'Are clones useful?' One might say.
'Are clones powerful?' Another might ask.
To both questions, Alexander would answer 'Yes.', yes they were.
The night sky void of twinkling stars, Alexander stared down at a few figures scattered beneath his own floating figure.
His white robes fluttering along the wind, he smiled.
'Only a year, and my clones have already captured so many...'
Many people were currently seated on their knees, looking at Alexander above them with both fear and awe.
This man used clones to capture them all. How many could do so in the Celestial Realm? Who even cultivated clones to begin with?
All of them were either artifact refiners, alchemist or even array masters. The latter being fewer, being either harder to find or not valued as much.
"Welcome, all of you, to my Devouring Sect! I am the Sect Founder, Alexander. From now on, all of you will work hard to bring prosperity to my Devouring Sect, no, our Devouring Sect!"
The words moving, his tone was not.
Shivering, some bowed their heads in terror.
"O-Of course! I will refine the best pills for the sect!"
Coldly staring at the man who just spoke, Alexander nodded.
"Good! Then you can all go, look for Elder Kui if you have any questions, just tell him that Alexander sent you." Dismissing them, he still showed them Elder Kui's face with some Celestial Qi.
Watching the worker ants disperse, Alexander's figure flickered, arriving back to his temple.
Sitting cross-legged, he secluded his mind from the world.
Many ideas and theories ran wild inside his mind. Without fault, he doted on all with care.
And as days flew by, he focused on the most important ones.
Higher Martial Dao.
Earth's problematic emergence in his mind.
Dragon Race.
'Earth... for now I'll have to make do with what I have...'
'The higher Martial Dao as well... I don't have... wait...'
Opening his eyes wide, Alexander's voice rang in the ears of all disciples, his booming voice the will of the world.
"Elder Kui, come meet me."
Hearing such a display of power and domination, nobody raised a fuss, even when Elder Kui ran away from his current responsibilities.
Who would want to incur the Sect Master's wrath?
It took less than a few minutes for Elder Kui to arrive, still dressed in grey.
"Enter." This single word seemed to have been forcefully birthed within his own mind, a truly shocking display of control.
"Excuse me!" Threading forward with large strides, Elder Kui soon arrived in front of the seated Alexander.
Cupping his fists respectfully, he bowed.
"Sect Master."
Waving his hand, Alexander disposed of his salutation.
"You said that the Dragon Race appeared? When and where."
Thinking he had done something wrong at first, Elder Kui sighed a breath of relief, but soon turned solemn.
"Sect Master, the Dragon Race will participate in this million years' Dragon Festival. We have yet to receive an invitation, so I'm afraid..."
"Doesn't matter, just tell me what you know about them. And don't forget to show me the way later."
"Does Sect Master want to join in on the Dragon Festival?" Probing, Elder Kui could simply not believe his ears.
Someone wanted to come uninvited to the Dragon Festival? Who else would dare to? The Dragon Race had always been hailed as the superior race and greatest fighting power of this world. Was his Sect Master so foolish or was his confidence deserved?
"Yes, by the way, when is it? It would shameful of me to go for nothing, wouldn't it?"
"Sect Master does not need to worry, the Dragon Festival will be held in 854 331 years!" Wanting to cry, be it blood or tears, none came out. Elder Kui cursed the world for holding the festival and himself for talking about it earlier.
"Alright, then go on, tell me."
Nodding, Elder Kui dared not complain.
"Sect Master, the Dragon Race is quite elusive, so I may disappoint, but I do know a thing or two." Since Elder Kui was a peak Immortal Sky Realm expert, this sort of information naturally flowed near him. So even if he did not actively yearn for it, the information would still gather to his ears at some point. And Alexander quickly understood his accumulation of information to still be somewhat bleak.
"The Dragon Race has existed since the dawn of time and no one knows where they live. Most adults are at the Greater Existence Realm while rumors indicate the strongest and most hidden Dragons to be above that level. The Dragon Festival is held to celebrate but also show face to the Dragon Race. And if one is lucky enough, they may be brought back to their nest to be cultivated. Since ancient times, some undefeated experts came from the Dragon Race's nest. Even if they were talents prior, it was still a shocking sight to see random cultivators turn into peerless masters."
