Small, Middle, and Great Chiliocosms

Hu Mang's expression changed. He never expected that coming out naked to refine pills would lead to his background being exposed.

Is this the price of streaking?

But he didn't run naked in front of others.

Seeing Hu Mang's expression freeze, True Person of Myriad Phenomena chuckled, "Your strange alchemy method might fool others, but it can't fool me. I've refined more pills than you've consumed. I gather the essence of Kun and Qing, refine it into millet grains to stabilize my Dantian. The Spiritual Qi in the Small Chiliocosm you remember shouldn't be very abundant, otherwise you wouldn't need to use alchemy to gather the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi."

Hu Mang was astonished. This old man was truly knowledgeable; he could see through everything. But the Small Chiliocosm in his memory...

Did this old man not realize I was a time traveler?

"Your insight is profound," Hu Mang said vaguely.

"Alright, your situation is rare, but it's not unprecedented. For example, two Small Chiliocosm split off from fragments of the Great Chiliocosm, sharing a set of reincarnation and evolution. As a result, you were reincarnated from one Small Chiliocosm into another. Without the constraints of heaven and earth, the mystery of your birth was resolved. You intended to continue cultivating using the methods from your previous life, but you stumbled upon the Azure Mysterious Realm, Small Chiliocosm that has already advanced to the Middle Chiliocosm. There are always stronger forces among the strong, and you don't know what to do for a moment."

"You could only cultivate the Cultivation Method of two worlds simultaneously, trying to uncover the secrets behind the Cultivation Method between them. But you ended up robbing Peter to pay Paul, creating more and more loopholes, and that's how you ended up like this."

"You've refined Golden Core within your body, but you don't know how to Qi Training to Spirit Transformation, or rather, you don't know how to break free of the Golden Core and become a god. Do you agree with what I'm saying?"

Holy crap! That's incredible! Aside from the Transmigration Fragment, you really know everything!

As expected of the divine alchemy cauldron from the upper realm! A true master!

Hu Mang bowed in complete submission, prostrating himself in admiration, "Senior's insight is profound!"

"Hmph, the moment I saw you, I knew what was going on with you. This Golden Core Method was mostly inherited from the Upper Realm, but it was modified by the exploring immortal from that Small Chiliocosm in your memory, wasn't it?"

"I think so," Hu Mang realized that was indeed the case.

The five immortals of High Antiquity times—Heaven, Earth, Man, God, and Ghost—might actually be the exploration immortals they're talking about.

"But senior, what exactly is this 'Middle Chiliocosm' you're referring to?"

"Hmph, the Twenty-Four Heavens of Buddhism and the Buddhist Kingdom, and the Thirty-Three Heavens of Daoism, are all Middle Chiliocosm," True Person of Myriad Phenomena paused, hesitated, and finally spoke.

"You can simply understand it as: Small Chiliocosm that can bear the karmic burdens of an immortal is Middle Chiliocosm."

The Hu Mang's body trembled.

According to this logic, would the Earth Star where their own Heavenly Gate is located be considered Middle Chiliocosm?

Although the highest cultivation level of the Heavenly Gate is only the Void Refinement, its greatest enemy, the Immortal Dynasty, has so-called Four Tribulations Immortals: Formation, Abode, Destruction, and Emptiness.

"Furthermore, all the Middle Chiliocosm have extremely close connections with the upper realm, namely the Numinous Emptiness Immortal Realm."

Closely connected?

There probably isn't Heavenly Gate. As for whether the Immortal Dynasty exists, Hu Mang doesn't know.

Seeing that Hu Mang was shocked by the leaked information, and that he was so shocked that he couldn't be shocked anymore, True Person of Myriad Phenomena's vanity was fully satisfied. After thinking for a moment, he added a little more.

"Many Small Chiliocosm that ascend to the Middle Chiliocosm are absorbed by the Great Chiliocosm. This is why so many immortals have descended to the mortal realm since the creation of the Azure Mysterious Realm. A position that does not exist in the upper realm does not mean that it does not exist in the lower realm. And a position that exists in the lower realm will evolve into a new karmic position once it ascends to the upper realm. This is also the origin of the Investiture of the Gods War in this realm."

Hu Mang heard another secret about this realm, and his expression changed once more.

No, by your standards, wouldn't the Heavenly Gate, or rather, Earth Star, also be absorbed by the Immortal Realm?

"Okay, take off your clothes."

"..."

Damn, old man, even though I've heard a lot of your secrets, it doesn't mean I have to sell my body.

"You brat," True Person of Myriad Phenomena rolled his eyes when he saw Hu Mang's strange expression.

"If I don't refine it in my Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin Cauldron, how will I know what's really going on with your Golden Core?"

"Can't I just say it directly?" Hu Mang asked cautiously.

"Alright, then you speak first, and I'll listen."

So Hu Mang briefly explained the "Heavenly Gate Cultivation Realms" from his "memory," namely Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, and Void Refinement.

True Person of Myriad Phenomena listened and pondered.

"The fact that the 'Golden Core' has evolved into a separate realm indicates that the immortals in your Small Chiliocosm also understand alchemy, knowing that the Innate Great Pill is pure Yang and immaculate, capable of separating the clear from the turbid. Was the Spiritual Qi concentration in your Small Chiliocosm not high? That's why such a realm was specially created, specifically to refine the Spiritual Qi through alchemy."

Holy crap, that's so true, old man!

"As for leaving the 'Nascent Soul' of the 'Loose Immortal' rank empty, that is a very special method. Immortals in this world definitely have the Loose Immortal rank; otherwise, they would never have the idea or ability to evolve the 'Nascent Soul' into their cultivation system."

Hu Mang perked up; he had long harbored this suspicion, so he quickly pressed for details.

