702 The Path of Cultivation

Eastern Wastelands Tower was within the hundreds lis of blood light, resulting in the land looking like it was a blood soaked hell. The bloody presence around there was filled with an intimidating air, preventing anyone from getting closer.

It was especially so for the mighty pressure within the blood light itself. If anyone tried to trespass into its area, they would feel as if a huge mountain was pressing in on them, and the closer they got to Eastern Wastelands Tower, the stronger the feeling would be.

During the span of that one year, Berserkers would occasionally appear around Eastern Wastelands Tower. Some of them would step into that blood light and try to get closer, but all of them would be sent tumbling backwards by the mighty pressure without exception.

They might not end up dead, but the will within that blood light contained a majestic air and a warning tone telling them… that this place was forbidden to them.

The Berserkers were searching for Su Ming, their God of Berserkers. During the past year, they had searched through the entire Eastern Wastelands, but they had found no traces of him. Gradually, they cast their gazes on the tower, but due to the blood light prohibiting them from entering the area, they could not venture inside and verify whether Su Ming was there or not.

Compared to the blood light surging into the sky outside, the inside of Eastern Wastelands Tower was different. It was filled with a layer of golden light. That light was gentle, and it filled the entire first layer.

Su Ming sat there with his legs crossed. His body had fully recovered a long time ago. Floating right before him was a golden sword, but if anyone took a closer look, they would be able to see blue light occasionally flashing, still struggling within that golden light.

This sword was naturally the blue killing sword Su Ming had faced last year. During the the time he was in the tower, Su Ming had used all his energy, his power, and the mighty pressure of the tower itself to continuously suppress this sword, forcefully turning most of this blue sword, which had been wounded when it was in Yin Death Fog, gold.

This shade of gold was the color of the inside of Eastern Wastelands Tower. Su Ming had not once stopped suppressing the sword. At that moment, his eyes flew open, and at the instant he did so, a flash of gold appeared in his pupils. He lifted his right hand and struck the sword.

The golden light in the area started distorting before it surrounded Su Ming's right hand. When he struck the sword, that golden light seeped inside it and once again began chasing away all the blue light.

The sword hummed and shuddered, and the blue light flashed violently inside the sword. It was still struggling.

Su Ming stared at the sword and let out a cold harrumph, then lifted his left hand and swung it. Immediately, a large amount of golden light came surging, then rushed into the sword and continued suppressing it.

"I can now control ten times more power of the Eastern Wastelands Tower compared to a year ago…" Su Ming mumbled. His gaze fell on the walls of the tower around him. Ignoring just how tall the entire tower was, the area of the first layer alone already occupied several thousands of feet, and all of it was permeated with a golden light.

Su Ming could still remember how he had charged into the tower and seen this light for the first time. As waves of impact from it reverberated in his body, he had fallen unconscious.

When he woke up, his body had already recovered completely, and the blue light was surrounded by an endless amount of golden light as it floated in midair. It could not break free and could only let out shrill whistles.

Once Su Ming woke up, he could sense that the connection he had with Eastern Wastelands Tower had become stronger. In fact, the golden light that filled the area seemed to be a modified form of some form of power, and he could borrow it for his own use.

However, at that time, he could only use a small portion of that power, unlike now. He could now activate and bring a large amount of the golden light towards himself to suppress that sword and also refine his own body.

'Life Cultivation Realm is divided into Life Matrix, Life Privation, Life Palace, and World of Life. According to the words left behind by the third God of Berserkers, Life Cultivation Realm is actually composed of four words - Matrix, Privation, Palace, and World!'

The third God of Berserkers words reverberated in Su Ming's head. During this year, he could not leave Eastern Wastelands Tower because the sword before him had yet to be completely refined, and there was a link tying him to the sword as he refined it.

Only after he had completely refined the sword and made it one with his body could he walk out of Eastern Wastelands Tower.

That was why Su Ming had spent most of his time pondering about Life Cultivation Realm besides training and refining his body as well as the sword in this tower during the past year.

'The Candle Dragon had also said that all races try to perfect themselves when they practice cultivation. They absorb the power from World Planes and fix what they lack in their own bodies so that they can achieve perfection.

'I've arrived at the initial stage of Life Matrix and have come to understand my own Life Matrix. If I want to raise my level of cultivation again, then I'll need the power of a World Plane… The Candle Dragon once gave me a fragment containing the power of one World as a blessing. That fragment might have been the key that allowed me to enter Life Cultivation Realm.'

Understanding appeared on Su Ming's face.

'Only by having sufficient power of a World Plane and understanding towards their own Life could a person break through a sort of shackles of their own bodies and let themselves go through an evolution that affects their bodies, thereby perfecting themselves. However, reaching this sort of perfection is incredibly difficult. It doesn't matter which race it is, perhaps only one or two people out of each of them are able to truly attain perfection.

'And… the function of a particular blood inheritance is to let this sort of perfection continue, because when a person succeeds, he or she will be able to change the evolution within the entire race. Perhaps it is precisely because of this that there are incredibly powerful races in the universe, and there are also extremely weak ones lying around as well.

'As for the power of a World Plane… that is the essence of a world.'

A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes. He looked at the golden light that filled the area, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

'The first God of Berserkers left this Eastern Wastelands Tower in the world. The golden light in this place can nourish my soul and fuse with my body to become a part of my cultivation base. It thus… might contain the power of a World Plane.'

