In the Primordial World, the cultivation and magical power of its living beings weren't determined entirely by their realms. Their physical bodies were the main deciding factor.
Put simply, magical power was a form of energy, and the physical body was its vessel. A sufficiently powerful body could bear magical power beyond its realm.
That was why the Ancestral Witches, despite not having reached the Quasi-Sage realm, could wield Quasi-Sage-level power with their formidable bodies—and even unleash strength greater than that of an ordinary Quasi-Sage.
In a sense, one's roots referred to one's true form and physical body.
If one's true form was powerful enough, one might possess magical power far beyond one's realm even before surviving the tribulation and taking human form.
With a realm high enough, it was no surprise to become a Mysterious Immortal upon successfully surviving the tribulation, or even a Taiyi Loose Immortal or Golden Immortal.
Shi Mo was the perfect example. Someone like him—or like Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi, whose names rang out across the Primordial World—couldn't possibly become merely a Heavenly Immortal after taking human form and then slowly cultivate their way up.
Only those with ordinary roots had to take things one step at a time, matching their magical power to their realm. They needed a sufficiently high realm to control the magical power appropriate to it.
At the first sermon in the Purple Heaven Palace, aside from expounding on the abstruse Great Dao, Hongjun had mainly explained the levels of cultivation in the Primordial World and how to advance through them.
Just those words on the Great Dao, like an outline of its fundamental principles, had let Shi Mo understand the mysteries of the Dao he had comprehended from a higher vantage point. His realm had risen naturally to the Daluo Golden Immortal level.
By contrast, the classifications of cultivation realms and the methods for advancing held little meaning for Shi Mo. They were just as unimportant to the mighty cultivators who had gone to the Purple Heaven Palace to hear the sermon.
Even so, Hongjun had taken the time to explain them. Evidently, he intended for those cultivators to spread his teachings and instruct all the living beings of the Primordial World.
After finishing his cultivation, Shi Mo had no time to continue organizing and repairing the Western Continent's leylines. He left dozens of Earth-Core Fire Dragons to slowly clear some of the blocked leylines, then quietly returned to Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain to enter seclusion and stabilize his realm.
Several years later, Shi Mo opened his eyes as if sensing something while meditating on the jade platform in his cave. He rose and stepped outside, where he saw Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun arriving together.
"Brother Zhenyuan, Brother Hong Yun." At Shi Mo's warm greeting, Zhen Yuanzi looked somewhat awkward and ashamed.
"Brother Shi Mo, something happened at Longevity Mountain, and I had to hurry back. That left you to clean up the mess with the Western Continent's leylines all by yourself, and you missed your chance to hear the sermon at the Purple Heaven Palace. I truly..."
"So that's what happened! Since you had to leave for something important, Brother Zhenyuan, I couldn't possibly blame you. Besides, I took it upon myself to repair the Western Continent's leylines. If something went wrong, it was only right that I deal with it."
"By the way, Brother Zhenyuan, what happened that made you leave in such a hurry?" Shi Mo immediately asked, curious.
Before Zhen Yuanzi could answer, Hong Yun grumbled, "Who else but that detestable Minghe? He took advantage of Brother Zhenyuan leaving for Longevity Mountain. He must have had his eye on Brother Zhenyuan's Ginseng Fruit Tree."
Shi Mo was speechless. Do you think everyone's like you, only interested in eating?
"Hey, Brother Shi Mo, didn't you miss the sermon at the Purple Heaven Palace? How did your cultivation improve so much all of a sudden?"
Hong Yun stared at Shi Mo in astonishment. "I had the chance to hear the sermon at the Purple Heaven Palace, and that's how I reached the Daluo Golden Immortal realm. Yet your realm is already no weaker than mine!"
Seeing the curiosity on Zhen Yuanzi's face as well, Shi Mo couldn't help smiling. "I suppose it was a blessing in disguise. I did my best to stabilize the chaotic, violent power of the leylines and earthfire, then reorganized the leylines. I gained some insight, and that's how my realm advanced so quickly."
"Please, come in and sit, Brothers." Smiling, Shi Mo invited Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun into his cave. They went over to a black stone table and sat down.
There were six round stone stools beside the table, which was half a zhang across. Shi Mo had taken the trouble to refine and make them himself.
A cave ought to feel like a home. There was no need for much furniture, but there had to be somewhere to sit.
If he weren't worried it would look strange, Shi Mo would have made himself a stone bed or a jade bed, too. But since he spent most of his time meditating cross-legged and had no need for sleep, he had given up on the idea.
If he ever wanted to sleep soundly, he could simply lie in the main spiritual leyline beneath Eight Treasures Peak. He would sleep much more comfortably there.
"Eh? These peaches..." Hong Yun suddenly noticed a plate of fresh peaches among the three fruit plates on the stone table. He picked up a bright red peach about the size of his fist and examined it. "Peaches of Immortality? Why are they so small?"
"They're not real Peaches of Immortality. I scattered some rotten peaches across Eight Treasures Peak, and these grew on the trees that sprouted from their pits. The trees took several centuries to grow, and the peaches took decades to ripen, so of course they can't compare to the real thing," Shi Mo explained with a smile.
As Shi Mo spoke, Hong Yun had already taken a bite. His eyes brightened. "Mm, they taste good! They may not compare to Ginseng Fruits, but they're much tastier than the ordinary spirit fruits I've tried."
"They're good," Zhen Yuanzi agreed, picking one up to taste before nodding slightly.
"If these peaches taste this good, how delicious must the real Peaches of Immortality be?" Hong Yun said, growing even more eager. "By the way, Brother Shi Mo, has the Peach of Immortality tree on Eight Treasures Peak borne fruit yet?"
Shi Mo shook his head with a smile. "It hasn't even blossomed yet!"
"Ah, looks like I won't get to try one this time either." Hong Yun sampled the spirit fruits on the other two jade plates, then remarked, "Mm, even these Vermilion Fruits taste better than the ones I ate before! Brother Shi Mo, Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain is a wonderful place. Even ordinary spirit fruits grow so delicious here."
"If you like them, Brother Hong Yun, you can take some for the road when you leave. There are plenty of peach trees on Eight Treasures Peak, and they bear more fruit than I can eat," Shi Mo said with a smile.
Hong Yun laughed. "Ha ha! Brother Shi Mo, you're as generous as ever. You're not stingy like Brother Zhenyuan, who pinches pennies over every Ginseng Fruit I eat."
"My Ginseng Fruit Tree only bears thirty fruits at a time, and it only bears fruit once every ten thousand years!" Zhen Yuanzi said helplessly.
As they chatted, they brought up the sermon at the Purple Heaven Palace. At Shi Mo's curious prompting, Hong Yun told him about many of the powerful cultivators he knew who had attended.
"Di Jun and Donghuang Taiyi—you know them well?" Shi Mo asked in surprise when Hong Yun mentioned the two.
"Fairly well. They're ambitious, those two. They want to establish some sort of Monster Clan and invited me to join, but I turned them down."
Shi Mo was even more at a loss for words. He had never imagined Hong Yun had this sort of history with the brothers Di Jun and Donghuang Taiyi. After all, when Hong Yun died, Di Jun and Donghuang Taiyi had been the ones responsible!
Still, without any conflict of interest, it made sense that Hong Yun, a carefree loner, might have been someone they tried to recruit.
Their personalities were different, though. They were never meant to walk the same path.
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