Yang Feng nodded, understanding Meng Wu Ya's point. He then started, "well, to start with, do you think that Tong Xuan Realm is the only world out there?", seeing that Meng Wu Ya did not answer him, Yang Feng continued.
"... Beyond this world is the place known as 'The Starry Sky' and this starry sky holds thousands upon thousands of worlds, each habitable world is called a 'Cultivation Star'. These Stars vary in sizes and energies and they are divided into low grade, middle grade and high grade, with each grade the size and amount of Qi in the world increase dramatically."
Meng Wu Ya listened with rapt attention. He had previously known about the starry sky as a few rare resources from there could still be found in Tong Xuan Realm, but no one from Tong Xuan Realm has ever been able to survive there, or at least to his knowledge.
"Now, tell me old Meng, where do you think the Tong Xuan Realm fits in that tiering." Meng Wu Ya thought for a moment with narrowed eyes. As he was thinking about it, Su Yan said, "Low Grade, right?"
Meng Wu Ya looked at her with a surprised look and seemed like he was about to say something, which died down as Yang Feng spoke, "Correct. The current Tong Xuan Realm is classified as a Low Grade Cultivation Star. But even among the Low Grade ones, it is of the lowest grades. This is because of it's poor laws and depleted Qi, which can only support the birth of Saints."
'hmm, it definitely isn't a coincidence that this happened again. The will of the verse wanted the destined child or Yang Kai to grow up safe, but also under moderate pressure. So although the small world is connected to at least one or maybe more cultivation stars, Yang Kai entered the Tong Xuan Realm. A dying star that can only support the birth of a Saint Realm Cultivator and when he grew stronger he ventured to the other stars.'
Yang Feng's thoughts paused for just a second before he narrowed his eyes a little, 'No this wasn't the last of it, the same happened when he was 'trapped' in the shadowed star that conveniently only supported an Origin Returning Realm Cultivator. Even later on, in the Star Boundary, No Open Heaven Realm Cultivator was present, which is again odd as it was one of the 3000 worlds (world formed naturally) and those are usually under the forces from the outer universe.'
Shaking out of his thoughts Yang Feng looking at Meng Wu Ya who sat there with a slight dazed look, clearly the information hit him hard, knowing that the world he called home was the lowest of the worlds out there, while Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang also seemed to be thinking about something.
Clearing his throat to gain the three's attention again, Yang Feng continued, "Now that that is done, we move to the next and most important thing, the Cultivation Realms." His words had the effect of instantly gaining the three's attention, especially Meng Wu Ya's.
This time, Yang Feng addressed Meng Wu Ya, as he said, "While you know about the realms till Saint Realm, do you think that it's the end of the road? ... No, the Saint Realm, if I am honest about my opinion, is just the second step a TRUE cultivator takes on his journey of his Dao, the first step being the Transcendent Realm."
Ignoring the wide eyes of the three, as Yang Feng had not shared his own opinion on the realms to the two women, but had still given them an outline, so this was also their first time hearing this.
"Old Meng, do you remember what you told me about the Transcendent Realm and how it is different from the previous ones?", as Meng Wu Ya dumbly nodded, Yang Feng continued, "what you said is true. The Transcendent Realm is different, as in this realm the essence of a person, which makes up a person's existence, starts to change, it starts to evolve."
"Being a 'Transcendent' cultivator means that you have broken yourself free from the racial restrictions that make you a Mortal and have truly started your own transition into something of a higher plane of existence, which you do by understanding and integrating the Laws of the Worlds into your source/essence. This is also the reason that you start having a certain amount of resistance to attacks from those of the lower realms, this resistance is equal to the percentage of your evolved essence."
Meng Wu Ya, Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang listened with thoughtful looks which gradually changed into understanding. After letting them digest the information, Yang Feng continued, "Now after Transcendant Realm, comes the Saint Realm. In the Saint Realm, the previous process of essence evolution continues, but the change in this realm is that the True Qi first evolves into Saint Qi, before the breakthrough. This evolution of Qi is again caused by the infusion of Heavenly Laws into the Qi, which purifies it and makes it many times stronger."
When he stopped at this, Meng Wu Ya grew even more serious as Yang Feng had reached the part he was really curious about. "After the Saint Realm comes the .... Saint King Realm. The Saint King Realm is like the Transcendent and Saint Realm. The process of the 1st essence evolution continues and in my opinion is completed here."
Meng Wu Ya caught on to his words and asked, "in your opinion?". Yang Feng looked at him and replied, "Yes, in my opinion. As my cultivation is too low as you can see, I don't have the knowledge of all the ins and outs of all the realms."
"If that's the case how are you so sure that what you said is correct? Not to mention your world, even someone in Tong Xuan Realm hasn't ever broken through to the Saint King Realm, as you call it.", asked Meng Wu Ya critically, while Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang remained quite knowing that Yang Feng wouldn't tell them anything he was truly uncertain about.
As Meng Wu Ya was looking at Yang Feng, Yang Feng surprised him with a chuckle, "*chuckle* How I know about all this is my problem and if you believe me or not it is your own problem, Old Man. As for your claim that no one has ever broken through to the Saint King Realm here, are you sure about it?"
