Exiled Immortal Revealed 5: Disaster Star Xiao Hua Stirred Trouble in the Immortal Realm-Why Were the Divine Realm's Gods Hunting Their Master's Disciple?

Summary: Classmate Xiao was a true disaster star; trouble broke out in nearly every realm he entered. True Person Xiao, meanwhile, repeatedly received missions in times of crisis, gaining boundless merit and Power of Faith. As a mere mortal cultivator, he could even condense the crystal lattice of the Primordial Divine Realm. On his birth continent, he broke the Incense Transmission Sect's protective grand formation, throwing the martial world into chaos; when he crossed realms to Yilin Continent, spiritual energy mutated and lifespans ebbed away; on the Three Great Continents, the Nine Provinces Cauldron vanished before, and Divine Realm mayflies later brought about world destruction; in the Moon God Ruins, the Demon Realm ran rampant with blood sacrifices; on the Primordial Continent, the Happy Heaven Demon destroyed the world. Now that Xiao Hua had ascended to the Immortal Realm, True Person Xiao needed to gain the Power of Faith of the Immortal Realm's immortals. A colossal crisis was bound to arise in the Immortal Realm, and True Person Xiao would be born in answer to the hour. This article discussed the Great Star Domain Investiture of Gods, soul power, Power of Faith, Immortal Realm immortal marks, and the foreshadowing and layout of the Immortal Realm in Exiled Immortal.

I. The remarkable Exiled Immortal once again laid grass-snakes in gray lines, veins buried a thousand miles deep

Mount Moban and its three divine brother disciples—this passage absolutely could not be glossed over. It was Exiled Immortal's setup for the Primordial Divine Realm, and this setup might be the Immortal Realm's greatest secret, one tied to the secret of becoming a god. I will demonstrate this through the following points.

1. The three Mount Moban brother disciples had extraordinary origins

According to Exiled Immortal's setting: seven-colored and silver were immortal; nine-colored and gold were divine. The golden humanoid Mount Moban brother disciples were all gods, and they even had a master who had ascended to the Divine Realm.

2. Mount Moban was a divine artifact that monitored the Immortal Realm

At the Reception Hall, just as Xiao Hua's immortal mark was about to form but had not yet formed, countless "Dao" characters in different forms appeared under the suppression of the Xingtian Immortal Artifact. They then randomly appeared at Mount Moban, triggering an abnormal change there. From the word "again" in the boy's remark, "Again, someone's name has entered the Immortal Roster; the fortune of our Immortal Realm flourishes," it could be seen that anyone who engraved an immortal mark and entered the Immortal Roster would trigger this place. This showed that the monitoring artifact of Mount Moban was monitoring immortals engraving immortal marks.

3. Mount Moban held a great secret of the Immortal Realm

Xiao Hua caused a change in Mount Moban's "Universe-Shaking Bright Stone," and the second senior disciple brother offered three guesses. First: "A heavenly secret capable of stirring the foundations of our Immortal Realm has appeared, disrupting the rules of the Universe-Shaking Bright Stone." Second: "The fate of the disciple whose name entered the Immortal Roster is unusual, and the Universe-Shaking Bright Stone cannot engrave their name." Third: "The Dao gave birth to One... One gave birth to all things." There was also a female immortal, now grown into a Celestial Venerable, who had caused disturbances similar to Xiao Hua's disruption of the Universe-Shaking Bright Stone, and the senior disciple brother personally monitored her anomaly. All this showed that the Mount Moban brother disciples held a great secret and a great conspiracy. That conspiracy was absolutely related to immortal marks. Xiao Hua might have caused a huge disaster.

II. The essence of immortal marks—the means by which gods of the Divine Realm harvested Power of Faith

Immortal marks were related to souls. (For details, see Exiled Immortal Revealed 4: A Discussion of Soul Power in Exiled Immortal.) Personally, I felt that immortals' immortal marks should be a means for the gods of Mount Moban to harvest faith from the Immortal Realm, for the following reasons:

1. Immortal marks were a cultivation method similar to spiritual roots

Immortals of the Immortal Realm were divided into two types. Those without immortal marks were Mortal Immortals, unable to be listed on the Immortal Roster—the mortals of the Immortal Realm. Those with immortal marks had marks ranked from high to low as: Human Mark, Earth Mark, Heaven Mark, Yellow Mark, Mysterious Mark, and Starry Sky Immortal Mark. Their quality was further divided into: Virtual Mark, Illusionary Mark, Shadow Mark, Bright Mark, and Solid Mark. Compare this with spiritual aptitude in the Cultivation World, and one could not fail to see the similarities. Immortal mark cultivation was much like spiritual root cultivation in the Cultivation World.

