Chapter 243: Strength and Realm

Strength and Realm

Yesterday, a reader friend said in the comments section that the realms and strength in the book were a bit vague. I answered, but the comments section kept swallowing my replies; I don't know where the sensitive words are.

Today, I am opening a separate chapter to talk about it.

This book has the five immortals of "Heaven, Earth, Human, Ghost, and God": Heavenly Immortal, Earth Immortal, Human Immortal, Ghost Immortal, and God Immortal.

The Heavenly Immortal has the most promise, because a Heavenly Immortal can cultivate to a Jin Xian, then refine emptiness and integrate with the Dao, becoming an undying, indestructible Great Luo Jinxian who masters the laws of the Great Dao.

Theoretically, a Sage is also just a Great Luo Jinxian, except that the Dao the Sage integrates with is the Heavenly Dao, while the Dao the Great Luo Jinxian integrates with afterward is the Sage's Dao, or rather, the Heavenly Dao controlled by the Sage.

Earlier, in "Chapter 203, Divine Dao Laws," the immortal arts and Dao techniques created by Great Gods and Great Immortals gained spirituality and merged into the Divine Dao laws. Earth Immortals or God Immortals will actively integrate with these types of Divine Dao laws.

The principle is roughly the same.

Human Immortal—Earth Immortal—Heavenly Immortal is not an escalation in realm; it is not Qi Refining—Foundation Establishment—Golden Core.

The difference between a Human Immortal and a Heavenly or Earth Immortal is similar to the difference between a technical school and a third-tier, second-tier, or first-tier university.

A Heavenly Immortal is a super-first-class university.

Becoming a Heavenly Immortal does not mean one can definitely integrate with the Dao, but if you are not a Heavenly Immortal, don't even think about integrating with the Dao.

An Earth Immortal is a regular first-tier university.

A Ghost Immortal is a bit special; it belongs to the immortals of the Xiao Yinjian. The strongest Ghost Immortal, the Great Emperor of Fengdu, is no worse than an integrated Jin Xian.

Heavenly Immortals integrate with the Heavenly Dao; Ghost Immortals integrate with the Great Dao of the Xiao Yinjian.

The truly awkward one is the Human Immortal.

A Human Immortal is equivalent to a technical school or vocational high school.

If you compare undergraduate university textbooks with technical school textbooks, you can see that undergraduate universities mainly teach basic theories and scientific technology, while technical schools target technology products extended from a certain technology; it is the practical application of a certain technique.

In this book, the Immortal Martial Arts cultivated by Human Immortals are just abridged versions of immortal arts.

But in this book, the main purpose of cultivating immortality is longevity, not focusing on combat power.

Technical school students have flexible minds, good opportunities, and powerful fathers; they might not necessarily fare worse than graduates of super-first-class universities.

Of course, "faring well" here only refers to combat power.

If you are confused about the combat power comparison between characters while reading the novel, you can refer to the following three steps:

First, does the book directly point out that someone has miraculous powers or magic treasures that directly restrain the opponent? If there is restraint, then miraculous power is higher than realm.

Second, if there is no clear mention of mutual restraint between miraculous powers and magic treasures, then Heavenly Immortals are stronger than Earth Immortals, Earth Immortals are stronger than "Strange People" (rogue cultivators who cultivate immortal arts but haven't become immortals), and Strange People are slightly stronger than Human Immortals (how much stronger is mainly determined by the strange techniques mastered by the Strange Person).

Third, only for the protagonist. The protagonist has cheats. If "Great Father-Destroyer" is activated and the method of extermination is deduced, then the protagonist is strong; if "Great Father-Destroyer" is not activated, then refer to the above two points.

Regarding the third step, pay extra attention to one point: although the opponent didn't trigger "Great Father-Destroyer," someone from their sect did, so it meets the first rule of "miraculous power restraint."

For example, Xiao Yu took Huchen as her foster father; other Immortal Martial artists who cultivate "Tiger Soul Seven Kills" will be restrained by her "Tiger-Killing Sword Intent."

Let's talk about the major realms of this book.

Human Immortals are divided into Internal Qi Realm (refining internal breath, beginning to transcend the mundane), True Qi Realm (internal breath resonates with heaven and earth, sublimation of transcendence), and the birth of a "Qi Elixir" from the resonance of thick True Qi and spirit, which is a Human Immortal.

It's very simple; there are only three major realms. Within the same realm, compare talent, cultivation power, and techniques.

