Life-and-Death Heavenly Passage

The Twelfth Heavenly Passage shone brightly, dazzling as the sun and moon in the sky, enveloping the entire Purple Bamboo Forest.

Lin Fan stood among them like a deity. When his radiance softened, he was like a divine moon shedding clear light, serene and sacred.

When it blazed, he was like a piercing sun, overshadowing heaven and earth with an utterly terrifying presence!

The sight was astonishing, a spectacle rarely seen in the world, unheard of before. Someone had actually reached an inconceivable state in the Cave Heaven Realm: the Twelfth Heavenly Passage.

The ten heavenly passages lay outside him, while the other two lay within his body. Yet they all mingled with one another, as though joined by a single thread, mysterious and powerful.

"Truly astonishing. To develop this far in the Cave Heaven Realm, surpassing the ancients-this is no less impressive than unifying the heavenly passages," Qing Yao praised, clicking her tongue in wonder.

Lin Fan's black hair hung loose, his eyes were clear and bright, and his flesh gleamed. He felt better than ever, brimming with strength, his mind utterly clear.

Although the process had been perilous, nearly destroying both his body and soul several times, he had finally weathered it.

Above all, he owed it to the Supreme Bone in his chest, which had constantly healed him with its mysterious power, keeping him from collapsing outright.

Sometimes he thought that keeping this bone for now might not be such a bad idea. It was especially helpful during the early stages of cultivation.

"Are you going to continue?" Qing Yao asked again. This little fellow kept surprising her; perhaps he could create a legend.

"Yes. There's still one final step I haven't taken: unifying the heavenly passages!" Lin Fan said firmly. He wanted to carry his momentum through and take that step once and for all.

"All right." Qing Yao began adding more Treasure Medicine and Divine Spring Water to the Golden Cauldron, an extravagance lavish enough to leave anyone speechless.

Even Lin Fan could not help marveling. Ordinary people could never enjoy such an abundance of resources. Fortunately, he had joined a great sect and met Qing Yao.

Of course, he had not forgotten that he had come to steal their teachings. But she seemed to be giving him so much that he was getting carried away and no longer wanted to leave.

Dao Master, you can't blame me. I'm only trying to conserve resources for our run-down sect. Once I've grown strong and made a name for myself in the Heaven Mending Sect, it won't be too late to return!

Seated cross-legged in the cauldron, Lin Fan recalled the insights he had gained during this time. Considering them alongside his current state, he understood that path ever more clearly.

Boom!

At that moment, Lin Fan did something astonishing. The ten heavenly passages behind him burned and collided as he sought to destroy them.

It was madness, no less dangerous than opening the divine soul heavenly passage. The slightest misstep would mean destroying himself.

"If opening a heavenly passage is the birth of a world, then destroying one is the death of a world..."

"One yin, one yang; life and death. All things exist in opposition. If the five elements gave rise to all things, then life and death govern everything between heaven and earth."

Lin Fan murmured to himself, following his heart and the path he had chosen.

Moreover, he had gained this insight long ago. It was merely rising in his mind again, clearer than ever.

Just like his innately nurtured Supreme Bone, which represented life. Yet behind the utmost extreme of life lay death, bringing everything to its end before giving rise to new life once more.

Everything in the world seemed to follow this pattern, from individual living beings to the vast universe. Birth and death were always alternating.

But destroying heavenly passages was exceedingly dangerous. He had captured ferocious beasts in the Spirit World to experiment on, and some had failed to endure it, dying on the spot.

Still, he was unafraid. He knew what he was doing and had no regrets.

Cultivation was inherently an act of defying heaven. Without a fearless spirit and the courage to press forward and try, how could one hope to rise above heaven and earth and achieve transcendence?

With a bang, the ten heavenly passages broke, riddled with countless cracks and fragments, leaving them half destroyed.

Spurt!

Suddenly, Lin Fan spat out a mouthful of blood. He had suffered grievous injuries, his blood vitality drying up as divine essence drained away in alarming quantities.

Fortunately, the translucent liquid in the great cauldron nourished him. Mist rose in swirling clouds, as though this were a patch of immortal land, preserving his flesh from destruction.

