Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 2564  Rivals, Struggles, And Regrets

The Withered Spirit Daoist got to know the man who had broken her record as Junior Brother Pyung.

He earnestly took her challenge for a spar and fought her valiantly. Of course, despite his talent, the Withered Spirit Daoist still managed to come out on top due to her sheer experience as well as her slightly higher cultivation base.

It made the Withered Spirit Daoist feel great that she had put a rival in their place.

But the other person did not think this way.

To Junior Brother Pyung, this was merely a learning opportunity that he fully intended to take advantage of. As such, he challenged the Withered Spirit Daoist once more in a monthʼs time.

He lost once more but had improved by quite a bit. It was enough that the Withered Spirit Daoist was worried about this.

It further flamed the spark of competition within her, and she strove to get stronger once more.

This cycle of challenge and training continued for a long time, and by now, the two talented individuals were well-known across the White Bottle Sect as well as the other sects nearby.

Some even called them the twin stars of the White Bottle Sect. The Withered Spirit Daoist was the black star, while Junior Brother Pyung was the white star.

The names not only suited them but also their cultivation techniques, as both of them had taken completely opposite paths.

The techniques they practiced had come from the sect, but both of them had gained different understandings, thus changing their paths considerably.

The competition between the two individuals benefited both of them, and their progress improved by leaps and bounds. So much so that they ended up becoming the top two individuals within the entire sect.

If not for the fact that their rankings changed every so often, they might have already been given official positions.

This was also something that the Withered Spirit Daoist wanted, but their lack of seniority prevented it. All she could do was to wait for their time to come and soldier on.

Years went by like this, as the rivalry between the two helped them improve.

But a time arrived when both the individuals had reached a plateau.

It was the limitation of the Immortal Realm!

Both the Withered Spirit Daoist and Junior Brother Pyung had reached the peak of the Immortal Realm. The only reason they had not become Transcendent Immortals was the fact that both still had a lot of their lifespan left. As such, it would be a bit foolish for them to trigger a Transcendent Immortal Tribulation on their own.

In such a situation, all they had left was to improve and compete against each other. Their fights were no longer entertaining nor useful to each other, though, and thus they put a pause to it.

Instead, they took to other means for improvement, with the Withered Spirit Daoist seeking out external methods and Junior Brother Pyung focusing on comprehending the Dao.

A period of peace was reached in this time, with the two strongest elders having retreated from the limelight. No one knew what they were doing, and most could only guess that they were trying to further cultivate.

Years upon years went by as the two forgot about their original competition. They were now busy with the tasks of the sect and could not focus on other petty matters.

Their cultivation bases had also reached a bottleneck, and there was no improvement in sight for them. All that was left for them was to protect their sect and wait until it was time for them to become Transcendent Immortals.

But before that chance could ever happen, disasters befell their world.

This forced the two back into action, and they used all their power to get rid of it. But the aftermath of this was a lot different than anyone could have expected.

The twoʼs actions were very eye-catching, and nearly every cultivation sect deemed them essential in the sect as well as in other places.

This drew comparisons between the two, and the old rivalry was sparked again. The Withered Spirit Daoist felt inferior as her junior brother began getting more praise and approval.

Her envy continued to grow until one fine day, a great expert descended upon their world.

This person was none other than a Celestial!

The arrival of a Celestial was a massive matter not just for the White Bottle Sect but also for every other immortal sect that was part of their group.

Of course, the Celestial had not come here just for no reason. He had come because he had taken notice of the talented individuals budding within the sect.

He checked both of them and saw that they were both at the peak of the Immortal Realm and that pushing them into the final boundary of the Immortal Realm would be a ʼfunʼ thing to do.

But much to his surprise, both individuals managed to survive the Transcendent Immortal Tribulation.

It was rather surprising, as the survival rate for even one was very low. For two individuals of the same sect to overcome it was a major matter and a cause for celebration.

This complicated the situation between the two rivals, and they entered a stalemate again. The other people of the sect, though, were interested in whom the Celestial would be choosing.

It was not hard for them to tell that the Celestial was the key in all this. Who he chose would decide the fate of the entire sect.

But when the Celestial finally told them about it, the two were surprised.

He put forth two options in front of them.

The first was to follow him and get a guaranteed seat below him, while the second was to reject him and pave their own path.

The Withered Spirit Daoist, of course, took the first option.

To her, this was the best and all that she had ever asked for. She got a place beside a Celestial and the chance to become one herself.

On the other hand, her junior brother was left behind and was finally inferior to her.

It was hundreds of thousands of years later that she realized her junior brother had been the smarter one. Back then, they didnʼt know about the difference between the various types of Celestials, but that didnʼt stop Pyung from guessing about them.

He took the risky path out and chose to carve his own road, while the Withered Spirit Daoist joined her master and became a Bestowed Celestial under him.

Of course, while this did make her very strong, she eventually came to regret it. This regret only grew with time until she could no longer bear it.

She wished to become a True Celestial too, but none of the ordinary methods would work on her. The methods of becoming a True Celestial were limited.

Either one found a Celestial Treasure and became a Nurtured Celestial, or one earned the approval of a world, becoming a Celestial that way.

Option number one was something that was entirely out of her reach, as a Celestial Treasure like a Celestial Fruit could only be wished for but never actually obtained.

The second option was possible if one obtained the approval of a world, but the Withered Spirit Daoist knew it would not be possible with the Dao she practiced.

She struggled to find a good solution until she finally decided to give it all up. She convinced her master to split her soul so that they could find their way back into the Rust Sky world and get a method of becoming a True Celestial.

”So thatʼs what she was trying,” Lin Mu finally understood.

The Withered Spirit Daoistʼs goal was to take over young women and use them to gain the approval of the world. In the current situation, where the awakening of the world was really close, the Rust Sky world would itself want a talented individual to appear so that it could help progress itself.

She knew it might not work on the first try but hoped that after a while, the world itself would be desperate enough for a Celestial to be born within it.

She went up against many races of the Rust Sky World in this, whether they were the Demons, the Atlanteans, or the humans. She tempted them all with the hopes of taking over their souls and overcoming the condition of getting the ordainment.

It was her own method of bypassing the requirement.

It would work at the expense of mixing her soul with another, thereby changing her own self, but it was something she was willing to take. Of course, she had no idea of the obstacles that were in her way in the form of Lin Mu and the others.

~SIGH~

”So she basically took a major bet in order to become a True Celestial…. She didnʼt even know if she really had a chance for it.” Lin Mu shook his head, finally realizing the desperation she had.