📖 Chapter 1299 - Questioning the Heart?

11 Apr, 2024

“Um… Senior, I didn’t mean to…” Wang Baole felt a little guilty. It might have been that he was too happy earlier, so he ended up walking a little too fast, and that caused the bridge to collapse.

At the same time, he was slightly glum. He hadn’t expected that this second bridge would be so brittle…

Actually, the second bridge couldn’t be considered weak at all. However, Wang Baole’s current battle prowess already surpassed an ordinary fourth step cultivator. Thus, when he instinctively retaliated against the rejection of the second bridge… such a scene occurred.

It was as if the bridge had been fighting a battle with Wang Baole. Since it lost… it had no choice but to collapse.

“Keep walking!” Father Wang sighed and waved his hand. As he spoke, the fragments of the second bridge all flew back into place at astonishing speed. In an instant, the original, unharmed second bridge appeared once more!

Seen from a distance, the second bridge standing in the sky was just as grandiose and majestic as before. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed exactly the same as it was before it collapsed. However, if a powerful cultivator sensed it carefully, they would find that its aura had slightly weakened.

As for Wang Baole, he could feel that the newly-restored second bridge wasn’t rejecting him nearly as harshly as before. It seemed to have submitted, suppressing its own power and allowing Wang Baole to stand on it.

This time around, Wang Baole was much more cautious. Gingerly taking another step, he continued walking carefully across the second bridge. When he got to the end and the bridge hadn’t collapsed again, Wang Baole breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the even more majestic third bridge ahead of him. Raising his foot, he was just about to step off the second bridge.

But at that moment…

Wang Baole’s body suddenly trembled. A thought emerged deep in his heart and magnified rapidly.

This thought came as he looked at the remaining Heaven Trampling Bridges in the distance. Whether it was the third or fourth bridge, the eighth or ninth bridge, or even the final, eleventh bridge, all the bridges seemed to suddenly turn illusory. They grew farther and farther away, and Wang Baole himself felt as if he was becoming smaller and smaller. In the end, there seemed to be an infinite distance between him and the bridges.

It was as if those bridges were high mountain peaks that were impossible to climb. They were just too far away. The thought in Wang Baole’s heart, the thought of just stopping here, rose uncontrollably.

This thought turned into a powerful impulse that spread throughout his entire body. When someone didn’t want to do something, they would easily find countless excuses and justifications. Right now, that was what was happening to Wang Baole.

He seemed to hear voices echoing in his ears endlessly at this moment. These voices were all telling him to stop here, to leave, to give up on walking the path of Heaven Trampling.

At this moment, Wang Baole was standing at the end of the second bridge with one foot raised. It was obvious that if he just placed it down, he would step off the bridge, but he remained motionless. It was as if there were an invisible obstacle below him, stopping him from taking that final step.

Father Wang stared at Wang Baole from his position in front of the first bridge. Wang Yiyi at his side also looked on with worry. The countless figures looking at the sky on the Immortal Astral Continent were clearly able to see what was happening as well.

“Questioning the heart…” Father Wang said softly. This was one of the tests of the Heaven Trampling Bridge, and it was also the reason he reminded Wang Baole to perfect his Dao Heart.

If Wang Baole couldn’t pass this test, then… no matter how high his cultivation base was, no matter how powerful his battle prowess was, he wouldn’t be able to completely cross the Heaven Trampling Bridge.

Time passed slowly. A long while later, Wang Baole lifted his head and looked at the nine bridges up ahead of him, then looked down at his feet and smiled.

“My heart is fetterless, what is there to question?” As he spoke, he completely set down his foot, stepping off of the second bridge. Step by step, he walked toward the third Heaven Trampling Bridge in the distance.

With his first step, ripples appeared all around him. The second and third step caused the ripples to grow larger and more numerous, and when he took his fourth step, the distant third bridge suddenly turned blurry.

It was as if the world he existed in had become illusory. However, Wang Baole’s steps didn’t stop. Closing his eyes, he took a fifth, sixth, then seventh step…

His surroundings became more and more indistinct, and when he took the eighth step, everything disappeared into an infinite void. Not even sound was transmitted, as if the whole world had been stopped. In utter silence, Wang Baole took the ninth step.

This step was like passing through a thin membrane, entering another era, or stepping into a whole new world. The stopped world suddenly resumed, and countless sounds surged in from all directions.

Wang Baole paused. He heard the buzzing of insects, the whistling of wind, the pitter-patter of rain, and all kinds of other noises all around him. Countless sounds rushed to enter his ears, painting a vivid picture in Wang Baole’s mind.

In addition to the sounds, bright light appeared in front of his closed eyelids. It was as if beautiful scenery was appearing in front of him.

At the same time, the aroma of meat drilled into his nose, and he also smelled the unique fragrance of Ice Spirit Water.

All of this was extremely familiar to Wang Baole. Even if he didn’t open his eyes, he knew that this… was one of his memories, when he was on the airship heading to Ethereal Dao College.

Wang Baole instantly understood that this was the test of the third bridge, a test of his Dao Heart. Theoretically speaking, this test would turn his memories into a heart devil. If his Dao Heart was firm, then even if the most unforgettable memories of his life appeared in his mind, he would still be able to cross the third bridge.

At the same time, if opening his eyes and reliving the memory made his emotions become unstable, it was likely that he would fail his attempt.

“What era is this? Heart devils are already outdated…”

Amid the fragrance and warmth of the airship scene, Wang Baole suddenly muttered with a sigh.

“This kind of test is indeed useful for cultivators who haven’t reached the fourth step, but… it’s already useless for me.” Shaking his head, Wang Baole seemed a little disappointed. He was about to ignore everything and continue walking forward, but just as he lifted his foot, he suddenly had an idea.

“This bridge can bring up memories of the past. In terms of function, it’s similar to the Book of Heaven’s Mandate and that god statue I met back then^[1]. In that case… can I use it?” Wang Baole grew excited when he thought of this. After a while, to the astonishment of Father Wang, Wang Yiyi, and the entire Immortal Astral Continent, Wang Baole… retreated.

He took nine steps backward in an instant, and then… moved nine steps forward again.

As if unsatisfied, Wang Baole retreated and advanced several times. Each time he did so, the scene he saw changed. Eventually, he saw his past lives in the stele world, and also Ancient escaping into the stele world with All in hot pursuit. He saw the battle between the Never-Ending Dao Domain and the Vast Expanse Dao Domain, where the Never-Ending Dao Domain summoned the black wood. He even saw the scene of the black wooden nail descending upon the real Source Universe Dao Void.

But Wang Baole wasn’t satisfied yet.

He wanted to see more. He wanted to see the deepest memories of his original form!

Outside, Wang Yiyi’s expression was strange, Father Wang had a helpless look on his face, and the spectators on the Immortal Astral Continent were all speechless. But at this moment, Wang Baole finally stopped, and a smile appeared on his lips.

“Here we are.”

As he spoke, Wang Baole’s eyes shone with bright light. The scene in front of him was no longer the Ethereal Dao College’s airship, but… a vast universe!

This place wasn’t the center of the universe, but more like the edge. Wang Baole knew this, because… out in the distance, he could see a massive hole!

If the universe was compared to a ball, then inside the ball was places like the Immortal Astral Continent, the Vast Expanse, and even the starry sky where the true Emperor was located. As for that hole, the place it led to was… beyond the universe itself!