Seeking the Flying Sword Path
chapter-556

"Even I found my Sword Immortal Skyimmortal Dharmic formulation very crude. How could I succeed in fusing spirit and body with such a crude Dharmic formulation?" Qin Yun discovered that the Essence Soul Dharmic powers placed too much burden on his body the moment he began the fusion. The extremely sharp Dharmic powers were like swords stabbing into his body, causing his body to crumble from the deepest depths…

His body began to collapse the moment he began the fusion!

He had failed!

And Qin Yun was not in the least surprised.

…

Under everyone's scrutiny, Qin Yun's Essence Soul and body began the fusion.

The Essence Soul was ethereal while the body was corporeal. They looked identical, but the moment the fusion began—

Whoosh!

His body was crumbling from its deepest depths. Every atom was falling apart, until the whole body collapsed into an incorporeal state. It dispersed across the world, leaving behind nothing but an Essence Soul.

"Brother Yun." Yi Xiao's expression changed when she saw this. "You failed? There's no way to become a Skyimmortal once the fusion of spirit and flesh fails."

"Junior Brother Qin." Ancestral Master Zhang's heart palpitated. "There's no chance of redoing the trial once the fusion of spirit and body fails. Junior Brother Qin's body has even collapsed. Is he going to be an Itinerant Immortal? Ever since the rise of the fiends, the Itinerant Immortal path is a dead end. Was this Junior Brother Qin's only method of saving our homeworld?"

"He has cultivated for much less time than me, but has already matched that of a mighty figure. He even forged a new sword immortal lineage. He had limitless potential! Now, his future is gone," thought Ancestral Master Zhang.

…

In the cosmos, the Buddhists' eighteen Arhats, the Heavenly Courts' 108 Heavenly Constellation Earthly Wraith were also watching, but when they saw Qin Yun's attempt at fusing Essence Soul and body fail, all of them gasped.

"He failed."

"Creating a new sword immortal lineage is just too difficult! Apart from Grand Supreme Dao Ancestor, Qin Yun is the only one in the Three Realms who has managed to create an Essence Soul Dharmic formulation. However, he has still failed in the creation of the more difficult Skyimmortal Dharmic formulation."

"He probably lacked one hundred percent confidence. If he was confident, he would have long transcended the tribulations! With Star Destruction's arrival, his homeworld is on the brink of a calamity. Billions of innocents lives are going to die as a result. He was forced to hastily attempt an early tribulation transcendence using a Dharmic formulation he lacked confidence in. Indeed, he failed at fusing spirit and body."

"Now, he will become an Itinerant Immortal."

"Before the rise of the fiends, even if one became an Itinerant Immortal, one could choose to reincarnate and then be guided to awaken their memories, giving them a fresh start! But now, Qin Yun's strength matches that of a mighty figure. If he chooses to reincarnate, once his soul force enters Samsara… the Fiend Ancestor would attack, destroying his soul, leaving behind only his True Spirit. When a True Spirit reincarnates, even the Dao Ancestors and Buddhist Ancestor are unable to receive them. Even if he undergoes a long and arduous cultivation to become a Golden Immortal to awaken the memories in his True Spirit, he would no longer be the present him."

The Arhats and Heavenly generals shook their heads.

Before the fiends' uprising, many mighty figures chose to reincarnate. But now, with the Daoist-Fiend war, both sides were at each other's throats!

Mighty figures as well as those that had strength of mighty figures, would be met with the destruction of their soul force upon reincarnation.

These feelings were not only shared by the Heavenly Generals and Arhats.

Even Yang Jian felt conflicted. He looked down and watched Qin Yun's Essence Soul.

Yang Jian thought, "Qin Yun, you could have taken some people and fled the Great Chang world, but now, you have severed your cultivation path and become an Itinerant Immortal. Was it worth it?"

"Master, isn't he dumb?" The black dog beside him spoke human language. "He forcefully transcended the tribulations without the necessary confidence. Great, now he is an Itinerant Immortal! He's doomed. With the Fiend Ancestor around, he won't even have a next life."

"Dumb?"

Yang Jian did not say a word.

******

Green Touring Palace.

The Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure was watching the situation in the Small World across distant space. He was best at the Sword Dao, and had always anticipated what his disciple, Qin Yun, who had carved out a new sword immortal lineage, would bring.

However, the instant Qin Yun attempted the fusion…

How powerful was the Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure? He could easily tell that the Dharmic formulation that Qin Yun was using for his attempt was very crude.

"With his keenness, he definitely knew that such a crude Dharmic formulation was highly likely to fail." The Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure sighed lightly. "But he still did it. When he chose this path, he had already steeled his mind for the possibility of becoming an Itinerant Immortal."

"Mortal children…"

The Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure shook his head slightly.

…

Yes.

Qin Yun long new that there was a high chance of failure. Success would be really be down to luck!

"Since I chose to transcend the tribulations, I was prepared to become an Itinerant Immortal," thought Qin Yun. "But so what? At least my strength has rapidly increased!"

Qin Yun's Essence Soul had undergone a change after being exposed to the Heavenly Tribulation's mysterious wisp of lightning force. It very naturally began to convert him to an Itinerant Immortal.

Itinerant Immortals cultivated very easily.

They would escape the shackles of their bodies, allowing them to have powerful Essence Souls.

Their Essence Souls were as strong as their Dao!

It was unbounded!

If one's Dao reached the pinnacle of the Skyimmortal realm, the Itinerant Immortal's Essence Soul Dharmic powers would also reach the pinnacle of the Skyimmortal realm.

If one attained the Great Dao, the Itinerant Immortal's Essence Soul Dharmic powers would also reach that of a Golden Immortal.

