Chapter 867 – The Heavenly Dao of the Immortal Realm

Duan Yan’s memories revealed quite a lot of information.

All the worlds connected by the dark-gold energy pillars reverently referred to that giant plane as the “Immortal Realm.”

The strongest cultivators in the Immortal Realm were at the Dao Ancestor realm, equivalent to Valen’s Ninth Rank Explorers, with the world’s level being approximately fourteen.

Below the Immortal Realm were the various Spirit Realms.

The strongest cultivators in the Spirit Realms were at the Mahayana stage, equivalent to Valen’s Third Rank Explorers. The Spirit Realms were all level-eight worlds. For example, the Mystic Spirit Realm connected to the Celestial Profound Realm was one such Spirit Realm.

Below the Spirit Realms, there were also vast numbers of cultivation worlds, such as the Celestial Profound Realm.

Cultivation worlds and Spirit Realms, Spirit Realms and the Immortal Realm—all were connected by dark-gold energy pillars.

The dark-gold energy pillars served as channels for cultivators in lower worlds to “ascend” to the upper worlds, while simultaneously functioning as conduits for transporting world essence and soul essence. They were also critical tools through which the Immortal Realm’s Heavenly Dao extended its influence and maintained control over subordinate worlds.

The Spirit Realms, as worlds directly connected to the Immortal Realm, were already completely under the control of the Immortal Realm’s Heavenly Dao. Any outsider entering a Spirit Realm would be detected immediately by the Immortal Realm’s Heavenly Dao.

Between cultivation worlds and the Immortal Realm, there was still a Spirit Realm in between, so typically only the areas containing the ascension channels, the Guiding Immortal Light, and the Tribulation Lightning were under the direct surveillance of the Immortal Realm’s Heavenly Dao.

This was precisely why, when she had previously tried to enter the Spirit Realm near the Immortal Realm, and later when she had tried to enter the Mystic Spirit Realm, her Divination Magic readings for fortune and misfortune had returned nothing but “extreme peril” or “peril.”

At first glance, this structure seemed no different from other cultivation-type worlds, but in reality, it was a system where the numerous cultivation worlds and Spirit Realms existed to sustain and nourish the Immortal Realm.

The intelligent beings of the cultivation worlds and Spirit Realms would only grow weaker over time, while the intelligent beings of the Immortal Realm would only grow stronger.

The Spirit Realms at least occasionally received supplemental essence from the cultivation worlds, but cultivation worlds like the Celestial Profound Realm were purely losing essence with nothing coming in, depleting at the fastest rate.

According to Duan Yan’s memories, the Celestial Profound Realm used to require reaching the Nascent Soul stage before a cultivator could ascend, but now cultivators could ascend upon reaching the Golden Core stage—precisely because the loss of essence meant the world could no longer support Golden Core cultivators advancing further.

As for the Immortal Realm, it had been a very long time since any being below the True Immortal stage existed there. Even newborn children were at the True Immortal stage.

What Mo Lan found most noteworthy was the principle that “Dao Ancestors merge their bodies with the Dao, and their strength is tied solely to the Great Dao they have mastered. A stronger Immortal Realm means a stronger Heavenly Dao; a stronger Heavenly Dao means a stronger Great Dao; and a stronger Great Dao means a stronger Dao Ancestor.”

Generally speaking, the Heavenly Dao of cultivation-type worlds was essentially the world consciousness, and the Great Dao was the world’s source power.

The world consciousness of cultivation-type worlds would divide source power into various attributes, transforming them into spiritual roots, spiritual foundations, or similar cultivation bases, and bestow them upon the world’s native intelligent beings.

Cultivation techniques were the keys to unlocking source power.

When cultivators practiced their techniques and gained deeper comprehension of the Great Dao of heaven and earth, improving their ability to harness source power, the Heavenly Dao would bestow even more source power to help them advance.

It was precisely because of this that only humans from cultivation-type worlds possessed things like spiritual roots and spiritual foundations.

