Cultivation: Start From Simplifying Martial Arts Techniques

Chapter 899: Sixth Stage Emperor Realm
Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Zhan Xuming was ultimately severely injured and then captured.

Pan Qingwu had been in the Boundless Sea for nearly a month, and had already gathered all the necessary information about the situation in the Stellar Sacred Land. Only when Nie Shengyun and his team arrived did he finally take action.

The forces of two mid-level Sun Moon Realm experts and five early-stage Sun Moon Realm experts were overwhelming for the Stellar Sacred Land to resist.

What was crucial was that all the Sun Moon Realm experts from other sacred lands in the Boundless Sea had sided with Nie Shengyun.

Although the seven major sacred lands had cooperated closely during the Mortal Combat battle, it only seemed intimate on the surface.

In reality, the seven major sacred lands had been in a competitive state for years on the Middle Continent.

This competition had always been rationally restrained and had not escalated to the level of Sun Moon Realm conflict.

However, it was impossible to say that the relationship between the seven sacred lands was particularly good. At most, one or two had relatively good relations.

Such relationships were more about resisting other sacred lands and preventing one’s own land from being isolated.

Now that Nie Shengyun was capturing everyone from the Stellar Sacred Land, other sacred lands were somewhat touched, as they were all people of the Boundless Sea.

Nevertheless, it was absolutely impossible for them to help the Stellar Sacred Land fight against Nie Shengyun and his team.

Other sacred lands’ Sun Moon Realm experts had waited too many years for the Return to Nothing Realm. Even if they had some ties to the Stellar Sacred Land, how could that compare to the allure of the Return to Nothing Realm?

Once they reached the Return to Nothing Realm, the constraints on their realms would be broken, and they would no longer have to remain stagnant in the mid-level Sun Moon Realm.

Not offering help was already the greatest concession.

Moreover, Nie Shengyun and his team didn’t need the assistance of other sacred lands’ Sun Moon Realm experts. With their own strength, they could capture the entire Stellar Sacred Land.

Every member of the Stellar Sacred Land in the Sacred City was captured without exception.

As for those on missions outside, it was only a matter of time before they were captured.

The Boundless Sea was vast but relatively small in practical terms. When Sun Moon Realm experts wanted to capture someone, it was nearly impossible to escape their search.

Only those like Black Divine, who completely hid themselves within the rules of the Boundless Sea, could avoid the searches of so many Sun Moon Realm experts and Monster Emperors.

In the central hall, the members of the Stellar Sacred Land stood bewildered.

Their cultivation was sealed, and while their hands and feet were not specifically bound, some semblance of face was preserved.

However, these members of the Stellar Sacred Land could not accept the current situation.

From being high and mighty members of a sacred land to suddenly becoming prisoners, all because of the defection of a Stellar Sacred Land ancestor from the Return to Nothing Realm, their situation seemed absurd yet was starkly real.

Previously, they were the sacred land of the Boundless Sea and the Middle Continent, the rule-makers.

Yet, instead of dying at the hands of Black Divine or alien races, they were now imprisoned by the human race of the Return to Nothing Realm.

Nie Shengyun and Pan Qingwu stood above, looking down at the members of the Stellar Sacred Land.

There were many of them; after all, it was a sacred land, and even though it only recruited geniuses, the numbers were still considerable.

“Take them all?” Pan Qingwu asked softly.

Taking them away was not troublesome; using mystical treasures to carry people made it easy to handle even if the numbers were multiplied several times.

The real issue was how to handle them after they were brought to Sky Sea City.

Using the Stellar Sacred Land members to target that particular person didn’t actually require this many people. In fact, the Stellar Sacred Land’s members in the Mountain Sea Realm and Sun Moon Realm were the most useful.

Below the Mountain Sea Realm, the rest were essentially superfluous.

“These people have good potential. They’ll be useful once brought to Sky Sea City,” Nie Shengyun said with an indifferent expression.

“It’s inappropriate to kill them all. Keeping them in the Boundless Sea could lead to problems; if a few prodigies emerge among them, it could become a future threat.”

“Brother Nie makes a good point. With their talents, many forces will want them,” Pan Qingwu said, a smile appearing on his face.

The Return to Nothing Realm was vast and dangerous. Sky Sea City, being a human stronghold, constantly faced various attacks, resulting in a high turnover of its population.

Fortunately for the human race, they had the advantage of rapid reproduction.

The abundant spiritual energy in the Return to Nothing Realm meant that children started their cultivation early.

Through the process of survival of the fittest, the overall cultivation quality of the human race had greatly improved over the years. Many with notable talent could reach the third-stage of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm by their early twenties.

Some prodigies in various factions could even reach the Mountain Sea Realm before they came of age.

This was the cultivation environment of the Return to Nothing Realm, far beyond what small lower realms could offer.

However, reaching the pinnacle of the Mountain Sea Realm in the Return to Nothing Realm was still challenging.

The Sun Moon Realm was a significant hurdle; while ordinary people might reach the Mountain Sea Realm, stepping into the Sun Moon Realm was an almost impossible feat.

Therefore, the Sun Moon Realm not only served as a core force in Sky Sea City but also within the entire human race.

