The world changed.
And the vast protagonist's destiny, Fang Ming knew, meant another protagonist had been born.
His name: Wang Yuan.
...
Among the three thousand minor worlds, one was called the Azure Heaven Realm.
The Azure Heaven Realm, vast with seventy-four states, teemed with countless beings, myriad anomalies, and countless sects of cultivators living within.
Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation... countless cultivators climbed this ladder, striving to reach even stronger realms, even tracing back to the legendary Dao Integration.
Yet, the Azure Heaven Realm had only existed for fifty thousand years since the reopening of heaven and earth and the tribulation of reincarnation.
In all this time, there had been Nascent Soul Spirit Lords and Spirit Transformation Dao Lords, but never had a Dao Integration realm cultivator been born.
Many cultivators in the Azure Heaven Realm, Spirit Transformation Dao Lords, could travel to other worlds, and from those worlds, they had gleaned some news.
The Azure Heaven Realm, ten reincarnations ago, had once produced a Dao Integration realm cultivator. Since that cultivator perished and heaven and earth returned to their origin, no one had achieved Dao Integration again.
For a full ten reincarnations, no Dao Integration realm cultivator had appeared, only those Spirit Transformation realm cultivators, like ants.
Ants.
There were seven major realms of cultivation. Even if one cultivated to the peak of Spirit Transformation in the first five realms, they were merely ants to a Dao Integration realm cultivator.
Dao Integration, even in ancient times, was akin to immortality.
And now, though communication with the Immortal Realm was lost, they were still terrestrial immortals.
A lifespan of one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years.
A lifespan of over ten thousand years at will made those Spirit Transformation Dao Lords, with lifespans of only two to three thousand years, seem like ants, which was quite ordinary.
The difference between Spirit Transformation and Dao Integration was too vast.
The lifespan of a single Dao Integration realm cultivator could span the succession of dozens of generations of Spirit Transformation Dao Lords.
Precisely because of this.
In the current reincarnation, within the Azure Heaven Realm, most cultivation sects regarded the Dao Integration realm as a legend of uncertain truth. Only those top Spirit Transformation cultivators at the pinnacle of this realm knew that the Dao Integration realm was real; other cultivators had already dismissed it as a myth.
In Kang State, Azure Heaven Realm.
Wang Yuan opened his eyes, startled awake from layers of nightmares.
He looked around at the familiar yet strange surroundings and exclaimed in shock, "This... this is within the Wang family?"
"I've been reborn?"
He remembered that he had made a wrong choice in the era of great contention, siding with that Spirit Transformation Dao Lord of the Lan family.
That Spirit Transformation Dao Lord, in terms of schemes, arrangements, and subordinate sects, was top-tier. But when his opponent successfully merged with the Heavenly Dao and advanced to the Dao Integration realm, no matter how ambitious he was, he could not salvage the outcome.
The might of the Dao Integration realm was far beyond what the Spirit Transformation realm could comprehend. In the great worlds, Dao Integration cultivators were even called Dao Integration Emperor Lords.
A Dao Integration realm cultivator who merged with the Azure Heaven Realm, if in a more knowledgeable great world, would naturally not be qualified to bear the title of Emperor. However, the Azure Heaven Realm was a minor place, and its cultivators had never witnessed the true might of a Dao Integration Emperor Lord. Thus, they also referred to cultivators who merged with the Azure Heaven Realm as Dao Integration Emperor Lords.
Although it was a compliment, it fully illustrated a principle: whether it was a true Dao Integration Emperor Lord or an ordinary Dao Integration realm cultivator, there was no difference to cultivators of lower realms.
With the opponent having become a Dao Integration Emperor Lord, the Spirit Transformation Dao Lord Wang Yuan had sided with naturally turned to dust in helplessness.
And with his backing gone, Wang Yuan, who had made a wrong choice in his speculation, had his soul and Golden Core eroded by the power contained within the gaze of that Dao Integration Emperor Lord, who had surveyed him from millions of miles away.
How powerful was a Dao Integration Emperor Lord?
They represented the power of a world, like the wrath of heaven. Even a mere glance, carrying malice, was enough to shatter the soul and Golden Core of Wang Yuan, who had reached the peak of the Golden Core realm at the time.
His soul was annihilated.
How fragile was a decaying soul before the power of an Emperor.
His Golden Core was annihilated.
Even if one refined it through nine turns, consumed the Nine Revolutions Nine Returns Jade Elixir Divine Pill, and condensed a high-grade Golden Core, it only offered hope of reaching the Nascent Soul Spirit Lord path. Under the gaze of a Dao Integration Emperor Lord, it was torn apart almost instantly.
The peak of Spirit Transformation, compared to a Dao Integration Emperor Lord, could not even withstand a single divine ability.
Wang Yuan felt no surprise at this outcome for the peak of the Golden Core realm.
In the final moments of his life, he only regretted choosing the wrong backer.
If he had not chosen that Spirit Transformation Dao Lord of the Lan family, but instead the one who had now ascended to Dao Integration Emperor Lord, he would not have died.
Not only would he not have died, but with the resources from a successful gamble, he might have lived very happily in the future, with a sure path to becoming a Nascent Soul Spirit Lord, and even a slim chance of becoming a Spirit Transformation Dao Lord.
He regretted his past misjudgment of his patron.
This was his final thought before death.
And now...
Wang Yuan looked at the scene around him, still feeling a sense of unreality.
Rebirth was something unprecedented among cultivators.
Had he truly been reborn?
"Could this be an illusion? A formation?"
Looking at his youthful self in the mirror, Wang Yuan always felt a sense of unreality.
This was the Wang family.
The Wang family was one of the immortal cultivation families of Kang State. Their ancestors had once had a Golden Core ancestor, but now they were somewhat in decline compared to their ancestors, yet they still had a few cultivators at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment guarding them.
Wang Yuan had spent almost his entire first thirty years here.
But to him now, the memories of this place seemed somewhat blurred.
It was too far, too far.
He was a Golden Core True Person who had cultivated for three hundred years. The current scene was something that had happened three hundred years ago for him.
Three hundred years had passed, and some things, some details, had become indistinct.
"If it is an illusion formation, it is rather interesting."
Wang Yuan looked around the surroundings.
Familiar scenes alone could not dispel the possibility of him being trapped in an illusion formation.
He had to go out and see for himself.
Wang Yuan stepped out of his room, walking through the family compound, and as he walked, he gradually regained his past memories, as if he had truly returned to that time.
The Wang family was a cultivation family, and Wang Yuan possessed a dual spiritual root aptitude.
Such an aptitude was that of a prodigy, and he should have received the full cultivation resources of the family.
However, Wang Yuan had a fifth uncle who also had dual spiritual roots. Because he was of an older generation, he had long ago cultivated to the great perfection of Foundation Establishment.
Although the Wang family's ancestors had produced a Golden Core ancestor, since that ancestor's departure, the strongest patriarch in each generation had only reached the great perfection of Foundation Establishment.
Almost the entire Wang family yearned for a clansman to cultivate to a higher realm.