But the major immortal sects were not to be trifled with. Under their combined efforts, they could still contend with the Azure Scale Sect and delved into the martial artist cultivation system, actively introducing the methods of spiritual realm cultivation.
Five hundred years later.
In this small world, all immortal sects changed their entry requirements to first practice martial arts. Only after reaching the individual limit and cultivating to an extremely high spiritual realm would they then switch to the perfect system, a system of rapid cultivation.
First cultivate the spirit, then cultivate strength.
Three thousand years later, due to improvements in the cultivation system, a glorious era arrived.
Once, in this small world, there were only a handful of Heavenly God realm powerhouses, but now there were over a thousand.
More than a dozen individuals had cultivated to the Void Dao realm, becoming leaders.
However, these individuals also discovered a problem.
This small world was running out of energy.
The energy had been maximized, and it could no longer support even one more Void Dao realm cultivator.
As for the realms beyond Void Dao, such as the Self-Slaying realm and the Escaping One realm, they were impossible to achieve.
Because even collecting all the energy in the world would not be enough, far from it.
Some thought of venturing outside.
But in the Sea of Realms outside, even a True Immortal might perish upon setting foot, and an Emperor would fall almost instantly. How could these cultivators of the perfect system, who hadn't even reached the Self-Slaying realm, be qualified to traverse the Sea of Realms? How could they find new worlds in the Sea of Realms?
This plan was utterly useless.
Ten thousand years later.
Due to the near depletion of all energy.
The glorious era came to an end.
During the glorious era, not a single cultivator of the Self-Slaying realm was ultimately born.
And in this era of declining magic, although cultivators had a complete method for spiritual cultivation and a perfect cultivation system, they could not even produce Heavenly God realm powerhouses.
They could only cultivate True God realm powerhouses.
There were only a mere two True God realm powerhouses.
Everyone was trapped and doomed by the world's environment and insufficient spiritual energy.
Twenty thousand years later.
This small world's spiritual energy environment was restored to its former state.
It began to be called the Golden Age, and another glorious era descended.
Thirty thousand years later.
The spiritual energy was depleted again, and it plunged back into an era of declining magic.
Forty thousand years later.
The spiritual energy began to recover.
Thus, a cycle of ten thousand years repeated. This small world could never produce cultivators of the Self-Slaying realm or above.
It could not produce cultivators comparable to the Heaven-Shielding system's Immortal Five Saint King level.
Such a cycle would continue almost eternally.
Until one day...
The cycle was broken.
It wasn't because someone comprehended the supreme Great Dao of "creation from nothing" or "internal and external circulation without consumption."
It was because... two Immortal Kings were fighting in the Sea of Realms. The residual power of their battle instantly annihilated this small world within a ripple of the Sea of Realms.
Everything became meaningless.
For the Sea of Realms, everything that happened in this small world, regardless of the changes in its cultivation system or its glorious eras, was utterly insignificant.
A small world with the volume of ten thousand solar systems was like a speck of dust compared to the entire Sea of Realms.
In a speck of dust, what meaning could there be in all sorts of schemes, love and hate, joys and sorrows, heroic figures?
It was merely a struggle within a speck of dust... When the backdrop was magnified to the entire Sea of Realms, the civilization's ancient history within this speck of dust, the struggles of countless beings fighting for their lives... were meaningless, and even appeared ironic.
The rise and fall of civilizations, their birth and destruction...
For the Immortal Kings of the Immortal Realm, for the Immortal Emperors of the Upper Realm, for the Desolate Heavenly Emperor...
It was always meaningless.
No one even remembered that this small world had ever existed; this civilization didn't even have a grave.
...
In the chaos where the Primordial World was located.
Fang Ming brought Suiren Shi and Ziyi Shi back.
This marked the end of this journey.
...
The Primordial World.
At Undying Volcano.
Kong Xuan, gazing at the corpses of many Phoenix clan members, was grieving when he suddenly heard celestial music resounding through infinite time and space. A primordial spirit, like the Great Dao, resided in the highest heavens.
