Tianyi tried every way to prevent Xi Ri’s soul dissipation. He even consulted Xia Meng and the other immortal officials. Most of the immortal officials were supreme experts of their time, but could not stand the passage of time. To extend their life, they entered a hibernation state to wait for the moment the Buzhou Immortal Sect returned to become the Immortal Court.
Who knows, maybe they knew a method that had long been lost in modern times.
Alas, Tianyi returned disappointed as none of the ancient existences of the Immortal Court had a method to stop an earth immortal’s dissipating soul. Tianyi even attempted to stop Xi Ri’s dissipating soul by sending him into his inner universe.
Even inside the Nine Heavens Universe, where he was almost omnipotent, Tianyi could not prevent Xi Ri’s soul dissipation. Neither could he forcibly transform Xi Ri into a seamless immortal. At best, Tianyi could slow down the dissipation of his soul.
Currently, there were two methods for Xi Ri to prevent his soul from dissipating. The first method was to comprehend a complete law and become a seamless immortal. However, the chances of Xi Ri comprehending a worldly law were smaller than an earth immortal that failed their lightning tribulation.
The soul was the foundation of all life. The weaker the soul, the harder it was to comprehend the worldly laws. In essence, it was impossible for Xi Ri to take this path.
The second method was to inscribe Xi Ri’s name onto the scroll that Xia Meng took out during the Immortal Official Conferment Ceremony. However, that scroll, along with the other conferred immortal officials, were helping Tianyi ascend the Huang Realm. He had to wait until the Huang Realm finished upgrading, and by then, it might be too late.
Furthermore, Tianyi couldn’t add Xi Ri’s name to the scroll, as he liked. The scroll already reached the limit of names it could hold. The immortal officials weren’t just upgrading the Huang Realm, but they were restoring the scroll’s power in the process.
And even if the scroll regained its former power and could hold more names, plenty of old timers from the Buzhou Immortal Sect’s history were waiting to join the scroll. If Tianyi forced Xi Ri’s name onto it, he would receive the Immortal Court’s criticism.
It was not that Tianyi couldn’t withstand the criticism. It would not be a lie to say his current position was no less crucial than the scroll itself. His importance might change in the future, but now was the present.
No, what Tianyi feared was dragging down his mother, Mengfei. She would receive criticism by association. Mengfei wouldn’t care for these criticisms either, but this was a crucial point.
There was currently an unprecedented chance for Mengfei. As long as she grasped it, she would likely immediately break through to become a divinity, but there were also hibernating immortal sovereigns vying for the chance.
Tianyi would never be able to forgive himself if he caused Mengfei to lose this precious chance.
Currently, Tianyi, Daoyi, and Xi Ri sat inside the main hall of the Nine Heavens Palace with a gloomy air hanging over them.
Tianyi sighed. “Although it’s not ideal, how about spending your time inside the Nine Heavens Universe until a solution can be found? I’ll suppress the dissipation of your soul and slow the time around you.”
Xi Ri shook his head. “How is that any different from living in a cage?”
“What are you talking about? It’s just a temporary arrangement until a solution can be found!”
“What solution is there? There isn’t a method even in the inheritance of the Immortal Court. How could a solution be found?” Xi Ri asked. “It’s not like I’m the protagonist of some novel, and a miracle will happen.”
“Besides, it’s not all bad,” Xi Ri said. He leaned back against his chair. “Since I’m going to die, there’s no need to worry about whether or not I form an inner devil or not. In fact, I think the embryonic inner devil has disappeared. All I need to do now is enjoy the rest of my life. So, don’t mind me leeching off of you, okay?”
Tianyi tried to smile. It felt like Xi Ri had returned to before the incident in the Xi Dynasty. However, no matter how much his lips curled, they would inevitably return to their flat position.
“Hmpf, dream on. I’m not going to give you freebies. If you want to live well, you better think of a way to comprehend a complete law and become a seamless immortal,” he said.
Xi Ri laughed, but he was the only one that did so.
Tianyi suddenly looked toward the entrance. His eyes pierced through the walls of the Nine Heaven Palace and focused on the figure standing outside the palace gates.
“Grand Elder Nine Heavens, I hope you don’t mind an old man like me visiting,” Xia Meng said.
Tianyi’s eyes lit up. The only reason Xia Meng would look for him was either for the ascension of the Huang Realm or for Xi Ri’s problem. Nothing wrong happened with the Huang Realm’s ascension, so it must be for the latter.
The palace gates swung open, and Xia Meng entered. It didn’t take for him to enter the main hall. “Oh, Xi Ri is also here. Good.”
“Grand Elder Xia, did you find a method to solve Xi Ri’s problem?” Tianyi asked.
“So impatient,” Xia Meng said with a laugh. “But I did indeed discover a solution while looking through the records. However, it’s not perfect.”
Tianyi’s smile dimmed a bit. “What are the drawbacks?”
“It’s nothing extreme, just that his path will be different from other immortals,” Xia Meng said. “Have you heard of the merit path?”
“Merit path?” Not just Tianyi, but Daoyi and Xi Ri also repeated Xia Meng’s words.
“Is it a branch of three cultivation paths?” Tianyi asked.
Immortal cultivation had three orthodox paths: spirit, martial, and soul. No matter which one or how many a cultivator took, they would all end at the same point. Strictly speaking, Tianyi’s cultivation path could no longer be considered part of the orthodox method.
