A quiver ran through Lu Yin's body, but he said nothing more. He proceeded to wait in silence. His heart grew calm.
Everyone had their own path. He could not force others, nor could he change their desire to protect him. He did not fear death, and others could be the same.
As long as Ancient God did not give up, all they could do was watch. Even if he died, they needed to grant him his final dignity.
Ancient God's aura was nearly gone. Lu Yin grew increasingly tense, though Ancestor Lu Yuan and the others were even more tense.
At the very moment that Lu Yin thought that Ancient God would surely die, threads of vitality emerged from within him. Then, like an old tree sprouting anew, Lifeforce burst forth and shot straight up into outer space.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. He had succeeded.
Ancestor Lu Yuan and the others started breathing heavily. Only at this moment were they finally able to relax.
Lu Yin stared at Ancient God's body. That Lifeforce had not come from the cycle of origin and decay, but rather from battle force that had reached the Wielder - God level. This was the exact same way that Lu Yin himself had obtained Lifeforce.
Battle force at the Wielder - God level could transform into Lifeforce. Lu Yin had actually forgotten about that, only to see it reappear in Ancient God’s breakthrough.
Without that, Ancient God would have certainly failed, and his body would have been reduced to ash.
It was fortunate.
Within the megaverse, Ancient God opened his eyes. He had used Wielder - God battle force to ignite his Lifeforce and merge it with the cycle of origin and decay within his body. As a result, his Lifeforce became endless and turned into the key to stepping into the Immortal realm. With his Lifeforce taken care of, the next step was to comprehend a cosmic law to resonate with.
The Immortal realm was merely a threshold. How far he could go depended on Ancient God's own understanding of the cosmos. Simply put, it depended on his realm.
When breaking into Immortality, there were two aspects of the realm. One was the realm that allowed a being to step into Immortality. In other words, one’s realm no longer served as an obstacle to becoming an Immortal.
The second aspect was how high and how far that individual had the potential to reach in the future. The deeper one's understanding of the cosmos, the broader their road.
Even if one became an Immortal by relying on the reset of a megaverse, it was not impossible for them to reach the same height as those who had succeeded with a direct breakthrough, though their path would be far more difficult and the chances of success were exceedingly slim.
One example was how Awe Gate had merged with Mi Jin's cultivated spirit seed to achieve her current level of combat power.
In fact, throughout the Aevum Inch, two-law Immortals were almost entirely creatures who had achieved a direct breakthrough to the Immortal realm. At the moment of their breakthrough, they had already stood at the peak of one-law Immortals, and being able to do that proved their extraordinary talent.
But there were no absolutes in the cosmos.
Lu Yin did not believe that every Plume Immortal had succeeded via direct breakthrough. Fishing civilizations were only able to accumulate so many Immortals because many of them relied on their civilization’s absolute means.
Ancient God's greatest advantage was that he had experienced far too much. His life could not be called brilliant, but it had absolutely been full of twists and struggles that surpassed ordinary imagination.
Roughly 1,500 years had passed since Jiang Feng’s breakthrough to the Immortal realm when Ancient God became the next being from the Tianyuan to succeed.
Ancestor Lu Yuan and the others burst into laughter and started chatting among themselves.
Lu Yin’s gaze withdrew from the megaverse to look at Ancestor Lu Yuan and the others. "Ancestor, Senior Ancient God's breakthrough has just handed many people the key to the Immortal realm. Breaking into Immortality should now be more certain."
"Battle force?" Ancestor Lu Yuan asked.
Lu Yin nodded. What he could see, Ancestor Lu Yuan and the others could see as well.
Chu Yi shook his head. "It isn't that simple. First of all, cultivating battle force to the level that you and Musclehead have achieved is already extremely difficult. Battle force is not a cultivation realm. It cannot be achieved step by step like normal cultivation. It requires extraordinary toughness and perseverance, as well as an integrity that aligns with one's true heart.
"To some extent, battle force is even harder to improve than cultivating to improve one’s realm. If two out of ten people can cultivate to the Origin Realm, then perhaps only one can raise their battle force to the Wielder - God level.
"On top of that, even if their battle force does reach that level, it does not necessarily mean that they will be able to transform it into Lifeforce. Pillar, do you still remember how yours transformed back then?"
Of course Lu Yin remembered. He had held one breath in his chest and dared to strike at Immortals, challenging those above him from a place of weakness. He had demonstrated utter defiance and true force of will.
Battle force was force of will made manifest. It was a person's heroic determination. Without that heroic will, how could one’s battle force transform?
Ancient God's determination came from his faith in the Tianyuan and from his genuine lack of fear of death. Thus, after breaking through, it was only natural that he had achieved Wielder - God battle force.
Though Ancient God usually said little, the truth was that he possessed greater determination and will than anyone. People could lie, but power could not. Whether someone could cultivate battle force to the Wielder - God level could not be necessarily seen from their outward appearance; it depended on their heart.
In that respect, it was similar to an inner state.
"No matter what, we should at least try it. With so many cultivators, at least someone is bound to succeed. Even if this method only brings about one more Immortal, it will still be worthwhile," Hongyan Mavis said.
That was indeed true.
Chu Yi's expression grew complicated. "Battle force certainly needs to be promoted. Hopefully, more people will succeed."