Peak Saint Realm

Although Karl was filled with immense doubt, cultivation was, at its core, the process of elevating one's life level.

A Level 6 Warrior, even at their peak, had a lifespan no different from an ordinary person, reaching their end after at most a hundred years. However, once they broke through to a Level 7 Warrior, they could easily live for two or three hundred years. As for reaching a Level 9 Warrior, one could live to the absolute limit of human biology.

Five hundred years was the limit for a mortal body. According to Karl's understanding, without breaking through to the Saint Realm, human cells could only undergo a cycle of renewal and decay so many times, reaching a maximum of five hundred years.

In Karl's view, how long one lived below the Saint Realm depended on the vitality of one's own cells. A Level 7 Warrior had strong cellular vitality, but it wasn't enough to push those cells to their absolute limit, hence the lifespan of two to three hundred years.

The life force of a Level 9 Warrior, however, was extremely formidable, and they would almost never die from exhaustion. In such a case, the five-hundred-year lifespan of a Level 9 Warrior was more a matter of cells renewing and dying until they could no longer sustain the process. After five hundred years, even if their life force remained strong, the lack of cellular vitality meant they could only march toward death.

Once one stepped into the Saint Realm, the change in life level was something Karl had realized most profoundly over these years. That constant growth of life force and the never-fading cellular vitality were perhaps the reasons why Saint Realm powerhouses were eternal.

As for the soul failing to keep up with the body, Karl only smiled slightly. After all, when a person felt they were aging, it was mostly a signal sent by the body.

The so-called lack of energy compared to one's youth was merely the body aging; to maintain normal operations, the body had to reduce its consumption.

When a person's physical body became immortal, their soul strength would also be eternal and indestructible.

The Saint Realm was a massive elevation of the essence of life. It was the feeling of being at one's peak almost every moment, like an eternal furnace—a source of power that would never run dry.

The experience brought by cultivation had always been bitter in the beginning and enjoyable in the end. This enjoyment was not about power, money, or beauty, but the feeling of being in a state of perpetual youth.

Karl had deep insights into this. The feeling of decay he had experienced at a hundred years old, when he felt he was on the verge of death, had been replaced by a youthful vitality that made him feel like a twenty-year-old man every single day.

The reason ancient emperors ultimately chose to pursue immortality was precisely because they had experienced the vitality of youth and would do anything to regain it once lost.

"The more I cultivate, the more delightful my body feels."

Karl closed his eyes to feel the changes brought by this breakthrough and finally summarized it in one sentence.

Cultivation is amazing!

After a long while, Karl began to carefully contemplate the changes brought about by this breakthrough.

He ultimately discovered that the Peak Saint Realm was truly worthy of its name.

Cultivation in the Early Saint Realm, aside from accumulating Battle Qi, involved comprehending the Momentum of Heaven and Earth. Once the Battle Qi was fully accumulated and the Momentum of Heaven and Earth was mastered, one reached the Mid Saint Realm. Cultivation from the Mid Saint Realm onward involved doing everything possible to comprehend the Mysteries. If one succeeded, they reached the Peak Saint Realm; if not, they remained at the Mid Saint Realm.

The Mid Saint Realm was like a bowl of water; one either had to find a larger bowl, or that bowl of water would never accumulate another drop. The changes in strength at the Mid Saint Realm relied solely on Saint Realm techniques. The deeper one's mastery, the greater the power unleashed, and the easier it was to approach the Peak Saint Realm. However, the essence remained unchanged; whether it was Battle Qi or the Momentum of Heaven and Earth, one reached their limit the moment they entered the Mid Saint Realm.

Stepping into the Peak Saint Realm felt like an innate instinct. Karl had a deep sense of this. Back in the Early Saint Realm, he had relied on his Level 9 talent, combined with the support of his territory and family, to possess talent extremely close to that of a Saint. Relying on this, Karl could accumulate Battle Qi in the early stages, but once that accumulation reached a certain level, his talent was no longer enough.

Unable to cultivate to increase his own Battle Qi, Karl had poured his energy into his techniques.

As a Saint Realm warrior, his spiritual power might only be comparable to that of an eighth-level magus, but the essence of his soul was far stronger than those below the Saint Realm. It was by relying on this powerful essence that Saint Realm powerhouses could comprehend the Mysteries of the world.

Previously, as an Early Saint Realm expert, even though Karl only had a superficial understanding of the Momentum of Heaven and Earth, he could still create the prototype of his own unique techniques. These were techniques that pushed his moves to the limit. Compared to his moves as a Level 9 Warrior, with the same level of strength, the prototype of a Saint Realm technique could allow Karl to take on two opponents at once during his Level 9 days.

But now that he had truly reached the Peak Saint Realm, the Saint Realm techniques that had once required immense effort to progress in now felt like his own instinct.

He glanced at the attribute panel and, sure enough, after merging with the [Wind Element], there were some changes.

[Auto-Cultivation System]

[Host: Karl]

[Age: 300]

[Level: Peak Saint Realm (1/1,000,000)]

[Family: Talos (Level 2)] (Upgradeable)

[Territory: Spark Town (Level 2)] (Upgradeable)

[Mall: Level 3 items updated]

[Faith: None]

[Cultivation: Peak Saint Realm (1/1,000,000) Wind Element (1/1,000,000) Third option can be unlocked]

Looking at his family and territory, Karl decisively decided to hold off for now. The benefits of upgrading to Level 3 were far too great; just the cultivation speed boost alone was 100%. As the family head and territory lord, Karl could enjoy double the bonuses, with a cap of 200%.

However, the requirements were not easy. Upgrading to Level 3 required a large number of Level 9 Warriors, and the family and territory were not linked, which meant that if Karl wanted to upgrade in the future, the territory would likely take priority over the family.

Beyond the family and territory, Karl also saw the changes in the Mall and his cultivation.

After inquiring with the [Novice Tutorial], Karl learned that once his strength reached the Peak Saint Realm, he had more directions to choose from.

First, if he only cultivated Battle Qi and Elemental Laws, the third option allowed him to purchase an additional Elemental Mystery. This Elemental Mystery was not limited to the same element; he could cultivate other Elemental Laws while cultivating the Wind Element. The requirement for purchasing Elemental Laws was the same: Karl needed to purchase an Elemental Seed first, and only after activating it could he purchase new Elemental Mysteries.

As an Auto-Cultivation System, there were some limitations during auto-cultivation. For instance, when automatically cultivating Mysteries, one had to base it on elemental power. This meant the first Mystery had to be a basic elemental power of a certain type; only after that elemental power was mastered could he purchase other Mysteries.

This choice might be hard for a genius to accept, because comprehending basic elemental Mysteries was considered the lowest tier among peers. For high-level Mysteries, the gap after becoming a god was nearly ten to a hundred times, and at the Saint Realm level, this gap could stretch to over ten million times.

However, it didn't matter much to Karl. After all, if he didn't buy them, he wouldn't even have the qualifications to cultivate.