Nodding, Alexander frowned.
'The Dragon Race in here is no pushover... Problematic! But I may still gather some stuff...'
"Elder Kui, how strong will the dragons be during this festival?"
Unsure why his Sect Master would ask this, Elder Kui did not pry further, cupping his fists like usual.
"Probably between the Immortal Sky Realm and Greater Existence Realm! But this Kui is only speculating."
His face dark, Alexander dismissed him.
'Not even a dragon beyond the Greater Existence Realm... your little arrogance will cost you dearly!'
Barely a moment later, Alexander's face turned bright.
'But why should I complain? Free resources for me!'
How could Alexander not expect a few Dragon Race members to be filthy rich? His first thought was to gather some free World Seeds!
A few days later, Alexander obtained the required information to find the Dragon Festival.
'Around a year of travel, I have plenty of time!' Laughing, Alexander gathered an idling clone.
On the arena upfront, both of them started to limit their strength to the same level.
Once done, they jumped at each other, battling.
Since his clone had his own soul and battle experience, their fight looked like someone going up against a reversed mirror of sorts.
This was exactly his plan. His battle experience was bountiful, but it could still be bettered. He had understood this during secluded meditation.
'Since the Multiverse appears to be related to the Dantian, this entire world might be inside someone's body. In this case, depending on the flow of time, some people might just have an even richer battle experience than me!'
If his conjecture was correct, Alexander would lose an important asset. His fighting experience was extremely rich and unparalleled by most. Only Overlords would come close. But if he lost it, his advantage would wither in seconds.
How could he be willing? Since this was a possible outcome, Alexander simply decided to fight against himself, the only one with proper battle experience, to better his own.
Even after reducing their power, the shockwaves of their battle shook the entire Devouring Sect. Many people were almost injured as this affected their secluded cultivation.
The fight lasted for half a year.
-----
After half a year passed, Livia showed up with steady steps. In the last decades, she had already broken through a minor realm, from the Immortal Sky Realm's second stage to the third.
"Sect Master, the Celestial Conference, gathering the whole Celestial Realm's forces, is to be held in less than a century!"
Currently discussing the Dao with both Maffrec and Yu Xian, Alexander raised his brow at this piece of unexpected information.
"And what the fuck is this supposed to be? Why should I bother with this?"
Slightly nervous, Livia forced herself to follow on her words.
"The Celestial Conference is forced upon everyone. If one does not attend, they will be labelled as hostile to the whole world!"
Slightly annoyed, Alexander waved his hand dismissingly.
"Not interested, just send a few disciples there. Surely they won't care, right?"
Clearing her throat, Livia held her reports tightly.
"They will, Sect Master... Even if they wouldn't, our sect would get bullied. After some consideration, I ended up with a proper plan of action."
"And what is it? If it's not to my liking, I won't help you."
Feeling his stern gaze, Livia readied herself.
"If we could go with a few Pure Grade disciples and the Sect Master himself..."
"Don't want-"
"With how peerless and amazing the Sect Master is, I believe that your presence would intimidate the whole world and increase the sect's reputation."
Pursing his lips, Alexander smiled.
'Nice choice of words.'
"It's true that my handsomeness is quite striking, but I might just send a clone. These people do not deserve my time. Actually..." Stroking his chin, Alexander had a few ideas.
'I could, for one, just not go and see what happens, or for a more violent approach... politely accept and then raise a fuss. Killing a few people would be dangerous, but injuring...' Stroking his beard with some haste, Alexander shook his head a few moments later.
'Unfortunately, I do not have the current prowess. Even if I can destroy anyone at the Greater Existence Realm below the third stage... the third stage itself is still beyond my means.'
The difference from a peak second stage expert like Alexander and a peak third stage one like Hophe Ghylar was somewhat difficult to accurately grasp. Alexander could not tell the exact difference, but he knew it to be greater than when he faced the two peak Immortal Sky Realm experts when only in the first stage's peak himself.
Back then, the difference on a one against one was two folds, but he knew the difference between him and Hophe to be slightly greater. He estimated it around three times. Of course it was only for raw ability. If Alexander was asked to fight against someone only based on martial arts and secret techniques, he was confident in defeating most, if not all.
