Chapter 516

Fang Yu felt curious.

In past eras, the Yellow Great World was immensely powerful; when the World Tree, Hongmeng Daoist, and the Three Ancient Emperors still existed, immortals roamed everywhere, forging countless magic treasures—precious artifacts surpassing peerless Dao instruments, legendary immortal weapons—until the divine clan's mighty ones severed the World Tree, and the Yellow Great World declined thereafter.

If the broken bell Fang Yu obtained was an immortal weapon, then he would be rich beyond measure.

……

"Flight is forbidden over Chancheng! All who pass through, descend!"

Fang Yu headed toward a city a thousand li away, called Chancheng, renowned throughout this land.

As he walked, countless divine senses swept past him.

"This is Chancheng? Legend says it's an infinitely ancient city dating back to the God-Demon Era—today I see it, it's thousands or even tens of thousands of times larger than our tribe!"

"How could our tribe compare to Chancheng? Once we enter this city, we must find a Men Sect to join, cultivate diligently, and return home with achievement so our tribe can produce more cultivation talents!"

"That's certain. Look at the heavenly Xu Yuan Qi in this city—so dense! It's like a supermassive array, probably reaching immortal grade!"

"Hard to imagine such a colossal city exists. Look at the city gate—it's a thousand zhang wide and a hundred zhang tall! Truly eye-opening!"

Many people came and went, murmuring in awe—some stunned, others praising.

Clearly, Chancheng was an immense, boundless city to the surrounding lifeforms.

With Fang Yu's divine sense flowing over it, he saw that Chancheng stretched over nine thousand li in length and eight thousand li in width—a city impressive even within the Great Xuan Empire of the Yellow Great World.

The Great Xuan Empire's cities ranged from small ones a thousand li in diameter, smaller than Chancheng, to large ones ten thousand li across, larger than Chancheng.

From the city's size alone, one could roughly estimate the cultivation base of its cultivators.

Fang Yu, a Golden Core Realm expert, was an unparalleled powerhouse upon arriving here—but there might still be cultivators within stronger than him.

After all, the Manghuang Ji Realm was fundamentally a world of cultivation.

In this world, all lifeforms were born as ordinary postnatal beings—mortals subject to birth, aging, sickness, death, and reincarnation in endless cycles, living a hundred years.

Postnatal beings could continually cultivate, reversing from postnatal to prenatal, ascending to prenatal beings, thus entering the path of cultivation. Prenatal beings lived two hundred years.

After achieving prenatal status, cultivators formally entered the path of cultivation, absorbing heavenly Xu Yuan Qi into their dantian, carving out a void within it. Since purple qi swirled there, it was called the Purple Mansion. At this realm, cultivators forged the Purple Mansion void to store Yuan Li; all subsequent Yuan Li converged here, forming an ocean within the Purple Mansion—the Yuan Sea.

Cultivators of the Purple Mansion Realm lived five hundred years.

Beyond the Purple Mansion Realm, cultivators condensed vast quantities of Yuan Qi into sun, moon, and stars within the Purple Mansion Yuan Sea, resonating with celestial bodies outside, manifesting the cycle of day and night. When reaching the myriad phenomena stage, the stars within the Purple Mansion spontaneously evolved into three grand phenomena: stars hanging in the sky, the bright moon rising from the sea, and the rising sun in the east.

Thus, within the cultivator's Purple Mansion, the sun and moon became the core, surrounded by countless stars, revolving according to mysterious laws. The Purple Mansion blossomed, reaching the Myriad Phenomena Realm, known as the Myriad Phenomena True Person.

Myriad Phenomena True Persons refined their spiritual essence, generating "divine sense," living eight hundred years.

Upon reaching Myriad Phenomena True Person, the vast Yuan Sea churned and boiled, refining its essence to ascend into the heavens, nourishing the stars until they swelled, then exuding essence that hung in the sky as radiant light, merging yin and yang, brimming with vitality, dazzlingly luminous, blazing with fire, forming the "Primordial Spirit." Once a Primordial Spirit was cultivated, one became a Primordial Spirit True Person.

Postnatal, Prenatal, Purple Mansion, Myriad Phenomena, Primordial Spirit—these were the initial realms of the Manghuang Ji Realm, enough for most cultivators to spend their entire lives striving for. Only the rarest few could advance beyond Primordial Spirit True Person to the next realms: Void-Return Earth Immortal, Golden Core Heavenly Immortal.

When Void-Return reached perfection, one faced the Four Heavenly Tribulations: Wind Tribulation, Fire Tribulation, Lei Jie, and Demonic Mind Tribulation. If one failed the Tribulation Crossing but escaped with their Primordial Spirit, they became a "Wandering Immortal." Even Wandering Immortals could live extraordinarily long lifespans in the Manghuang Ji Realm.

Some Wandering Immortals lived for hundreds of thousands of years, even over a million.

The Emperor of the Shrouding Heaven Realm:?

A million-year lifespan, just like that?

There was no help for it.

The world's rules were this: Postnatal, Prenatal, Purple Mansion, Myriad Phenomena, Primordial Spirit, Void-Return—success in Tribulation Crossing made one a Heavenly Immortal with infinite lifespan; failure but escape of the Primordial Spirit made one a Wandering Immortal with hundreds of thousands of years.

The Eternal Life Realm could not match this.

In the Eternal Life Realm, achieving a million-year lifespan would require advancing through several more realms within the Longevity Secret Realm.

Yet in the Eternal Life Realm, the same term "Heavenly Immortal" could also grant a million-year lifespan—though the preceding realms were far more numerous.

"The gap between worlds is truly immense…"