Plane Ascension

The Heaven Transformation Realm referred to the Divine Soul breaking free of the fleshly body's restraints, allowing it to merge into heaven and earth and hide at any time, making it difficult to detect.

Even when attacked, one could merge into heaven and earth to weaken the damage sustained.

This was precisely why Heaven Transformation Realm experts possessed far greater resilience than those in the Fusion Heaven Realm.

It was usually not because their physical bodies were tougher,

but because when attacked, Heaven Transformation Realm experts could merge into heaven and earth and automatically dissipate part of the force behind the attack.

A faint radiance also bloomed around Futu Yun.

His presence was plainly visible to the naked eye, yet if one relied solely on sensing spiritual energy fluctuations, one would find the area completely empty.

Unless one deliberately searched for him, there would be nothing to find.

However, such a method was utterly ineffective in the eyes of the Heavenly Sovereigns.

They quickly saw through the anomaly: Futu Yun was the Plane Master of the White Dragon Continent!

Moreover, these Heavenly Sovereigns had exceptionally sharp insight and quickly discerned the truth.

After Futu Yun broke through to the Heaven Transformation Realm,

the plane under his control had merged into the Great Thousand World, which in turn nourished the White Dragon Continent.

And as the Plane Master, Futu Yun was the ultimate beneficiary of that nourishment.

As the saying went, "When one person attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven." Yet for Futu Yun, it was the exact reverse:

First the chickens and dogs ascended, then he attained the Dao.

Though he was also in the Heaven Transformation Realm, Futu Yun's degree of integration with heaven and earth was far beyond that of ordinary Heaven Transformation Realm cultivators.

In the Heavenly Sovereign Realm, one could merge oneself with a region of heaven and earth, gathering an immensely powerful protective force:

When any attack landed on the body, most of its power would be diverted into the linked region of heaven and earth and dissipated.

This was the so-called unity of man and heaven.

Futu Yun had already achieved this.

In fact, his comprehension of unity with heaven and earth surpassed even the half-baked realm of a Quasi-Heavenly Sovereign.

It was genuine unity with heaven and earth at the Heavenly Sovereign level!

This also meant that Futu Yun truly possessed the potential to become a Heavenly Sovereign.

In the past, Futu Yun had been judged to possess "Saint Grade potential" for various reasons.

But that assessment had always been nothing more than the Pagoda Ancient Clan singing its own praises.

Forget becoming a Saint-grade Heavenly Sovereign—whether he could become an ordinary Heavenly Sovereign had once been uncertain.

In fact, judging solely by the rate of breakthroughs, advancing to the Heavenly Sovereign Realm was even harder than advancing to a Saint-grade Heavenly Sovereign:

The proportion of Earthly Sovereign Great Perfection experts who became Heavenly Sovereigns was far lower than the proportion of Immortal-grade Peak experts who became Saint Grade.

But now, as long as Futu Yun did not die prematurely, becoming a Heavenly Sovereign was practically certain.

Even Super Divine Beasts with special bloodlines could not compare to such a foundation.

Yet ascendants like the Flame Emperor and the Martial Ancestor were somewhat disappointed instead.

They were not disappointed in Futu Yun. They simply understood that his success could not be replicated at all.

To bring a Lower Plane into the Great Thousand World,

the first step was to refine the Plane Spirit, then break through to the Heaven Transformation Realm in the Great Thousand World.

But when the Martial Ancestor refined the Plane Spirit as an ascendant, he had already reached the ceiling of power in his original plane.

After ascending, he had already become a Sovereign Stage expert in the Great Thousand World, an existence above heaven and earth.

There was simply no way for him to merge with the Great Thousand World while carrying the Plane Spirit, much less integrate the entire Lower Plane into the Great Thousand World.

Although the Flame Emperor had not been the Plane Master when he ascended,

when he later transferred the Lower Plane's coordinates, he had also relied on the Plane Spirit's power.

This did not necessarily have to be done personally; it could be entrusted to someone reliable.

But without Sovereign Stage cultivation, who would dare rashly come into contact with a Plane Spirit?

A Plane Spirit could indeed help an Earthly Sovereign Great Perfection break through the shackles of the Heavenly Sovereign Realm.