Combined with the amount of experts attending this conference ended with a recipe for disaster brought upon him.
He had multiple choices.
He could attend it respectfully and, in the worst case where conflicts suddenly sparked, would be backed into a corner.
If he only wanted to send a clone, his lack of respect would be found out on the spot and he might just receive an even harsher punishment.
For the last option, it was to simply not even attend it. In this case, if Livia's information was legitimate, not only the Devouring Sect, but he as well would be implicated in internal strife and war.
In the cultivation world, face was hailed by many. Too many.
Slapping these powers he could not fully contend with, Alexander would be chased to the end of the realm by an army of experts.
This option was not truly viable. The cultivation world was extremely harsh and rewarded winners over losers.
A winner could decide the life and death of all beneath them with a single word.
Slapping such a being in the face was akin to challenging their authority. The only end was both parties unable to stand under the same sky. One party had to perish, or it would never end.
Aware of this on a personal level, Alexander quickly dismissed this option, left with only two viable ones.
To avoid dangers, Alexander chose the second one. If he was eloquent enough, which he was not, giving a few excuses would do the trick.
In the meantime, he still had over ninety years to train his disciples and maybe investigate the difference between a cultivator sent to experience many energies, no matter how trivial, and a cultivator fed with a magical spoon from birth.
'If I could find other ascended like me in this damn forsaken, barbaric world, maybe it would take less time!'
"Sect Master, you said that teaching me the Sword Dao was for today. So why not get down to it?" Yu Xian was clearly unafraid of acting wildly in front of Alexander, but some knew better than him.
Courage was a great trait to have, but too much of it gave birth to recklessness.
Noticing Alexander's twitching eye, Maffrec covered his face with his hand, unwilling to see the unfolding scenery.
"Bwoda Maffac, wa is se Sec Maste so violat toda?" Grimacing at Yu Xian's struggle and pig face, Maffrec ignored him, concentrating on Alexander's flowing words, enlightening him towards the higher worlds of comprehension.
'Maybe if you were back to your scholarly act, Sect Master wouldn't beat you up. Why would a crippled ant like you and me even dare to speak rudely like this? Brother Yu, it is your fault.' Sighing in his heart, Maffrec felt slight pity toward his good brother. His choice of actions and words had been a little off on this fine day. An unfortunately not rare enough sight these last few years.
Secretly handing over a healing pill he snuggled from the sect's new Pill Hall, Maffrec saw Yu Xian's grateful smile. It would have been a truly brotherly moment, if not for Yu Xian's current face, giving him a kind smile uglier than a monster's scrunched up face.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Raising his gaze for a mere moment, Alexander obviously noticed the little charade happening right in front of him, but did not act on it.
'Now that I think about it... I have yet to come across a supreme grade pill... Did I even gaze upon a spirit grade one even?'
Pondering a bit more, Alexander understood the crux of the matter.
Supreme grade pills required a powerful Dao comprehension. If an alchemist did not have any, or any such expert on stand-by near their work, the success rate of producing a supreme grade pill directly plummeted down to zero.
The opaque low grade, and semi-transparent middle grade, Alexander had seen plenty.
The blurry transparent high grade? Not so much, but he did find a few.
Though, the transparent spirit grade pill only ended in his pockets one or two times during his stay in this legendary Celestial Realm.
Logically speaking, one would state the obvious on how an even higher graded pill would be even rarer, therefore not strange to not come across any.
It was indeed true. But a spirit grade pill was intricately linked with the higher supreme grade.
A spirit grade pill gained a mind of its own. But a supreme grade one became a different space and time almost. The relation between them came down to content. A spirit grade pill was precious and indeed much better than a high grade one, but compared with the supreme grade and its potential, the difference became quite staggering.
A spirit grade one had gained sentience, and therefore, a supreme grade pill barely made would not have much more to offer than a spirit grade one. But after a few years, decades, centuries or even more, which the Celestial Realm clearly did not lack, it would further enhance itself.
More often than not, a personification of a Dao or multiple Daos would be birthed within a supreme grade pill. This sentient being, bearer of an expert's Dao comprehension, would show itself more than a fragment, more than just a pill.
