Chapter 558: Chapter 529: 30,000 Years
"In the Upper Realm’s Three Thousand Cosmos, there are powerful beings guarding each universe. If they were to slaughter wantonly, it would spark disputes. But the beings of the Lower Realm are frail; their blood and flesh are wondrous medicines for some Upper Realm powerhouses, whether for cultivation or for refining Divine Soldiers and Supreme Treasures.
Thus, the Upper Realm frequently makes a move against the living beings of the Lower Realm. To call it wanton slaughter is no exaggeration."
"However... although the powerhouses of the Upper Realm must regularly harvest the beings of the Lower Realm, they will not utterly exterminate the foundations of the Lower Realm. Even if a powerhouse emerges below, they do not wish to tear all pretense of civility with the Upper Realm.
They abandon a portion of the living beings and allow the Upper Realm to reap them. This is basically the tacitly accepted arrangement."
Taichu’s expression remained indifferent; as he spoke of these matters, his face did not change in the slightest.
Gu Qingyang’s face, however, grew slightly overcast.
According to the other’s account, when facing the Upper Realm’s slaughter, the Starry Sky’s powerhouses simply turned a blind eye, directly sacrificing a portion of the living beings in exchange for the stability of the Starry Sky.
As for such a course of action, Gu Qingyang could not easily judge it as right or wrong.
After all, the difference in strength between the Starry Sky and the Upper Realm was far too great; if they truly fought to the death, the price might well be the annihilation of the Starry Sky.
In such circumstances—
The forbearance of the cultivators of the Starry Sky could barely be considered understandable.
However.
If he himself had been in that era, Gu Qingyang, in all likelihood, would not have compromised with empty courtesy as Taichu had.
At worst, he would simply have perished together with them.
If he could not live, he would certainly not let the Upper Realm gain any advantage.
That is likely just the difference in each person’s resolve. Cultivation stresses the unobstructed flow of one’s thoughts; Gu Qingyang had his own convictions as well.
"Since that is the case, why then did the Taichu Immortal Court wage all-out war against the Upper Realm?"
He asked again.
According to Taichu’s account, the Taichu Immortal Court should not have been able to go to war with the Upper Realm.
At these words—
Taichu’s gaze was indifferent: "It is very simple. The fundamental cause of that war was that the Upper Realm intended to completely exterminate the living beings of the Starry Sky. Since they refused to leave the Starry Sky’s beings any path of survival, we naturally would not sit and wait for death."
"Why?"
Gu Qingyang’s brows furrowed.
Taichu said, "Within the Upper Realm’s Three Thousand Cosmos, a seventeenth-step Unity Realm powerhouse deduced the heavenly secrets and found that a certain Supreme Treasure existed within the Starry Sky. If a Unity Realm powerhouse obtained it, there was hope to take another step forward and truly ascend the Great Dao to the realm of eternal life.
Therefore, they formally launched a war upon the Starry Sky, intending to wipe out the Starry Sky and locate that Supreme Treasure which even Unity Realm powerhouses covet!"
"What kind of Supreme Treasure is that... Could it be that even Unity Realm powerhouses cannot obtain eternal life?"
Gu Qingyang’s expression shifted.
Taichu said, "As for what that Supreme Treasure actually is, I do not know. But anything that even Unity Realm powerhouses require must be unfathomably profound, possibly even related to the Great Dao itself.
As for whether a Unity Realm powerhouse can be eternal, that depends on how you define ’eternal life.’
In truth, so long as one breaks through the tenth step and attains Ascension to Immortality, then in a certain sense, one is already equivalent to an undying existence: heaven and earth perish, yet I do not perish; heaven and earth fall, yet I endure.
However, such a powerhouse must undergo a tribulation every 129,600 years; only by passing the tribulation can one live another 129,600 years. Should one fail, the result is death and Dao-dissolution.
If one can ascend to the eleventh step, the Celestial Immortal realm, then one faces a tribulation every 360,000 years.
