An enormous and luxurious boat the size of a cruise ship drifted over neverending waters. The only difference was that the boat wasn't drifting on the water but in the air.
Standing on the deck of the immortal boat was a boy, who appeared to be around thirteen to fourteen, wearing purple robes. He had an unnatural pallor, but it could not hide his handsome visage. However, the most striking features on him were his pair of bedeviling eyes that seemed to hold the whole world within them.
His name was Xi Tianyi, son of Sword Empress Xi Mengfei, the strongest immortal of the Huang Realm.
Tianyi frowned as he stood atop the deck on the immortal boat making its way towards the Three Heavens Connection Meeting. It had already been a few days, and the immortal boat had long traveled past the edge of the Heaven Continent and entered the Endless Seas.
Tianyi had felt a sense of discomfort once he saw the unending waters. He just didn't know why. It was as if there was a sense of wrongness that he couldn't pinpoint. He had even asked Elder Meng if she noticed anything strange, only to receive a negative reply.
Tianyi sighed as he looked at the 'edge' of the world where the water ended and the sky began. Or rather, should have. Suddenly, he frowned as he discovered that he could not locate the curvature of the planet. Even now, he could still make at the line that was the Heaven Continent even though the immortal boat should have long gone past the point where it disappeared.
But that's impossible. Due to the shape of a planet, everything will eventually disappear after a certain distance. Tianyi continued to be puzzled by what he saw. However, the next moment Tianyi's body stiffened as a thought occurred to him. What if I'm not on a planet?
It was an absurd thought that went against all conventions Tianyi had learned in his previous years on Earth. But the more Tianyi thought about it, the more Tianyi was sure of his hypothesis.
Why did I think that I was living on a planet? The fact that this world has cultivation already goes against my common sense. There is a reason why the Huang Realm is called a realm, after all. If anything, a realm would be like what people call a flat-Earth with boundaries at the edge. In that case, how does day and night work here? Does the realm revolve around the sun, or does the sun revolve around the Huang Realm? How do the seasons change? Without an axis of rotation, how does it all happen? Tianyi found himself more and more confused and befuddled as questions and conjectures began to flow into his mind.
Then he suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood.
"Young master!" Elder Meng, who had been standing behind him while he had been in a daze for the past few days, cried out in worry, but Tianyi waved her concern away.
Tianyi covered his mouth with a white handkerchief, but even as blood leaked from his mouth, Tianyi's eyes were flashing unprecedentedly bright light. Even his pupils seemed to have changed to molten gold. "Hahahaha, the Dao, Heavenly Dao! What governs the laws of this world!? Hahaha!"
Tianyi laughed uncontrollably as if he had found something hilarious, but he had not gone insane. His eyes were perfectly clear and sharp, seemingly too sharp. It was as if he was a half-blind man who suddenly received Lasik surgery. His awareness of the world around him had never been clearer.
First, the Huang Realm has three continents: the Heaven Continent ruled by the Buzhou Immortal Sect, the Earth Continent ruled by the Eight Pillars Sect, and finally, the Mortal Continent ruled by the Saintly Scholar School.
It is said that the Huang Realm was formed from the world the Immortal Court ruled from, and so it was formerly known as the Jade Emperor (Yu Huang) Realm, but after so many years, the name became what it is today.
The three continents are separated by an apparently endless sea, and the distance from each continent is said to be so immense that mortals cannot cross the distance. Within the endless seas, there are numerous small islands where minor powers have established themselves.
But that's not the important part!
Legend has it if you travel straight far enough, you will reach a wall, the end of the realm where no living beings could pass through. I used to think of it as nothing more than a fairy tale, but now there's a high possibility that this is true. Thinking logically, this world has powerful immortals. If the wall were false, then the legend would have been corrected a long time ago by the immortals.
Then the question arises: are there any other planes besides this one, do planets and solar systems exist in this reality? How do the laws of physic play into all of this? From my experience till now, physics still exists.
How exactly does the world work?
Does outer space exist?
Tianyi continued to stand until seven days and nights passed, unmoving like a stone sculpture. Tianyi had entered a special state that many would term enlightenment.
Enlightenment was varied. An example from Earth would be Sir Isaac Newton, who gained sudden enlightenment when an apple dropped on his head. In the Huang Realm, Confucius, the Patriarch and Founder of the Saint Scholar School, gained enlightenment after more than fifty years of study and directly reached the Immortal Realm in a single leap.
Throughout this time, Elder Meng stood by like a guard, not letting anyone come close to Tianyi. It even shocked a few cultivators when she appeared out of nowhere when they tried to approach Tianyi.
Thanks to Elder Meng's actions, Tianyi was able to comprehend many things during these seven days and nights.
"So the moon is not a satellite but a star." Tianyi found himself muttering, half in disbelief and half in amazement. During the seven days, he gained some enlightenment concerning the sun and the moon, the Solar Star and the Lunar Star. Through this, he deepened his understanding of yin and yang.