The being inside, be it a Human, a Demon or anything one could imagine, would also gain the ability to not only cultivate their mind, but also their Dao.
A pill like this could even surpass the Dao comprehension's owner in this exact field! And consuming it would of course grant one these intricate mysteries.
Of course, a supreme grade pill coupled with not measly pill clouds or a pill aura but the unfathomable pill veins, would gain even more. It would be able to cultivate not only its mind and own Dao, but also its potency. Some legends in Alexander's Universe even depicted mythical pills such a these, both possessing the pill veins and supreme grade, having formed a body of their own and ruled worlds with an iron grip.
Even Alexander himself, back as an Overlord of his Universe, only ever came across one pill at the supreme grade with pill aura, not even pill veins!
There existed many, but not only did Alexander not pay much attention to this field, even the powers rivalling his own did not held many of them.
It was a matter of course that Alexander would have drooled over these pills if he had been weaker when first hearing about them. But by the time he acquired his first and only one with only pill aura, his Daos were already peaking within the Universe's boundary.
This begged the question of how terrible could the Celestial Realm's Daos be? Even Yu Xian and Maffrec, having barely grasped the foundation of their favorite Dao, were already superior to anyone Alexander had met in this regard.
It was complete degeneracy!
The Daos should come to present themselves in a cultivator's path. At least, Alexander and many others believed so. But the legendary Celestial Realm, which so many admired from the depths of their heart, came down to being the exception proving them wrong, in a very, very bad way.
Alexander was actually slightly disappointed with this higher plane!
The cultivation environment was incredible, but only for Celestial Qi. This was one of multiple reasons Alexander had for his current situation. His experiments in this Devouring Sect were for him to understand the need of lower energies, if they even had any.
Using his Universe's path, which was supposedly worse, to compare with the Celestial Realm's path. The end result gnawed at his restless curiosity, clawing at his head to be set free and do whatever it wanted.
But this chained belief was a mistake. Even if Alexander forcefully increased their cultivation, it would yield mediocre results.
He had already tried it. The difference between a forcefully promoted cultivator and one that had earned every step they took on the Martial Dao was simply unconquerable. One had full control over their own skills and cultivation while another did not even know how to walk without flying into a wall. What was there to compare?
It would not even be fair!
So what if he increased their cultivation? He would only waste his time and Human resources. It was much better to spend a few millions of years at worst to comprehend this mystery.
"...and so this lesson comes to an end. I will let you both ponder over the Daos for a decade, after which, I hope to see some consequent progress." Dismissing the two disciples, Alexander did not truly expect anything much in a single decade. Cultivation was arduous and complicated. Even if these two had been powerful experts in the near past, Alexander's Universe did not hold an easy path to follow either.
Yawning at the tiredness and relaxation he felt under the gentle yet scorching sunlight, purifying his skin, Alexander noticed a young figure to his left.
"Livia, why are you still there? Just hand me over the details about the conference and I'll take care of it." Dismissing her as well, Alexander waited for her to leave his platform before laying down on the hot stone tiles.
His peaceful body on its back, like a star, Alexander watched the blue sky.
This gentle state of mind was rare to obtain after entering the path of Immortal cultivation.
Even if Alexander could be said to have acted with only extremes at his disposal, from killing and plundering to an almost forced cultivation speed, his decisions were always within reason.
A Celestial Human's decisions might be kind and of focus to the greater good. Alexander was also a Celestial Human, but compared with the ones of this realm, he first started as a random Human. Then, after passing through many cultivation levels, hardships and setbacks, he had evolved again and again, attaining not only the status, but body and mind of an Immortal Human.
A being devoid of shackles such as morality or compassion. Many emotions, many instincts and many consequences were enforcing certain paths to be followed.
These paths were not natural, but unfortunate circumstances of previous paths' chosen ones. The rulers of the world in the present dictated the rules and morals of both the present and future, while ignoring the ones from the past.
Alexander could be said to be quite lucky from time to time. He did not receive everything for free, and even spent over fifty million years to cultivate up to this point. He had his moments, and sometimes did not.
Alexander estimated the moments he lucked out to be quite few. He had seen and heard of people worst than him with much greater luck. He had seen and heard of people better than him with worse luck.
And of course, he had seen people receiving similar treatments from lady luck.
