Chapter 657 - 652: The Land of the Abyss
Lü Yang hid within the Sea of Light, silently observing the Little Realm Heaven before him. Surprise flickered in his eyes. ’So a Foundation Establishment Cultivator actually appeared here...’
A bloody glow stretched out as far as the eye could see.
Within the bloody glow, a young man wearing an Emperor’s Crown stood with one hand clasped behind his back. He held up his right hand, effortlessly catching a falling World Heaven Fragment in his palm.
The man’s Cultivation wasn’t low.
He was at Foundation Establishment Perfection. His surging Blood Qi condensed into a vast Divine Light that reached from the highest heavens to the deepest netherworld. His Position was nearly equal to that of the entire Little Realm Heaven.
’It’s my blood...’
Lü Yang raised an eyebrow, sensing familiar karmic links from the man. Clearly, he had only reached such a level of Cultivation by relying on Lü Yang’s blood.
What surprised Lü Yang, however, was that the man had no Abilities whatsoever—only that sky-piercing Blood Qi. This was clearly the result of the Little Realm Heaven’s uniquely deficient heritage. Without the support of Lü Yang’s blood forcibly elevating his Position, the man would likely be stuck at the Final-phase of Qi Refining, incapable of even reaching Foundation Establishment.
Even if he had, there would have been major problems.
’Without an orthodox heritage and with an insufficient Innate foundation, the Cultivators of this realm are clearly incapable of raising their Position. And yet, they’ve forcibly shouldered a powerful Position that isn’t theirs...’
The most direct consequence was a shortened lifespan.
’The people of this world seem to base their cultivation entirely on my blood. They’ll be short-lived because of it.’
’A cultivator at the Final-phase of Qi Refining has a lifespan of a hundred years at most. But under the pressure of that Position, it drops to about one year. It’s as fleeting as a flower that blooms for a single night—utterly meaningless.’
As he mulled this over, Lü Yang drew closer to the realm heaven.
The next second, however, a thought struck him.
’Hm... This place?’
With a flash of Splendid Light, Lü Yang pulled away from the realm heaven again, a look of astonishment in his eyes. He then split off a thread of his spiritual perception and sent it back in.
This time, he saw it clearly. His spiritual perception, which was ordinarily incredibly nimble and in constant flux, suddenly fell into a state of stillness upon approaching the realm heaven... No, it wasn’t stillness. Rather, its speed of operation had been inexplicably slowed by a factor of nearly ten thousand!
’A temporal concept!?’
Lü Yang’s eyes widened. He had never imagined he would see something so profound within a Little Realm Heaven. He then recalled his own actions from moments before:
’I didn’t notice anything wrong just now.’
’But in reality, my speed must have also been slowed by a factor of ten thousand... Yet to me, all my actions felt completely normal.’
Unbelievable!
Lü Yang’s eyes lit up as he instantly realized the profound mystery: within this Little Realm Heaven, one year in the outside world was likely equivalent to ten thousand years!
At that moment, Lü Yang grew even more curious.
’When did my blood fall into this place? It’s been a few years at most... but to the people of this realm, it might have been tens of thousands of years!’
It could even be longer!
After all, Lü Yang wasn’t certain if this temporal concept fluctuated. Tens of thousands of years was just a conservative estimate; hundreds of thousands of years wasn’t out of the question!
But soon, Lü Yang came to his senses and shook his head.
’No... It’s only a change in the perception of time, not a true slowing of time itself. It can’t be used to extend one’s lifespan, nor can it aid in cultivation.’
Indeed, within this realm heaven, five hundred years could feel like five million.
But in reality, one’s lifespan would still be five hundred years. One would only *feel* as though five million years had passed. Aside from providing some psychological comfort, it was meaningless.
The same was true for cultivation.
Because one’s cultivation speed slowed down along with one’s perception of time. An Ability that could be mastered in a single year outside might take ten thousand years inside this realm heaven.
What was the point?
’If there was any meaning to it at all, it was to give those on the verge of death from old age a bit of psychological comfort, allowing them to live out their final years in peace.’
At this thought, Lü Yang couldn’t help but shake his head, his initial excitement cooling. He promptly dispatched his spiritual perception, sending it flying toward the realm heaven. While he had no interest in the temporal concept enveloping the realm heaven, he was very curious about its source.
.......
RUMBLE!
With an earth-shattering roar, the Crowned Youth whom Lü Yang had seen earlier took a deep breath and completely finished Refining the crumbling World Heaven Fragment, absorbing it.
After a long moment, he let out a deep breath of Muddy Qi.
"What a magnificent Outer Heaven!"
"Even though I have ascended to the imperial throne, it was still such a struggle to capture it. If this Outer Heaven were allowed to fall into the mortal realm, it would surely spell another great disaster."
