Taking Root

"Thank you, Senior Brother." Qin Zhao put away the token and wristband.

With the formalities taken care of, Snow relaxed considerably and said with a smile, "Come, I'll take you on a general tour of our Glacier Divine Realm's base and the entire Ice Ripple Secret Realm, so you can get an intuitive understanding of the entire Glacier Sacred Land."

The two flew out of the Ice Plains Hall and slowly cruised at low altitude.

"Over there is the 'Ten Thousand Mountain Wall.' Carved on it are insights into the Law of Earth left by powerful figures throughout the realm's history. Though most are incomplete, regularly observing them will greatly benefit your comprehension of the Earth Domain." Snow pointed to a massive mountain wall that stretched beyond sight, before which many people sat in silent meditation. "Even though these are carvings simulated by the Virtual Universe, they still retain some essence. So if you can't secure a spot at the real-world Ten Thousand Mountain Wall, most people choose to come here to the Virtual Universe for contemplation."

"That valley shrouded in mist in the distance is the 'Heavy Profound Domain.' The gravity inside is hundreds or thousands of times that of the outside world and constantly shifting. It's an excellent place to temper your body, primal force, and telekinetic power. Your current foundation is still weak, so try to wait until you reach Star Level before entering the Heavy Profound Domain to avoid injury."

"Do you see that ice-blue river winding around the realm's base? That's a tributary drawn from the 'Ice Ripple Star River' at the core of the secret realm. Though its effect isn't as strong as the main vein, the water-type cosmic energy it contains is remarkably effective at balancing the sluggishness that an excess of earth-type primal energy might cause in your body."

Snow patiently introduced the various training facilities within the Ice Plains Divine Realm, including the "Martial Arts Arena" for sparring and competitions, the "Mission Hall" for accepting tasks to earn points, and the most important—the "Law Transmission Pavilion," where laws and secret techniques were taught.

"The Law Transmission Pavilion holds regular public lectures given by Domain Lords, World Lords, and occasionally even the Realm Lord himself. There are also paid private tutoring sessions. Since you're new, I suggest you attend as many public lectures as possible, especially those on domain application and the basics of the Law of Earth." Snow advised, "Our Ice Plains Divine Realm has unique strengths in the fundamentals of the earth and water origin laws."

As the highest talent cultivation institution of the Glacier Empire, the Glacier Sacred Land governed numerous "Divine Realms." Besides the strongest, the "Ice Ripple Divine Realm" (directly under the sacred land's highest echelon, occupying the best position at the secret realm's core), there were also the "Ice Plains Divine Realm," the "Blazing Sun Divine Realm" (specializing in fire and lightning), and the "Azure Wood Divine Realm" (specializing in wood and wind). Each divine realm cooperated and competed with the others, reallocating resources annually based on disciple performance, mission completion rates, and powerhouse output.

The Ice Plains Divine Realm, as Snow said, emphasized foundation and depth in the laws. Under the leadership of the "Ice Plains World Lord," it indeed had unique expertise in the earth and water laws. Besides public training facilities, the realm contained insight sites left by predecessors and even dangerous trial secret realms that required sufficient strength and points to enter.

Qin Zhao listened attentively, committing all this information to memory. He could sense that the Glacier Sacred Land, especially the Ice Plains Divine Realm, was indeed a well-structured, resource-rich training sanctuary. And this was just the official force of a low-level cosmic civilization. He couldn't imagine how terrifying the resources of places like the Azure Mist Secret Realm or even higher-level Noah Secret Realm would be!

Beyond introducing the effects of key facilities, Snow naturally explained the personnel structure of the entire Ice Ripple Secret Realm. The vast majority of ordinary disciples lived in various regions of the virtual continent, while the true core was concentrated in a special space called the "Ice Ripple Star Core."

It wasn't a real star, but a peculiar plane simulated within the Virtual Universe, orbiting the light and shadow of the secret realm's core, the "Ice Ripple Star River." Countless floating ice-crystal continents of varying sizes, like planets orbiting a star, followed mysterious trajectories around the "Ice Ripple Star Core" at the center—a paradoxical unity of extreme ice and blazing stellar core, radiating endless light and heat.

Each floating continent represented a training residence. Its size, position, and distance from the "Ice Ripple Star Core" directly reflected the resident's status and strength within the sacred land.

Through Snow's detailed explanation, Qin Zhao clearly saw the terrifying gaps between different tiers:

The dozens of largest continents closest to the "Ice Ripple Star Core" exuded a soul-shaking pressure—these belonged to the World Lords! They were the pillars of the Glacier Sacred Land, numbering no more than a dozen or so.

Slightly farther out, the next-largest floating continents, numbering in the hundreds, were the residences of Domain Lord-level core members. These Domain Lords were either high-level administrators of the sacred land or super-geniuses cultivating in seclusion, hoping to break through to World Lord.

Further out were the Universe-level core members' continents, numbering in the thousands. Generally, Universe-level core members held important positions within the sacred land, serving as the backbone for executing various missions.

The number of Star-level core geniuses then surged sharply. There were about a hundred thousand Star-level core members! They lived on smaller floating continents in the outer rings, representing the sacred land's future hope, with fierce internal competition.

As for Planet Level... Qin Zhao's gaze shifted to the outermost region of the "Ice Ripple Star Core." There, scattered sparsely, floated miniature islands only about ten kilometers in diameter. According to the information, fewer than a hundred people currently occupied them.

He, Qin Zhao, as a Core Student of the Ice Plains Divine Realm, would have his residence in the Virtual Universe on one of these miniature floating islands. This was the starting point of the core layer, and also its bottom. Most Planet-level disciples would break through to Star Level within a short time; otherwise, they would lose their core status and be moved out of this "Ice Ripple Star Core" space, which represented glory and potential.

"Alright, that's the general picture." Snow led Qin Zhao to the outermost cluster of miniature floating islands and personally selected a few with larger diameters for him. "There are still several vacant training residences in this area with good environments. You can consider opening your residence on one of these miniature floating islands. Here's my communication code. If you have any questions about cultivation or run into trouble, feel free to contact me."

"Thank you again, Senior Brother." Qin Zhao expressed his sincere gratitude. Snow had indeed taken good care of him.

"Don't mention it. I look forward to you stepping into the threshold of the law soon! If you can cross that threshold, you'll have a chance to compete for a spot! If you seize that opportunity, believe me, maybe even World Lord won't be your limit! You can also look into the specifics in the Virtual Universe—I won't say more!" Snow smiled, offered a few more words of encouragement, then turned into a streak of light and departed.

Once Snow had truly left, Qin Zhao randomly chose the largest of the miniature floating islands Snow had helped him select as his base camp, and used the Virtual Universe to generate a rather ancient-looking stone courtyard.

"Less than a hundred Planet-level members... no matter. I'll just fight my way up!"

Standing in his newly generated stone courtyard, styled to match his real-world residence, he gazed at the vast, magnificent "Ice Ripple Star Core" and the layered continents orbiting it, his heart surging with emotion. Compared to the hundreds of thousands of Star-level core geniuses, and the even higher Universe-level, Domain Lord, and World Lord tiers, his current Planet-level strength was as insignificant as a speck of dust.