Immortal of the Nine Realms

Hearing all that, everyone felt as though a massive storm had been unleashed in their minds, leaving them unable to calm down for a long time. Had the woman not revealed those ancient secrets, they would likely never have known in their entire lives. There was no proof of her words, but judging from clues in her account, at least eighty percent of her words were genuine.

Three Limit Breaking Steps. Half Saint. The Realm Lord represented the peak of transcendence. The Heavenly Dao represented the decline of transcendence.

One piece of information after another shook their understanding to its core.

”Three Limit Breaking Steps... transcendence decline...” Fang Chen murmured.

He suppressed his chaotic thoughts and looked at the gray-robed woman. ”How long have the Seeking Dao Faction and the Conservative Faction been in contact?”

Everyone turned their attention to the gray-robed woman. That question was extremely important. If the Conservative Faction had been in contact with the Seeking Dao Faction for many years, then all their factions would have to revise their future plans. The war in Taicang Realm had become a much less important matter. The Conservative Faction’s distress signal might attract the attention of countless outsiders coveting the Nine Realms. That would be the real catastrophe, unless another Heavenly Dao emerged in the Nine Realms.

However, the Heavenly Dao itself represented the decline of transcendence.

The gray-robed woman shook her head. ”We have no contact with the Conservatives. Our connection was severed countless years ago. From the moment our ancestors left the Nine Demonic Beast Realms, all contact was completely cut off. They don’t even know what the Seeking Dao Faction has become or even whether we still exist. The message they sent was simply a one-sided plea for help.”

”You’re lying,” someone immediately challenged. ”If that’s true, then how could it be such a coincidence that you received the message?”

Fang Chen nodded. ”I also believe your words are full of half-truths. You need to show sincerity if you want to keep your life.”

The gray-robed woman replied calmly, ”I received the message because I was close by. I received it 1500 years ago. I spent another 1500 years traveling to the coordinates mentioned in the message.”

One thousand five hundred years just to travel here?

Everyone’s pupils dilated sharply as shock flashed through their eyes. Even traveling to the most distant Ancient Forbidden Zone in their world would take only two or three hundred years at most.

Wang Ye frowned. ”1500 years just to arrive here? Weren’t you afraid of wasting all that time? Even an Ancient Immortal’s lifespan isn’t infinite.”

The gray-robed woman’s expression shifted slightly before she answered calmly, ”Gambling 1500 of my lifespan for a chance at sudden wealth is, in my view, worthwhile.”

She then glanced at everyone present. ”Everyone, listen to my advice. Join me and sell the Nine Realms. The benefits we gain will be enough to push everyone here into the ninth transformation.”

”There aren’t that many cultivation paths with ninth transformation spots for all of us,” said Xianyue Guan, discovering a flaw in her words. However, he quickly realized something. ”Don’t tell me... you no longer need cultivation paths to reach the ninth transformation?”

His face was filled with astonishment. ”There is no need for cultivation paths? Isn’t that just like the Fallen Immortals? But she doesn’t have the unique aura of a Fallen Immortal...”

Everyone stared intently at the gray-robed woman, their eyes filled with uncertainty.

The gray-robed woman said proudly, ”The system of cultivation paths is backward and ancient. It traps true geniuses, binding them, making them stagnant and halting their progress.”

Fang Chen suddenly asked, ”You don’t need immortal herbs anymore?”

The gray-robed woman replied calmly, ”No, we still do. But we are no longer restricted by the ninth transformation spots.”

”Not restricted by the ninth transformation spots?”

”How is that possible...”

”Since ancient times, each path has only allowed a single ninth-transformation immortal to exist.”

They couldn’t understand how the Seeking Dao Faction had broken this limitation.

Fang Chen suddenly said, ”Perhaps you don’t even have ninth-transformation immortals at all? This new path you speak of doesn’t start from the ninth transformation. The transition already occurs at the eighth transformation. You are already stepping onto an entirely different path at that point.”

The gray-robed woman’s eyes flashed with shock as she stared at Fang Chen. She couldn’t believe he had deduced all this from just her words.

Fang Chen continued calmly, ”Every cultivation path in the Nine Mortal Realms can only accommodate one ninth-transformation immortal. That is a consensus formed over countless years. Anyone who reaches the ninth transformation is already a peerless genius. If there were truly a new path, how could no one have discovered it? Therefore, what you changed is not the path itself but yourselves.

”Only by beginning a different path from the eighth transformation onward could you bypass the ninth transformation entirely. And that is how the so-called Three Limit Breaking Steps, Half Saint, and Saint came into being. Otherwise, your path would still ultimately lead toward the Heavenly Dao.”

Wang Ye and the others fell into deep thought.

”From the eighth transformation realm onward, you switch to an entirely different cultivation path?”

”In other words, the ninth transformation she speaks of is not the same as ours. They merely retained the old terminology.”

”Hey, tell us, is his deduction correct?”

The gray-robed woman nodded solemnly. ”Our path indeed changes after the eighth transformation. The old path was wrong. Naturally, it cannot be followed”

Fang Chen smiled. ”Was this new path really devised by your people?”

The gray-robed woman fell silent.

Wang Ye sneered. ”Looks like your people weren’t even the ones to develop this new path. This so-called Seeking Dao Faction of yours merely reaped the benefits.”

The gray-robed woman frowned. ”The fact that we could step onto this path at all already proves we are superior to everyone else.”

She glanced around. ”Now that you understand all of this, shouldn’t you be standing on my side? The fate of the Nine Mortal Realms had largely been exhausted by nourishing the Heavenly Dao. In a few more years, even the impure spiritual energy in the world will disappear. Do you really want to watch your descendants eventually become mortals and then vanish completely from this world?”

This time, everyone fell silent.

”There must be another way,” said Ye Qingqiu.

The gray-robed woman sneered. ”Another way? Tell me, what way? Once the Conservatives’ message reaches everyone, you will likely have experts of the Three Limit Breaking Steps knocking. How will you resist them? In the end, you will only become their slave soldiers and cannon fodder.”

Ye Qingqiu replied coldly, ”As long as we can restore a Heavenly Dao here, would those so-called Three Limit Breaking Steps experts still dare to come?”

”Setting aside how difficult it is to create a Heavenly Dao again, even if you truly succeed, it will only accelerate the destruction of this place.”

Fang Chen said calmly, ”That may not be true. With a Heavenly Dao, at least we can buy ourselves a long period of time. And during that time, we may be able to follow the same path as your faction to leave this place and find a better world to survive in. For example... the world where your faction currently resides.”

The gray-robed woman’s expression changed slightly, but she quickly regained composure. ”You do not have that ability. At the very least, the strength of the Seeking Dao Faction is far beyond what you can imagine.”

Wang Ye chimed in, ”If we don’t have the ability now, then we’ll just accumulate it slowly. No situation is truly hopeless. We can bide our time and figure something out. ”

After saying that, he looked at Fang Chen. ”Old Nine, how about we take this woman with us to the Feiyu Constellation and hand her over for interrogation?”