Chapter 467: Grades of the Divine Realm

Buzz— the light and shadow before his eyes scattered!

Li Yuan was briefly dazed; what lay before him was neither the familiar bronze pagoda divine realm, nor the starry night sky he had seen last time!

Upon a stretch of azure sky, a great sun blazed with radiance. Where he now stood was a mountain peak, thrusting up from the earth like a long spear, beneath that great sun and azure sky!

The mountaintop was a jumble of strange rocks; vines like pythons and serpents coiled around an old tree. Beneath the tree, a purple-robed old man sat cross-legged, and on the stone platform before him was laid out an unfinished game!

"Do you know how to play chess?"

Qin Yun, pinching a white piece between his fingers, asked!

"I know a little!"

Li Yuan came back to himself; his attention was still lingering within this strange divine realm — on this azure sky, there was only one sun!

Seeing it so suddenly, he was still somewhat unaccustomed!

"Sit!"

Qin Yun set down a piece: "Shall we play a couple of moves?"

Li Yuan glanced at it; on this unfinished game, the black stones had already been slaughtered into scattered fragments. Let alone him — even if one found a Chess Sage, there would be no flipping the board!

"How could this junior possibly play against you?"

Li Yuan raised his head, gazing at that azure, washed-clean sky. The sky was very vague; clearly, this was that Star-Plucking Tower Master's divine realm!

"This too is a corner of your divine realm?"

Having rarely encountered this once-world's-number-one, Li Yuan naturally would not let slip the chance to seek guidance. The divine realm, to him, still carried a certain mysterious flavor!

(continuation of 【16】)

"Heaven and Earth are the great; the human body is the small heaven and earth — this is the core of cultivating the divine realm. The finest divine realms must, without limit, converge toward the true scenery of Heaven and Earth!"

Qin Yun, holding black and white pieces himself, played against himself, answering casually!

"The finest?"

Li Yuan was adept at seizing the key point: "Divine realms also have distinctions of high and low?"

"The divine realm is a wondrous sight formed from the martial artist's own cultivation, combined with drawing upon the principles of Heaven and Earth —"

"naturally, there are high and low!"

Qin Yun answered. He was one who delighted in teaching others, and had no thought of holding things back. A few casual words gave Li Zhou a sudden sense of illumination!

He listened with rapt attention!

That divine realms had high and low, Li Yuan naturally knew. What he was curious about was how the high and low of divine realms were distinguished, and what the differences between them were!

"The human body is finite, while Heaven and Earth are boundless. Entering the Dao and gathering scenery, the divine realm's spirit-image — these are the changes, the means, by which a martial artist moves from the finite toward the infinite!"

Qin Yun divided his attention, playing against himself while, on the other side, explaining the divine realm to Li Yuan!

(continuation of 【28】)

"The divine realm is a creation born of Qi and spirit merged together, containing a martial artist's lifelong cultivation. And the cultivation of entering the Dao is, in simple terms, plucking the scenery of Heaven and Earth to form one's own scenery!"

Qin Yun said lightly: "Locking souls across a thousand li, transforming true forms, killing across empty space, even treading the void on air… these seemingly inconceivable means are sustained by the divine realm and the spirit-image!"

Saying so, he paused briefly. Seeing Li Yuan look up, he continued: "The jianghu is not without tales of the weak defeating the strong, but from ancient times to now, it is rare for a Blood Exchange martial artist to slay a Grandmaster in reverse. Why is that?"

"The power of Heaven and Earth?"

Li Yuan answered!

"Correct — the power of Heaven and Earth!"

Qin Yun set down a piece; the game ended. As expected, the white pieces won.

(continuation of 【36】)

"Those of extraordinary talent, after Blood Exchange reaches Great Completion, may be several times, even a dozen or more times, stronger than those of the same rank. But a martial artist who has entered the Dao moves with wondrous sights at every turn — mere flesh and blood are hard to contest!"

Qin Yun set down the chess pieces!

Li Yuan deeply agreed. Even with his current talent, added to the various enhancements of the Soldier-Raising Strategy, he could not contest a Grandmaster head-on!