'Besides this place, the entire world of Berserkers is also a world. It could let all Berserkers absorb the power of the World to perfect their bodies and for them to practice their cultivation.'

As Su Ming continued mulling over his thoughts, he lifted his right hand and seized the air. Immediately, a sealed stone appeared on his palm. Within that stone was a sleeping poisonous wasp.

'God Ascension Nectar. There are a lot of legends surrounding this nectar. Even if most of these legends are false, its might can still be understood clearly. Then, perhaps, this nectar also contains a mysterious power of a World Plane.'

Su Ming stared at the poisonous wasp and only put it away after some time. His eyes sparkled, and he immersed himself in his thoughts.

'The first God of Berserkers might have brought the Berserkers outside and made the worlds worship them because there were many powerful warriors during that era. The power of the World in the land of Berserkers was not enough to maintain their path of cultivation, that was why they had to leave… They had to go to the worlds outside to snatch the power of their World Planes.

'In the end, Lie Shan Xiu left because he had obtained a sufficient amount of power of World Planes. It could be said that he had fused the essences of multiple worlds and gathered together the Plane Kalpa's Solar [1]. Perhaps he had truly reached Plane Kalpa Realm, but there's also a possibility that he was half a step off from that Realm. That was why he had to leave, because the power of World Planes was no longer useful to him. He wanted to search for the power of Plane Kalpa so that he could continue walking down his path of cultivation.

'This is all so that he could reach perfection…

'If that is the case, then perhaps there is a uniform name for Life Cultivation Realm, the Immortals' cultivation system in the Second Step and Third Step, and the other races at this stage have their own names.

'Perhaps this name is World Plane! And after this stage, it will be Plane Kalpa, which is what Lie Shan Xiu has achieved! It's also the Immortals' Fourth Step. It is also what the Immortals become after they have surpassed being Immortals and become Gods, or perhaps become a state of being that is even higher than that.

'There are also the words Hong Luo had used when he described Di Tian in the past. Once he fused with the Immortals' heaven, then he will become the Lord of a World Plane because it is equivalent to him fusing with the Immortals' World Plane…

'Di Tian is one of the three Sovereigns and five Emperors. Unless he is the strongest among them, then could it mean that these three Sovereigns and five Emperors have fused with the Immortals' heaven and have reached a state where they are the Lords of World Planes?

'In other words, it is possible that there are many Lords of World Planes in the world. The differences in their levels of cultivation will be distinguished by how much they have fused with the Immortals' heaven…

'Di Tian's real self is far stronger than I am. By the categorization among the Immortals, he should be one of the elites among the people in the Third Step… I understand now!'

Su Ming lifted his head, and a brilliant light flashed in his eyes.

'The Immortals in the Third Step are Lords of World Planes! By fusing with the heaven of one particular world and coming to understand the essence of that world, they will reach the Immortals' Third Step and be known as Lords of a World Plane. There are also different Realms within this Third Step, that is why there are still distinctions between the strong and weak… Even if the powerful Lords of World Planes have fused with multiple essences from multiple worlds, as long as they haven't gathered together their very own Plane Kalpa's Solar, then they can only be considered as Lord of a World Plane!

'When I came to understand the three styles of Wind Separation, the Wind Berserker appeared and said that this is the ninth great eon…'

All of these things came from Su Ming's memories. Over the past year, after quietly going through all his thoughts and understanding them, he connected them in his head and formed a picture that symbolized the path of Su Ming's cultivation in the future.

He would have been unable to understand all of these things before he arrived at Life Cultivation Realm, so only at this moment did he gain a vague idea about everything.

"The Immortals' First Step is the foundation, and the Second Step is the fusing with a World Plane. When they move into the Third Step, they become the Lords of a World Plane, and in this hollow state, they will try to perfect themselves to the greatest possible amount and gather together Plane Kalpa's Solar and move into the Fourth Step, which is Plane Kalpa Realm!

"It's the same for Berserkers, if we're going to make any sort of distinction, then everything below the initial stage of the Berserker Soul Realm is our foundation, which allows us to possess the basis to search for true perfection.

"The middle stage of our cultivation system is Life Cultivation. We move from Life Matrix to World of Life, and eventually end up at the same stage as the Lords of World Planes among the Immortals. Then, we will move into the later stage of the Berserkers' cultivation system. I still don't know the details of that Realm, but in the end, we'll be gathering together our own Plane Kalpa's Solar, and once we succeed, we might move into Plane Kalpa Realm and become powerful warriors that stand at the pinnacle, just like the Immortals at the Fourth Step," Su Ming mumbled and clenched his fist. A strong desire appeared in his eyes.

'The Candle Dragon once said that it had only met five of these sort of powerful warriors that were in this Realm within two of the four Great True Worlds. In these worlds, they were known as the Lords of Fate, Life, and Death. They controlled the cycles of the universe, and if they wanted something to be born, it would be born, if they wanted something to die, it would die...

'The Candle Dragon also said that it was spoken in legends that there were Realms that were above the Plane Kalpa Realm… but all of those people who reached this Realm seemed to have left the four Great True Worlds and their whereabouts were unknown.'

Su Ming sucked in a deep breath. His future's path of cultivation had become slightly clearer in his head.

'I want all forms of life to be unable to control my fate!'

Determination and resolve appeared in his eyes.

Translator's Notes:

1. Plane Kalpa's Solar: Based on the LONG explanation of eons in Soar into the White Sky, might mean the state of being alive throughout an eon.