6: Chapter 6 Offering to the Cultivation Path

Shen Moyan had prepared hundreds of underground caves, but seventy percent of them collapsed due to the immense power of the Cultivators.

Now, the entire Great Yan Kingdom has only a little over a million people left.

Shen Moyan counted the number of survivors, took out the Ascension Ceremony Diagram he had copied decades ago, and pondered carefully.

The pressure from that remnant sword was too strong; if he got close to carve the ritual runes, Shen Moyan wouldn't last that long.

So, after several years, he came up with a clever idea.

He would have others, one after another, carry steles inscribed with demon cult runes closer to the remnant sword, carving the Ascension Ceremony Diagram on the ground for him.

"A million people should be enough. This Ascension Ceremony Diagram only has eight important nodes; we should be able to fill them in with people."

Shen Moyan, with a bodhisattva's heart, saved these million people.

It shouldn't be too much to ask them to do something for him, right?

Heavy snow fell, and the world grew dark. Shen Moyan led ten thousand able-bodied men from the Great Yan Kingdom, carrying provisions, and set off on the road back to the Central Plains.

Two months later, they returned to the Central Plains.

Even though he had experienced it once before, stepping onto this scorched earth again, Shen Moyan deeply felt the power of cultivation.

Beneath the towering remnant sword, everyone present genuinely felt their own insignificance and the sagacity of the Martial Emperor of Great Yan.

"You, take this stele and go over there."

Shen Moyan directed the carefully selected men, operating in an orderly manner.

Each stele was infused with Shen Moyan's True Qi, and then carried by these men to a fixed position, effectively setting up the array himself.

"Ah!—"

The man's face contorted in pain, letting out a desperate roar.

He stopped before the giant sword with the ritual stele, unable to withstand the pressure, and his head exploded directly.

"Upon returning to the Great Yan Kingdom, I shall erect monuments for all the fallen heroes."

"You are destined to be remembered in history."

Shen Moyan said to these brave men.

He told everyone that to restore clarity to this world, a ritual array must be set up around this giant sword.

Because it was him, these young, strong men had no doubts.

Their eyes firm, they successively carried the steles, charging one after another towards the giant sword.

Shen Moyan watched the continuous stream of people, his eyes calm as an ancient well.

The ecosystem was destroyed, the sky was overcast, the soil could not be sown, and the stockpiled food was not enough to feed so many people.

The people of this plane were doomed; it was better to make the most of them, laying the foundation for Shen Moyan's cultivation Dao.

Soon, over ten thousand people, the last one fell before the giant sword, but in his dying moments, he placed the ritual stele in the correct position.

"Out of the eight points, only three are correct; the remaining steles are all off-position."

The ritual steles were to be erected at eight points: Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun.

The Eight Trigrams represent all things.

Shen Moyan had considered going himself, but it was too risky.

Although he had accumulated sixty years of Internal Energy and could briefly withstand the giant sword's pressure, he still dared not gamble.

"Still need people."

Shen Moyan flicked his sleeve and turned back. Snow flew as he embarked on the road back to the Northern Territory.

Three months later, another ten thousand people arrived.

Again, they followed one after another, setting up the ritual array for him within a ten-kilometer radius of the giant sword.

"Not enough."

Three months later, Shen Moyan brought another ten thousand people.

"Still not enough." Shen Moyan stood in the wind and snow, calmly gazing at the mountains of frozen corpses piled around the giant sword.

Cold, very cold.

This snow seemed as if it would never stop.

Shen Moyan looked up at the sky, the scorching Internal Energy within him dispelling the pervasive cold.

"This snow is too strange."

The steles that had already been placed were covered by the vast snow, requiring people to rearrange them.

"Something's wrong. Is this plane dying?"

Shen Moyan mused, even though he felt no sorrow, standing in this vast wind and snow, he found it hard to compose himself.

Sympathy for one's kind, people feel the same.

That giant sword plunged into the earth seemed to have pierced the heart of the entire plane, leaving it on its last breath, fading like the setting sun.

Shen Moyan closed his eyes, dispelling the distracting thoughts in his mind.

His goal was to go to the Cultivation World; he couldn't remain in this small world.

A year later, when the last person fell in the icy wilderness, the steles for the ritual were finally arranged.

"It's done."

Seventy-two-year-old Shen Moyan's temples were streaked with gray, and wrinkles were etched on his face like old tree bark.

He carried the startling swan sword on his back, his boot soles crunching through knee-deep snow, each step sinking half a foot with a dull thud.

Cognitive Technique, Ascension ceremony, Otherworldly Artifact – all were in place.

"Success or failure, it all depends on this one move!"

Facing the shadow that obscured the sky, Shen Moyan suddenly took a step forward, his knees slightly bent, his back ramrod straight.

The True Qi in his Dantian erupted like a dormant volcano, and a warm current surged rapidly along his Meridians. Wherever it passed, the Meridians emitted a burning pain, and white mist rose.

Shen Moyan sprinted through the snow, charging straight towards the majestic Sword Mountain!

As the distance between them shortened, he gradually began to discern the patterns on the colossal, sky-piercing giant sword.

The Sword Mountain remained unmoving, but Shen Moyan's eyes gradually filled with a blood-red haze, and blood seeped from his seven orifices.

Sword Intent! That was the Sword Intent left behind by a Cultivator!

Shen Moyan gritted his teeth as the pressure surged like a tide, tearing at his robes.

His skin was cut by an invisible force, creating fine wounds. Blood seeped out, congealing into droplets in the wind and snow, then evaporated into white mist by his True Qi.

"Hoo—"

Shen Moyan circulated his Ziyang True Art to its extreme, his entire body's True Qi roaring.

Faster! Closer!

According to Yun Wangshu's method, as long as he remained conscious and used the established Ascension ceremony to make contact with the Otherworldly Artifact—that is, the giant sword—he could achieve 'Ascension'!

The Sword Mountain was within reach, only a li away!

As he drew nearer, Shen Moyan's bones began to emit sounds of unbearable strain, his vision blurred, and only the roar of surging True Qi remained in his ears.

Five hundred meters left!

The closer he got, the stronger the Sword Intent pressure became. Shen Moyan felt his body gradually disintegrating, slowly losing sensation.

But... [Otherworld Visitor: Can accelerate adaptation to new things, photographic memory, absorbs everything, drawing on all strengths.]

This Sword Intent pressure was also a new thing; Shen Moyan could adapt to it too!

Just as he was about to be crushed by the pressure, Shen Moyan suddenly leaped up, his body lunging towards the giant sword.

"Void Realm... shatter for me!!!"

In mid-air, Shen Moyan roared, suddenly drawing his startling swan sword and slashing at the base of the Sword Mountain!

Instantly, the steles at the eight cardinal directions of the Ascension ceremony array burst forth with dazzling light. The True Qi Shen Moyan had left within them transformed into pillars of light, soaring into the sky.

The entire world seemed to have been paused.

The space around Shen Moyan began to shatter like glazed pottery, and a rift spread in mid-air.

Strange, multicolored energy leaked from the rift, instantly evaporating the surrounding wind and snow.

Shen Moyan's eyes flickered, his gaze fixed on the depths of the rift.

The brilliant starry river, the misty immortal mountains, the magnificent wonders of the Major Thousand Worlds were reflected in his aged eyes.

That was the higher plane he had pursued his entire life.

Then, a powerful suction force emanated from the shattered Void Realm, pulling his tottering body towards the rift.

Ascension, he had succeeded.

At this moment, Shen Moyan couldn't help but laugh with relief. He released his body, allowing gravity to pull him into the rift:

"With one obsession to escape the cage, I devote myself to cultivation!"