"Do you know... how many people in the world have reached nine awakenings?" White Garment asked gravely.
"Three. You, Old Bat, and the Pope," Old Ninth blurted out.
"More than that." White Garment chuckled and shook his head.
"On the surface, Blue Star has only twenty or thirty people at eight awakenings. But when the Western Coalition Forces invaded the Dragon Kingdom... you yourselves saw at least twenty, didn't you?" Old Guan earnestly described the world's true face. "This world isn't as simple as you imagine."
"Some crave fame and fortune and refuse to die of old age, like Old Bat."
"Some harbor wild ambitions and grand designs, like the Pope."
"Some willingly suppress their cultivation for their country and its people, like Xiao Baiyi."
"But what about those who seek neither fame nor fortune and devote themselves to cultivation? What happens when their lifespans run out, but they refuse to die?" A terrifying gleam flared in Old Man Guan's eyes, a hint of killing intent emerging. "They hide themselves away."
"Hiding keeps them from dying?" Little White Tiger and Old Ninth asked incredulously, as though they had heard a fairy tale.
"There are many ways to extend your lifespan: consuming heavenly treasures, blood sacrifice. But the most common is erecting a gravestone and feigning death." White Garment listed the methods with easy familiarity. "They put themselves into suspended animation and slow their bodily functions. Some can even manage to exhale once a year and inhale once a year."
"For example, Sikong Jian's master isn't dead. He merely sealed himself in ice beneath the Snow Realm."
"And the Holy See's Grand Priest of Judgment from a century ago is still alive... hiding in the deepest part of the Holy See, sustained by the heavenly treasures they constantly supply him." White