Jack looked at Raelag with a shocked face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he calmed himself down. When he opened his eyes again, there was no turmoil in them any more. Jack asked in a clear voice, “Those Demon’s I could summon before were your Troops?”

Raelag was a bit taken a back from the sudden change of personality but he just smiled and then nodded his head as he said, “They were part of my most loyal troops that willingly infused their body and Soul into the Mask. I came from a Cosmos where Immortals did not exist at after all.” Hearing this, Jack’s eyes opened wide as he asked in astonishment, “There are other Cosmoses out there?”

Raelag nodded his head again and swept out his hand. After that, a chair materialized next to Jack and Raelag pointed at it, “Take a seat, this will take long time to explain.” Hearing Raelag say that, Jack looked at the chair before decisively taking a seat and waiting for Raelag’s explanation. Seeing Jack take a seat, Raelag started his explanation, “Our entire Plane is a multilayered one. For example, a Cosmos is compromised of countless Lower Realms, Upper Realms and the Ascended Realm.”

He took a breath as a simple diagram of 6 little globes appeared. On the most bottom line were the three “Lower Realms”, then came two “Upper Realms” and then one globe of light stood at the top as the “Ascended Realm”. Seeing Jack seriously listening to him, Raelag continued, “The Cosmoses are divided the same, Lower Cosmoses, Upper Cosmoses and the Heaven Cosmoses.”

After saying that, a translucent ball of light enveloped the “Cosmos”. Then it multiplied to make the same kind of a module as before. The only difference was that inside each of the translucent orbs were six white orbs building a pyramid.

Raelag then said, “However, the Rankings of Cosmoses aren’t fixed like a Realms are. When a Cosmos produces someone that surpasses the Origin Realm and enters the Dao Seeking Realm, the Cosmos is classified as an Upper Cosmos.” Jack nodded his head indicating that he understood this far. Seeing that Raelag didn’t dwell on it for long and continued with his explanation, “The differences in strength between Cosmoses are all very vast. Some Cosmoses have over a million Origin Realm practitioners but not a single Dao Seeking Realm one. Some Cosmoses have only about a hundred Origin Realm practitioners but they have produced a Dao Seeking practitioner as well. You should know very well that unless the person is a peerless genius, there is no way someone under a Third Tribulation can fight an Origin Realm practitioner.”

Raelag then thought of something and just sighed, “Well, that is usually the case but still cultivation paths play a huge difference in strength. A Cultivator that has thoroughly tempered himself in both body and Soul is far stronger than someone that used external help to reach where he did. There kinds of nuances play a big role as well.” Raelag the cleared out one point, “The people that rely on external help too much will only be able to reach the Origin Realm. They will never be able to reach the Dao Seeking Realm. No one knows why but no one that has relied on a Clan’s or Sect’s help has ever reached higher than Origin Realm.”

Jack nodded his head as he understood the deeper meaning behind this, one had to fight against the Heavens themselves, not rely on “shields”. The smoother one’s road is in the beginning, the harder it is to advance in the later stages of cultivation. That is also why Dragon Cross has a strict contribution point system. It is to prevent those with a higher position paving a smooth way for their descendants. If they suffered no hardships or never worked for anything, how can they progress in cultivation? Cultivation required hard work.

Raelag then continued, “The Heaven Cosmoses are actually the most interesting ones. Only Cosmoses that are ruled by a Heaven Realm cultivator are classified as Heaven Cosmoses.” Hearing the subtle difference, Jack immediately asked, “Ruled?”

Raelag nodded his head and said, “Every Heaven Cosmos must be unified under single rule. Whether it be a Clan or a Sect, if they have a Heaven Realm practitioner to be promoted to a Heaven Cosmos they must unify their Cosmos under their own rule.” Jack immediately asked, “Why is that?” Raelag explained patiently, “Each of the Heaven Realm practitioners have surpassed the limitations of Heavens Rules. If they can’t even unify a single Cosmos under their rule, how can they get the benefits of a Heaven Cosmos?”

Jack asked in surprise, “There are benefits?” Raelag let out a chuckle as he said, “Hehe yes. You see, every Cosmos may have different Heavenly Rules but they all follow the Dictate of Heavens. The Dictate of Heavens is what rules over all the Cosmoses with an iron clad fist. Even Heaven Realm practitioners can’t escape the Dictate.” Jack nodded his head slowly, although he didn’t understand it completely, he could understand the general theory behind it.

Raelag saw that he had gone too in detail and it was a bit hard for Jack to fully understand everything, so he decided to change the subject, “I came from the Ashan Cosmos. In that Cosmos, there were no cultivators. Cultivation is strictly forbidden by the Heavens, so no Qi exists there but in return, we had something called Mana.”

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Raelag took a deep breath before he continued, “Only those that could understand the Essence of Mana could escape the limitations of mortality and reach a similar level as cultivators. I managed to fully comprehend the Essence of Mana and using that understanding, I created the Mask. I already explained what the Troops were, my most loyal subordinates that willingly fused their body and Soul into the mask to forever become my fighting force. After creating the Mask, I started roaming around the Cosmoses, I made a lot of friends but at the same time, I made a lot of enemies as well.”