The luckiest moment he ever had was probably a close tie between two events.
The first event would be his very first ascension, when Earth's Universe left him to live away from its restrictions.
The second event was about his most recent ascension. Being a chosen one from the two only available spots came down to luck. Many before him had attained a peak eleventh layer Ascension Realm cultivation base, ruling over the entire Universe near unmatched. Yet, how many of them actually made it where he currently stood? According to his own understanding and experience in this realm, the number was from somewhat low to a complete and perfectly round zero.
Nothing he came across came off as particularly eye catching. He did not even find a single system! Not a single Sealed World! Not even a single supreme grade pill!
Yet, how many Universes were there? From what Alexander remembered, around a trillion.
A trillion Universes, but he stood there all alone.
Everything about the world, the Multiverse or anything of the sort came out as strange.
Why were Demons and Humans the only ones he ever heard to be protected by the Heavenly Way? Why was the Celestial Realm basically only savage beasts, monsters and Humans? Why was he so lonely?
What laid beyond the Multiverse?
Many questions plagued his mind, but not many could be answered.
The first and last were a dud, no matter how much Alexander thought about it. The second as well, but it could be attributed to things he had yet to hear confirmations about.
The third did not matter. As a cultivator not only yearning for the Martial Dao's end but also its limits, craving to surpass it, Alexander had no time to deal with others. Most friends he made during his cultivation journey were either lucky coincidences or already forgotten.
Romantic encounter? A brotherly or sisterly bond tightened by blood and wine? Maybe a pet or a companion?
None of them could be achieved. Alexander focused on efficiency more so than health. His obsession over a higher Martial Dao had already corrupted his mind. Fortunately, his humanity was not in the way, no...
It became a tool!
His forever perfecting humanity, constantly evolving towards the origin of all of its history and existence gifted him unparalleled potential.
A being who had already forgotten the meaning of happiness, sorrow or even other's deaths.
Lives were nothing, but his own death was his greatest enemy.
A simple man, with nothing more than mortality to his belt, was given a chance like no other.
The feeling of loss, the feeling of unlimited potential... His drive came not only from his mind, but from his very existence. Blinded by promises of power and control, of happiness and fulfilment.
Driven by the madness of his ancestors.
Birthed from the greatest and most tragic race to ever exist in the entire realms.
Alexander was, like all of his predecessors, destined to face the Creators in duality.
Humans were born to thrive past their creators, crushing their existence beneath their feet, yet, were also born to submit to them and entertain them till death.
Alexander only followed the footsteps clearly imprinted on the ground right in front of his very eyes.
To face the Creators of all and either surpass them, or submit.
"The choice is still mine. And I, Alexander, will never submit down to my mind! My flesh may be chained, my soul enslaved, but my mind will always prevail! If death attempts to take me away, all that I can do is free myself from its claws, and if I cannot... I can only die trying!"
Lucidity coming back, Alexander enjoyed the clear sky for days. He appreciated it for years.
"Brother Yu, have you heard that the Sect Master didn't move for the last decade or so? Some people tried to help him in worry, but none could figure out what was happening."
"Brother Maffrec is truly blind today! So what if the Sect Master stay without moving a hair for a decade? Some people I swear... Are you saying that you never did? Are you going to try and help me during my next seclusion?"
His laugh dry, Maffrec scratched the back of his head.
"Haha... you got me... But still, cultivating is one thing, but watching the boring, unchanging sky for a decade... Did the Sect Master even do anything?"
"Why are you complaining? It has nothing to do with us!"
'Everyone's path on the Martial Dao differs at some point.'
"You two, how far have you crawled up to?"
The first thing they heard from their sect's master was a rather painful question. The tone was friendly but somewhat ridiculing. Clearly, their slowing progress was nothing more than expected by him.
"Brother Maffrec and I... are not feeling too well..." Obviously faking his green face and withered aura, even 'secretly' hitting Maffrec with his elbow, Yu Xian did not have enough time to slip away when a invisible hand grasped at his clothes, pulling him.
After reprimanding Yu Xian for a bit, Alexander heard their answers.
"Sect Master, I have broken through the Grand Harmonization Realm's upper stage... But this Martial Dao Tribulation scares me a little bit."
