Dao Equaling the Heavens
Chapter 268 - 181 Golden Core Becomes Immortal, Death of the Bird in the Cage_2

Chapter 268: Chapter 181 Golden Core Becomes Immortal, Death of the Bird in the Cage_2

Chi Ling had already conceded the victory to her, so why did she have to pay such a high price to deliver that punch?

Only Gu Wen, wearing an approving smile, transmitted his Divine Thought: "You’ve won."

Whether it was important or not depended on Chi Yu Zi’s own choice; this caged bird-like girl chose to break free from her cage with her final punch. In a world where all beings yearn for immortality, she seized the freedom she desired at a most tragic cost.

This was also the spirit of Chi Yu Zi, her path, something that only she, not the mediocre, could understand and aspire to.

Without freedom, better to be dead.

A chill spread from his waist, Gu Wen looked down, his pupils shrinking as the Qiankun Bag at his waist emitted bursts of cold, frosting half of his sleeve.

Within just one day, the Taiyin Order, which had shown no reaction before, exhibited anomalies twice, and the previous time, Xuan Yue had aged.

He speculated that this item was related to the Life Span Tribulation, but the current situation clearly did not allow for further investigation.

Unexpectedly, another anomaly occurred, this time even more fierce.

Hum!

Waves of trembling spread between heaven and earth, eternal and ancient, dimming the great sun that had shone over the world for countless ages.

The world darkened, no matter where one was, whether in light or darkness, regardless of the light’s source, or whether one was a cultivator or a mortal.

At that moment, everything plunged into darkness.

The cold from the Taiyin Order peaked at that instant, as if it intended to freeze Gu Wen’s spirit, making him endure a seemingly everlasting epoch.

Perhaps it was just an instant, or maybe it was a century,

Gu Wen saw a vague, ethereal figure, so tall his sleeves alone could cover the sky.

He opened his eyes from a closed state, flipping through an ancient book, and thus the beings of the world gained life and death.

He picked up his pen and made revisions, the tip of his pen like a scythe through the ages, thus no non-Immortal could have immortality.

In a fleeting dream, Gu Wen’s vision cleared, and when he looked at others, he saw no shock, surprise, or any other emotion.

It seemed they had not seen that towering figure.

Pft!

The sound of flesh and bone splattering and cracking entered his ears.

Gu Wen looked up along the golden steps, and at the end, a girl with her arms raised and smiling was impaled through the chest, her bloodied fist mercilessly crushing her heart.

Yet, she still wore a brilliant smile, seemingly sharing her joy. Devoid of her five senses, she could not feel her life ebbing away.

The fist gradually retracted, pulling with it the second soul and six spirits that Chi Yu Zi had painstakingly restored, leaving a bloody cavity behind an aged face.

Chi Ling looked stunned, she lowered her head to look at the bloody palm, where fragments of the heart still clung under her fingernails.

"Sister?"

Chi Yu Zi’s somewhat delayed voice came, and even now she had not changed her address.

Only the human soul and spiritual wisdom remained, allowing Chi Yu Zi to still exist as a person. Perhaps a bit numb, sometimes problematic, but she could still think, feel happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy.

Now only the human soul remained, the spiritual wisdom gone.

Perception dulled, Chi Yu Zi took several moments to grasp the situation, then her last emotions surged like a flood.

"You... you deceived me?"

"I... I’ve aged, only 1,100 years left."

Chi Ling’s aged voice came out, as if her throat was filled with sand.

She had aged, her life reduced to only 1,100 years.

She was scared, so she took back the souls and even took away Chi Yu Zi’s last spirit, because that would allow her to achieve Immortality with surety.

Caged birds, unafraid of the length of life, lived for ages; a Demi Immortal afraid of dying old in merely 1,100 years.

Chi Ling had mocked Xuan Yue, but when aging began, when wrinkles spread across her face, when white hair dyed every strand.

Everyone was the same, an ugly spectacle of desperate ants struggling for immortality.

"But you clearly agreed to give me 1,000 years to become a Demi Immortal. 1,100 years, isn’t there still 100 years left?"

Chi Yu Zi’s voice carried a plea, but Chi Ling’s voice suddenly rose, pulling her aged voice: "What if I can’t become an Immortal within 100 years? Would you have me ruin thousands of years of my Daoist cultivation?!"

"Shouldn’t I be allowed to live then? Sister, I don’t want the Divine Soul restored, just give me back my spiritual wisdom. Let me go back and help Red Dust kill the demons, give it back to me, you jerk!"

The heartless girl shed her last tear, crystal clear like glazed glass.

"...."

