Chapter 1249: Nine Xuan Dao Realm
After the Bitter Bamboo Immortal had gone far away, Wu Yu emerged from the Floating Dreams Pagoda and stowed it away.
When he stepped onto the Green Lotus Sky for the first time, he felt the enormous difference.
The entire world had changed.
Wu Yu could entirely feel that this was a "higher" realm compared to any mortal realm, whether Greater or Lesser Realm.
By "higher," he meant a quantum leap in every last aspect, down to every last detail.
This level of difference was on a completely different magnitude from the leap between a Lesser to a Greater Realm.
For example, his body's feeling towards Qian Kun space. In the Lesser Realms, Wu Yu could feel that the Qian Kun space could not accommodate too many immortals. Perhaps it would even collapse entirely if there were too many immortals.
The Qian Kun space in the Greater Realms was more resilient than the Lesser Realms. But after today, he realized that it was only marginally stronger.
And at the sky palaces, even the low-level Green Lotus Sky was on a whole new plane of strength. The Qian Kun space here could bear billions of immortals. At least with Wu Yu's current strength, he could not even shake it the slightest bit, even if he tried his hardest.
It was just like how when he was a martial cultivator at the peak of his martial way, he could not have broken the Qian Kun space in the Jambu Realm.
That sort of helplessness against a sheer wall was the same.
Besides the Qian Kun space, the flowers and trees, dirt, water, and stones were also on a different level from the mortal realm. They were far superior. It was so exaggerated that a random blade of grass that Wu Yu picked up proved to have 13 spiritual marks on closer inspection.
In the mortal realm, the most elite immortal essences only had 10 spiritual marks. They would be refined into the best of immortal medicines.
And this 13-spiritual mark grass was everywhere. It was the most common thing in this world. Even the smallest bit of soil had spiritual marks on it.
Wu Yu already knew this about the sky palaces, but experiencing it himself was still disorienting. It was exactly as he dreamed sky palaces would be.
Sky palaces were so different from the mortal realm.
Compared to the mortal realm, there were also other staggering differences.
For example, there was no sun or moon in the sky palaces. Wu Yu lifted his head to see a huge shadow. That was the 73rd level of heaven, the Billowing Wave Sky.
For example, the entire Green Lotus Sky was shrouded in white immortal fog, which obscured one's vision. This was actually immortal qi, which formed the foundation of the 8,000 Sky Palaces.
Immortal qi was the accumulation of a lot of spiritual qi. Hundreds of thousands of units of spiritual qi were probably needed just to condense one unit of immortal qi.
At this time, the immortal qi filtered into the Floating Dreams Pagoda. When the two people within it started to cultivate with the immortal qi, it was like they had a permanent supply of immortal medicines.
Any mortal who breathed a single breath of immortal qi could probably live for a few hundred years extra.
At the low-level Green Lotus Sky, the immortal qi was not considered dense. But for Wu Yu and the others, it was miraculous.
The endlessly wide Green Lotus Sky looked extremely mysterious with immortal fog everywhere. Far away in the distance, there was an immortal city, floating in the air. It looked about the size of the Immortal's Capital, comparable to a small country. That should be Qingyuan City, which Wu Yu and the others had just come out of, one of the more than 2,000 immortal cities in the Green Argus Border Region.
As for the immortals and the 8,000 Sky Palaces, Wu Yu already knew a lot, but the other two were very confused.
"How do you get to the Pu Yuan Sky Palace?"
Wu Yu said, "In the center of each level of heaven, there is a place called the Well of Eternal Life. One can pass through the 8,000 levels of heaven through the Well of Eternal Life. The higher you go, the more strength you will need. Given my current strength, reaching the Pu Yuan Sky Palace should be no problem."
The Full Moon of Nanshan was speechless. "What a magical thing. Doesn't this mean that the 8,000 levels of heaven are like pieces of meat, connected by the Well of Eternal Life like one long skewer?"
"That's one way of looking at it." The 8,000 levels of heaven were layered one on top of the other, and the Well of Eternal Life connected them. It was indeed like a skewer.
Speaking of the Well of Eternal Life, it hid the deepest secrets of the 8,000 Sky Palaces, which Wu Yu did not know.
Next, Wu Yu would, of course, head for the Well of Eternal Life and to the Pu Yuan Sky Palace.
Then he would kill the Ancient Emperor and take back his body! He would not wait a single moment!
He roughly knew which direction the Well of Eternal Life was in. He just had to head for the center of the Green Lotus Sky.
Each day, countless immortals headed for the Well of Eternal Life, moving between the 8,000 Sky Palaces.
Of course, being here, one had to know the many systems throughout the 8,000 Sky Palaces, which were very different and more complex compared to the mortal realm.
"For example, immortal designs. Each immortal design is the amalgamation of 1 million spirit designs. Or more. The immortal designs of immortals are even more complicated, and need a higher level of mastery. After endless eons, they have refined it to a peak.
"There is a whole plethora of immortal design types. But basically, there are the immortal treasure immortal designs, talisman immortal designs, offensive immortal designs, and puppet and mechanism immortal designs. One more that the mortal domain does not have is immortal medicine immortal design. The immortal medicines of the mortal domain are all refined with inferior methods. To truly refine immortal medicines, one not only needs precious immortal essences as the base material, but also immortal medicine arts and immortal medicine immortal designs. When one introduces the immortal medicine designs into the immortal medicine, it then becomes true immortal medicine. Each true immortal medicine has at least 1 million spirit designs within."