The Heavenly Immortal realm is also very simple: Qi Refiner, Half-Immortal (facing heavenly tribulation), Heavenly Immortal, Jin Xian, Great Luo.

Earth Immortal is: Qi Refiner, Half-Immortal, potential exhausted becoming an Earth Immortal.

Ghost Immortal: Qi Refiner, Half-Immortal, Ghost Immortal, Ghost Emperor.

"Ghost King" and "Ghost General" are not divisions of realm; they are just titles.

As you can see, the divisions of major realms are extremely simple. Even if there are titles like "Rogue Immortal," "Mysterious Immortal," "True Immortal," and "Pure Yang True Immortal," they are not divisions of major realms.

For example, a Rogue Immortal is just an unemployed drifter among immortals.

A "True Immortal" is distinguished from a "Fake Immortal" who is called a "Zhenyuan Daxian" but cannot achieve eternal life; this is not a realm, it's an anti-counterfeiting label.

Mysterious Immortal and Pure Yang True Immortal do have a bit of a sense of realm. After becoming a Heavenly Immortal, there will be a process of purifying immortal power (Qi) and soul (Spirit) to prepare for promotion to an undying Jin Xian. Pure Yang True Immortal is the beginning of Pure Yang transformation.

Finally, let's talk about the "Strange People" who have appeared frequently in recent plots.

The biggest difference between a Strange Person and a Human Immortal is that Human Immortals cultivate Immortal Martial Arts.

Immortal Martial Arts cannot achieve eternal life.

And Strange People cultivate relatively inferior immortal arts, or cultivate proper immortal arts but have their immortal path interrupted due to talent, opportunity, etc. (like dropping out of university, etc.), so the lifespan of Strange People is generally longer than that of Human Immortals.

Human Immortals respect Strange People; it doesn't necessarily mean Strange People have stronger combat power.

What they want is eternal life.

To want eternal life, cultivate immortal arts.

To want combat power, cultivate great miraculous powers or bizarre secret techniques.

The Chen Changsheng Method is the fundamental method; miraculous powers and secret techniques are techniques for protecting the Dao.

You can use a short story to simply summarize the relationship between immortals, Strange People, and Human Immortals:

Zhang San was from a family that had accumulated virtue for five generations. He had deep blessings and met an old immortal. The old immortal passed him a water-type immortal art, "Strange Book of the Shahe."

Zhang San cultivated for two hundred years, exhausted his blessings, never encountered another miracle, and his wisdom couldn't keep up with the progress of his cultivation. He practiced the "Strange Book of the Shahe" to the fifth level, but could never break through to the sixth level, nor could he understand it.

The old immortal was also helpless and could only let him go down the mountain to gain experience.

Zhang San was not an immortal at this time, nor was he an ordinary martial artist; everyone called him a "Strange Person."

Zhang San spent three hundred years in the human world as a Strange Person, with a bunch of beautiful wives and concubines, his cultivation made no progress, and he was finally about to exhaust his lifespan. He reflected on the past, had no face to return to the mountain, but harbored selfishness, intending to pass the "Strange Book of the Shahe" to his children and grandchildren.

It turned out they couldn't cultivate it at all.

Just like an ordinary person who repeats a grade for ten years but still can't get into Tsinghua or Peking University, their talent wasn't enough.

However, a servant boy in the family actually managed to refine Qi into his body.

Zhang San was helpless and could only delete and trim, changing the first five levels of the "Strange Book of the Shahe" into the "Canglang Art" (from the sixth level on, he hadn't even mastered it himself, so he couldn't change it even if he wanted to).

His children and grandchildren cultivated the "Canglang Art," their strength was astonishing, and they dominated the Wu Lin, but they only lived for two hundred years.

Zhang San was kind-hearted and passed the first five levels of the "Strange Book of the Shahe" completely to the servant boy. The servant boy explored it alone. After cultivating to the third level, resources were insufficient, no one taught him, and he couldn't understand it thoroughly, so he could only modify it again. The "Strange Book of the Shahe" was changed into the "Great River Immeasurable Skill," and in the end, he actually lived for four or five hundred years.

Thus, Zhang San's master was an immortal, Zhang San himself was a "Strange Person" whose immortal path was interrupted, Zhang San's descendants were "Human Immortals" (Immortal Martial artists), and Zhang San's servant boy was a Strange Person who cultivated inferior immortal arts. ===== CHAPTER 244 =====