Even Mo Lan, as a Sorceress with Unlimited All-Element Magic talent, possessed no spiritual roots or spiritual foundations. She was unable to practice cultivation techniques and could only convert her Mana into the corresponding spiritual energy or immortal energy to cast the corresponding spells or divine abilities.

Once a cultivator’s cultivation reached the world’s upper limit, the local Heavenly Dao could no longer bestow additional source power upon them. At that point, it would open the Well of the Sky, then let the cultivators earn Source Mana crystals to obtain more source power and further advance their cultivation.

But the Immortal Realm in Duan Yan’s memories was rather peculiar.

When cultivators advanced to the Dao Ancestor realm and reached the world’s upper limit, they did not leave the world, nor did they need to continue cultivating. Instead, they chose to merge their bodies with the Dao, becoming so-called “Ancestors of the Great Dao.” From that point on, they would live as long as heaven and earth, with the bulk of their power tied to the “Great Dao” they had comprehended.

This was the basis for the saying that a stronger Immortal Realm meant a stronger Heavenly Dao, a stronger Heavenly Dao meant a stronger Great Dao, and a stronger “Great Dao” meant a stronger Dao Ancestor.

These Dao Ancestor realm cultivators had absolutely no knowledge of the Well of the Sky’s existence. They simply devoted themselves to maintaining close ties with the Heavenly Dao, working tirelessly to preserve the Immortal Realm’s prosperity, hoping that through the Heavenly Dao’s favor they could strengthen the “Great Dao” they controlled, thereby increasing their power.

This “Great Dao” was clearly not the same as the Great Dao of other cultivation-type worlds.

In other cultivation-type worlds, the Great Dao was pure source power—once comprehended and absorbed, it belonged entirely to the cultivator and could be freely used and replenished in any world.

But the “Great Dao” of Duan Yan’s Immortal Realm was more like source power branded with a world imprint. Even though it was stored within a cultivator’s body for their use, its fundamental control still rested in the hands of the world consciousness.

This power was only recognized within its own world. Once a cultivator traveled to another world with its own autonomous consciousness, the power either could not be used at all, or once consumed, could not be replenished from the local environment.

After all, the consumption and recovery of normal magical energy was a complete cycle—the world itself lost nothing in the process.

But magical energy branded with another world’s imprint could only participate in the energy cycle of its originating world. If consumed in a different world, recovery was only possible by returning to the world of origin.

In other words, the cultivation of Immortal Realm cultivators was, from the moment of their birth, entirely on loan from the world consciousness. They only had the right to use it; ownership remained firmly in the hands of the world consciousness.

Meanwhile, cultivators in the Spirit Realms and cultivation worlds below would, through successive tribulation tribulations and ascension processes, unknowingly “gift” their entire cultivation to the Immortal Realm’s world consciousness.

The source power that had originally been bestowed by the Spirit Realms and cultivation worlds was branded with the Immortal Realm’s mark in this way, becoming part of the Immortal Realm’s essence.

Cultivators strived relentlessly for hundreds and thousands of years, enduring countless trials and tribulations, passing through one heavenly tribulation after another, believing they had claimed the mighty power of heaven and earth as their own, achieving the supreme path of immortality, free to roam unfettered between heaven and earth.

Yet who could have imagined that behind this vast immortal power—seemingly their own, capable of moving mountains and overturning seas—there lurked an invisible puppeteer?

Even though this puppeteer was the very world that had given birth to them, Mo Lan still felt a bone-chilling cold and a creeping sense of horror.

It was like a master craftsman pouring their heart and soul into forging an unparalleled divine weapon, nurturing it day and night, believing it was attuned to their very spirit, an extension of their own body—never knowing that this divine weapon had always been connected to another invisible hand, a hand that could sever the connection at any time, or even… turn the weapon against its master!

The so-called “living as long as heaven and earth” was perhaps nothing more than… being permanently “shackled” to the Immortal Realm, reduced to a high-level component maintaining the operation of this world.

What a grand game of chess!

This was the first time Mo Lan had ever encountered such a world consciousness. But after delving deeper into the prevailing mindset and understanding of the Immortal Realm’s cultivators through Duan Yan’s memories, she realized that none of this was surprising at all.