The True Forms of the Sun and Moon, and a Detailed Explanation of the Realms of the Highest Heaven

Hearing Junior Sister's thoughtless reply, Ye Qingxian's eyes and brows dipped slightly.

Just as she had thought,

Junior Sister had always been a straight girl.

The lake tour officially began.

The world above the clouds of the Highest Heaven surprised me a little.

This was the more real Cultivation World.

I could see countless enormous stars being born one after another right before my eyes.

The stars were neither too close to nor too far from the Treasure Ship. It was as if they possessed some spatial ability; though each was larger than the last, they never spoiled the pleasure of watching them.

Rather than say I was wandering through a sea of clouds, it would be more accurate to say this was a vast nebula, condensed from primordial matter, where countless stars were being born and destroyed.

This was the view we had come to see on the lake tour.

The Highest Heaven was unimaginably vast. A star that could hold countless people was no different from a speck of dust before it. That was also why most cultivators' battles couldn't cause widespread destruction.

Suddenly, I jerked my head up to look at the sun in the sky.

Since these stars were all submerged in the sea of clouds, what was that sun above them? Was it simply an even larger star?

Meeting my gaze, Ye Qingxian's voice took on a note of gravity as she replied, "According to the records, the sun and moon were born together. No one knows their origins. To reach beyond the true Sky Curtain, you need at least the cultivation of the Supreme Realm."

"According to detailed records in ancient texts, the sun is an enormous corpse, about one-hundredth the size of the Highest Heaven. It radiates an eternal, undying heat and drifts beyond the Highest Heaven."

"And the Blood Moon, which almost no one has ever seen, is likewise a corpse, billions of times more majestic than the stars. It is an immensely sinister corpse. Whenever the Highest Heaven faces it, it affects the entire night. Countless terrifying energies form layer upon layer of clouds that never disperse, plunging all of the Highest Heaven into darkness."

This was the Highest Heaven's deepest secret. Almost ninety-nine percent of cultivators didn't even know there was a Blood Moon in the night sky, let alone the truth about it and the sun.

Seeing how curious I was, Ye Qingxian didn't keep me in suspense. She continued, "Some Supreme Realm experts have tried to uncover the true forms of these two corpses, but no matter what they did, they couldn't advance even an inch. Time twists around the corpses. The endlessly reversing River of Time that can be seen there is only a tiny reflection of what lies beside them. Space, too, is compressed into an extreme, one-dimensional plane. No matter how Supreme Realm experts change themselves into beings of several dimensions, they can't move through a place restricted by both time and space, let alone get any closer to the corpses."

"So, some people say these two corpses belong to cultivators of the legendary Sixty-second Realm."

"The First Lower Realm of the Highest Heaven is the Immortal Realm, whose highest realm is the Fifty-second Realm."

"Every other world has thirteen realms, but the Highest Heaven alone has fourteen major realms. Starting from the Fifty-third Realm, they are, in order: Taiji, Taisu, Taishi, Taichu, and Taiyi."

"Those of the Taiyi Realm dwell in boundless nothingness. They have already reached the realm of creating worlds. With a single thought, all things are born; with another, all things fall. If they wished, they could even create countless stars. And this is only the fifty-seventh realm of the Cultivation World."

"The Fifty-eighth Realm is Life Creation. World creators still can't create life, so Life Creation takes things a step further."

"The Fifty-ninth Realm is Transcendence."

"Those in the Fifty-ninth Realm transcend the world's laws, the source of life, and the River of Time. That's why they're honored as Contemporary Great Powers."

"Do you know what the Sixtieth Realm is?"

"It's what people call the Quasi-Supreme Realm."

"Actually, the Supreme Realm—including the Quasi-Supreme Realm—isn't a true realm in any real sense. In theory, Transcendence is already the highest realm. One's lifespan is endless. To kill a Transcendent expert, you'd have to annihilate every one of his incarnations in the River of Time. Otherwise, even a single drop of blood or a lone thought could let him resurrect without end."

