Aterna.

On the bridge of light, Michael was speechless. After seeing the palm of samsara, he could not even speak for some time. This was the first time he had seen such powerful magic. It was truly the might of God. Now he understood why people considered the realm above ascendance as divine.

"You must be quite surprised, so I will give you a brief explanation. First of all, my name is Madeline Jade. I am a core disciple of Samsara Sect of the heavenly-realm. I am a rank-6 ascendant who was undergoing the cycle of Samsara in your world. I decided to end my journey and summoned this bridge of samsara to travel back to the sect. As for why you are on the bridge as well, its because you have been selected as an outer-disciple of the Samsara Sect."

"But aren't I already a disciple at the Divine Sea Sect?", Michael asked.

"You were only an outer-sect disciple there and you will similarly be an outer-sect disciple in the Samsara Sect. The sects don't care a lot about outer-sect disciples.", Madeline replied.

She then said, "You don't have to worry too much, I had your identity checked. You are an orphan and have cultivated mostly on your own. Later you caught Michael Rageberg's eye who enrolled you as an outer-sect disciple. Thus, you don't have a family here to return to. You should come with me to the Samsara Sect. You will get much better chances to progress there. I will also give you some help in the sect. You will have a boundless future ahead of you. Do you not want to go?"

Michael took a moment to answer.

I am but a clone. But I did not tell about this clone to anyone. So no one knows this. The fact that I can join the Samsara Sect means even they don't suspect me. This is actually a great opportunity. I can practise as Michael in the Divine Sea Sect and as Mark in the Samsara Sect. As a result, I will be able to become even stronger. Why should I reject this?! This is a heavenly fortune!

"I accept. I have made up my mind, I will join the Samsara Sect. Thanks for giving me this chance."

"Very good, as I thought, you are intelligent. Now that you are an outer-sect disciple, you will get to know the rules and will join the sect formally when we return. Meanwhile, during the journey, you can ask me about the things you want to know."

"I have a question. Why did you select me to be an outer disciple?"

"I see that you have talent in cultivating life and death. You are also a rare psychic cultivator and might even have other secrets. You are an ideal candidate to recruit. What do you want to know exactly?"

"But I know people more talented than me. There are many in the Divine Sea Sect. Even Michael Rageberg is more talented than me."

"First of all, Samsara Sect cultivators need to cultivate life and death. This is rarely found in cultivators and thus, most of the geniuses of Divine Sea Sect are unsuitable for the sect. As for Michael Rageberg, his status is different from yours. You were only an outer disciple. Even if we poach you, the Divine Sea Sect won't mind. But Michael Rageberg is a core disciple. A core disciple is different from others. It is a status which means that one is now considered part of the sect. Core disciples are always under the view of divinities of a sect. After a core disciple reaches a suitable realm of cultivation, they are taken in as disciples by the divinities and become legacy disciples. If we tried to take a core disciple away from the Divine Sea Sect, it would be a big deal. The Divine Sea Sect would not let this happen.", Madeline replied.

So it means that I already have a high status in the sect? I never noticed it!

"I have another question, senior. About that powerful attack just now? Do you know who sent that attack and what realm of cultivation that elder is at?"

"Hmm, you are ignorant in many things so I should introduce you a bit more thoroughly. First of all, the leader of Samsara Sect is our sect ancestor. He is an honoured god. To tell you about cultivation realms, the first stage is mortal. After that is ascendance. But while ascendance is called one big realm, there are two completely different realms under ascendance - law-finder and path-finder, or in your terms, lower and upper ascendants. Law finders train the ambient laws and path-finders create their own path of cultivation with their understanding and comprehension. Law finding is not that hard and with resources, even a dog can ascend to become a law-master. But path-finding is a thousand times tougher. And the ones who have completed their paths are called as path-masters or peak-ascendants. This is the stage where you can be said to be a bonafide master. You are no longer one of the masses but one of the experts. Of course, creating one's path is an extremely complicated and challenging process. To give you an idea, on an average in the heaven-realm, there is a law-finder every million mortals. There is a law-master every thousand law-finder, a path-finder every thousand law-masters and a path-mater every million path-finder. If not for the long lifespan of cultivators, path-masters would not appear. Are you clear till this part?"

"Yes. While I did not know the details, I had an idea."

