Translator: CinderTL
Buzz!
The space shifted!
When Li Chunjun felt the surrounding Spatial Laws once again stabilize, he found himself inside the Profound Yellow List's inner space.
Liu Yu stood before him, her expression a mixture of surprise and admiration.
"The fact that you cultivated the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method to the fourth layer is already astonishing. I never imagined that, as a Primordial Spirit, you could withstand the combined assault of four Void Refining cultivators and emerge unscathed... In a one-on-one fight, you'd even have the power to directly kill those Divine Lords and Demon Lords!"
Divine Lords and Demon Lords were the titles the Demon God race used for Seventh-Rank beings within their clans. Above them were God-Kings and Demon Kings, the elite Seventh-Rank cultivators of the Demon God race, capable of rivaling Human Void Refining cultivators.
The Pure World Divine Lord, who had left a Dao legacy in the Azure Star Minor Realm, was a Divine Lord. The God King of Ending, who had triggered the Starquake in the Azure Sea Domain, causing most of the realm region to be destroyed, was a being capable of slaying Human Void Refining cultivators. Even General Xuan Mi of Frigid Jade Fortress would be at a disadvantage against him.
"It's a bit regrettable, but I'll soon reach a new level of power," Li Chunjun said. "There's no need to risk my life fighting these Divine Lords and Demon Lords right now."
"In the current world," Liu Yu, an Artifact Spirit, said with a hint of regret, "there has never been a record of a Primordial Spirit directly killing a Void Refining cultivator, let alone a Divine Lord or Demon Lord! If you could truly achieve this, your name, Li Chunjun, would be etched into the annals of the Human Race!"
Li Chunjun's expression remained calm.
He didn't need such fame.
Moreover...
"I snatched seven Profound Yellow Dao Fruits from their hands right in front of so many Void Refining cultivators and Dharma Manifestations. Their retaliation later won't care whether I'll be remembered for a thousand years."
"Actually, it's not bad at all," Liu Yu conceded, no longer pressing the issue. "To have fought your way out of a siege by Void Refining cultivators, Divine Lords, and Demon Lords from the Four Races, even severely injuring a Seventh-Rank Myriad Transformations Race member—such a feat is already unprecedented. It's just that without killing a Seventh-Rank cultivator, the impact ultimately lacks a certain punch."
Li Chunjun shook his head.
He directly took out seven mature and one unripe Profound Yellow Dao Fruits.
"Is the grotto-heaven ready?"
"Of course."
Liu Yu handed Li Chunjun a bracelet.
Li Chunjun took the bracelet and scanned it with his Divine Sense, immediately discovering a vast space within, spanning nearly sixty thousand miles in length and width.
Unlike spatial artifacts like Storage Bracelets or storage rings, the environment inside this grotto-heaven closely resembled that of a Lesser Thousand World. Not only did it possess a normal ecosystem, but with the infusion of energy, it could even generate celestial bodies like the sun, moon, and stars.
Of course, the effectiveness of these celestial bodies would depend on the resources the grotto-heaven's owner invested in it in the future.
Overall, this grotto-heaven...
was currently at its most basic stage.
Apart from being able to accommodate living beings and possessing a normal ecosystem, it had little else to boast about.
Its spiritual energy density couldn't even compare to the Main Star of the Azure Sea Domain, let alone the Profound Yellow Grotto-Heaven.
Further upgrades would require astronomical resources.
However, Li Chunjun was already immensely satisfied with having such a grotto-heaven.
It could easily contain the Azure Star Minor Realm.
"Thank you," Li Chunjun said.
"No need to thank me. This is what you deserve," Liu Yu replied, then turned to Li Chunjun. "What will you do with the remaining four Profound Yellow Dao Fruits? I can help you exchange them all for Dao Pills."
"Dao Pills are good, but they can't compare to improving my cultivation," Li Chunjun said.
Liu Yu immediately understood his meaning. "You're planning to gather materials to forge your Dharma Manifestation, aren't you? The Scarlet Sky Sword's quality is already sufficient to serve as the core of a Shattered Void Dharma Manifestation. No matter how much you refine it, its upper limit is fixed."
Li Chunjun nodded.
The Void Refining realm has three major stages. The first stage focuses on cultivating Law Mysteries and Mind Power. He had already made significant progress in both areas.
The most crucial part was the second stage: crafting the Dharma Manifestation.
While the Void Storm Dharma Aspect was considered a powerful Dharma Manifestation, it still fell short of the level required to challenge a Supreme Sage. After all, this Dharma Manifestation excelled at area-of-effect attacks, and Liu Yu had intended the Scarlet Sky Sword to serve as its foundation when she forged it for Li Chunjun.
The final step: Supreme Sage...
This stage involves replacing the physical body's foundation with a Dharma Manifestation, undergoing myriad transformations, transcending the mortal realm, and officially evolving from a flesh-and-blood life form or an energy-based life form into a Law-based life form.
The ultimate form of this Law-based life depends entirely on the Dharma Manifestation.
"If I'm not mistaken, the strength of the Dharma Manifestation has no direct bearing on one's ability to achieve Dao Unification, does it?" Li Chunjun suddenly asked.
"You could say it does, or you could say it doesn't," Liu Yu replied.
"Why?" Li Chunjun was intrigued.
"Achieving Dao Unification is, of course, incredibly difficult! But in reality, regardless of which Great Dao one follows or which Dao Unification method one cultivates, the probability of breakthrough remains roughly the same. However, the strength of one's Dharma Manifestation does determine how much cultivation resources a Cultivator can acquire before Dao Unification. The more resources one accumulates, the greater the chances of eventually achieving Dao Unification, even if only by a small margin."