"And yet, such terrifying experts can only bow their heads before those of the Supreme Realm."

"Whether it's the Supreme Realm or the Quasi-Supreme Realm, they're essentially one and the same realm."

"You've probably heard that every Supreme Realm expert is the strongest of their era."

"That's because a Supreme Realm expert turns an entire era of the Highest Heaven—and the countless experts of that era—into the backdrop of his own rise. The Dao is cruel. Every Supreme Realm expert is the result of all the cultivators of his generation working together to push the way forward. A Supreme Realm expert absorbs the Dao Fruits of all the experts of an era, then makes that final, forceful leap to ascend."

"That's why the Quasi-Supreme Realm is also considered Supreme."

"The Quasi-Supreme Realm has the same origins as the Supreme Realm. It's just that those in the former can't suppress an entire era."

"So, whenever you see a Supreme Realm expert make a move, you'll see countless figures sink into ruin behind him. You're not fighting one person at all. You're fighting an entire era of the Highest Heaven at the height of its glory. Even an unrivaled Transcendent Great Power is nothing more than a phantom in a Supreme Realm expert's backdrop."

My mouth opened and closed. Several times, I couldn't get a word out.

No one had ever told me the Supreme Realm was this terrifying.

Then—could I still rule the world?

Ye Qingxian coughed. "Back to the point. I've said all this to tell you that some people claim these two corpses belong to legendary cultivators of the Sixty-second Realm. The main reason most people scoff at that idea is that the Supreme Realm is already publicly acknowledged as the strongest."

"Even a Transcendent Great Power of the Fifty-ninth Realm is already the ultimate dream, far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Who would believe the Sixty-second Realm really exists? Most people simply assume the corpses are part of the Highest Heaven itself. After all, only the Highest Cultivation World could contain so many living beings and Supreme Experts while still preventing them from tracing the source of all things."

"But I can tell you that this is just how most ignorant people see it. And just as the Quasi-Supreme Realm's failures have a second cause—that their era wasn't glorious enough—the waters of the Cultivation World run deeper than either of us can imagine. I once met the sect master of the Wuya Sect. She personally welcomed me into the sect and wanted to take me as her disciple, but in the end, I chose the Heavenly Sword Venerable. Even back then, I had a feeling that she was already so powerful that she surpassed the understanding of ordinary people. She might well have advanced another step."

I was stunned.

So all that buildup was just leading to that last sentence.

The sect master of the Wuya Sect had wanted to snatch you up as her disciple.

What could I, Ye Xiaoyao, even say to that?

All I could say was, as expected of the Highest Heaven's one and only Female Protagonist.

The sect master of the legendary Wuya Sect, a person who supposedly didn't even exist, had nearly become another devoted lickspittle like the Heavenly Sword Venerable.

But I, Ye Xiaoyao, was different. I only scoffed at that sort of thing.

I'd just finished making that bold declaration when I clicked my tongue, rested my head on my arm, and flopped onto the table. I gazed pitifully at Ye Qingxian and asked one last question. "Why are so many great powers only a few tens of thousands of years old?"

Ye Qingxian fell silent for a second. "Some Supreme Realm experts have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, others for millions or tens of millions. Some have lived for an almost unimaginable length of time. Transcendent experts are generally younger because every hundred or two hundred thousand years, or every three or four hundred thousand years, a Supreme expert undergoes an ultimate transformation."

"Transcendent experts are the main targets reaped in this battle."

"Almost every birth of a Supreme Realm expert is accompanied by the deaths of countless Transcendent experts. That's how almost all the great powers of an era meet their end. The Contemporary Great Powers you see are mostly cultivators who rose to power later."

I was so shocked I nearly swore. "How is that any different from demonic cultivation?"

What kind of person could be worse than me, Ye Xiaoyao?

Ye Qingxian silently shook her head. "It's an unspoken rule of the Cultivation World. Besides, this is the obsession of most Transcendent experts. Who among the cultivators who've made it this far would admit they're less talented than anyone else? Almost all of them willingly take part in the Dao Contest. They just lose in the end."

