Chapter 441: Immortal Spirit Realm

This was what Gu Jue had intended to discuss, so he didn’t hesitate to reply, "Precisely."

"The moment I took control of the Heavenly Dao Authority, the previous Heavenly Dao, Yuan Xin, passed the full story on to me."

"Listen as I explain it all."

"Yuan Xin?" Xie Ningyuan couldn’t help but repeat the name. It felt strangely familiar...

Before he could think any further, Gu Jue began his explanation.

The Upper Realm they spoke of was named the Immortal Spirit Realm, a plane of existence a level higher than the Spirit Void Realm.

The Spiritual Energy there is so much denser that it is known as Immortal Qi.

The levels of Cultivators there are also far higher. Cultivators who ascend from the Spirit Void Realm become Earth Immortals. Above them are Heavenly Immortals, Golden Immortals, Daluo Golden Immortals, Immortal Kings, Immortal Monarchs, Immortal Emperors, and so on.

The Immortal Spirit Realm is home to both Cultivators who have ascended from other small worlds and natives who were born there.

Many of its natives are born at the Divinity Transformation Cultivation Level. Those with even better aptitude are born with an Immortal Body.

In short, that world is on a much higher tier than the Spirit Void Realm and is vastly more powerful.

And Xie Ningyuan... was one of those natives, born in the Immortal Spirit Realm.

His parents were both elders in a major power within the Immortal Spirit Realm, the Xuantian Sect. Xie Ningyuan himself was a peerless genius born with an Immortal Embryo.

And yet, Xie Ningyuan chose to cultivate the Buddhist Path. Possessing profound comprehension, he reached the Daluo Golden Immortal Level in just over a century.

He expected his cultivation journey to be smooth sailing from then on. However, his progress had been so effortless that his mental state failed to keep pace. He hit a bottleneck, and his cultivation stagnated, unable to advance even an inch.

Afterward, Xie Ningyuan sought out a diviner, who told him that his cultivation had stagnated because of a fated tribulation he had yet to overcome. Only by passing this trial could he resume his progress.

To overcome this tribulation, Xie Ningyuan decided to reincarnate in a Lower Realm and experience a mortal life.

To be safe, he chose a small world generated within one of his own Magic Treasures... which was the Spirit Void Realm!

Upon hearing this, both Lu Sangjiu and Xie Ningyuan were visibly astonished.

"You mean to say the Spirit Void Realm is just a small world generated inside one of Xie Ningyuan’s Magic Treasures?"

Gu Jue nodded. "Precisely... In fact, many Upper Realm Cultivators possess similar Magic Treasures, each containing its own small world. And when someone with excellent talent ascends from one of these worlds, they are typically recruited into the sect of the Magic Treasure’s owner."

Hearing that her entire world was nothing more than a Magic Treasure in someone’s hand, Lu Sangjiu found the idea utterly incredible.

But she also knew Gu Jue would not lie to them.

As she struggled to process her shock, another question immediately surfaced. "If this place is just a Magic Treasure, then the previous Heavenly Dao you mentioned, Yuan Xin..."

Before she could finish, Xie Ningyuan, who was beside her, calmly interjected, "Was she... the Artifact Spirit of this Magic Treasure?"

Gu Jue nodded. "That’s right. You are her master. And that is precisely why... she was always doing everything in her power to protect you."

Xie Ningyuan took a deep breath. So many of his past questions were answered in that instant.

"So... that’s how it was."

No wonder his luck had always been slightly better than others, allowing him to obtain so many strange and rare Magic Treasures.

No wonder he was born with a Bodhi Pearl, one that was even able to save Lu Sangjiu during her Heavenly Tribulation.

No wonder Lu Sangjiu had been so thoroughly suppressed by the Pseudo Heavenly Dao when she fought Ye Zhiyao, while he could rewrite Ye Zhiyao’s fate with ease.

It wasn’t just because he was an Upper Realm Cultivator and less bound by the rules of the Spirit Void Realm’s Heavenly Dao. More importantly, the Heavenly Dao of the Spirit Void Realm had been subtly striving, within the confines of its own rules, to protect its master.

