4: Chapter 4 The Wangshu Ferry Plane

Feeling the gap between them, Ren Wuchang remained silent.

After a long deliberation, he slowly spoke:

"Your Excellency's martial arts today have truly opened my eyes, this humble Ren Wuchang's eyes."

"There's no harm in telling you the secret of Ascension."

The newcomer was a tough nut to crack, not easily fooled.

If Ren Wuchang were to deceive him, he would likely die a miserable death.

"Your Excellency, please follow me."

Shen Moyan nodded and followed the other's steps.

Blackwood Cliff, deep within the cliff valley.

"This is where our Holy Cult's first Sect Head Shattered the Void and 'Ascended'."

Ren Wuchang waved his True Qi hand, sweeping away the accumulated rubble and weeds on the ground, revealing an altar inscribed with runes.

Shen Moyan looked around, somewhat surprised. This was the main battlefield where Ren Wuchang was besieged in his previous life.

Back then, corpses piled up like mountains in the cliff valley, and blood flowed like rivers. No one dared to stay in that tragic battlefield for an extra second, yet such a thing was hidden here.

"Since ancient times, there have been countless exceptionally talented individuals, and Peaks are not uncommon."

Within the Great Qǐ Kingdom, including the barbarian lands on all four sides, the Martial Artist's Realm is ranked according to six universally recognized Rank systems: Unranked, Third-rate, Second-rate, First-rate, Super First-rate, and Peak.

"The founding Sect Head of Huashan Sword, the first Abbess of Emei, the founding Grandmaster of Shaolin... but even as amazing as they were, they were all constrained by the cage of this world."

"Perhaps Your Excellency has already felt it, but in the vastness of heaven and earth, a Martial Artist's Internal Energy is completely insignificant," Ren Wuchang gazed at Shen Moyan, his tone faint.

Shen Moyan nodded, deep in thought.

Indeed, how could the mundane strength of a Martial Artist or a common person compare to the mighty power of heaven and earth?

"Since we mortals cannot transcend the Heavenly barrier, what qualifications do we have to speak of 'Ascension'?" Ren Wuchang narrated slowly.

"To Shatter the Void and depart, one needs to exhaust all wisdom and human effort, bring one's technique to Perfection, and reach the Cognitive Boundary."

Shen Moyan understood and blurted out:

"Is this why the Five Mountains and Ten Sects had the concept of 'Ascension' but no one ever Ascended?"

Human lifespan is limited; even a Peak can only live for about two hundred years. In this time, no one can master ancient and modern knowledge, and no one dares to claim they have reached the Cognitive Boundary.

"That's right, the so-called 'Ascension' standard was deduced by those founding patriarchs, and it is closely related to our cult's first Sect Head."

"They called that Realm 'beyond Peak,' Shattering the Void."

Bright as the sun and moon, dark as the Void Realm.

When a Martial Artist's techniques reach the Peak, their cultivation is at Perfection, and they comprehend the ultimate of martial arts.

Touching the shackles of heaven and earth, in the midst of the unseen, they cross the Cognitive Boundary, perceive a higher level of the world, and naturally gain the qualification to 'Ascend'.

"Transcendent Peak techniques, but that's only one of the conditions for Ascension," Ren Wuchang added, with a hint of mockery.

Shattering the Void is so elusive; to achieve it solely through martial Dao becoming divine? Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!!

"Since Shattering the Void and Ascension are so difficult, why does your esteemed cult believe that your first Demon Cult Leader Ascended?"

Shen Moyan asked, finding this point somewhat illogical.

So many outstanding individuals couldn't reach the step of Shattering the Void, so why, by what right, could your Demon Cult Leader Ascend?

"Your Excellency, what do you think awaits you after Shattering the Void? Ascension to the Immortal Realm for eternal life?" Ren Wuchang asked, a smile playing on his lips.

Seeing Shen Moyan's silence, he continued.

"True 'Ascension' has never been that grand."

"What the Righteous Path calls 'Ascension,' frankly, is a joke."

"In essence, it's about deeply probing the world's loopholes, being rejected by Heaven, and being expelled to the outside world," Ren Wuchang stated, enunciating each word.

"Rejected by the world?" Shen Moyan was somewhat puzzled.

"Exactly!"

"Fish cannot swim in the sky, birds are unfamiliar with water, humans stir up trouble due to their six desires and three defilements. All things have flaws, let alone heaven and earth?"

"The so-called 'Ascension' is to exploit the loopholes of heaven and earth, using a series of methods to leave this plane."

"plane?" Shen Moyan narrowed his eyes.

He heard this word from the other party again.

The word 'plane' alone sparked endless imagination.

According to what Shen Moyan understood from his previous, previous, previous life, a plane is a closed world with independent rules.

The two Cultivators, in their conversation during battle, had mentioned planes.

"That's right, the world we are in is called a plane."

"And to escape this plane, relying solely on martial Dao, attempting to Shatter the Void, is difficult, difficult, difficult!" Ren Wuchang's expression was mournful.

