Chapter 222 - Shedding Mortal Skin

“Lord…” Ga Shu took a deep breath, then clasped his hands towards Yaan and said: “I wish to undertaken my immortal ascension tribulation now, if that is ok with you.”

“Right now?” Yaan blinked in surprise. “Don’t you want to rest for a while?”

“No.” Ga Shu shook his head firmly. “After going through Nirvana Death, I have been afflicted by the calamity of death. My life essence will deplete by 10% every day until I begin my Nirvana Rebirth…I am ready.”

“Nobody is ever ready.” Rui spoke in Yaan’s mind.

“I see. Then, go ahead, Ga Shu.” Yaan paused briefly, then decided to give him some advice, based on his understanding of the process. “Nirvana Rebirth is true rebirth. You will experience death, tribulation, and then new life. Be prepared to die…that is the only way to live.”

Ga Shu nodded solemnly, then took his place far away.

“Good advice, considering you’re clueless yourself.” Rui commented.

Yaan ignored her. His eyes were trained on Ga Shu, wanting to see exactly what the immortal ascension tribulation looked like.

Ga Shu stood up, then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he urged his mortal life essence to ascend past its limit, transcending into immortal life essence.

Instantly, Ga Shu died.

But this was to be expected.

His body simply slumped to the floor, dropping like a rag-doll. There was no great explosion, nothing spectacular…he just dropped.

This was the first stage of rebirth; death. In order to overcome this stage, Ga Shu needed to face his own death with a clear heart. If he failed to do so, he would simply just…die.

The second stage was the stage that would determine whether or not Ga Shu would get to live again; tribulation.

Ga Shu broke through into Nirvana Rebirth using his understanding of the dao of life. As such, he would experience the dao of life tribulation. He did not know what this might entail, but he felt that he was ready for anything.

Suddenly, Ga Shu found himself standing on one side of a line. There was no sign of any sort, but he instinctively knew that this side of the line was ‘life’.

The other side of the line was ‘death’.

Ga Shu looked across the line. He saw many people on the other side. They were all laughing, happy, at peace…

On his side of the line, he was the only one. It was cold, lonely and painful.

Suddenly, when Ga Shu looked across the line again, he froze.

On the other side of the line, he saw a familiar face, a face he had thought he would never see again…

It was his wife, Freya.

She was beautiful, her appearance was that of his wife during her most stunning stage of life. Her pale skin was decorated with a few freckles, her hair was braided up in a fashion which was all too familiar to Ga Shu. When he caught sight of her bright green eyes, his entire body trembled. He was so shocked, so overwhelmed with emotion, that he almost dropped to his knees on the spot.

Ga Shu knew that his emotional and mental state were being influenced heavily by the dao of life, but in this moment, he didn’t care.

He reached towards her and cried out, but no voice came from his mouth. His wife was getting swept up with the festive crowd, enjoying the party, the relaxation, the comfort and peace to be found in death.

Whilst he stood alone on the side of life, Ga Shu felt cold. His heart was broken, shattered from pain. Nobody was here to share his burdens. There was really very little reason to stay on this side…

Ga Shu knew this was his immortal tribulation, and he finally understood how the tribulation of life could be so difficult.

Overcoming death was a battle, a fight, a challenge.

Overcoming life was an endless trial, often with no reward to ever be found.

Choosing life…was difficult.

Ga Shu took one last, longing look at his wife, before forcing himself to turn around.

He found that because he had stared into the comfort of death for too long, the pain of life had become countless times greater. Every millimetre he turned away from the comfort of death, felt like blades cutting into his skin. Every step he took away from that line, made him feel as if there was ice digging into his feet, spreading up through his legs and covering his entire body.

Every time he thought about how he had just turned his back on his wife, even if it was only a wishful dream of her, filled his heart with endless pain.

Ga Shu walked, with pain and difficulty, through the tunnel that led back to life. The tunnel seemed to be endless, as if it would never end, as if the only choice was to turn back, embracing death…

He knew that he could not glance back, not even once, because he would be entranced, he would not be able to continue persevering along the path of life.

Life was difficult…but at least life was life.

Finally, Ga Shu made it to the end of the tunnel.

Gasp!

Yaan watched for three days as Ga Shu lay there, his body, soul and mind held in a state of false-death, all whilst his mortal life essence was steadily draining away. Spending three days in an immortal tribulation was quite long, but Ga Shu had plenty of life essence to endure it. He burned through 3,000 more drops of mortal life essence…but in the end, he prevailed.

The moment Ga Shu awoke, he slowly stood up, then stared down silently.

On the ground, was his body; his old, mortal body.

‘Shedding the mortal skin’ was a very literal term for the immortal ascension. Upon overcoming Nirvana, the cultivator would leave behind all of their mortal baggage, abandoning every unnecessary part of their past self, retaining only the superior, immortal components.

But that was not all.

After ascending to the Immortal Step, the mortal life essence also transcended, becoming immortal life essence!