Hearing his words and the grin on his face. Meng Wu Ya vigorously shook his head, "Impossible! I have lived for a thousand years and there has never been a character like that."
Yang Feng smiled calmly and simply said, "when did I say that it was within a thousand years? Also old man you lived in the small realm for hundreds of years, are you so sure that someone like this didn't rise up.", Meng Wu Ya's vigorous behavior plummeted significantly at his words as he looked at him with a look that said 'continue'.
Still with the same smile Yang Feng said something that caused his eyes to shot open with such speed that the three youths thought his eyeballs would fall out, "you must have heard the name of this person as he is pretty famous even now, in Tong Xuan Realm. He was the only 'known' person that had broken through to the Saint King Realm. His name isn't known to people, but everyone knows him as .... The Great Demon God."
The reason Yang Feng said 'known' Saint King Realm Cultivators is because of something that is revealed later on in the original. In the original, when Yang Kai comes back from Shadowed Star, it turns out that Xia Ning Chang had broken through to the Saint King Realm and was helped by the will of Tong Xuan Realm. When they reach near the core of Tong Xuan Realm, they see many skeletons there. Each skeleton belonging to a person sacrificed by the will to keep Tong Xuan Realm alive. Yang Feng believed that each of that person had atleast grown to be a Saint King Realm Cultivator before they were sacrificed.
"*Chuckle* yes the very same. The God of the Demon Race.", as Meng Wu Ya went through his thoughts Yang Feng waited, honestly he wanted to finish this before thinking of what to do for the next few years till he reached a sufficient level of strength to leave the Tong Xuan Realm.
After Meng Wu Ya finished with his internal monologue, Yang Feng immediately continued, "let's get this finished as I'm sure we all still have things to do. I will tell this beforehand that what I am going to tell you next is again mixed with what I know and what I have speculated.... So after Saint King Realm, during which the essence of the cultivator is fully transformed by the infusion of Heavenly Laws, comes the Origin Returning Realm. The Origin Returning Realm is near completely different from the previous realms, where previously you just have to strengthen your Qi and learn the Laws around you to breakthrough."
"In this realm, you have to choose a 'Law' that you want to comprehend to the level of 'Dao'. Now don't misunderstand 'Dao' for 'Laws' as they are different things." Seeing the slightly confused looks, Yang Feng manifested a normal flame in his hand, "Like take flame as an example. Every cultivator who has the knowledge of Fire Laws can make and use these flame by igniting them with your Qi."
Then, he slowly he increased the heat of the flame and started to make it rotate around his hand, "and as your understanding increases so does your control over the flame."
He then made the ordinary Flame slowly changed into his Yin-Yang Harmony Flame (Chaos Flame), as the three looked on, slowly getting the idea of what Yang Feng was trying to say. "But. That's the highest Laws can take you. If you want to increase your understanding and make it unique, like this flame of mine, or any other special flame out there. You will have to study and understand Flame 'Dao'. In simple words, you can think of Laws as 'mostly' Beginner to Middle level knowledge, with Dao being the in-depth knowledge of anything that leads you to the peak of that particular thing, or beyond.". Now Yang Feng had not reached the level of Flame Dao, but you can say that he was well on his way. He just used this as an example for explaining to them.
"And in Origin Returning Realm, you have to make a choice. You have to infuse all your understanding of your chosen Laws into a 'Will' and combine it with your Saint Qi and Divine Soul Strength. This combination will make a power that is known as 'Shi'. In this realm 'Shi' is used for fighting and other things. If you want to advance to the next realm, you have to increase your understanding of 'Shi' and your own 'Laws'. Also, Shi of higher levels can suppress the Shi of lower levels along with Qi and Divine Soul Strength, because of which normally even a 1st Order Origin Returning Realm Cultivator can kill tens of Saint Kings with ease."
"After Origin Returning Realm is, Origin King Realm. In this realm, the cultivator condences his/her Shi into a 'Domain'. In this Domain, the owner is the controller of laws and can do anything in it. Even the weakest of them all can slaughter hundreds or thousands of Origin Returning Realm Cultivators. The same rule of increasing your cultivation applies here, you have to increase your knowledge and control over your Laws. Also it is at this stage that you change your 'Laws' into your own 'Daos', based on your own knowledge of your Dao."
"Another thing that you should know is that all the different professions have the same ranking grades as Cultivation Realms. Like Saint Grade, Saint King Grade, Origin Returning Grade, e.t.c."
After saying that Yang Feng sighed, the talk had taken quite some time. After everyone had processed all the new knowledge, they looked at him, but Yang Feng remained quite and looked at the three with an expression that clearly said 'what? I told you all that and your still looking at me for something more.'
At this the three smiled sheepishly. Meng Wu Ya then took out some tea and served it to the three youths and himself. All this knowledge had changed the outlook he had on cultivation. For a long time he had believed that he had nearly reached the summit, but only now he had realized that he was still the frog at the bottom of the well.
As they were quietly sipping their tea. Meng Wu Ya suddenly asked, "what are your plans, now that you came to the Tong Xuan Realm?"