All seven grades of the Nine-Five Scripture were a combination of the three cultivation paths, the problem was Tianyi. Because he absorbed the tribulation essence in the Foundation Establishment Realm and made it his own, it paved the way for his future. He made the tribulation essence and, by extension, the source within his own and merged it with his foundation. All of this resulted in a new path unique to him.
Tianyi called it the universe path.
“The merit path is not considered part of the orthodox paths. Although it is an unorthodox path, it does not conflict with the orthodox paths.”
Most unorthodox paths relied on external influences to cultivate. For example, the blood path. A user of the blood path must absorb a large amount of blood to cultivate, the higher the quality, the better. However, high-quality blood is hard to find. As a result, blood cultivators usually massacre many lives, focusing on quantity instead of quality.
Most unorthodox paths had similar characteristics. As a result, they were all grouped as devilish cultivators. Of course, devilish cultivators have never gained the upper hand against orthodox cultivators.
Those that cultivate the unorthodox paths can dramatically increase their strength in a short amount of time. At least, until before the Immortal Realm. So the orthodox cultivators always had more experts than those of the devilish cultivators. Even at the same level, orthodox cultivators usually exceeded unorthodox cultivators in power.
Orthodox cultivators relied on a strong foundation and understanding the worldly laws to cultivate. Everything was internal and their own. Unorthodox had to rely on external powers to cultivate. As a result, they could not display the same amount of strength as orthodox cultivators in the same realm.
“The merit path also relies on external resources to ascend, but as you can guess, it’s nothing like blood or sin,” Xia Meng said. “The cultivator has to merge merit into their body, and they don’t need to undergo Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation. They will become a merit immortal as soon as they reach the qualifications. Because they cultivate using merit, the possibility of people attacking them is not high, much less killing them. Anyone who attacks such a meritorious individual would be stained with karmic sin.”
“What about the downsides?” Tianyi asked.
“The only downsides are that the cultivator’s strength will be below average for his realm. And he will never be able to become a divinity.”
“What about becoming a seamless or extremity immortal?”
Xia Meng smiled. “They can. In fact, it’s easier for them to reach that level than other cultivators, and they will still have the longevity of a true immortal. Like becoming an immortal, they just need to accumulate energy. Their merit qi will reach the level of a five-step seamless immortal or extremity immortal. However, without mastery of the law, even an ordinary immortal monarch can defeat a merit emperor.”
Tianyi held his chin. Although it was a pity that merit cultivators couldn’t become divinities, but this was already a good result. Furthermore, he believed that Xi Ri will at least be able to master a complete law. He turned toward his cousin. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s good,” Xi Ri said. He had a hint of excitement in his eyes. Even though he had resigned himself for death, that didn’t mean he didn’t wish to live.
“Are you sure?” Tianyi asked. “There’s possibly a better alternative. Once you step on this path, there is no going back.”
“What’s there to hesitate? If I’m not wrong, it is not easy to become a merit immortal. The amount of merit that must be accumulated must not be small. Am I right, Grand Elder Xia?”
Xia Meng nodded. “Even with the method, it is a race against time. Of course, the higher you go on the merit path, the slower your soul will dissipate.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
Xia Meng didn’t answer Xi Ri. He looked at Tianyi instead. At his gaze, Daoyi and Xi Ri directed their gaze towards Tianyi.
“Why are you looking at me? It’s Xi Ri’s decision. Since he has chosen this path, what’s there to hesitate about?” Tianyi asked.
“In that case.” Sect Master reached into his sleeves and pulled out a jade slip. Unlike ordinary jade slips, this one exuded a golden glow.
Xi Ri took the jade slip and inserted his spiritual sense into it. His eyes glazed over as he accepted the merit path method.
“Since the method has been given, I’ll take my leave now. If you need anything, just contact me,” Xia Meng said as he turned around to leave. “Oh, and I don’t think you need me to say this, but don’t spread it.”
“Thank you very much!” Tianyi called out as he escorted Xia Meng out.
When he returned, Xi Ri was still accepting the merit path method. Tianyi glanced at Daoyi and let out a sigh of relief. Daoyi also smiled back. The weight on their hearts was finally lifted.
After a week, Xi Ri finally awoke from his trance, and the jade slip shattered into dust. “Whew, it contained a lot more information than I expected. Not just the portion pertaining to becoming a merit immortal, but the jade slip also included everything up to the merit sovereign level.”
“Have you thought of a plan to earn merit?” Tianyi asked. To gain karmic merit, you must make the Heavenly Dao acknowledge your actions are for the good of the world. Also, deliberately creating problems, only to solve them later, will only earn karmic sin.
If it was after the Huang Realm ascended, Tianyi had confidence to skew the amount of merits Xi Ri earned for each contribution to its highest limit. Alas, that was impossible now.
“Yeah. I’m going to create a nation in a barren land and increase the population,” Xi Ri said. There are a few methods to gain merit, such as sacrificing resources to strengthen the realm or increasing its population.
He turned to Tianyi. “Do you know any place like this?”
The barren in Xi Ri’s mouth didn’t mean a land with no vegetation, like a desert or a wasteland, but a place with little spiritual qi.
“I do,” Tianyi said. He waved his hand, and all three of them disappeared from the Nine Heavens Palace.