Sending a look of pity at his friend, Maffrec followed.
"Sect Master, I have made it to the Ethereal Spirit Realm's peak."
Freezing in place, Alexander had a look of incredulity plastered all over his face, a rare sight.
"You surpassed him?" Sending his Divine Sense to verify his claim, he could not refute it. Just his state of mind alone was indeed worthy of the Ethereal Spirit Realm's standard.
"Sect Master, after catching up to him, I managed to surpass him because of my firmer Martial Dao and Martial Heart. Brother Yu is..."
"Prideful. He is a hot head who only wants to gains power even when being fueled with recklessness. A youth with such a temperament is prone to frail mental foundations when facing a crisis such as disability. Having accepted to be crippled, Yu Xian, you didn't take into consideration your own self!"
Yu Xian was kind and scholarly, a respected person within not only the sect, but the whole region. He was rumored to be a reincarnated sage. A rumor soon believed by any who came across his path.
But something only certain powers knew was of his real face.
Alexander and any other at the Greater Existence Realm had seen his true visage. His carefree and calm attitude was only covering his wild and unrestrained temperament.
If someone told him to swim in a sea of fire because a peerless cultivation art might be beyond it, he would. He would without a hint of hesitation.
Compared with Maffrec who did not accept Alexander's proposal without some barebone thoughts, Yu Xian was different. He was willing to get crippled just because of Alexander promising his teachings.
The result was as seen. Someone so wild, so young and so formerly powerful, his body covered in pride, was crippled.
Since the process was agreed upon, it was not the reason he currently struggled.
The problem came from what it meant to be crippled.
A cripple was a useless rat without even the ability to live without help. This was a cripple's status within the cold and harsh cultivation world.
Not only so, but being crippled from a Qi Refining Realm cultivation base and an Immortal Sky Realm one was quite different. One had lost some power while another went from becoming the very sky itself to being unable to open a little door.
This damaged his pride and confidence greatly, a true tribulation of the mind and Martial Heart.
This damage reflected itself to even his Martial Dao!
The Grand Harmonization Realm's last two stages were a tribulation of the Martial Dao then Martial Heart. Maffrec had no issues there, completely confident in himself and his decisions along the way. His Martial Dao was immaculate!
But for Yu Xian, his recklessness costed him his own reasoning. Rash decisions meant regretted outcomes.
If Yu Xian ever realized that he had jumped inside a sea of fire...
...it would already be too late.
"The pill hall probably doesn't have much for you, but I do!"
Searching in his internal world for old space rings he had gathered over the many generations, Alexander opted for a specific one.
Inside this space ring were, like many others nearby, filled with pills. Many had even reached the supreme grade among them. Of course, they were only at the supreme grade and possessed no other characteristics.
Finding a suitable one, Alexander felt something land in his hand.
It was a black and opaque bottle. Removing the cap, he took out a black pill.
The pill was dark yet as clear as perfect glass, completely transparent. But the most unbelieving part was the inside. It was not empty, it had things moving in it!
A white figure, like a being birthed from divine light itself, was cross-legged in the middle of a thorny plain.
The grass was black, the thorns as well, even the surroundings were black. The only thing different was the being.
The figure was calm and barely moved, breathing in the dark mist while its body was being savagely attacked by black thorns.
The being's entire world was a menace. This place was pure Hell.
Yet...
No matter what was brought upon the figure, it stood almost motionless while facing the storm.
It breathed in the deadly mist and ignored the deadly whips.
Its entire world was a lie and it was aware of it.
Presenting the pill with leisure, Alexander ordered Yu Xian to swallow it.
"This is a supreme grade Demon Vanquishing Pill. It was made using multiple Daos, from the Dao of Death, to even the Dao of Peace. I have no actual knowledge of alchemy, so I cannot say much about it."
"S-S-Sup-p-preme... supreme grade pill?!" Almost chocking on his saliva, Yu Xian fell backwards, but even with his face facing the sky, his gaze was locked onto the pill.
"Yes, it will help you with your Heart Demons and such stuff. Basically, it will grant you a peaceful state of mind. It's kind of cheating but whatever, I'm not going to wait for millions of years just so you can understand your wrongs. Take it and learn from it."