Especially for those who ascended from lower realms and reached the pinnacle of the Sun Moon Realm, they were highly valued in every human city because they had a strong chance of advancing to the sixth stage.

The sixth stage, known as the Rule Integration Realm, was crucial for survival in the Return to Nothing Realm’s diverse races. Only with a Sixth Stage Emperor Realm expert could a race hope for some stability.

It’s not just any sixth-stage expert who is called an Emperor. Only those who have mastered an entire rule in the sixth stage are qualified to be called Emperor-level.

Those who ascend from lower realms and reach the pinnacle of the Sun Moon Realm have a chance to attempt the sixth stage, but this is merely the beginning of the Sixth Stage Rule Integration Realm.

The Sixth Stage Rule Integration Realm is extremely challenging, with each step of progress being incredibly difficult because the ultimate goal is to control the rules.

The Stellar Sacred Land member had already reached the early stage of Rule Integration but had left Sky Sea City in the end.

“Once the spatial passage is stable, we’ll escort these people back first. In the meantime, let’s focus on locating the origin of the Boundless Sea,” Nie Shengyun said.

These Stellar Sacred Land members were ultimately just a minor issue.

The origin of the Boundless Sea was the primary reason Sky Sea City had invested significant resources into opening the passage.

If a realm had not started to decline, even a Sixth Stage Emperor Realm expert would find it impossible to extract its origin.

But once a realm began to lose its spiritual essence, the opportunity to obtain its origin arose.

For those in the Sixth Stage Rule Integration Realm, this realm origin was a rare and valuable resource, even aiding in further advancement for Emperor-level cultivators.

In the Return to Nothing Realm, humans were not particularly strong; they were more of a barely self-sustaining race.

Humans had only a few Sixth Stage Emperor Realm experts, and even these could only protect their race just enough to survive in the Return to Nothing Realm.

Fortunately, there were several Sixth Stage Emperor Realm experts among humans. Although there were no seventh-stage beings, the situation remained relatively stable compared to some smaller races, which faced constant threats of extinction.

Thus, extracting the origin from a weakening realm like the Boundless Sea was almost inevitable.

If Sky Sea City didn’t undertake this task, other races would, as seen previously with the Shadow Island.

In the Return to Nothing Realm, there were even specialized merchants who didn’t sell other precious materials but only provided coordinates for spatial realms.

These spatial realms showed signs of weakening or were already in decline.

The merchants didn’t control these realms; they merely sold the information.

Such coordinates were extremely expensive in the Return to Nothing Realm, even causing great discomfort for Sixth Stage Rule Integration Realm experts when purchasing them.

Pan Qingwu nodded in agreement with Nie Shengyun’s point. This was indeed the most important matter.

Capturing the Stellar Sacred Land members and bringing the Sun Moon Realm experts and Monster Emperors from the Boundless Sea to Sky Sea City was significant but still secondary. The origin of the Boundless Sea was the primary concern.

Several days passed as Nie Shengyun led his team to locate the origin of the Boundless Sea.

This task was challenging, or rather, very difficult.

The best approach would be to use a Sixth Stage Rule Integration Realm expert. Even an early-stage Rule Integration expert would find it easier to locate the origin compared to their current method.

Early-stage Rule Integration experts had already mastered rule fragments. These fragments resonated with the realm’s rules, allowing them to easily trace the source of the realm’s origin.

Nie Shengyun and Pan Qingwu were mid-level Sun Moon Realm experts. Though they had supernatural abilities, these were not rules themselves. They had to rely on secret techniques to slowly measure the Boundless Sea and locate its origin.

The spatial passage between the Boundless Sea and Sky Sea City, even when maximized, could not accommodate Rule Integration experts.

In lower realms, the most complete form could only accommodate the pinnacle of the Sun Moon Realm, let alone the declining Boundless Sea.

While Nie Shengyun and Pan Qingwu searched for the Boundless Sea’s origin, they sent Duan Zhize and Yan Ming’an, both early-stage Sun Moon Realm experts, to capture the Stellar Sacred Land members in the Boundless Sea.

These Stellar Sacred Land members, who had been on missions outside the Sacred City, received news of the situation and hid. However, escaping for a short time was one thing, but they couldn’t avoid capture forever.

They were only in the Mountain Sea Realm. Avoiding capture by Sun Moon Realm experts with their own strength was almost impossible.

The two early-stage Sun Moon Realm experts didn’t need any help from others in the Boundless Sea. Using secret techniques, they could easily locate those few who had escaped.

These secret techniques could even locate the Stellar Sacred Land’s ancestor in the Return to Nothing Realm.

Compared to the Return to Nothing Realm, the Boundless Sea was much smaller. The cultivators to be captured were at a lower level, making it effortless to use the secret techniques.

Thus, within just a few days, nearly all the Stellar Sacred Land members who had been on external missions were captured.

Only three remained in hiding, but they wouldn’t be able to evade capture for much longer.

“I’ve received some interesting news,” Duan Zhize said, casually tossing a jade slip to Yan Ming’an.

Yan Ming’an’s expression shifted slightly as he examined the jade slip.

It reported that Chen Fei of the Thousand Geese City’s Primordial Sword Sect had performed the Nine Star Chain in the Mortal Combat battle, defeating all opponents.

The Nine Star Chain was a Stellar Divine Technique.