The golden-haired beauty Rand let out a faint, cold laugh. "I advise you to leave this deep forest as soon as possible," he said. "It would be most unwise to lose your life over mere curiosity."
His was not the arrogance of some worthless scion of a noble house, but the innate confidence of a strong man looking down upon the weak—a 'gaze from above' rooted in absolute power.
"Thank you for the warning," Xiao Chen replied, turning and walking away.
He was fighting to control his emotions. This was no time for pride. He believed that one day, everything would change as his strength grew.
If he unleashed his full power—suppressing nothing—he could fight one of them to a standstill. But against two, he would surely fall. Strength was the only truth.
After putting sufficient distance between himself and that area, Xiao Chen gradually calmed. The fire in his heart subsided. He knew that in the near future, a confrontation would be unavoidable—and soon.
Nearby, among the mountain forests, Xiao Chen discovered many claw prints. They appeared to be left by a dragon—and a young one at that. It seemed that Yan Qingcheng and Rand had declared this region forbidden for precisely that reason.
Before long, Xiao Chen rejoined the three skeletons. Avoiding the waterfall area, they continued onward.
Crossing a low hill, Xiao Chen caught the scent of blood drifting through the forest. Wisps of faint crimson mist lingered among the trees. He and the three skeletons hurried forward.
Ahead, five or six corpses lay in pools of blood. They had not been dead long. A fierce battle had clearly taken place here.
It appeared that more practitioners had begun landing on the sealed Dragon Island.
He pursued for a short distance and saw vague human shapes moving among the trees—perhaps a dozen people wandering nearby. Xiao Chen decided to keep his distance and avoid entanglement.
Just then, he sensed a subtle fluctuation. Turning, he saw a white-robed monk walking atop the treetops. His movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water—effortless, graceful, as though strolling through a garden. Yet his speed was remarkable.
It was Yizhen.
The monk had clearly spotted Xiao Chen as well. He paused briefly among the treetops, then drifted lightly down to the ground. Upon seeing the three skeletons, he seemed surprised. "Undead creatures," he said.
"Brother Yizhen, I did not expect we would meet again so soon."
"You may call me Yizhen. Life is full of unexpected encounters." He turned to examine the three skeletons, then asked Xiao Chen, "How is it that you travel with three undead? Although the practitioners of this continent no longer insist on exterminating them, ordinary people and most cultivators still find it difficult to feel goodwill toward such beings. Being seen with them may bring you trouble."
"Thank you for the reminder, Brother Yizhen. They saved my life. On this wild Dragon Island, there are few people about. I believe no great trouble will come of it."
"That is also true," Yizhen nodded.
As the two spoke, the three skeletons stood there dull-wittedly, like wooden puppets. Only Xiao Chen, who understood them, knew the truth—these undead were pretending. They were deliberately creating a false impression.
Xiao Chen pointed at the corpses not far away. "Brother Yizhen, look."
"I noticed," Yizhen said. "When I came, I saw several other bodies in different places. There are no fewer than twenty practitioners on the Dragon Island now. This sealed ancient island is vast—there may be even more." He turned to Xiao Chen. "Yan Qingcheng and Rand are also in this area. They seem to have found the trail of a young dragon—it may very well be the Companion Dragon. You should stay far away from them. Those two are dangerous. I intend to leave this place immediately rather than contend with them."
"Oh, how strong are they exactly?" Xiao Chen was still concerned about those two. He felt that sooner or later, he would have to fight them. And it seemed that time would not be long in coming.
"They are currently at the third or fourth heavenly tier of the Mortal-Shedding realm."
"Mortal-Shedding?" Xiao Chen did not understand.
"Yes..."
After Yizhen's detailed explanation, Xiao Chen gradually came to understand.
The World of Immortality was vast and boundless, with countless races standing side by side. This gave rise to a multitude of cultivation systems—Spellmasters who could borrow the power of gods, ancient and mysterious Beast-Soul Warriors, Spiritists born with powerful psychic abilities, and terrible demigods found among certain nearly extinct small tribes.
Without a unified standard for ranking realms, it was difficult to clearly compare combat strength across different cultivation systems. Thus, a unified system came into being—one that bypassed ordinary cultivators entirely, defining five great realms for the strong alone.
The vast majority of practitioners were not qualified to be measured by these five realms. They existed only for true powerhouses. Only by stepping into these five realms could one hope to break into the legendary state of deathless longevity.
The five realms were: Mortal-Shedding, Spirit-Treasury, Sky-Mastery, Nirvana, and Deathless Longevity.
Among the countless cultivators, only those who entered the first realm—Mortal-Shedding—had truly touched the essence of cultivation. It was like a heavenly chasm that held back the masses.
**Mortal-Shedding:** Those who ascended to this realm could be called 'transcendent.' They emerged from the multitude of practitioners, leaping across that chasm on the path of cultivation, taking the most crucial step on the road to immortality. Practitioners of Mortal-Shedding could communicate with the primordial energy of heaven and earth, temper their physiques, and their own vitality would flow endlessly.
**Spirit-Treasury:** Upon reaching this realm, one began to sense the treasury of divine consciousness. Spiritual awareness deepened day by day. One came to realize that the physical body itself was a great treasure. Through the dual cultivation of spirit and flesh, the body's hidden potential was gradually discovered and unearthed. Various divine abilities began to manifest. Spirit-Treasury was a process of 'knowing oneself'—a process of unlocking the 'inner treasure.'
**Sky-Mastery:** Before reaching this realm, certain practitioners—such as Spellmasters—could already fly. But upon achieving Sky-Mastery, cultivators of all systems—awakened ones, martial artists, and others—could also soar through the skies. However, Sky-Mastery meant more than mere flight. Those who reached this realm could control the power of heaven and earth for their own use, and all manner of divine abilities were further revealed. Those who attained this realm were known as demigods.
**Nirvana:** Those who reached this realm existed on the edge of non-birth and non-death. Their body and mind hovered at the boundary of stillness and extinction, wavering between life and death, contemplating the profound mysteries of existence and annihilation. If one could fully comprehend the secret of life and death, the next step was Deathless Longevity. But if one stagnated in this realm, they might fall into endless calamity, their form and spirit utterly destroyed. At the same time, the power of those in the Nirvana realm was unstable—now strong, now weak. At their peak, they could display the strength of a deathless immortal; in moments of weakness, their divine abilities might be inferior to even those in the Spirit-Treasury realm. For practitioners, Nirvana was both a great opportunity and a great danger. Those who pierced the mystery of life and death would break their cocoon like a butterfly, living forever in the world. Those who could not would be extinguished into ashes—most cruel of all.
**Deathless Longevity:** Those who reached this realm had truly broken through the barrier of life and death. From then on, they would live forever in the world. All mysteries were understood without a teacher; divine power flowed of its own accord; divine abilities manifested naturally.
Thus, Mortal-Shedding, Spirit-Treasury, Sky-Mastery, Nirvana, and Deathless Longevity—these five great realms clearly delineated the strength of the world's powerhouses.
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