Ascending the Immortal Path, Walking and Singing

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Cao Yu picked up the phone from the nightstand and glanced at the time—23:33.

Today was almost over... Considering he had left home in the morning and spent over a dozen hours in the instance, Cao Yu wasn't surprised.

There were quite a few congratulatory messages from classmates on his phone, some from the Fourth Academy, and a few from high school and university days. The former congratulated him on securing first place, while the latter congratulated him on joining the Special Affairs Bureau... It seemed the bureau had already published the recruitment list.

'I didn't expect to receive congratulations from high school classmates... It seems ordinary people paying attention to the Evolution Game and players are increasing day by day, even actively checking the public rosters.'

'Since the Special Affairs Bureau has already published the list... tomorrow or the day after, I should receive my employment notice.'

After roughly calculating the time, Cao Yu replied to the congratulatory messages one by one, then opened Chen Ran's chat window.

Chen Ran: "I've secured the military's internal quota for elite player training! My evolution degree on the Immortal path has reached 10%. Hehe, impressive right?"

Chen Ran: "Quick, praise me."

Chen Ran: "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Chen Ran: "Did you go into an instance?"

Cao Yu typed his reply: "I was busy with the family martial arts gym during the day, just got to my phone."

Chen Ran didn't reply; she must have gone to sleep.

As for sulking and not replying... Little Chen always had a carefree personality, and such petty awkwardness basically never happened to her.

Cao Yu tossed his phone aside, went to the bathroom for a quick shower, and returned to his room to change into clean loungewear.

At this hour, his second brother and younger sister should all be fast asleep.

Deep in the night with no one to disturb him, it was the perfect time for cultivation.

As for resting... how could he possibly sleep right now?

At this moment, his mood was just like an ordinary person acting on a whim, buying a lottery ticket with a hundredfold stake, only to win, and with the prize pool jackpot at an all-time high... Sleep? He'd probably wake up laughing even from a nightmare.

Cao Yu summoned the system panel, opened the mall, and with a slightly excited heart, purchased the cultivation aptitude upgrade—from level six to level seven.

Two thousand achievement points, just like that, were spent.

He slightly sensed the changes in his body... Well, nothing much.

Without a visualization scroll, cultivation aptitude showed no miraculous external manifestations.

However, Cao Yu's excitement remained completely unaffected. He adjusted the items and cast his gaze upon the *Secret Tome of Immortal Edicts*.

Consuming another two thousand points, he purchased it.

This was also the first time he had bought a physical item.

Suddenly, two streams of golden radiance burst forth from the system panel.

The first stream of light transformed into a jade slip covered in intricate patterns, which hovered in front of him before falling into his outstretched hand.

The second stream of light shot straight between his eyebrows, drilling into his mind in an instant and transforming into a massive influx of information that was forcibly engraved into his memory.

The sensation was far from pleasant.

Because the volume of information... was simply too vast!

Comparable to a million words of text, it was crammed into his mind in a split second, making his head throb with pain. It took a full ten minutes of recovery before he felt somewhat better.

Still, Cao Yu had no inclination to curse. Being a celestial-grade cultivation method, having a lot of content was only natural.

After a brief exploration, he quickly comprehended the method of practicing this technique.

The information crammed into his mind was the core of the technique itself, expounding the profound principles related to the "integration of essence, Qi, and spirit," as well as the method for cultivating an external avatar.

The jade slip in his hand was a visualization scroll designed to complement the *Secret Tome of Immortal Edicts*.

One of its functions was to assist players in entering the introspective state, enabling them to use evolution points to step onto the Immortal path.

Its second function was to guide the player's spirit to establish a connection with the "Sea of Anomalies," triggering miraculous effects to forge the divine soul and physical body, thereby aiding in the cultivation of the external avatar.

'The Sea of Anomalies...'

Cao Yu searched through the information instilled in his mind, quickly obtaining the detailed contents.

The so-called "Sea of Anomalies" could be colloquially understood as the spiritual dimension.

The spiritual dimension was infinite, connecting the lives of countless unknown worlds. Innumerable thoughts, fantasies, malicious intentions, benevolent intentions... every conscious activity of living beings precipitated in this ocean of the spiritual dimension, gradually forming countless bizarre and unfathomable entities.

Strange and kaleidoscopic.

A myriad of phenomena encompassing all things.

Hence, the spiritual dimension was also known as the Sea of Anomalies.

'No wonder practicing this technique requires a minimum of level seven aptitude.'

Cao Yu finally understood the underlying logic.