"Path-finding is an extremely challenging period of cultivation, perhaps the most challenging. As a result, there are many geniuses, children of divinities and whatnot who never reach the divinity realm. At the peak of path-master is the realm called demi-divinity. It is a realm where one is just one step away from breaking through and becoming a divinity. That one step involves going through a divine tribulation. It is the final external tribulation of a cultivator. Beyond that, there are only inner tribulations. I am not sure what inner-tribulations are but they are supposedly scarier than external tribulations. But anyway, the divine tribulation is the scariest thing I have witnessed. The chances of failing it are extremely high and failure leads to certain death unless a powerful divinity at least six stars or higher intervenes. As a result, the path-master realm is the final stage of cultivation for many. After all, path-finding is extremely tough and not everyone has the guts to challenge the divine tribulation after reaching the heights with such difficulty. But if one succeeds, one becomes a divinity, a being beyond mortal. A divinity can be considered closer to god than to mortal. After breaking into the divinity realm, the progress is measured in the number of stars one can manifest - thus, we have one-star, two-star and higher ranked divinities. The highest stage in this realm is the nine-star divinity realm. I don't have much knowledge of the divinity realm but the power of a divinity can't be measured only by the number of stars they manifest. Every star contains the path of that divinity. Thus, the stars of different divinities are different and so is their combat strength and specialities. Peak nine-star divinity stage is also called the demi-god realm. Again, one step after that one becomes a god. But there are many types of divinities, with different accumulation. Thus, after becoming gods, they are separated into three kinds. The first is an honoured god. They are considered the most ordinary ones among the gods. But the fact that we call this realm honoured god realm instead of ordinary god realm should give you some idea of their power. For them, destroying the entire law-ocean is not a big deal."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"!", Michael was truly shocked by these revelations. But he did not interrupt and allowed Madeline to continue.

"The second type of gods are called dao gods. These are specialized gods. They are beings who have reached the dao in their path and become one with their path. It is a miraculous realm that I don't know much about. Just that these gods are categorised by their daos. For example, sword-gods, wisdom-gods, etc. Of course, no two sword-gods are same. Also, dao gods are generally stronger than honoured gods, although there are exceptions. The final type of gods are the true-gods. They are the strongest beings in the world and even speaking their true name can lead to the power of heaven and earth to show reactions and cause a calamity. True gods are therefore generally called by their titles. For example, Heaven Emperor or the Wisdom Emperor. They are ancient beings and rulers of the world. Just know that don't recklessly talk about the gods. Even the weakest gods are beings beyond you or me. Even divinities don't dare to talk about them carelessly. The Samsara Sect is a powerful sect in the heaven-realm because it is a sect that has an honoured-god at the helm. There are similar other sects as well. Now, onto your question, the attack just now was from the third elder of the sect. His cultivation is at eight-star divinity stage but it's not that he is so strong to send such a powerful attack from the heaven-realm to the law ocean. He used the samsara bridge as a medium to attack. This bride is a magic of the ancestor. That attack was perhaps only a casual slap without any effort put behind it. Also, travelling from such a large distance had already reduced the power to a fraction of the original. This should give you an idea of the strength of the elders of the sect."

Looking at Mark's shocked expression, Madeline felt proud of the strength of her sect. But she did not know that the reason for his shock was different.

Michael asked gulping, "Did you say Wisdom Emperor? A true-god? Can you tell me a bit more?"

"Oh, seems like you have not heard of the Wisdom Empire. Wisdom Emperor is an ancient true-god. He has been alive since before the Heaven Emperor rose. The country he established is called the Wisdom Empire. The Wisdom Emperor is interested in all sorts of wisdom and knowledge. People say that he has cultivated all paths to a very high realm. He is also an orthodox god who likes to help cultivators. As a result, he generally scatters many legacies around hidden in common places. A rock at the roadside might be hiding a divinity-stage legacy for all we know. Thus, a lot of cultivators dream of obtaining a legacy from the Wisdom Emperor. Quite a lot of them get his legacies as well. But even the Wisdom Emperor has only so many legacies to give and only so much time to play around. Thus, only those blessed by luck end up getting his legacies. There are a few in our sect who have obtained his legacies. Have you heard of him by any chance?"

"No, I was just curious about a true-god I did not know about. He seems like he appreciates cultivators with luck."

"It's not completely like that. He also opens the wisdom temple before selection battles. He is very popular among ascendant cultivators. There are many who adore him even in the Heaven-Empire."

"Umm, you just said wisdom temple, selection battles?"

