Chapter 4: Cultivation Breakthrough

Looking at the human elder several dozen li away, who possessed Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, rode a palace-type Numinous Treasure, and spoke through divine sense.

Chen Daoxuan did not respond.

Instead, he fully unfurled his vast divine sense, cultivated over ten thousand years.

Spreading to envelop this Blessed Land, ten thousand li in diameter, which was in a state of withering.

Instantly.

A strand of will, frail yet grand as all things and all beings, containing everything, neither good nor evil, appeared within Chen Daoxuan's perception.

"This is the legendary Heavenly Heart Will!"

"Though this world's Heavenly Heart Will is weak, it embraces all things."

They briefly linked and intersected for several breaths.

Sensing the world will showing a faint tendency to assimilate him, Chen Daoxuan took the initiative to sever the connection with that frail Heavenly Heart Will.

Standing still for a moment, sensing that aside from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth becoming a touch clearer, there was no other change, Chen Daoxuan shook his head slightly.

"Exorcising demons, spreading the Dao, mending the heavens…"

"But there's no rush; this world's Heavenly Heart Will likely has not yet reached its final crisis."

With that thought, he finally looked toward that Nascent Soul Stage human cultivator who called himself Tianjizi and was tightly bound to this Blessed Land.

……

A short half hour later.

Within a Cultivation Cave Mansion at the core of this Blessed Land named 【Tianji】.

Chen Daoxuan sat cross-legged, looking at the inheritance jade slip in his hand that had turned to flying ash, as well as the many ordinary jade slips beside him that he had finished reading. In his heart, he now had a general understanding of this world and the Wu Liang spacetime in which this world resided.

……

Like the Great Universe permeated by the Chang Sheng Tian Gui, this Wu Liang spacetime, with all its beings and sentient creatures, also pursued becoming immortals and attaining the Dao.

But unlike the Great Universe undergoing immortalization.

In this stretch of spacetime realm, beneath the Immortal Realm, there was a division between the Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm.

Before becoming an immortal, there were nine great realms: 【Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Divine Transformation, Return to Void, Unity, Great Vehicle, Tribulation Crossing】.

And the world he now found himself in, the one that had been demonized, was a Mortal Realm.

It could at most bear beings of the Divine Transformation Stage.

The Soul Egress Stage demon spirits he had slain were actually at the Divine Transformation Stage.

……

From the inheritances regarding the five great realms—Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Divine Transformation—obtained from Tianjizi, along with scattered inheritances on the stages above Divine Transformation.

Chen Daoxuan gained a general understanding of the differences between the two sides.

Above Divine Transformation, due to a lack of materials, Chen Daoxuan did not dare speak rashly.

But the two great realms of Nascent Soul and Divine Transformation showed no major difference from the Great Universe's Nascent Soul and Soul Egress.

There was only one point.

Apart from the disparity in foundations, this world's Divine Transformation Stage, achieved by condensing the Primordial Spirit, lacked one step compared to the Great Universe's Soul Egress Stage.

That was the step of "Soul Egress."

Condensing the Primordial Spirit, the soul egresses to Spirit Wander the Great Void, receiving the baptism and tempering of the Three Thousand Great Daos.

Generally, one had to complete at least nine soul egresses, nine Spirit Wanderings of the Great Void, before it could be considered great completion of the Soul Egress Stage, and one could attempt to break through to the Spirit Division realm.

……

Regarding this difference, Chen Daoxuan also understood why.

It was a difference in foundations.

According to the records in the jade slips he had read.

In this Mortal Realm, a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator who could condense a three-inch Nascent Soul was considered top-grade, possessing the potential for Divine Transformation and Return to Void.

But in the Great Universe, a three-inch Nascent Soul was merely bottom-grade.

The Great Universe placed greater emphasis on foundations.

Before the Nascent Soul Stage, there were two additional great realms compared to this world.

This difference might stem from disparities in the rules of the realms.

It might also be due to some special reason.

Or even certain existences deliberately arranging it.

The specific cause was presently unknown.

