Wu Yuan suddenly understood.
No wonder.
This Senior Brother Chang Hong was truly admirable; to rise from the bottom to this point after so many struggles, he must have endured unimaginable hardship.
His peculiar personality was understandable.
Personality didn’t matter on the immortal path. Some arrogant or eccentric individuals came to possess extraordinary strength by following their own hearts.
“I’m also from a worldlet,” Wu Yuan shook his head, “I’m afraid Senior Brother Chang Hong is mistaken.”
“Oh?” A trace of surprise flashed in Jiang Huan’s eyes, then he smiled, “No matter.”
“We will all be under the same master for the coming eons. A small misunderstanding won’t matter; it will be resolved,” Jiang Huan laughed.
“Senior Brother, what is this Eldritch-Immortal Battlefield that Senior Brother Chang Hong mentioned?” Wu Yuan asked.
“Don’t rush. You’re only at the ninth-stage Spiritual Body phase now. Train for some time and reach the ninth-stage Shambhala phase. It won’t be too late to venture there then,” Senior Brother Jiang Huan smiled. “For the specifics, once you’ve settled into the eldritch world, I’ll explain more.”
Wu Yuan nodded.
“Let’s go to the Origin Eldritch Field,” Jiang Huan stepped into the teleportation array, and Wu Yuan quickly followed.
Whoosh~ A brilliant light shot skyward, and in an instant, the two figures vanished from the teleportation array.
Buzz~ The space around them flickered. Wu Yuan felt everything blur, and suddenly, a colossal hall appeared before him.
The hall towered thousands of li high. Even the hundred-li tall teleportation array seemed insignificant within it. It was also mostly empty.
“Astral Monarch Hou Qu.” Jiang Huan stepped out of the teleportation array with a smile. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Wu Yuan followed suit.
“Haha, Jiang Huan, you’re too kind.” Astral Monarch Hou Qu, clad in battle armor, chuckled, his gaze settling on Wu Yuan. “Wu Yuan, young friend, we meet again.”
Wu Yuan was taken aback.
“Little Junior Brother, Astral Monarch Hou Qu is the manager of the five Origin Eldritch Fields, so he will be the one to inform you of the details regarding your entry,” Jiang Huan said with a smile. “Once you enter the Cang Feng Eldritch Voidrealm, we’ll keep in touch there if needed.”
“A year from now, I’ll visit your eldritch residence to guide you,” Jiang Huan added.
“Understood,” Wu Yuan nodded.
With that, Jiang Huan re-entered the teleportation array and vanished, leaving Wu Yuan alone with Astral Monarch Hou Qu.
“Astral Monarch,” Wu Yuan bowed slightly.
“Now that you are officially the Eldritch Sovereign’s disciple, you needn’t bow to me when we meet. I can’t bear such courtesy,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu grinned.
“However, to avoid detection by the Voltari Temple, the identities of the Eldritch Sovereigns’ disciples are kept secret until they undergo their Tribulations. You must not reveal your status,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu said sternly. “If you do, you’ll be doomed to certain death.”
“Certain death?” Wu Yuan felt a jolt of fear.
“Indeed!” Astral Monarch Hou Qu sighed, “Each disciple of the Eldritch Sovereign is a monstrous prodigy. If left to grow, they usually reach my level. Some, even more terrifying.”
“Therefore, once the Voltari Temple knows of you, they are willing to pay a high price to take your life,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu said. “Even if you hide in the eldritch world, they have some heaven-defying means of assassinating you across spacetime using destiny and karma.”
Wu Yuan held his breath.
Could it really be that terrifying?
“Of course, the cost of such attacks is exorbitant,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu chuckled. “Unless absolutely necessary, the Voltari Temple wouldn’t use them.”
Wu Yuan listened intently.
“From now on, you are an earth-tier member of the Fifth Eldritch Field.” Astral Monarch Hou Qu smiled.
“Earth-tier member?” Wu Yuan felt puzzled.
“The Fifth Eldritch Field is a gathering place for Spiritual Body/Golden Core geniuses. The maximum breakthrough age is 150,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu explained. “But the eldritch world is vast, spanning billions of light-years, so the number of geniuses is still immense, over a hundred thousand.”
“A hundred thousand?” Wu Yuan was slightly stunned. “All with Dao comprehension at the seventh-level True Intent stage or second-degree eldritch root?”