Chi Ling was deeply pained, yet she still retreated, avoiding the staggering Chi Yu Zi, more terrifying now than when fighting desperately.

"Chi Yu Zi, stripped of her spiritual wisdom, felt her emotions ebbing away rapidly, as if each step she took robbed her of one more feeling, until even hatred became a luxury."

Suddenly, she stopped and, without showing any emotion, said, "Sister, once you become an Immortal, can you help the Heavenly Girl and Red Dust?"

"Do you think they’re worth it after knowing them for less than half a year?"

"I only know them."

Their brief exchange exposed the desolate brevity of Chi Yu Zi’s life.

As a child, she left home to join the Sword Control Sect to survive. The sect saw her as a sacrifice, her peers as an outsider. Cultivation was merely a means to breathe; all the things a young person should have were outside her cage.

She was the most talented since the founding of the Sword Control Sect, ranked among the top five both in heaven and on earth, and revered by thousands as a prodigy.

However, she was a cripple with only one soul and one spirit, relying on that to achieve all these feats, but she was still a caged bird.

The only brightness in her tragic life began with a bowl of wine that Gu Wen spilled before the elders at the Luodu tavern.

I understood then how I should have lived.

Thump.

Chi Yu Zi collapsed powerlessly, her already pale eyes dimming further.

It all seemed like a dream, and the caged bird needed a black cloth to cover it.

Buzz!

The Heavenly Altar trembled slightly. Chi Ling turned to look below the altar, where a dark red swept through the entire Grotto Heaven. A crimson dragon bellowed hysterically, its dragon chants shaking the heavens and the earth, its presence even more overwhelming than the Azure Dragon transformed by Ao Heng.

The crimson dragon grew from ten to a hundred meters in a few breaths. In terms of dharma form, ten meters marked a minor stage, and a hundred meters a major stage.

Dharma form, a manifestation of the heart, Gu Wen at this moment said nothing, yet said everything.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

These half Immortal vermin, rats scurrying in the sewer, these old creatures that have lived far too long—all deserve to die!

He finally understood that these so-called great powers and half Immortals were all insufferably vulgar, each revealing their ugliness in pursuit of becoming an Immortal.

Chi Ling, even less spirited than Chi Yu Zi, might die young like Qingcang Master, yet be the most powerful Immortal between heaven and earth.

Gu Wen spoke emotionlessly, as cold as ice, "A thousand years is too many."

The Master could become an Immortal in eight hundred years, but he didn’t need eight hundred years.

His intent to kill blatantly displayed, Chi Ling’s eyes also flashed with murderous intent. Gu Wen’s talent was too high, potentially another Qingcang, but she couldn’t make a move.

Even if becoming an Immortal again, with Qingcang and the Immortal Sword to defend him, attacking now could mean failing miserably.

As for her sister’s plea, it wasn’t worth half of becoming an Immortal at this moment.

"Let’s talk once you become an Immortal, otherwise you remain an ant."

Chi Ling turned and walked towards the golden gate at the end of the Heavenly Altar, her body beginning to emit strands of light, unleashing the power not of a half Immortal.

Transforming once again into a nine-meter colored glaze golden man, she exerted all her strength to push open the gate, ascending to the Immortal Realm!

Boom!

The Grotto Heaven trembled slightly, and the light leaking from the golden gate made many of unstable will rush toward the Heavenly Altar desperately climbing the ninety-nine steps.

They were crushed instantly under tremendous pressure, without the Nine Revolutions Golden Pill and the Golden Light Spell, it was impossible to ascend.

The desire to become an Immortal had reached near madness.

Except for Gu Wen, everyone, including Chi Ling, showed a blatant hunger, saliva dribbling uncontrollably from their mouths, accompanied by idiotic grins.

Finally, she stepped through, entering the golden gate.

In an instant, outside the heavens, within the Void.

A speck of golden light appeared, twinkling faintly in the endless darkness, followed by an almost infinite expansion of golden light, reaching ten thousand miles in a breath, like a golden sun.

Within the fierce sun, Chi Ling rejuvenated, her madness and ugliness seeming to have left with her aged appearance, returning to a serene state.

Her voice carrying mystic tones echoed across ten thousand miles, illuminating heaven and earth.

"Through the Golden Core Path I become an Immortal, my hand commands the Cosmos, my fist moves the sun and the moon."

Her voice reached the Immortal Land, within the Grotto Heaven.

All the demons stirred, Ba Snake Demon Saint and Tushan Yun sensing an opportunity, revealing blatant murderous intent.

Gu Wen ignored them, walking towards the Heavenly Altar, sensing that Chi Yu Zi still had a breath left in her.

But he didn’t know whether what he would bring back was a corpse or a puppet.