But to those below the Sovereign Stage, it was a heavenly treasure that was simply too potent. Could they truly refine it safely?

Perhaps success was possible.

But once they failed, they would inevitably be assimilated by the Plane Spirit and become nourishment for the Lower Plane.

Unless they were willing to pile up human lives!

Yet the Plane Master held the power of life and death over the Lower Plane.

These ascendants, who were already Heavenly Sovereigns, naturally had no desire to casually find some insignificant people to attempt it.

But how could they bear to make people they trusted gamble with their lives?

What counted as someone truly trustworthy?

Even direct subordinates were nowhere near enough.

For the Flame Emperor, perhaps only his wife, children, and master deserved that degree of trust.

How could he possibly let them gamble with their lives?

Moreover, not every Lower Plane could give birth to a Plane Spirit, and Lower Planes differed in strength as well:

For instance, the Heavenly Profound Continent before the Martial Ancestor ascended had only an Ancestral Realm expert at its peak, equivalent to the Sovereign Stage in the Great Thousand World.

But the White Dragon Continent where Futu Yun resided actually already had an Earthly Sovereign Great Perfection expert.

And now, he was even attempting to charge into the Heavenly Sovereign Realm!

In other words, this plane itself had a stronger foundation than ordinary Lower Planes.

Even a Sovereign Stage expert could not withstand the Plane Spirit of such a high-level plane.

Instead, it was more suitable for an Earthly Sovereign to bear it.

If an Earthly Sovereign refined the Plane Spirit,

then returned to the Great Thousand World and advanced to the Heavenly Sovereign Realm, it might not be impossible to accomplish this.

But the Plane Spirit could already help an Earthly Sovereign break through the shackles of the Heavenly Sovereign Realm, and one would generally break through immediately after absorbing it.

If that process were forcibly interrupted, not only would the breakthrough fail, but the Lower Plane would suffer backlash as well.

And if the Plane Spirit of a Lower Plane were forcibly extracted and brought directly into the Great Thousand World,

the Lower Plane that lost its Plane Spirit would likewise collapse and fall apart.

At the root of it, these Heavenly Sovereigns wanted to take this path in order to nourish their homeland, not to seize the Plane Spirit.

Therefore, this plan was fundamentally unworkable.

That was why Futu Yun's success was said to be completely impossible to replicate.

Whether it was achieving the Heavenly Sovereign's unity with heaven and earth while still in the Heaven Transformation Realm,

or fully merging an entire Lower Plane into the Great Thousand World,

both were unprecedented exceptions with no possibility of replication.

However, while this path could not be replicated by others, that might not be the case for Futu Yun himself.

At this moment, he could already fully merge with heaven and earth like those Heavenly Sovereigns.

He could even completely refine his own Spiritual Veins and merge them into himself.

Across the surface of his skin, nine silver dragon-light patterns emerged, carrying magnificent majesty!

Endless thunder suddenly erupted throughout heaven and earth.

Winds rose and clouds churned, as though the entire world trembled at the appearance of the Nine Divine Veins.

The Heavenly Sovereign Spirit Body was the mark of a Heavenly Sovereign. Its cultivator could transform their physical body into the purest spiritual body at any time.

At the same time, they could merge with a region of heaven and earth, and the spiritual energy within them would be nearly inexhaustible.

However, this was merely the initial form of the Heavenly Sovereign Spirit Body.

Only by refining the Spiritual Veins and allowing them to fully merge with the Heavenly Sovereign Spirit Body could it gradually reach perfection.

A perfected Heavenly Sovereign Spirit Body was not only even more wondrous than before, but would generally also evolve a Spiritual Vein Divine Ability.

The evolution of a Spiritual Vein Divine Ability was usually related to the cultivation technique one practiced.

As for its grade, that depended on the strength of the Spiritual Veins within one's body.

Though Futu Yun's Nine Divine Veins had originated from Mu Chen,

he had successively reforged them using Qing Yanjing's power and the Flame Emperor's Nine Dragon Thunder Gang Flame.

Now, that power belonged entirely to him.

But at that moment, points of light appeared within Futu Yun's perception.

They were actually spatial coordinates for one Lower Plane after another!