Back in his own physical body in the present, Fang Yu opened his eyes, only to jump in surprise a moment after.
The source of his shock, Gao Weiguang's blood avatar, was shocked too. For a while, he froze, staring fixedly at a particular corner in the dim cave. Beside him, Pei Xue was still frozen in place under the effect of the Immobilization Spell he cast earlier and was none the wiser.
It was Fang Yu who eventually broke the awkward silence. Speaking from the covers of the shadows, he asked, "Master, why does your Avatar look so pale?" Somehow, the blood Avatar was now the perfect image of a ghost, or what he imagined one would look like at least.
'Did something happen in the eighty-eight days I was gone as Hermes?' he wondered to himself.
Meanwhile, Gao Weiguang's expression was somewhat dark and he remained silent. Only he knew what had happened in the short span that Fang Yu entered the True Self Meditation State, and he wasn't willing to talk about it.
Contrary to what Fang Yu thought, while his psyche travelled back in time to Ancient Earth's mythological era and spent a total of eighty-eight Earth days on Mercury as Hermes, it only corresponded to a couple of breaths in reality. During this period, Gao Weiguang noticed an anomaly when Fang Yu's spirit vanished all of a sudden. Alarmed, he attempted to touch the former when an intense force from his physical body backlashed on him, exhausting most of the power stored in the blood Avatar.
Just as he had hurriedly focused on stabilizing his blood Avatar body to prevent it from dissipating immediately, Fang Yu happened to regain consciousness and opened his eyes to see him. The latter's reaction to Master Gao's pallid look brought about another surprise; unknown to Fang Yu, he subconsciously executed Hollow Travel at that exact moment to move a couple of metres away.
"Master?"
"I see the retreat brought you some gains," Gao Weiguang finally spoke. Seeing Fang Yu's dazed expression, he gave a hint, "Hollow Travel!"
Reflecting on his Master's words, Fang Yu finally realized his abnormality. He suddenly thought of something and vanished again.
In the next couple of seconds, his figure flickered about in the dim cave, appearing in flashes and welding into the shadows spontaneously. At the same time, he attempted to execute the variety of innate abilities he had mastered as Hermes with his physical body.
Unfortunately, while his mastery of these abilities remained intact, there was a difference when he unleashed it with his body. Hermes was a Shadow Spawn and had a physique perfectly attuned to executing these techniques, but Fang Yu was a human and couldn't replicate the exact prowess and ease.
Abruptly, Fang Yu stopped to sit and regulated his breathing. His psyche executed the True Self Meditation Art and entered his inner world.
"Hhm?"
The view was a stark difference from the previous time Fang Yu had been here. The bright, flaming sun was now a sorry shell of itself, only emitting a very weak luminescence. The planets were still illusionary apparitions as usual, with the exception of Mercury which was now fully condensed and rotating slowly in a specific orbit around the sun.
The presence of the Mercury Planet gave Fang Yu a sense of power. But the dim sun also gave him a sense of foreboding. Analyzing these instinctive hints, Fang Yu quickly figured out what was up.
"It seems my sojourn to the past used up most of the energy contained within the sun of my inner universe, so I have to find a way to replenish it. But that aside, as I went back in time and temporarily became Hermes, can I do the same for the remaining time planets?"
Just the thought of it made Fang Yu very excited. The nine ancient gods of the Ancient Pantheon were all powerful gods with renowned innate abilities as could be seen from the huge benefits he had gained just from interacting with young Hermes alone. Following this train of thoughts, just what benefits would he gain from the mature Jupiter? Ares? Uranus? Pluto? The list went on and on!
"It will take a while to fully transform and integrate my gains from Hermes. Until then, I should prioritize replenishing the sun of my inner universe and exploring its mysteries. Technically, I don't even know anything about the cultivation realms or their classifications and distinctions."
With this thought, Fang Yu cancelled the True Self Mediation state and opened his eyes. Gao Weiguang seemed to have overcome his shock and was silently watching him.
"This Avatar doesn't have much longer and will surely dissipate in three days as most. Let's take the time to catch you up on basic information you should know."
Fang Yu was both surprised that Gao Weiguang did not ask him outright about his condition.
"After inheriting a Godshard Essence, you should have a prototype of a World Heart within you, saving you invaluable cultivation decades, centuries even. Your cultivation path should now be focused on nourishing and restoring the World Heart to peak condition."
Gao Weiguang's next words explained the cultivation realms and their uniqueness, clearing a lot of Fang Yu's doubts.
"There are many approaches to cultivation, but the common path for cultivators of our Eternal Purgatory World is to cultivate the spirit embryo. Through spiritual energy feedback loops and law resonance of the inner world with the external universe, the goal is to ultimately form the eternal and indestructible Dao Fruit."
The first stage of cultivation of this system was the Void Seed Realm where a cultivator awakened a Void Seed in their Source Space. At this stage, the seed would absorb, refine and emit a faint energy that begins nourishing and strengthening the cultivator's body and spirit significantly, setting them apart from mortals. Practicing Body Tempering techniques in conjunction with the rudimentary qi absorption of the stage typically yielded the greatest gains.
The second stage was the Inner Cosmos Realm. The Void Seed would integrate with the Source Space and blossom into a nascent world within the cultivator. This internal realm would become a spiritual energy reservoir, granting amplified Qi flow and minor control over internal energy pathways.
The third stage, Astral Conduit Realm, synchronized the Inner Cosmos with the external universe's Qi streams, creating astral pathways that circulate spiritual energy between realms. Apart from strengthening the connection between the cultivator and external energies, a cultivator at this stage became capable of executing techniques mobilizing the energy of the universe.
The fourth stage was the Void Crucible Realm and was concerned with refining spiritual energy to extreme purity. The Inner Cosmos would form a Void Crucible, capable of refining raw Qi into purer, more potent spiritual energy. At this stage, a cultivator gained the ability to condense energy into tangible forms and create energy constructs, consequently gaining a significant increase in destructive power.
The fifth and the sixth stages were the Runeweaver Realm and the World Heart Realm. The former involved integrating a universal law into the Inner Cosmos while the latter evolved the Void Crucible into a Worldheart, transforming the Inner Cosmos into a fully functioning miniature universe. Enhanced law manipulation and small-scale domain projection were the respective boons of these stages, and at the sixth stage, cultivators were referred to as demigods because the stage was the precursor to transcendent cultivation.
At the seventh stage, the Primordial Spirit Realm, the sentience of the Inner Cosmos is cultivated, fusing and integrating the divine soul of the cultivator to form the Primordial Spirit. At the eight stage, the Law Deva Realm, a cultivator evolves the rules of their inner cosmos to perfection. By the Dao Arbiter Realm, the ninth realm, the cultivator is an embodiment of a specific universal law.
Beyond that was the Dao Fruit Realm, which actually had three sub-realms in itself, representing ultimate transcendence.