Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 858: A Blend of Reality and Illusion

Chapter 858: A Blend of Reality and Illusion

...

Upper Realm of Cangyun Realm.

Amidst profound clouds in an unknown location, a pavilion rises with eaves shaped like wings.

White Sword grips the white stones, while Tu Shan Yue clutches the black stones.

Across the Go board, black and white clash fiercely, echoing the intricate karma weaving through the heavens and countless worlds.

"How has that lower corpse been lately?"

White Sword dropped a stone, his tone icy and aloof, like a casual inquiry devoid of any mortal attachment.

Floating nearby was a golden eyeball the size of a fist.

No flesh or blood surrounded the eyeball; instead, intricate golden lightning arcs flickered around it.

Anyone daring to lock eyes with that Thunder Eye might faintly glimpse endless Great Dao scriptures inside. Cultivators of deep attainment could dive in and achieve sudden insight; those with weak foundations would find their soul and mind instantly drawn away, turning into fuel for the Great Dao.

The Heavenly Dao's Eye quivered faintly, linking to a far-off transmission.

Soon, a glowing screen materialized in front of White Sword.

The display showed Earth Star under soft breezes and radiant sun.

The individual called "Chen Huaian" lounged on a luxury cruise, clutching a wine bottle in his left hand and a selfie stick in his right, surrounded by alluring women of various complexions. Evidently, he leveraged his immense cultivation to roam the secular realm, indulging in lavish pleasures.

The image appeared utterly lifelike. Even White Sword detected no flaws.

Or put differently, this matched his view of Chen Huaian perfectly.

"Hah."

A sneer of disdain twisted the edge of White Sword's lips.

"A lower corpse is still just a lower corpse. Post-Three Corpses severance, nothing lingers but primal urges for indulgence and laziness."

"Li Qingran has barely stepped into the miniature world, yet he's already losing control? What a joke!"

"Still, this works out well." White Sword rolled the Go stone between his fingers. "Let it grow plumper, and devouring it later will face no interference from inner demons!"

Tu Shan Yue gazed at White Sword's stern, striking side profile, a spark of adoration gleaming in her eyes.

She grasped nothing of lower corpses or upper corpses. All she knew was that this man was her entire world.

"White Sword brother, what are you mumbling? You're barely paying attention to our game!"

Tu Shan Yue propped her delicate cheek on her palm, scolding playfully, though her eyes held no hint of frustration.

The man she adored remained captivating, even when distracted during Go.

"Nothing worth mentioning."

White Sword offered no details, his gaze under the silver mask calm like a bottomless ancient pond.

"Back to the game."

He inquired further, "What's the status on the fusion of the two realms?"

The golden Thunder Eye projected once more.

The view shifted smoothly.

In Cangyun Realm's Hundred Thousand Mountains, illusions of Earth Star's towering skyscrapers suddenly emerged, startling hordes of demonic beasts into confusion. Next, the focus moved to Earth Star's Mount Tai peak, where faint outlines of Cangyun Realm's ancient sect ruins began to manifest.

Realms overlapped. Boundaries slowly eroded.

"Excellent." White Sword nodded faintly, a glint of satisfaction in his eyes. "The unstoppable tide is underway. When the realms fully merge, my scheme will unfold without hitches. Then..."

He trailed off, but the zeal burning in his gaze spoke volumes.

At once, he pressed, "And the Ascension Platform?"

The projection altered again, landing on Moon Shadow Sect.

A colossal platform forged from pure white jade, etched with intricate formation runes, loomed high among the clouds.

"Perfect, perfect, perfect! With construction complete, commence it now!"

White Sword shot a glance at the Heavenly Dao's Eye.

"Issue the directive. Summon that lower corpse back."

"To oversee—the Ascension Assembly."

...

Earth Star, Upper Realm, South Heaven Gate.

This site had endured a massive calamity moments ago.

The grand South Heaven Gate, once a revered faith symbol for myriad Ascenders, lay reduced to scorched debris.

Chen Huaian perched upon the wreckage.

His garments hung in shreds, golden Immortal Blood still trickling from his hybrid demon-immortal form.

The sword he wielded, forged from tribulation lightning rules, buzzed softly.

Precisely then.

His pocket phone buzzed abruptly.

Chen Huaian paused silently for several seconds.

He pulled out the device. It barely resembled a phone anymore; it looked more like charred coal.

This charred lump should have been reduced to ashes amid the heavenly tribulation, yet some mysterious force had kept it intact.

However, the screen was now completely unusable.

