Shun Long was about to take Liu Mei and the rest and leave the arena, but just as he stepped past the arena's entrance, the figure of a tall, white-robed old man with long white hair suddenly appeared in front of him.
Shun Long and the others were all surprised to see the Grand Elder appear in front of them like this, but the Grand Elder simply smiled as he looked at Shun Long and said in an amiable tone
''Kid, come with me a bit.''
The Grand Elder then stretched out his right hand, opening up a large space tear.
Shun Long could feel an irresistible force coming from the space tear in front of him, one that he couldn't even resist with his Dao of Time or his own Dao of Space.
''The Grand Elder's attainments in the Dao of Space don't seem to be low either.''
As he reached this conclusion, Shun Long didn't try to resist this pulling force, allowing his body to step inside the space tear.
Liu Mei, Jiang Chen, Bai Longtian, and Xingyi, all closed their eyes as well, as they allowed the pulling force of the space tear to pull them inside, before their bodies all disappeared from the arena's entrance.
Surprisingly, as he opened his eyes, Shun Long found himself inside a familiar courtyard.
There were even stalks of 'dragonblood grass' on the ground that Little Silver usually ate.
Waving his hand, the Grand Elder then took out a bunch of meditative cushions from his spatial ring, and after sitting on one of them himself, he placed the rest around Shun Long, Bai Longtian and the others and said
''Have a seat.''
Shun Long nodded as he sat on one of the meditative cushions as well, before he turned his gaze towards the Grand Elder.
Naturally, he wasn't surprised that the Grand Elder would be able to ignore the restrictions of the courtyards and enter Shun Long's courtyard.
Even if he wasn't the Grand Elder, Shun Long guessed that this was a piece of cake for any peak rank 9 Dao Emperor realm expert.
Instead, Shun Long was slightly surprised that the Grand Elder had also comprehended the Dao of Space.
Opening up a tiny space tear was something that even average Spirit realm cultivators could do without too much trouble, but creating a space tear and utilizing it properly were 2 completely different matters.
Shun Long could sense that the Grand Elder's attainments in the Dao of Space were much higher than his own.
Almost as if he could guess Shun Long's thoughts, the Grand Elder smiled and said
''Although I have also comprehended a bit of the Dao of Space as well, it's only a secondary Dao to me. My level of comprehension in it has barely reached the level of a peak Dao King.
It may look impressive on the outside, but it's actually useless for me to try and use the Dao of Space to fight against other Dao Emperors.
Instead, my most powerful Dao is my Dao of Ice. Unfortunately, the Dao of Ice is considered to be a rare Dao, making it much harder for me to get past the final stretch and break through to reach the Sovereign realm.''
The Grand Elder sighed as he said the last sentence, while his eyes seemed to have turned slightly hazy.
''A rare Dao?'' Shun Long was surprised to hear that Daos were actually classified like that. Although he had heard back in the arena the other outer court disciples saying that he had comprehended a supreme Dao, Shun Long had thought that the reason behind that was because those disciples couldn't discern what Dao he had truly comprehended.
Nodding his head, the Grand Elder looked at Shun Long and answered seriously
''Right. Every Dao is different after all, and Daos themselves also have different grades.
Certain Daos like the Dao of Water, the Dao of Fire, the Dao of Earth and the Dao of Wind are only considered to be common Daos, while Daos like my Dao of Ice, the Dao of Lightning, the Dao of Metal and others at the same level, are considered to be rare Daos.
Above rare Daos are the unique Daos, like the Dao of Destruction, the Demonic Dao, the Dao of Darkness, the Dao of Shadows and others, while even higher than the unique Daos are the Supreme-grade Daos. Supreme Daos like the Dao of Life, the Dao of Death, the Dao of Space and others, are extremely powerful Daos that very few geniuses manage to comprehend in their lives.
Of course, even unique level Daos are extremely difficult to comprehend let alone supreme-level ones.
Although supreme-level Daos are very difficult to comprehend, each of those Daos is much stronger than other Daos at the same level.
However, the more powerful a Dao is, the harder it becomes to advance further in your cultivation.
As for my Dao of Ice, it's just a rare Dao, and yet I have been stuck to the peak of the Dao Emperor realm because of it, for almost 100.000 years.
This is why cultivation techniques that belong to the same element as one's foundational Dao are important.
If only I had an immortal-grade cultivation technique, especially one that used the Dao of Ice, this old man would have been able to breakthrough to the Sovereign realm long ago...''
The Grand Elder was vexed as he said the last words.
He had been looking for immortal-grade cultivation techniques for far too long, but even a power like the Holy sect didn't have immortal-grade cultivation techniques.
In the entire Holy sect, there was only a single core disciple who was said to possess an immortal-grade cultivation technique, and that disciple had only managed to obtain that technique after he obtained the legacy of a powerful expert who had died long ago.
As for that immortal-grade cultivation technique, it was one that was recorded inside a high-grade memory jade and it could only be taught to a single person before the memory jade turned to dust.
Once that disciple learned the cultivation technique, the memory jade was destroyed.
This was actually the most common way that experts used to pass down their legacies. The memory jade that Shun Long had obtained from the 'Dragon Lord's villa' that Huo Wuyi had created was the same as well.
And yet, as soon as the Grand Elder finished explaining the classification of the Daos to Shun Long, Little Black who was drinking another barrel of wine snorted before his voice sounded inside Shun Long's mind in the next moment
''Master, that old man isn't wrong, but he isn't right either. The countless Daos are much more complicated than that. In reality, every Dao can be considered just as strong as the others. Although certain Daos are inherently much more difficult to comprehend that others, this doesn't mean that those Daos are inferior to others.
Perhaps someone who has comprehended the Dao of Water will have weaker offensive abilities compared to someone who has comprehended the Dao of Ice, but this doesn't mean that the Dao of Water is inferior to the Dao of Ice. Instead, a cultivator who has comprehended the Dao of Water will have much better defensive capabilities instead.
The only thing that's important is one's own understanding of his Dao.
After all, 2 people may have comprehended the Dao of Fire, but each of them may have entirely different ways to utilize it.''
Shun Long was stunned momentarily when he heard Little Black's words, while a look of realization seemed to have appeared in his eyes.
At the same time, Jiang Chen, Liu Mei, Xingyi, and Bai Longtian, all looked at the Grand Elder without interrupting him.
The fact that cultivation techniques could affect one's own understanding of the Dao and even increase their comprehension level was something that none of them knew.
Even Shun Long didn't know about this matter, but it didn't matter either.
After all, Shun Long knew that his 'Monarch's Hourglass' was a cultivation technique that came directly from the 'Stone of Time'.
Even peak-level experts from the Immortal Dimension would kill to get their hands on the 'Stone of Time'.
There was no way that other cultivation techniques could possibly compare with it.
Although Shun Long needed to spend an enormous amount of spirit stones to absorb qi and fill his qi balls every time, compared to other cultivators at the same level, Shun Long knew that his 'Monarch's Hourglass' was perhaps of an even higher grade than those immortal-grade cultivation techniques that the Grand Elder spoke of.
Even the Immortal grade cultivation technique that Bai Liuxian had taken out, the 'Tree of Immortality' couldn't possibly compare to his 'Monarch's Hourglass'.
Shaking his head, the Grand Elder looked at Shun Long and smiled as he then continued
''This old man didn't come here to explain the classifications of the different Daos. After all, most of this is already common knowledge to those disciples of the powerful families and clans. There is another reason why I came to find you today. Since you have entered the top 600 in the Martial Roll of Honor... I have decided to personally take you to the King's Palace.''