"Senior, as far as I know, the Nascent Soul in the Azure Mysterious Realm is a method of ascension through Rainbow Transformation. How come in the world I remember, it's a major realm? How did this ascension method become a cultivation realm?"

Now, True Person of Myriad Phenomena fell into deep thought. After a long while, he finally said:

"Perhaps this Small Chiliocosm is not the original world, but a fragment of the Upper Realm. When the Great Dao of the Upper Realm falls into the Small Chiliocosm, it often evolves into some extremely dangerous existences. The so-called Nascent Soul Dao may be a means for the beings of this world to break free from the shackles of this world."

According to the True Person of Myriad Phenomena, many eons ago, the Upper Realm experienced an unprecedented calamity. During that calamity, not only ordinary people but even immortals could not escape unscathed. It is said that during that calamity, many powerful figures from the Upper Realm personally intervened, shattering the Heavenly Dao of the Numinous Emptiness Immortal Realm into countless pieces, which were scattered to the Lower Realm.

Whether it was Investiture of the Gods War "Nascent Soul Realm" in the Azure Mysterious Realm or the "Nascent Soul Realm" in the Heavenly Gate, they were probably both affected by the aftermath of that great war.

The immense calamity and Sha Qi energy of that great battle between gods and immortals were rarely seen in the evolution of the upper realm. When fragments of the upper realm fell into the lower realm and mixed with the Sha Qi of the great calamity of the upper realm, they evolved into some extremely dangerous Small Chiliocosm Heavenly Dao.

The more Hu Mang listened, the more he realized that the Heavenly Dao that the other party was talking about, evolving in a dangerous direction, could it be the "Grave Transformation Heavenly Dao" that the Old Third had mentioned?

According to the other party, the reason why many Small Chiliocosm were destroyed was largely because the Sha Qi the "Heavenly Dao" was too heavy, and the living beings in this world could not withstand it.

However, this doesn't seem quite right. Apart from the low Spiritual Qi environment making cultivation difficult for Earth Star cultivators, it seems that they haven't encountered a cataclysmic event that could wipe out all living beings yet.

Not to mention that because of the low Spiritual Qi environment, Heavenly Gate was able to develop a cultivation revolution based on humanity.

This seems to contradict what the other party meant by "Small Chiliocosm."

Seeing that Hu Mang was sometimes frowning and sometimes looking puzzled, True Person of Myriad Phenomena assumed that what he said was exactly the same as what the other person "remembered", so he comforted him.

"You're quite lucky to have traveled from a Small Chiliocosm on the verge of destruction to Middle Chiliocosm like the Azure Mysterious Realm. Do you know that even among the immortals of the upper realms, few have had such fortuitous opportunity?"

Hu Mang snapped out of his daze, recalling a sentence the other person had just said, and a flash of inspiration struck him.

"Senior, are you saying that once Small Chiliocosm advances to Middle Chiliocosm, it will establish various connections with the upper realm, and may even be able to evolve into a karmic order that only exists in the upper realm?"

"That's right. The Azure Mysterious Realm is special. It is destined to merge with the Upper Realm. So, even if you haven't cultivated to become an immortal before the great changes in this realm, as long as this realm merges with the Numinous Emptiness Immortal Realm and becomes part of the Upper Realm, you will automatically become a being of the Upper Realm, and your lifespan will increase at least tenfold."

Is this for real? Is there really such a good thing?!

Hu Mang was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that nothing major had happened at Heavenly Gate yet, but Azure Mysterious Realm, which seemed to be doing fine, had actually caused a big incident.

This is nothing, a blessed land being merged with a holy land, a city merging with a county?

As a semi-illegal resident, am I considered to have caught the wave of the times?

"Wait, senior, is this why you descended to the mortal realm?"

True Person of Myriad Phenomena hesitated for a moment. Since things had come to this point, there was no point in hiding anything. Moreover, he still had some things he needed from the other party, so he spoke up.

"You'll know once you see my true form."

As True Person of Myriad Phenomena spoke, the water in the cold pool parted, cave abode shone brightly, finally revealing the true form of this Upper Realm Pill Furnace.

Judging from its appearance alone, this cauldron has a round belly and three legs, with two dragon-shaped handles pointing to the sky. The body of the cauldron is covered with a layer of hazy, flowing primordial light, which is neither gold nor jade. The base color is a solemn, primordial blue-gold, and the halo is drawn inward, not shining outward, showing the restrained aura of a primordial treasure.

However, what is most eye-catching is a huge crack on its body.

The crack resembled a wound ripped open by a divine weapon from the upper realm, stretching from the center of the cauldron's belly to the edge of its mouth, carrying an indescribable sense of tragedy and grotesqueness; the edges of the crack were tinged with a charred black color, as if they had been scorched by a raging fire.

"This is--"

"Struck by lightning."

The True Person of Myriad Phenomena sighed deeply.

"Who could have imagined that the Heavenly Tribulation of the Azure Mysterious Realm would be even more ferocious than I anticipated?"

According to the Artifact Spirit, the cauldron descended to the mortal realm not because it was brought down by someone else, but because it requested to do so.

The reason is quite simple: if the Innate Pill Furnace were to advance further, it could become a true immortal artifact.

According to the old man's idea, as long as it survives the tribulation in the Azure Mysterious Realm, and then waits for the Azure Mysterious Realm counties to merge into districts and the Middle Chiliocosm to merge into the Great Chiliocosm, it will naturally be able to advance further.

The Artifact Spirit's idea was quite good and reliable. The only thing it hadn't anticipated was that, with the overall advancement of the Azure Mysterious Realm, the power of this tribulation lightning was actually higher than it had expected.

Then it failed to transform and was struck down alive by lightning, becoming the first victim of the county-district merger.