The emperor and his court were left confused after the East Gabe branch refused their surrender and, at the same time, did not seek revenge for what happened to the western capital. They could only shrug their shoulders and wait for their fate. The previous battle proved that they had no chance against the Heaven's Way Sect.
The difference between the two was so large that it left the empire hopeless.
The empire remained in its petrified state for over a decade; during this time, the Heaven's Way Sect never invaded, and the empire did not attempt to take the initiative.
After the decade ended, the sect finally sent an emissary. The emissary's message was simple: surrender now, and we will show mercy.
The empire complied and was officially annexed by the Heaven's Way Sect.
...
The entire world was shaken as soon as the empire submitted to Jack.
Mortals couldn't feel its true extent, but the world underwent massive changes.
The gap between rank 10 and 11 is not huge; an immortal with one complete law is rank 10, while an immortal with two complete laws is rank 11. What is truly different is their upper limit: a rank 10 immortal can at most have one complete law, while a rank 11 immortal can have an unlimited number of complete laws.
After the world broke from rank 10 to 11, its upper limit increased exponentially. Because of Jack's previous designs, the land area increased by around one million times, and various long-established forces appeared throughout the vast land.
This design made things much harder for Jack; to break through to rank 11, he had to conquer this land, which had many high-ranking forces.
However, he had no choice; if he had designed the land as barren and empty, even if he had conquered the world, the Dao accumulation would not have been enough to advance the world to rank 12.
The difference between rank 11 and 12 is very large, far beyond the difference between rank 10 and 11. The difference between rank 11 and 12 is the difference between a complete law and a universal law; naturally, the difficulty is also much higher accordingly.
Now, the world has a complete cultivation system that leads to rank 9.
The energy-gathering stage is equivalent to rank 1.
An energy-gathering cultivator is not yet completely beyond mortals; in any case, even mortal kings have to bow before a late-stage energy-gathering cultivator.
The core formation is equivalent to rank 2.
Core formation cultivators are far beyond mortals; they are not strong enough to act as the backbone of a small sect, so they usually act as elders.
The nascent soul is equivalent to rank 3.
Nacant soul cultivators usually act as ancestors and sect leaders in small sects or may act as lower-level elders in medium-sized sects; they are respected in the cultivation world.
The divine soul is equivalent to rank 4. After the world advanced, the divine soul cultivator's lifespan changed from unlimited to only 5,000 years; there are other changes in the divine soul realm, but those are too technical.
Divine soul cultivators usually act as elders of medium-sized sects; rarely, some small sects may have divine soul ancestors, too.
After the divine soul stage, one has to find a way to elevate the divine soul until it grows and becomes the same size as the body. Once one succeeds in doing that, they can break through to the next stage simply by gathering enough energy.
The stage after the divine soul, equivalent to the 5th rank, is called the Soul Substance Realm. Those in this realm no longer need a body; they can do everything with only their soul. A substance soul cultivator can destroy a continent without breaking a sweat; even destroying hundreds of continents is no big deal. They can live up to 50,000 years.
A substance soul cultivator is a big shot who is respected wherever they go; they usually act as sect leaders or ancestors in medium-sized sects, or they may act as low-level elders in big sects.
The next realm, equivalent to rank 6, is called the Multiple Souls Realm. After completing the Soul Substance Realm, one's soul reaches its peak; the only way to advance is to create other substance souls. As soon as the cultivator manages to create a second substance soul, they can be considered to have entered the Multiple Soul Realm.
The upper limit of the Multiple Soul Realm is very high, probably unlimited; the only limiting factor is the lifespan of the main soul, which is no more than 100,000 years.
Multiple soul realm cultivators usually act as Elders in big sects. Rarely, they may act as ancestors or sect leaders in medium-sized sects. It is also possible that a super sect short on higher-level cultivators hires them as low-level elders.
The next realm, equivalent to rank 7, is called the Void Soul Realm. To reach it, one must combine all of one's substance souls and elevate them forcefully to a higher state, the Void Soul state. Void Soul cultivators can live up to 9,000,000 years. A Void Soul cultivator can destroy planets with a glance and even rip apart stars without difficulty. They can teleport anywhere in their world and use the void's power to enhance their spells.
Void soul realm cultivators usually act as low-level elders in a super sect or as ancestors or sect masters in a big sect; every single void soul cultivator is an unforgettable existence that leaves their mark on the world.
The next realm, equivalent to rank 8, is called Soul Transformation. As evidenced by its name, the Soul Transformation Realm involves transforming the soul into its final and perfect state. These cultivators live up to 99,000,000 years.
Soul transformation cultivators work as elders in super sects; one word from these cultivators can affect the entire world.
