"What do I want?" The first thing that Tianyi thought of was more Heavenly Scriptures. Right now, Tianyi felt that he was reaching the limit of his current cultivation realm. Sect Master Xia's words were like sending coal in during snow. It couldn't have come at a better time. It was just that Tianyi didn't know whether his request could be completed.
"Are there any more Heavenly Scriptures available? It doesn't have to be the original. Something that originated from the Ten Heavenly Scriptures like the Lotus Soul Ascension Art or the Thirty-Six Heavenly Constellation Art is fine." Tianyi said.
Sect Master Xia hesitated.
The Buzhou Immortal Sect was known to have the Primordial Heavenly Scripture, the Five Phase Heavenly Scripture, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Constellation Art descended from the Stellar Heavenly Scripture, and the flawed Lotus Soul Ascension Art descended from the Soulheart Heavenly Scripture.
This meant that the Buzhuo Immortal Sect had four of the ten Heavenly Scriptures. Even the Eight Pillars Sect only had the Extreme Yin Mantra and Extreme Yang Tempering Method descended from the Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture, three less than the Buzhou Immortal Sect, and an incomplete one at that.
Because of this, the Buzhou Immortal Sect had suffered the attacks of numerous forces in the past, including those from other continents, but without exception, they all failed. They had even exterminated numerous first-rate forces, mainly from the Heaven Continent, proving their strength and cowing the greed in others' hearts.
But did the Buzhou Immortal Sect really only have four of the ten Heavenly Scriptures? To the unknowing members, they may think it was already impressive, but Sect Master Xia had visited the forbidden grounds, so he knew that the Buzhou Immortal Sect's foundation was deeper than their wildest imagination.
It wasn't that Sect Master Xia wasn't willing to impart any of the Ten Heavenly Scriptures to Tianyi, but there was always the chance of information leaking. He didn't think Tianyi would willingly leak such vital secrets, but there was never a leakless secret. The fewer people who knew, the better.
"I'll consider it." Sect Master Xia decided to consult with the Concealed Emperor. In a sense, Tianyi could now be considered a secret of the Buzhou Immortal Sect too. "Do you have any other requests?"
Tianyi held his chin and thought for a while before he recalled his attempt to form different states of qi. He had already partially succeeded with the liquid state, ye, and now, he needed to find a way to form the solid state of qi. "Is it possible to give me a spirit stone vein?"
"What kind? Low, mid, or high?" Sect Master Xia asked.
"It must be hard to part with even one. Even a low quality is fi—huh?" Tianyi said. Spirit stone veins were essential resources. How could he get one just for something he made in a year? Tianyi shook his head, paused, and looked at Sect Master Xia again. "Could you repeat that?"
"What kind of spirit stone vein do you want? Low, mid, or high?" Sect Master Xia repeated again.
"I can get a high-quality spirit stone vein?" Tianyi said with disbelief. He pointed at the pseudo realm in Sect Master Xia's hand. "Is it really that valuable?"
Sect Master Xia nodded. "Yes, even trading ten spirit stone veins for one is very worth it."
Tianyi nodded, surprised that something he took a year to make would be more valuable than something that might take hundreds of thousands of years to millions of years to form. Still, this was good news for him. As long as he continued to create pseudo realms, he would receive endless resources from the sect.
Seeing that Tianyi accepted, Sect Master Xia left. Although a high-quality spirit stone vein wasn't worth as much as a pseudo realm, Sect Master Xia still had to do some preparations. Almost all the high-quality spirit stone veins were being mined right now, so he needed time to prepare one for Tianyi. Not to mention, if he just gave Tianyi a spirit stone vein without reason, it would incur too much attention.
Before all this, Sect Master Xia quickly informed the Concealed Emperor of Tianyi's request. He didn't think it would matter much to give Tianyi some of the hidden Heavenly Scriptures within the Immortal Court, but the true ruler of the Immortal Court was the Concealed Emperor. If the Concealed Emperor rejected Tianyi's request, then Sect Master Xia could only ask Tianyi to think of something else.
Sect Master Xia didn't think that the Concealed Emperor would reject Tianyi's request. Over twenty years ago, the Concealed Emperor had split a portion of the Immortal Court and turned it into a secret realm. It resulted in the Three Heavens Connection Meeting that Tianyi attended.
At the time, Sect Master Xia had questioned why the Concealed Emperor had taken such an action, but in hindsight, he realized the Concealed Emperor must have seen something special in Tianyi. However, he wondered if it was worth losing that portion of the Immortal Court for Tianyi.
In truth, the Concealed Emperor didn't expect Tianyi to take the immortal mountain that formed the Immortal Court Ruin's formation anchor, resulting in the collapse of the secret realm. After that time, he had seriously reevaluated his attitude towards Tianyi. He expected great things from Tianyi, but Tianyi exceeded his expectations for better or worse.
