A month passed quickly.
Lin An's cultivation level had now reached the Sovereign Realm Ninth Grade Perfection.
"I've reached the ninth rank; the next step is to break through to the Immortal Realm."
To break through to the Immortal Realm, one must condense the rules of heaven and earth that one has mastered, transform them into one's own Dao Fruit, achieve the unity of all laws, and stand shoulder to shoulder with heaven and earth, only then can one achieve Immortal.
This step is difficult enough for others, but for Lin An, it is even more difficult.
Simply because...
He possessed far too many rules of heaven and earth. The thirteen secondary professions were equivalent to thirteen rules of heaven and earth. Add to that the Rule of the Dao of the Saber, Rule of Devouring, and Rule of Slaughter, and the difficulty of condensing all of these rules would be extremely high.
"No wonder few people learn multiple secondary professions at the same time. It's not that they can't learn them, but the more secondary professions they learn, the harder it will be to break through to the Immortal Realm in the future."
Lin An pondered how he could break through to the Immortal Realm.
The first method is to forcibly condense these rules of heaven and earth and evolve one's own Dao fruit.
Once successful, breaking through to the Immortal Realm will definitely grant strength far exceeding that of ordinary Immortal Realm experts.
However, a problem arises: this process is bound to be extremely time-consuming and resource-intensive, and it is even possible that we will be stuck at this step forever.
The second method is to abandon some of the rules of heaven and earth. Once you have fewer rules at your disposal, the difficulty of condensing the Immortal Dao fruit will also decrease.
Looking at his own Sovereign Rank secondary professions, Lin An immediately rejected this method; he couldn't bear to give up these secondary professions.
"Perhaps there is another way: to elevate all secondary professions to the Immortal Rank, and then forcibly condense Dao Fruits using the rules of Immortal, thus achieving the Immortal Realm."
"Alright, let's ask Lord Zhou Chang later. He's an Immortal Realm expert and an Immortal Rank Heavenly Diviner; he should have other solutions."
Lin An also tried to use the Heavenly Diviner to deduce his breakthrough method, but unfortunately his Heavenly Diviner was only at the Sovereign Rank, and since it involved himself, he could only see a fog.
Lin An immediately stopped thinking about it and continued to cultivate by consuming the Sovereign Pill.
Although his cultivation level can no longer be improved, he can still continue to strengthen his foundation.
In the blink of an eye, another month has passed, and Lin An has refined all the Sovereign Pill.
On the same day, Li Tan sent word, "Young Master, the Pill Forest Heavenly Stele Ruins will open tomorrow."
Upon receiving the news, Lin An immediately left the seclusion.
"Perhaps the method to break through to the Immortal Realm is found within this Pill Forest Heavenly Stele," Lin An thought.
"When will the ruins open tomorrow?" Lin An asked Li Tan.
"It will open tomorrow morning, and the location will be in the Pill Forest Mountain Range, a thousand miles away from Central Heaven City," Li Tan replied.
There must be quite a few alchemists here this time.
"That's right, there are already a million alchemists gathered in the Pill Forest Mountain Range."
Lin An was surprised, not expecting so many people, but considering the vastness of the Domain, it was to be expected.
"These alchemists aren't all at the King Rank or Sovereign Rank or above, are they?" Lin An asked.
"Of course not. Although there are quite a few alchemists of the King Rank or above in the entire Domain, it is estimated to be only around 100,000, of which only a few thousand are of the Sovereign Rank."
"Most people are just here for the fun of it. Once the ruins open, alchemists below the King Rank might not even be able to enter."
Lin An nodded, knowing that after the ruins opened, everyone would first have to go through a test of poisonous fog.
This poisonous fog is extremely peculiar; it is said that even experts at the Immortal Realm would find it difficult to withstand.
To survive unharmed in the poisonous fog, one must collect the medicinal herbs within to refine elixirs.
At the moment the pill is formed, the spreading pill energy has the effect of dispelling the poisonous fog; as for what kind of pill it is, that is not important.
"Among those participating in the Pill Forest Heavenly Stele event, is there anything we should be aware of?" Lin An asked.
