Ascension of The Unholy Immortal-Chapter 408: The truth?

Gazing at the orchid with its nine petals fully bloomed, radiating vigorous vitality, Liang nodded inwardly.

Now that the matter of the Frostfall God had been resolved, everything had returned to a temporary calm. The orchid had reached full maturity.

"Refining it and awakening the Nine Revolution Era Body won't be a problem… but—"

Liang's eyes flickered with thought. Theoretically, he could refine the orchid now and easily obtain a physique nearing the Primordial level. But...

His mind lingered elsewhere.

So what if he acquired that near-Primordial physique? It would enhance his cultivation, yes—but only marginally. Nothing transformative.

He sat cross-legged, closing his eyes as runic light glimmered faintly around him. For an entire month, he made deductions, calculations, and simulations within the Thousand Derivations Rune.

When he finally opened his eyes, a trace of hesitation remained.

"Even progressing on the runic path is impossible," he muttered with a helpless sigh. After devouring the Dwarven Ancestor's Rune, his divine rune had reached near-perfection.

On paper, he was ready to break into the Cosmic Resonation Realm. Yet no matter how many times he simulated the breakthrough within the Thousand Derivations Rune, he failed.

A hundred percent failure rate.

"It all comes back to this," he said grimly. The hesitation in his eyes vanished in an instant. "If my calculations are correct, Kai will definitely attend the wedding."

The pieces were already in motion. Liang had no interest in idly watching Kai grow stronger. That would be a waste of time neither of them could afford.

Ever since his bloodline advanced to rank seven, he had felt... incomplete. As if something vital was missing.

No matter what method he tried, no matter how much insight he gained, there was a wall he couldn't break.

It was as though the heavens themselves had set a rule—until his soul became whole again, further advancement was impossible

Liang's gaze shifted to the depths of his own inner universe, toward a sealed region wrapped in endless formations. There, within a prismatic array of soul-locking runes, floated the mirror—half of it, anyway.

"When I succeeded in cultivating the Heaven-Severing Mortal Unity Scripture, the mirror too split—into Yin and Yang," he murmured. "The Yin aspect carried the severed soul fragment to the most suitable location. The Yang aspect… remained with me."

The truth?

Kai wasn't a clone. He wasn't a second nascent soul, nor a mere spiritual construct. He was Liang Yifei.

Or rather—had been.

A bitter wind stirred through the world as he sat once more beneath the blooming orchid.

"I severed myself," he said softly, "cut away the part of me bound by desire, by impulse, by longing—for love, for vengeance, for freedom. That part became Kai." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Kai was born from the mortal attachments Liang had carved out and cast away. The current Liang was the rational half: emotionless, detached, unmoved by love or loss. In cultivating the Heaven-Severing Mortal Unity Scripture, he had severed all human ties to preserve what he believed to be the "true self."

Kai, by contrast, was everything Liang had chosen to abandon—greed, passion, chaos, longing.

And yet… who was the true self?

The answer lay hidden in the scripture's name: Heaven-Severing Mortal Unity.

"To sever the unity of the mortal soul—to cut away the bonds of emotion, desire, love… and leave behind only purity."

As for the "Heaven" in the title—it wasn't just metaphor. It represented the ultimate trial.

The scripture gave the split souls no more than a thousand years. After that, soul disintegration would begin. When the two finally reunited, the heavens would descend with tribulation

Liang exhaled slowly. "One thousand years. That is the limit. If the two souls do not reunite before then, disintegration begins. The soul cannot remain divided forever."

"When the reunion occurs, the tribulation begins. One must devour the other. Strip away all impurities. That is the first path—the Devouring Path. The purer soul must devour the other, cutting away all impurities to attain true unity."

He paused.

"There is a second path… the Path of Integration. A true fusion. No dominance, no devouring—only balance. But…"

But the outcome was unknown. No one could predict what kind of existence would emerge.

"For Kai… and for me… Devouring is the only way."

Liang stood slowly, his long robes trailing like clouds behind him. His expression was calm—too calm. Like still water concealing a bottomless abyss.

"To hesitate now would be to betray the path I've walked."

The Heaven-Severing Mortal Unity Scripture was never a path of peace. It was a blade honed to pierce the heavens themselves. Only those willing to sever themselves completely—to shatter every mortal chain—could hope to walk it to the end.

But even he hadn't anticipated the cost.

Kai wasn't just a shadow. He had grown. Cultivated. Lived. Made bonds of his own.

A wedding… Of course, it had to be a wedding.

"Kai wants reunion too," Liang lips curved upward, "but on his own terms. As if the part with emotion alone can overcome Heaven's design."

The idea was laughable. And yet…

Mortal attachments had no place on the path he walked.

If Kai were here, he'd be questioning everything—Liang's actions, the wedding. Because he knows. He knows Liang isn't someone who truly feels. For the rational Liang, everything is calculated. Love? Emotion? At best, a passing impulse—nothing real, nothing lasting.

But that wasn't what troubled Liang now.

What weighed on his mind was the mirror.

He had sealed it away long ago after realizing something unsettling: it could influence his decisions. He didn't know how, only that it did. At first, he suspected it might be the lingering soul of a previous owner.

A supreme treasure like that must have passed through many hands over the ages. Liang was certain he hadn't been its first master. The condition it was in when he found it—cracked, dulled, broken—told him enough. The previous owner must've fought a battle so fierce, it shattered a Primordial Beginning Treasure, reducing it to something weaker than even an ordinary sacred artifact.

Even now, it was too much for him. A sacred artifact alone exceeded what he could fully command.