"Granted. Bring Disciple Xi to the forbidden grounds." The Concealed Emperor ordered.
Sect Master Xia paused. Never in the history of the Buzhou Immortal Sect had a mortal ever stepped into the Immortal Court hidden within the forbidden grounds, but thinking about it, Sect Master Xia conceded. The forbidden grounds hid the Buzhou Immortal Sect's greatest secrets, and now Tianyi also joined as one of those secrets.
Still, Sect Master Xia found it a bit abnormal that the Concealed Emperor didn't have him bring one of the ten Heavenly Scriptures to Tianyi. The outside only knew that the Buzhou Immortal Sect had fragments of the Soulheart and Stellar Heavenly Scriptures, but Sect Master Xia knew that the Buzhou Immortal Sect actually had the complete versions.
The Lotus Soul Ascension Art resulted from Grand Elder Zhang using her contributions to receive the inheritance of the Soulheart Heavenly Scripture and attempting to create a new cultivation method to find a way to revive her dao companion, but alas, she failed.
After a few months, Sect Master Xia went to look for Tianyi. First, he brought Tianyi to the spirit stone vein promised to him. The spirit stone vein was a mine that the Buzhou Immortal Sect had been excavating, but due to its location, transportation was troublesome. Had it not been for Tianyi's request, the sect had planned to trade it to one of the vassal sects.
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When Tianyi revealed the reason why he wanted a spirit stone vein, Sect Master Xia shook his head. There were many who had similar thoughts to Tianyi changing the form of qi, but they all failed. However, Sect Master Xia forgot one important fact. Creating a realm, even a false one, was far more heaven-defying than changing the state of qi.
Under Sect Master Xia's eyes, Tianyi uprooted the spirit stone vein and turned it into the second mountain of his Mountains and Seas Formation. The mountain did not resemble a mountain at all. It appeared closer to a mountain-shaped statue sculpted out of crystal.
Tianyi nodded in satisfaction. The spirit stone mountain generated far more qi than the sea formed from spirit spring. Combined, these two had a multiplicative effect on qi production. I'll name it Spirit Stone Mountain and Sea.
"Okay, let's go," Tianyi said.
Sect Master Xia looked at Tianyi in surprise. He had thought Tianyi would have wanted to study the spirit stone vein more, but it seemed that he desired the Heavenly Scripture more. Sect Master Xia was right; Tianyi did indeed want the Heavenly Scripture more.
If Tianyi did create the solid form of qi, it would increase his power, but compared to entering the next realm, Tianyi's three states of qi technique was not worth mentioning. He planned on continuing the creation of the solid state of qi after he entered the next realm or if he was stuck at a bottleneck.
Careful to hide Tianyi's presence, Sect Master Xia brought Tianyi to the entrance of the forbidden grounds. Tianyi had already been informed that he would be entering the forbidden grounds to accept the Heavenly Scripture and that he must keep it a secret, so he wasn't too surprised.
Just before Tianyi entered, he recalled the scenery he had seen at the Ruin of the Immortal Court. The ruin had numerous holes and cracks on the ground, showing the land beneath. Tianyi remembered seeing a mountain range precisely like the one the Buzhuo Immortal Sect existed on. Where the forbidden ground was located, there was a pillar extending from the ground to the heavens, as if it was a heavenly pillar separating the sky and land.
Does the pillar exist within the forbidden ground? Tianyi wondered.
But when Tianyi entered, all thoughts of the pillar erased themselves from his mind. The buildings, roads, and scenery were just too familiar to the Immortal Court ruin he had once entered. The only difference was that the Immortal Court inside the Buzhou Immortal Sect wasn't dilapidated like the one from the Three Heavens Connection Meeting.
"Sect Master Xia, is this a ruin of the Immortal Court?" Tianyi couldn't help but ask. He never expected the Buzhou Immortal Sect to have such a secret.
Sect Master Xia revealed a prideful smile on his plain face. "Be honored Little Xi. Not even some immortal monarchs have entered. Only head elders and grand elders are allowed to enter but not without reason. You are the first mortal to be allowed to enter the Immortal Court Forbidden Ground."
"Does that mean the sect has all ten of the Heavenly Scriptures?" Tianyi couldn't help but be agitated by the sudden influx of information. How great would it be for the Buzhou Immortal Sect to have all of them? Then he could just create pseudo realms and trade for them all.
Sect Master Xia blinked, not expecting Tianyi to focus on that. Then a chuckle escaped from his lips. "Little Xi, how great are the ten Heavenly Scriptures? Even when the Immortal Court existed in the primordial era and reigned supreme, they weren't able to collect all ten. Especially those cultivated by the other Heavenly Lords."
