With her painting in his Inner World, Wu Ling had long become accustomed to the appearance of his immortal master. It was only when she appeared before him again that he realized that the paintings only captured a shadow of her majestic beauty. Her rainbow-hued dress fluttered around her as though caught in a perpetual breeze and her phoenix eyes glittered with the light of a thousand stars, as though she beheld all of creation within her imperial gaze.
For Wu Ling, the action of preparing tea for his master gave him several needed moments to restore order to his breathing after becoming overwhelmed by her presence. Finally, when he prepared a cup that contained not only his favorite Red Phoenix tea but his gratitude and deep admiration for the Immortal Empress, he slid the cup toward her and bowed deeply.
"Disciple Wu Ling hopes Master will enjoy this cup," he said, as meek and humble before her as the smallest of mice.
"You don't need to bow so low and avert your gaze," Hua Jue said, her celestial voice rippling through Wu Ling's soul like a stone cast into still water. "You've worked hard since awakening haven't you?"
"My achievements are only possible because of the teachings bestowed by Master," Wu Ling said humbly, sitting up straight and meeting her gaze with great difficulty. When he did, however, the twinkle in her eyes and slight smile at the corner of her pert lips helped to put him at ease.
"You don't need to be so humble before me," his master said gently. "I've given you this time without much guidance so that you could find the places where your Journey of Ascension will begin. It's important that you select your starting points for yourself. You should understand, however, that the time for unguided exploration has come to an end with this breakthrough."
"Journey of Ascension?" Wu Ling asked, never having encountered the term before.
"The Journey of Ascension is the path between Mortality and Immortality," she explained patiently. "I have observed the world around you since your Awakening. In that time, it seems like you have yet to encounter anyone who truly understands the entire journey."
"It appears that it is even more difficult for Spirit Folk to reach the final chapter of the journey than it is for humans and the beings you refer to as 'Ancestral Spirits.' Since you are my disciple, it is important that I reorient your worldview to see further than the people you are surrounded by."
"The Journey of Ascension can be divided three times, three times," she continued, her tone even and patient as though she had tutored thousands of disciples and had repeated this lesson many times. "At the highest level, the Journey of Ascension is a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Many mortals get lost along the way but if you would join me in the Divine Realm, you must firmly fix in your mind that this journey has an end and it must end in order for your Immortal Journey to begin. You understand?" When Wu Ling nodded, she continued smoothly with her lesson.
"Each chapter of the journey contains three named realms, you may have heard these as the Nine Mortal Realms or something similar," she explained. "Each of those is further divided into the early, middle, and late stages. From what I have seen around you, the most powerful people in your Outer Sects are at the very middle of the middle. In the vastness of Creation, this isn't uncommon. Even in the Myriad Paths Divine Sect, our smallest Chapterhouses aren't terribly dissimilar from your own Outer Sect. Still, it creates challenges for people like you who are destined to walk further."
"What kind of challenges are you worried about, Master?" Wu Ling asked. He knew that people who passed the fifth stage were all but unheard of in the Outer City. The ones who had gone so far and remained in the Outer City were people like Hall Master Bian Xing who wielded tremendous power in control of Outer Sect branches.
In the Inner City, the Sect Masters were said to be peerless existences who had reached above the fifth stage but even they dared not call themselves pinnacle powers. That title was reserved for the first-rank sects like the Paragon Sword Sect and others whose names shook the world with their might.
Thus far, Wu Ling had never given any thought to the later stages of cultivation. Such things were so far away from his current life that it felt pointless to consider them. It seemed, however, that his master had a different perspective.
"The first and most important consideration, at this moment, is how you'll open additional paths on your journey," Hua Jue said simply. "You should know that you've reached a point where you can attempt a Reawakening. Cultivating your Heart has taken you this far, and if you wish to walk all the way to the end of your Journey of Ascension without cultivating anything else, it is possible to do so. Succeeding at the end of such a road, however, even if you survive to reach it, is as difficult as ascending directly to the summit of Divine Mountain."
"Why is it so hard? Is it because I would miss things that I need in order to complete the Journey of Ascension?" Wu Ling asked, his mind wrestling with the enormity of what his master spoke about so casually. It was as though, to her, the journey to immortality was something anyone should aim to complete, and doing so was only natural. Perhaps, to an Immortal Empress, that really was the case.
"This is one of the pieces of your education I wish to address with you," the Immortal Empress said. With a wave of her hand, she pulled Wu Ling's painting of his star-filled path over to the table. "This was an excellent painting to understand your path in a general sense, but it isn't a plan," she said gently. "You have wisely painted dangers ahead on your journey, and in truth, almost no one can complete the Journey of Ascension without facing numerous dangers."
"The question you should be asking is how adding more paths to this painting will allow you to overcome those dangers," Hua Jue prompted.