The old man then lowered his head as he slowly shook it and said, “In the end, even I wasn’t able to escape death and so that my Legacy along with my Troops won’t fade away, I created this Memory Fragment to choose a suitable Heir for myself and pass onto him all of Arts, Spells, Troops and of course possessions.”

Hearing this Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. For the old man to know this much of other lay out of the Plane, it showed that he had possessed extraordinary strength. For someone like that to be killed, what kind of a person could accomplish that? Seeing Jack’s wondering face, Raelag chuckled again, “In my prime I was at the peak of Dao Seeking Realm.” Raelag then looked up and said in a melancholic voice, “I was only a breath away from reaching the Heaven Realm.” After saying that, silence ensued.

Finally, Jack decided to break the silence by asking, “You said that there were benefits for higher Cosmoses?” Raelag looked at Jack and then said in an amused tone, “Yes there are but currently for you, it is too far away. When the time comes, you will naturally be able to learn of the benefits.” Jack opened his mouth to say something but Raelag didn’t let him ask but instead quickly added, “Your own Sect Leader is a Peak Dao Seeking Realm practitioner. Only one of the 5 Dao Seeking practitioners of this Cosmos. What is most interesting is that the other four Dao Seeking practitioners are by no means weaker than him in combat or age but they willingly follow him.” After saying that, Raelag shut his mouth. Jack’s mouth however was agape.

He had met the Sect Leader before but he could never have thought that he was someone that surpassed the Origin Realm. Also, there were 4 other people that had surpassed the Origin Realm and they all willingly followed him. As Jack thought this far, he suddenly had a thought. His face changed and as an answer to his guesses Raelag nodded his head and said, “It seems that you have figured out the other four Dao Seeking practitioners. They are the Four Hall Ancestors.”

Now Jack truly felt his mind numb from the realization. This actually meant that Dragon Cross was qualified to actually try and unify the Cosmos. He knew how big of a perfectionist the Sect Leader was so there was no way of thinking that Dragon Cross laced any sort of qualification to do so. Even now, many Sect’s and Clans slowly expand and fight each other with the sole purpose of unifying the Cosmos but there seemed to be some kind of a reason for the Sect Leader not to unify it.

With five Dao Seeking Experts in Dragon Cross, who actually possessed the qualifications to stand in Dragon Cross’s way? However, these questions stayed in Jack’s head as he understood one point very well from his personal experiences: There is a reason for everything. Jack sighed as he asked, “This is all well and good but where do I come in all of this? The supposed “Heir”?”

Raelag nodded his head as he said, “Yes, you are the person qualified to receive my Legacy.” Jack had seen this coming but hearing it said to him so bluntly, he still sucked in a deep breath. Raelag then explained further, “Over the years, countless people have possessed the Mask and tried to unlock it’s secrets but they did not meet the qualifications to do so.”

Jack perked his ears as he asked, “What are the qualifications?” Raelag let out a chuckle as he looked to the end of the Hall of Troops and said, “I have said it before that the Troops willingly surrendered their body and Soul to the Mask. That means that they still hold their own “sentience”.” Hearing this, Jack had a guess as he immediately asked, “So the qualification is to earn the approval of the Demons and those pointy eared people?” Raelag nodded his head as he said, “Yes, you have to be deemed worthy by the Demons and Dark Elves. To earn a Demon’s approval is easy, you just need to be ruthless. However, to earn the Dark Elves approval is many times harder.”

As Raelag shook his head he explained, “Once a cultivator earned the approval of Demons and he showed his might in a myriad of Cosmoses and earned the title of “Abyssal Demon Emperor”. However, until the end, he did not earn the approval of Dark Elves, so he could never accept my Legacy.”

Hearing this Jack suddenly had a thought as he asked, “Was the Abyssal Demon Emperor really well known?” Raelag nodded his head and said, “He wrecked havoc in hundreds of different Cosmoses so his infamy was well known.” Jack pressed on even more and asked, “Did you have something to do with the Blood Immortal?” Raelag immediately understood what Jack meant and said cheekily, “Well, I just had one of my strongest Devils just give him a little scare, that is all.” Everything fell into place for Jack.

So it had been Raelag that had prevented the Blood Immortal from searching his memories. Seeing the Devil inside Jack, had reminded Blood Immortal of Abyssal Demon Emperor. That also explained why the Blood Immortal suddenly had such a reversal of personality every time Jack touched the Mask. He was afraid that Jack would go a rampage like the Abyssal Demon Emperor had back when he was alive.

Jack let out a hollow laugh as he stood up and cupped his hands towards the old man, “I, Fang Jack thank you for your assistance. If you hadn’t helped me out, I would have probably died back then.”

Hearing this, Raelag just let out a merry laugh as he said, “Well, it was obvious I helped you out. Over the countless years, you are the first person that has obtained the approval of both the Dark Elves and the Demons.”