Chapter 449 – Ascending the Divine Stairway

Vast mana, a powerful essence, and comprehension of various calamity concepts—these abilities, combined with the authority to sense calamities, absorb calamities, and embody calamities, caused Mu Lin’s strength to surge once again.

An utterly terrifying surge.

On this side, Mu Lin’s improvement was immense, while Luo Chen was also deeply astonished.

Submitting to Mu Lin, he had originally only intended to contribute his strength and dedication to the Northern Wastelands, without expecting any rewards.

However, after his true spirit was recorded into the True Spirit Karma Diagram, he discovered that his gains were substantial.

First was the issue of mana and foundation—as the number one prodigy of the Human Race in the Northern Region, his original foundation was not weak, yet it still fell within the bounds of conventional understanding.

After his name was inscribed into the True Spirit Karma Diagram, he was shocked to find that his foundation… had strengthened.

Various types of Gang and Sha Qi, imbued with unyielding and unchanging characteristics, surged into his body, enhancing his foundational reserves in all aspects.

“Now, I can embody even greater calamities.”

Soon, Luo Chen realized that the strengthening of his foundation was only one of the benefits he had gained.

The second benefit was the elevation of his status.

Although he was a prodigy, he had only recently entered Mortal Shedding, and not everyone was like Mu Lin, who reached Mortal Shedding perfection upon entry and was on the verge of advancing with just a bit of cultivation.

His advancement speed was also within a reasonable range—even with the full support of the Northern Wasteland Army, several months after entering Mortal Shedding, he was still only at the… early stage.

Yes, Luo Chen’s realm remained at the early stage of Mortal Shedding, with little difference from when he battled Mu Lin.

This was also why he felt powerless about the situation in the Northern Wastelands.

Through normal cultivation, he would need a decade or even several decades to advance to Earth Immortal—and this was only due to his exceptional talent.

Otherwise, taking centuries or even a lifetime without advancement was the norm for most Mortal Shedding cultivators.

Yet neither Mortal Shedding nor Earth Immortal cultivators had the ability to change the situation in the Northern Wastelands. Even a Celestial Master would find it difficult; only a True Lord had a sliver of hope to completely reverse everything.

But even as the number one prodigy of the Northern Wastelands, Luo Chen had no confidence that he could grow to the level of a True Lord—feeling utterly powerless, he had thus pledged allegiance to Mu Lin.

Then, immediately after pledging allegiance, he discovered that after his name was recorded into the True Spirit Karma Diagram, his status had been elevated to the level of an Earth Immortal.

This not only meant he could cast Mortal Shedding spells with the power of an Earth Immortal realm, causing the might of all his spells to surge dramatically.

More importantly, it meant that from then on, he no longer needed enlightenment and faced no bottlenecks.

As long as he accumulated mana and strengthened his Divine Soul, his realm could rapidly climb, all the way to the Earth Immortal realm.

“?!”

“Is it really this powerful?”

At this moment, Luo Chen’s expression was twisted with astonishment.

Don’t blame him for being so surprised—the disappearance of bottlenecks, combined with the guidance of the Earth Immortal status ahead, provided an overwhelmingly positive boost to cultivation.

If previously he needed several decades to advance to Earth Immortal, now, as long as resources were sufficient, he was confident he could advance in just a few years.

This was entirely Mu Lin carrying him, feeding him success directly.

“Are my gains… perhaps a bit too much…”

Due to the overwhelming benefits, Luo Chen felt somewhat dizzy and filled with worry… he worried that he had taken too much.

‘Just by following the guidance of an Earth Immortal, allying with Mu Lin is already a huge gain for me, an immense profit… Yet in such circumstances, I still want him to help me cleanse evil spirits… Isn’t this a bit too greedy?’

Because the pie falling from the sky was too large, Luo Chen was completely stunned.

As for Mu Lin, however, he remained calm and composed, believing that the elevation of his status was perfectly normal.

Do you still remember what Mu Lin’s two most satisfying abilities were before fusing with the True Spirit Karma Diagram?

Substitute Paper Figure.

Source Rune – Stabilize!

Yes, previously, Mu Lin had always been most satisfied with these two abilities.

The former goes without saying—it gave Mu Lin multiple, even hundreds of extra lives. Such a life-saving divine skill naturally delighted him immensely.

As for the Source Rune·Stabilize, Mu Lin valued it not because it could immobilize bodies, divine souls, or even halt the flow of time.

The reason Mu Lin valued it was its ability to fix physical states.

This ability, combined with the trait·Transcendence and other explosive powers, allowed Mu Lin to elevate his realm and strength by one level out of thin air and solidify it.

At the time, Mu Lin even referred to this operation as the 【Ascension Ladder】.

Of course, energy in the world is conserved; it does not appear or increase out of nowhere.

Mu Lin’s elevation of his own status and limits out of thin air was like building castles in the air—unstable and lacking a solid foundation.

Thus, after elevating himself, Mu Lin still needed to fill his body with various types of mana to stabilize his foundation.

Elevate first, then fill—doesn’t this seem somewhat redundant?

The answer is naturally no. Just as Luo Chen had been astonished earlier, because his rank was elevated and he had the Earth Immortal realm as a guide ahead, his cultivation path would no longer require considering other factors. He only needed to fill himself with mana and divine soul, turning a treacherous narrow path into a smooth, open road, making his cultivation journey countless times smoother.