Because immortal designs were each distinct, the number of spirit designs in the immortal design, the materials used, and various other factors of the refiner would result in different powers. This was the same for immortal treasures, true immortal medicines, and immortal talismans. Even the simplest immortal talismans like Immortal Message Talismans and the Shining Scarlet Immortal Fire Talisman would vary greatly in their qualities. The immortal treasures that Wu Yu was currently using were considered low-quality immortal treasures, which were most common in the 8,000 Sky Palaces.
"Whether it's immortal treasures, true immortal medicines, or immortal talismans, if there are 10 million spirit designs inside, it comes from the Ancient Immortal Era and endured until today. It is even more terrifying, and therefore called ancient true immortal medicine, ancient immortal treasure, and ancient immortal talisman."
"What is the Ancient Immortal Era?" Ye Xixi asked.
Wu Yu said, "Roughly 10 yuan ago, which is more than 1 million years ago, the Jade Emperor laid down a new edict that from that moment on, it was the New Immortal Era. Which meant that any time before that became the Ancient Immortal Era. Ordinary spirit design legacies require time to cultivate, which is why many generations of perfection are required in order to create a 10 million immortal design. Therefore, immortal treasures might be very common, but the 10 million spirit design ancient immortal treasures are rarer. It is similar for ancient true immortal medicines and ancient immortal talismans."
For example, amongst the true immortal medicines, the simplest was the Immortal Recovery Pill, used to recover immortal energy. It was also used as currency. And another ancient true immortal medicine currency, the Dao Deepening Pill, was worth many times more than the Immortal Recovery Pill. Of course, the Ancient Emperor's riches had been deposited with Wu Yu's real body, and the immortals in the Great Ancient Ink Realm had been poor. Therefore, Wu Yu did not even have a single Immortal Recovery Pill on him. All he had was some immortal treasures that he could exchange for currency.
"It will take some time to go from here to the Well of Eternal Life. If I buy an immortal treasure warship, I can save a lot of effort. The immortals here all travel that way."
Channeling one's immortal energy into the immortal design on a warship saves a lot of energy. Therefore, Wu Yu decided to go to Qingyuan City to take a look. He had not yet seen any immortals since coming to the Green Lotus Sky.
A true eye-opening experience.
Along the way, he continued to tell the Full Moon of Nanshan and Ye Xixi about immortals.
For example, the Full Moon of Nanshan was curious about the cultivation realms of immortals.
After becoming immortal, it was first the Longevity Immortal Realm, where one cultivated the Longevity Immortal Art. This realm increased one's lifespan, immortal energy, and elevated one's immortal body. Afterwards?
He knew about the road of cultivation. What about the road of immortal cultivation? What was the future like? He wanted to know, and, of course, Ye Xixi did too.
The Great Ancient Ink Realm immortals only knew about the Longevity Immortal Realm. Wu Yu had only learned more after devouring the Ancient Emperor.
But the Ancient Emperor's own knowledge was incomplete, and so Wu Yu still had his doubts. But at least he could give them an answer.
He said, "After completing one's dao and becoming an immortal, one has an immortal spirit and an immortal body. Cultivating a Longevity Immortal Art to strengthen one's immortal body and increase one's lifespan - that's one of the most fundamental things of becoming an immortal. After becoming a 9-Yuan heavenly immortal level, one has nine yuan of life. That's virtually endless life, and one no longer has to fear death."
"But how does one cultivate after the Longevity Immortal Realm? Is 9-Yuan heavenly immortal the end point?" the Full Moon of Nanshan asked.
Wu Yu said, "Of course not. After becoming a 9-Yuan heavenly immortal, and one's lifespan is elevated to perfection, one must go through dao combination to reach the next cultivation level."
"What is dao combination?"
"The understanding that one gleaned in the mortal domain, the dao one had. Give it form, and convert it from a lower level to a higher level. Convert it from a spirit into something manifested in reality, and create an immortal dao mark. It will appear on the immortal spirit and change it to a dao spirit. The next cultivation level is known as the Nine Xuan Dao Realm."
"What do you cultivate in the Nine Xuan Dao Realm?"
Wu Yu said, "The Nine Xuan Dao Realm is a continuation of dao, but this dao is different from mortal dao. Mortal dao needs only one path. As for the Nine Xuan Dao Realm, each complete way of dao forms an immortal dao mark, which allows you to improve by one tier. When you have nine immortal dao marks, you have completed it. That would make you a 9-Xuan immortal with nine great ways of dao. You would be virtually almighty."
"When you first make dao a combination and enter the Nine Xuan Dao Realm, you are a 1-Xuan immortal. After combining dao again, you reach the next tier and become a 2-Xuan immortal? And so on?"
Wu Yu nodded.
He said, "Because everyone refines a different Longevity Immortal Art in the Longevity Immortal Realm, the foundations are different for individuals. It is very dependent on the Longevity Immortal Art. But for the Nine Xuan Dao Realm, it tests one's ability to comprehend dao. The test of dao can also result in great differences."
"Is 9-Xuan immortal the highest cultivation level in the 8,000 Sky Palaces?"
Wu Yu shook his head. "Probably not. One might have to reach the Immortal Lord Realm to be considered at the top."