"You will get to know about the wisdom temple in detail at the sect. Basically, its the personal collection of the Wisdom Emperor which he opens to give fortuitous encounters at a large scale to cultivators. As for selection battles, it is a disciple-selection event. All the gods of the orthodox faction organise this event and choose the greatest geniuses as their disciples. It is a very big event that happens across multiple worlds. The next selection battles are supposed to happen after 20000 years. I will also take part and try to measure myself against the best geniuses of the universe."

"I have indeed found many new things from our talk, senior Madeline. I just have one more question. What is the origin of devils?"

Madeline's expression grew sombre as she replied, "The gods are the rulers of the universe. Each god can be considered a force of their own. But if we were to categorise the gods broadly, we can do so as the orthodox faction and the unorthodox faction. Orthodox faction gods have a certain amount of good-will for the mortals and cultivators. They also act as our guides and protectors. An example would be the Wisdom Emperor. The unorthodox faction on the other hand has gods that believe that they should be the rulers of the world. They wish to enslave all creatures and rule eternally. They don't want new gods to arise. An example would be the Devil Ancestor. Heaven-realm is the territory of heaven-emperor, so the devils from the unorthodox faction are suppressed there. You won't find any devil brazen enough to challenge the orthodox sects there. Anyway, I suggest that you heal your injuries. After we reach the sect, you will be busy for a while."

"Yes, senior Madeline. Thanks for answering my questions."

Michael's understanding of Wisdom Emperor was basically nil before today. Initially, he had thought that as long as he mastered the psychic legacy, he would get a chance to get the next version of the legacy. But after completely mastering the legacy, all he found was the message, "Come to the wisdom temple to cultivate."

Michael had no idea where this wisdom temple was. Due to the upcoming war, he had been too busy to even inquire about this at the sect. Madeline's information had answered one of the many questions that he had. It also helped him form another speculation - the ancient being that had turned back time was definitely a god, perhaps stronger than the ancestor of the Samsara Sect. He also gained an understanding of the process of cultivation. This also allowed him to understand why foundations are considered extremely important and why divine children didn't use law-spirits and other resources to rapidly progress in their cultivation. He had also heard that the law ocean of today used to be 33 separate worlds in the past. But an ancient battle had turned it into 26 dominions of today. Perhaps it had been a battle between gods that had changed the world on such a large scale.

After Mark and Madeline disappeared on the samsara bridge, Krill Nash left with the remaining army to go back. After this, both sides fell into a halt as they started surveying the damage they had been dealt.

Krill had a nasty expression as he went through the status report. Out of a million strong soldiers, only three hundred thousand were still able to fight. Around two hundred thousand were severely injured and would not be able to battle further, two hundred thousand had injuries that could be treated while three hundred thousand were dead. This did not look like a bad result because the number of devils killed was definitely more than a million. But the devils had more than 3 million soldiers. Even after that incredible palm attack, Krill had noticed the city of devils bringing back around a million or so devils away from the battlefield. Thus, the situation was still at a stalemate and the power balance of both sides was still tilted. Now, Krill could only fight a defensive battle with the help of fortifications and try to drag things out. After completing the report of the incident, he sent the information back to the sect.

The devils were similarly having a discussion in the command centre of the city. But different from before, there were only three people in the command centre with a chair empty.

"This was an unexpected accident. The chances of something like this happening are very minuscule. I don't think that we will run into a similar situation again.", said Neon Blood who was present as a phantom.

"Samsara Sect! If not for the Heaven Emperor, our Ancestor could totally destroy that sect.", Theo said while grinding his teeth. The reason for his anger was the death of their comrade Medussa. Theo and Medussa were ex-lovers. While they were not together any longer, their relationship was still quite deep. Medussa's death was a personal blow to Theo.

"Don't speak carelessly about gods! Now we need to plan what to do next. Our plans have already been seen through and our numerical advantage was also greatly reduced by that attack. We can still siege them but Neon's side would definitely fall faster. If you still intend to hold back, we can call this operation off!", Jaren said to Theo.

Theo's eyes turned red as he finally made his decision, "Very good! I will go all-in then. I will call for my personal soldiers as well as the soldiers in the Black devil faction who are loyal to me. I will also bring out all my collected savings to get help from the elders of the faction to fight this war. Since I have decided to fight this battle, let it very well be a battle till death!"

At the same time in the Divine Sea Sect, Michael finally opened his eyes.