"No!"
"I want to get out, I want to reclaim my physical body, I want to slaughter you all, destroy your orthodoxy, and sever this realm's foundation!"
"I want to get out, even if it means reigniting the War of the Gods, I must find the path to the heavens!"
"I want to get out, I want to go to the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, and I want him to personally kneel before me and repent!"
"No..."
Myriad streams of dark energy descended, step by step sealing the mysterious deep red phantom back into the thousand-zhang blood coffin!
Until the mysterious phantom disappeared, Monk Huyánzàn and his disciple still hadn't clearly seen its true form.
"Stop looking. With your two younglings' cultivation, even if your twelve divine fires were extinguished, you still wouldn't be able to see through its true body!"
The old man with the gray-white high hat glanced at Monk Huyánzàn and his disciple with a hint of disdain.
"Senior, may I ask...?"
With the oppressive aura gone and his legs gradually recovering after taking the pill, Huyánzàn stood up and bowed slightly to the gray-white high hat old man.
"Don't ask!"
The old man in the gray-white high hat immediately turned his face away.
"These things are too ancient, so ancient that even thinking about them fills me with dread. Time truly flies!"
The old man tilted his head slightly, looking up at the dark sky.
"You two youngsters are truly something. What kind of place is this? I'm very curious. How did your divine power, at the Virtual God realm, traverse that sea of blood and the ancient battlefield, especially this hundred-zhang path before you!"
"Sigh!"
The gray-white high hat old man suddenly turned his head, looking at the twelve crimson-gold divine fires burning on Monk Huyánzàn and his disciple, his curiosity piqued.
"I am truly curious. This world, after the fall of gods and its remolding, took an epoch to form the nascent shape of the current Three Thousand Dao Provinces!"
"Although the path of cultivation has undergone minor changes, most of it is inherited from the ancient era. Your divine fire, ignited in the Divine Fire realm, truly makes me curious!"
"After so much time has passed, this is the first time I've encountered such strange divine fire. Could it be because of this divine fire that you two were able to reach this place?"
"Senior, this..."
Shang Shi Tu walked over, looking at the silent thousand-zhang blood coffin behind them.
"Don't worry, the scene from just now will not happen again. This reinforcement will at least keep it quiet for a million years!"
The old man smiled gently, his eyes shimmering with divine light as he scanned the crimson-gold divine fires of the two. "Your divine fire is not simple to ignite. A mere Virtual God possesses the power to slay True Gods. Not bad!"
"You are very good!"
The old man knew that the two did not belong to this era, nor even to this world. However, these matters were not enough to draw his attention. This world was vast, its scope immeasurable, and there were countless incredible things.
"What kind of creature is being suppressed within this place?"
"Don't ask!"
The old man shook his head again. "These things, even in the central region of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, very few beings know about them."
"This matter of the blood sea and suspended coffin is too ancient for you now. The creature being suppressed within has far surpassed the limit of the Great Dao that this world can bear!"
"If it were to escape, the Three Thousand Dao Provinces would surely be destroyed!"
"Do you see this thousand-zhang blood coffin? This blood coffin was refined by an unfathomable mighty being for tens of millions of years. Numerous restrictions were set upon it, continuously grinding away its primordial divine blood until it was completely dissipated!"
"And within this thousand-zhang blood coffin is not its physical body, but merely a heart and a wisp of its primordial spirit!"
"What?"
"A heart!!"
The pressure emanating from a single heart had suppressed the two of them here, and that was merely the residual effect. The being hadn't even made a move.
"Then how long has it been suppressed here?"
Huyánzàn asked cautiously.
"Three epochs!"
The old man extended his hand as if touching something, then looked up at the two.
"Three epochs!!!"
This was too incredibly long!
"Time is almost up. The divine essence within should be completely worn away. After it perishes, I can report my findings, enjoy this newly reborn world for a while, and then await my death!"
"In this world, the path to further advancement has been completely severed. There is no hope!! No hope!!"
"Hahaha!!"
Three epochs!
Then the old man before them must be...
The two exchanged glances, swallowing their shock.
"What are you thinking?"
"Since you have both reached this place, I might as well tell you about the cultivation path of this world!"
"Starting from your current Virtual God realm, you can then achieve Godhood and enter the ranks of True Gods!"
"Above True Gods is the Heavenly God realm, and Heavenly God is the crucial realm that distinguishes the three, six, and nine tiers of beings!"
"And this realm is the gate that opens the path to becoming a Saint!"
"Therefore, the ancient sages unified the realms above Heavenly God as the Seven Stages of Saintly Ascension!"
"The Seven Stages of Saintly Ascension!"
The two heard this.
"Yes!"
The old man flicked some dust off his clothes. "The Seven Stages of Saintly Ascension are: Heavenly God realm, Dao God realm, Quasi-Saint realm, Saint realm, Saint King realm, Great Saint realm, and Saint Lord realm! These are the Seven Stages of Saintly Ascension!"
"Upon reaching the Saint Lord realm, all beings, whether their physical bodies or primordial spirits, will gain a lifespan of eighty million years!"
"What about after that?"
Shang Shi Tu instinctively asked.
"After that?"
"That is too far for you!"
"Merely these Seven Stages of Saintly Ascension have seen countless outstanding heroes worn away by time!"
"By the time you manage to grow to the Saint Lord realm, the territory of the Great Han Imperial Dynasty behind you will likely have completely occupied the six hundred Dao Provinces in the western part of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces!"
"The Three Thousand Dao Provinces is merely a nominal term. This world, from what I sense, has far more than three thousand Dao Provinces!"
"If you have the chance and your Great Han can grow to that point, be sure to be wary of the Eight Great Families in the central region of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces!!"
"The Eight Great Families?"
"What kind of power is this?"
"The history of the Eight Great Families is as ancient as the being suppressed within this blood sea and suspended coffin!"
"They accompanied each other and witnessed a great era, and they also personally destroyed that era!"
"Alright!"
The gray-white high hat old man suddenly felt a bit weary. "I'm getting old, and talking too much makes me sleepy!"
"Go back and tell your Han Emperor that I am suppressing this place, so there is no need to worry. Do not try to excavate it. What is buried here is a history that was destroyed by someone. Do not offend this great taboo, lest you bring about the disaster of the nation!"
"Remember my words! One day, if your Great Han truly unifies the six hundred Dao Provinces in the west, be sure to avoid the Eight Great Families in the central region, and do not extend your reach into the central region of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces!"