Xi Shangyan looked at the shocked expression on these people’s faces and mentally shook her head. Although it looked like the Celestial Race was powerful beyond reason, it was not.
In the Eternal Ascension World, the number of Great Emperor’s battle force a faction had did not matter. What dictated the authority of any faction was the number of Paragons or Tier 12 Cultivators they had.
And in this regard, the Celestial Race’s innate talent did not help because of the fundamental flaw of the Immortal Path: just because someone was an Insurgent in Tier 10, it did not mean they could become one in Tier 11 or above.
For example, the clan members who cultivated Heavenly Immortal Qi had less than a 5% chance of sublimating it to Golden Immortal Qi on par with regular Empyreans. If they wanted to continue becoming Insurgents, they had to be like everyone else and search for rare and unique Qis in the Source Qi Space—an inherently dangerous place for them despite being born there.
Throughout the history of the Celestial Race, many geniuses have tried to elevate the Immortal Path to a higher level. And it was not just the Celestial Race but also many other cultivators.
There was a brief period of history where a movement to weaken the Emperor Path took place. During that time, many Heaven Defying geniuses of the Immortal Path took place.
And a few noteworthy people are still remembered to this day: the Myriad Qi Immortal Sovereign, for example. He created a method for his body to hold more than one Immortal Mansion.
His goal was to create 3800 Immortal Mansions, a number that symbolized the number of Primary Daos in all existence. In each mansion, he refined a unique and powerful Insurgent Qi.
The Myriad Qi Immortal Sovereign was an unparallel genius regarding understanding and controlling energy. So, after using countless Yuan Epochs and an incalculable amount of resources, he built more than 2000 Immortal Mansions with unique Qi, becoming an Insurgent Immortal Sovereign capable of killing Everlasting Empyreans: not defeat, but kill.
Although he could not erase their existence, he could force them to enter Limbo and revive them. However, in one of his battle against an Empyrean, the latter caught him off guard and destroyed hundreds of the Immortal Mansions inside his body.
Although he defeated his enemy, Myriad Qi realized the weakness or frailty of the Immortal and Dao Path. The Immortal Mansion or Inner World was an apparent weakness for them. Meanwhile, the Imprint of the Emperor Path could only be removed by Dao Wills and some unique treasures.
So, Myriad Qi sacrificed all his Immortal Mansions and Qis to temper his body, eventually opening the Gate of Power and walking on the Body Path.
Another genius of that era was the Heaven Will Immortal King. After acquiring the Heaven Will, he did not become an Emperor but spent years analyzing it to fuse it with his Immortal Mansion and create a unique Qi.
The concept of Heaven Will Qi existed long ago, but few people dared to try it. And the ones that did fail. But, to everyone’s surprise, Heaven Will Immortal King succeeded.
The Heaven Will Qi was one of the few Qis that allowed an individual to become an Insurgent from Tier 10 to Tier 12. The only downside was cultivation took almost as much time as the Emperor Path.
The Heaven Will Immortal King could fight and defeat Paragons at his peak. Regrettably, he became dissolute with the Immortal Path because it did not grant him [Eternal] attributes like the Emperor Path.
If an Immortal King or a Dao Ruler died, that’s it for them. But an ordinary Great Emperor, Empyrean, and Paragons had so many ways they could revive themselves, not to mention these freaks Eternals, Everlasting, and Boundless.
After voicing his frustration with the Immortal Path and his regrets about not using the Heaven Will correctly, the Heaven Will Immortal King left the world to enter Primordial Chaos and was never seen again.
Many people believe he went to find a way for the Immortal Path to acquire [Eternal Attributes], but most people think he went to prove the Dao in another Source Chaos World.
Xi Shangyan has read the stories of many geniuses similar to these two during the booming era of the Immortal Path. However, the ending of most of them was not satisfactory.
The booming era ended with the conclusion that the Immortal Path had no future; there was no way for it to rise. However, some people did not give up and went to search for the Source Qi–an energy believed to exist at the core of the Source Qi Space.
Source Qi was theorized to be the only form of energy capable of creating an Insurgent on par with a Peak Boundless Paragon. Regrettably, to this day, only rumors of it appearing in some other Chaos Worlds are known.
As Xi Shangyan thought of that period, she could only sigh to herself. That booming period did a lot to raise the status of the Immortal Path, but it also ruined it.
