CHAPTER 297: CORE PRINCIPLE OF IMMORTAL CULTIVATION, ENDLESS REGRET

In the end, she let out a soft sigh.

Even though she was already at the Void Refinement Realm now, on the verge of entering the Nascent Soul Realm, that scene was still bone chilling in her mind.

Tian Yongheng fell into contemplation at this moment.

Indeed, it was possible to sunk Mount Everest by several meters with the power of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

As a Immortal Ascension cultivator, he had a deep understanding of the previous realms.

In fact, it was only because the Lower Realm was an extremely high level plane of existence. Immortal Cultivators were greatly suppressed in this place.

In the Myriad Worlds, the universe where earth was, even a Rank-3 Dharma Artifact could lead low level cultivators into the outer space to travel vast distances across many light years from Yao Qiuyue’s explanation.

Yet, in the Lower Realm, one needed to reach the Immortal Ascension Realm to exit the Mortal World and travel the Outer Void.

Even a Rank-10 Dharma Artifact couldn’t take out cultivators below the Immortal Ascension Realm into the Outer Void.

Void Refinement Realm powers in the Myriad Worlds could rule over entire galaxies, that was way too exaggerated.

On the other hand, it’s also quite acceptable considering Immortal Ascension Realm is already a entity capable of destroying an entire universe.

Yes.

The reason Tian Yongheng didn’t find any of this surprising was because as a Immortal Ascension cultivator, he had already become a being transcending a normal universe in the Myriad Worlds, something he got to know about after stabilizing his cultivation base when he previously broke through.

He could only imagine how much more powerful the later realms truly were.

From this, he also understood that the dimensionality and rules of the Lower Realm were ridiculously strong. Even as a Immortal Ascension Realm entity, he could barely effect over a hundred thousand miles in the Second Great Mortal World.

And yet, in the Myriad Worlds, the limit in each universe one could reach was the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. It was no wonder, since Immortal Ascension Realm beings could just destroy an entire universe.

The heavenly rules of the Myriad Worlds wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen.

"That...was also the time I lost my parents. A single Foundation Establishment cultivator nearly ended the thousands of years of our civilization."

Speaking of this, there was slight bitterness in Yao Qiuyue’s tone.

A peak Void Refinement cultivator, if she had even a thousandth of this strength, it would have been more than enough to not only save her parents but also countless other individuals who perished that day.

However, she also knew that with the talent of her past life and nature of the Myriad Worlds, with their low dimensionality, Spirit Qi, resources, and many other factors, she definitely wouldn’t have reached the Void Refinement Realm so quickly in just over 600 years.

The power of the Ice Mystic Holy Land naturally played a major role in her current achievements as well.

Tian Yongheng gently shook his head, "Carrying too many regrets will only be more harmful to your future cultivation. Karmic ties naturally have to be resolved, but to resolve them, you must become an Immortal. Only Immortal Deities can possibly disrupt the cycle of reincarnation to find your parents."

Yao Qiuyue nodded, regaining composure, "I’m grateful for your advice. I was just reminiscing about the past."

Even after knowing that Tian Yongheng was indeed from earth, Yao Qiuyue didn’t dare to speak casually to him in the slightest.

No matter how approachable he appeared after getting to know him or how he advised her, he was ultimately a powerful being at the ceiling of power in the Lower Realm, perhaps even a real Immortal God.

After hundreds of years of living in this world, who knew how many changes his personality had undergone and how much he had faced to achieve this level of strength?

At the same time, from Yao Qiuyue’s description, he also seemed to understand the deep sense of helplessness and despair those on earth would have felt when such a thing happened.

When mountains collapsed, rivers dried up, and heaven itself seemed to be pressing down on them... and they could do nothing but watch their loved ones die right before their eyes.

How despairing would one have felt?

This reflected his own despair at the end of his previous life, realizing his insignificance as a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things.

Only by attaining absolute strength could one truly get rid of that ultimate despair and powerlessness.

Immortal Cultivators pursued immortality, that was a poetic way of saying it.