"The targets reaped by Supreme Realm experts—or, rather, the cultivators who take part in the Dao Contest—are basically all high-ranking experts of their era. They're enough to represent that era, and their battles don't affect ordinary people's lives." Ye Qingxian reassured me. "Besides, the last Supreme Realm expert to emerge was our Master. Naturally, she'll protect you. Even if you're qualified to take part in the Dao Contest, no one can make you join if you don't want to. After all, one person less won't leave an era without its shadow."

"The last Quasi-Supreme to emerge was—" Ye Qingxian paused, then added, "the Grand Elder of the Ye Family, Ye Kong. That battle took place more than a hundred thousand years ago. He reaped all the high-ranking experts of that era. Countless great powers, many of whom had already lived for more than a hundred thousand or even two or three hundred thousand years, fell in that brutal battle. That's why the great powers you see today are basically only a few tens of thousands of years old."

As she spoke, Ye Qingxian suddenly hesitated for a second.

Master intended to keep Ye Xiaoyao in check, but she didn't want her to lose her life either. That should count as protection, too.

The thought gave Ye Qingxian a headache.

So, was Master a good person or a bad one?

Ye Qingxian's eyes and brows dipped slightly as she silently vowed in her heart.

She would never allow anyone to hurt Junior Sister.

Even if—that person was in the Supreme Realm.

She, Ye Qingxian, wanted to boldly test his edge.

I fell silent for a long, long time.

The Supreme Realm, the Highest Cultivation World—these waters ran so deep I didn't even dare think about them. Even the ancient Wuya Sect had nine Supreme Realm experts, not to mention a sect master whom no one had ever seen. I wouldn't have been surprised by whatever realm she was in.

For a moment, the pressure on me was immense. But after a fierce struggle within my heart, my obsession ground all that pressure to dust, and my resolve suddenly blazed even stronger.

It was only the Supreme Realm.

A world this weak wasn't even worthy of being ruled by me, Ye Xiaoyao.

Only a world like this would be fun to rule.

I made a bold vow in my heart. It was only the Supreme Realm. Before me, Ye Xiaoyao, all of you would behave yourselves and become my subjects.

The picture was so beautiful that even imagining it was enough to make me giddy.

At that moment,

I thought of my system, and even more of my undying obsession.

The fighting spirit that had withered away rekindled, along with my desire to rule the world.

Stronger than ever.

At that very moment, all I wanted was to raise my voice and sing. This was the kind of immortal path I, Ye Xiaoyao, wanted to cultivate.

What was the point of a world with only a dozen or so realms?

Cultivating immortality through sixty-six realms—that was the good stuff!!

My myriad thoughts were interrupted by the wind high above. I gazed at White Cloud Lake before me, where countless stars sank into its depths. Suddenly, a terrifying crab leaped out from beneath the nebula. It opened its mouth, its jaws swallowing the world, and dragged a star into its bottomless belly.

Ye Qingxian smiled easily. With a mere lift of her hand, she drew the crab into her possession.

The crab, which was larger than a star, shrank smaller and smaller under her ability, which was comparable to a universe in her sleeve.

Until it became a normal, palm-sized crab, which landed obediently on the deck of the pleasure boat.

Ye Qingxian smiled at me as if she'd done something trivial. "Junior Sister, these are the crabs of White Cloud Lake. When people take a lake tour, they're happy to scoop up one or two along the way. After a Spirit Chef draws out the crab's Spiritual Energy and flesh, they can make delicious dishes suitable for people of all realms."

"Junior Sister, why have you suddenly gone quiet?"

I stared at the crab, its entire body tinged red.

The little girl's adorable face had somehow gone pale.

I couldn't forget what I'd just seen.

Ye Qingxian handed me the crab, suggesting I could play with it.

"It's just a little crab. There's nothing interesting about it."

My little face stiffened even more. I clasped my two slender, pale hands tightly behind my back, refusing to bring them out no matter what.

When you say play, who's playing with whom?!!!