From Mortal to Celestial (Volume 34)

Chapter 1651 Headless and Undying

The Land of Ten Thousand Extinctions was rarely trodden by Cultivators.

The earth lay scorched black. Tenaciously resilient, grotesque trees clawed up through ferocious, misshapen soil and rocks. Black currents wafting over the land, fierce Malignant Qi, caused every tree to twist into fantastical shapes during its growth, their forms utterly distinct from trees anywhere else in the Lower Void.

Ebony trunks bore needle-like leaves. Each tree, though not tall, spread its limbs horizontally with ruthless ingenuity, expanding its territory.

Ten years were sufficient for a tenacious sapling to grow into a great tree.

Thick layers of decaying leaves, rich with the stench of rot, blanketed the ground. Mingling with the black, baleful aura in the sky, they formed the unique atmosphere of the Ten Thousand Extinctions Ancient Graveyard.

This was a paradise for the savage. Slaughter, the law of the jungle, played out here ceaselessly, every day, every moment. Only the truly powerful and ferocious Desolate Beasts had the right to earn survival within this ancient graveyard.

It was a forbidden zone for Cultivators, a place that even Great Power Cultivators avoided. The eternal, pervasive Baleful Aura relentlessly assailed a Cultivator's Divine Soul, warping their mind. A moment's lapse could lead to utter damnation.

Never had Cultivators come to the Land of Ten Thousand Extinctions.

Ten Thousand Extinctions — the land where the Ten Thousand Races met their end.

The very moment Sun Hao's head opened its eyes amidst the Pear Blossom, a thick pile of decayed leaves beneath several grotesque trees atop a small knoll began to tremble.

A massive Square Shield slowly rose from the ground.

An enormous Iron Hammer followed close behind, planting itself firmly on the earth.

A headless corpse stood up.

Within the desiccated torso, bones faintly glowed with a somber, dark gold light. Especially the Peerless Great Spine in its back — ramrod straight — held the body firmly upright.

No blood flowed within the withered frame. The severed neck had long crusted over with thick, dark scabs. Yet, deep inside the chest, the Tiny Flame Sprout — as if ignited by Sun Hao’s distant gaze — began to glow with a gentle, warming light.

A faint warmth began to circulate within the parched body.

The latent, miraculous Weak Water, which grew tougher the greater the adversity, stirred. The last lingering dregs of moisture, as if heeding a silent command, emanated faint wisps of warmth from within the Water Cube, trickling towards the four limbs and hundred bones.

The burning Tiny Flame Sprout slowly condensed a drop of vivid crimson liquid. With a soft 'ding,' it dripped into the heart, transforming into fine, meandering streams that flowed outward in every direction.

It was as if a switch had been thrown within the headless body. Latent energies, strange and powerful, stirred into awakening.

The fine streams flowed into the liver; the Wood Core trembled slightly, beginning to emit a soft, Milky White Radiance.

The fine streams flowed into the kidneys, the lungs, the spleen... Within Sun Hao’s headless torso, the five elemental primal energies, nourished by these streams, gradually revived their vitality, beginning to slowly cycle and flow.

Sun Hao’s body slowly stood upon the charred-black earth, shaking off the layers of decayed leaves and branches that clung to it, gradually straightening its posture.

It stood taller and straighter until the Peerless Great Spine was finally utterly rigid.

The still-desiccated form stood firmly upon the earth, its internal vitality gradually radiating outward.

The abdomen swelled as if inflated, emitting deep, resonant thud thud sounds.

Finally, the headless form, standing erect atop the knoll, raised its Square Shield and Iron Hammer, as if roaring soundlessly at the heavens.

The silent roar was answered only by the drumming from its swelling abdomen.

Maintaining this stance, the headless corpse stood for an unknown length of time. Unyielding through sun, rain, wind, and thunderbolts.

The desiccated body seemed to absorb abundant moisture, gradually plumping and regaining luster.

Slender currents of strength began to cycle automatically within the body. The Wilderness Body Immortal Technique activated on its own accord, the physical power of the body growing ever stronger.

Again, it stood for an unknown period.

Within the heart of the headless body, almost entirely instinctive, faint to the point of near nonexistence, the strand of Spirit Separation — the one Sun Hao had forcibly stripped from himself upon barely ascending to the Spirit Separation realm and bonded to this body — stirred hazily into a glimmer of awareness.

Unable to see, unable to hear.

Silent, colorless, devoid of sensation or perception.

