Chapter 4

After learning that the Ascend Heaven Gate could probe her Dao heart, Li Ruoshui did not rush to go there.

She searched for the three words “Ascend Heaven Gate” on Tianyan, and a long string of posts came up.

They were either things like The Most Useless Dao Path in History, Please Vote, Does Anyone Know What Dao Leads to No Survivors?, or I’m an Invincible Sword Cultivator, Come Hit My Senior Sister If You Disagree.

Li Ruoshui did not click on a single one. She was afraid her Dao heart would shatter the moment she saw the contents.

Were there no normal people in the Nine Provinces at all? Oh, no, there were—such as her newly minted close friend, Chen Buyan.

“Daoist Buyan, are you there? Which Dao do you think has the most potential?”

“Fellow Daoist Shangshan, the fundamental Dao must align with oneself. So-called Grandmasters and Saints are the pinnacle of human affairs, not exclusive to any single Dao.”

Li Ruoshui tried to struggle. “What if I insist on forcing it?”

Chen Buyan was concise. “You’ll die.”

Li Ruoshui: “…”

The Ascend Heaven Gate was the only place where even a low-grade Tianyan Mirror allowed one to immerse oneself fully.

Li Ruoshui hid her body in a dim cave on the third mountain layer. Her consciousness sank toward the heavenly gate inscribed with the three seal characters “Ascend Heaven Gate,” and she was immediately pulled entirely inside, losing all sense of her physical body.

There was no one nearby. Endless heavenly ladders loomed faintly in the swirling mists, silently tempting Daoists to explore.

Li Ruoshui looked around for a bit, then tentatively stepped onto the heavenly ladder. According to all those cultivation novels, an invisible pressure existed on the ladder, weighing one down like a mountain on the back—this was both a trial and a tempering of the body.

Free exercise, only once in a lifetime.

This realization energized Li Ruoshui. She was determined to climb to the peak and look down on the heroes. However, after taking a dozen steps, nothing happened—not even the weight of an ant increased.

Li Ruoshui: “?”

Had the Ascend Heaven Gate broken? Or did she need to keep climbing higher?

Soon, Li Ruoshui discovered that ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine steps, even without pressure, could exhaust someone into a puddle. At first, she could still call it climbing, but by the final stage, it was practically crawling.

Outside the Ascend Heaven Gate in the Tianyan Mirror, over a dozen illusory figures reflected the scene.

“Another fool climbing the heavenly ladder.”

“Doesn’t she know she can fly?”

“The Heavenly Ascension List hasn’t updated in ages. I wonder what Dao this fellow Daoist is suited for?”

The Daoists whispered as they watched the list shimmering with brilliant golden light.

All the Daoists of the Nine Provinces gathered in the Tianyan Mirror, and someone attempted the Ascend Heaven Gate every so often. But not everyone could activate the Heavenly Ascension List—only those who climbed the heavenly ladder step by step earned a place on it.

A thousand years ago, cultivators were still honest and climbed diligently. But later, they realized that even those who cheated on the ladder could achieve divine abilities and great Daos.

There was no benefit to climbing the heavenly ladder.

The Heavenly Ascension List was the most useless ranking on all of Tianyan—nothing but flashy effects.

Many Daoists had gone to Tianyan Sect to demand answers about refining the Tianyan Mirror, and it was finally confirmed: the heavenly ladder was just an illusory array that Tianyan Sect cultivators had added for fun.

Smart people never bothered climbing it.

More and more Daoists crowded around the Heavenly Ascension List to watch the spectacle, their voices growing noisier—until that little black dot finally reached the peak, and the chatter gradually died down.

Li Ruoshui collapsed in exhaustion.

The most infuriating part was that there was no tempering at all—she still didn’t know what Dao suited her!

Curses reached her lips, but she swallowed them harshly. She forced herself to the end, where a full-length mirror stood, and glared at it expressionlessly.

No reaction? Did she need to chant some incantation, like “Magic mirror, magic mirror, tell me”?

Just as Li Ruoshui steeled herself to overcome the embarrassment and speak, a feeble stream of light swept over her from the mirror’s surface. Then, five words slowly appeared: “Causal Vow Dao.”

Li Ruoshui: “?”

That was it? What had she climbed so high for? What even was Causal Vow Dao? As she pondered, a repulsive force from all directions kicked her consciousness out of the Ascend Heaven Gate. The moment Li Ruoshui’s awareness landed, it was immediately surrounded by endless “barrage” messages.

“Vow Dao? It’s actually Vow Dao! Who’s this unlucky one?”

“Look on the bright side—Vow Dao is invincible at the same realm.”

“If you’re that invincible, of course you’re dead beyond dead.”

“The Decline of Heavenly Fate reappears in the mortal world. Let me see who this little unlucky egg is? Li Shangshan? Which sect’s fellow Daoist is this?”

“Fellow Daoist Shangshan, come book a coffin at my place! Guaranteed to preserve your true spirit and keep your corpse incorrupt. If there’s fate, you can even switch to Ghost Dao and live another life.”

“Does the Decline of Heavenly Fate even have the fortune to enter Ghost Dao? No previous seniors who cultivated it succeeded, right?”

“My Medicine King Mountain has a way to preserve the corpse and guarantee entry into Ghost Dao—just one million Spirit Jade Pills, fellow Daoist, add me as a friend?”