It wasn't to the point of directly understanding the fundamental Law of Yin or Yang, but more like concepts. Concepts were partial portions of the worldly law that governed the Huang Realm. If physic was a complete law, then concepts were theories.
However, Tianyi's greatest gain was the concept of gravity, or rather attraction. Inside Tianyi's body, the unruly true qi of chaos within his body were attracted to his dantian, like space debris attracted by a planet's gravity. At the same time, some color returned to Tianyi's sickly white skin.
"Young Master, have you solved the issue that has plagued you all these years?" Elder Meng asked with a hint of approvement in her eyes.
Tianyi chuckled, obviously pleased. "How could it be that easy, Elder Meng? I've just gained some basic insights into the nature of yin and yang. More importantly, I've seemed to found a breakthrough to create a method to control my nine spiritual cores."
"Young Master, your aura has changed and is no longer as chaotic. I must congratulate you on stepping closer to your goal." Elder Meng said, a slight smile on her aged lips. It was one of the few rare times that Tianyi had seen her smile. Even though it wasn't as beautiful as a blooming flower, it was still nonetheless pleasant.
"Much appreciated," Tianyi replied. "Although I look better, the truth of the matter is that I've only stabilized a portion of my qi. My control has only increased marginally, but with more time, I believe my control will increase to the point that I will no longer puke blood with no warning."
"This is truly a joyous matter." Elder Meng said, her smile disappearing.
Tianyi smiled bitterly. Was it truly a joyous matter that he no longer puked blood with no warning? He would still puke blood if he were agitated enough. The only way to break free was to create a new cultivation method that allowed him to fully control all nine spiritual cores. He only found a possible breakthrough. However, the chances of success were still slim.
Throughout the four years, Tianyi kept running into a wall when he was designing a martial cultivation manual for himself, and that was space! Most martial bodies simply didn't have enough space to house the true qi produced from nine spiritual cores. Furthermore, it wasn't just regular true qi but true qi of chaos, which had strong destructive properties.
Tianyi needed to create a martial cultivation method that formed a martial body that was strong enough to stand the true qi of chaos and with enough capacity to contain all his qi. His current martial body, formed with one of the peak martial methods, made his body comparative to a young dragon, but even that was not enough.
Even now, Tianyi still needed to use a treasure to siphon the excess qi, but Tianyi's mood was still good.
"Senior Brother Xia, I have some Serene Spirit Wine. Want to have a drink?" Tianyi asked, wanting to celebrate his gains.
Logically it would be best for him to consolidate all his gains first, but Tianyi was far too excited. He had the first enlightenment in his life, and his gains were massive, but he could not calm himself down. Even now, he had to physically restrain himself from openly grinning and looking like a loon.
Xia Yushan also sensed Tianyi's good mood, and he had also heard about Tianyi's strange state and immediately connected the two. "Hahaha, since junior brother is offering a rank seven wine, then I, as your senior brother, cannot afford to give anything less. Although a Sword Tailed Peacock is only a rank five monster, the meat is still extremely precious, worthy of the Serene Spirit Wine Junior Brother Xi has."
Soon, Xia Yushan and Tianyi were seated at a large circular table, but they weren't the only ones as Heng Huesheng, Ji Shuye, and Wei Daying were also present. Each of them brought out an item at least of the fifth rank to the miniature banquet.
The three nascent soul grandmasters did not look down on Tianyi or Wei Daiying, the only core formation masters on the table. First of all, Tianyi was the only son of Grand Elder Xi and was the richest among the four. Second, all three of them knew it was only a matter of time before Tianyi and Wei Daiying became a nascent soul or soul nourishing grandmaster like them.
They were all cultivators. No matter what the topic was when they first sat down, it would always lead to a discussion about cultivation in the end.
"Senior Brother Xia, your attainments in the Five Element Sword Arts are truly a sight to behold, worthy of being the number one sword cultivator in the current generation of disciples." Tianyi praised. He truly admired Xia Yushan's skill with the sword. One could even say that he envied Xia Yushan's talent in the sword.
"You overpraise me. Although I may be the acclaimed number one sword cultivator of this generation, Junior Brother Xi is not any worse than me when I first entered the Core Formation realm." Xia Yushan was happy at Tianyi's praise, and he naturally praised Tianyi back.
"Don't make fun of me, Senior Brother Xia. I can admit I am a little talented in the sword, but that is only treading through the predecessors' footstep." Many of the people seated at the table snorted.
Talented? That was underestimating Tianyi's abilities too much. From their discussion, they could already ascertain that Tianyi's techniques were far above the norm of most Core Formation cultivators. If the sword prodigies outside heard Tianyi's word, how many would cry and scream from Tianyi's words? There are many who wished they could have Tianyi's 'minor' talent in the sword.
"Junior Brother Xi, don't say such words in the future. You'll make a lot of people cry." Ji Shuye said, her voice was like her appearance, gentle and soft, making one feel pleased. "I heard that Junior Brother recently created the Nine Strokes Sword Arts that has many variations and is extremely complex."
