Just as Li Yan began to sink into the pool, a slight crack appeared in Strategist Ji's wooden expression on the shore. "He managed to hold on until he absorbed two-thirds of the medicinal power, the same as the last disciple. But if that's the case, with his Miscellaneous Spirit Root aptitude, it will be even more difficult for him to refine the medicinal power to reach the first layer of Qi Condensation. No matter what, I still need to give it a try. I just hope it doesn't end like last time."
He stopped hesitating. Pushing off the ground with his feet, his figure leaped into the air. His arms stretched out parallel to the ground, his large sleeves billowing in the wind, like a black roc gliding towards the surface of the pool. The moment he neared the water, he shook one sleeve towards the black gas that was still swirling and writhing on the surface. With a series of popping sounds, the ten wisps of black gas had dissolved into fine strands of black smoke and scattered. He then swooped down in the air, and his other hand reached out from his sleeve, grabbing for the already sinking Li Yan under the water. With a splash, he had grabbed Li Yan by the chest and pulled him out of the water. He then tapped the surface of the water with the tip of his foot, and his figure twisted in the air, carrying Li Yan towards the shore. The unconscious Li Yan seemed weightless in his hands. His figure, like a wisp of light smoke, had already floated to the shore. These few movements were swift, light, and nimble.
What he did not notice was that when he had swept away the black gas on the water with his left hand, the strange book that he usually kept hidden in his sleeve but always held tightly had, with the force of that sweep, shot out a ray of golden light. It had then mixed with the dissipating black smoke on the surface of the water. It passed through the black smoke and, at an extremely fast speed, flew towards Li Yan's body as he was being lifted up, and vanished in a flash, leaving no trace.
After landing on the shore, Strategist Ji laid Li Yan flat on the ground. He then quickly formed several hand seals in front of his chest and pointed at Li Yan's abdomen. A few points of green light shot into him.
Li Yan's body trembled, then returned to a state of stillness. Seeing this, Strategist Ji couldn't help but frown. He then formed several more hand seals and once again sent more green light shooting into Li Yan's abdomen. But this time, Li Yan's body didn't even react.
Strategist Ji's brow furrowed tightly. He quickly walked to Li Yan's side, bent down, and felt for a breath under Li Yan's nose. His brow furrowed even deeper. He muttered to himself, "This is strange. The man is not dead, but he cannot be awakened. Last time, just one infusion of spirit qi was enough to wake him. Why is it like this this time?" He stood up straight, placed a hand on his forehead, and began to think.
At this moment, inside Li Yan's body, fire poison was raging, destroying his meridians wherever it went. Just as his life force was on the brink of extinction, another inexplicable force suddenly emerged within him. This force was immense, like a rushing tide, cool and turbulent. It passed through every part of his body at an extremely fast speed. The meridians that had been burned and damaged by the fire poison were now recovering at a horrifying rate after being washed over by this tide. And the fire poison was being pushed to a corner of his body by this immense force. When Strategist Ji's few points of green light had just entered his body, his mind had cleared for a moment. These dozens of days of hard training had already formed an instinct in him. His body was just about to sit up to refine today's medicinal power when a sharp shout echoed in his mind. "Do you want to die?" His mind buzzed, and he lost all consciousness.
An unknown amount of time passed, maybe a short while, maybe a long time. Li Yan slowly woke up. Just as he was about to open his eyes, a voice slowly sounded in his mind. "Don't open your eyes yet, or you might not be far from death." Li Yan froze. He wanted to ask a question but found he couldn't make a sound. In his panic, he tried to open his eyes to look around but found that he couldn't open them either. "I told you not to open your eyes, but you wouldn't listen. Now I have to expend what little power I have left." That voice came again, filled with a trace of fatigue.
Li Yan was greatly alarmed. 'Am I already dead?' he thought. 'Is hell this dark? I can't see, and even speaking is a luxury.' Just then, his mind spun, and then many images flashed quickly before his eyes. When he could finally see clearly, he found himself floating above a small black lake. The sky was also dark and heavy. The small lake was calm, without wind or waves, giving a sense of oppression. He could neither fall down nor rise higher into the sky. He could only stand there.