His ability to slay Divine Transformation Stage demon spirits like dogs was, apart from the Immortal Sect inheritances, ten thousand years of accumulation, divine abilities, and Numinous Treasures, also due to the disparity in realm foundations.

……

And after understanding this world's cultivation information.

Chen Daoxuan only now began to attempt cultivation in this world.

Inhaling and exhaling Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, comprehending the Great Dao.

……

Outside the Cultivation Cave Mansion where Chen Daoxuan resided.

"Master, what realm is this Upper True from beyond the realm? Could he compare to the three Dao Ancestors who descended from the Ascension Realm a million years ago to slay demons and spread the Dao?"

Watching the spiritual Qi phenomena triggered by Chen Daoxuan inhaling and exhaling Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

Beside Tianjizi, a fair and beautiful maiden of sixteen or seventeen, wearing a Daoist robe, asked with full anticipation.

Facing his disciple's inquiry.

Tianjizi fell briefly silent, recalling the realm of Chen Daoxuan he had sensed through his connection with the Tianji Blessed Land.

It seemed to be only Nascent Soul Stage cultivation.

But his magical power was like an abyss, like a sea.

More than ten times stronger than the late Divine Transformation demonic spirits he knew of.

And through the sect's heritage, he had also learned that half a month ago, Chen Daoxuan had easily slain over a hundred Nascent Soul Stage demonic spirits and over a dozen Divine Transformation demonic spirits.

Displaying the supreme might to shatter the void.

Completely mismatched with Nascent Soul Stage cultivation.

He could only guess that this was Chen Daoxuan using some supreme method to deceive his perception.

But a 'what if' possibility also surfaced in his heart.

"What if this Upper True from beyond the realm truly is only at Nascent Soul Stage cultivation?"

After a moment of contemplation, Tianjizi glanced at his little disciple.

He thought of her Heaven and Earth Dao Body, which was in a dormant state.

He shook his head slightly and said:

"His cultivation is unfathomably deep, his divine abilities vast, his magical power boundless."

As he spoke, Tianjizi paused briefly, then continued:

"Lingwei, would you be willing to go attend that Upper True?"

Hearing this, the young girl Lingwei was stunned for a moment, then broke into a smile.

"Master, to have the fortune of attending the Upper True and helping the Mother Realm — I would be more than glad."

"It's just that I'm only at Foundation Establishment cultivation — would the Upper True even look favorably on me?"

And thinking of going to attend Chen Daoxuan, this Upper True from beyond the realm who might grant the world a sliver of hope, Lu Lingwei instead felt a trace of unease and anxiety in her heart.

"Would I instead incur the Upper True's wrath?"

Looking at his little disciple's state, Tianjizi sighed softly in his heart.

She possessed a supreme Dao Body, yet was born at the wrong time.

Without sufficient resources to awaken it, it could only remain dormant, and could only be sealed away by him.

Not to mention three thousand years ago, before the Heavenly Demons destroyed the world and corrupted all beings — even a thousand years ago, when the sect's heritage was still ample, there had been the ability to awaken the Dao Body.

Once the Dao Body awakened, achieving Divine Transformation would be all but certain, and achieving the perfected Divine Transformation where one merges with the Heavenly Heart was also highly possible.

But the arrival of this Upper True from beyond the realm had given him a glimpse of a turning point.

……

Three years later.

Outside the Cultivation Cave Mansion at the center of Tianji Blessed Land.

A Ten Thousand Zhang phantom image of a Black Tortoise suddenly appeared.

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi within a Thousand Li Range converged toward the cave mansion.

Until half a quarter-hour later, the Black Tortoise phantom let out a cry of tortoise and serpent in harmony, then slowly dissipated.

A hundred li away, inside another cave mansion, Tianjizi's expression changed at this moment.

For an instant during that cry of tortoise and serpent in harmony, he had actually lost his connection to the Tianji Blessed Land, its mountains and rivers.

Though his connection was restored in an instant, it still made his heart surge with immense astonishment.

"According to the records left by the ancestors, to sever the connection between the Tianji secret art and the Blessed Land, one would need to be at the Return to Void realm, or at the perfected Divine Transformation where one merges with the Heavenly Heart."