It was common for Essence Soul Earth Immortal to push back their tribulation transcendence to cultivate great divine powers. This was because, without the fusion of spirit and body, just the Essence Soul alone made it more suitable to cultivate the divine powers.

And Itinerant Immortals did not fuse body and spirit. They didn't even have bodies. They were naturally suited to cultivate divine powers. In fact, Itinerant Immortals had even more powerful Dharmic powers!

Despite having a relatively frail body, their divine powers and Dharmic powers were very potent. It appeared to be quite a good choice.

However, the Heavenly Dao was balanced. There were pros and cons!

Itinerant Immortals were repressed by the Heavenly Dao. They suffered tribulations every thousand years.

Each tribulation was more terrifying than the last.

This also made it so Itinerant Immortals were nearly extinct in the present Three Realms. Even for those who failed to transcend the tribulations, they would quickly choose to reincarnate and be received if their Essence Souls fortuitously survived as Itinerant Immortals. They would choose to start over!

When the Chaos first developed and mighty figures were beginning their cultivation paths, they discovered that the route of being an Itinerant Immortal was quite a good one. Many mighty figures took the initiative to attempt the constant tribulations.

After many attempts…

They discovered that a tribulation every thousand years was truly terrifying.

One's strength required that of a Golden Immortal mighty figure in order to transcend nine tribulations!

The tenth tribulation required a pinnacle Golden Immortal's strength!

The eleventh tribulation required a perfected Golden Immortal's strength!

As for the twelfth tribulation? It was unknown! Perhaps only the strength of the Dao Ancestors or Buddhist Ancestor would ensure survival. And clearly, the Dao Ancestors and Buddhist Ancestor would not risk reincarnating. They would use their avatars to walk the mortal world at best.

And in fact, ever since the Chaos developed, the ancient existences had attempted the Itinerant Immortal path. The one with the highest realm had the strength of a perfected Golden Immortal, allowing him to become an eleventh tribulation Itinerant Immortal. He was also the only eleventh tribulation Itinerant Immortal. But eventually, he failed to transcend the twelfth tribulation.

In the entire Three Realms…

Not a single twelfth tribulation Itinerant Immortal was born.

It was still a mystery if there was a thirteenth tribulation.

Furthermore, Itinerant Immortals had a major flaw. The time given to them for cultivation was just too short.

A tribulation every millennium.

Nine millennia meant nine tribulations! One had to have the strength of a Golden Immortal to withstand it.

For the twelfth tribulation, that was only 12,000 years!

******

"Boom!"

Qin Yun stood above the East Sea as stellar forces draped over him. The surging Heaven and Earth powers around him constantly surged into him to replenish his Dharmic powers.

And Qin Yun took out a yellow-skinned calabash and took out an Immortal Pill to replenish his Dharmic powers.

"In terms of realm, I have reached the pinnacle Skyimmortal realm. I'm just short of the Golden Immortal Great Dao. My Itinerant Immortal Essence Soul has also reached the pinnacle Skyimmortal realm." Qin Yun could feel that his Itinerant Immortal Essence Soul's every wisp of Dharmic powers had fused with his Sword Dao, forming new Dharmic powers. His Dharmic powers were extremely pure, but the extremely weak Dharmic powers within him were converted nearly in a blink of an eye.

His Essence Soul was quickly drawing on the Immortal Pill's medicinal effects to strengthen itself. Just the natural absorption of the Heaven and Earth powers was too slow to replenish it.

"What robust Dharmic powers."

Qin Yun sensed the mighty Dharmic powers which resembled a obstreperous river. His eyes could not help but light up as he revealed a look of glee.

The Intrinsic Flying Sword in him was nourished by the Dharmic powers as it began to quake. In the past, he had used his Essence Soul Earth Immortal Dharmic powers to power the Intrinsic Connate Numinous treasure. It made it impossible to deliver the true might of his Intrinsic Connate Numinous treasure! Now, powered by the mighty Itinerant Immortal Dharmic powers, the Intrinsic Flying Sword's strength was rapidly increasing.

Qin Yun's greatest flaw—his Dharmic powers—was resolved.

"Brother Yun." Yi Xiao flew over and asked immediately, "Didn't you say that your Skyimmortal Dharmic formulation was very crude not long ago and that you lacked the confidence? For you to suddenly transcend the tribulations, were you already planning to become an Itinerant Immortal by failing to fuse spirit and body?"

"Xiaoxiao, I can still live ten thousand years as an Itinerant Immortal," said Qin Yun with a smile. He now felt relaxed after experiencing it. "Back when we attempted to kill Water God, I had already made up my mind that I was willing to sacrifice my life as long as he could be killed. I have lived so many years in a blink of an eye. And now, I can still live for another ten thousand years. Why would I feel dissatisfied?"

Qin Yun turned his head to look at the gigantic black clouds in the sky. Two terrifying red arms extended from it as they struck the array formation again and again at full strength in an attempt to rip it open. The array formation was trembling.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The array flags and array disks were suffering constant damage.

"The array formation won't last long. I will have to finish this fiend." Qin Yun said to his wife before taking a step to appear high in the sky. He came close to the array formation's barrier and with a wave of his hand, a wisp of inconspicuous misty rain flew out of his hand and out of the array formation. It flew into the deep depths of the boundless Great Yin domain.

Yi Xiao watched the figure controlling the flying sword high in the sky…

The figure of the most important man in her life made her recall the same figure who fought Water God…

"Brother Yun has always been like that." Yi Xiao's eyes were moist. "This is my husband."

"Yi Xiao." Ancestral Master Zhang looked up and said, "In the past, I was quite impressed by him. But from today forth, I have the deepest respect for him."