"Our Holy Cult has a long history, spanning a thousand years since its establishment. Even Great Qǐ is but a toddling infant before our Holy Cult."

"Although there have been twenty-three Sect Heads, only the first Sect Head was able to Ascend."

"As for the reason, that is worth investigating in detail."

"The first Sect Head, he was originally not a person of this plane."

Ren Wuchang slowly revealed the cult's secret history.

This was a secret known only to successive Demon Cult Leaders, not to be written down, but only passed down orally from heart to heart.

Now, Ren Wuchang was telling this secret to Shen Moyan merely to save his own life.

Upon hearing this, a ripple stirred in Shen Moyan's heart.

"An outsider? How did he come to this plane?"

Ren Wuchang remained silent, merely bending down to pry open a stone brick of the altar beneath his feet, and from within, he pulled out a half-human-sized stone tablet.

The moment the broken tablet appeared, Shen Moyan couldn't help but freeze.

From this broken tablet, he felt an aura of vicissitude, ancientness, and malevolence.

"This is the Tablet of Teachings left by the first Sect Head."

The Demon Cult's doctrine is very clear, with only four characters — preserve nature, protect truth.

What is true nature? To laugh when happy, to rage when angry, to seek what one loves, to avenge what one hates—this is human true nature.

The orthodox ways of this world consider self-restraint and adherence to rites as virtuous, forcing people to hide their desires and emotions, living like walking corpses behind masks, which is the greatest evil.

Therefore, the Holy Cult's members should honor their true intentions, not go against their own will, and not feign emotions.

It is precisely because of this lack of restraint that the Holy Cult was branded as a Demon Cult by the world.

"After the first Sect Head left our cult's fundamental Mind-Cultivation Technique, the Preserve Nature and Protect Truth Art, he Ascended and departed."

"It's just a pity that time is merciless; after a thousand years of erosion, the entire Cultivation Technique has been misinterpreted by later generations, leaving only a superficial understanding like the Blood Transformation True Art."

After Ren Wuchang's narration, he finally understood the whole story.

The first Demon Cult Leader from a thousand years ago, named Yun Wangshu, came from another plane.

His martial arts were unfathomable, and through Shattering the Void, he accidentally arrived at Shen Moyan's plane.

He traveled this plane, and his strength drew the attention of the Peak masters of a thousand years ago.

Yun Wangshu proposed many things, some of which were recorded by the people of that time and passed down through the generations.

For example, the concept of Ascension gradually spread at that time, making the Sect Heads of the great sects yearn for it.

But others were buried by a thousand years of time, never seeing the light of day.

For instance, the theory of planes was not accepted by the rulers of that era, who feared it would shake their rule, so they vigorously suppressed it.

"If Yun Wangshu's deeds are true, if I were to repeatedly preserve my Realm and Breakthrough beyond the Peak of the Mortal Realm, theoretically achieving Shattering the Void, I would only get lost in the vast Major Thousand Worlds, becoming a laughingstock."

Shen Moyan mused.

Having learned from previous lessons, when Yun Wangshu Ascended again, he made thorough preparations, creating his own ritual, using an Otherworldly Artifact as a basis, and designating the Ascension plane.

"Yun Wangshu proposed that the so-called Ascension is the movement of people between planes."

"Through the ritual, allowing the plane's consciousness to perceive you can also reduce the dangers of crossing between planes."

"To travel across planes, one must have a token of the plane, which is an Otherworldly Artifact."

The so-called Otherworldly Artifact, as the name suggests, is a rare treasure that does not belong to this world.

For example, the heavenly demon sword in Ren Wuchang's hand was forged from Otherworldly Meteoric Iron.

The Heaven Worship Ceremony organized by Ren Wuchang in the previous life utilized the ritual left by Yun Wangshu, activating the incomplete Blood Transformation True Art by sacrificing experts.

When mechanisms were insufficient, numbers compensated, temporarily boosting the power of the incomplete Blood Transformation True Art to its Peak, reaching the technical level of the Preserve Nature and Protect Truth Art, thereby replicating Yun Wangshu's Ascension.

After leaving Blackwood Cliff, Shen Moyan remained silent for a long time.

This method of Ascension surprised him somewhat.

"Cognitive Technique, Ascension Ritual, Otherworldly Artifact—the three are indispensable."

With these three, one could exploit the plane's loopholes and successfully 'Ascend'.

Shen Moyan was confident in his Cognitive Technique; his martial arts had already reached the Peak, integrating all martial arts of this world, comprehensive and exemplary.

He had even seen a Cultivator's sword strike, which had long surpassed the Cognitive Boundary of this plane.

The ritual was also simple; just copy the Demon Cult's altar runes.

Finally, the Otherworldly Artifact would anchor the plane after Ascension.

"Otherworldly Artifact... otherworldly..."

The towering giant sword from his previous life automatically appeared in Shen Moyan's mind.