By the time one reaches the sixteenth step, the Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal realm, tribulations are measured in kalpas. So long as the kalpa has not arrived, a sixteenth-step powerhouse may be considered eternally alive. When the kalpa arrives, the sixteenth-step powerhouse enters the tribulation; if he passes through it, he may live another kalpa, and if he fails, he likewise dies and his Dao is extinguished."
With these words—
Taichu added another sentence.
"One kalpa is six billion four hundred eighty million years. For other living beings, can such a span of time not be regarded as eternal life?"
"In that sense, it does indeed count as eternal life!"
Gu Qingyang drew a deep breath and nodded.
One kalpa of six billion four hundred eighty million years—how could that not be considered eternal life?
Taichu said, "The tribulations of Immortals come from between heaven and earth; when the time arrives, the tribulation will naturally seek them out. So-called eternal life is all relative. Heaven and earth have an end; the cosmos, too, has an end.
Unity Realm powerhouses do not undergo kalpas because such existences are united with the cosmos itself, overseeing the vicissitudes of ages. Even should billions of kalpas pass, they may remain eternally undying.
But when the cosmos reaches its end, when boundless kalpas converge, the cosmos returns to ruin; then even Unity must die and the Dao be extinguished.
Hence, these existences wish to take another step forward and search within the Starry Sky for that Supreme Treasure which allows further transcendence."
"In that war of old, the entirety of the Three Thousand Cosmos descended to invade; the Starry Sky exhausted all its strength to resist, but the disparity in power was ultimately too great. The Taichu Immortal Court collapsed, and the powerhouses of the Starry Sky were almost all slain.
Seeing with my own eyes that there was no hope of victory, I severed the Path to Immortality, completely cutting off all contact between the Starry Sky and the Upper Realm.
What you see before you now is merely a single imprint of Divine Thought that I left behind in those days. The true me already fell countless ages ago.
Now that the Path to Immortality is broken, the route between the Starry Sky and the Upper Realm is also severed. Yet there are always variables in heaven and earth. If Immortal Qi reappears in the Lower Realm, the Path to Immortality will begin to repair itself.
When that time comes, the passage between the Starry Sky and the Upper Realm will open once more..."
Taichu’s words caused Gu Qingyang’s expression to change slightly. At last he understood what the other had meant by his earlier statements.
The Path to Immortality severed.
The Lower Realm and the Starry Sky cut off from one another.
Now that Immortal Qi had appeared in the Starry Sky, the Path to Immortality would autonomously mend itself and reopen the passage.
Such an arrangement—
Was equivalent to a dead end.
Without Immortal Qi, no living being could break through; throughout their entire lives they could only halt at half-step tenth order, and when their time ran out, their lifespan would be extinguished, with no chance whatsoever to strive for true longevity.
If Immortal Qi were born, the passage to the Upper Realm would open, and the armies of the Three Thousand Cosmos would descend once more—likewise a road leading only to death.
Just as Gu Qingyang was secretly pondering, Taichu’s figure became illusory and indistinct, as though it might dissipate at any moment.
"The Immortal Vein should not have appeared. That you were able to condense an Immortal Vein—your opportunities are beyond my sight. Perhaps what the Upper Realm has been seeking is upon your person.
The Dao numbers fifty; Heaven uses forty-nine to evolve. You are the single thread of hope remaining to the Starry Sky.
Though I have fallen, I will still争取 three myriads of years for you. In thirty thousand years, the Immortal Path will open; the armies of the Upper Realm’s Three Thousand Cosmos will surely descend.
I hope that by then, the Starry Sky will possess the strength to contend against the Upper Realm..."
As his final word fell, Taichu’s figure completely vanished, and at the same time the entire Path to Immortality was shrouded by a terrifying power. Gu Qingyang’s body was involuntarily forced out.
When he looked again toward the Dimensional Space where the Path to Immortality lay, he saw that it was already covered by supremely dense rules and Dao Rhyme. Even with Gu Qingyang’s current strength, he could not perceive the scenes within that Dao Rhyme of rules.
The entire Path to Immortality seemed to have been sealed by an invisible power and sank into complete silence.
