Chapter 457 - 376: First Arrival (Part 2)
Xun Daoist led him to the window, looking towards the stone tower soaring into the clouds on the west side of the Daoist Academy.
The tower was built with gray-white rocks, each level surrounded by different Dao Principle radiance, truly the sacred ground of Yun State Daoist Academy, "Mystical Tower."
"While chatting with me just now, Daoist Guang Yuan mentioned that Daoist Life-Annihilating recently broke through the twelfth layer of Star Tower. This Star Tower corresponds to the levels of our Mystical Tower, and you should know what this implies."
"The twelfth layer of Mystical Tower..."
Chen Xihua’s breath suddenly halted; he knew well the difficulty of Mystical Tower—when he first joined the academy, he barely broke through the fourth layer!
In the centuries that followed, he mastered the Integration Secret Technique and received meticulous guidance from Xun Daoist, a late-stage Void Refining Great Power. He then barely broke through two more layers, now stuck at the sixth layer for fifty years.
Xun Daoist once predicted that if he could maintain such progress, he would surely comprehend the Dao Domain and advance to Void Refining within three thousand years, which was already remarkable among his peers.
But the twelfth layer...
"I recall that Master Xun only reached the thirteenth layer..."
A thought uncontrollably flashed in his mind, which Chen Xihua quickly suppressed, as Master Xun treated him well, and he should not be disrespectful.
Xun Daoist stroked his beard and sighed, his eyes full of admiration:
"When I reached the twelfth layer, I had been cultivating for thirty-seven thousand years, while your friend is only a few thousand years old now."
"Not long ago, I heard Dharma Master praise your friend, calling him the hope of the younger generation, most likely to condense the Dharma Seed and impact the Integration Realm."
"Condense the Dharma Seed..."
Chen Xihua gasped, as he had not yet comprehended the Dao Domain, nor advanced to Void Refining and Integration Realm; it was unimaginable.
Xun Daoist patted his back, speaking earnestly:
"You have past interactions with him, this is a tremendous opportunity. If there’s a chance in the future, you should engage with him frequently."
Chen Xihua nodded, "I understand, Master!"
...
The void at the edge of Royal Heaven Domain was originally a silent darkness.
Suddenly, waves of pale golden ripples spread in the void, and a light bridge interwoven from billions of star trajectories descended with a roar.
Countless time-space images flowed on both sides of the light bridge, with glimpses of mountains, rivers, and seas from dozens of domains rapidly passing by.
At the end of the light bridge, a mysterious figure slowly emerged, it was Chen Sheng.
The star trajectory light bridge faded behind him, leaving only a trace of starry Dao Rhyme merging into the void.
Chen Sheng sensed the yet-to-settle mana fluctuations within him, genuinely sighing:
"Transmitting across dozens of domains, such a technique of Master is truly earth-shattering."
Void Refining and Integration appear only a step apart, but actually worlds apart, with a gap far larger than that between Chen Sheng and mortals.
The former still cultivates the Heaven and Earth Dao Principle, while the latter has already condensed the Dharma Seed, surpassing the Heaven and Earth Dao Principle.
...
Next, Chen Sheng looked ahead to see two gigantic scorching suns suspended in the void billions of miles away.
The sun on the left was crimson, burning with fierce flames, intermingled with golden Dao Rhyme runes.
The sun on the right was dark red, its surface covered with black cracks, emitting a heavy gravitational field.
The two suns circled each other, colliding to create sparks that, during their fall, transformed into streams of law light nourishing the space below.
Under the dual suns’ illumination, countless Secret Realm islands floated in the void, varying in size, some as large as continents, others only allowing space for a single cave abode.
The island surfaces were covered with rich Spiritual Qi, some enveloped in colorful miasma, where glimpses of rare flowers and herbs blooming could be seen.
"Is this Chongli Heaven? Truly a wonder between two realms."
Chen Sheng’s heart stirred, starry light appeared around him, and his figure turned into a stream of light, rushing towards the fantastic space.
Passing through a transparent barrier woven from the Dao Principles of two realms, Chen Sheng felt a pause around him.
He quickly activated the Circulation Primordial Magnet Immortal Garb, fully restraining his breath, becoming an ordinary Spirit Light, merging into the void of Chongli Heaven.
...
Half a month later, Chen Sheng arrived at Dongming Prefecture at Chongli Heaven’s border, with a gigantic city beneath his feet.
City walls built from black basalt, inscribed with dense runes, emitted a mighty pressure.
Chen Sheng’s figure appeared outside the city gate, now transformed into a swordsman in green robes, with an ancient longsword slung at his waist, his aura restrained, seemingly no different from the cultivators coming into the city.
Entering the city with the crowd, he found streets lined with a variety of shops, their signs slightly different from those in the Spirit Realm.
Some shops sold stones imbued with Taiyi Realm’s fiery charm, others displayed rare flowers and herbs from the Spirit Realm, while passing cultivators wore a mix of attire.
There were cultivators from the Taiyi Realm and the Spirit Realm, and even some with features from both realms, apparently born locally in Chongli Heaven.
Chen Sheng walked slowly down the street, spreading his Yang Spirit thought, discreetly observing the surrounding cultivators.
"These are the native cultivators of Taiyi Realm; their cultivation system is indeed different from the Spirit Realm."
"Mortal Transformation, Primordial Spirit, Longevity, Opening, Creation, Transcendence, each realm divided into twelve layers, the names much grander than those of the Spirit Realm."
Chen Sheng pondered the cultivation system of Taiyi Realm as informed by Dharma Master Hong Jue:
"The twelve layers of Longevity correspond to the twelve tribulations of Void Refining."
"Opening Realm corresponds to Integration, Creation Realm corresponds to Crossing the Tribulation, Transcendence Realm corresponds to Mahayana; I wonder how Taiyi Realm’s cultivators in Transcendence Realm compare to Spirit Realm’s Mahayana cultivators?"
"Since they’re both from the Grand Thousand World, they should be similarly matched."
"For me, perhaps gathering some Taiyi Realm cultivation texts and studying them could yield insights; Master had me come for training, maybe this is also the reason."
He meditated inwardly, using his Yang Spirit thought to perceive and distinctly distinguish the different cultivators’ realms.
Those with fiery, yet mundane and impure, breaths belonged to the Mortal Transformation Realm, corresponding to Golden Core and lower realms in the Spirit Realm.
Those with solid Primordial Spirits and formidable Divine Techniques were from the Primordial Spirit Realm, akin to Nascent Soul and Divinity Transformation in the Spirit Realm.
A few with vast ocean-like breaths, showing hints of completion in their physical form, were in the Longevity Realm, parallel to Void Refining Realm in the Spirit Realm.
In a teahouse along the street, several cultivators were loudly discussing recent Secret Realm developments, and Chen Sheng slowed his pace, listening closely.
"Did you hear? Sect Master Liefeng from the Blazing Sun Sect broke through to the eighth layer of the Longevity Realm, and is now leading a team to the ’Dual Sun Secret Realm’ to treasure hunt!"
"So what, the wandering Daoist from the Spirit Realm isn’t weak either, he’s at the seventh layer of the Longevity Realm and reputedly excels in Void Secret Techniques!"
Chen Sheng nodded gently; Dongming Prefecture, as the outskirts of Chongli Heaven, had its strongest at the seventh and eighth layers of Longevity Realm, yet with his six-tribulation Void Refining power, he could comfortably settle here.