33: Chapter 33 Six Paths of Reincarnation

Unlike Su Ming's composure, the remaining six testers were all struggling bitterly in the massive Undead Army, ultimately failing and being eliminated from the tower.

Among the six, Shen Ce possessed the strongest strength and the deepest foundation, yet even he could no longer hold on at this moment.

But the moment he faced the scene of the tenth stage, his usually steady state of mind completely collapsed, and his entire body froze on the spot.

The boundless Undead Army spread out between heaven and earth, with as many as two hundred thousand skeletons standing ominously. The monstrous nether energy pressed down so heavily that people found it hard to breathe.

Even though a large portion of these skeletons hadn't even stepped into the First-Stage Transcendent realm, this sea-like quantity alone was enough to bring bone-chilling despair.

"No way? The difficulty of this Hanging Pagoda is simply too absurd!"

Looking at the skeleton army pouring endlessly out of the Nether Gate, Shen Ce couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

"The ninth stage only had one hundred thousand undead, but the tenth stage directly doubled and surged to two hundred thousand! This is simply not something I can contend against!"

He shook his head and sighed self-deprecatingly, "If anyone can clear this stage today, I am willing to pluck off my head and let them kick it like a ball!"

As his voice fell, without waiting for stronger deities of the Nether Clan to appear, Shen Ce chose to give up the trial.

With a flash of spiritual light and an instant shift of his figure, he stepped out of the trial space and returned to the platform outside the Hanging Pagoda.

There were still two defeated deities on the platform. Seeing Shen Ce appear, both of them wore expressions of utter astonishment.

"Shen Ce? Even you were eliminated?"

"That's not right! Ten people entered the tower, but now only nine have come out. There is actually still someone left inside the tower!"

"You are the strongest among our batch, and even you stopped here. Could someone else have secretly hidden their strength?"

The two asked one after another, their eyes filled with shock and doubt.

Shen Ce's heart was also filled with extreme surprise.

He was never arrogant, but he knew the strength of the testers in the same batch like the back of his hand; the rest possessed decent talents, but none could compare with him.

The next instant, the enchanting youthful face of a young man surfaced in his mind.

"Could it be him?"

Shen Ce immediately raised his eyes and asked, "Do you still remember Su Ming? The last person who rushed over to enter the tower."

"Su Ming?"

The two proud talents showed blank expressions, completely paying no mind to this inconspicuous newcomer.

After pondering for a moment, they reluctantly recalled that figure, shaking their heads casually, "I have a bit of an impression, but his aura was mediocre. I'm afraid he was flushed out by the undead sea in the very first batch and couldn't possibly have lasted until now."

"Is that so..."

Shen Ce frowned slightly.

Reason told him that what the two said was not false, but deep in his heart, a strong intuition inexplicably arose.

That seemingly ordinary Su Ming was very likely the one still remaining inside the Hanging Pagoda at this moment.

The three of them harbored their own thoughts, standing outside the tower and waiting quietly.

A quarter of an hour passed in the blink of an eye. The Hanging Pagoda remained completely without movement, and no one else was teleported out.

At this moment, the relaxed expressions on the three people's faces completely faded, leaving only extreme shock.

One of them swallowed with difficulty, his voice carrying an undisguised tremble, "That person inside the tower... won't he really clear the third floor?"

Hearing these words, Shen Ce and the other person subconsciously wanted to retort.

A million undead covered the heavens and earth; this was inherently an unsolvable death trap, a heavenly chasm that demigods simply could not cross.

Yet a full half-hour of dead silence had already overthrown all common sense.

"Forget it, time in the Hanging Secret Realm is precious. Three days have already passed, and I don't have time to keep wasting it here."

A deity cupped his hands in farewell, "I will take my leave a step ahead."

Having said that, he turned and left.

Seeing this, the other person no longer stayed and followed closely behind to leave.

On the large platform, only Shen Ce was left standing alone in the end.

Another half-hour quietly slipped away. Just at the instant Shen Ce was ready to give up and leave, fierce spiritual light suddenly blazed on the third floor of the Hanging Pagoda!

"He cleared it! He actually cleared the third floor!"

Even though he had already prepared himself mentally, when witnessing this scene with his own eyes, Shen Ce's mind still shook violently, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Soon, as if thinking of something, Shen Ce opened the leaderboard.

Sure enough, he saw that Su Ming's rank had reached the eleventh place at some unknown time.

Looking at the towering ancient Hanging Pagoda, he smiled bitterly with melancholy, "It turns out I really underestimated the heroes of the world."

He already knew that the one still remaining inside the Hanging Pagoda was Su Ming.

He no longer hesitated and decisively turned to leave the place.

Staying here no longer had much meaning for him.

...

Inside the third floor of the Hanging Pagoda.

The skeletal remains scattered all over the ground had all fallen silent.

At this moment, nearly two hundred thousand skeletons stood silently; these were all Undead Retainers transformed by Su Ming.

In the void, a cluster of silvery-white light quietly floated.

Su Ming gazed at the light cluster, a smile curving the corners of his mouth.

The clearance reward of the third floor was extremely pure: the Power of Faith.

He raised his hand and gave it a light grip; the light cluster instantly melted, completely merging into his body and divine soul.

[ Power of Faith: 503680 ]

"I already have five hundred thousand points of the Power of Faith!"

Su Ming's eyes brightened, his heart filled with joy, "It's enough to condense five strands of divinity. Opening the second Divine Enlightenment requires five strands of divinity, and now I've finally gathered them all!"

