Zhang Hongxing tried flying toward the Sun-Bearing Firebird.
But before he could get within ten kilometers of the Sun-Bearing Firebird, an intense sense of mortal danger suddenly gripped him.
He stopped immediately and shot back a thousand meters.
The Sun-Bearing Firebird turned his gaze toward Zhang Hongxing, seemingly having noticed him.
Perhaps because of some kind of rule.
He did not attack, nor did he deviate from his course.
He continued west at a steady pace, carrying that red sun on his back.
It looked just like the Golden Crow of Xia Kingdom legend.
But the legendary Golden Crow was the sun itself, while this firebird carried a red sun on his back.
Whatever the case, Zhang Hongxing did not dare approach him again.
Judging by the mortal danger the Sun-Bearing Firebird made him feel, its strength had likely surpassed that of an Immortal Venerable. It might even have reached the realm of a first-step Sage.
Above Immortal Venerables were Sages, but attaining Sagehood required nine steps.
If an Immortal Venerable could unleash the power of ten thousand hydrogen bombs exploding at once, a first-step Sage could shatter a medium-sized planet with a single punch.
More importantly, a first-step Sage already possessed an undying life.
Without any external force destroying them, a first-step Sage would never die.
This was also the ultimate goal of everyone who practiced immortal cultivation.
Yet this single step had stumped almost every cultivator.
The immortal cultivation plane Zhang Hongxing had previously transmigrated to had nearly ten billion years of civilization behind it, yet its records mentioned only three Sages in total.
The Immortal Venerable Peak was universally recognized by cultivators as the end of the path of cultivation.
Going any higher was not something cultivation alone could accomplish.
That required enlightenment.
With enlightenment, one might