Ye Jun had two options before him. He could either follow the string which would likely lead him back to his essence from where he could start his ascension.

Or he could follow the call of this unknown yet familiar substance whose connection with him was denser than anything else. The worst part was that his instincts asked him to follow it.

But for once, he didn’t listen to them. Ascension was much more important to him.

’If it is connected to me, I’ll get to see it anyways.’

Thinking of that, he pushed himself to follow the string even as the current opposed him, making him struggle hard since he didn’t even know how to navigate in this realm. He was following his instincts and simply willing himself to follow that string and somehow, it was working.

The boat made from his Will continued to sail forward in the boundless ocean, having no tether but that one string. And it followed it madly.

Ye Jun didn’t know how long he spent on that boat, as he couldn’t even feel the time passing properly. It was all a jumbled mess. But he didn’t give up and simply continued to push his Will to keep manifesting the shield around him.

Finally, he sensed something dense around him. It wasn’t the same as the currents, which surprised him as there wasn’t anything else other than Spirituality here. Even he was the same, with the only difference being that of Will.

Yet, something other than Spirituality was before him. He could sense it, but couldn’t understand it. He only knew it was very dense, which made its presence very heavy here.

However, he instinctively began to understand it. He finally knew what the other source that was calling upon him was. If he had eyes here, they would have widened in surprise.

’The System! It is connected to my Soul, or my Essence? I don’t know but it is definitely connected so of course, it will be here. But what is it?’

He was excited, even though death lingered all around him. For the first time, he was close to the system itself and that filled his very being with an innate curiosity to know more about it.

He tried to push his existence towards it, but something like an invisible barrier blocked his intentions. The system was rejecting his arrival, even though it was the one which called upon him.

Ye Jun was incredibly disappointed, ’What are you, a tsundere?’

He got no response, but he felt as if the system shifted slightly. He ignored it, as the pressure of longing was weighing upon him. ’Screw it! Let’s begin the Ascension.’

He could feel his existence growing stronger, more stable on this spot. He knew the reason. All around was his essence, projected by his physical existence. This was where he belonged.

The pull from the realm was weaker here, but he could still fail to it if he wasn’t careful. Or if he simply failed the Ascension.

He spent some time fixing his senses, as he had to sense the physical body and his Spiritual Existence both at once. Only then could he make a path between the two.

When he finally managed to get hold of his physical body, he inhaled deeply and thought, ’Let’s do this.’

Following the instructions written by He Wenxin and Meihui, he focused everything into his mind, filling it with his memories, his everything. Then, he condensed it into a small point.

’This is me.’

That was his nexus. If he lost it, he would lose his very being and his physical body would turn into a hollow husk. It would still be represented in the Spiritual Realm, meaning he would have Essence there but an empty one.

Clenching his fist, he created a passage between his senses that were witnessing the physical world and Spiritual world at the same time.

Through that passage, he brought the Nexus to the Spiritual Realm, as it hovered in the endless currents, ready to give birth to a Soul.

Ye Jun remembered the way he sensed the Soul Essence before and spread his Will around his Nexus, catching his Soul Essence which had grown dense due to the Soul Tempering Liquid.

It wasn’t easy. He had to basically catch all the oil mixed in a small pond of water, but he did it. With such density and the power of his indomitable Will, he collected all the Soul Essence around the Nexus and expelled the one that didn’t belong to him.

Then, he created a barrier which sealed his Soul Essence with the Nexus. Things didn’t end just there, as he began to condense the barrier.

’Compress. More. More.’

Before long, there was no distinction left between the Soul Essence and the Nexus, as they had completely assimilated with each other, turning into a single Existence.

All of a sudden, Ye Jun’s mind and Will shattered as something began to change fundamentally within his Existence.

Before he lost his consciousness, he knew the last step had begun.

The Last Step of Ascension.

Heavenly Tribulations.

...

Han Yuexin jumped across the stone steps, ignoring the fierce winds slapping her face. She had grown used to living with the winds long ago.

’Will he succeed?’ she wondered, glancing at the new disciple she recruited on a whim a few months ago.

Initially, she only considered him a witty man with strong resolve and will because he managed to survive within the Ye Clan. Not to mention he was also Song Liangxue’s lover.

All of that made her curious about him, but she didn’t think he would achieve much. Oh, how wrong she was. From the very first day he entered the Sect, he wreaked havoc without a care about the world.

He made enemies, but he also faced them bravely and overcame obstacles all while progressing at such a ridiculous rate that she hadn’t seen anything like it in her lifetime.

’How does he do that?’

She still didn’t understand how he comprehended Mysterious Techniques so quickly and even learned to use them as if he had been practicing them for years.

Yet, even this ridiculous quality of his wasn’t the reason for the Sect’s interest in him.

It was the Greywood Village Incident.