Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 148 Ascension to a Higher Realm

Chapter 148 Ascension to a Higher Realm
Gold, blue, white, red, and purple—five colors of lightning patterns intertwine and entwine, lying beneath the bones and hidden in the blood, sometimes appearing and sometimes disappearing, sometimes shining, sometimes silent, like a group of sleeping lightning spirits waiting for the horn to awaken.

Deep within the sea of consciousness, the Primordial Divine Decree quietly disappeared behind the soul light, like a spirit returning to emptiness after completing its mission.

The Five Thunder Heart hung quietly in the center of Chu Ning's soul aperture, slowly rotating.

It is neither fiery, nor explosive, nor flammable.

Yet, like an eternally shining thunder star, it burned with an unwavering flame in the depths of his soul.

That was the source of his own will, the source of his life force, the anchor of his soul, and the tower of his heart.

Chu Ning slowly opened his eyes, his face showing neither joy nor sorrow, only a mountain-like composure.

His gaze pierced through his sea of consciousness, and what he saw was neither wind and snow nor lightning.

Rather, it is the gate of will that can no longer be shaken on the long, lonely road ahead.

In the end, his aura steadily settled at the middle level of the seventh rank.

This was not an external infusion, but rather the return of his true self after his own soul merged with the Thunder Dao and the Five Thunders returned to one.

The lightning around his body slowly receded from the surface of his skin, transforming into faint, five-colored patterns that hid beneath his bones and lay dormant in his meridians, like a sleeping dragon of thunder.

Deep within the sea of consciousness, the Primordial Divine Decree quietly disappeared, leaving only the Five Thunder Heart, which hung and rotated in the soul aperture like a star, its flames still, yet shining as brightly as the sun and moon.

At this moment, Lei Xi, like a lighthouse, illuminated Chu Ning's heart.

He opened his eyes, his brows furrowed with frost, yet a flicker of fire shone in his eyes.

He exhaled slowly, whispering as if on a vow:

"Qingli... I can save you."

It's no longer about waiting, no longer about hoping.

Rather, it was the real power that gave rise to the belief that she could be called back to the human world from outside the cycle of reincarnation and from the forbidden realm of heaven and earth.

He stood up. The snow cave was silent, and the frost was still, but his whole being was like a thunderous furnace pressing down on this far northern region, causing the spiritual pressure of heaven and earth to surge back and the snow to stay away.

"With the Five Thunders in my heart, the Way of Thunder belongs to me."

"If Heaven does not allow it, I will use thunder to cleave open the gates of Heaven."

As the thunder subsided, the cave returned to deathly silence, with only Chu Ning's breathing and the clear sound of icicles falling to the ground, one sound after another, as if counting down the time he had to fight against fate.

however.

Just as everything returned to stillness, a deep, aged voice, like the gentle tinkling of the wheel of destiny, echoed in my sea of consciousness:

[The current master has successfully pre-acquired the advanced Earth-rank cultivation technique, "Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Technique."]

[The cost of advance payment: twenty years of lifespan]

[Repayment Conditions: The next advance payment will be triggered after killing a sixth-rank martial artist.]

[Currently Available Martial Arts Advancement - Part 2]

As soon as he finished speaking, the world suddenly sank.

An invisible force of law descended silently like a tide, piercing through the sea of consciousness and striking directly at the soul.

That was neither a surge of true energy nor a rumbling of thunderous breath.

Rather, it is a tearing apart of the very essence of destiny.

Chu Ning felt as if a very deep part of his soul source was being slowly peeled away.

That's not pain.

That's empty.

An extreme emptiness, like spring snow melting silently into the depths of the grass roots, like an old tree shedding its last bark in silence, like a lamp quietly going out where he cannot see it.

Silent and still, it could never be reignited.

The next instant, time began to flow backward.

It does not come from the outside, but flows out from within his body.

Starting from the palm, an invisible ray of light surges backward along the meridians, across the arm, around the neck and shoulders, and down to the center of the forehead and the corner of the eye.

He didn't move an inch, yet the years had quietly crept onto his bones and skin.

A thin, yet striking, frost-white line appeared between his brows, like the first melting of snow at night; a few faint lines also quietly appeared at the corners of his eyes, like wind eroding a mountain wall; and three wisps of white mustache grew at the corners of his lips, each hair like a frost thorn. All of this required no mirror.

He could clearly "feel" that his lifespan was slipping away inch by inch, like the last thread of sand falling from an hourglass.

Each time one of the invisible soul lamps within his body goes out, a ripple appears in his sea of consciousness. That ripple then converges into an invisible snow stream, flowing down along his soul meridian and seeping into the deepest crack in his Thunder Heart.

—That crack was the end of his lifespan within his body.

He knew he was getting old.

It's not just a change in appearance, but the deepest part of the soul, where the once blazing fire is now being extinguished drop by drop.

He stood in the middle of the snowfield, with the shadows of soul lamps going out behind him. With each lamp going out, the wind and snow would let out a low hum, like an ancient divine bell slowly sinking.

His hair was as white as snow, his eyebrows as white as frost, he stood still like a monument, his figure enveloped by the years and the wind and snow.

The five thunder patterns on his body seemed to have lost all their thunderous light, leaving only gray and withered bones, like the skin of an ancient thunder beast, frozen to death by time and sealed into slumber.

Chu Ning lowered his eyes and saw that the lightning patterns on his palm spread like withered branches, leaving flesh and blood shriveled wherever they passed.

But he didn't back down, exhaling softly, his voice carrying a calm coldness:

"The thunder hasn't stopped... so he can still walk."

The wind and snow swept through the hall, fluttering the hem of his thin clothes.

Chu Ning hunched his back slightly, like an ancient cedar tree that stands proudly in the wind.

At that moment, the wind and snow suddenly stopped.

The wind howling deep within the ice cave seemed to have been silenced, and even the flow of cold air slowed down.

On the cave wall, clusters of crystalline frost quietly emerged in the stillness and emptiness, forming strange fox-shaped frost flowers that slowly gathered towards Chu Ning and the pendant.

On the pendant, the fox's eyes gleamed slightly, reflecting a ray of aurora-like light. The light and color changed and flowed, beautiful beyond compare, yet carrying a faint sadness that made one's heart tremble.

Chu Ning was stunned.

His fingertips trembled as he reached out and slowly approached the pendant.

Just as they were about to touch.

Her illusory image quietly emerged from the halo.

Her figure was slender, her robes like mist, her nine tails fluttering gently, and her silver hair cascading down like a snow waterfall. She still looked the same, with gentle features and clear eyes, as if she had only just left.

His fingertips froze in mid-air, a few shards of ice falling from the tattered cuff, gently tapping against the side of her illusory figure, yet passing through silently.

"Qingli."

His Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes were slightly bloodshot, and many words were stuck in his throat.

A soft call, like a whisper in the wind and snow, or like mourning a soul that has not yet been laid to rest.

"Chu...Ning...?"

She saw him too.

The moment their eyes met, neither of them spoke.

Her gaze fell on Chu Ning's eyebrows and eyes.

She saw the frost-white eyebrows.

I noticed the white beard on his lips.

I saw a face etched by time.

The wind and snow seemed to be howling in the distance, but between them, only the sound of their heartbeats echoed.

He unconsciously raised his hand, wanting to reach out and confirm that it really was her, not an illusion, not a phantom of a chaotic soul fire.