Having had enough, Alexander decided to leave the city, intending to take a look at the four clans made around his Ethereal-Tier artifacts.
'I'll start with the mountain.' Flying at extreme speed, Alexander still took a few minutes to reach the 150 000 kilometers tall mountain.
Looking below, he saw the ring of white, divine pure star lava, melting any intruder.
'They didn't even make it past the divine pure star lava... how long will it take them to reach the mountain peak, especially with all the true divine gravitational ore on the way...' Shaking his head, he moved his gaze to structures below, organized like a sect, in a square shape. Many houses, halls and such varied structures were neatly positioned.
'That's the Divine Fire Clan? I think one of them is a Sky Realm cultivator...' Pondering on what to do, Alexander had a bright idea.
'I'll test all four Sky Realm cultivators of the four clans by seeing how much they progressed!'
Flying to the ring of white lava, he teleported an old man, his hair pale red, to him. Before simply throwing him into the ring of white lava.
"AAAHHHH!!!"
Sizzling sounds reverberating along the old man's cries for help, it only took a moment for the sounds to disappear into a dead silence.
'He melted into nothingness a few hundred meters away... I'm disappointed... For the strongest of this Divine Fire Clan... the name is misleading.'
Flying away, Alexander reached one of the two closest to him. Watching the statue of a gigantic beast into the distance, he looked down. Once again taking in the view of neatly arranged structures.
'The Divine Beast Clan now...' Teleporting their Sky Realm cultivator, he threw the old woman to the beast statue.
With a valiant roar, the life-like puppet of a beast immediately jumped at the old woman, shredding her body using its sharp fangs and claws, followed by eating her until nothing was left.
'She didn't even try to tame it!' With a wry smile, he then went to the abyss.
'Alright, the Divine Void Clan, if their Sky Realm cultivator can't reach the bottom without dying...' Hoping to have at least one cultivator able to adorn their clan's name, he teleported a middle aged man with long curly black hair to him. Not letting the man say anything, Alexander threw him into the abyss.
The obvious outcome was the true divine gravitational ore accelerating his fall, turning his body into a piece of flat meat paste at the bottom of the abyss.
'Well... technically he reached the bottom! I count that as a win!' Smiling with pride in his test subjects, he flew to the last clan.
Teleporting a burly, bald old man, he proceeded to send the old man flying to the giant puppet statue, which did not stay still. Splitting the old man in half a mere instant later, the puppet showed no mercy.
'That Divine Battle Clan is no good either...'
'I don't know what to do now...'
Alexander did not intend to return to the immortal city, this caused him to be lost for a moment, having nothing he wanted to do already planned.
'I'll go to the middle layer first.' Flying high into the sky, Alexander took a few minutes to reach the top, brown rocks now everywhere in sight.
'Now, how does this work? Do I break it or go through it...' Even if he was not the creator, being a cultivator above the Golden Core Realm meant that the system should work just as the barrier separating planes did outside of his world.
Getting closer, he extended his arm inside the brown rocks.
'So that's really just like the barrier...'
Seeing his hand go through without obstruction confirmed one of his theories.
Not waiting any longer, he flew higher, ignoring the rocks, finding himself traveling for a few seconds at maximum speed before reaching the other side.
Observing the surroundings, he saw the golden hue of the glistening sky, the tall grass flowing as if a green ocean.
Taking notice of a the flat surface, he thought that it lacked prestige and majesty. Waving his hand upward a few times, grey mountains grew out of the soil, islands of stone surrounding the green sea. Rivers of green giving way to the grassy ocean now hidden behind.
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Illuminating his figure, the sunless golden sky sparkled the earth, turning the green into gold, the grey into flowers, bathing them with immortality. His Dao of Time flickering freely, as if sparks of history, caused the heavy mountains to be decorated by trees and flowers, colors mixing and clashing, fighting to be seen.
'That's better, the world must be shaped by them, however, some things need a helping hand! After all, won't they be sad, not being welcomed?'
His figure blurring, his mind lucid, Alexander materialized facing a white pedestal.
His Dao of Time wavering, it flew to the pedestal, feeding it with pure control and mystery.
'Let's accelerate the flow of time a bit...' His fingers hazy, his touch unrestrained, the system was ordered to do his bidding, the orchestra of commands its master.
Time freely passing, unhindered, Alexander opened his eyes, silver flashing brightly.
Searching a bit, he soon found his tool.
'They should put the world's clock at a more obvious spot.'
Reading the information before him, he smiled.
'It got around two millions years older, but since it took so long, it's no wonder.'
Alexander's figure blurring once more, his shape formed under the golden sky.
