Ye Jun was in a great dilemma. He completely forgot that he wasn’t just one person, but two souls merged together to become who he was now. His mind held memories of both people, as the world itself treated both as the same person.

He was confident in facing his past. Even if it was messed up, it was his and he had gone through everything. All actions and consequences were his choices.

But what the previous Ye Jun did weren’t his actions. He knew the consequences but didn’t feel them, didn’t own up to the mistakes he made.

’Aghh! What do I do?’

He had two options before him. First, he could use the Memory Severing Technique and cut off the memories of the previous Ye Jun. It would increase his chances of success by a lot.

Or he could try Ascension with his current self, which was a hell-difficulty trial. His chances of failure were high, but the results would be equally rewarding.

He would attain a soul unlike anyone else’s. That kind of foundation would take him further than most, the kind of potential unseen before.

Ye Jun stared deeply at the centre pillar, as Han Yuexin gave him time. He thought about many things, his goals, his previous life, but two things were on top.

Song Liangxue and Meihui.

Without a doubt, both were heavenly geniuses and worked hard to live up to that potential. Ye Jun was sure that after such long seclusion, Song Liangxue would likely emerge as an Origin Realm Cultivator. And if his guess was right, Meihui was already in the Earth Realm or maybe even higher.

Most of all, they were incredibly young, meaning they hadn’t even used half of their potential. Their future was so bright that an insignificant rat from a random city would get drowned in their brilliance.

With his current self, he couldn’t see any future with them. They were already walking far ahead of him and the distance would just grow more and more if he didn’t do something.

Sure, the system could help him but it wouldn’t create a strong foundation for him. It was the greatest tool one could have, but it was a tool in the end, meant to be used by someone.

He could use it, but he didn’t want to be defined by it.

’If the system is my power, then what am I without it?’

He took a deep breath and turned towards Han Yuexin, "I’m fine. If I can’t even face my past, then I don’t deserve to attain the Dao."

Han Yuexin smiled with quiet pride and said, "Good. I expected nothing less from you. Always remember this, the past is a whetstone, not a chain. It exists to temper your Dao Heart, not bind your steps."

She focused back on the pillars and added, "There’s also Spirit Incense. It enhances your senses, especially your sensitivity to the Spiritual Plane, allowing easier access to it. There will be a bunch of pills and other formations but they’re just auxiliaries and probably won’t be used."

She sighed in disappointment, "We also wanted to prepare the Seven Spirit Fox Broth which would let you sense the Soul Essence and become a bit familiar with it. Unfortunately, the old man didn’t agree."

"Oh, I’ve already eaten it," Ye Jun said, scratching his cheek. "My friend is his disciple, so he made that broth for us."

For a moment, Han Yuexin stayed silent, then facepalmed, "Nobody can guess what goes through his head. Whatever, it’s good that you managed to eat it. It means all our preparations are completed."

She made him stay there while she went ahead and inspected everything. Using the time he was given, Ye Jun meditated to calm his mind, bringing himself to his prime.

After about half an hour, she returned and smiled, "I’ll personally oversee your Ascension, so you don’t need to worry about anything. Also, there are multiple Elders interested in your Ascension."

’That matters little,’ Ye Jun thought, knowing she was saying that just to comfort him.

When the Ascension would begin, there would be nothing the Elders could do. Especially since if they meddled too much, the Heavens might punish them.

The Heavenly Tribulations were supposed to be trials for an individual, after all.

He nodded at her and stepped forward onto the hovering stone stairs. Soon, he reached the bottom where the central pillar stood. It was very small, likely only around a hundred metres wide.

Following the instructions, he went to the centre where he found a few ingredients placed there. He did as he was told, like burning the incense and taking important pills which improved his vitality and other functions, though those mostly came from He Wenxin.

Lastly, he opened a jade bottle and poured a deep violet liquid around him, forming a circle inside a triangle.

