Many years later...
Opening his eyes once more, Alexander released his Divine Sense just enough to encompass the entire mountain.
Looking at the two disciples, he watched them using Qi to levitate objects, before jumping on top of it, trying to fly away with it.
Already expecting the outcome, Alexander did not say anything.
Indeed, a few minutes later, he saw the duo fall almost simultaneously, crashing on the flat mountain peak head first.
Sigh~
"You guys... Aren't you getting ahead of yourselves? While it is smart and indeed a valid method of flight, you won't last long like this."
Sophia, hearing her master's voice for the first time in a long time, jumped from fright, before quickly tucking at the lying Krysfer, his butt exposed to the sky.
"No worry, no worry. You already know I don't care about such things. Now that you have reached the peak of the Profound Realm, you can start a breakthrough to the next major realm, the Earth Realm. I want you guys to reach the Star Realm in less than fifty years!" Waving his hand dismissively, he closed his eyes again, not forgetting to inform them of the process.
"Just circulate your Qi throughout your body, the goal is to absorb the Qi within your every cell! Do not spare any muscle, bone or even strand of hair! Once you reach the peak I will tell you about the next one."
Just as they were about to sit back down to cultivate once more, they heard his fading voice before silence fell.
"Don't rush it, it will take around ten years."
-----
Indeed, ten years later, he opened his eyes, already expecting the scene, not bothering to comment on his current altitude.
Looking around the deserted wasteland of devastated greenery, he spoke, his voice booming across the entire wasteland that used to host dense vegetation.
"Come back here! I already see you have reached the summit of the Earth Realm!"
Mere moments later, Krysfer and Sophia appeared in front of his seated figure, both covered with dirt and bruises.
"Alright, I won't comment about our mountain that you guys reduced to dust, so let's get straight to it, if you have any questions, ask away."
Hesitating for a bit, Sophia parted her rosy lips.
"Master, you didn't say anything about the Earth Realm except for what to do. So we were curious about it."
Nodding, he did not shy away.
"Simple, there are ten layers, divided into four stages, low, middle, upper and peak. All you did was simply do some very basic yet effective body tempering, cultivating your body this time."
"During the first stage, consisting of three layer, your body became strong enough to rival Spirit-Tier artifacts, and during the next three layers, it became equivalent to a Profound-Tier artifact."
"As for the last four layers, the first three were made to give you an Earth-Tier body, however you could probably tell back then that you weren't at the peak of the Earth-Tier compared to the previous six layers. Only achieving this result by stepping into the peak stage of the Earth Realm, providing you with a peak Earth-Tier body. The equivalent being an Earth-Tier artifact having reached the supreme grade."
"Now that I answered your question, it is time for you to continue your cultivation journey, I know it may be a bit boring but-"
Alexander could not even finish talking with his dead-pan voice when he was interrupted by the blinding determination of his disciples.
"Not at all master! This is so much fun! Feeling stronger for every moment we spend cultivating is simply exhilarating!!"
"That's right! Even if all we could do was cultivate for decades on end without moving, we would be more than willing!"
Looking at the two, he could only show a face filled to the brim with disbelief.
'Is it the birth of two cultivation junkies?!'
Thinking a bit more, he realized that this was actually a blessing. Not having to force them to cultivate would be beneficial, and in the case they hated it, he would only need to either manipulate their memories or go and look for other disciples.
"Good! Since you guys are having so much fun, I won't stop you! Let me straight up tell you what the next major realm is then. Let me warn you guys however, every single major realm before the Star Realm can be considered a kind initiation!"
Pausing to look at them, all he saw was a young man and a young woman trembling everywhere, drooling on the ground below, their eyes wide open, somehow not making a sound despite the shaking.
'Really...'
Taking a deep breath, Alexander did not let them wait.
"The next major realm is called the Sky Realm, it is consisted of, once again, ten layers divided in four stages, the exact same way the Earth Realm was. All you have to do is gather strength. Simply strengthen yourselves, be it the body or your meridians even. Just do that, and once you reach the tenth layer, you will have a nice surprise!"
