Chapter 215

Chapter 215: The Heavenly Ladder Breaks, The Immortal Path Ends
Fang Cheng Lang choked as he called out Yu Zhao’s nickname, his expression full of grief and despair: “Little Six…”

He knew there was no way to repair things between him and Yu Zhao.

What he owed her was not a few fake words of care, but a living life.

He ground out each word of her name: “Ye. Cong. Xin.”

Fang Cheng Lang slowly clenched both fists, then slammed one fist into the ground. His eyes were filled with deep, bone-deep hatred.

Ye Cong Xin had joined with a Malevolent Spirit and did every kind of evil, turning the whole Cultivation World into a stepping stone for her ascension.

She deserved to die!

Relying on his hatred, Fang Cheng Lang pushed himself up with one hand and slowly stood.

He had to find the exit and leave this place as soon as possible. Before the Floating Island closed, he would personally end Ye Cong Xin and never again allow her to do evil like in their past life.

Even if he had to bear the crime of harming his fellow disciples, he did not care.

…

Yu Zhao had a very long dream.

In the dream, she came to a mountain village and saw a baby being born with her own eyes.

The baby’s parents loved him very much and named him Chang Sheng.

Chang Sheng was very gifted, but because his family was poor, he could not go to school. Instead, he learned many characters by secretly listening to the private teacher’s lessons.

When he was ten, he was gathering wild herbs on the mountain, missed a step, and accidentally rolled into a cave.

In the cave, he found a mysterious ancient book and from then on stepped onto the path of cultivation.

It took Chang Sheng three hundred years to grow from a tiny, nameless Rogue Cultivator into a mighty Divine Transformation Cultivator.

He was praised as the legendary person most likely to ascend to the Middle Thousand World.

The Cultivation World they lived in was only one of many Lesser Thousand Worlds. In such a world, the end of cultivation was Peak Divine Transformation.

Above the Lesser Thousand Worlds, there were also Middle Thousand Worlds and Great Thousand Worlds.

Only by opening the Heavenly Ladder and entering a higher-level Middle Thousand World from the Cultivation World could one break their original shackles and continue their Immortal Path.

No one knew when it had started, but in the Cultivation World, no cultivator could open the Heavenly Ladder anymore. Many Divine Transformation old fiends spent their whole lives stuck at Peak Divine Transformation and died with their eyes open.

So when Chang Sheng called out the Heavenly Ladder in the dream, Yu Zhao’s subconscious also felt it was unbelievable.

Before Chang Sheng, no one had been able to summon forth the Heavenly Ladder for hundreds of years.

The Heavenly Ladder was as holy and grand as one would imagine. White cranes flew, and immortal music echoed around it.

Under the envious gazes of many cultivators, Chang Sheng stepped up the ladder, walking toward the cultivation holy land of his dreams.

Ten steps, a hundred steps, a thousand steps, ten thousand steps…

Chang Sheng never stopped walking, yet he still did not see the end of the Heavenly Ladder.

His mood went from excitement, to boredom, and then slowly turned into the disappointment he felt now.

Once his disappointment had piled up enough, his emotions instead became completely calm.

He kept walking upward.

He endured the loneliness and the fear of his lifespan running out.

At last, when he had only a little lifespan left, he saw a door at the top of the Heavenly Ladder.

It was an old stone door that gave off a heavy, ancient feeling.

Behind the door was the Middle World that countless cultivators dreamed of day and night.

When Chang Sheng put his hand on the door, his movement to push it suddenly stopped.

A bad, ominous feeling covered his heart. After he opened the door, he might receive a cruel truth.

He stayed where he was for three breaths, then pushed the door open without looking back.

The door slowly opened.

Cold Gang Wind stabbed at Chang Sheng like countless blades. On his body that had once been as hard as iron, countless wounds of all sizes appeared at once.

He seemed not to feel it at all and stared in shock at what lay beyond the door.

His roar shook the world: “The Heavenly Ladder is broken, the Immortal Path is cut off. Heaven wants to destroy our Cultivation World!”

The desolate shout hit like a heavy hammer and suddenly pulled Yu Zhao out of the dream and back into reality.

She suddenly sat up. Chang Sheng’s desperate voice was still echoing in her ears.

