Eternal Emperor's Path to Ascension

Chapter 387: Chance to Explore the Upper Realm, The Vanished Forest

More conversations drifted into Wei Yusheng’s ears.

Most of them were ordinary matters, ranging from cultivators discussing cultivation resources and merchants bargaining over prices to young masters boasting about future achievements, nothing particularly noteworthy.

However, Wei Yusheng had long since learned patience.

Information was rarely found in grand secrets.

More often than not, it appeared hidden within ordinary conversations.

Thus, he quietly listened.

At this moment, several voices entered his perception.

"... The caravan is leaving in seven days."

"Have they recruited enough guards yet?"

"Almost, the minimum requirement is Golden Core Realm, those bandits along the route have become more active recently."

"Those damned guys again, they’re truly fearless, even the daughter of a peak Void Refinement Realm powerhouse almost fell into their hands some months ago."

Wei Yusheng’s expression remained calm, but inwardly, he became slightly interested.

A merchant caravan?

His Divine Sense immediately focused on the discussion.

Very quickly, additional details emerged.

The caravan belonged to a merchant association that had recently joined a much larger organization.

More importantly, according to rumors, the organization possessed the backing of a Vagrant Immortal.

Although only a single Vagrant Immortal, such an existence was already unimaginably powerful within this region.

After all, even the being supporting this city was only an inner disciple of a Immortal Sect that possessed experts above the Vagrant Immortal Realm.

Even in the Upped Realm, ascending to immortality remained incomparably difficult.

All beings under Immortals were collectively called mortals in the Upper Realm precisely because of this reason.

Any force connected to such existences naturally possessed immense value.

However...

What made Wei Yusheng almost cough up blood in anger was the fact that the so-called bandits were actually a bunch of Golden Core Realm cultivators.

The same Golden Core Realm capable of collapsing mountains and seas in the Lower Realm, revered as ancestral figures in many factions, actually being bandits in the Upper Realm; this was too absurd.

At this moment, Wei Yusheng slowly drank another mouthful of spirit wine, his eyes flickering thoughtfully.

For the past few weeks, he had remained inside this city gathering information.

The gains were not small; he had learned the basic structure of the surrounding regions, obtained maps, and learned about the common cultures and terms used within the Upper Realm regarding cultivation and many other things, such as the value of Spirit Stones, medicinal herbs, Immortal Spirit Stones, and numerous other resources.

Most importantly, he had finally stopped feeling like a blind man wandering through darkness.

However, staying here indefinitely served little purpose.

This city was simply too small, its strongest cultivator was only a Nascent Soul Realm City Lord.

Although such a figure would be considered a supreme overlord in many Lower Realm regions, in the Upper Realm, he was just one among countless ordinary city lords.

The information available here was naturally limited.

If he wanted to truly understand the Upper Realm, he needed to leave.

Thinking this far, Wei Yusheng’s gaze drifted outside the tavern.

The city stretched endlessly beneath the clouds as countless cultivators moved through the streets.

Children ran about laughing, merchants shouted while Spirit Beasts pulled carriages through the sky.

The scene appeared extremely prosperous and lively.

Perhaps because there were no mortals in the Upper Realm, there was also no such thing as extreme poverty where one couldn’t even afford to eat.

Foundation Establishment cultivators had already achieved abstinence from grain and water, after all, and an average person here could reach that level by thirty or forty years of age.

Starvation... was such a foreign concept to the natives of the Upper Realm.

At this moment, Wei Yusheng’s attention had already landed elsewhere.

A group of children walked through one of the streets below.

Their clothes were ordinary and their appearance unremarkable, nothing unusual.

However, Wei Yusheng’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Even the youngest among them possessed cultivation of the Acupoint Opening Stage, while the strongest appeared around eleven or twelve years old, yet he had already stepped into the Tenth Level of Acupoint Opening Stage.

If placed in the Lower Realm, such a child could already be considered equal to a martial arts expert, capable of shattering large boulders and uprooting ancient trees, contending against an army of hundreds of ordinary mortals alone.

Even Nascent Soul Realm factions would pay attention to such talent, but here, nobody even paid attention to him.

The children themselves appeared completely unconcerned, simply laughing and chasing one another through the streets.

To them, such cultivation was extremely ordinary, every child at their age was at that level, and many were even ahead of them.

Wei Yusheng couldn’t help shaking his head.

