Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"Haha, then! He offered five trillion! I’m telling you, it was amazing." Yan Zaizen said jubilantly. Having returned to the Anima Syndicate, he met up with Old Tai, and they begun having a conversation regarding the overall events. He was embellishing a few things, such as using his cunning to haggle five trillion essence drops off Wu Kun, how he swept an entire floor clean with ferocious momentum against countless phantoms, meeting a heaven-toppling beauty who fell for his incredible charms, and causing the Presba Imperial Family to beg for forgiveness.

None of it was true, but when he saw Old Tai’s fanatical and childlike expressions grow more bright with each word, he couldn’t help but do so. His illustrations kept becoming more and more vivid and unbelievable.

"Amazing! Ah! How I envy the youth of others..." Old Tai said, his enraptured expression fell with longing in his gaze. In truth, he knew about 90% of what Yan Zaizen said was overly exaggerated, but it still left him wanting for more.

Old Tai cultivation base was solidly situated at the half-step True Essence Realm, incapable of making a single step of progression without heaven-defying support. Despite his soul cultivation at the Advanced Aurora Soul Realm, he still couldn’t obtain such a pill or elixir. In this venture, he hoped Yan Zaizen would come back with a solution to his issue. If not, he’ll have only a century or so left before his inevitable death.

This was the fear of all cultivators - dying of old age.

It’s the same as the heavens informing you that you’ve reached the peak of your potential and destiny. It was demoralizing and left one filled with endless regret. Yan Zaizen understood this concept a little despite his young age. Having spent sixty years of his life in chaotic space, he realized how valuable time was and how quickly it passes.

With a soft smile, Yan Zaizen waved his hand and produced a tiny bottle. In this bottle was a small-sized emerald pill radiating a faint glow. If one sniffed it, their bodies would feel stimulated and renewed.

"!" Old Tai’s eyes widened at the revealing of this pill. As someone who searched intently for any possibility to ascend his current realm, how could he not know what this was? "True Qi Pill?!" He shouted. He started heaving out vast amounts of air. One could see from his gaze that there was excitement and deep-seated hope that shone brightly in his gaze.

A True Qi Pill was a heaven-defying pill. However, because it’s heaven-defying, it has its disadvantages. If one refined it, their bodies would undergo the transition into the True Essence Realm. However, the trade-off would be half the lifespan that would’ve been received by the ascension would be excluded. Not only that, one’s foundation would be incomparably unstable. Essentially, the initial-True Essence Realm was the limit unless one obtained other heaven-defying items to supplement themselves.

It was a second life.

It was Old Tai’s second life.

"Take it." Pushing the bottle in Old Tai’s hands, Yan Zaizen had a warm smile. This pill was essentially useless for him, but to others, they were exceptional! They were a breath of life that they’d thought lost. An additional ten thousand years to be with family, to develop one’s forces, or reach new heights.

Old Tai didn’t stand on ceremony, clutching the bottle with shaky hands and a trembling gaze. If one looked closely, they could see tears formulate at the edge of his eyes. For many years, he thought he was going to die. That there was no hope. Now...

He didn’t just have hope; he had a certainty!

"You should refine the pill. I have things I need to do as well." Yan Zaizen shooed Old Tai away seeing him in this overly emotional state. Usually, when he had things he wanted to tell someone, he would do so with rapt excitement. But now, his emotions were a complete mess that he was as silent as a mime. Like a doll, he was pushed out of the room by Yan Zaizen and the door closed behind him.

After several minutes of staring at Yan Zaizen’s door, Old Tai’s eyes flickered with unimaginable levels of thanks.

PLOP!

He dropped on his knees and kowtowed, his gray hair and wrinkled body was quivering as tears slowly dripped on the floor. To Yan Zaizen, this may have just being a small gift, but to him, this was the world. This was his life. To many, they were willing to risk their lives for a chance at strength, status, and longevity, but that didn’t mean they all could.