Of course, it might be that those epoch-defining Grandmasters in the True Inheritance Trial were simply too overwhelmingly powerful?

Li Yuan did not dwell on this. Given his character, the matter of the weak striking the strong would most likely never appear in his life!

"Senior, the grades of the divine realm and spirit-image you mentioned…"

Li Yuan posed the question tactfully!

This one, like the Dragon-Tiger Temple Master, when he spoke, went entirely by his own lead — straying from the topic and such, they paid it no heed at all!

As for whether the one opposite could understand…

"The spirit-image is formed relying upon the divine realm; the two are essentially one matter. As for the grades…"

Qin Yun was not surprised by Li Yuan's question. Throughout the ages, which outstanding youth, which outstanding young man, has not harbored the thought of being 'first under heaven'?

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"Those who enter the Dao are called Grandmasters — rare in every age. Take the Dragon-Tiger Temple as an example: in over two thousand years, at most no more than two or three hundred people. The Daoist Sects are the same; the world is the same!"

Qin Yun smiled: "There aren't many people, so naturally, the so-called grades of high and low — naturally, few would pay them any mind!"

Li Yuan nodded. The reason he had never heard of the grades of divine realms and spirit-images in the library was precisely this!

Two or three hundred people, spread across the long stretch of over two thousand years — how many could there be in a single generation?

Too few in number, so naturally it was hard to have a systematic talk of grades!

"This old man does happen to know a bit!"

Qin Yun stroked his long beard. He did have some measure of the desire to teach others; over the years, the disciples and followers he had instructed were in truth not few!

"This old man once saw a similar explanation in a secret ground. The spirit-image divine realm begins with 'Mortal'!"

"Mortal?"

Li Yuan's heart stirred slightly!

"As you think — the grades of this divine realm spirit-image share quite a few similarities with Body Transformation. After Mortal, comes Spirit!"

Qin Yun stood up, paced beneath the old tree, and explained: "What is 'Mundane'? What one commonly sees is Mundane! The Mundane-grade spiritual manifestation divine realm, as the name suggests, uses the most common grass, trees, stones, and flowers!"

"One mountain, one stone, one blade of grass, one tree — those who gather such scenery are 'Mundane'!"

This, now, was intuitive!

Li Yuan noted it in his heart and asked: "Then the Spirit-grade would be gathering from wondrous, perilous places like 'Wind Thunder Valley' and 'Fire Dragon Mouth'?"

"Not bad!"

Qin Yun nodded: "However, this division is not absolute. A single blade of grass or tree is naturally Mundane, but if grass and trees gather into a forest, a mountain, rivers, then naturally it also belongs to 'Spirit.'"

"Like this?"

Li Yuan's thoughts churned within!

Over these past few years, he had indeed seen quite a few spiritual manifestations and divine realms — Star Picking Tower Master's bronze pagoda, Old Long's 'Dragon Elephant Vajra Heaven,' Long Long Daozhu's Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon!

Nie Lao Dao's Pure Yang Sword…

"Your family's Long Long Daozhu cultivates Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon, gathering the nine-heavens' astral wind and clouds, gathering grass, trees, mountains, and stones as mountains — naturally Spirit-grade!"

Qin Yun knew what he was thinking and pulled out the Three Heroes of Dragon and Tiger

as examples: "Nie Xianshan gathers many battlefields into his divine realm, using it to nurture his sword, so his Pure Yang Sword also belongs to Spirit-grade. Of course. Within Spirit-grade there are also upper and lower divisions — compared to Long Long Yingchan, he is a notch inferior!"

"As for Long Xi Xiang…"

Li Yuan looked up!

"That little monk is one with ambition. He cultivates the form of dragon and elephant, and gathers the intent of vajra, but, to carve out a piece of 'heaven'…"

Qin Yun shook his head!

Heaven…

Li Yuan's heart trembled slightly. According to this one's words, Old Long's divine realm spiritual manifestation, in terms of grade, was actually above Long Long Daozhu's?

"Also Spirit-grade?"

Li Yuan inquired!