As he looked around in a daze, the space before him suddenly began to blur and distort. The distorted image was made up of various black lines twisting, intertwining, and overlapping. Finally, they slowly formed a blurry human figure. After the figure formed, it slowly walked towards him, and the blurry figure gradually became clearer. Li Yan could also gradually make out the appearance of the blurry figure. It was an old man, tall, with a head of snow-white hair that fell to his shoulders. His face was stern and gaunt, his eyes like deep pools, unfathomable, as if they could see through a thousand years, piercing through the vastness of time and space. He wore a long gray robe, but his face was haggard. As he walked, an imposing aura pressed down on him, making him feel unsteady, his body swaying a few times.
Li Yan gave a wry smile. 'Is this the Avici Hell that the Buddhist scriptures talk about? Below should be the Sea of Asuras of hell, and this must be the soul-reaping messenger. But at least he doesn't look scary.'
The old man slowly walked up to him, his eyes fixed on him, a cold air emanating from him. The space seemed to freeze. He then slowly said, "If I had woken up a moment later, you would be dead."
Li Yan was stunned and couldn't help but say, "Lord Messenger, am I not already dead? Otherwise, why would I have come to this place of Avici Hell?"
After speaking, he was even more surprised. When had he been able to speak? Wasn't he unable to speak just now? His soul must have already left his body. What was speaking now must be his soul.
The old man was stunned to hear this, but a smile appeared on his gaunt face. "You think you are a soul? Well, you are right, but also not."
Li Yan was hesitant. "What do you mean, Lord Messenger? I was just in the valley of Green Mountain Pass, and suddenly I came to this place. If my soul wasn't reaped, what else could it be?"
The old man heard this, and the corner of his mouth curled up in a playful smile. "If I told you that you are now in your own Sea of Consciousness, or in other words, in your own spiritual space, would you believe me?"
Li Yan's expression was one of astonishment. "Sea of Consciousness? My spiritual space?" He had never heard of a Sea of Consciousness, but he understood a little about his own spiritual space. When he cultivated, he used meditation and spiritual power to drive his qi with his will, so spiritual power was also what the martial world often called 'intent.'
"My body has appeared in the thoughts of my own mind?" Li Yan had a strange expression on his face.
"You could say that. The Sea of Consciousness is a space of intent formed by spiritual power. It's just that ordinary people cannot enter their own or others' Sea of Consciousness. Right now, I have brought your consciousness into your Sea of Consciousness, forming a projection of your body. So, it's also correct to say that a wisp of your soul is here," the old man said with a smile.
Li Yan looked incredulous. His body appearing in his own head? What kind of logic was that? The old man saw Li Yan's dazed and confused look and gave him a kind smile. He then said, "My time is limited now, so I can only briefly explain it to you. Then I have more important things to tell you. This Sea of Consciousness is a person's spiritual power space, or you can call it a space of intent. The stronger a being's spiritual power, the vaster their spiritual space. However, this space is illusory and cannot be touched by ordinary people. But for cultivators, they can observe their own, and even others', Sea of Consciousness. The vaster the Sea of Consciousness, the more powerful the spiritual attacks they can unleash. Of course, the Sea of Consciousness has many other uses, but you will have to learn about them slowly in the future."
Li Yan felt as if he were lost in a fog. What was all this? Spiritual attacks? What was that? And now cultivators? Immortals? Weren't those just things from legends?
He was about to ask more questions, but the gray-robed old man seemed to see his confusion and said directly, "I know you have many questions, but my time is short, so I can only tell you the important things. In the future, if you have the opportunity to join an immortal sect, you will slowly learn about these many things," the old man said with a look of fatigue.
