Chapter 1168: Returning to the Divine Mountain

The Pillar To Heaven.

There was a flight of stairs around the edge of the pillar that gradually spiraled upwards through the clouds.

The cultivators and pixies were all flying up through the thick layer of clouds.

——–Frost’s appearance was nothing but a small beat on their overall journey, and their main goal right now was to climb the Heavenly Pillar and the Divine Mountain of Sumeru!

“Last time I was here, this pillar was still broken, has it already been fixed?” one of the cultivators doubtfully asked.

“Indeed, according to records, this Heavenly Pillar had been broken for a very long time, and cultivators of the past needed to search for the Immortal Lake of Inversion within the clouds” one of the other cultivators replied.

“That Immortal Lake is exceptionally hard to find, people usually had to look for a very long time before they could reach it”

“Hm, from what I heard, there were also heavenly beings within the layer of clouds who remain here specifically to test cultivators during the distant past; regretfully, no heavenly being could be seen here any longer”

…

Gu Qing Shan didn’t say anything and silently continued his climb.

It seems that following the Divine Mountain of Sumeru’s recovery, the Heavenly Pillar is also becoming whole again.

I wonder how those disgusting monsters on the Divine Mountain of Sumeru had been dealt with.

How did Shifu find the Immortal Lake in the first place?

Shifu…

Nah, Shifu probably didn’t need to search at all and just pondered a bit to remember where it was.

Who exactly is Shifu?

As I first knew her, she was one of the three Saints of Humanity.

When I travelled to the Age of Old, I discovered that she was the daughter of the Barren Cloud Heavenly Palace’s sect master, who was born with a golden lotus and peerless talents; because of the Divine race’s jealousy, they placed a malicious curse on her.

——–but from the looks of it, this wasn’t the extent of Shifu’s identity.

The cultivators of the Age of Old would not have known so many things about the Samsara…

The more he thought about it, the more lost Gu Qing Shan felt.

The Heavenly Pillar soon passed through the clouds.

After a few hundred breaths’ worths of time, the group suddenly emerged from the sea of clouds.

A beautiful lake with a reflective surface was in front of them.

The edge of the water perfectly weaved together with the clouds, which made it seem boundless.

Using his experience from the previous time he was here; Gu Qing Shan formed a hand seal and flew into the lake before anyone else.

The others soon followed.

The pixies and cultivators went into the lake, diving behind Gu Qing Shan all the way down as the light around them became dim.

Eventually, the entire lake went completely dark, everything turned invisible.

The group continued diving down until their inner sights were no longer able to perceive anything but darkness even at maximum range.

Gu Qing Shan signaled for everyone to stay still and wait.

A few moments later.

A dim light flickered briefly in the darkness before vanishing.

This ray of light was nearly undetectable, but the cultivators who had extended their inner sights to their maximum range were able to easily catch it.

“Go” Gu Qing Shan sent his voice to everyone.

The large group cautiously moved towards the direction of the dim ray of light.

A few moments later, their surroundings began to lit up again.

The water of the lake was clear, a gentle hue of the sky peered in from above guided them to the surface.

The group slowly resurfaced and left the water.

Only to find that the lake was vast, the sky was boundless, without limits.

Every cultivator turned to Gu Qing Shan.

——only the cultivator who was here to face their Sumeru Lord realm Tribulation would be able to observe the Divine Mountain of glazed lazuli that connected heaven and earth.

Gu Qing Shan sensed the wondrous fluctuations in the void of space and expanded his inner sight, scanning through over several thousand miles before he finally saw that mountain.

The Divine Mountain of Sumeru!

The current Divine Mountain of Sumeru had completely regained its lazuli color, no longer displaying the greyish gloomy shade that suggested it was heading to ruin like before.

“Follow me”

Gu Qing Shan stated, then flew towards the Divine Mountain.

Everyone followed suit.

A few dozen seconds later.

Everyone landed at the foot of the mountain.

The void of space then broke open as a group of monkeys came out.

As soon as the monkeys saw Gu Qing Shan, they exclaimed:

“It’s you again!”

Gu Qing Shan nodded: “It’s me”

The monkeys then bowed and respectfully said: “We thank your excellency for providing your aid and saving the Divine Mountain of Sumeru”

“You’re welcome, I only did it for the sake of a smoother Tribulation for myself” Gu Qing Shan also reciprocated their politeness with his own.

Hearing that, the other cultivators were so shocked they forgot to breathe.