The Emperor Path would not just stay by and watch as the Immortal Path flourished; they counter-attacked. Many Great Emperors from Third to First Class began exploring the Source Qi Space to discover Insurgent Qi and grant them battle prowess above their class.
Meanwhile, Eternal Emperors would also find Insurgent Qi similar to the Heaven Immortal Qi; they would understand it and absorb it into their Dao Body to become immune to it.
As such, an Insurgent Immortal Venerable might defeat an Eternal Emperor. But, in the subsequent encounter, he realized his Qi was useless to the latter, rendering him powerless.
This tactic has been normalized now in the Eternal Ascension World, thus further weakening the Immortal Path.
Because of these hard truths, the Celestial race has long focused on the Emperor Path. Although some factions are die-hard supporters of the Immortal Path, they no longer have much power.
“Our next contestant is the Taoist Priest, Zhang Yucheng,” Lord Spirit said. “He is the owner of the 22nd Heavenly Physique, the Myriad Sword Soul Physique, and the 5th Heavenly Physique, the Wuji Tao Body.”
The face of the participants was neutral; they were done with being surprised. Furthermore, a few people have been born with two physiques, albeit rare, but it was acceptable.
The only thing noticeable about this upcoming person was how high his physique ranked and how powerful the physiques in the upper world were.
The Lord Spirit shook his head. “You ignorant people. In the upper dimension, having two physiques means you can absorb two Heaven Wills and instantly reach cultivation of 40% Grand Dao Source.
“Of course, there is also the possibility for someone only to achieve 10%.”
Wang Wei’s lips twitched, and he was not the only one. Many people did not know how to react. So, more people just flew away back to their mansions. Things were getting even more ridiculous.
A young Taoist with a very youthful face appeared. He politely bowed to the Lower Seeded Players before bowing to the others and sitting down, not uttering a word. And everyone immediately returned the salute–including the previously arrogant Ao Tianyi.
Even Xiao Tiandi opened his eyes and nodded before going to sleep.
Wang Wei and the others took notice of this behavior, thus placing even more emphasis on this young Taoist. Wang Wei could even see Lord Spirit looking at the young Taoist with even more respect than the others.
“The final seeded player is Monk Wuzhu, born with the Nine Nirvana Heart: a Longevity Physique.”
Lord Spirit paused as he realized these people probably didn’t know what he was saying.
“Let me explain. Longevity Resources are one of the most precious resources in the upper dimension. They can appear in the form of spiritual herbs, cultivation techniques, physiques, pills, etc. Their purpose is to grant immortal cultivators one chance at revival without any cost.
“For example, once an Emperor is killed, they must spend countless Yuan Epochs reviving themselves. However, if they had consumed a Longevity Herb, they could instantly resurrect without any resources or time needed.
“So, Monk Wuzhu will have nine unlimited revivals in his life after proving the Dao.”
Lord Spirit simplified the incredible power of Longevity Resources since their classification is too many. For example, some only work for a certain Tier. As such, after an Emperor becomes an Empyrean or Paragon, they no longer have the previous revival.
Some longevity resources can work for a cultivator from Tier 10 to Tier 12; those are extremely rare. Some can only work for lower tiers. For example, a Paragon cannot take a longevity resource that only works for Tier 10 and 11.
Nevertheless, no matter the restriction on the Longevity Resources, any of them are precious enough to enact wars with thousands of Emperors, Empyreans, and Paragons.
Monk Wuzhi’s Nine Nirvana Heart will work for him even after he becomes a Paragon.
At this point, even Wang Wei wanted to curse out loud; he always believed that fate was unfair, and today, he has the final proof.
A young man with no hair and six dots on his head and forehead appeared before the last seat. Like the young Taoist, he saluted the other sides before saluting his former comrades. And he received the same respect as the Taoist priest.
However, Monk Wuzhi did not appear for long before the sky suddenly changed. Then, lightning began to fall on him.
‘Absolute Beginning Magic,’ thought Wang Wei with squinted eyes, observing how the situation would play out.
A mysterious power came from Monk Wuzhi’s body and blocked the lightning as he watched everything calmly. Meanwhile, Zhang Yucheng seemed to hesitate about something but did not act in the end.
A few minutes later, the lightning stopped falling, and Monk Wuzhi smiled at everyone: “Sorry for the disturbance.” Then, he calmly took his seat.
‘Danm it,’ thought Wang Wei as he noticed something that made him unhappy. He could already predict that things would get messy, and he would be dragged into something he did not want to.