If it weren't for the Nether Sovereign, with his strength, passing the third floor would have been nearly impossible.

Su Ming's eyes were full of anticipation.

He forcibly suppressed the urge to immediately return to the Jiuyou Divine Domain, and his gaze fell upon the jade bottle quietly floating beside the light cluster.

[ Divine Soul Marrow (Consumable) ]

[ Effect: Refines the origin of the divine soul and enhances the strength of the divine soul. ]

"It turns out to be Divine Soul Liquid!"

Su Ming's gaze suddenly congealed, and waves stirred in his heart.

Deities didn't just rely on their retainers; deities themselves also needed to cultivate.

The cultivation of deities mainly focused on four aspects: divine power, divine body, divine soul, and laws. Among them, divine power was the easiest to cultivate, while the cultivation of the remaining three items was extremely difficult.

Divine power resided on the divine platform, and the divine body bore the great might of heaven and earth. Only the divine soul rooted in the origin of the sea of consciousness was the foundation of a deity's consciousness, memories, and perception of authority.

The divine soul was ethereal, formless, and substance-less; wanting to enhance it was extremely difficult.

Every single treasure capable of enhancing the divine soul was extremely precious.

A single drop of Divine Soul Liquid was worth three hundred thousand divine crystals.

And inside this jade bottle, there were roughly an estimated ten drops.

However, refining the divine soul would take an unknown amount of time, and right now, being in the trial secret realm, it was inconvenient to cultivate with peace of mind.

After a brief thought, Su Ming properly put away the Divine Soul Marrow, saving it for subsequent refinement.

Having dealt with all the spoils of war, Su Ming's figure moved, instantly stepping into Jiuyou.

The next moment, a massive amount of the Power of Faith boiled furiously within his body.

Five hundred thousand strands of pure faith rushed wildly like a golden river galloping ten thousand miles, surging from his limbs, bones, and the depths of his divine soul's spiritual platform, all converging onto the divine platform at the core of his sea of consciousness.

Rumble——!

Thunder exploded in the sea of consciousness, shaking the entire divine soul world.

The majestic river of faith rapidly contracted, condensed, and compressed, shedding all impurities and undergoing a qualitative transformation toward divinity.

The first cluster of the Power of Faith transformed first, turning into a slender, condensed strand of golden divine silk that quietly floated on the left side of the divine platform.

Following closely, the second, third, fourth, and fifth strands of divine silk formed one after another.

Five shimmering golden strands of divinity floated above the divine platform, radiating brilliant light, holy and majestic.

Su Ming let out a long breath, his eyes filled with fervent anticipation, and murmured softly, "Finally, I can undergo Divine Enlightenment once again."

[ Divine Enlightenment! ]

As Su Ming stirred his mind, the entire Jiuyou Divine Domain suddenly shook violently. Nether winds howled, nether energy churned endlessly, the laws of heaven and earth trembled fiercely, and the boundaries of the divine domain oscillated layer upon layer. The phenomenon far surpassed the first Divine Enlightenment.

"Why is the phenomenon of this Divine Enlightenment so colossal?"

Su Ming looked at the heaven-overturning scenery of the divine domain, his heart filled with shock.

After just a few breaths, the shaking of heaven and earth stopped abruptly, and the Divine Enlightenment came to a successful conclusion.

An origin Dao mark was engraved within the origin of Su Ming's divine soul.

[ Origin Dao Mark · Six Paths of Samsara: Wields mastery over the transmigration of life and death as well as the return of Yin and Yang to order. Thousands of reincarnation runes emerge around the Dao body, and an origin imprint of reincarnation condenses between the eyebrows. ]

Human Path: One can search the origin river of the Human Path for humanoid heroic spirits burdened with karmic ties, ferry them to the present world to follow forever and fight side by side.

Animal Path: Locked (Unlocking condition: 10 points of divinity)

Hungry Ghost Path: Locked

Hell Path: Locked

Asura Path: Locked

Heavenly Path: Locked

Seeing clearly the origin Dao mark engraved in his divine soul, Su Ming's pupils shrank sharply, his mind shook violently, and he was unable to recover for a long time.

"Six Paths of Samsara... Is it the one I think it is?!"

Even though the Dao mark had already taken root in his divine soul, he still found it somewhat hard to believe.

Concentrating and comprehending for a moment, he clearly perceived that activating the Human Path's ferry ability required consuming ten thousand divine crystals.

Sweeping his gaze across the mere ten-thousand-plus divine crystals remaining in the divine domain's inventory, a trace of hesitation flashed across the depths of Su Ming's eyes.

This was almost all of his current savings.

But in a flash, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

The next instant, an origin passage connecting to the boundless river of the Human Path slowly unfolded before him, deep, vast, and heavy with ancient charm.

Without any hesitation, Su Ming threw all ten thousand divine crystals into the passage.

Hum——!

The divine crystals melted, and golden light illuminated the river.

Inside the deep passage of the Human Path, countless ancient auras sealed for eternity awakened one by one, rising, sinking, and flickering, while countless phantom images of heroic spirits loomed faintly in the river of karma.

Su Ming concentrated to distinguish carefully, following the karmic ties in the dark to meticulously filter out the heroic spirits that best matched himself.

After a moment, his gaze suddenly became resolute, locking onto his target!

A tall, proud figure stepped out from the depths of the boundless river of the Human Path, slowly descending into Jiuyou.