In reality, Immortal Cultivators all had different pursuits, some wanted strength to protect their loved ones, some wanted to never feel the despair they once felt, and some simply wanted to gain strength for the sake of it.

There were countless pursuits, the infinite roads and myriad Great Daos. In the end, all of them lead to a single end.

Eternal life.

It was not the eternal life of having an unending lifespan, but the eternal life where one could control their fate in their own hands and not be powerless when facing horrors beyond the comprehension of any ghost and god.

It was the eternal life of an existence that couldn’t extinguish even if countless wished for it, or in simpler terms, it was invincibility. Absolute invincibility.

Eternal life, in a sense, is just a byproduct of invincibility.

Tian Yongheng didn’t know about the others, but this was his own meaning of eternal life and his ultimate pursuit to reach the end of the road and beyond.

Maybe this isn’t the true face of eternity, but I’ll eventually know when I reach that point.

Tian Yongheng didn’t say anything, and Yao Qiuyue also fell silent for a moment.

Both of them were lost in their own thoughts. Yet, strangely, there was no caution between them. The kind that cultivators usually have when meeting someone for the first time.

Perhaps it was because they came from the same world, or perhaps because they had both felt the despair and powerlessness that came with being insignificant.

Or perhaps, it was an entirely different thing.

From his reaction, she also understood that once, maybe this seemingly invincible figure, capable of cutting down the Demon God with the least bit effort, was also in a position similar to hers.

But no matter what, they had formed a mutual trust in eachother after this brief conversation, as if they were old friends meeting after a very long time.

After a few moments, Tian Yongheng finally spoke up, "You didn’t come here just for that, right?"

Yao Qiuyue’s eyes flickered, and she nodded with a sigh.

"Indeed. After that incident, with no one left to rely on and the entire world left in disarray, I had no choice but to do everything I could to survive. Fortunately... After some time, I met my master from my past life. He was from another star system, a Foundation Establishmen cultivator, recuperating on earth due to an accident. He didn’t intervene in the conflict of that day simply because he was powerless, being only at the early stages of Foundation Establishment Realm, he was unable to contend with an individual at the later stages of Foundation Establishment Realm.

It was only due to him that I managed to truly survive back then, and became a Qi Condensation cultivator in the mid stages. Later on, he unfortunately passed away, and I founded an assassination organization. In the year 2073, I was killed by a Foundation Establishment cultivator who destroyed my organization, but fortunately, most of my subordinates managed to escape in time..."

Then, she suddenly turned to face Tian Yongheng, staring at him as if trying to comprehend something profound.

"My master, aside from me, had another disciple whom he had accepted several decades prior, when the Age of Spirit Recovery had just arrived. She was my senior sister. She was one of the few people who showed me kindness after that incident and genuinely cared about me. She guided me in my cultivation, helped me out of my depression, and never asked for anything in return. She was also tired. But she always shrugged it off, saying it was all worth it as long as she could become stronger.

She had long black hair, reflecting the dark, beautiful night sky and crimson red eyes that had already lost their luster, if they ever had one."

At this point, Tian Yongheng’s left hand had already clenched into a fist, yet his expression remained the same as obvious.

A vague figure seemed to manifest in the sealed memories of his past life, becoming brighter and brighter until engulfing everything.

Yao Qiuyue continued, her initial reluctance swept away by a torrent of emotions, outpouring everything she had been holding in since her reincarnation, "She never really talked about her past, but she once mentioned that she had an older brother who, despite being perhaps the most perfect person in everything he did, was obsessed with immortality, much to their parents’ dismay, and that he would have been extremely disappointed if he knew her current state..."

Yao Qiuyue became more and more agitated as she spoke, searching for a trace of reaction on Tian Yongheng’s face only to find endless indifference.

However, at that very moment, she seemed to see a trace of malencholy, perhaps something else, an indescribable emotion, flicker in his eyes before he raised his hand to stop her.

She noticed his hand slightly trembling before a calm, yet emotional voice reached her ears.

"What was her name?"

A single sentence, a single question. It seemed to have lifted a massive weight off Yao Qiuyue’s heart.

"Tian Qi’er."