By this point, things were already quite clear—the ritual Mu Lin called the Ascension Ladder had not disappeared. Like his other abilities, it had integrated into the True Spirit Karma Diagram.

‘Sky-Scraping Spell – Blank Divinity, Transcendence, Fixation, Spirit Communication, and some time-related abilities… Their combined effect is that most of my divinity is one level higher than my own realm.’

‘For example, my current realm is Mortal Shedding, but my King Yama status is that of an Earth Immortal.’

‘Moreover, because it is carried by the True Spirit Karma Diagram, I can enjoy this Earth Immortal status forever, unlike before when it could only be activated temporarily in battle.’

The Ascension Ladder was Mu Lin’s proud creation, and now, Luo Chen, who had pledged allegiance to Mu Lin, also enjoyed this convenience.

Of course, Mu Lin didn’t mind Luo Chen enjoying these benefits.

First, Luo Chen had paid a price—by joining Mu Lin’s faction, his fortune merged into Mu Lin’s influence, raising Mu Lin’s upper limits—increasing the divine positions in the True Spirit Karma Diagram.

Second, as the supreme deity of the Underworld Pantheon, Mu Lin could also command and directly utilize the Calamity Monarch divine position.

Lastly, with his true spirit entering the diagram, Luo Chen was essentially incapable of betrayal. His increased strength not only meant Mu Lin’s faction grew stronger but also that Luo Chen would become a pillar of his True Spirit Karma Diagram.

With so many wonderful benefits, Mu Lin naturally hoped Luo Chen would grow stronger and stronger.

And Mu Lin’s rewards to him were plentiful as well.

—After his foundation strengthened and his rank elevated, Luo Chen originally thought it would take him several years to advance to Earth Immortal.

And this, he was already sufficiently satisfied and astonished by.

But soon, he discovered he was wrong—terribly wrong.

“Several years? No, just a few months, at most a year, and I can advance to Earth Immortal!”

From several decades to several years, and now to just a few months, the time for Luo Chen to advance to Earth Immortal had been repeatedly shortened, all related to Mu Lin’s current actions.

…

With the Earth Immortal rank as a guide, under normal cultivation, Luo Chen would need several years to advance.

But what was Mu Lin doing now?

He was engaged in a major battle against Demonic Fiends. This battle served two purposes for Mu Lin: one was to gather faith, and the other was to cleanse the Evil Spirits and corruption from the Northern Wastelands.

These two actions—faith power refined through the Vow Power Heart Flame directly transformed into Divine Power, filling Mu Lin’s foundation.

Cleansing the corruption of the Northern Wastelands, while not directly granting Mu Lin power, still brought him rewards and blessings from the Heavenly Dao, accelerating his cultivation speed.

As the supreme deity of a pantheon, Mu Lin did not hoard all the benefits for himself.

He claimed the majority but distributed a portion to those beneath him.

However, he now had millions, even tens of millions of believers, most of whom were devout due to the tragic deaths of their family members.

Moreover, the corruption he purified and cleansed using Holy Salt was immense, and the Heavenly Dao’s rewards were vast.

Because the gains were so enormous, even though Mu Lin distributed only a small share, Luo Chen still felt his strength progressing at a soaring pace once again.

More importantly, these gains were entirely additional—without the refinement of the Vow Power Heart Flame, Luo Chen could not absorb this Divine Power at all.

“This improvement in strength is too fast!”

He marveled, and Mu Lin also sighed.

“Finally, someone can keep up with my progress.”

In truth, Mu Lin had always been generous.

Especially since those who entered his True Spirit Karma Diagram were women who had shared his bed.

For his wives and concubines, Mu Lin naturally would not be stingy.

Manjusaka, the Other Shore Flower Sea—its rank was also elevated by Mu Lin to the Earth Immortal level.

And the Avici Chains, after fusion with Fixation, Stabilize, Central Wuji Sha, Da Luo Vast Heaven Qi, and Primordial Chaos Yuan Gang, were not weak even among Earth Immortal ranks.

Within the Blood Prison, there were the Blade of Slaughter and the Crimson Holy Grail, both of which also possessed Earth Immortal-level ranks.

Thus, Yan Yunyu, Chu Lingluo, and Xue Ying, who controlled these Divine Positions, received the same treatment as Luo Chen.

“Actually, no—the treatment for the women is better than Luo Chen’s. For him, I only allocate a fixed share of the gains… In the future, his faith power will only come from believers of the Calamity Monarch, and I will take half.”

“But for Yan Yunyu, Chu Lingluo, and the others, I have opened up the faith power for them to absorb freely.”

However, even with the Earth Immortal rank as a guide, people are ultimately different.

The Earth Immortal rank is like advanced mathematics, quantum mechanics, or other difficult subjects with standard answers.

But even with standard answers, not everyone can master advanced mathematics or quantum mechanics.

Talented as Luo Chen is, he can fully comprehend and master these within a year, or even a few months.

Moreover, since he was not pursuing an extraordinary advancement like Mu Lin, the amount of Mana he needed to accumulate was not as vast as Mu Lin’s. As a result, he could advance swiftly, even keeping pace with Mu Lin.

As for Yan Yunyu and Chu Lingluo… well, their bodies were soft and supple.

(End of Chapter)