Those who could understand it were only the young man in black robes and Ning Fan himself.
He had sat in the liquor store for sixty consecutive years.
In the thirteenth year, the power of his Eighth Grade Rain Intent had reached the Seventh Grade but his complexion became paler and paler.
In the forty-first year, his Seventh Grade Rain Intent advanced to the Sixth Grade but his qi became fainter and weaker.
In the sixtieth year, his Sixth Grade Rain Intent was on the verge of advancing to the Fifth Grade. However, there seemed to be a barrier preventing his breakthrough.
At this moment, Ning Fan’s qi was already similar to gossamer. His breathing was so weak that it was as if he was going to die any minute.
"You’ve reached your limit..." The young man in black robes put down the jug of wine in his hand and said, pity evident in his voice.
"With your current cultivation base, I’m already amazed that you could stay within this realm for sixty years. You can now leave."
As soon as he finished speaking, the young man lifted his finger and pointed at the place behind Ning Fan. Immediately, a light rain portal appeared.
Perhaps that was the exit of the illusory realm...
However, Ning Fan acted like he had not heard what the young man said. He seemed to have forgotten everything in this world and did not notice the rain portal behind him.
In his heart, there was just that tiny wine jug which contained all the rain within this world.
The sixty-first year, sixty-second year, sixty-third year... Ning Fan was still drinking by himself in the liquor store.
The illusory realm around him gradually grew fainter and slowly evaporated like smoke. All the intoxicated scholars and beautiful women also gradually faded away from the illusory realm.
The ocean of bamboo, the rivers, the brightly-painted boats, the sound of the reed pipes... Everything disappeared...
In the end, only Ning Fan was left in the world, holding the wine jug in his hand while drinking it by himself.
Only the young man in black robes remained in front of him. For the third time, he complimented him.
"Not bad!"
It was already the one hundredth year in the illusory realm!
In this year, Ning Fan’s rain intent realm was only a hair’s breadth away from breaking through to the Fifth Grade!
In this year, Ning Fan made the entire Heaven Stage collapse, except for the black-robed young man in front of him!
The reason he drank the rainwater was to imitate the black-robed young man and enhance his rain intent.
The reason he kept quiet throughout the years was to understand the essence of the Void Pierce Stage.
At the Void Pierce Stage, the void that one sees is still the void... That is an insight that one obtains after completely seeing through the secrets of the void.
He did not continue the conversation with the black-robed young man because everything in his eyes was merely an illusion while he was the only one that truly existed.
The deeper his Dao comprehension, the fainter the illusion around him. After one hundred years of Dao comprehension, he eventually made all illusion vanish like smoke!
The exit of the illusion was not the door to overcoming the void...
What Ning Fan wanted to understand was making illusion into void.
If illusion turns into void, it would be the same as him not entering the illusion in the first place.. Since he had never been there, why should he try to get out?
That was why he ignored the black-robed young man when he pointed to the exit. That exit was not the correct path...
"Marvelous! After you, the Heaven Stage will no longer exist in the Rain World. This stage is already destroyed! Haha. It’s beyond my expectations that there would be someone like you in the later generations. The young generation... sure is amazing!"
"I came from rain and thus I go with the rain. Now, I will help you achieve the Fifth Grade rain intent and grant you another drop of rain!"
*Peng*
While the black-robed young man was laughing loudly, his body suddenly dispersed, turning into silver raindrops which entered Ning Fan’s body.
Suddenly, the Heaven Stage collapsed in its entirety!
Suddenly, the heavenly dwelling space crumbled and both Ning Fan and Chu Chang An simultaneously appeared within the Temple of Rain!
Suddenly, a wave of aura force belonging to the Fifth Grade rain intent rose around Ning Fan’s body and spread across the entire temple!
"The Heaven Stage has collapsed!? What exactly did White-Robed Marquis do inside that actually destroyed the entire Heaven Stage!"
"The four stages of Heaven and Earth were left behind by the Rain Ancestor. Before his death, he has once said that only the one who truly sees through the secrets of the four stages will cause the destruction of the stages ... Could it be that White-Robed Marquis has discovered the correct method to clear the Heaven Stage?"
"Fifth Grade rain intent! White-Robed Marquis’ rain intent has achieved the Fifth Grade. This is truly unthinkable! Even the Rain Sovereign’s rain intent is only at the Fourth Grade... If White-Robed Marquis’ comprehension of his rain intent improves a bit more, won’t he be at the same level as the Rain Sovereign?!"
"What about the Rain Ancestor? Did White-Robed Marquis manage to find the Rain Ancestor’s lingering presence in the illusory realm?!"
Everyone in the temple was astonished. Even the Rain Sovereign was deeply shocked.
Revered Sage’s face was overwhelmed with surprise. He was the only person who witnessed how Ning Fan broke the illusory state throughout the entire time!
He did not understand at all what Ning Fan did back in the illusory realm. He could not figure it out. He could not comprehend it...
The thing that he could not understand the most was that the Rain Ancestor’s lingering presence would actually decide to destroy himself to help Ning Fan break through the bottleneck of his rain intent...
"So that man turns out to be the Rain Ancestor... Thank you..."
Ning Fan muttered to himself. Even though he never paid attention to the Rain Ancestor throughout the one hundred years he was there, it was all thanks to his help that his rain intent managed to advance to the Fifth Grade.
By clearing the Heaven Stage, his rain intent which was originally at the Eighth Grade was raised to the Fifth Grade in one go.
Based on his estimate, if he could improve his rain intent to the First Grade, he would then be able to display the Rain Ancestor’s technique – Heaven Prying Rain!
"Hehe. Congratulations to White-Robed Marquis on your success in clearing the Heaven Stage!"