Chapter 987: Second Ascension
The Heavenly Preceptor began to explain in detail the secrets of the Heavenly Immortal.
In truth, they were not really secrets. Qi Xuansu simply had not reached that level of cultivation or seniority required to grasp such knowledge.
If a Heavenly Immortal bore unresolved ties to the mortal realm, having lingering obsessions or unfinished bonds, they had one way to return after ascension. They could sever an incarnation and descend to the mortal realm once more.
However, this method carried immense constraints, with four critical hurdles.
They would need a strong will and a heart bound by obsession to pierce the barrier of two realms. Otherwise, it required a level of cultivation equivalent to the Primordial Daoist Ancestor. Without such fixation, no incarnation could be severed to return to the mortal realm.
An immense sum of divine power was also needed to tunnel a path between realms because this path was fragile and fleeting.
Besides that, the incarnation needed a host, which was usually an unborn fetus without a formed soul, untainted by karma. However, to fit the Immortal’s thought without shattering required careful selection.
Upon birth, the incarnation would forget all past existence. Without guidance or chance enlightenment, the incarnation would pass through life in ignorance, never recalling who they truly were, making their return to the mortal world futile.
These four difficulties corresponded to the Four Immortals, and their solution lay in orthodoxy. Only disciples left behind on earth could gather incense power, find a vessel, and awaken the incarnation. Hence, the endless strife among Immortals to preserve their lineages was for this reason.
If all four hurdles could be overcome, the Heavenly Immortal’s incarnation could walk the mortal realm anew, either to sever ties or to fulfill lingering bonds. Yet such an incarnation had to begin their cultivation from scratch. Still, with the insight of a Heavenly Immortal, their progress far surpassed mere mortals. The Holy Xuan later classified such innate talent as Banished Immortals.
However, even if such an incarnation attained high cultivation, there was no guarantee the Heavenly Immortal’s mission was complete. The incarnation could have lived in a way that the Heavenly Immortal did not approve of, which might have affected the true body. In such cases, the Heavenly Immortal would sever the incarnation, leaving it to exist independently.
Thus, one could consider the incarnation to be the Heavenly Immortal, but the Heavenly Immortal was not the incarnation.