Even without his memories, Gu Jue’s few words caused Xie Ningyuan to feel a sense of affinity for this Artifact Spirit.

But he immediately recalled that if Gu Jue had succeeded the previous Heavenly Dao to become the new one, then what had happened to Yuan Xin...?

At this thought, Xie Ningyuan urgently asked, "Then where is Yuan Xin now?"

Gu Jue glanced at him and calmly uttered four words. "Her soul was destroyed."

Those words struck Xie Ningyuan like a bolt of lightning. An immense wave of sorrow washed over him... It didn’t feel like his own emotion, but rather as if some memory, imprinted deep within his soul, had been triggered, causing the grief to well up on its own.

Lu Sangjiu squeezed his hand, her voice laced with concern. "Are... you alright?"

Xie Ningyuan glanced at her, took a deep breath, and gently shook his head. "I just feel... incredibly sad."

After a pause, he turned back to Gu Jue and pressed, "How... did she die?"

"Patience. I was about to explain."

When Xie Ningyuan came to the Spirit Void Realm to undergo his tribulation, everything was supposed to go smoothly. The Magic Treasure had been left with his father for safekeeping.

His father was at the Immortal Monarch Level and his mother was at the Immortal King Level. It should have been a foolproof plan, but the Xuantian Sect was suddenly ambushed, attacked by outside enemies in collusion with traitors from within.

The Xuantian Sect was wiped out, and both of Xie Ningyuan’s parents were killed in the battle.

And so, Xie Ningyuan’s Magic Treasure fell into the hands of one of his sworn enemies.

This person was one of the traitors of the Xuantian Sect.

"His name is Ji Li, his Daoist title is Han Yu, and he has now reached the Immortal King Level."

Gu Jue continued, "He is the same age as Xie Ningyuan, but his talent is inferior. They were compared to each other from a young age, and he was always overshadowed by Xie Ningyuan."

"Even after Xie Ningyuan chose the Buddhist Path, Ji Li still saw him as a rival and was single-mindedly obsessed with eliminating him."

Lu Sangjiu recalled how uncharacteristically agitated that man had become when he mentioned Xie Ningyuan. ’So that’s the reason,’ she thought.

’She had assumed it was some deep-seated feud, but in the end... was it all just jealousy?’

Upon learning that the Artifact Spirit of his Magic Treasure was dead, that his parents had met a tragic end, and that the sect where he grew up had been annihilated, Xie Ningyuan’s face instantly turned ashen. He was filled with overwhelming grief.

He looked at Gu Jue, his eyes turning red. "Who... are my enemies?"

Gu Jue nodded. "This is something I promised Yuan Xin I would tell you."

"The external enemies who destroyed your sect were the Hengtian Sect and the Chixiao Sect. The traitors from within were from Elder Dan Yang’s faction. Ji Li was his disciple."

Xie Ningyuan seared those names into his mind. He then cupped his hands toward Gu Jue and said, "Thank you... Please, continue."

There wasn’t much more to tell.

Originally, the fact that Xie Ningyuan was undergoing his tribulation in the Spirit Void Realm had been a secret.

But in order to find Xie Ningyuan, Ji Li performed a soul search on his mother and learned everything.

After seizing the Magic Treasure, Ji Li immediately began trying to refine it for his own use.

However, the Magic Treasure had an Artifact Spirit who would rather die than submit, making it impossible for Ji Li to claim it for himself.

Furious and humiliated, Ji Li sent a sliver of his Divine Thought to invade the Magic Treasure, intending to completely obliterate the Artifact Spirit, Yuan Xin, and claim the treasure for himself.

Yuan Xin was gravely wounded in the process, and Ji Li succeeded in wresting a portion of control over the Magic Treasure from her—in other words, a portion of the Spirit Void Realm’s Heavenly Dao Authority.

He used this authority to seal the Spirit Void Realm’s World Origin. As a result, the Spiritual Energy began to wane, making it extremely difficult for Cultivators to achieve Ascension.

Ji Li’s goal was to use this method to trap Xie Ningyuan in the Spirit Void Realm forever!