“Yes.” Astral Monarch Hou Qu smiled. “After all, this place gathers peerless geniuses from eight hundred eldritch divine nations, so the numbers are naturally high.”
“Yet, these numbers are still not the highest. The Fourth Eldritch Field, with an age limit of 500 years, accumulates hundreds of thousands of geniuses.”
“And in the Third Eldritch Field, with an age limit of two thousand years, there are nearly a million geniuses.”
“The Second Eldritch Field, with an age limit of ten thousand years, has over two million geniuses.”
“By the time you reach the First Eldritch Field, where all your peers are High Eldritches and High Immortals, training for hundreds of thousands of years is normal. So, even with many geniuses falling along the way, there are still tens of millions of geniuses accumulated over the years.” Astral Monarch Hou Qu smiled.
“And this is just the accumulation over a million years. Generation after generation, over billions of years, countless geniuses have emerged from the eldritch world, many becoming legendary figures who shake countless worlds.”
Wu Yuan nodded and took a deep breath.
Indeed, this place was worthy of being one of the sacred cultivation grounds of the entire macrocosm, far surpassing the Redmoon Immortal Continent and Silvermist Immortal Nation.
Moreover, he truly realized what sort of monstrous prodigies his two senior brothers were.
Senior Brother Chang Hong, after eight thousand years of cultivation, had become the undisputed strongest in the Second Eldritch Field.
Senior Brother Jiang Huan was the number one among millions of High Immortals and High Eldritches in the First Eldritch Field.
He also grasped the meaning behind his Master’s words. On a scale of billions upon billions of years, his current achievements were indeed hardly worth mentioning.
But every super powerhouse starts from the bottom, climbing step by step to greatness.
Did Master accept me as a disciple for other reasons? Does he think my talent is inferior to that of my senior brothers and the hundreds or thousands of senior brothers and sisters that came before? Wu Yuan harbored a burning determination in his heart.
Wu Yuan couldn’t refute his Master’s words because his current performance was indeed lacking.
However, I will take every step with determination, striving to become the strongest of this era, and eventually stand among the most monstrous prodigies in history. A deep yearning flickered in Wu Yuan’s eyes.
When his Master called his talent ‘mediocre’, Wu Yuan felt a twinge of disappointment.
After all, these words came from a powerhouse who had presided over the eldritch world for billions of years, yet they fueled Wu Yuan’s competitive spirit even more.
“With countless geniuses taking up vast resources, even the eldritch world finds it challenging to nurture them all,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu remarked with a smile, “And the competition is relentless.”
“The Origin Eldritch Field recognizes only talent and strength, not status. The most precious resources are reserved solely for peerless geniuses,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu explained.
“Thus, among the countless talented disciples of the Five Origin Eldritch Fields, there are three ranks: Ordinary, Earth-tier, and Heaven-tier.”
“In the Fifth Eldritch Field, out of over a hundred thousand peerless geniuses, there is only one Heaven-tier member, and only a hundred Earth-tier members,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu explained.
“Of course, occasionally, we recruit terrifying geniuses and grant them the Earth-tier rank directly.”
“The number of Earth-tier members fluctuate with each Origin Eldritch Field. Generally, their numbers increase with each increase in field level, but in each Origin Eldritch Field, there is only one Heaven-tier member.”
“To become a Heaven-tier member, there’s only one path: defeat all your rivals. Be the absolute first, unrivaled in your field!” Astral Monarch Hou Qu declared solemnly. “Truly invincible among your peers.”
“If you can claim the top spot in an eldritch field, you’ll likely be among the top in the entire macrocosm, if not the very first, at least in the top five.”
“Take your two Senior Brothers, for example. One is now a heaven-tier disciple in the Second Origin Eldritch Field, and the other in the First Origin Eldritch Field,” Astral Monarch Hou Qu said with a smile.
Wu Yuan nodded slightly.
Senior Brother Chang Hong had implied that from the Fourth Origin Eldritch Field onward, as a disciple of the Eldritch Sovereign, he had to be a Heaven-tier member, the strongest in his field, to qualify for a breakthrough.
It was a daunting task!
The further he advanced, the harder it would get. To become the top in the First Eldritch Field meant competing with the peerless geniuses of the eldritch world accumulated over millions of years.
Difficult, but a good challenge. I will cross each checkpoint. Wu Yuan thought to himself.
Starting from the Fourth Eldritch Field? No! From the Fifth Eldritch Field onward, I will be the first.