Chapter 45: An Immortal’s Cultivation
Li Xiang palpitated after the elderly's second reminder that she was far too immature, thus allowing her soul to be on full display for subjugation. Blushing in shame and indignation, she could only mutter to herself.
Following the elder's words, if she dared to explore the Immortal Realm with her current self, it wouldn't take long before her precious soul was either seized or taken advantage of! Facing the elderly man, she couldn't see a trace of greed in those lucid and aged eyes, merely hints of amusement.
Hiding her bitterness, she faithfully retold her experience of the Ghost Feast, omitting her memory spells. Ensuring the continuance of the Go game, she consciously placed stones onto the board, of which the elder followed suit.
"Senior," she asked without much confidence. "The mirror image of myself, was it truly a heart demon? How did it know of knowledge I am not aware of?"
"Ho," the elder mused. "There are a few conjectures for the phenomenon of a heart demon's knowledge surpassing that of the original being. First, the original existence experienced a memory deletion from some source, be it through receiving a severe mental injury or forcing himself to regress.
Second, the heart demon is formed from the concept of mimicry, which is only possible if the original existence possessed a profession of imitation or was forced to shadow someone else.
Third, the original existence is merely a clone of a different entity. The rest are merely derivatives of the first three or don't offer much logical reasoning.
In your case, it seems that only the third conjecture would apply, that you are a clone of someone in the Pavilion of Mimicry. Although the Pavilion of Mimicry is very skilled at creating doppelgangers and puppetry, there are indeed limits to what they can produce.
Although it is true that doppelgangers are unable to possess an immortal's construct, what if the mirror image you had encountered employed a mirage to reflect your immortal's construct as its own, and conceal the original from view? With your strained mental capacity from the torture mere moments before, how could such a trick be bypassed so quickly?"
Li Xiang started at the elder's analysis, immediately reciting her heart mantra to summon her butterfly wings. As the crystalline wings furled into existence from her back, the Divine Script tore the air to proclaim her identity.
As both the elder and Li Xiang gazed upwards, an inscription slowly formed before their eyes, yet it was far different compared to what Li Xiang had observed during her encounter of the mirror figure. Compared to the fallen dragon, butterfly, and river of blood she had witnessed, the inscription before Li Xiang was far different. Neither her nor the elder could isolate characteristics relevant to a normal immortal's construct.
There was absolutely nothing spectacular regarding her construct, nor were there any symbolic motifs indicating her special traits or characteristics. The inscription resembled a shard of glass, the edges golden, and the interior transparent.
There was no aura emitted by the inscription; rather, it seemed that the shard of glass was avidly attempting to devour something, as divine essence was constantly streaming towards it. However, the inbound streams of divine essence were unable to permeate the glass shard, which perplexed Li Xiang even further. The elderly man released a light sigh before reaching over to pat her on the head, speaking in a consoling tone.
"Little girl, no need to worry. See the surface of the glass shard, and how it's without any blemish? That represents the inability to experience a thorough altercation to either your personality, or your construct.
Although there isn't much overwhelming might or dominance compared to others, an unshakable mental stability isn't bad to possess time to time. Come, let's talk some more over dinner! Weiqi can be played another time."
The elder had suddenly transformed from a distinguished and detached scholar to a doting elderly figure, causing Li Xiang to stare in surprise. Towards this old man who swapped between demeanors in a blink of an eye, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Being led towards the pot hanging over the fire, Li Xiang sat down as the elder drained the rest of the herbal broth before beginning to cook dinner. Within an hour, a piping hot and delicious fragrance suffused the room, and Li Xiang's stomach released an adorable grumble.
Face heating up, she cupped her soup bowl as the elder deposited a healthy serving of a rich creamy seafood soup. Taking small sips, Li Xiang marveled at the fresh and savory taste while wondering where the elder could have obtained seafood from the room without a door leading to outside.
To her voiced question, the elder lightly smiled before pointing towards a corner of the room. Walking over, Li Xiang could see that the corner had been dug out to contain a small pool of water. Unable to see any fish even after infusing divine essence into her eyes, Li Xiang helplessly turned to face the elder.
"The pool of water simply facilitates accessing my mortal domain to fish," the elder spoke while stirring the pot.
"Utilizing a medium removes the need to physically travel into one's domain to retrieve an object or existence. Although, I would still need to travel there if I desired to manipulate the laws forming the mortal worlds."
Nodding in understanding, the room quickly fell into silence with a young girl and an elder quietly enjoying the seafood soup. The silence continued until Li Xiang finally remembered about her still extended wings.
Gently shaking her shoulders blades and relaxing her muscles, she decreased the circulation of divine essence until the butterfly wings had disappeared. Mulling over her third bowl of soup, she glanced at the elder reaching for the pot, before speaking up.
The girl's voice was slightly slurred from satiating her great hunger that it took the elder several moments to understand her question.
"Senior…how do immortals cultivate?"
"…oh? Cultivate?" The elder repeated.
"Little girl, do you know the distribution of 'cultivation' among immortals?"
To that, Li Xiang could only shake her head. The library within the Golden Residence indeed possessed tomes regarding this topic, but she lacked the time to read it. If she remembered properly, the book was still on the table, opened to the first page.