Before closing his eyes, he added.
"By the way, reaching the peak of the Sky Realm will more than double your current strength, reaching almost 250.000 martial tons of force from your little 99.999 martial tons!"
-----
'They are so slow, I'll just speed up the time inside this world a bit.' Waving his hand filled to the brim with his comprehension of the Dao of Time, Alexander waited cross-legged for what seemed to him like a few moments, before opening his eyes.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
In front of him, a young man with dark blue hair was looking at him, his face barely a meter away from his. Frowning, Alexander looked back at him, scaring the poor man until he fell on his butt.
'Now that I think about it, they are quite young, he has barely started to get a beard! Is that why they were so bratty and proud back then? Because they became renowned at such a young age?'
Putting these thoughts at the back of his head, Alexander stood up for the first time in a very, very long time, observing the two that had reached the absolute summit of the Sky Realm.
Seeing them a bit more calm compared to their previous behavior, Alexander nodded in his heart.
'Indeed! They seem to get it, I guess reaching the Star Realm won't take too long. Let's just hope they can really make it before the fifty years deadline I gave back then.'
Snapping out of his daydream, he looked at the pair.
"Do you guys remember my words from last time? I said you would have a nice surprise, did you find what it was?" Expectantly observing the two, Alexander was soon satisfied to see that they, in fact, did.
"You mean this master? This was amazing the first time it happened!" Krysfer could not hide his joy. Looking at Sophia not so far away, smiling as well, doing the exact same thing.
Calmly looking at the two of them, currently kicking the ground from mid-air, keeping themselves afloat, Alexander smiled kindly.
"Great job! Indeed, at the peak of this realm, you gain the ability to step mid-air!"
'Even though it's a bit of an exaggeration, since it's just using the brute force of 249 999 martial tons to do so...'
Landing near him, they sat back down, waiting for Alexander to continue.
However, Alexander's expression suddenly turned stern.
Staring at the two in front, his robes fluttered in the wind under the blue and red sky filled with sparse clouds here and there, the majesty of this scene accentuated by the sunset to his left. He opened his mouth, his eyes glowing a bright white, intimidating the two.
"This will probably be your first hurdle!"
Looking at each other from the corner of their eyes they could not help thinking.
'Hurdle? While cultivation had never been difficult, it was never easy either!' Sophia lamented inside.
'What?! I already have a hard time from time to time, and this is going to be more difficult now?!' Krysfer dreaded in his heart, remembering his many failures during breakthroughs.
"The next major realm, the Heavenly Realm, consist of ten layers divided among four distinct stages."
His deep voice sounding in their ears, he did not stop even while noticing the duo taking notes at breakneck speed.
"While the last stage consist of only the tenth layer, the other three consist each of three layers, this is all just like the previous stages."
"The first stage is called the Cloud Chasing Stage, you must increase your proficiency with flight, to the best of your ability!"
"The second stage is the Boundary Shattering Stage, this is where it starts to get tricky, you must shatter the boundary of this world! And yes, this is exactly what you think, you must crush the sky into pieces!!"
Their backs drenched in sweat, the two gulped at this revelation.
"The third one is the Boundary Assimilation Stage, where you must assimilate the fragments of the boundary you shattered. The boundary will reform itself after some time, so don't worry about losing an opportunity. While this world is very small in size, you still have more than enough anyway."
"The last is probably the easiest of the four, the Heavenly Body Tempering Stage! This is exactly like the Earth Realm except that I would suggest refining the fragments of the sky to temper it, be careful however, as these are fragments coming directly from a world's boundary! If you get careless and do not refine them enough, you might become shackled to this world forever! You will know when it is refined properly, so be patient!"
Already guessing Krysfer's question before he had time to fully raise his hand, Alexander answered.
"You only get shackled if you refine the world's boundary inside your flesh, that's why it's fine for the Boundary Assimilation Stage."
Sitting cross legged, Alexander did not even bother closing his eyes, as he would not require much effort to accelerate time around him for just a few dozen years. Waving his hand, the Dao of Time inside his hand started churning madly.