The Electronic Girlfriend System now beamed directly onto his retina.

As Chen Huaian had long suspected, the phone served only as a vessel picked by the Electronic Girlfriend System.

Should the system choose to, it could manifest straight within his mind.

A cute pink dialog box popped up right before Chen Huaian's eyes.

At first, a flood of endless entries from the [Electronic Girlfriend Log] appeared, filled with his little disciple Li Qingran's yearnings for him.

Next followed a massive stack of logs detailing Li Qingran's adventures inside the Canglan miniature world.

To him, just a few days had passed.

Yet Li Qingran had already departed Battle Soul Academy, entering the Continent's Elite Soul Master Battle Tournament, battling round after round, her power now reaching level 49 Battle Soul Ancestor.

Heaven's Might came crashing down.

The crushing force of heaven and earth left Chen Huaian struggling to draw breath.

Yet in that moment, seeing the myriad 'Missing Master' messages in the [Electronic Girlfriend Log], his heart strangely eased.

All weariness and agony suddenly felt trivial.

[Dear player, a new task has arrived~]

[Main Quest Name: Ascension Guide]

[Quest Description: The Ascension Platform in the Cangyun Realm has been completed. Please return to the Cangyun Realm immediately to preside over the First Ascension Assembly and screen candidates for ascension.]

[Quest Reward: Sword Intent Comprehension Pill (Heaven-rank, Celestial-grade)]

Chen Huaian eyed the reward.

A Heaven-rank pill?

He gazed once more at the divine sword gripped in his hand, the very blade that had just split the Gate of Heaven and absorbed the Heavenly Dao's laws.

"Hah."

Chen Huaian let out a sneer.

"The version is too old."

"Trash like this, even dogs would find it too hard to chew."

This outdated system obviously hadn't grasped how far its host had advanced.

Yet returning wasn't possible.

The Gate of Heaven had barely opened. Those ancient foes in Lingxiao Palace eyed him hungrily like predators.

Should he depart, the hard-forged path might get sealed shut once more.

Still, ignoring the task didn't seem smart either.

As Chen Huaian pondered his dilemma.

The light screen flickered, displaying three choices.

[Detected that the host is currently in a force majeure environment. Activating emergency plan:]

[Option One: Abandon the current battle and return to the Cangyun Realm to preside over the assembly. (Recommendation Index: ★)]

[Option Two: Reject the quest. Consequences unknown. (Danger Index: ★★★★★)]

[Option Three: System Hosting. Separate a wisp of the host's will and inject it into the Cangyun Realm avatar. The avatar will act as proxy, perfectly performing the "presiding duties." (Recommendation Index: ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★) (Price: 1 top-grade spirit jade)]

That many stars?

Chen Huaian arched a brow.

Avatar hosting...

And merely 1 top-grade spirit jade?

"That's really... cheap labor."

Chen Huaian pulled a spirit jade from his storage space at random and selected option three.

"Go."

...

Cangyun Realm, Moon Shadow Sect, Ascension Platform.

Mists and clouds churned.

Owing to Su Qinian's prior warning.

The space in front of the Ascension Platform brimmed with crowds.

Hundreds of thousands of Cangyun Realm cultivators assembled beneath the platform, faces grave, gazes brimming with curiosity and eager hope toward the Ascension Platform.

And this was merely the turnout on day one.

Even greater numbers of cultivators hurried from across the Cangyun Realm toward the Ascension Platform.

Inside the Moon Shadow Sect.

A figure appeared out of nowhere in the ancestor's cave abode.

'Chen Huaian's' empty eyes abruptly sharpened.

In an instant, an immense, unfathomably deep Great Ascension Stage aura burst forth, engulfing the whole Moon Shadow Sect.

"Chen Huaian" rose slowly.

His motions started rigid, like a puppet on strings, but in mere moments, that rigidity faded completely.

In its place emerged an aura of supreme arrogance, laced with lazy contempt.

With hands behind his back, he took one step and stood atop the Ascension Platform, his eyes scanning the cultivators below.

His gaze sparkled with life, a faint smile curving his lips.

Even the subtle habit of fingering the sword hilt matched his true self perfectly.

"Esteemed guests."

"Chen Huaian" declared, his voice resonant and crisp, echoing through the nine heavens.

"The path to immortality is long, paved with dry bones."

"This Venerable One, grasping the Heavenly Dao, has set up this Ascension Platform right here, taking the pulses of heaven and earth for its stairs!"

"This Venerable One's deed isn't about welcoming visitors to a banquet, nor handing out fortunes like handouts."

