Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension Chapter 1574: 851: The Great Saint’s Grand Wish, First Encounter with Tianyunzi

Zhao Sheng experienced a sudden surge of unease as the Grotto Heaven Halo began to manifest. Observing this, Zhao Dashan remarked with a stern expression, "Come with me." Abruptly, he ascended into the sky, vanishing into the shimmering gateway. Feeling a wave of relief, Zhao Sheng followed suit, lifting off the ground and stepping into the Grotto Heaven Halo, where he immediately disappeared from view.

A brief moment of disorientation passed, and he found himself standing in an alien sky. Below him, the clouds churned amidst towering peaks that stretched toward the heavens, while a sharp, frigid wind whipped across the mountaintop platform of the Ten Thousand Peaks.

Not far away, Zhao Dashan flickered his hand, causing the platform to shudder violently. Suddenly, hundreds of translucent Jade Plates materialized, hovering in the air around them. Pointing toward them, Zhao Dashan spoke with gravity, "There are exactly seven hundred and fifty-three Orbit Instrument Jade Plates before you. I demand you prove your claims—tell me, how many of these patterns can you perceive?"

Zhao Sheng let his gaze travel across the dense array of Orbit Instrument Jade Plates. The intricate spiral formations etched into every single one were perfectly visible, appearing before his eyes with absolute clarity. "I can see them all," he replied.

"What did you say!" Zhao Dashan stumbled back, caught off guard, his voice laced with instinctive disbelief. "Repeat that."

"I said all of them. The patterns inscribed on all seven hundred and fifty-three Orbit Instrument Jade Plates are plain to me."

Zhao Dashan’s reaction was instantaneous: "Impossible! How could you possibly resonate with every single Trajectory Diagram? I cannot accept this, unless... no!" He stopped mid-sentence, a flicker of genuine excitement igniting in his eyes. He realized then that someone of Zhao Sheng’s stature had no reason to manufacture such a easily disproven lie. Driven by caution, he selected three random Jade Plates and tossed them toward the youth.

Zhao Sheng caught the plates and carefully placed them on the ground. Immediately, a brilliant yellow vortex, over a yard wide, manifested in front of him, spilling a collection of Pocket World Jade onto the platform. The intent was clear, even without Zhao Dashan’s verbal instruction. Zhao Sheng glanced at the elder and gave a slight shake of his head. Zhao Dashan knit his brows, about to press for an explanation, but paused as one of the Orbit Instrument Jade Plates suddenly discharged a profound and mysterious ripple. A gray-white vortex, several yards in diameter, tore open in the air. Zhao Sheng offered a brief nod to Zhao Dashan and stepped into the void, vanishing instantly.

Witnessing this, Zhao Dashan’s composure dissolved into pure astonishment. "This... this is..." Before he could finish, Zhao Sheng reappeared just as quickly as he had departed, the gray-white vortex fading into nothingness. Upon returning to the Lower Realm, Zhao Sheng promptly opened a second path, crossing the divide once more. When the feat was repeated for the third time, Zhao Dashan’s understanding of the world was completely shattered. He found himself questioning his own status as an "Immortal Ruins Guest." To traverse the Burial Immortal Ruins without paying a single price? If he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he never would have believed such a heaven-defying talent could exist.

After returning from his third venture, Zhao Sheng smiled at the elder. "If the Three Ancestors still have doubts, feel free to choose even more Orbit Instrument Jade Plates."

Zhao Dashan waved him off. "That will not be necessary. I was simply caught unprepared by the revelation."

Zhao Sheng’s eyes glinted with calculation. "Might it be that the Three Ancestors wish to understand why I can travel through the Burial Immortal Ruins without a sacrifice?" Zhao Dashan nodded, his expression filled with curiosity and restless anticipation. Zhao Sheng remained perfectly calm. "I truly do not know. I was simply born with this affinity, perhaps a blessing from the heavens."

A look of unexpected understanding crossed Zhao Dashan’s face. He knew firsthand the mystery of why, among the billions of Zhao Clan members, only a handful were chosen as "Immortal Ruins Guests." For over twenty thousand years, generations of these guests had braved the dangers of the Burial Immortal Ruins, searching for relics. Many had perished in the harsh Outer Domain, but the prosperity of the Ten Lands Zhao Clan stood as a testament to their sacrifice. Zhao Dashan knew that the clan's supreme treasure, the "Star River Annihilation Immortal Scripture," was recovered from a True Immortal’s relic within those ruins fourteen millennia ago. Though only a fragment, it had paved the way for nineteen Half-Immortals of the Void. It remained their greatest hope that one day, a Unification Realm Expert would finally master the full legacy.

As these thoughts occupied Zhao Dashan, a vast expanse of "Stars" burned deep within Zhao Sheng’s consciousness—some flickering, some blindingly radiant—mapping the hidden dimensions of the Yu Kong Immortal Heaven. Among the myriad constellations, seven hundred and fifty-three stars resonated, each casting an invisible thread toward his Divine Soul, pulsing with a faint, otherworldly rhythm. Zhao Sheng glanced at the elder once more: "Three Ancestors, I have a request that may be overstepping my bounds. I am uncertain if I should voice it."