And before long, Alexander saw his vision blur as time accelerated many times over.
Seconds later, Alexander stopped as he perceived, from the corner of his eyes, under the clear blue sky, Krysfer flying toward it in preparation for his future breakthrough!
Standing still high up into the sky, Krysfer tightened his fist, preparing his mind.
He had broken through the fifth layer of the Heavenly Realm, and, feeling confident, clenched his teeth before sending his Mountain Fist Art in front of him.
Immediately, a black crack could be seen forming in the middle of the clear sky, an orange shade appearing from the distant white star illuminating the world with unimpeded glory.
As the crack appeared, it did not seem to regenerate as Krysfer's Qi was still not cleansed. This forced the world to hurt itself trying to fight Krysfer's Qi, causing the giant, fifteen meters wide crack to spread everywhere until it reached more than double its original size!
In the end, under the powerful fist imbued by not only a powerful martial art, but also the cultivation base of Krysfer, his raw power reaching 310.000 martial tons, the World's Boundary shattered as far as the crack would go, causing pieces of the sky, that was currently blue and orange, to fall down to the ground below.
Not intending on missing this opportunity despite his exhaustion, Krysfer flew straight to the falling fragments, catching a few of them before examining them with great focus.
Accelerating time further, Alexander saw the both of them assimilate the fragments they had both gathered by this time before refining their bodies with them.
After waiting a few minutes more, Alexander finally dispersed his Dao of Time.
Resuming his habitual ritual of waiting for them to sit in front of him, he waited no more than mere instants, before he saw the two fly over.
Looking at their powerful cultivation, one step away from reaching the absolute summit of the Lower Realms, Alexander smiled before glaring at his disciples. The two of them had spent dozens of years cultivating, sparring, hunting and else.
Noticing the obvious dark blue beard hanging down Krysfer's face, he then locked on Sophia's growing curves.
'I was right, they were really young. Screw it, let's just check their Life Roots!'
Releasing his Divine Sense to encompass the patiently waiting duo sitting a few meters away from him, he did not restrain his Divine Sense, peering deep within the Universe's fabric, not a single dimension escaping from his powerful Divine Sense.
Looking right below their neck, invisible to even some powerful cultivators, three, shining stalks of green grass were floating peacefully. Looking at their glow, he judged their age.
'It's bright, considering their cultivation base... It's hard... I'll guess... twen...ty..? A thousand years! Wait... no, am I stupid, that makes no fucking sense! Screw this I'll just task them later...'
Leaving his daydreaming state, he focused.
"Since you two managed to reach it, let's talk about the highest cultivation level one can reach within these Lower Realms. The long awaited Star Realm!"
"Let me tell you this right now, at the peak of this major realm, you might even die! I wouldn't even be surprised to be honest, and I will not intervene to save you! This is your hurdle!"
The duo showing no fear, only recklessness, Alexander sighed.
"The Star Realm does not include layers or anything of the sort, it is just four very special stages, nothing more, nothing less. They are sort of guidelines even, not actual stages, so you either do it or die trying!"
"The first step is the Star Body, this is... you guessed it, body tempering! Yay~ fun! Alright, the second step is called 'World's Escapee', having shattered this world's boundary, leaving this world is not a problem, and by the time your body reaches the Star-Tier at the peak of the first step, you will be able to survive in space without too much trouble! And doing exactly that, leaving the world you currently are on, is the third step, the Star Soaring Stage!"
"As for the last..." Sternly looking at them, Alexander, in a deep voice, followed.
"...is where you might die..."
"This fourth and last step is called the 'Grand Boundary Tribulation'! This is the step almost nobody decides to make...
Being my disciples, I will have you guys go through it, and while it can be bypassed through countless ways, I won't let you skip it! This life-and-death challenge will come the moment I'll have you guys try and reach the Upper Realms. You must break the barrier separating the Lower Realms from the Upper Realms, just doing so is extremely difficult, but right after that, you will then be struck by this Grand Boundary Tribulation!"