Tianyi sipped the wine and felt the turbulent qi within calm down a bit. "Haha, most sword cultivators focus wholeheartedly on the sword and fuse the concepts they comprehended into sword arts. On the other hand, I use sword arts to execute techniques based on the concepts I mastered. I'm doing everything in reverse."
The conversation continued, and many topics were discussed, such as the current situation of the three continents or how the Eight Pillar Sect was under threat by the Anti-Earth Alliance, an alliance formed of first-rate powers on the Earth Continent.
The Eight Pillar Sect that existed for eons might even get replaced, but of course, the chances were still slim. No matter how weak a hegemonic sect became, it had heavy accumulations and would not fall so easily. Both sides would likely suffer heavy losses, but the Eight Pillars Sect would come out victorious.
Also, during this time, Tianyi noticed that Heng Huesheng and Wei Daiying were a bit of a yes man to Xia Yushan. It wasn't that obvious—at least to Tianyi—but he found them very agreeable to whatever Xia Yushan said and often reinforced him.
"Speaking of which, I wonder what the top disciples of the other three continents are like and how they compare to the disciples from our sect," Tianyi asked. He himself was already a top talent in the Buzhou Immortal Sect, and those he knew were also the cream of the crop, so he didn't pay much attention to the common disciple.
He had tried to find cultivators with heaven-defying talent outside the Buzhou Immortal Sect, but none could compare to the Buzhou Immortal Sect on the Heaven Continent. Tianyi had stopped looking, but the Three Heavens Connecting Meeting roused his interest once more.
From what Xia Yushan, Heng Huesheng, Ji Shuye, Wei Daiying knew, there were the two disciples that stood out.
First was Li Mu, a cultivator who was skilled in both formations and alchemy. If you gave him enough time to prepare, he may not win against you but defeating him was nearly impossible. Li Mu was one of the most outstanding geniuses of the Saint;y Scholar School. The news was that he had formed his nascent soul years ago when he was only forty years old.
Other than Li Mi, all the disciples of the Saint Scholar School were about the same, so no one stood out. It was almost terrifying in a way, since all of their disciples were consistently above average compared to other hegemonic sects.
From the Earth Continent was San Mirong, an Acupoint Opening Realm cultivator. She was a female cultivator—a rarity—who was skilled in martial cultivation and specialized in thunder arts. Furthermore, she was able to compete and defeat nascent soul grandmasters.
But the most surprising thing was that she did not come from the hegemonic sect of the Earth Continent, the Eight Pillar Sect, but the Extremity Night Sect, a first-rate force and member of the Anti-Earth Alliance. However, the latest information was a decade old, and it was likely she had already entered the Soul Nourishing Realm.
It was rather sad that the ruler of the Earth Continent didn't have an outstanding disciple to compete against the Anti-Earth Alliance's top disciple. Although it was just as likely that a top disciple was being secretly trained.
"Senior Brother Xia, don't you think it's a pity to have slaughtered the Sword Tailed Peacock for meat. If it reached ranked six, then you would have a magnificent mount." At Heng Huesheng's words, Tianyi stilled for a moment.
"Senior Brother Xia, if I recall correctly Sword Tailed Peacocks are born at rank three at birth and have opened spirituality, right?" Tianyi asked.
When a beast or magical beast opened spirituality, their intelligence was not lower than a human's, even if their mentality was that of a child's.
"Hahaha, of course. Truthfully I had high hopes for this Sword Tailed Peacock, but unfortunately, when it formed its demon core, the process was imperfect, and thus its future road was severed. Even if I had not killed it, it would have died anyway." Xia Yushan calmly said.
That means this Sword Tailed Peacock we're eating had opened spirituality, right? At this point, Tianyi felt a bit green. He looked around the table to see Heng Huesheng nodding his head in agreement. Even the gentle-looking Ji Shuye did not feel repulsed by this.
So killing beasts, even those who have attained spirituality, is no different than killing livestock here, even though they have the same intelligence as average mortals? Tianyi instantly recalled all sorts of delicacy he ate before and felt himself become even more agitated.
Suddenly he started hacking, and his face looked green.
"Junior Brother!?" The four other disciples called out to Tianyi in worry.
The other people called out to Xi Tianyi in concern. Although they knew that Xi Tianyi's health had problems, seeing it happen in front of them was another matter.
"It's fine. I just got overly excited. No need to worry about me." Tianyi gave a slight smile. Had the soul inside the beasts been human, would Senior Brothers and Sister still happily eat the meat? Forget it. In this world, eating monster meat, even those that have opened spirituality is normal. But for me, it's like cannibalism. I cannot, in good conscience, eat them without care.
"They say when in Rome, do as the Romans do, but I honestly cannot do it," Tianyi muttered lowly, but someone still heard him.
"What do you mean? What is Rome?" Ji Shuye asked.
Tianyi paused before he gave a melancholic smile that made him seem isolated, as if he was sitting at another table even though he was physically sitting at the same table. "Forget it. You wouldn't understand."