Ascension of The Unholy Immortal

Liang ascended the tower, finally reaching the hidden chamber—a concealed door carved into the wall, With a flick of his wrist, Liang traced a sequence of runesonto the stone, bypassing the intricate locks guarding the entrance. A low groan echoed through the corridor as the door slid open, revealing a narrow tunnel beyond.

The tunnel twisted and turned like the coils of a serpent, its walls lined with glowing crystals that cast an ethereal light upon the path.

"The craftsmanship here is impressive," Liang murmured to himself, glancing at the glowing crystals lining the walls. "Whoever designed this place must have been well-versed in spatial laws."

At last, the tunnel opened into a secret garden bathed in soft golden light. In the center stood a crystalline pool, its waters shimmering with a golden glow.

Suspended above the pool, defying gravity itself, floated the Nine Revolutions Era Orchid.

Nine delicate petals extended outward, connected to the pool below by nine roots of pure spiritual energy that spiraled upward like threads of starlight. Liang's breath caught as he approached, his eyes narrowing as he examined the flower more closely.

But then, his expression changed. A bitter smile tugged at the corners of his lips. So this is the famed Nine Revolutions Era Orchid, he mused internally. Its was indeed the orchid—but something was amiss.

His gaze fell upon the ninth petal, which seemed less substantial than the others. Unlike the first eight petals, whose forms were clear and defined, the ninth petal appeared illusory, almost translucent, as though it existed on the edge of reality itself.

Summoning the Thousand Derivations Rune, Liang calculated the orchid's state. The results filled him with disappointment.

The flower was far from maturity; according to his divination, it would take approximately two thousand years for the ninth petal to fully manifest. Two millennia—an eternity for most cultivators, but not entirely out of reach for someone like Liang. Still, he knew waiting wouldn't serve him. By the time the orchid reached full bloom, he would likely have surpassed the need for its benefits entirely.

And there was another problem. He couldn't simply uproot the orchid and take it with him. Doing so would sever its connection to the crystalline pool, disrupting the flow of spiritual energy that sustained it. Without the pool, the orchid's life force would fade away, and it might even perish outright. What made the pool so vital? It wasn't just any ordinary source of energy—it was formed from spirit milk, a natural treasure so rare that even hearing its name sent ripples of awe through the hearts of cultivators.

This extraordinary pool had been nourished by spirit milk aged a hundred thousand years, a substance so profoundly potent that it could propel a mortal to the Void Return Realm in an instant.

Bear in mind, ordinary Thousand-Year-Old Spirit Milk requires at least ten millennia to form—how much more so for the essence within this pool, which bore spirit milk aged a hundred thousand years. He estimated that this pool must have taken shape over millions of years.

Not only did spirit milk contain immeasurable spiritual energy, but it also carried within it the laws of heaven and earth themselves.

When Liang first laid eyes on the pool, he felt a surge of surprise. Such a find should have thrilled him, yet his reaction was muted. Why? Because most of the spiritual energy within the milk had already dissipated, leaving behind only a faint residue.

Just as he turned to leave, dismissing the orchid as a lost cause, a thought struck him. "Wait... Why not move the entire garden?"

The secret garden wasn't merely a physical space—it was a self-contained realm, governed by void coordinates and structures. Given enough time, Liang reasoned, he could compress this realm into something small enough to carry, perhaps reducing it to the size of a grain of sand. From there, he could transport it to his inner universe or store it elsewhere until the orchid matured.

Such a feat would be unimaginable for even a Void Return Realm expert specializing in void law.

But Liang was no ordinary cultivator. Walking the Universe Path, he had condensed his own universe essence and wielded a divine rune aligned with the same path—a universe path rune. Using this rune, he could theoretically construct a compression array powered by his universe spiritual energy, with his universe essence serving as the core. This "universe-compressing array" might allow him to shrink the garden without destroying its integrity.

Liang stood motionless for a moment, his mind racing through the intricate calculations required to construct the universe-compressing array. The task was monumental, even for someone of his caliber, but failure was not an option—not when he had come so far and uncovered such a treasure.

With a swift movement, Liang extended his hand, summoning threads of golden light that shimmered like molten starlight.

These were strands of his own universe essence, the crystallized core of his cultivation pat. He wove them into the air before him, forming intricate patterns, each line glowed faintly, etching runes into existence as they interlocked in perfect harmony.

The first step was creating the foundation of the compression array: a framework capable of containing the immense spatial forces at play within the garden's self-contained realm. Liang traced out nine primary nodes—each corresponding to one of the Nine Revolutions Era Orchid's petals—and linked them together with streams of void qi. As he worked, The glowing crystals lining the tunnel walls dimmed slightly.

"There," he said finally, exhaling sharply. "The universe-compressing array is complete. Let us see if it holds."

When the framework was complete, Liang stepped back to inspect his work. Satisfied, he began inscribing additional layers of runes onto the structure—thousands upon thousands of them, each tailored to specific functions.

Some would stabilize the spatial dimensions of the garden; others would preserve the flow of spirit milk into the crystalline pool. A few were designed to shield the orchid itself from any disruptions during the compression process. Every rune had to be flawless; even a single error could unravel the entire array and collapse the realm, destroying everything within it.