His words had scarcely echoed away.

He lifted his right hand gradually toward the heavens over the heads of the myriad cultivators, his five fingers abruptly gripping tight.

"Rise."

Only one word.

BOOM——!!!

The drifting ocean of clouds froze in place at once, then exploded with a deafening roar.

Tens of millions of golden strands of spiritual energy burst from between "Chen Huaian's" fingers like a raging storm.

They twisted together, flashed about, and traced patterns in the emptiness, forming in an instant a massive web spanning a hundred miles wide.

A formation emerging from nothing, setting limits to forge a jail.

That was the power of the Great Ascension Stage.

The once bright sky, gripped by that single hand, turned right away into a horrifying abyss.

Darkness fell over the sky, while an eerie gale screamed.

The cultivators chasing eternal life didn't even get a chance to blink before the lucky clouds and glowing lights vanished from sight.

In their place rose piles of bodies and oceans of gore, endless heart demons and savage spirits emerging from the ground, along with a crushing force that could pulverize their souls to powder.

—[Heart-Refining Demon-Slaying Formation].

Such was the essence of the Great Ascension Stage.

With a turn of his palm, clouds gathered; with a flip, rain poured down.

"Pfft—!"

The array had barely formed when the weight crashed onto their forms.

Hundreds of cultivators with weaker bases under the platform went pale as ghosts right away, coughing up blood together and crumpling to the earth, too broken to even cry out.

"Ascension Assembly, opening trial."

"Chen Huaian" stood tall with hands behind his back, a subtle grin playing on his lips amid the shrieks of phantoms and bays of wolves.

He eyed the so-called prodigy cultivators below, barely keeping upright, viewing them like worthless weeds.

"One stick of incense."

"Those who survive the array without dying."

"Those who stay sane without breaking."

"Only such ones..."

"earn the right to pursue immortality."

...

Earth Star, Upper Realm, ruins of South Heaven Gate.

Chen Huaian's real body halted for a moment.

A recollection alien to this flesh crossed vast emptiness and surged into his thoughts.

It showed his clone in Cangyun Realm triggering the Heart-Questioning Grand Formation, masking slaughter with illusion, and ruthlessly observing the cultivators' torment.

Indeed fitting for a projection guided by a thread of his intent. The gestures and poise mirrored his perfectly, save for a touch less mortal flair.

"Fine performance."

Chen Huaian pulled back his mind.

His clone was smoothly directing the Ascension Assembly. No flaws anywhere.

With nothing to trouble him...

Chen Huaian lifted his gaze slowly.

The divine blade in his grasp felt his murderous urge and let out a blood-hungry sword wail.

Up ahead.

From the depths of stacked immortal mists boomed the dull beat of battle drums.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

The Lingxiao immortals raged in fury.

Auspicious clouds parted, unleashing ten thousand beams of gold.

Thirty-six divine generals from the Thunder Ministry, armored heavily and armed with wind-thunder artifacts, mounted on Thunder Beasts, charged like an iron flood, sealing every path forward or back for Chen Huaian.

And trailing those thirty-six Thunder Generals.

Four colossal shapes, each a hundred zhang high, bearing grave Dharma Bodies, advanced steadily.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra, East Guardian, plucking a jade lute, its devilish tones drilling into ears.

Virūḍhaka, South Guardian, gripping the Azure Cloud Sword, blade bared sharp.

Virūpākṣa, West Guardian, with Purple-Gold Flower-Fox Marten draped on his arm, eyes firing godly beams.

Vaiśravaṇa, North Guardian, raising the Primordial Chaos Pearl Umbrella high, eclipsing sky and sun.

—The Four Heavenly Kings of the Celestial Court.

This array outmatched the Lower Realm's twelve Yuanchen by over a hundred times!

"Demon from the Lower Realm, you dare wreck our Gate of Heaven!"

Virūḍhaka, Mo Li Qing, strode ahead, aiming the Azure Cloud Sword at Chen Huaian, his roar like crashing thunder:

"Won't you yield and head meekly to the Immortal-Slaying Platform?!"

Chen Huaian perched amid the corpse hills and blood seas.

He faced these hosts of gods and buddhas, this dread army that could shatter a whole world.

He refused to yield.

No hint of fear appeared on his face at all.

With a soft motion, he elevated the sword gripped in his hand.

A smile full of deadly menace crept across that face merging demon and immortal traits.

"Immortal-Slaying Platform?"

"Hah... have you asked the Slay the Immortal sword in this Venerable One's hand?!"

...