“How long did he take to escape from Tianzhu Star to the Heaven Unity Palace?” Cui Heng asked.
“This… Father didn’t say anything specific.” Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate thought for a moment and said uncertainly, “It might be a month or two or three months. In short, it’s not long.”
To a Golden Immortal who usually lived for a thousand years, a few months was indeed not a long time.
However, Cui Heng did not think so.
A Nascent Soul cultivator could track a spiritual imprint, even if it was across the endless starry sky.
Although he could not completely lock onto the target in an instant, he could still sense a general direction. As long as he searched in this direction, he would be able to find the target sooner or later.
Even if the direction of this target had only existed for a few months, it was enough to determine a general direction to pursue.
The realm of Myriad Techniques Return to One had some Nascent Soul characteristics, so it was not strange for them to have similar abilities.
It was true that the universe was vast and boundless, and the sense of direction was relatively vague. It was almost as difficult as ascending to the heavens to find a target just by relying on one direction. However, it was not that Li Fa did not have any connections or background. It was impossible for his whereabouts to be unknown.
Under normal circumstances, even if the experts of the Nine Deaths Heavenly Sect on Chongyang Star did not know where Li Fa had gone, there was a high chance that they had the rough direction of where he had gone. Coupled with the directions indicated by the brand and the possible traces on Tianzhu Star, it was enough to formulate a general investigation scope.
Of course, this was only Cui Heng’s own speculation.
It had been 6,700 years since Divine Lord Tianhe killed Li Fa. No one had found this place in such a long time. Perhaps the Nine Deaths Heavenly Sect on Chongyang Planet might not be able to investigate the truth.
“Although the people from that side haven’t found this place yet, it’s still a hidden danger.” Cui Heng thought to himself, “If the people from the Nine Deaths Heavenly Sect really come looking, in the scenario that they couldn’t find Divine Lord Tianhe, it’s hard to guarantee that they won’t vent their anger on the people of Daozhou Star.”
This was very likely.
However, he had left two Nine Fire Flame Dragons in the Great Jin. Both of them had Late-stage Golden Core Dharmic powers, so he did not have to worry about the current situation there.
After a hundred years, if his cultivation level broke through or his mastery of spells increased, the Nine Fire Flame Dragon’s strength would continue to increase. It should be able to ensure the safety of Daozhou Star.
Thinking of this, Cui Heng felt relieved and continued to ask Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate, “Is your Immortal True Essence left behind by Divine Lord Tianhe or that Li Fa?”
“It was left behind by my father,” Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate said truthfully. “I bestowed Immortal True Essence to a Mystic Deity. He’s now a Half-step Golden Immortal. He handled some matters for me, but he was ordered never to leave the Heaven Saint Palace.”
“The Heaven Saint Palace has already appeared when you were summoned…” Cui Heng frowned. Then, he looked at the pillar of light not far away.” So you used the power of the Heaven Dew Crystals to hide your whereabouts.”
He observed the beam of light for a moment and understood its effect.
This was a huge illusion that had gathered the vast power of the country’s fate and the spirituality of all living beings contained in countless Heaven Dew Crystals that had surpassed the Limitless Golden Immortal level.
As long as he was in this illusion, the connection with the Sage mark would not be exposed.
This should also be the reason why the Nine Immortal Sects wanted to monopolize the Heaven Dew Crystals. Everything was for the Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate’s needs.
“Venerable Sage’s Dharma Eye is like a torch.” Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate praised extremely respectfully. Then, he said bitterly, “Actually, I still have some selfish motives. If a Golden Immortal wants to break through to the Limitless Golden Immortal realm, he needs to condense a large amount of the spirituality of all living beings to strengthen the true nature of the Immortal True Essence.
“I’ve thought of taking advantage of this sacrificial ritual to gather the power contained in these countless Heaven Dew Crystals to help me become a Limitless Golden Immortal…”
“From the Golden Immortal realm to the Limitless Golden Immortal realm, you also mainly focus on strengthening the Immortal True Essence?” Cui Heng was slightly stunned when he heard this. Then, he frowned and said, “The martial techniques you cultivate also require Immortal True Essence to become a Golden Immortal? Oh, right, it’s not just you. Even Divine Lord Tianhe and Li Fa are the same…”
II
Initially, he thought that the Dao God had deliberately imparted problematic martial techniques to the natives to achieve some unspeakable goal.
Now, he suddenly realized that this didn’t seem to be the case.
Whether it was Divine Lord Tianhe, who had followed the Dao God from the beginning, or Li Fa, who was a Half-step Golden Immortal from Chongyang Star, the core of their cultivation was the Immortal True Essence.
This meant that not only was there a problem with the cultivation method of the Dao God, but there was also definitely a problem with the cultivation method on Chongyang Star.
In Cui Heng’s opinion, this kind of cultivation method that relied on man-made substances to break through was definitely not a normal method, let alone the fact that this Immortal True Essence could be forcefully stripped away.
Although the Immortal True Essence possessed by Golden Core cultivators was similar in nature on the surface, there was actually a fundamental difference.
The former was some kind of artificial creation and used specific substances.
The latter was a characteristic that was naturally born as one broke through. This characteristic was equivalent to a cultivator’s own body. There was no actual substance, let alone be forcefully stripped away.