"Mundane is a single scene, Spirit is the gathering of many scenes. Long Xi Xiang harbors ambition, but he has not exceeded this category either. As for this old man…"

Qin Yun paused slightly — this kid was somewhat lacking in manners. After all this circling around, he hadn't taken the initiative to ask about his own divine realm!

"Your divine realm?"

Li Yuan caught on and hurriedly asked!

"This old man gathers the qi of utmost firmness and pure yang, taking 'Great Sun' as form, taking 'Great Sun' as scene — it belongs to the third grade, Heaven-grade."

Heaven-grade.

Li Yuan's heart jolted, yet he felt something was a little odd!

Star Picking Tower and the imperial court were irreconcilable foes; for a thousand years they had constantly assassinated kings and emperors. But this one's spiritual manifestation looked strikingly like the legendary Dayun Grand Ancestor Pang Pang Wenlong!

Ancient texts recorded that Pang Pang Wenlong cultivated the Great Sun Golden Form —

when he struck with full force,

it was as if nine suns hung across the sky. With this, he swept through his era without a peer, and was hailed as a Supreme-Grade Grand Master!

This kid is a bit boring!

Standing with hands behind his back, not receiving Li Yuan's shocked and awestruck gaze, Qin Yun instantly felt it was dull. Figuring the time was about right, he timely ended the topic!

"The monks of Xinyi Sect are preparing to return to the sect. You

pack up and go down the mountain with them. When you reach Leiyin Great Continent, this old man will naturally contact you…"

"Leiyin Great Continent?"

Li Yuan still had quite a few questions, but before he could open his mouth, he had already been kicked out of the divine realm!

Buzz— the light and shadow dispersed, and the bronze pagoda gradually revealed itself!

At the pagoda's peak, Qin Li Shixian frowned: "You're still not returning to the tower?"

"Long Long Yingchan has done something major; there may still be some twists. Since this old man has agreed to him, naturally I must stay and keep an eye on things!"

Qin Yun landed atop the pagoda, gave a slight nod. "Breaking before establishing also has its logic. Through this tempering, your divine realm has condensed considerably… A pity — if you could, like Long Xi Xiang, stubbornly endure for several decades, there might be hope for 'Heaven-grade'!"

"Several decades…"

To this, Qin Li Shixian truly had no way to respond. If she had to bear a knife in her heart for several decades, she'd rather be killed outright!

She decisively changed the subject: "You think that big monk Long Xi Xiang's divine realm spiritual manifestation has hope for Heaven-grade?"

Regarding the grades of spiritual manifestations, she naturally knew as well!

"If he could pull out that knife himself, it would be about right. As things stand now, naturally it's quite a bit short!"

Qin Yun shook his head, somewhat regretful: "Wan Wan Zhuliu uses people to sharpen his blade, and also tempers others. Not just him — that Silkworm Daoist, that Mad-Head Monk, if they could pull the knife from their own hearts, they might not be without the possibility of further progress!"

"That knife also has to be pullable."

Qin Li Shixian was not moved by his words in the slightest. Over the past eleven years, she had clashed with that blade intent countless times; her divine realm had nearly been beaten apart!

Though unwilling in her heart, she was also very clear: without a tremendous opportunity or fortune, relying on herself, she could not pull out Wan Wan Zhuliu's blade intent!

As things stood, the Silkworm Daoist would be no exception!

"Man's fate lies in his own hands!"

Qin Yun said no more, and instead instructed: "You go down the mountain with this kid, guide him back to Huishan. This old man will stay a while longer — having agreed to someone, naturally one must follow through!"

Qin Li Shixian nodded. Over this half year, her injuries had greatly improved; if not for the old man holding her back, she would long ago have been unable to resist rushing back to kill!

"Mundane, Spirit, Heaven…"

In the room, Li Yuan digested what he had just heard!

Dragon Tiger Temple's library also had quite a few explanations about divine realms and spiritual manifestations, but as Qin Yun said, over these past few thousand years there had been too few Rudao Grand Masters — these things simply hadn't formed a system!

Counting them all up, there were only so few Grand Masters — how could one rank them?

"Ruins-sects like Yu Xuanjing Gate and Yangsheng Gate might have similar records?"