Moreover, during this process, Qing Yao added another drop of Divine Phoenix True Blood, setting the cauldron ablaze to lend him a helping hand.

Within it, Lin Fan resembled a little divine phoenix undergoing nirvana, breaking beyond his former self.

The shattering of his heavenly passages continued, but this time, the sacrifices were his physical body heavenly passage and divine soul heavenly passage.

Lin Fan was trying to merge the heavenly passages outside his body with those inside, truly forming a single whole and refining them together.

It was like the dantian, existing within one unified body. How could it be divided into inside and outside?

Crack!

During this process, Lin Fan's flesh suffered the impact. The sounds of breaking inevitably rang out, and blood seeped from his entire body until he was practically a figure made of blood.

"Yin and yang as the eyes, the outer heavenly passages as their sockets..." Lin Fan whispered, circulating runes to connect the shattered ten heavenly passages with the two within his body.

He wanted to make the physical body heavenly passage "yang" and the divine soul heavenly passage "yin," uniting them with the ten heavenly passages to manifest their true meaning and create a unique life-and-death heavenly passage!

Like the opposing poles of yin and yang in a taiji diagram, they would mingle and unite, each containing the other, attaining a wondrous balance.

At the same time, this was the path he wished to walk: gazing toward death from within life, then bringing forth new life from death, cycling endlessly, flourishing without cease, imperishable through eternal tribulations!

Whether opening the physical body heavenly passage or awakening the divine soul heavenly passage, both had been preparations for this ultimate step.

Unifying the heavenly passages might be the final limit of the Cave Heaven Realm, but everyone's process was different, with different effects and different paths to follow.

"Unite... as one!"

Lin Fan gritted his teeth and persisted, making the heavenly passages mingle and reconstruct themselves to reach the state he had envisioned.

Qing Yao was startled and deeply uneasy as she watched it unfold.

It was hard to imagine that such a young child possessed a resolve in the Dao firmer than those who had lived for ages. He dared to challenge himself and surpass what his predecessors had failed to achieve, leaving even her feeling inferior.

At least in the field of heavenly passages, she would not dare gamble her life as he did to carve out an unknown path.

"He really is so much like you... Were you like this back then too? Growing stronger through trials where death was nine chances out of ten..." she sighed, filled with boundless emotion.

Hum!

Lin Fan used the runes on his Supreme Bone and the contents of the Primordial True Explanation as needle and thread, "stitching" those shattered heavenly passages together.

For a time, his body glowed, and his essence, energy, and spirit burned like fire, forging, tempering, and reshaping his heavenly passages.

A boom thundered through the clouds. A vast heavenly passage shone, shooting out black and white rays like two immortal swords, so dazzling and piercing that no one could keep their eyes open.

From afar, it seemed as though the universe were blossoming, being born anew. Yet at the same time, a world could be seen crumbling and dying-a profoundly strange sight.

At last, the ten heavenly passages vanished, merging with the inner heavenly passages to form a "yin-yang" Dao diagram, black and white distinct yet intertwined.

Faintly, wisps of chaos energy actually emerged, returning everything to oneness. It was utterly wondrous.

Lin Fan opened his eyes, overwhelmed with excitement. He had succeeded, reaching a new, unparalleled peak in the Cave Heaven Realm!

"Congratulations. Your baptism succeeded." Qing Yao stepped forward to congratulate him, happy for him.

"It was all thanks to your help, beautiful big sister. Otherwise, I couldn't have succeeded." Lin Fan was deeply grateful to her. She had supplied all kinds of Treasure Medicine, even the true blood of one of the Ten Fiends. How could he have succeeded otherwise?

"Resources only lend a helping hand. What matters most is your talent." Qing Yao smiled like a blooming flower, an immortal maiden stepping out of a painting, peerless in her grace.

Then she took out a set of clothes and floated it over to him. "Put these on."

"Ah..." Lin Fan felt a chill below his waist, and his face flushed scarlet. He had actually forgotten that his clothes had burned away too, leaving him stark naked before her.

"How can I live this down? How can I possibly live this down!"