The suppression of the Upper Realm truly defied reason.

Back in the Lower Realm, a Qi Condensation cultivator could easily slaughter thousands of mortals and destroy houses with a wave of Spiritual Energy, possessing strength far beyond ordinary people.

But here, a Qi Condensation cultivator would probably struggle to catch a chicken.

The Heavenly Dao’s suppression was simply terrifying.

No wonder even ordinary children possessed such cultivation.

They simply adapted to this environment.

At this moment, Wei Yusheng’s expression became slightly complicated.

The Lower Realm often described the Upper Realm as a paradise.

After arriving here, he discovered that description was simultaneously correct and completely wrong.

The cultivation environment truly was heaven defying, but the competition was equally absurd.

Talents considered unparalleled geniuses in the Lower Realm became ordinary here, and countless people spent their entire lives unable to distinguish themselves. The standards were just too high.

Just then, another conversation reached his ears.

"... recruitment ends tomorrow."

"We still need several more guards."

"The journey isn’t particularly dangerous, the merchant association already hired experts."

"Still, those bandits have become increasingly troublesome."

"Fortunately, the association recently joined the Azure River Merchant Alliance. With a Vagrant Immortal backing them, those bandits shouldn’t dare cause too much trouble."

Wei Yusheng’s eyes brightened slightly.

This was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

A merchant caravan, traveling beyond this city, wasn’t that just access to additional information?

The benefits were obvious.

As for danger, Wei Yusheng wasn’t particularly worried.

Although he intended to remain cautious, his true cultivation already approached the Grand Perfection of Immortal Ascension Realm.

Even if he concealed most of his strength, surviving ordinary dangers would not be difficult.

After all, ten years inside that primordial forest had already taught him enough about survival.

Thinking this far, he immediately made a decision.

Leaving several spirit stones behind, he rose from his seat, and a few moments later, his figure disappeared from the floating tavern.

The recruitment location was situated near the eastern district of the city.

Several large flying ships floated above a spacious plaza, each vessel stretching for hundreds of meters as complex formations covered their surfaces.

Numerous cultivators moved about carrying goods and supplies, the atmosphere appearing busy.

Upon arriving, Wei Yusheng quickly observed the surroundings.

Several hundred cultivators had already gathered, most possessing Acquired Realm or Innate Realm cultivation, with only a dozen or so at the Golden Core Realm, and there were two at the Void Refinement Realm.

There was no Nascent Soul cultivator here, which was perfectly normal, as the Nascent Soul Realm was extremely rare here, with less than ten such individuals permanently residing in the city.

A moment later, Wei Yusheng approached the registration table.

The cultivator responsible for recruitment glanced toward him.

"Name?"

"Wu Changsheng."

Wei Yusheng replied calmly. He wouldn’t be so stupid to give away his real name in an unknown place.

"Cultivation?"

At this question, Wei Yusheng paused briefly before answering, "Void Refinement Realm."

Then, he released a trace of the Void Refinement Realm aura before retracting it.

The cultivator’s eyes immediately brightened.

Void Refinement cultivators were already considered relatively powerful figures in the surroundings; such strength easily exceeded the minimum requirement.

Without hesitation, he nodded.

"Accepted."

The process was astonishingly simple, with no lengthy examinations or background checks.

After all, temporary guards were common, and merchant associations cared primarily about strength.

As long as someone possessed sufficient cultivation and wasn’t obviously suspicious, they rarely investigated further.

Soon afterward, Wei Yusheng received a temporary identity token, his gaze sweeping across the plaza.

Deep within his heart, a faint sense of anticipation emerged.

Finally, After ten years of being trapped in that forest, I can begin exploring the true Upper Realm.

At the same time, another matter surfaced within his thoughts.

The abandoned Ascension City and that mysterious forest...

Even now, the situation remained incomprehensible.

Several days ago, after obtaining sufficient information, he had attempted returning to the region where he first arrived, however, the result left him deeply unsettled.

The forest was gone, gone so utterly as if it never existed in the first place, and even the surrounding terrain differed from his memories.

Maps showed nothing and even local cultivators knew nothing.

Nobody had ever heard of such a place.

It was as though those ten years had occurred inside a dream.

If not for the experiences engraved into his memory, even he might have doubted himself.

The more he investigated, the more uneasy he became.

Eventually, Wei Yusheng chose to stop.

His instincts warned him repeatedly; some things were better left untouched.