Every message drilled into her vision, and out of ten… all ten were doomsaying. Li Ruoshui’s vision went black. She couldn’t be that unlucky, could she?

Suddenly, she felt that forcing another Dao path might not be so bad.

Chen Buyan: “Fellow Daoist Shangshan, Causal Vow Dao is not an unorthodox path.”

Li Ruoshui, whose breathing had grown rapid, clutched this lifeline. “What kind of Dao is it? Everyone who cultivates it… dies?”

Chen Buyan: “It’s a path that cultivates through making vows. It has no specific fundamental scripture. After entering the Dao at the Heart Fixing stage, one must make a great vow to save the world, then swear minor vows aligned with the fundamental vow at different stages for practice. Its benefit is that once the vow is made, one immediately gains the complete power of the current stage. The greater the vow, the more power it leverages—so it’s nearly invincible at the same realm.”

Li Ruoshui: “…” Was this cultivation’s version of a loan? Swear a vow and level up? “What if you can’t fulfill the vow?”

“Your fortune will gradually decline, to the point where you could choke to death on a sip of water.”

Li Ruoshui: “So you gain power but start getting cursed with bad luck at the same time? How long can you delay it?”

Chen Buyan: “According to seniors’ research, assuming your aptitude lets you advance from Heart Fixing First Layer to Second Layer within half a year, you must complete the vow in that time. Once the deadline passes, your fortune begins to wane.”

Li Ruoshui, trying to find a loophole, sighed faintly. “What counts as a great vow to save the world?”

Could she vow to get rich?

Chen Buyan: “The two most recent Vow Dao seniors: one swore, ‘I vow to spread the Dao in the human world.’ The other: ‘As long as hell is not empty, I shall not become a Buddha.'”

Li Ruoshui asked cautiously: “Did they… ascend?”

Chen Buyan did not hide it from her. “They fell.”

Li Ruoshui’s expression crumbled. She had two paths ahead: risk qi deviation to cultivate another Dao, or step onto what sounded like the Path of No Return. Unwilling to give up, she asked: “Is the Heavenly Ladder accurate?”

Chen Buyan: “It has never erred—it’s the mandate of heaven.” The Tianyan Mirror’s function relied on the Tianyan spirit veins, which were the orthodox Dao, the manifestation of heaven’s will. Without Tianyan in the Nine Provinces, all spells would return to nothingness.

After thanking Chen Buyan, Li Ruoshui lay in the mountain cave like a dead fish.

If she pursued another Dao, could she survive the world-ending calamity? To what realm could she cultivate? If she followed Tianyan’s guidance into Vow Dao, what great vow to save the world should she make? The vow that could leverage the highest power… Return to Ruins Realm? Saving the world was the heroines’ job, but if she vowed on Return to Ruins, even as a side character, she’d be in on it, right?

If fate forced her to be a gambler, then—

She’d bet big! Be the strongest!

She would make eradicating Return to Ruins her great vow to save the world. Success meant ultimate truth and sanctity; failure… the Nine Provinces would be gone anyway, and she wouldn’t survive.

Li Ruoshui flipped upright with a carp leap, chewed the remaining herbs from her Universe Pouch raw, then sat cross-legged and guided the primal qi through her meridians. Heart Fixing opened three apertures: first the heart, second the elixir, third the law—but they weren’t burned open sequentially; they progressed simultaneously, with the heart aperture first and the law last.

According to the knowledge from Daoist Buyan, the Heart Fixing stage determined one’s Dao path and fundamental Dao, acquiring a fundamental scripture. But Vow Dao was unique, needing no dedicated scripture. Taiyi Sect’s Supreme Profound Penetration Scripture could still be used. Li Ruoshui silently recited the incantation, guiding primal qi through her body. The heart aperture was one of the thirty-six law apertures, the first, located in the crimson palace.

After thirty-six cycles, Li Ruoshui felt her spirit qi drain completely, her whole body light as if floating in the clouds. Her mind remained unshaken; instead, she breathed slowly and steadily. Soon, the vanished spirit qi emerged again from the heart aperture in her crimson palace, continuing to circulate per the method.

The heart aperture was open—it was time to plant the heart seed. If she failed to plant the heart seed and choose her Dao now, the aperture would close on its own, ruining her path. Li Ruoshui recalled Daoist Buyan’s key points. Amid a clear, resonant hum, boundless light bloomed in her eyes.

Causal Vow Dao—

Her fundamental vow: to sweep away the harm of Return to Ruins.

Studying the Dao, ashamed of no sudden insight; refining primal qi reveals the profound embryo. Fortunate in life to receive the transmission—if Return to Ruins stands, I shall not return!

As the Dao vow fell, something profound and mysterious connected in the void. A clear chime of bells and chimes rang by Li Ruoshui’s ear. Vast power flushed through her meridians like flowing water, bursting open twelve apertures at once and propelling her cultivation straight to Heart Fixing First Layer.

When she opened her eyes, the scrape on her palm had vanished. Under the moonlight filtering through the cave cracks, her palm gleamed white, as if filled with jade luster.

Li Ruoshui felt refreshed, her five senses clear and bright.

The wind rustled treetops; in the serene deep mountains, the sounds of ten thousand apertures echoed in her ears.

The beauty of Causal Vow Dao was leveling up while lying down. Regrettably, she missed the agony of fellow Daoists on Tianyan wailing over opening law apertures.

First, take out a loan—repaying the debt could wait until tomorrow.