Infinite void, boundless clouds, countless laws of the Great Dao seemed to be born from this primordial spirit. The chaotic energy originated from here.
Primordial chaotic energy was not chaotic energy itself, but the source of chaotic energy.
Primordial chaotic energy predated chaos. Energy was the division, chaos was the unity; this was the beginning of chaos!
The purest essence gave rise to truth, and the circulation of primordial energy established chaos. Creation unfolded, and all things came into being.
Primordial chaotic energy was the source of all chaos, the source of all Great Dao.
And that primordial spirit then gave rise to four energies.
What were the four energies?
One: Profound Pure Qi, the orthodox lineage of the Daoist sect.
Two: Profound Spiritual Qi, the lineage of unorthodox Great Dao.
Three: Profound Void Qi, representing the will of the masses, all spirits, humans, the Witch and Demon tribes... all were contained within this Qi.
Four: Profound Bright Qi, representing the lineage of rogue cultivators, and also a glimmer of hope.
At this moment, Kong Xuan, in a trance, seemed to be enlightened by the primordial spirit's Dao, his will influenced.
He could only prostrate and say: "With a devoted heart, I surrender to the primordial Qi, the Originating Primordial Spirit. Highest of the highest, heaven of heavens. Profound Origin One Qi, before chaos. Pure, spiritual, void, and bright, giving birth to all heavens."
"Myriad saints, countless immortals and Buddhas, all worship the primordial spirit, the ultimate true and wondrous Dao!"
"The wondrous Dao is unfathomable, the jade scroll gives birth to myriad gods, the profound model encompasses all directions, the tranquil and true eternal Dao..."
The Dao of the ancient sage, the Originating Primordial Spirit, had infected Kong Xuan.
Kong Xuan seemed to witness events that transpired in another chaotic epoch.
Chaos had Dao, and Dao was with the primordial spirit. Dao was the Originating Primordial Spirit.
In chaos, there was no Yin or Yang, no sun or moon, no crystal or light, no east or west, no south or north, no life or death, immeasurable and boundless, no high or low.
Only the Originating Primordial Spirit remained outside the void and stillness, within the profound emptiness, its form unseen.
The primordial spirit said: "Heaven and Earth shall be split, and the Primordial World shall be opened."
Words became laws, thoughts opened the sky. One word split hundreds of billions of light-years, and the Primordial World was opened.
After the Primordial World was opened, the Originating Primordial Spirit found four disciples in the Primordial World, and separately taught them the Profound Pure, Profound Spiritual, Profound Void, and Profound Bright energies.
Hongjun Dao Ancestor inherited the "Profound Pure Qi."
This was the orthodox lineage of the Daoist sect, the orthodox lineage of Taoism, the Profound Pure True Dao.
Hongjun Dao Ancestor also accepted three disciples, whose names were the Grand Pure Sage, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, and the Master of Heaven.
These three disciples could not comprehend the complete wonder of the Profound Pure Qi, nor could they inherit the complete Daoist lineage.
Hongjun Dao Ancestor could only further divide the "Profound Pure Qi."
The "Profound Pure Qi" was divided into three: "Grand Profound Pure Qi," "Jade Profound Pure Qi," and "Supreme Profound Pure Qi."
Hongjun bestowed "Grand Profound Pure Qi" upon the Grand Pure Sage, "Jade Profound Pure Qi" upon the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, and "Supreme Profound Pure Qi" upon the Master of Heaven.
One Qi passed to three friends, two sects established and split.
The three Sages, having obtained the "Grand Profound Pure Qi," "Jade Profound Pure Qi," and "Supreme Profound Pure Qi," all reached the Sage's fruit through this Qi.
They established the Human Sect, the Chan Sect, and the Jie Sect.
These three sects represented the orthodox lineage of Taoism.
Ancestor Hun Kun inherited the "Profound Spiritual Qi," and further divided the "Profound Spiritual Qi" into two, bestowing it upon Zhunti and Jieyin.