There were many thresholds on the path of cultivation. For example, the Dragon Seeking and Acupuncture Points Realm, or the Glorious Knowledge Realm. Every small realm was also a threshold.
In the face of these thresholds, every cultivator had to put in a lot of effort in order to be lucky enough to cross over.
And all the previous thresholds added up together were not as high as the threshold to advance to the Heavenly Master realm … Actually, it was not too appropriate to say that. To be more precise, all the thresholds added up together were not even one ten-thousandth of the threshold to the Heavenly Master realm.
It was even more so for spirits and monsters.
There were two types of Heavenly Masters. One was the Yang God Heavenly Master and the other was the Yin God Heavenly Master.
It sounded like the difference between Yin and Yang, but in reality, there was a fundamental difference.
There was a saying in the Death Scripture, "The Yang Spirit is the righteous path, and the Yin Spirit is the side path. The righteous path seeks immortals, and the side path falls to the mortal world."
Yin souls like Tong Tong and Red Shadow had already lost their Heavenly Souls. In this lifetime, they could only condense Yin Spirits and become Yin God Heavenly Masters.
For humans who were favored by the heavens, once they successfully pushed open the door to the Great Way, they would be able to condense the Yang Spirit and become a Yang God Celestial Master. Even if they could not push open the door to the Great Way, as long as they could push open a small gap, they could choose to abandon their physical body and Heavenly Soul and form a Yin Spirit.
From this alone, it could be seen that the Yin Spirit and the Yang Spirit were more than a thousand miles apart.
In the Three Realms and Six Dao, other than the Asura in the human world and the evil spirits in the netherworld, there was another Dao called the Beast Dao. In a narrow sense, it referred to the spirits and monsters in the world.
Gremlins were different from humans and ghosts. Gremlins were not born with three souls like humans, nor were they deprived of their Heavenly Souls like ghosts. They were born without a Heavenly Soul. Stupid animals only knew how to muddle through, but intelligent gremlins knew how to imitate humans and cultivate arduously. However, their cultivation was not to pursue the Great Dao, but to pursue perfection.
They sought perfection, and that was the perfection of their three souls.
To these beasts, they were born with abilities that surpassed ordinary people. After the three souls were perfected, their abilities were greatly enhanced, and their strength was no weaker than that of humans.
More importantly, after completing the three souls, they would no longer be animals, but humans.
In a sense, becoming an adult was the beginning of spiritual cultivation. Only by becoming an adult could one talk about the Great Dao.
For the Serpent Spirit, transforming into a dragon was the process of becoming an adult.
In the beginning, when the spirit snake had told me about the Dragon Transformation, it had specifically told me that the process of Dragon Transformation was to break through the shackles of Heaven and Earth. Whether it succeeded or not, it would be decided by the laws of Heaven and Earth. Outsiders couldn't help him, and he could only rely on himself.
If others rashly interfered, then not only would it be of no benefit to him, it would also be easy for him to incur the wrath of the heavens.
That's why I came with him on this trip just to escort him on the road and to be a witness.
At this moment, the serpent spirit was heading toward Yi Que. I didn't have the thought of helping him. I just brought Zhang Kanwen and Xiao Jin to the lake and found a high mountain wall. I sat down and observed while praying for the serpent spirit's blessings.
The speed of the snake spirit was getting faster and faster. When it neared the mountain wall, its body had already turned into a black stream of light.
According to my original plan, the spirit serpent should be like an airplane, speeding along the runway until it reached a critical speed. Then, it would raise its head and soar into the sky, crossing over Mount Yi Que.
However, the spirit serpent didn't do that. It seemed it hadn't woken up from its stupor. Its speed was as fast as light. When it reached the mountain wall, it didn't raise its head. Instead, it lowered its head and bumped into the mountain wall.
I furrowed my eyebrows and resisted the urge to ask. I asked Zhang Kanwen, who was beside me, but I didn't get an answer. I could only helplessly continue to watch.
The spirit serpent didn't do anything surprising. It directly bumped into the mountain wall.
Since it was an ethereal soul, its body wouldn't shatter. However, what happened next was beyond my expectation. After the spirit serpent hit the mountain wall, it didn't shatter. Instead, it bounced back at a faster speed. It looked like an old tree that had struck a bell. At the same time, the mountain wall reverberated with a loud bell ring.