Liu Yu continued, "Take the Profound Yellow Dao Fruit as an example. Between a Supreme Sage so weak that their Dharma Manifestation can be defeated and a Supreme Sage who is invincible below Dao Harmonizer level, who do you think would be able to fully utilize such a precious cultivation resource?"
Li Chunjun understood Liu Yu's meaning.
While cultivating different Dharma Manifestations might not directly aid in achieving Dao Unification, greater strength translates to greater resource acquisition, which in turn increases the probability of breaking through to the next realm.
This was an immediate positive feedback loop.
But...
"The Dharma Manifestations and Sages below are fighting over resources without any rules, and the Dao Harmonizers above can't possibly be turning a blind eye, can they?" Li Chunjun asked.
Liu Yu didn't reply, only saying, "Since the Immortal Alliance took control of the Profound Yellow Great World, every Council-level Power has stationed a Supreme Sage here to maintain order. But in all these years, have you ever seen a Dao Harmonizer?"
Li Chunjun's lifespan was too short, and he hadn't even reached Void Refining yet, so Dao Unification was still far off.
But after a moment's thought...
It seemed there were few records of Dao Harmonizers in the Profound Yellow Great World at all.
Rumors of Dao Harmonizers from powers like the Profound Yellow Sect, the Taixu Sword Sect, and the Wu Ji Sect dated back at least tens of millions of years.
This phenomenon was indeed quite unusual.
After a long pause, Li Chunjun finally asked, "Is it because Dao Harmonizers can't enter the Great World to avoid triggering the Great Dao's backlash?"
"That's not it."
Liu Yu realized Li Chunjun's knowledge was limited, so she stopped playing coy and explained directly, "It's because Dao Harmonizers perceive time differently than we do."
"Perception of time..."
Li Chunjun vaguely sensed something.
"The Heavenly Court once circulated a saying: one day in the heavens equals one year on earth. In the laws of physics, when a being reaches the speed of light, time itself approaches a standstill. The operation of the Dao, however, transcends even the speed of light."
Liu Yu's gaze held a hint of uncertainty. "Dao Harmonizers merge their bodies with the Dao, entering a Dao Realm. Mortals call it the Great Dao River. All Dao Harmonizers strive against the current, racing toward the source of the Dao. In a sense, this state can be likened to a world infinitely close to the speed of light. A brief moment of enlightenment there might translate to thousands or tens of thousands of years passing in the outside world."
"The Great Dao River..."
Li Chunjun suddenly understood.
In truth, even Void Refining cultivators experienced something similar. Spending centuries or millennia mastering a single dao technique was perfectly normal. Those centuries or millennia were equivalent to dozens of generations of ordinary beings passing through the cycle of reincarnation.
"I've also heard another saying," Liu Yu continued. "On the same Dao, the difference in strength between Dao Harmonizers is absolute. A higher-ranking Dao Venerable holds an absolute advantage over a lower-ranking one, just as the upper reaches of a river can easily cut off the water supply to the lower reaches. It simply takes time."
Her tone grew slightly grave. "Therefore, once you achieve Dao Unification, you enter a state akin to the Dao Contention, where everyone strives to rise to the top!"
"Dao Contention!"
"Yes, the Dao Contention!"
Liu Yu nodded. "The reason Supreme Sovereigns are stronger than Dao Harmonizers isn't because their mastery of a particular Dao is superior. Some Supreme Sovereigns might even rank lower than Dao Harmonizers in the ecological niche of a single Dao! But they possess at least three Daos, leaving them with fewer weaknesses and making them harder to target!"
She added, "However, Dao Harmonizers and Supreme Sovereigns rarely engage in mortal combat. Because when you stop fighting, you risk being surpassed by other Dao Harmonizers, slipping from the upper echelons of the ecological niche to the middle or lower tiers!"
Li Chunjun recalled the saying that once a Dao Harmonizer is born, the Human Race officially recognizes them as a cosmic power.
Perhaps this was the reason.
Take the Divine Race as an example. It wasn't that the Human Race couldn't destroy them.
It was that...
No Human Void Refining was willing to stop and deal with the Divine Race's Dao Harmonizers.
"This is too cutthroat," Li Chunjun muttered.
He suddenly realized that the Dao Harmonizers...
It seemed rather tragic.
"The differing perceptions of time between Void Refining and Dao Unification cultivators, coupled with the unique survival and cultivation methods of Dao Harmonizers, means that many Void Refining cultivators might never encounter a single Dao Harmonizer in their entire lives. Their timelines simply never intersect. Therefore, a Void Refining cultivator's true opponent is only another Void Refining cultivator."
Liu Yu continued, "That's why those Great Sect Dharma Manifestations strive to widen the gap between the two realms at the Dharma Manifestation stage! That's why there even exist special entities like the Sovereign Dao Canon, which allows Supreme Sages to command the power of the Great Dao!"
She added, "Of course, commanding the Great Dao is different from Dao Harmonization. Both involve utilizing the Laws, but is a cultivator who has grasped a Law's mysteries truly the same as a peak Supreme Sage who has perfected that Law?"
Li Chunjun nodded.
This Artifact Spirit was once again recommending the Sovereign Dao Canon to him.
Was she suggesting that he, too, would never break through to Dao Harmonization and should instead cultivate the Sovereign Dao Canon to dominate the Void Refining realm?
"Exchange some Void Dao Pills and Destruction Dao Pills for me. As for the rest..."
Li Chunjun considered his next destination: the Immortal God Race. Located far beyond the Profound Yellow Great World, a life-saving weapon was essential.
He spoke, "Exchange the rest for a powerful special killing weapon!"
(End of the Chapter)
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