His gaze was stuck below, witnessing the life of immortal cultivators.
'Around a fifth above the Golden Core Realm... While energies are better here, this major realm simply cannot be attained with talent alone, time is of the essence as well!'
Having reproduced within the middle layer, the newborns could not cheat, yet.
'Though, they are still better off by quite the margin.'
His 1.8 meters tall body unchanging, he appeared below, among the running children and the sickly stoic elderly.
Standing between the past and the future, fates took forms all around.
'Most young people are around the Divine Realm, probably because of the lack of time. They probably can't figure out how to advance faster, though even with that, these young people would only be around the True God Realm.'
His eyes drifting around, reflecting the world, he released his Divine Sense like tidal waves, gently encompassing the surroundings, his Divine Sense's power and control contradicting themselves.
Feeling the surging eruptions of Qi, True Qi and Emperor Qi, he obtained his answer.
'The strongest is at the low stage of the Grand Harmonization Realm, but saying he is unique is quite the understatement, the second strongest is at the Star Understanding stage of the God Realm...'
'The Heavens did a good job however, even though he is inside my world, that Grand Harmonization Realm cultivator is actually able to cultivate normally, even though it is required to have a galaxy nearby. This means that my world either has a connection with the galaxy it is in, or the world itself is considered a galaxy.'
'The only problem would be his Divine Sense. At this stage, it should be able to escape this world easily, giving him insights on his current situation.'
Aware of what he wanted to do, Alexander teleported to his target, an old man, his eyes deep yet empty, his white beard flowing along the wind, seated cross-legged on a stone pillar, as if piercing the sky.
Reacting to the torrent of spatial fluctuations behind him, he narrowed his eyes, releasing his powerful Divine Sense, soon enveloping Alexander's calm figure.
Feeling the quality and strength of the old man's Divine Sense, Alexander was, in the end, still unsure.
'His Divine Sense is normal, nothing wrong with it compared to others within the same major realm of cultivation. But it still doesn't answer my question... can his Divine Sense leave this place or not?'
Not letting the profound old man react, Alexander opened his mouth first.
"I only have a single question, can your Divine Sense escape this world's boundaries?"
Trembling, as if his body was made of leaves in the harsh wind of spring, he slowly stood up. His entire being turning around, his eyes took in the young man's figure facing him.
Questioning himself, trying to remember the floating young man staring at him with majesty, he could only give up a few moments later.
"Friend, who might you be? To get so close to this old man without notice, this old man is impressed!" Cupping his fists amicably, he stood his ground without fear.
Still observing the old man's abyssal eyes, Alexander sighed slightly.
"I asked you a question, how about you answer it first?"
Frowning, the old man was starting to feel annoyed deep within his aged yet sturdy heart.
'You sneak behind me, ask a question in a domineering tone, then won't even introduce yourself, are you a tyrant?'
While the old man was feeling wronged, he dared not start a fight with Alexander without probing him.
"If you are talking about what is beyond the sky, then no, I don't know... Do you?" Without hopes of a coherent answer if one at all, he prepared himself to sit back down.
"Of course I do." Smiling, Alexander had finally obtained the piece of information he desired.
The old man on the other hand, was shaken down to the core. His brows twitching, his heart was beating with the vitality it had many years ago.
"You know?! Tell me! I want to know!" While old, the man was also a cultivator, he too, yearned for a higher Martial Dao.
"Introduce yourself, then I'll give you directions, if you..."
Taking out a piece of blue jade, Alexander infused Qi inside, making it glow a beautiful blue, fireflies of an even brighter blue dancing around.
"...give me this the next time we meet, I will reward you with opportunities."
Tossing the marvelous token to the old man, who caught it with shaking hands, the token feeling as if giant mountains within his palms, Alexander waited for the old man to introduce himself.
"I-I am Gu Yang, this old man is not affiliated with any forces, a lone cultivator."
Nodding at the stuttering old man, Alexander did not hold back his advice.
"If you reach the Ethereal Spirit Realm and gather all four artifacts I left in the bottom layer, then use the token. I will then give you a suitable cultivation technique, and if you reach the Primordial Spirit Realm, I will do the same. As for the opportunity I mentioned, the Perfected Divine Dao Union Realm is not enough, you will need to ascend and reach the upper layer of this world, which requires a True Star Realm cultivation base."
Fading away, Alexander's hints disappeared alongside him, giving way to the silence of the world.
The old man just stood still, an unmoving pillar above the drifting clouds, chaotic winds guiding them.
As the golden sky receded, so did the old man seating once again, using the pink, moonless night sky to temper himself.