Introspection to perceive one's own three souls and seven魄 (corporeal souls) was merely an external manifestation of cultivation aptitude.

Its essence referred to the ability to communicate with heaven and earth... or to put it another way, aptitude represented the "comprehension" of Immortal players.

If the aptitude fell short, one wouldn't even be able to communicate with the Sea of Anomalies, let alone trigger its miraculous properties to aid in one's own cultivation.

Merely understanding the contents of the technique, however, was completely useless.

"Then... let's begin."

After adjusting his mindset, Cao Yu sat cross-legged in the proper manner, his five centers facing the heavens, and then began to contemplate the jade slip in his hand.

The intricate patterns on the surface of the jade slip captured his gaze instantly. A few seconds later, he was guided into an introspective state, where he could see the meridians throughout his body and five of the seven corporeal souls within his three souls and seven souls...

...

Six in the morning.

The pale white of dawn on the horizon was gradually brightening, and the golden morning light began to appear.

Yang Chan knocked heavily on Yang Jian's bedroom door with a rapid "bang, bang, bang," waking the soundly sleeping Yang Jian.

Yang Jian sat up, wrestling with morning grouchiness, and stared at the bedroom door with a dark expression.

Unsurprisingly, it had to be his little sister... She came yesterday morning, and she was doing it again today?

At that moment, Yang Jian somewhat missed the days before they started sleeping in separate rooms—ever since he was chosen by the Evolution Game, to avoid worrying his wife, he had kept his status as a player a secret. As a result... once things were exposed, he was punished to reflect upon himself for a whole month.

This also gave his little sister the opportunity to run over early in the morning and act audaciously.

Opening the door, Yang Jian looked down at Yang Chan and said in a slightly low voice, "Little sister, you'd better have a good reason! If you're just here to make trouble again..."

I'll definitely suppress you today... He didn't speak the rest of his sentence aloud because he noticed the slightly anxious look on his little sister's face.

His expression instantly turned serious: "What happened?"

"Second brother, I don't even know if this counts as an accident," Yang Chan said at a breakneck speed. "Anyway, over at the sixth brother's place, something seems a bit wrong."

"Let's go take a look." Yang Jian made his decision immediately.

The two of them quickly arrived outside Cao Yu's bedroom door.

A powerful spiritual fluctuation seeped out from inside through the door. At this moment, even an ordinary person standing here could sense the distinct pressure, let alone a player.

Yang Chan said with a hint of worry:

"Second brother, although I'm not an Immortal player, I've browsed through plenty of information online... This phenomenon feels a bit like the 'manifestation of the seven corporeal souls' of the Immortal path?"

"Mhm..."

Yang Jian sensed carefully.

The three souls and seven corporeal souls had a strict correspondence with the human body; the three souls governed concepts such as thought, willpower, and emotion, while the seven corporeal souls were spiritual entities attached to the interior of the human body, governing physical activity and limb movement.

Simply put, the seven corporeal souls were linked to the human body's internal organs, respiratory system, energy system, detoxification system, and all other internal "micro-cycles" of the flesh.

The evolution of the Immortal path at the E-grade stage involved using evolution points, under the guidance of the visualization scroll, to gradually manifest the seven corporeal souls within the physical body, using spirit to drive matter, completing an evolutionary leap from the inside out, and elevating physical fitness to the theoretical human limit.

At the same time, due to the "manifestation of the seven corporeal souls," the player's spiritual resistance would also experience a massive boost.

"This commotion is indeed the 'manifestation of the seven corporeal souls,'" Yang Jian said. "Don't worry, the sixth brother is fine."

This commotion was far simpler than just a mere "manifestation of the seven corporeal souls"; it looked more like he had connected with the spiritual dimension, triggering a small-scale spiritual tide... Could the sixth brother be practicing some bizarre cultivation method?

Yang Jian made a guess based on his experience, but kept it to himself.

In his heart, he was somewhat astonished by Cao Yu's cultivation aptitude.

According to the intelligence he had gathered from instances, to directly connect with the spiritual dimension and borrow miraculous power to practice powerful techniques, one needed at least a level seven aptitude.

And level seven aptitude was considered the highest aptitude recorded in the Federation.

"How could he be fine?" Yang Chan's tone lost none of its anxiety. "The sixth brother is a Superman player. He's cultivating... Second brother, aren't you aware of how dangerous it is to walk multiple paths simultaneously?"

Anxious as she was, however, she did not rush into the room to disturb Cao Yu.