"Three Pure Ones also cultivated the ten Heavenly Scriptures?" Tianyi asked. He was not too shocked. Although no records mentioned it, how could the Three Pure Ones not cultivate in the ten Heavenly Scriptures, the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System's most powerful cultivation methods?
"You could say that," Sect Master Xia said as he began to lead Tianyi to the palace. "But you aren't exactly right either. The Heavenly Lords were born from primordial chaos. They do cultivate the Heavenly Scriptures, but it would be more correct to say that they are the Heavenly Scriptures themselves."
"Concept gaining sapience?" Tianyi muttered. He knew that the Heavenly Scriptures were created out of the Ten Supreme Laws of the universe. So, according to Sect Master Xia, the Three Pure Ones were lifeforms formed out of laws. If that was the case, no wonder they were worshipped as gods. "What did the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginnings cultivate?"
Sect Master Xia gave Tianyi a meaningful smile. "The Primordial Heavenly Scripture."
Tianyi rubbed his chin. Hehe, kind of makes me his successor in a way, right? He stopped as he recalled the Three Pure True Self Visualization Technique and wondered what relationship the technique had with the Three Pure Ones. He looked at Sect Master Xia and wondered if she should ask if the sect master had heard of the technique.
After contemplating a bit, Tianyi decided not to. The reason was still the same: he was too weak. What if Sect Master Xia discovered something strange and wanted to exterminate or lock him up? True, his mother was a grand elder, but what would she do if she discovered the truth?
While Tianyi was thinking, Tianyi arrived at the palace, but unlike when Sect Master Xia visited, the Concealed Emperor was not present. Nor did Sect Master Xia mention anything about the Concealed Emperor.
"Sect Master, what does the Buzhou Immortal Sect plan to do?" Tianyi asked after seeing the palace where the court was held. He could already imagine the scene of the Jade Emperor ruling over numerous divinities who had been conferred ranks and titles.
"Little Xi, right now, you are still too weak. Sometimes, knowing too much isn't good for you." Sect Master Xia said, sealing Tianyi's question.
Seeing Tianyi obediently restrain his curiosity, Sect Master Xia inwardly nodded. He motioned for Tianyi to stand in front of the throne. "Come here."
Tianyi stepped towards where Sect Master Xia had instructed, wondering what the purpose was. He had come because Sect Master Xia said this was the only place he could receive the Heavenly Scripture.
Once in position, Sect Master Xia motioned Tianyi to gaze at the throne. Tianyi did so, although with much confusion. The confusion didn't last long as the golden throne exuded a divine light and entered Tianyi's glabella, causing his eyes to glaze over.
Sect Master Xia bowed towards the throne that was once again occupied. He wondered why the Concealed Emperor didn't reveal himself to Tianyi but didn't question it much.
"Concealed Emperor, is it really prudent to show Disciple Xi that?" Sect Master Xia asked.
"I have my plans." The Concealed Emperor said, not answering Sect Master Xia's question. Instead, the immortal emperor focused his attention on Tianyi, having been the first time the two had met face-to-face, albeit one looked as if he had lost his soul.
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When Tianyi came to, he discovered that he was transported to a strange colorless space. It wasn't black because color did not exist. There was no light and no darkness. There was not even space or time, but Tianyi didn't panic.
His body didn't seem to exist, but Tianyi had another reason why he didn't worry about that. His current state seemed to be similar to when he had used Realm Merge and fused with the Vast Heaven Islands. Even when he had fused with the Vast Heaven Islands, Tianyi discovered that he would become highly logical and calm, so he wasn't surprised.
The final reason he wasn't panicking was that he trusted Sect Master Xia. The reason he became like this was because of the light from the divine throne, so it should be related to the Heavenly Scripture, or maybe he is receiving the inheritance right now. I wonder what Heavenly Scripture I am receiving. Perhaps I should have asked which ones the sect had and chosen one.
As time passed, Tianyi discovered that he was abnormally calm, far more than when he used Realm Merge as if he had lost all his emotions. He didn't become a completely emotionless being like a machine, but he wasn't far off. Despite eons seemingly passing, he was able to wait patiently.
A change. Tianyi thought.
The strange dimension began to gather and coalescent into a sphere. Tianyi discovered that dimension was forming an egg. The process seemed like it took forever, yet it also seemed to have happened in an instant. Tianyi wasn't sure which.
As the strange dimension entirely formed into an egg, nothing else existed. There was only the primordial egg.
Tianyi had a sense of suspicion of what he was seeing. And as he expected, the egg exploded, and there was spacetime, light, darkness, colors, and so much more.
The primordial cosmos had been born.