How many half-step True Essence Cultivators went along in the Asura Phantom Realm? How many of them came back alive? Ten thousand entered but only six thousand left. As for the cultivation bases of the survivors? 90% of them was in the True Essence Realm or had equivalent cultivation bases! An example could be the Presba Imperial Family, they arrived with three True Essence experts and dozens of lower-realm cultivators, yet only the three of them survived.

After three hours, Old Tai finally stood up. With another slight bow, he turned away and left. He’ll never forget Yan Zaizen’s seemingly simple act for the rest of his life.

"He’s finally gone." Chuckling softly, Yan Zaizen finally left the door. Since Old Tai was kowtowing outside, how could he simply ignore his existence? For the entire three hours, Yan Zaizen used his spiritual sense to see every quiver, every breath, and every intense emotional weep produced from Old Tai. How could he not accept all of this? His understanding of this gesture and the cultivation world grew with this event.

"The cultivation world is not just about fighting the heavens for strength, but fighting the heavens for life." He felt like he touched one of the quintessential motivations of cultivation. Regardless if its body, soul, or essence, they all struggle for continued existence beneath the heavens.

"Perhaps...Immortality is the true purpose of cultivation." Thinking this, he felt that his words was wrong but also not. It was an abstruse philosophy that he just couldn’t comprehend.

He softly sighed in melancholy.

Placing these difficult thoughts away, he entered the Meteor Ring. He appeared with his soul form, gazing at the swirling black hole that seemed to resemble the one above his glabella. For sixty years, he cultivated diligently in an attempt to find his Origin Source. He employed all sorts of methods, from calm self-meditation, scanning his body continuously with his spiritual sense, and even painful methods to expose a trace of his Origin Source.

Yet, none of them worked.

Now he knew why. His Origin Source was hiding within his Meteor Ring disguised as a manifested black hole. What was unsure of was the characteristics of this Origin Source, of his bloodline, and why it was able to move outside of his body and hide. From his understanding, and Pinaka’s, an Origin Source does not have intelligence. It was the most primary energy within your body, a trace of one’s True Origin, and the only part of it actively accessible by a cultivator.

"I’m unsure what it is, but you should be careful. Your body, your soul, and your very dao is a mystery." Pinaka informed. In truth, Yan Zaizen’s body had profound mysteries such as his odd Origin Source, his soul that was protected by the black hole, and how his dao should be an impossibility. To develop a Nascent Dao, one must overcome Heavenly Tribulations. Even peak-True Essence Cultivators had horrendous chances at doing so.

The success rate was infinitesimal. Throughout the entire Xiantu Realm’s rule, excluding Yan Zaizen, there were less than ten individuals who’ve developed their own dao. That included quintillions of people currently living in the realm and countless others who’ve passed since. Logically speaking, Yan Zaizen shouldn’t even be able to even formulate a dao.

"I know," Yan Zaizen replied. He had far too many mysteries, including in the mind as the images that seemed like him but wasn’t had popped up twice now. He wasn’t sure of what this all meant, but he knew one thing: He wasn’t normal. At first, he thought he could’ve been adopted, but that’s an impossibility.

For one, he looks just like his mother and father. As for their parents? They were both from the Yan Clan. Yes, Yan Zaizen was the son of distant cousins. Although they were quite removed from each other, they were still related by a faint trace. If you wanted to look at any of their histories, then you just needed to look at the Yan Clan. Not to mention, he looked exactly like the Yan Clan members before his body cultivation advancements.

It could be that the Yan Clan was special somehow, but he felt that wasn’t the case. If it was, then the Yan Clan wouldn’t have been so weak. It felt far more complex than just that. Pinaka’s assumption was reincarnation or lost of memories, but he felt those were unlikely as well. It was like his instincts were informing him of this.

He had a faint feeling that all this was brought about by a random sequence of events. However, he couldn’t be sure.

"Alright, let’s see what’s inside this." Deciding to put this to the back of his mind, he floated towards the swirling black hole. "I’ll discover what you are!" His voice filled with resolve and anticipation.

What was his bloodline?!