It could only be destroyed.
When Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate heard Cui Heng’s words, he was a little confused and said in confusion, “Venerable Sage, is there a problem?”
In his understanding, digesting the Immortal True Essence and becoming a Golden Immortal was the right path. There was no other direction.
“No.” Cui Heng shook his head gently and did not explain the problem with cultivation to Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate. Then, he continued to ask, “Where did these people in the Heavenly Void World, including ordinary mortals, the Nine Immortal Sects, and the three Buddhist monasteries come from?”
According to what Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate said earlier, the Heavenly Void World was a fragment of the Nine Heavens Cloud Realm that floated to Daozhou Star.
Under normal circumstances, after experiencing such a violent explosion and crossing the endless starry sky, even if this fragment could maintain the state of a broken world, it was unlikely that it would still have life.
“Reporting to Venerable Sage, the Heavenly Void World was indeed desolate in the beginning. There were not even any living beings,” Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate explained. “However, after Father used the Heaven Unity Palace at that time to enter the border between the heavens and earth of the Heavenly Void World, he discovered a situation.
Although the alternate void where the Heavenly Void World is located is around Daozhou Star, there aren’t many times where it’s truly linked. It’s only linked for half a year every hundred years.
For the rest of the time, the Heavenly Void World will wander in the alternate void. Sometimes, we will encounter some other small worlds of low levels. These small worlds have living beings and are suitable for habitation. There might even be some civilizations.
Because the Heavenly Void World in a dilapidated state has the instinct to repair itself naturally, swallowing small worlds at a lower level than itself was the way to repair itself.
In the process of ‘repairing’, the Heavenly Void World annexed a total of two large small worlds and three or four smaller small worlds. Father spent a lot of effort to send people to govern them, which allowed the Heavenly Void World to become like this.
The former of the two larger worlds established the current foundation of the Heavenly Void World, while the latter brought the three Buddhist monasteries. As for the experts of the Immortal sects, they are Father’s subordinates.
On the way to Daozhou Star with the Dao God, Father once encountered a living star called Taihong Star. At that time, everyone, including the Dao God, took a group of people from that living star as their initial batch of inhabitants.
“The Ten Immortal Sects of the Heavenly Void World came from this…”
“What?!” Cui Heng raised his eyebrows slightly and said in a low voice, “Did you just say Taihong Star?”
Wasn’t this the star that Hong Fugui’s wife had brought him to?
A planet with so-called great divine powers. “Yes, yes.” Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate was stunned when he saw this. He didn’t know why Cui Heng suddenly asked about Taihong Star. He asked curiously, “Venerable Sage, is there something wrong with Taihong Star?”
“Did your father say anything about Taihong Star?” Cui Heng asked. He did not expect to know about Hong Fugui’s whereabouts under such circumstances.
“Yes, but…” Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate hesitated for a moment before saying,” Venerable Sage, according to my father, there’s nothing strange about this Taihong Star. The strongest is only a Mystic Deity. It’s insignificant.”
His meaning was obvious. How could such an ordinary planet attract the attention of a Venerable Sage like Cui Heng?
It was really a little strange.
“The strongest is only a Mystic Deity?” Cui Heng frowned and asked, “Do you know what a Great Divine Being is?”
“Great Divine Being?” Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate thought for a moment and said, “That should be just a title. To mortals, Heaven Immortals can be called Great Divine Beings. To Heaven Immortals, Golden Immortals are also Great Divine Beings.”
At this point, he smiled bitterly. “To me, a Venerable Sage like you is a Great Divine Being.”
“Is that so?” Cui Heng’s gaze was deep as thoughts raced through his mind.
He did not think that the Great Divine Being in the message that Hong Fugui had left behind was only a Deva or Mystic Deity.
After all, after Hong Fugui’s wife recovered her memories, she directly took out a flying ship that could cross the starry sky.
This meant that it was very likely that the flying ship was linked to her soul.
Moreover, there was no restriction on the cultivation realm of the controller.
Such methods and treasures were definitely not ordinary.
When Cui Heng was cultivating the “Weapon Suppression Technique”, he understood the characteristics of many weapons and Dharma treasures.
This kind of treasure that could be linked to a mortal’s soul could only be refined with special materials that contained spirituality. Coupled with the unique spiritual control ability of the Nascent Soul realm, only then could it be refined.
It could be called a “spirit treasure”.
In other words, the Great Divine Being that Hong Fugui had mentioned was at least a Venerable Sage who possessed some of the characteristics of a Nascent Soul cultivator. It was even possible that he was an expert comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Cui Heng was more inclined to believe the latter.
Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate’s understanding of Taihong Star came from his father, Divine Lord Tianhe, but that was 7,000 years ago.
It was not impossible for such a long time to give birth to an expert comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator.
“I still have to understand what’s going on with the Myriad Techniques Return to One realm first.”
Cui Heng pondered in his heart. At the same time, he felt the outline of the Nascent Soul in his body becoming clearer and clearer. “The gains this time are too great. After I finish investigating the matters here at the Heaven Saint Palace, I should be able to break through to the Mid-stage Nascent Soul realm!”
Then, he looked at Heavenly Saint Supreme Venerate and said indifferently, “Let’s go. Bring me to your Heaven Saint Palace to take a look.”