Hearing those words, Lu Yuan looked at her with curious interest.
Throughout his journey of cultivation and evolution, he had always relied on the experiences of his past life, and that included his understanding of cultivation realms.
Just as before breaking into the Saint Realm—having never reached such heights in his prior life—he had temporarily been unable to advance to the next stage.
Only after Jiang Ningxian explained the unique nature of the realm did he gain his own insights and ultimately break through into the Saint Realm.
More importantly, Lu Yuan knew that after the three realms of the Saint Domain lay the Immortals. However, he had no clear idea of how they were divided.
The term "Ranked Immortals" mentioned earlier was merely a collective term for the multitude of immortals, not a formal realm. Thus, without further ado, he smiled and said, "Please enlighten me."
Jiang Ningxian did not hesitate and continued, "As you know, the Saint Realm has three stages: Void Saint, Demi-Saint, and Great Saint. In essence, these three realms are largely the same. All of them involve comprehending the heavenly universe and bringing oneself into harmony with it.
"The deeper your comprehension, paired with developing your potential to a certain point, the more naturally you will reach each realm." Pausing to reflect for a moment, she added, "To give an analogy: upon reaching the Saint Realm, you gain the ability to tear through the void and cross immense distances in a short time. Yet, in the end, that distance remains limited.
"This is because you are still restricted by heaven and earth. Only at higher realms, with deeper comprehension, will those limitations gradually fall away.
"If one reaches the Great Saint Realm, they can cross star rivers and even temporarily open up a separate space."
Hearing these explanations, Lu Yuan nodded in agreement, having experienced some of this himself.
Reaching the Saint Realm allowed one to traverse the cosmos, though the range was indeed limited. As for opening up a separate space...
Such an ability was formidable in the extreme, as it was essentially the embryonic form of a small world. Of course, that was merely temporary; even a Great Saint could not make such a creation permanent.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ningxian looked at Lu Yuan and spoke again: "Above the Saint Realm are the Immortals. In the formal division, the Immortal Realm is considered the ninth stage of evolution. This stage comprises five sub-realms, collectively referred to as the Immortal Realm.
"These five sub-realms are Undying, Grotto-Heaven, Creation, Heavenly Position, and Supreme Immortal. Each commands vastly different abilities, and the disparity between them is immense.
"Most of the Ranked Immortals who attacked Earth previously were only in the first sub-realm, the Undying Immortal. Across the vast starry sky, they are formidable, but by no means are they at the peak."
She explained this with complete clarity: the entire Immortal Realm was essentially the ninth stage of evolution, divided into five sub-realms simply because the gap in power was so vast. Moreover, with each sub-realm advanced, the gulf between them was far wider than between previous major realms.
Hearing this, Lu Yuan nodded, having gained a general understanding. In this regard, he was far less knowledgeable than Jiang Ningxian, so he simply listened attentively.
She then continued to explain: An Undying Immortal could regenerate from a single drop of blood. A Grotto-Heaven Immortal could open up a grotto-heaven.
A Creation Immortal could generate wind, fire, water, and earth within that grotto-heaven, though they still could not birth living beings. A Heavenly Position Immortal began to gradually merge with the universe, possessing truly heaven-defying might.
A Supreme Immortal was, as the name implied, the pinnacle of immortals, also known as a Domain Lord. A Domain Lord was the master of a major star domain; only upon reaching the Supreme Immortal Realm could one become a Domain Lord. In other words, beings of this caliber were titans across the entire universe—mighty figures whose names shook the cosmos.
Of course, this was still not the end of cultivation and evolution. What lay beyond belonged to the realm of legends.
Jiang Ningxian knew of it, but she also understood that neither of them would be able to touch that level anytime soon, so she did not elaborate further.
Lu Yuan understood as well. Having only just entered the Void Saint Realm, it was enough for him to have a clear view of the road ahead.
Afterward, the two discussed several other matters, all concerning the future situation and what to do once the various star domains descended.
Jiang Ningxian shared the same sentiment: the most crucial task right now was increasing one's strength. She herself would enter seclusion for a time to reach the Saint Realm and continue her full recovery.
Lu Yuan knew very well that with her talent, once the sealing barrier of the Severance of Heaven and Earth completely dissipated, all restrictions upon her would vanish.
At the same time, this presaged that outsiders would soon be able to step into the Saint Realm as well. The dissolution of the Severance of Heaven and Earth's restrictions was happening faster than anticipated.
Naturally, he understood why. On the Moon, invoking the methods of the human sages to repel the Ranked Immortals had consumed a massive amount of power, causing the sealing power of the Severance of Heaven and Earth to steadily leak away.
Yet there had been no alternative. If he had not done so, the extraterrestrial beings would likely have descended already. One had to accept losses alongside gains; at least for now, that choice had undeniably been correct.
"All right, that covers most of it. While I'm in seclusion, I probably won't be able to come out." Jiang Ningxian rose to her feet and said with a smile, "Don't miss me too much, okay?"
With that, she turned gracefully and returned to her own courtyard.
Watching her leave, Lu Yuan smiled wryly, but said nothing more. As discussed earlier, his upcoming objectives were quite simple.
He needed Elder Ji and the others to fully establish the structure of the Heavenly Court, allocate the maximum resources to the younger generation represented by Zhu Qingyu and the others, and allow their realms to grow in a short span of time.
In addition, he had to find ways to continue advancing his own strength. However, having only recently broken into the Saint Realm, taking another step forward would be difficult.
Of course, there were many ways to enhance one's combat power. He had obtained plenty of excellent divine materials from the Zhou family, including Saint weapons. Feeding them to the Daluo sword core would enhance its might. Lu Yuan was keenly aware that while his cultivation realm made him invincible on Earth, once those extraterrestrial beings made a full-scale descent, maintaining that advantage would be arduous. Everything hinged on raw power.
Fortunately, there was still time.
Putting idle thoughts aside, Lu Yuan returned to his room, preparing to enhance his capabilities across all fronts and make full use of Earth's innate natural advantages to advance as quickly as possible. In truth, he knew this was rushing things; the path of cultivation and evolution required patience. Yet time was a luxury he did not have. The future situation would only grow more chaotic, and he had to seize this window of opportunity.
Still, for Lu Yuan, this was not much of a problem. Others might suffer from an unstable foundation by advancing too rapidly within a short period, diminishing their combat prowess and compromising their future path of evolution—a catastrophic trade-off. But Lu Yuan had begun making his preparations long before the global mutation even began.
Empowered by various divine objects, his foundation had reached a near-terrifying level of solidity. Furthermore, back in the Shackle Realm, breaking all one hundred and eight shackles had already paved a smooth path for his cultivation.
All Lu Yuan needed to do now was take it one step at a time, straight to the pinnacle.
Chapter 226