This nascent Spirit Separation awareness was practically indistinguishable from having none at all. Yet, its faint awakening brought a subtle change to the headless body.

Slowly, the headless body took one step forward.

Standing stiffly atop the knoll, Sun Hao's step landed on empty air. Unaware, unfeeling, it crashed and tumbled down the knoll with a rumble and roar. Like a massive boulder, it landed with a resonant boom into a waterlogged mire as black as ink.

Thick black smoke billowed upon the pond's surface.

The Ten Thousand Extinctions Ancient Graveyard quieted once more, as if nothing had happened.

The ripples on the ink-black pool gradually settled, leaving only the appearance of a large rock having fallen in.

Fallen leaves once again covered the waterlogged pit.

Spring departed, autumn arrived. Uncounted years slipped by.

Seasons cycled, yet the Ten Thousand Extinctions Ancient Graveyard remained as ever, unchanged. Until years later, by the edge of that ink-black mire, a Square Shield suddenly clanged heavily onto the bank. An Iron Hammer followed, striking the earth beside it with a whump.

Slowly, a headless skeleton emerged. Clutching both shield and hammer without a shred of surrender, it dragged itself out of the ink-black, utterly corrosive waters, which ate away at anything within.

It crawled laboriously onto the riverbank. Through the gaps in its skeletal frame, one could vaguely glimpse the relatively intact viscera within.

Shield in one hand, hammer in the other.

The headless skeleton slowly stood erect.

Its Spirit Separation awareness remained muddled, oblivious, indifferent to fear. Yet one tenet was clear within it, ingrained as instinct: as long as strength remained, it must stand tall. Erect. Upright.

Its fighting spirit resided in this stance; it stood upright amidst the world.

Once the body was fully vertical, dark golden currents of energy began to flow along the bones of its skeleton, sinew and flesh gradually beginning to regenerate.

It stood defiantly by the poolside for another immeasurable span, until its physical form was nearly whole again.

The headless body took another step forward.

The heavy step fell, crushing the leaves beneath. Its foot slipped. The newly remade body, uncontrollably tumbled back with a thunderous crash into the corrosive mire.

Day followed day, year after year.

The headless body possessed no conception of time, no sense of direction. In the most corrosive, quintessential mire of the Ten Thousand Extinctions Ancient Graveyard, it climbed out, plunged back in, climbed out, plunged back in... This cycle repeated endlessly, the perseverance enduring for uncountable years.

Finally, a day came when falling into the murk no longer dissolved it; its regenerated form could withstand the corruption. The headless body, at long last, stubbornly emerged from the reach of the murky water.

Aimless, stepping lightly here, heavily there, going wherever its feet took it, trampling whatever lay in its path, it began to wander through the Ten Thousand Extinctions Ancient Graveyard.

Time hurried past amidst this roaming.

Shield in the left hand, hammer in the right. Going wherever fate led, confronting whatever it encountered.

No destination. No clear path.

Just onward. Ever onward, moving forward arbitrarily.

Tumbling over? Rise up. Continue onward.

Struck by an enemy? Instinctively raise the shield. Swipe the hammer wildly. If the enemy perished? Keep moving. If the enemy endured, gnawing the body down to its bare bones? After a time, the body would straighten upright again, and continue onwards.

Unfazed. Unfeeling.

This headless form ventured ever deeper into the Ten Thousand Extinctions Ancient Graveyard. The black mist along its path grew denser, the frequency at which it collapsed to the ground ever higher.

Yet, regardless, instinct — the persistent, faint tenacity of its Spirit Separation awareness — upheld the headless body. As long as it could stand, it stood upright.

Its fighting spirit would not dissipate. The flame in its heart would not extinguish.

The five elemental energies within, compelled into survival, instinctively activated to defend themselves, drawing every beneficial trace from the environment to fortify and replenish their essence.

The Wilderness Body Immortal Technique was constantly active, perpetually cultivating autonomously. Tempered within this savage crucible, fueled by the sheer, boundless defiance of the headless corpse, it advanced by leaps and bounds.

Roaming a land of absolute extinction. Revolving through the cycle of death within Samsara.

The undying headless body, through countless falls and countless risings, underwent a gradual transformation. Its form grew taller, its flesh ever more indestructible. Years passed, an eternity unnoticed. The undying headless form, oblivious to its own becoming, grew into a massive man of stature equal to any Barbarian Tribe ordinary warrior.

One hand grasped the shield. The other wielded the hammer.

Deep and deeper still, it delved into the Land of Ten Thousand Extinctions.