaging her soul to bring Ji Yao to the Lingyun Sect to orchestrate a specific plan, rather than immediately beginning her next reincarnation?

Unless Situ Jing had sensed the emergence of these demons fifty thousand years ago, and they were specifically targeting her. There were even signs suggesting that her failed ascension and current state were no coincidence.

Ji Yao felt it was time to ask some questions.

No sooner had the thought of Situ Jing crossed her mind than the woman appeared before her, as if she had expected it all along. Before Ji Yao could speak, Situ Jing offered something akin to an introduction: "During my previous reincarnation, they called me Immortal Venerable Jingyi."

Immortal Venerable Jingyi? Immortal Venerable Jingyi!

Ji Yao had indeed seen this title in the Lingyun Sect’s historical records, but... "The sect records state that Immortal Venerable Jingyi cultivated for eight thousand years before reaching the Tribulation Transcendence stage, but she went on a journey fifty-three thousand years ago and never returned. Senior, you ascended fifty thousand years ago..."

A startling thought suddenly surfaced, frightening Ji Yao, and the words tumbled out. "Since fifty thousand years ago, no one in the Mican Realm has been able to ascend, and no one has even reached the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Why did you fail your ascension, Senior? Is the current state of the Mican Realm a result of what happened back then?"

Ji Yao’s speculation was not unfounded. After the Immortal-Demon War one hundred thousand years ago, the number of ascensions in the Mican Realm had dwindled. Sometimes, only two or three occurred over ten thousand years. The last recorded ascension had been fifty-eight thousand years ago. After that individual ascended, there were no further records of anyone doing so. During the period from then until fifty thousand years ago, though no one ascended, three people did reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage—the two human cultivators and one demon cultivator currently existing in the cultivation world. If Situ Jing’s attempted ascension had occurred exactly within that fifty-thousand-year window, it was hard not to draw a connection.

Situ Jing cast a somber glance at Ji Yao, unsure whether to be annoyed or gratified by her sharpness. Regardless, she decided to lay the facts bare; after all, she had already lost face in front of Ji Yao earlier thanks to Xiao Wu, so there was no harm in speaking plainly now.

"I once said that I encountered an accident during my ascension, resulting in the destruction of my physical body. Do you know what kind of accident?" Situ Jing paused, not to wait for an answer, but to gather her thoughts. "I was caught in a spatial rift that suddenly appeared within the immortal light of guidance sent down by the Heavenly Dao. I was sucked into the extra-territorial gales and, at the cost of my physical body, used the Great Sumeru Universe Plate to escape with my soul. If I had still possessed the cultivation of an Immortal Venerable back then, I could have handled the gales with the Universe Plate. But my body was merely at the Mahayana stage following my Tribulation Transcendence. Had I stubbornly clung to that reincarnated form, I fear my soul would not have survived."

The so-called extra-territorial gales were a terror even to Great Luo Golden Immortals. Since the separation of the Three Thousand Realms, each realm had existed amidst these endless gales. Beyond unique teleportation channels and the immortal light of guidance, no one could safely cross the gales to reach another realm. Situ Jing’s reincarnation into the Mican Realm was not only protected by her artifact but also exploited a loophole in the laws of the Heavenly Dao, utilizing the conduit opened by the guidance light of another cultivator ascending from a different realm.

"Senior, are you saying there is a loophole in the Heavenly Dao of the Mican Realm?" Ji Yao asked, her attention immediately caught.

Situ Jing hesitated, then nodded. "Yes. I suspect this loophole was created by the Immortal-Demon War one hundred thousand years ago."

During that war, the primary battlefield was shattered by violent energy. Most of the debris fell into the extra-territorial gales and was ground to dust. However, one of the largest fragments, imbued with residual energy, traveled at immense speed and struck the Mican Realm, which was nearest to the battlefield. From that moment on, the Mican Realm drifted from its original position, and the loophole in its Heavenly Dao was likely born at that time.

"Ah Heng and I discovered this loophole later, which is why we decided to reincarnate here. We feared that in a realm with a complete Heavenly Dao, we would be detected by the laws, wasting our efforts and leaving us too weakened to survive the Three Decays of Immortals."

By this point, Ji Yao was bewildered. She had yet to fully grasp the affairs of the cultivation world, let alone the lives of immortals. Situ Jing seemed to realize this and shifted the topic to what happened after she descended.

"After I reincarnated, everything went smoothly. I was my original soul, retaining all my memories, and I cultivated to the Tribulation Transcendence stage without a single bottleneck. But disaster struck just as I was about to succeed in my ascension..."

When Situ Jing was sucked into the spatial rift, she had distinctly felt a trace of familiar demonic energy. She and Ah Heng had encountered this presence countless times on the battlefield; it was their mortal enemy, a struggle to the death.

"Looking back, when I first descended, I had chosen the Mican Realm because of that loophole. Little did I know that the demon race might have anticipated it too. Perhaps other demonic entities from the immortal realm had been guided down as well!"

She wondered if it was the main soul of that demon lord or merely a fragment. Situ Jing kept this final speculation to herself, not wanting to voice it to Ji Yao, as she could not be entirely sure—what if it was just a demonic puppet imbued with its aura?

Despite all she had heard, Ji Yao had not forgotten her original question. "But we were talking about why the Mican Realm has been unable to transcend tribulation and ascend for the past fifty thousand years!"

Situ Jing smiled, revealing white teeth that looked unsettlingly sharp. "What if I told you that the demonic entity, after sabotaging me, used the power of that very spatial rift to seal off the Mican Realm’s Heavenly Dao?"

Ji Yao shivered. "If the enemy is powerful enough to seal the Heavenly Dao, do we have any hope of winning?"

"Heh!" Situ Jing’s laugh lacked any warmth. "How do you know that the power used to seal the Heavenly Dao belongs to that demon? As an Immortal Venerable, I wouldn't dare claim I could seal the Heavenly Dao of an entire realm by myself! If they truly possessed that kind of power, why would they have lost the Immortal-Demon War?"

"Then what should we do?" Ji Yao knew that Situ Jing had told her so much today for a reason beyond just being discovered regarding the city’s array and the anti-magic space. She decided to ask directly. After all, she was now tied to Situ Jing; for both their sakes, this matter had to be resolved.

"I suspect that the battlefield fragment that struck the Mican Realm is the very place that became the 'Anti-Magic Zone' that appeared ten thousand years ago. An immortal-demon battlefield—what a perfect source of power! How could I have been so negligent?"

Situ Jing looked at her outstretched hand and clenched her fingers tightly, sparking a brilliant flash of lightning accompanied by the crackling sound of electrical discharge.

"Perhaps," she whispered, "we can pull the rug out from under them."