Carefully watching Yu Xian consume the pill, Alexander said.
"Be grateful it was a supreme grade one, for else your problems would have persisted at some point. Even a spirit grade pill wouldn't completely cure you, but a supreme grade one..."
In the case of pills below the spirit grade, something as complicated as Heart Demons and the like would be near impossible to cure. The symptoms could be suspended, but not indefinitely.
On the other hand, a spirit grade pill had sentience and could communicate its understanding to the consumer. This gave it a much higher potency, especially in this domain.
But the best would always be a supreme grade one. It would not showcase its understanding or reasoning.
It would directly influence the subject! The life experiences and tenacity of the figure within the black pill would be perfectly transferred over to Yu Xian. This would gift him the state of mind of the figure, enduring the chaos within death like nothing.
It was of course still possible to deny it, but not only did it require some profound spirituality, it also demanded a certain cultivation.
If it was not so, enslaving pills or pills made to cause one's lucidity to fail would never work. A pill made to cause a berserk state would be pointless.
The general rule of thumb was to always seek a higher cultivation when facing future unknown dangers.
Someone wanted to forcefully feed you a pill capable of destroying your consciousness? The simple solution was to be too strong for it to work or even happen.
Cultivation was everything.
As years passed, the conference was getting close, and finally, ninety-one years after receiving the information...
The sky still flawless, its luminosity was wavering. The sky now dark, a few mountains were erected by a small sea. The sea was not that vast, but still attracting the eyes of experts.
A beach of pale sand hugged the sea and melted against the back of cultivators.
This day, the beach was not as crowded, but still held a significant amount of wanderers, here to enjoy the blissful moments.
The wind was howling and the formerly clear water was both cold and opaque.
The sky was closing in on the night, its sky still holding onto the blue it once had.
The mountains nearby were not unknown. Many knew of their purpose and so did the currently swimming experts.
These mountains hosted the Celestial Conference every so often. As within these rocky terrains, a hall was dug. Its white and engraved filled doors closed, only the hall's owners could pry it open.
A set of white stairs was leading the way from the mountains' base. The stairs could accommodate a few people side by side and extended for a few hundreds of meters.
In between the stairs and the closed doors, a platform, white as well. It was clearly meant for visitors to patiently wait, but the usually empty space was now filled with incessant chatter.
It now hosted dozens of masters at the Greater Existence Realm, while the other tens of thousands of masters and experts alike awaited down below, at the foot of the mountain.
Amongst these dozens of masters, Alexander was there. His clone was not in the Immortal Sky Realm this time, it was a first stage Greater Existence Realm master.
Not many people were on the platform and almost all were known figures of the realm. The onlookers from both the mountain's foot and the beach glanced with awe at these figures.
Alexander on the other hand, was not recognized. The same could be said for some others. Two were even covering their faces and other masters were clearly wary of them.
The white doors were facing an old man with dark hair. He wore white robes falling to his ankles and looked like a priest.
In his wrinkly ashen hands, a golden key.
This puzzled Alexander a little, seeing how the shape of a key was used for this artifact, which clearly did not serve as a regular key would.
Already expecting the following scene, Alexander did not bat an eye when the golden key shone a golden light while the white doors did the same.
After the golden glow receded, the doors' golden glow turned white. And after it attained its peak brightness, the doors slowly opened, revealing the ashen white insides.
Lacking a light source, the giant round hall looked grey. The gloomy sky did not alter it in any way.
The center was a flat round platform a few steps below while all around it from front left and right, pillars were erected with a certain slope.
This made the center platform be looked down upon by the ones above, on the top thrones.
With haste, the old man who led the way and opened the door flew above, to the highest throne present. His gaze loomed over the world and following his footsteps, a few old and middle aged men and women did the same, seating nearby.
Once the thrones were occupied, the rest was forced to stay in the middle platform, looked down upon by all.
As for Alexander, he had already taken a seat on a throne to the right, its altitude neither low nor high.
Some early second stage Greater Existence Realm masters grumbled in annoyance, but seeing the leading old man's stare, their neck shrunk without objection.
After the hall was full, with tens of thousands of experts crowded on the middle platform, the leading old man flung his white robes.
"Shall the Celestial Conference start!"