Chapter 440 - 411: A Despairing Predicament
"Why does the Upper Realm wage war against the Starry Skies?"
Gu Qingyang asked in a deep voice.
Demon Venerable Xuan Yin said, "For the Upper Realm, the Ten Thousand Races of the Starry Sky are nothing but blood nourishment. Long ago, the Upper Realm would periodically cleanse the Ten Thousand Races of the Starry Sky, using their flesh as nourishment, either to concoct top-tier elixirs, forge unmatched divine soldiers, or directly consume it for self-nurturing purposes.
After all, though weak in strength, the sheer number of the Ten Thousand Races in the Starry Sky ensures that the flesh of living creatures always contains myriad uses, unmatched by ordinary Heavenly and Earthly Treasures."
Demon Venerable Xuan Yin spoke with an indifferent tone, as if these events were perfectly normal in the Upper Realm.
Gu Qingyang fell silent.
He had considered many reasons for the Upper Realm’s war with the Starry Skies but hadn’t thought of this one.
The powerful beings of the Upper Realm regard the Ten Thousand Races of the Starry Sky like livestock, harvested periodically. It doesn’t even need to be said, such periodic harvesting must be incredibly bloody.
Soon.
The words sent by Demon Venerable Xuan Yin confirmed Gu Qingyang’s thoughts.
"Every time the Upper Realm cleanses the Lower Realm, they nearly annihilate ninety percent of living creatures, leaving only ten percent to naturally recuperate in the Starry Skies.
Of course, there are times when even all creatures are eradicated.
After all, the Starry Sky is vast. Given enough time, it will continuously birth new life; preserving a thin thread of bloodlines depends only on the swift or slow speed of procreation."
"Based on what you’ve said, the Upper Realm periodically purges the Starry Skies, so why then was the Path to Immortality severed?"
"Throughout endless ages, the Upper Realm has periodically cleansed the Starry Skies. During these countless ages, some top-tier strongmen did emerge from the Starry Skies but they couldn’t rival the Upper Realm.
Until fifty million years ago, a peerless hero appeared in the Starry Sky, forcibly traversed Path to Immortality, transformed into an Immortal, then quietly returned to the Starry Sky to cultivate. Astonishingly, in just ten million years, he ascended the Immortal Dao to reach the sixteenth-level Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal realm.
Along with another cleanse by the Upper Realm, that entity emerged, ambushing the strongmen of the Upper Realm, establishing the Taichu Immortal Court to gather all strongmen of the Starry Sky to jointly resist the Upper Realm.
Unfortunately, the deep foundation of the Upper Realm meant even a sixteenth-level Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal ended in failure.
Before his fall, that entity shattered Path to Immortality with great power, severing the connection between the Upper Realm and the Starry Skies, thereby preserving the Ten Thousand Races to this day."
Sixteenth level!
Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal!
Gu Qingyang’s expression slightly changed.
He had thought that the twelfth-level Demon Venerable Xuan Yin and the thirteenth-level True Martial Emperor were already strong enough, never imagining that a sixteenth-level powerhouse once appeared in the ancient past.
More importantly.
Even with the emergence of a sixteenth-level powerhouse, it still ended in defeat and destruction.
The strength of the Upper Realm is utterly unfathomable.
"Why must one breakthrough the Path to Immortality to surpass the tenth level?"
"Breaking through the tenth level is Mortal Transformation into immortality. Only the Upper Realm has enough power to transform a cultivator’s Mortal Body into an Immortal Body, as the end of Path to Immortality is the closest proximity to the Upper Realm, making it rich in the energy needed for transformation.
Once Mortal Transformation, cultivators’ bodies become immortal, allowing them communication with the power of the Upper Realm, even within the Starry Sky, henceforth without needing to enter the Upper Realm for cultivation.
However, this cultivation speed is significantly slower compared to entering the Upper Realm."
"From what you’ve described, when Path to Immortality existed in the past, several strongmen entered the Upper Realm to cultivate. When these strongmen acted upon the Starry Sky from the Upper Realm, didn’t anyone intervene?"
"Because they all died."
"Died?"
Gu Qingyang’s expression shifted.
Demon Venerable Xuan Yin laughed coldly, "Path to Immortality, Mortal Transformation into immortality is fundamentally a dead end. The beings of the Starry Sky never had the qualification to enter the Upper Realm, or rather the Upper Realm never intended for the Starry Skies’ beings to enter it.
Anyone who achieves Mortal Transformation into immortality and steps into the Upper Realm is immediately detected and completely destroyed and devoured by Upper Realm strongmen.
Only those who turn back at the last minute are granted the opportunity to survive.
Just survival for a while longer, since these strongmen are the prime targets during the Upper Realm’s purges."
The conversation reached this point.
Gu Qingyang finally understood what the Upper Realm truly was.
So long as Path to Immortality existed.
The Starry Sky was an Upper Realm’s pasture, the Ten Thousand Races its livestock, harvested upon reaching a certain growth.
The more powerful the livestock within, the more they become the Upper Realm’s target.
Eons ago, a peerless powerhouse emerged from the pasture, reaching the sixteenth-level that the Starry Sky had never seen before, but ultimately also ended in failure.
However.
Before his demise, he severed Path to Immortality, cutting off the link to the heavens, providing the Starry Sky’s Ten Thousand Races with a brief respite, but simultaneously smothering their sole hope.
Without Path to Immortality.
All cultivators in the Starry Sky are halted at pre-tenth level, condemned to never reach the tenth level.
Not reaching the tenth level.
Means not achieving immortality.
Even a ninth-level powerhouse has but a meager few thousand years of lifespan, after which they turn to dust.
Genuine immortality requires renewing Path to Immortality, but once it reappears, Upper Realm strongmen will inevitably descend again.
Frankly speaking.
The current Starry Sky is a prison encapsulating everyone inside.
Those imprisoned face only two outcomes: either grow old and die within or break free but get slain by those outside the prison, with no third option.
After a long pause.
Gu Qingyang sighed, "It truly makes the situation in the Starry Sky seem utterly despairing."
"Whether Starry Skies or Upper Realm, it’s survival of the fittest, an unchanging ancient truth; the feeble Starry Skies becoming the Upper Realm’s pasture, no one can alter this fate.
Even the sixteenth-level Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal failed back then, others hold even less chance of success.
Moreover, ancient strongmen sealed in the Starry Sky are more than just me alone. Others too might awaken, and once they do, their primary aim will be renewing Path to Immortality, inviting Upper Realm strongmen once more.
At that time, it will spell the end of the Starry Sky."
Speaking to this point.
Demon Venerable Xuan Yin gazed at Gu Qingyang with eyes suddenly full of conceit.
"The Ancient Celestial Demon Clan is a powerful race of the Upper Realm, teeming with elite strongmen. If you are willing to submit to our clan, I can mercifully offer you a chance to live.
Otherwise, when Upper Realm strongmen arrive, death is your only path.
Even if Path to Immortality cannot be continued, your fate remains eternal imprisonment within the Starry Sky, barring you from witnessing a higher landscape, how even more pitiful would that be?"