The primordial cosmos was filled with little bits of matter, gas, liquids, solids, and plasma. The greatest amount of matter was a black gas with tiny motes of light flickering within. Tianyi felt that the black gas of the primordial chaos was extremely similar to his true qi of chaos but slightly different. Just what was different, Tianyi couldn't describe. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn't put a word to it.
Tianyi's state had also changed. It was as if his brain had grown a million times. He could sense everything in the cosmos, even the tiniest bit of dust. At the same time, all the concepts of the techniques he learned in his life were experiencing a change. His sensitivity and talent towards the laws of the world were being upgraded.
The birth of numerous matters and the chaotic gas was just the start. As the cosmos continued to expand and after an indescribable period of time passed, the chaotic gas and fragments began to integrate into celestial bodies. First were the stars, then the planets, and finally the satellites. There was a limitless amount of solar systems being born, and there were also numerous planetless stars and starless planets. Despite the infinite planets, life did not sprout.
With the passage of time, the chaotic gas started to diminish, and in turn, a gray gas appeared and replaced it. What was born from the gray gas wasn't more planets or stars but gods. Not gods as Tianyi knew them but moving masses of worldly laws and concepts such as the primal monsters or titans of myths.
Those first gods did not possess intelligence and were closer to beasts in mind and body, but not any beast that Tianyi was familiar with. One was a body formed from numerous heads; another was a serpent that spanned several lightyears. In short, all sorts of body shapes and sizes existed.
As these first gods mindlessly rampaged, numerous stars and planets were destroyed. From these destroyed celestial bodies, realm essence was born. However, they did not form realms as Tianyi knew them but merged with the remaining fragments and gray gas to form the gods as Tianyi knew them.
Although some had beastly characteristics, most of them were humanoid. Is this the history of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System? Tianyi wondered, but his question was doomed to be unanswered.
The second gods disappeared, or rather, Tianyi couldn't sense them at all. He knew that they existed and were taking action because the first gods were being killed one by one. As the numerous first gods fell, mortal creatures started to be born on certain planets out of the first gods' flesh and blood. It was as if a veil had materialized over Tianyi’s senses, purposely hiding some truth.
As the first gods started dwindling and planets and stars' destruction slowed, more and more mortal life was being born. Then to Tianyi's shock, the planets which housed these creatures were altered, and they clashed against one another. As a result, more and more planets were destroyed, but Tianyi could tell that the mortal creatures didn't destroy these planets. The planets should have been destroyed by the second gods these creatures worshipped.
A phrase popped into Tianyi's mind. The War of the Gods.
After a time, humans were born. It was as if a trend had started as humans of different races popped up everywhere. They, too, joined the war against mortals of other stellar systems. Tianyi was surprised at first, but that surprise turned dull as the war continued to be waged.
The wars slowly stopped as the mortals of numerous stellar systems retreated to their own home ground. Tianyi had thought that this meant that the cosmos would usher in a new era, but he was wrong. It was only a brief respite because the wars soon resumed.
Tianyi's mind flashed to the paintings in the pagoda of the Immortal Court ruin that he saw. Does each stellar system belong to a different Pantheon?
This pattern was repeated numerous times. During the process, some stellar systems were able to invade the stellar systems of other enemies and destroy them. As a result, more and more planets were destroyed, and from these destroyed planets, more and more realm essence was produced. Merging with the planetary fragments, the realm essence turned into realms like the Huang Realm, only far more gargantuan.
As the war continued, more and more realms were produced, and more and more planets and stars were destroyed. Not all planets and stars were destroyed through war. Some simply reached the end of their lifespan.
Tianyi eventually realized how meaningless the war was. Why? Because all life was eventually extinguished, but the cosmos still continued to operate. By this point, the black and gray gas had all been used up, and no more life was born.
More and more stars dimmed, and many planets went rogue. Realms continued to exist, but they also began to collapse. Realms actually needed more energy than planets and stars to operate, so most of them disappeared before planets. If planets were destroyed due to reaching the end of their lifespan, then they would not produce realm essence. In a sense, what Sect Master Xia called realm essence was a planet's lifeforce.
Entropy; Tianyi realized he was witnessing entropy. This was the longest era of the cosmos that Tianyi experienced. More and more stars died, and Tianyi felt as if he had experienced an unaccountable number of years. Before, he could distract himself with the wars even if they never changed, but once the slow process of death began, he felt the erosion of time against his soul and mind.
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His mind began to slow, and when he felt as if his thoughts would completely halt, his mind suddenly began to turn again. Inspiration had struck him like a hammer to his brain.
The cosmos was still. Although there were still numerous stars that had yet to ultimately perish and numerous planets, the starlight was cold and lifeless, and the planets were only empty husks without any vitality. It was a dead cosmos like his inner cosmos.
The cosmos was still expanding, but the more the cosmos expanded, the greater the death that permeated, but Tianyi ignored all this. He knew he was in a state of enlightenment, so he wanted to strike while the iron was still hot. How could he not, after finally seeing hope for advancing to the next realm?
Right now, Tianyi only hated that the cosmos was dying too fast. The more time he had, the more he could perfect the next step of his cultivation method. The problem was the cosmic cycle was too big and too comprehensive.
