A cultivator's talent was determined by two aspects: spiritual roots and physique.
Spiritual roots defined an individual's raw potential for cultivation.
- One root: mediocre talent.
- Three roots: passable talent.
- Seven roots: a prodigy guaranteed to reach the peak of Heavenly Emperor if properly nurtured.
As for physiques, they were tied to bloodlines and strengthened a cultivator's connection to the Law they wielded.
- Silver Physique: a high-level asset.
- Golden Physique: rare and precious.
- Celestial Physique: transcendent.
- Primordial Physique: physiques that appeared eons ago during the birth of the first Devourer. In Bai She's time, only Primordial Gods possessed them.
For example, Hu Sijin possessed the Anarchy Void Law and the Celestial Void Physique, allowing her to travel through space at an unattainable speed without being torn apart by her own power. Even a random Heavenly King would be reduced to dust trying to match her speed.
And let's not even mention her rival, Qing Long, who possessed the Dharma Physique.
Facing such monsters, Bai She knew his raw power alone wouldn't suffice.
As his wounds slowly healed, he attempted one last experiment.
He activated his Eye of Truth.
His silver left eye glowed with a green light, and instantly, the world around him transformed. Space seemed to tear, revealing a complex network of nodes suspended in the void, intertwined threads of various colors.
Then pain exploded in his skull.
"Kuuh—!"
A blinding headache seized him, as if an avalanche of information was forcing his mind to assimilate the incomprehensible.
"F-Fuck!"
Blood slowly trickled from his eye, but he didn't immediately release the technique. He sifted through this flood of knowledge, searching for what pertained to him.
Finally, he found it.
[Hu Bai She, Linfer Vamp
Seven spiritual roots: Thousand-headed serpentine creature.
Peak of Spirit Refinement / Inner World Creation.
Ashkharsh: All Red / ??? / …
Physique of the 7 Primordial Chaos (The Seven Desires of Nirvana) / Celestial Truth Physique / ???
Devour Law / ???]
He clenched his fists in pain.
He already knew the Devour Law allowed him to absorb essences and strengthen his cultivation. But what he'd just discovered... was far more terrifying.
His Physique of the 7 Primordial Chaos, or the Seven Desires of Nirvana, didn't just enhance his power. It allowed him to recreate what he absorbed, giving him infinite potential.
"This power defies even the Laws of the Tao. How did I obtain it?"
He had even acquired another constitution by absorbing Shen, but he couldn't use it openly.
The Celestial Truth Physique was incredibly powerful. The Eye of Truth, part of the Karma Ruler, could even see destiny and better manipulate his plans. Though the Black Turtle Ancestral Family's techniques remained secret, he suspected the threads and nodes he'd seen were the very foundations of this world. Unfortunately, he'd absorbed Xuan Shen before the latter had developed his Law.
He sighed, "My level was too low to perceive the entirety of my own nature. But it seems the Tao isn't as absolute as I thought."
There was also information he didn't yet have the power to understand.
[A/N: This is symbolized by the *???*—information he can't yet comprehend.]
Bai She crouched on the ground, his hand over his bloodied eye, his labored breathing mingling with the energy-charged atmosphere. The experience of the Eye of Truth had overwhelmed him. He knew his understanding of the world's laws was still incomplete, yet he'd already glimpsed terrifying truths about himself.
"Anyway, what I lack most... is power."
Bai She repositioned himself in the lotus posture and calmed his mind.
"To get out of here... I need to at least reach the peak of the Nascent Soul."
He took a deep breath and let out an ironic smile, plunging his psyche into a meditative state.
If he had to fight against the laws of the entire world, then so be it. All bets were off; he'd do whatever it took to survive.
***
This world was inconceivably vast. Far larger than anything Bai She had known before. It spanned multiple planes, each governed by its own laws and inhabited by its own beings. Three major strata structured existence: the Upper Realm, the Underground Realm, and the Lower Realm.
The Upper Realm was the epicenter of cultivation, the domain of the powerful and celestial empires. Divided into several continents, it stretched across distances so absurd that a journey from one end to the other could take millennia, even for a being transcending the laws of time and space. Fortunately, each continent had a portal connecting it to another. Each continent covered trillions of kilometers and had its own cultures, royal lineages, and wars.
Bai She was from the Eastern Continent. It was a land of cultivators and scholars, dominated by ancient sects that had passed down their knowledge for eons. Allied with the Southern Continent, this region shared many similarities with its neighbor. Manesh, the blind monk, was one of their greatest representatives, and yet, his own disciple came from the Eastern Continent, proof of the strong alliance between the two.
Opposing them was a formidable enemy: the Western Continent. A millennia-long war had just ended there, leaving behind ravaged lands. At the conclusion of this titanic conflict, Chronos had seized power by killing his own father, Ouranos, with the help of Odin, the ruler of the Northern Continent. Odin was a feared strategist and an invincible warrior. His involvement in the war against Ouranos had not only strengthened the Northern Continent's influence but also marked a shift in the balance of power, in his war against the Vanir.
Only the Central Continent remained untouched by these incessant conflicts. It was the most mysterious land in the Upper Realm. No war, no conquest had ever reached it. No messenger had ever returned from it. This eerie silence gave it a special status. Some believed it was the domain of forgotten gods, others that it hid civilizations more advanced than any need to interact with the rest of the world.