The final realm is called the Perfection Realm, also known as the Perfect Soul. Those in this realm can live as long as the world exists.
Perfection realm cultivators are ancestors or sect masters of super sects; they are the chess players, while everyone else is chess pieces; still, maybe as a side effect of their immortality, they don't interfere in affairs much and are obsessed with their research of complete laws.
After this realm, if one intends to go further, one can only research and somehow calculate a complete law formula. After calculating the new law formula, if one manages to create their complete law, they become a true rank 10 Dream Immortal.
This opens a complicated can of worms. What is real, and what is a dream? Simply put, the sole difference between dreams and reality is their charge; if dream immortals find a way of changing their charge, they can turn real.
A dream world is based on mortal beliefs, but that is what an ordinary dream world is; Jack's dream worlds are different. To create them, Jack used a special technique using dream seeds; they are precious products and the work of Rachel, who used her supreme grandmaster masteries in Dream Dao, Reality Dao, Charge Dao, Code Dao, etc., to create them. Otherwise, forming a dream world wouldn't have been this easy and cheap.
The dream seeds 'borrow' dream power from the universe and form a rank 9 world; once the world advances to rank 10 according to Jack's technique, the dream power is paid back to the universe. The universe loses dream energy if the dream world falls, gets destroyed, etc., before promotion to rank 10, like when Jack died before killing Kampaku.
That is the job of dream seeds; they scam the universe by stealing energy from it. It would never have been allowed in the past, but now, Rachel controls the universe; as a rank 14, she has a lot of energy and doesn't care about a little loss.
In any event, the important takeaway is that dream immortals could become real immortals, depending on the circumstances; for someone who only lived in a dream world, discovering a technique to get out is not easy but is possible.
Another question is whether, for example, a rank 9 mortal can create a dream world that contains a rank 10 immortal; after all, it is a dream, so why not? The answer is that even a rank 1 mortal can create a dream world with rank 10 immortals, but there are a few catches.
First, the dream world must be compatible with the universal laws around it; if a dream world is made by a rookie and is incompatible with universal laws, no matter what exists inside, it can not be realized.
Second, dream worlds featuring higher-level beings cost much more, so the initial cost would be much higher if they included immortals. Jack's dream worlds cost so little because of dream seeds, which cheat the universe, basically taking advantage of a bug Rachel intentionally left open.
Third, the universal laws of this universe stipulate that the cost of becoming a dream immortal cannot be less than that of becoming a real immortal, so for a dream immortal to become a real immortal, they have to pay a certain energy as a 'tax' to the universe. Of course, Rachel controls the universe, so she can change it or make exceptions to this tax anytime she wants.
Fourth, if the laws of the dream world are not in sync with the universe outside, then dream immortals, even if they make it out and survive, may be left with an inoperable complete law, which, though it exists, is banned and unusable because of its incompatibility.
The first condition is different from the first one; the first one is about incompatibility, which is a lax standard; as long as the dream is not too far apart from universal laws and is not incompatible, it can be realized; the fourth, however, is a strict standard, and much harder to adhere to; if the dreamworld is not in sync, then the complete laws made inside may be inoperable outside; basically, only knowledgable immortals can create dreamworld which is synced with universal laws.
...
After a few hours, the universe successfully broke through to rank 11 and stabilized.
Jack wanted to have at least Nascent Soul cultivation before completing world domination; he had good reason for it.
He looked at the prompt that appeared in front of his eyes.
"Congratulations on completing the world domination task. You receive an A- rating."
"New cultivation realms unlocked; Land area expanded, New opponents added, Transmigration system added."
"Mission: Conquer the world."
"Good luck!"
Jack smiled; he designed the system and knew everything that was about to come. The reason for his insistence on reaching Nascent Soul was the rating; if he were only at Core Formation, the rating would have been C+ or B-. But, with Nascent Soul, his rating became A-; if he had the Divine Soul cultivation base, his rank would have improved to S.
His ranking determines his location on the new map. The map is over a million times larger than before, and there are many different areas with different energy concentrations. Having an A- rank means his sect would end up in a good place with amazing energy concentration; of course, better energy concentration means more powerful enemies.
With only a C+ rating, he would have been placed in a far easier location, which would have made his life easier; he may have been able to live in peace and even rule his surrounding area, becoming a local king. However, Jack does not want to become a local king; he wants to dominate the world. To do so, he needs more resources and would not willingly live in a rural, low-energy place.
After all, even Nascent Souls have a lifespan of 2,000 years; reaching Divine Soul is not guaranteed, especially if he goes to a low-energy area.
Breathing in and taking a deep breath, Jack could feel the energy concentration increasing every second; it had already become more than ten times stronger than before. With this concentration of energy, cultivation would be much easier.