"Cultivation for immortals…there isn't a lot for us immortal beings to cultivate, since we are intrinsically forbidden from actually improving our capacity for divine essence, the primary definition for 'strength' among immortals. The 'cultivation' you speak of simply refers to the size of an immortal's mortal domain.
If an immortal's construct is capable of supporting life, he can then initialize the embryonic stages of a domain from a formation of divine essence, of which planets housing mortal life will naturally form within time. The speed of this process depends on whether the immortal's construct possess the circuits of time, of which then the speed of time passing within the mortal domain can be manipulated at free will.
A mortal domain has quite the benefit once it's developed to a certain stage, for an immortal can create a faction for himself in the Immortal Realm utilizing the Construct of Archbishop Janus, the only method permitting mortals to ascend into immortality."
"Nine mortal planets sustaining intelligent life is deemed a Precinct. Nine Precincts can be combined into a Prefecture. Twelve Prefectures into an Earthly Charter, fifteen Earthly Charter into a Heavenly Domain. From that stage and beyond, the mortal domain can be refined once more, triggering a so-called cataclysmic event that destroys all life in the mortal domain, restoring everything to nihility.
If the mortal domain can be created anew by defining a diluted inscription derived from the immortal's construct, the mortal domain may possess strands of the Divine Script as its foundational laws. The completion of the mortal domain's recreation signifies the immortal's entry to the Immortal Realm's Royalty.
Once the immortal becomes recognized as a Royal, his mortal domain is permitted for unlimited expansion as long as the immortal exists, and the terrifying benefit of the mortal domain can be fully displayed."
"For the embryonic stages of the domain to the creation of Precincts, the mortal domain acts as a time-killer for the immortal, taking countless centuries and even millennia without even a guarantee of success. Allowing the mortal domain to create life requires the immortal to understand the concepts and underlying knowledge of life, and such restrictions apply to every aspect of creating a mortal domain.
Otherwise, the domain would be highly unstable and may disintegrate into divine essence, with the immortal forbidden from creating another. It is only after creating a Prefecture that the mortal domain can be of assistance.
For an immortal limited in their peak capacity in channeling divine essence, the mortal domain is akin to sending coals in a cold winter. The divine essence fluctuations emitted from the boundaries of the mortal domain can be converted and translated into a temporary circulatory network allowing the immortal to wield far more divine essence than usual.
As the amount of divine essence provided from that network increases significantly with each evolution of the mortal domain, just how much do you think a Royal Immortal benefit?"
"The only direct form of exponentially increasing one's strength is to metamorphosize into a higher-order entity, but is a feature granted only to a specific type of immortal. For immortals whose appearance is restricted to that of a human, it is impossible for metamorphosis to occur, hence I cannot explain such a process.
Only immortals who adopt humanoid, monster, or half-crossed appearances similar to yours are capable of metamorphosis, yet even then the likelihood is extremely rare. However, metamorphosis can be regarded as a milder variant of the Ghost Feast, for although the immortal is not consumed and fused with an apparition, a characteristic or trait significant must be discarded and severed.
Nothing is fair in this realm, as the immortal's severing can far outvalue to advantages gained by metamorphosis. Does this clear up some of your confusion?"
The elder asked, to of which Li Xiang nodded in satisfaction. Although she still had numerous questions, many of them had been answered. With a lingering thought, she suddenly tilted her head and questioned, "How will a Royal Immortal fare against an immortal with a spiritual core?"
"A spiritual core? Hmph!" snorted the elder.
"Even if he is a Royal Immortal with the largest mortal domain in the entire Immortal Realm, he is still not match for a spiritual core, as the latter will provide an infinite supply of divine essence! What could possibly beat that!?"
-
Back within the Elysia's Tear, Jun Meng Chen opened his bleary eyes as he gazed towards the entrance of the courtyard. Eight months of waiting without rest, attempting to see the culprit who had seized his inherited treasure had taken a severe toll upon his mental endurance.
Deeply wishing nothing but to sleep, dark circles could be seen encompassing his eyes, warping his cold and handsome features. Lying onto the soft ground, Jun Meng Chen was just about to fall asleep when a jade pendant hanging around his neck gently vibrated, washing away his drowsy state.
Examining the jade pendant, Jun Meng Chen infused divine essence into the pendant's core, of which the projection of a middle-aged man appeared in his view.
"Meng Chen, return…immediately, there…crisis in the Divine Palace…All ambassadors, instructors, and delegates…recalled, for the Ghost King has been slain…recovery unknown."
Hearing the static voice emitting from the projection of his father, Jun Meng Chen felt as if a bucket of cold ice had washed over him. The feeling of sleeplessness exterminated by the news he received, Jun Meng Chen did not hesitate as he quickly departed the Elysia's Tear for the Divine Palace.
The thought of being unable to return to the residence was thrown to the back of his mind as he accelerated to maximum speed, transforming into a brilliant streak of light.
His younger brother and sister were currently undertaking the Ghost Feast's trial. If the Ghost King had perished while they were still within the trial, then…
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