[Was that a dream?]

[No. It was not a dream.]

Chang Sheng’s life story had been too complete. She had been immersed in it from beginning to end and had not felt anything wrong.

So…

What had Chang Sheng seen behind that door to make him say that the Immortal Path had been cut off?

Had the Cultivation World really reached its end?

Yu Zhao’s eyes darkened.

In her past life, she had taken the wrong path and failed to reach the peak.

Given another life, she had strengthened her Dao heart and wanted to make up for the regrets of her past life.

What she had seen and heard today could not help but make her feel uneasy.

There was also that stele carved with the word “Fate”, and the voice in her Sea of Consciousness…

Yu Zhao woke up as if from a dream and quickly checked her surroundings.

She was actually on a small floating island. In the middle of the island stood an ancient tree with thick roots and lush leaves.

Three shining golden fruits hung on the tree, their exact shapes unclear.

Yu Zhao blurted out: “Longevity Tree.”

After she spoke, she froze.

The senior in the dream had been named Chang Sheng, and the divine tree on the Floating Island was called the Longevity Tree. Was that a coincidence, or was there really a connection?

With that question in her heart, Yu Zhao walked toward the Longevity Tree.

When she was about three zhang away from the Longevity Tree, an invisible barrier stopped her.

Yu Zhao stopped and cupped her fists in salute as she said: “May I ask if Senior Chang Sheng is here?”

Rustling sounds came.

Just then, a cool breeze blew past, and the branches and leaves of the Longevity Tree brushed against each other with a soft rustle.

Yu Zhao asked again: “Senior Chang Sheng brought me here. Do you have something you wish to tell this junior?”

An airy, distant voice drifted into Yu Zhao’s ears, broken and unclear: “Chang Sheng… Great Dao… last wish…”

She tried hard to make it out, but in the end could only catch a few words.

Yu Zhao looked at the Longevity Tree. Thinking of the three questions she had answered before stepping onto the island and the things she had seen in the dream, she felt she roughly understood the answer Senior Chang Sheng wanted.

She said: “Senior, after I began cultivating the Ruthless Dao, I have taken proving the Dao and ascending as my life’s wish. If the Heavenly Ladder is broken, I can restore the Heavenly Ladder. If the Immortal Path is cut off, I am willing to use my body to open the way. If Heaven wants to destroy my Cultivation World, then I will go against Heaven and fight to the death!”

Crack, crack, crack…

The barrier in front of Yu Zhao cracked and shattered inch by inch.

The three shining fruits turned into three streaks of light and flew into Yu Zhao’s arms. The force almost knocked her flying, and she stumbled before she could stand steady.

She bowed and said: “Thank you, Senior.”

Holding the three Longevity Fruits, Yu Zhao bowed deeply to the Longevity Tree. When she straightened up, she suddenly found herself outside the cave where she had been picking bird nests.

She first placed the three Longevity Fruits in a jade box by themselves and carefully put it into her Storage Space.

Then she set up several layers of Illusion Arts around herself and quietly slipped back into the cave.

Earlier, Fang Cheng Lang and Su Ming had appeared by accident and ruined her harvesting plan. Now that there was no one around, she had to hurry and collect the remaining bird nests and take them away.

When Yu Zhao’s figure appeared in the Water Mirror again, the gloomy-faced Sect Master Ji Yuan slapped his thigh with joy, grinning from ear to ear and waving his arms and legs in excitement.

“Good, good, good. As long as Yu Zhao is fine!” he thought, so happy that he could not stop smiling.

Sect Master Wu Sang, however, noticed the three shining golden fruits in Yu Zhao’s arms, and his eyes lit up again and again.

Longevity Fruits had only ever appeared in rumors. Even as the Sect Master of Greenwood Sect, he had never seen one.

But a cultivator’s instinct and sharp eyes told him that these three fruits were exactly the once-in-a-thousand-years Longevity Fruits.

Yu Zhao had really found the Longevity Tree and even picked Longevity Fruits!

There were three Longevity Fruits. Yu Zhao would probably give one to Yao Wu Ji and keep one for herself. That meant one would be left over.

Sect Master Wu Sang was already calculating in his heart how likely it was that he could trade Spirit Pills for that extra Longevity Fruit.