Fragments of time and space struck Alex repeatedly on his journey to the divine realm, causing him serious injuries. Not even his sub-divine body would withstand the blows. Of course, he had no intention of retreating, no matter how dangerous it was.
If he didn't deal with the divine realm now, then he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop worrying about it.
The way to becoming a celestial immortal might be in the divine realm, he thought. So I was bound to end up here sooner or later.
When he sensed the time was right, he summoned his power, determined to break out of the passageway.
There was a loud bang and a massive black hole appeared at the end of the tunnel he was traveling through.
His body shrunk, turned into a ray of light, and plunged into the black hole, which shrunk rapidly and disappeared without a trace, leaving only the colorful tunnel full of strange phenomena.
The disciples of the divine realm who were guarding the other end of the passageway noticed the portal tremble for a moment before simply returning to its calm state. So they no longer paid any attention to it.
But a few hundred miles away from the portal, a vortex suddenly opened, and a mass of blue-gold light shot out violently.
The light dispersed, revealing Alex, who had many wounds all over him. Many of them were serious, and from his chest to his waist, he was bleeding heavily. It had been an unusually dangerous journey, and it had been enough to kill a golden core warrior. His aura was also extremely weak, and he had lost nearly all of his energy and power.
But he wasn't worried.
He took a deep breath, and instead of looking injured, he looked intoxicated.
So much spiritual energy, he thought. It's been a long time since I felt anything like this.
The spiritual energy in the divine realm was greater than in any place on Earth.
He opened his eyes, and in the distance, he saw some towering trees, each of them five hundred feet tall. The vigorous roar of a beast could be heard from nearby, and on the distant horizon, there was also a giant golden bird. The bird swooped down below the tree line and emerged again, carrying a beast the size of an elephant into the sky.
Alex wanted to stand up, but he found it difficult to do so. He used his inner sight and discovered that most of his body had taken heavy damage. Even his normally indestructible bones had cracks appearing on them, and he barely had fifty percent of his power left. He smiled bitterly.
At least I know now that at my current level, forcing my way through the portal is still too much of a stretch, he thought.
But there was no trace of worry on his face.
The divine realm is the perfect place for me to recover, he thought. The spiritual energy here is so abundant that, even in my current state, I'll be able to fully recover in three months at the most. Then, the moment I recover fully, all the immortals in the divine realm will die.
He slowly closed his eyes and sat cross-legged under an enormous tree, quickly entering a meditative state. The spiritual energy of the surrounding wood turned into wisps of green mist that gathered around his body. As the spirit energy of the wood nourished him, some of the smaller wounds on his body started to heal and his aura started to grow stronger again.
The days went by, and he passed through different stages of recovery. As he gradually recovered, the amount of spiritual energy he attracted became greater and greater. Any energy within a radius of a mile surged toward him like a cloud.
During the first two weeks, Alex was thirsty, so he drank the dew from the leaves of the giant trees. When he was hungry, he used his power-enhanced senses to attract a small beast. He skinned it, and then he roasted it and ate it.
The wild beasts of the divine realm lived in an environment with abundant spiritual energy, so they were delicious, and Alex ate until he was full. If he hadn't needed to recover his energy more fully, then he would have killed all the wild beasts in the forest and devoured them.
He continued to sit under the tree, meditating with his eyes closed.
A layer of leaves had gathered on his shoulder, but he was too lazy to take care of them. As his injuries healed, massive scars appeared on the surface of his body, but they gradually disappeared. His body had reached a point where it was almost completely back to normal, and he was as handsome as a god. Only some of the injuries hidden deep within were still struggling to heal, but even those were nearly there.
After a while, he heard a voice carrying on the wind from a short distance away.
"Spiritual energy is gathering there," the voice said. "What could be drawing it all?"
Soon after, Alex heard footsteps stepping on dried branches and fallen leaves as someone made their way over to him.
"Verity, slow down," said a dignified male voice. "There may be vicious beasts out here."
A large leaf was pushed to one side and a young woman wearing a fiery red dress stuck her head out.
Her eyes landed on Alex, and she suddenly let out a loud squeal. Then she clapped her hands over her eyes and turned away.
"What's wrong?" the man asked, rushing over. When he saw Alex, he was also shocked.
Alex opened his eyes. He stared at the person in front of him for a while, and then he looked at his own body. He finally noticed that all of his clothes had been destroyed on his journey through the portal and he was now completely naked.
Although he was incredibly powerful, and he usually had incredibly thick skin, for once, he felt a little embarrassed. He casually waved a hand and summoned a black robe to cover himself. When the middle-aged man saw him do so, he bowed respectfully.
"Sir, I am Magnus," he said. "And this is my sister Verity. We have the greatest respect for you as an immortal master."
An immortal master? Alex thought, stunned. He had no idea what Magnus was talking about.
Verity was still covering her face and peeking at him through the gaps between her fingers. "Greetings, immortal master," she said.
Alex frowned. Only then did he realize that both Magnus and Verity had immense inner strength. Magnus was a little more advanced than his sister, who only had low levels of energy in her body.
"I fought a great enemy," Alex said. "I was seriously injured, and I ended up here. My memories are a little fuzzy, so you'll have to excuse me. Where is this place? Who are you people?"
Magnus didn't know whether to believe him, but Verity obviously did. Very quickly, she told him everything.
Only then did Alex understand why they had greeted him the way they had.
In the divine realm, anyone over a certain level of strength was called an immortal master.
According to Verity, he was currently on Twisted Mountain, which was almost half the size of the continental US and stretched for thousands of miles east and west. It seemed as if the entire realm was being traversed by demonic and spirit beasts. It was extremely dangerous, and Alex was only at the border.
"We're from Sword City outside the Twisted Mountain," Verity said. "My brother is the lord of the city."