Hearing this, a youth in a Daoist Robe beside the Crowned Youth quickly stepped forward and declared, "Congratulations, Emperor Venerable! With this Outer Heaven as a material, we can finally begin Refining a peerless Emperor’s Weapon. Once you have the Emperor’s Weapon, the forbidden zones will surely lie dormant, and you will no longer need to worry about any turmoil, Emperor Venerable."
"It would only be a temporary solution."
The Crowned Youth shook his head, a deep worry clouding his eyes. "What good is being an Emperor Venerable? In the end, one cannot attain eternal life, much less become a True Immortal..."
"A True Immortal?"
The youth in the Daoist robe shook his head. "Talk of Immortals has existed since ancient times, but has anyone ever seen a True Immortal? It’s nothing more than a baseless myth."
"You have not become an Emperor Venerable, so you do not understand the mysteries involved." The Crowned Youth sighed. "True Immortals... they must exist! For the last one hundred thousand years, every Emperor Venerable has been keenly aware of this. It is only because our Cultivation is shallow and we are trapped in the mortal realm that we have not been able to meet a True Immortal. That is why the forbidden zones came to be..."
The Crowned Youth’s face was filled with emotion as he spoke.
For a moment, he seemed to be transported back to the day he became Emperor Venerable, the day his Blood Qi soared to the heavens and the myriad Daos sang in harmony. He saw it again—the single drop of blood that had fallen from the sky.
A single drop of blood had allowed him to become an Emperor Venerable!
The Crowned Youth could never forget the terrifying life force contained within that drop of blood. To this day, he could not believe what manner of Great Power its owner must have been.
He could think of no other explanation, save for an *Immortal*.
It was for this very reason that every Emperor Venerable firmly believed in the existence of *Immortals*. They exhausted their intellect and courage, pinning all their hopes on attaining immortality themselves.
At this thought, the Crowned Youth looked up again.
He pushed his vision to its limits, peering through the realm heaven’s barrier at the boundless darkness beyond. He thought to himself, ’If I cannot become an Immortal... this world is doomed to perish!’
Only by attaining immortality could he save his world!
While the Crowned Youth was lost in silent contemplation, the youth in the Daoist Robe and the crowd of disciples below bustled about, creating a lively scene.
Yet no one noticed. In the middle of the crowd, beside the Crowned Youth who should have been standing alone, an amiable-looking man had materialized out of thin air. He just stood there, silent and unseen. Neither the Crowned Youth nor anyone else was even aware of his presence.
But that was to be expected.
After all, as a Golden Core Perfected Lord, a mere thread of his spiritual perception was far beyond their notice. Heck, a fart from him could probably kill someone at Foundation Establishment Perfection. How could he possibly be detected by mere Lower Cultivators?
’Interesting.’
Lü Yang looked up at the sky, a surprised expression on his face. ’Just a drop of my blood, combined with this realm’s temporal concept, actually produced such a wondrous change.’
His gaze penetrated deep into the realm heaven.
What he saw was a mass of flowing blood that had completely merged with the realm heaven. The rising Blood Qi had even replaced the realm’s Spiritual Qi.
’The mortals of this realm cultivate their Blood Qi, and all are short-lived.’
’Their lives are as fleeting as a mayfly’s, lasting but a day. Yet, because time is slowed here, it doesn’t seem like a problem from their own perspective.’
’Furthermore, the life force in the blood has made their reproduction extremely easy and rapid. This, in turn, has prevented them from being crushed by the pressure of my blood and driven to extinction... The fact that this realm heaven has maintained such vigorous vitality to this day is nothing short of a miracle!’
The more Lü Yang thought about it, the more amazed he became.
Because a "miracle" could be a coincidence, but it could also be intentional. ’Without this drop of my blood, what would have ultimately become of this realm heaven?’
’Destruction. It would have undoubtedly been destroyed.’
Yet, with his blood, this realm heaven not only gave birth to a powerful cultivation civilization but, through their karmic links, had even drawn him here.
The realm heaven’s life-and-death crisis was a trivial matter for him to solve.
In this way, a realm heaven that should have been doomed had found a path to survival out of nowhere... With such karmic links at play, Lü Yang found it hard to believe it was a pure coincidence.
’I’ll watch a while longer.’
Lü Yang calmed his mind and focused. Although he was, strictly speaking, just toying with minnows in this realm heaven, he remembered the lesson he’d learned from the Bhagavat and adopted a solemn attitude.
’Even when you’re just toying with minnows, you have to give it your all!’
Besides, if a Great Power truly was behind this, pulling at the strings of these karmic links, then a patient investigation was certain to yield significant gains!