2. Xiao Hua used spiritual root selection and cultivation to harvest countless Powers of Faith from the Daoist Sect

After Xiao Hua removed the mysterious dark cloud from Wang Zhengfei's mind, Exiled Immortal titled the next chapter "Spiritual Root Cultivation, Supreme Merit." In truth, when Xiao Hua crossed realms to Yilin Continent and created methods for spiritual root selection and cultivation, he harvested countless Powers of Faith, causing the golden divine crystal behind his head to grow larger. By reasoning from this, one might as well guess that the Immortal Realm's immortal mark cultivation method was actually a means for some god of the Divine Realm to harvest Power of Faith.

Since Immortal Realm immortal marks were a means for some god of the Divine Realm to harvest the Power of Faith of immortals, then Mount Moban's monitoring artifact was absolutely part of a great conspiracy. The three people monitoring this place under their master's orders might have been acting for a divination, a prophecy—Xiao Hua was to become a Primeval God and had to harvest the Power of Faith of immortals. That prophecy was that the Dao Mirror would shatter and the Dao tradition would be annihilated. The Mount Moban brother disciples were here to prevent that prophecy from coming true. Thus, the moment Xiao Hua engraved his immortal mark was the moment he caused a huge disaster. Because this involved becoming a god.

III. Why would a Great Investiture of Gods War arise?

The origin of the Investiture of Gods War, at its core, came from the methods of becoming a god and the cultivation methods of the Primordial Divine Realm. Thus, the so-called Great Star Domain Investiture of Gods War was first a war to become gods, and only afterward a war of investiture. The war to become gods was a battle among great powers of higher realms such as the Immortal Realm, Dragon Domain, Monster Alliance, Demon Marsh, and Buddha Kingdom, all fighting to become gods. The Investiture of Gods War, in essence, was a war for resources, a war for Power of Faith. In Exiled Immortal's Immortal Realm setting, immortals also had lifespan limits. Just as Xu Zhi would suffer the Five Decays of the Celestial Being and die, becoming a god meant greater power and a longer lifespan.

1. The methods of becoming a god

Gods were not cultivated; they were passed down through inheritance. Gods produced through cultivation could only be called demigods or Virtual Gods. To cultivate into a god, in Xu Zhi's words, one had to grasp soul power before one could be called a god. Power of Faith was the outward manifestation of soul power, and from this manifestation arose a Buddhist sect capable of contending with Daoist cultivation. Cultivating Power of Faith could lead to godhood. The great powers of higher realms such as the Immortal Realm, Dragon Domain, Demon Marsh, and Buddha Kingdom surely all knew this. Merit could make one a saint—this was the reason behind the Great Star Domain Investiture of Gods.

2. The cultivation method of the Primordial Divine Realm

If the Cultivation World cultivated spiritual energy, and the Immortal Realm cultivated spiritual radiance, then the Primordial Divine Realm cultivated fluctuations. These fluctuations were the essence of heaven-and-earth vital energy, vast righteous energy, and even dragon energy. Therefore,

to borrow the words of the Divine Realm great power from Xuanhong's discourse on the Dharma, Divine Realm cultivation was to condense a divine lattice and obtain a divine position. After a golden divine crystal was formed, so-called condensing a divine lattice meant making that divine crystal grow larger. To enlarge the divine crystal required the Power of Faith from a certain cultivation method. Once the divine lattice was complete, one could then obtain a divine position. As for crystalline divine lattices, one could consult Xiao Hua's golden-threaded good fruit at Fallen Phoenix Mountain, his merit in opening heaven and virtue in enlightening the Primordial Continent, the divine punishment when Xiao Hua fought Bei Xian'er, and Xuanhong's discourse on the Dharma at Star Moon Palace.

In short, Mount Moban beyond the heavens of the Immortal Realm was Exiled Immortal's foreshadowing, planted in advance, for setting up the Divine Realm and structuring the Immortal Realm. Through this foreshadowing, pressure was placed upon Xiao Hua's Immortal Realm cultivation. After all, much of a person's potential was forced out under pressure, and True Person Xiao was naturally no exception.