The sound was so loud that it was scary. Since it was a peak nearby, and there was no mountain wall to block it, the sound didn't reverberate. It just spread far away.
I stood up and checked the spirit serpent's body from a distance. It seemed it was okay. Then, I sat back down.
At this moment, the spirit serpent moved again. It dashed forward again, but this time, it was even faster than before. Its target was still the thick mountain wall.
I had an absurd thought. Did the spirit serpent not want to cross the Dragon Gate Mountain, but to break it?
As soon as I had this thought, I used my eyes to measure the tall peak of the Dragon Gate Mountain.
The rock wall that came out of the lake was less than five hundred meters high. The solitary peak was flat. The side facing us was a flat rock wall, while the other side was an elliptical rock wall. The thickness of the central part was almost a hundred meters.
After measuring the thickness of the mountain wall, I wasn't optimistic about the spirit serpent's chances. Not to mention him, even if the Heavenly Master of the Han family and Yan Nantian joined hands, they wouldn't be able to break this mountain wall.
The spirit serpent had flown all the way here. At this moment, it would be more realistic to fly five hundred meters above the mountain wall.
The Spirit Snake obviously did not think so. It hit the mountain wall for the second time. This time, it sprinted even faster. After it hit the mountain wall, the sound of the bell was naturally louder. Even the surface of the lake below was shaken to the point that there were slight ripples.
Just like the first time, the spirit serpent's body was still tough. It looked like nothing had happened to him.
Thus, he exerted his strength for the third time and continued to hit the mountain wall. This time, he turned into a black line as soon as he moved. His speed was much faster.
When the bell rang for the third time, a big ripple appeared on the lake. The ripple covered half of the lake before it slowly disappeared.
The spirit serpent didn't seem satisfied with the ripple. He didn't make any adjustments and hit the mountain wall for the fourth time. This time, the ripple was bigger, and the ripples eventually covered the entire lake.
It seemed the spirit serpent was satisfied with the result. After he bounced back, he paused for a while. Right when I was about to exhale in relief, he dashed forward for the fifth time.
There were no mountains around, but I could hear the echoing sound waves. My ears buzzed. I didn't know why the little zombie lifted his head to look at the lone peak of the Dragon Gate Mountain in the distance. His face was frightened. He slowly moved and hid behind me.
Zhang Kanwen also frowned. I didn't need to ask to know that he was as puzzled as I was. Only Xiao Jin opened his eyes curiously. He seemed to think that the situation in front of him was fun.
The louder the bell rang, the farther the spirit serpent was sent flying. This time, he was sent flying to the edge of the lake. He curled up and didn't move anymore.
I stood up and covered my eyes with my hand. After a long time, I confirmed that the spirit serpent's body hadn't collapsed yet.
A few minutes later, the spirit serpent moved again. Looking at his fiercely swaying tail, I knew he wasn't going to do anything new this time. He was going to hit the mountain wall for the sixth time.
If he didn't die the first five times, I guessed the sixth time wouldn't be a big problem. I comforted myself and sat down.
Just as I had guessed, the spirit serpent was okay after hitting the mountain wall for the sixth time. However, the sound was louder this time. He bounced back further and rested for a longer time.
After he rested enough, he started to hit the mountain wall for the seventh time.
When I was sure that he wanted to break the West Mountain of the Dragon Gate, he finally stopped. He rested for a while by the lake. Then, he wagged his tail and slithered to the surface of the lake like an ordinary snake. He arched his head and looked at the sky. Then, he didn't move anymore.
I turned around and counted. The spirit serpent had hit the mountain wall nine times, which made the bell ring nine times. Each time was louder than the last. The last bell ring still echoed in my ears.
What did it mean to ring the bell nine times?
I hadn't figured it out yet. Before I could think about it, a voice came from the top of the Dragon Gate Mountain in front of the spirit serpent.
"At the beginning of time, who preached the Dao?
How could one test it when the top and bottom were not formed?
Who could reach the peak of Ming Zhao and Bi 'an?
How could Feng Yi recognize him? "
My face changed. The spirit serpent had told me that turning into a dragon was the judgment of Heaven and Earth. Why did I hear a human's voice?