Mortal life essence decreased by one drop every year, but immortal life essence did not decrease, not ever! An immortal with a single drop of immortal life essence could theoretically retain their life for eternity, though in reality, that was not the case, there were many other factors involved.

When Ga She returned from his immortal tribulation, he immediately began releasing his full immortal aura, so his full immortal spender was on display. This was common for newly ascended immortals, it often took them a few moments to relearn their control over their own power.

He had the appearance of a large, muscular, boisterous man, yet his dark hair was braided in the style of the fair-bodied Fae Tribe.

Ga Shu was now enormous, towering at over 30 feet tall. His muscles were dark, but possessed a faint golden glimmer, as if his entire body had been built from gold.

His aura exuded power and dominance, and yet, as he saw Yaan approaching, he bowed respectfully and clasped his hands in greeting.

“Lord Red, I have succeeded in my immortal ascension. Perhaps now, I can be of use to you.”

Yaan smiled. A faint gleam could be seen in his eyes as he examined the newly ascended immortal.

“Yes. Perhaps you might.”

Over the past three years, Yaan had been assaulting the Lunar Song Tribe’s various branch tribes. He killed many of their powerhouses, devouring masses of slaughter aura into his sea of consciousness. He used this method to temper his sea of consciousness, all whilst trying to comprehend the complexities of slaughter.

Yaan knew that if he wanted to progress through soul cultivation, then he absolutely needed to find a way to refine slaughter aura into soul force!

It was the only way. Soul cultivation could not be forced using resources, it relied entirely on talent. Unfortunately, his talent in this path was non-existent, so he needed to develop his own way.

Aside from the Lunar Song Tribe’s branch tribesmen, Yaan also ended up killing hordes of Rank 6 beasts, 6-Star astral spirits, and even a few 6-Star warriors. Almost all of these were traps laid out by the Lunar Song Tribe. In the end, those traps became Yaan’s nourishment.

Because finally, he had a breakthrough.

Watching Ga Shu’s complete journey through Nirvana opened Yaan’s eyes to a new world of possibilities. Seeing this transformation for himself made him realise that a person could undergo some truly drastic changes! The essence of their being, their very form, their cultivation foundation; all of it could be transformed!

If a person could be changed so thoroughly, then his Vital Qi core could definitely be transformed into a dual layered core!

Before anything else, Ga Shu wanted to deal with his own mortal body. In the end, he dug a second grave besides his wife’s grave, placing his old mortal form into a coffin by her side. He said nothing from beginning to end as he dug and filled in the grave, whilst Yaan watched silently, waiting for him to finish his business.

Once Ga Shu was done, they walked away from this place.

“We are now a Rank 7 tribe.” Yaan explained to Ga Shu as they walked. “This means that we can only attack other Rank 7 tribes. We’ve already destroyed the Lunar Song Tribe’s branches throughout the kingdom…so, why not topple their main tribe?”

Ga Shu forced a smile.

“My lord, they have four immortals, and I am just a newly ascended immortal.”

“True.” Yaan nodded. “But regardless, my goal this time is…unique. I don’t actually care about taking over the kingdom, I just need to kill. This is for my cultivation, no more and no less.”

Ga Shu’s eyes lit up and he understood.

“You mean to say, you just want me to come along as insurance? To protect you incase they try anything?”

“Right.” Yaan didn’t deny it. “In theory, immortals cannot attack mortals, but what if those mortals threaten to destroy their entire tribe? Are they supposed to just sit back and watch?”

“My lord, I dare say that in this entire empire only you are able to threaten an immortal kingdom as a mortal, that is why this isn’t mentioned in the war flower law. And generally speaking, an immortal tribe will be protected by an immortal formation…”

Ga Shu hesitated after saying this, but Yaan just laughed.

“I’ve studied their formation in my spare time during the past three years. From up close, from afar, from drawings, from probing attacks, and so on. At the very least, I’m confident that I can get us in.”

In the end, despite his uncertainties, Ga Shu went along with Yaan’s wishes.

In order to make this look like a proper war and not just a lone man’s crazy attack, Yaan ordered multiple teams to attack every direct vassal underneath the Lunar Song Tribe at the same time. If they were lucky, this might also serve as a distraction.

Yaan and Ga Shu crossed the kingdom.

Now that he was an immortal, Ga Shu noticed some extra details about Yaan that he had overlooked up until now.

His calm demeanour when dealing with immortals was always impressive, but now that Ga Shu understood the immense strength held by immortals, he was stunned by his lord’s tenacity in this regard.

And then there was the slaughterous desire that lingered in his eyes…

That slaughter was clearly a part of his cultivation. His lord was obviously trying to immerse himself in slaughter to progress his cultivation somehow or another, but that killing intent really was horrifying.

And then finally, there was the air of loneliness about him.

He did not show it much, he actively tried to hide it even, but this lord of his…was probably the loneliest man that Ga Shu had ever met…

Finally, they reached the Lunar Song Tribe.