Tianyi decided that the direction of the next realm should be 'reverse.' He should amalgamate everything in his inner cosmos, his true qi of chaos, nine spiritual cores, five nascent souls, and his dao seed into a primordial egg. Once it could no longer be compressed, he should be in a similar state to the Transcending Mortality Realm.
Tianyi discarded any notion of forming life in his inner cosmos. For one, he could not stimulate the powers of gods or even immortals. Mortals, yes, since his inner cosmos was formed using his body. His inner cosmos was only similar to the near-death state of a cosmos, not an actual cosmos.
After what seemed like trillions of years, just on the eve of the death of the cosmos, Tianyi finished the next realm of his cultivation method, the Singularity Realm.
In the roofless palace of the Immortal Court, Tianyi opened his eyes. His eyes were cloudy as if he had just awakened from a long sleep, and his thought process was incredibly slow. If Tianyi had to put a comparison, it would be if he was running on the latest hardware only to be forcibly downgraded to the hardware used by a calculator.
It took over an hour for Tianyi to familiarize himself with his current processing speed. After regaining his ability to think, Tianyi closed his eyes and organized his gains. His memories of the cosmic cycle had become blurry, and he only recalled a few crucial parts, but he noticed that his spacetime concepts and other concepts had improved. More importantly, the next step of his cultivation method was firmly imprinted into his mind.
Tianyi made a fist pump. Yes! I don't know what that vision was, but it works! It might be even better than a Heavenly Scripture!
"Are you finished, Little Friend?"
Tianyi nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice next to him. He turned around to see a wizened man with long white hair wearing plain white robes. He recalled that Sect Master Xia said only head elders and grand elders could appear on the forbidden grounds.
"Disciple greets Elder." Tianyi cupped his fist and said. Whichever elder it was, showing manners was never wrong.
The wizened man smiled and shook his head. "Little Friend, I am not a cultivator." Before Tianyi could ask who he exactly was, the man already answered. "I am the Immortal Court's spirit."
Tianyi's eyes lit up. This was the first spirit that he met. "Greetings Senior Immortal Court Spirit."
He was shocked to see an artificial spirit like the Immortal Court Spirit, but thinking about his background, Tianyi felt it was natural. The Immortal Court's pill could gain spirituality, so why can't they create an artificial spirit? It would have been stranger if the Immortal Court didn't have a spirit taking care of it. Tianyi was surprised that the Immortal Court Spirit survived to this day.
The Immortal Court Spirit didn't say anything and continued to stare at Tianyi until Tianyi felt his scalps tingle. Tianyi rubbed his face and looked at his hand to see nothing. I have nothing on my face. Why is he looking at me that way?
The Immortal Court Spirit averted his gaze and walked outward. He stopped for a moment and said, "Follow me."
Tianyi didn't dare disobey and followed him out. Tianyi wanted to ask so many questions, but sensing the 'don't talk to me' aura on the Immortal Court Spirit, he stayed silent. This situation continued all the way until the Immortal Court Spirit led Tianyi to the entrance.
The Immortal Court Spirit said, "Alright, leave. Don't come back until you've become an immortal." before turning around without waiting for Tianyi's response.
Tianyi cupped his hand and said, "Thank you, Senior Immortal Court Spirit."
After leaving the forbidden ground, he saw Sect Master Xia outside waiting for him. "Sect Master Xia?"
"The Immortal Court Spirit sent a message to me that you have awakened, so I've come to pick you up." Sect Master Xia said.
Tianyi nodded and left with Sect Master Xia. Along the way, Sect Master Xia didn't ask Tianyi anything, so Tianyi didn't reveal what he had gained. He already knew that he should not speak of his experience in the forbidden grounds, so it did not surprise Tianyi much. Sect Master Xia only said some words after dropping Tianyi off at Jade Peak. "Little Xi, I'll come by and ask you to create another pseudo realm in a short while."
Tianyi blinked and accepted. This was the original reason why he entered the forbidden ground, after all. Even if Tianyi wanted to say no after receiving the benefits, he would not because they had made a promise. If he went back on his promise, even his mother could not protect him, considering that he discovered one of the greatest if not the most significant secrets of the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
He did not ascend the mountain by flying. Instead, he walked up Jade Peak one step at a time. Along the way, he saw everything in a new light.
After some time had passed, Tianyi felt as if he had experienced a terribly long dream, but reality told him that it was not a dream. His mastery of numerous concepts, especially his spacetime concept, had dramatically improved. It was as if his eyesight was horrible before, and he had been given a new pair of glasses.
Once Tianyi reached Jade Peak Palace, he felt that he had advanced his understanding of the world and reached a new height. He decided to digest and reach a bottleneck before he advanced into the next realm.
"Daoyi," Tianyi called out once he saw a familiar figure in the Jade Peak Palace. He paused when he discovered that Daoyi was a little different. Daoyi appeared to look a year or two older, and she had reached the peak Core Formation Realm!
"What happened? How did you reach the peak Core Formation Realm in such a short time? Did you forcibly raise your cultivation? That's risky. You shouldn't let short-term benefits blind you." Tianyi knew that Daoyi had patience, but he could not think of another way for how Daoyi would have advanced so much in a short time.
Daoyi gave Tianyi a strange look and said, "What are you talking about? I'm already preparing for my Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation. Rather, where have you been, Tianyi? You disappeared for ten years. If it weren’t for Master's reassurance, I would have thought something happened to you."
Tianyi smartly replied with a "Hah?"