Hearing this and seeing the old man's appearance, Li Yan thought for a moment and then stopped asking questions. He stood there quietly, waiting for the old man to continue. The old man saw his expression, nodded slightly, and began to explain. And as the gray-robed old man narrated, a magnificent and turbulent scroll of a picture that Li Yan had never seen or heard of in his life unfolded before his eyes, leaving him dumbfounded and speechless.
Are there immortals in the world? The answer is: yes. Immortals have existed since ancient times. After Pangu separated heaven and earth and Nuwa mended the heavens, the world was divided into several layers: the Mortal Realm, the Spirit Immortal Realm, and the True Immortal Realm.
These realms exist in ascending order. At the same time, there are many small realms within each major realm, such as the Netherworld, the Demon Realm, and even a Spirit Plant Realm where only plants can survive. They can move and think just like humans and other living beings, controlling their own spaces and so on.
The Mortal Realm is the lowest realm. In the beginning, it was inhabited by ordinary mortals and low-level demonic beasts. Their abilities were ordinary, but their reproductive capacity was extremely strong.
The Spirit Immortal Realm is located between the Mortal Realm and the True Immortal Realm. Many of the beings in this realm are descendants of humans, demonic beasts, and other races from the ancient primordial era. The spiritual qi in this realm is abundant, and both humans and other beings have long lifespans. Their ancestors passed down many ancient immortal arts. By cultivating these immortal arts, they can gain the ability to fly into the sky and burrow into the earth, to overturn rivers and seas. However, the heavens have their own laws. They give you a long lifespan, but they also bring other restrictions. These descendants of the primordial era have difficulty reproducing. Whether human, demonic beast, or other races, procreation is extremely difficult, and their populations are relatively small.
The highest layer is the True Immortal Realm. This is the legendary true immortal realm. The ancient Pangu and Nuwa were supreme immortals who lived in this realm. They lived as long as the heavens and earth, shone as brightly as the sun and moon, and were eternally undying. Every true immortal possessed great divine abilities that could shake the heavens and earth. With a wave of their hand, they could change the world, pluck stars from the sky, and even create their own small realms and new life forms.
The number of true immortals in the True Immortal Realm is not constant. They also face the risk of falling, such as in battles between true immortals, or in the exploration of vaster, unknown laws.
At the same time, many cultivators in the Spirit Immortal Realm who practice ancient immortal arts can, when their own cultivation reaches the initial stage of a true immortal, that is, above the Great Ascension realm, shatter the void between the two realms and ascend to the True Immortal Realm.
And to reach the initial stage of a true immortal, one must cultivate immortal arts and go through nine great realms of arduous cultivation before they can ascend to the True Immortal Realm. But to cultivate through these nine great realms is extremely difficult. Most people, in their entire lives, can often only cultivate to the third or fourth realm before they can make no further progress, and in the end, they can only exhaust their lifespan and enter the cycle of reincarnation.
These nine great realms are: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Void Refining, Body Integration, Tribulation Transcendence, and Great Ascension.
Each great realm is also divided into different small realms. For example, Qi Condensation is divided into ten small layers. Among them, layers one to three are the initial stage, four to six are the middle stage, seven to nine are the late stage, and the tenth layer is completion. After that, one can attempt to break through to the next realm—the Foundation Establishment stage.
But after the Foundation Establishment stage, each realm is only divided into three small realms: initial, middle, and late. Only after Foundation Establishment is one considered to have truly stepped onto the path of immortality. The Qi Condensation stage is just the beginning of condensing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth into oneself, accumulating the foundation for immortal cultivation through ten small layers. Only by entering the Foundation Establishment stage has one truly embarked on the path of immortal cultivation. Therefore, besides making the body stronger and allowing one to use some simple, small spells, the lifespan of a Qi Condensation stage cultivator is only a little longer than that of ordinary beings of the same kind. But after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, one's lifespan increases to over two hundred years; the Golden Core stage can reach over five hundred years, and the Nascent Soul stage reaches a terrifying two thousand plus years. As one's realm increases, one's lifespan continues to increase, until one breaks through the Great Ascension realm and reaches the True Immortal realm, where one can live forever.