Once every preparation was completed, he sat down at the centre in a lotus position, his eyes closed. He took a deep breath and thought, ’Here it goes.’

For a few seconds, nothing happened but he remained patient and continued to focus on that faint feeling of Soul Essence he felt during the time he spent eating the Seven Spirit Fox Broth.

The incense also began working soon, as he suddenly felt a pull from somewhere far above him, as if infinity itself was calling upon him. He focused on that feeling and travelled the vast distance beyond infinity in only a few seconds.

The moment Ye Jun crossed that invisible boundary, he understood why countless Cultivators lost themselves forever.

The Spiritual Realm wasn’t a place. It was existence without shape, and his senses shattered instantly upon witnessing it.

There was no up or down, no distance, no light, no darkness. The very concepts themselves seemed meaningless here. Ye Jun couldn’t even tell if his eyes were open or closed because vision no longer functioned in a normal way.

Yet somehow, he could still perceive.

Endless currents drifted around him like invisible tides, brushing against something deeper than flesh. Vastness stretched in every direction, so immeasurable that his mind instinctively rejected it.

It felt as though he had fallen into an ocean without surface or bottom, an eternal sea where even the idea of direction drowned.

For the first time since arriving in this world, genuine fear crept into Ye Jun’s heart. His consciousness trembled, not because something attacked him but because nothing did.

The silence here was too complete.

No wind. No sound. No heartbeat. No sensation of a body. He couldn’t even feel his breathing anymore. It was as if the Spiritual Realm had stripped away every unnecessary layer until only the purest form of his existence remained.

An Essence drifting in infinity.

’So this is the Spiritual Realm...’

Even that thought felt strange.

His thoughts no longer came from a brain or mind but from something far more abstract. The manuals had described it repeatedly, yet no words could truly explain this feeling.

He finally understood why people became lost here.

A mortal mind was never meant to comprehend this directly.

The moment one entered this place, they became painfully aware of how insignificant they truly were. Mountains, oceans, kingdoms, geniuses, ambitions, all of it felt smaller than dust here.

Even the Heavens themselves felt distant.

No. They were not distant, just irrelevant even though they were above this vast, boundless plane of Spirituality.

Ye Jun suddenly felt a strange softness wrapping around him.

It was warm, gentle, and very comforting.

The boundless Spiritual Realm welcomed him like a mother embracing a tired child returning home after wandering for too long. The currents around him no longer felt cold or alien. Instead, they became soothing beyond belief.

A deep exhaustion surfaced from within him.

Not physical exhaustion. Existential exhaustion. The kind buried so deeply within the soul that one never noticed it during ordinary life.

Every struggle. Every burden. Every fear. Every responsibility.

The Spiritual Realm accepted all of it without question. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

No pain existed here. No expectations. No failure. No danger.

Ye Jun’s tense consciousness loosened slightly before he abruptly stiffened.

’No...’

Something was wrong, very wrong. The realization struck him instantly. There wasn’t pressure, the Spiritual Realm wasn’t crushing him as he had expected.

It was assimilating him.

The vastness around him whispered without words, carrying a terrifying gentleness that made resistance feel foolish.

Stay. You belong here. Why return?

There was no hostility within it. In fact, that was what made it terrifying. The Spiritual Realm wasn’t trying to kill him, not at all.

It genuinely wanted him to stay, to become part of it, to dissolve into this endless sea where pain, ambition, and individuality no longer existed.

Ye Jun’s will trembled.

For a brief moment, he understood why people stopped resisting.

Because resisting this feeling felt unnatural, like struggling against sleep after staying awake for days, like refusing warmth while freezing to death.

His thoughts slowed unconsciously.

The vast currents embraced him gently as his consciousness drifted deeper into the endless Spiritual Realm. The further he drifted, the lighter he felt. Burdens disappeared one after another.

No Ye Clan.

No enemies.

No expectations.

Nothing mattered here.