"Indeed, there is. First and foremost is Ning Shanhai. He lived through the chaotic era and entered the Pill Forest Heavenly Stele countless times. It can be said that among the many Sovereign Rank alchemists, he is definitely number one."
Li Tan immediately told Lin An all the information about Ning Shanhai, which surprised Lin An.
This ancient being, who has lived for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, only managed to pass fifty Heavenly Steles, which shows how difficult the Heavenly Stele test is.
"Besides Ning Shanhai, there's Zhou Yangyun. He also comes from the Southern Ning Shanhai Southern Gloom Region, and he's no less capable than Ning Shanhai. However, the two don't get along, and the specific reasons are unclear."
"And then there's Qian Meng from the Central Heaven Region, Zheng Guangyuan from the Eastern Extremity Region, Xu Ming from the Northern Cold Region, and as for our Western Severance Region, it's Chu Sheng..."
Fortunately, Li Tan and the other two were with him; otherwise, Lin An would never have had a way to learn about this information.
As Lin An listened to Li Tan mention each name, Lin An realized that he only knew Xu Ming.
"Let's go check out the entrance to those ruins."
Lin An Andao.
A thousand miles is not a long distance; for the four of them, it's just a matter of taking one step.
The Pill Forest Mountain Range are just an ordinary mountain range, but they are named Pill Forest Mountain Range because of the Pill Forest Heavenly Stele Ruins.
Normally, no divine beings would come to this mountain range, but now it has become extremely lively, with crowds stretching for dozens of miles as far as the eye can see.
As soon as the four arrived, someone recognized Li Tan and his two companions and came up to chat.
Seeing this, Lin An left first, found a place to sit down, and waited for the ruins to open.
"Oh? Lin An, I didn't expect you to be here too."
Just then, a voice rang out, and two figures flew over, one of whom was Xu Ming.
"Fellow Daoist Xu Ming," Lin An stood up to greet him.
" Lin An, this is Fellow Daoist Ning Shanhai."
Xu Ming introduced with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Ning, this is Fellow Lin An. The reason why the Li Clan's Land of Inheritance was able to open is because of Lin An."
Ning Shanhai had also heard Xu Ming mention Lin An. " Lin An is also an alchemist?"
Lin An looked at Ning Shanhai with surprise, not expecting to encounter the Sovereign Rank one alchemist of the Domain so soon.
"I know a little bit about it. I just happened to hear that the Pill Forest Heavenly Stele Ruins were opening, so I came to join in the fun and hope to gain something," Lin An said with a smile.
Ning Shanhai nodded, not surprised at all, since there were so many people present, and quite a few shared the same thoughts as Lin An.
Or rather, most people share the same thoughts as Lin An.
" Lin An, since we have such a fortunate encounter, why don't the three of us travel together tomorrow?" Xu Ming invited.
Ning Shanhai, though somewhat surprised, didn't say anything more.
Although they traveled together, entering the ruins still required their own strength; others couldn't help them.
Lin An was equally surprised. Xu Ming was the offspring of Immortal powerhouse. He seemed kind, but in reality, he was proud and arrogant. He never expected Xu Ming to suddenly invite him.
" Lin An, there's no need to overthink it. I've only heard that you cultivate Dao of Formations and Dao of Alchemy, so I wanted to exchange ideas with you," Xu Ming explained.
It's not difficult to find someone who practices multiple secondary professions, but it's very difficult to find someone who has reached the Sovereign Rank in multiple secondary professions and also suits your interests.
Although he hadn't had much contact with Lin An, Lin An didn't make him feel disgusted; in fact, he even felt a strange sense of... awe?
This seemed unbelievable to Xu Ming, which is why he wanted to get to know Lin An better.
"Since you have invited me, fellow Daoist, I certainly can."
Lin An smiled and said, "It just so happens that these two have both entered the Pill Forest Heavenly Stele, so they might know some information that even Li Tan couldn't find out."
Ning Shanhai, in particular, is a frequent visitor to Pill Forest Heavenly Stele.
Moreover, Xu Ming is a fellow cultivator of many paths, and his situation is similar to his. Perhaps he could inquire about the other's method of breaking through to the Immortal Realm.