What?

The Divine Mountain was actually saved by this cultivator who came here to break through to Lord Sumeru realm?

Who exactly is he and how did he achieve such a great thing!?

One of the female cultivators abruptly spoke up: “Wait a minute, when Mount Sumeru was slowly heading towards destruction, it was him who saved it?”

The group turned to that female cultivator and saw that she was the one who claimed to be the daughter of a Star River Saint realm cultivator.

The monkeys looked at the female cultivator for a bit and nodded: “It was saved by the combined effort of him and his master, truly an extraordinary feat”

Gu Qing Shan said: “Let’s not chat too much, we want to start climbing the mountain now”

“Very well! The Divine Mountain had also been waiting for you as well” the monkeys told him.

They pulled a Dharma Gong and a gong hammer from behind their backs and explained to everyone:

“Banging the Dharma Gong will let the Divine Mountain guide you inside”

“The Dharma Gong will randomly select one of your many epithets, make its consideration according to the epithet you obtained, then send you to various appropriate locations within the Divine Mountain”

“Who shall be first?”

Everyone turned to Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan appeared troubled, then swiftly moved behind everyone.

He clasped his fist to the rest: “Everyone, please go in ahead. By observing your epithets, I will naturally understand your abilities and better make my arrangements”

Everyone was suddenly enlightened.

So what was how it was, this great cultivator had even considered something like this!

However, the monkeys loudly called out: “Brother cat, your [Big Tabby Cat] epithet had already reached the limit of Mahesvara Thaumaturgy, so the Divine Mountain specifically told us to have you bang the gong before anyone else, then enter to discuss something with it”

!!!

I’ve already tried everything I can to avoid it, so why did you still state my epithet out loud?

Gu Qing Shan was filled with complaints as he walked forward under the cultivators’ inexplicable gazes and banged the Dharma Gong.

A voice then sounded from the Dharma Gong: [Gu Qing Shan, due to the Divine Mountain’s consideration, the epithet you’ve drawn is: Feline Sovereign]

[Feline Sovereign, is——]

The Dharma Gong paused for a while, but truly had no way to describe this epithet and simply screamed out: [Gu Qing Shan, point of entry: Samsara Great Hall]

A ray of loud enveloped Gu Qing Shan and whisked him away in a flash.

“Very well, next!”

…

Gu Qing Shan felt a sense of slight disorientation as he left his previous location.

A second later, the scenery around him had changed.

He found himself standing in the middle of a palace hall.

The hall had a total of six gates, each with a long line of people queueing outside.

Gu Qing Shan looked around at the busy scene.

Quite a few people were maintaining order in the great hall.

“Silence! Silence!”

“Do not push or shove! Those who do will be sent straight to Huang Quan!”

“That pig over there, I’m talking to you, the only choices offered to you were the Huang Quan realm and Beast King realm, why are you trying to shove yourself into the Human realm——- your only choice now is the Huang Quan realm!”

The sound of a pig’s desperate squeaking soon followed.

The pig disappeared.

Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but wipe the sweat off his forehead.

——–so, what exactly is going on here?

He suddenly saw a familiar figure.

Bai Zhuo!

Bai Zhuo was one of the people maintaining order here but soon made his way over as he saw Gu Qing Shan.

“Thank you for taking revenge for me and Chang Yu Li, killing that wicked tiger” he sincerely clasped his fist to show his gratitude.

“It was nothing, what’s going on here?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Ah, the Divine Mountain wanted to reestablish the six realms, so all the demons from before are being reincarnated”

“And that pig earlier—–”

“Pig demon”

“Ah, so that pig demon had gone to Huang Quan?”

“Yes. In truth, the Divine Mountain is actually a miniature Samsara. Originally, a cultivator facing their Tribulation must traverse through six mountains before they can reach the summit, thus returning to the Human realm, or make their way up the Path To Heaven”

“The Path To Heaven…”

Gu Qing Shan repeated that, then suddenly recalled something.

In the past, Reneedol couldn’t find the Path To Heaven of the Divine Mountain, so she had to leave the Qilin here to continue tracking it for her.

After so many years, even when the Divine Mountain was about to be destroyed, the Qilin still never completed its task.

The historical records of the various cultivation worlds, the Divine Mountain had always had the function of a place to face one’s Tribulation, never had there been a cultivator who managed to find the Mount Sumeru Path To Heaven.

——then where exactly was the Path To Heaven?