Chapter 1641 - Only at the Edge
Luo Ying didn’t say anything. He just bowed and said, “I ask the envoy to lead us.” But the envoy had already turned around and left.
As Zhao Hai and Luo Ying walked forward, Luo Ying turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, you must remember this. Don’t offend anyone here. It would bring no advantage to you, to the Hundred Treasures Realm, or to the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield.”
Zhao Hai has no information about this place, so he naturally wouldn’t act unreasonably. Moreover, he also discovered that although the envoy was just a Severed Soul Expert, his attack was completely beyond the Severed Soul Stage. It might be because of the cultivation method that he practiced.
At the same time, Zhao Hai noticed that he was in a valley. It was just like the beginner camp of the World of Cultivation when he first entered the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield. The valley was built cleanly. There were two cliffs on both sides that had caves built into them.
Luo Ying led Zhao Hai to a cave. There were two guards at the entrance. Luo Ying took out a token and showed it to the two. Once the guards gave a nod, Luo Ying led Zhao Hai to enter.
Zhao Hai noticed that the guards were Immortal Experts. Moreover, above the entrance was a tablet that had the number 23 characters(二十三) on it.
Zhao Hai was quite surprised. In the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield, any one of the Immortal Experts would be on the Elder-level. But here they were just guards? It was bizarre.
After the two entered the cave, Zhao Hai discovered that it was very large. The cave was further divided into smaller caves. Each cave was guarded by a formation in front of it.
Luo Ying arrived in front of a cave and then took out a token. The formation outside flashed before it slowly vanished, revealing the inside of the cave. Luo Ying brought Zhao Hai in as the formation closed up behind them.
Zhao Hai looked through the cave. It wasn’t that big at only 100 square meters in size. The inside was also very simple. There were just mats on the floor and nothing else.
But despite this, Luo Ying let out a long breath when they entered the cave. Then he said, “Little Hai, come and sit.” Zhao Hai nodded and then sat down.
Luo Ying sat as well. He looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Do you have questions?”
Zhao Hai nodded, Luo Ying smiled faintly and said, “That’s alright. Everyone who came here has a lot of questions. People like us are here to help answer them.”
Luo Ying looked at Zhao Hai and said, “We are no longer in the same plane as the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield. The plane where the battlefield is located is called the Cultivation Plane. Which meant that people there are termed as Cultivators. These people just touched the beginning of cultivation.”
Zhao Hai stared. Luo Ying smiled faintly and said, “Are you surprised? The strongest cultivators in the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield were the Immortal Experts. These people had extremely long lives and can get rid of mountains in one shot. How can they just be at the edge of the realm of Cultivation?”
Zhao Hai gave a nod. Luo Ying continued, “Little Hai, let me ask you. What’s the purpose of cultivation?”
Zhao Hai stared. He thought for a moment before answering, “To become stronger!”
Luo Ying shook his head and said, “Wanting to become strong isn’t wrong. However, you forgot one thing. Cultivation can allow you to live longer. All creatures under the Heavens have lifespans. High beings of the universe were born being able to sense the Heavens and the Earth, distinguis.h.i.+ng the laws of the universe. These beings live very long lives. Compared to these creatures, Human lives are too short. Because of this, ancient humans started to cultivate and were finally able to create the current system of cultivation. This system strove to go against the heavens itself, violating its rules. This was all in order to live longer.”
Zhao Hai nodded. He agreed to Luo Ying’s words. Cultivators practice in order to gain just a little bit more lifespan.
Luo Ying continued, “Through innumerable years of development, the present cultivation system continued to improve. One might be considered to be an expert when they reach the Immortal Stage in the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield. But in this place, the Immortal Stage is just the beginning.”
Zhao Hai was somewhat shaken. The Immortal Stage was just the beginning. In other words, in this place, the Immortal Stage was the lowest level? How can this be?
Luo Ying saw Zhao Hai’s expression, then he sighed and said, “The plane where we are right now is called the Great Realm of Cultivation. There are countless sects here with extremely powerful predecessors. These sects used supreme techniques and treasure in order to refine one inferior realm one after another. Then they allowed people from the Cultivation Plane to enter these inferior realms. Since these battlefields were created by the Great Realm of Cultivation, it was natural that it would produce powerful experts. This caused the people of the Cultivator Plane to send their people to these inferior realms, which became the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefields. The reason the Great World of Cultivation set these battlefields up was because the battlefields would allow them to pick talents to join their own sects.”
Zhao Hai already guessed some of these details, so he wasn’t too surprised by what Luo Ying said. Luo Ying looked at Zhao Hai and sighed as he said, “In the beginning, these sects held good intentions. Some experts from the battlefields were selected to join the sects and slowly became core members. However, as time pa.s.sed, and the development of the Great Realm of Cultivation continued to increase, talents were now more common. This meant that there was no longer any need to select talents from the battlefields. However, the Great Realm of Cultivation has expended a lot of resources to make the battlefields. And because of how long it has been, the battlefields had firmly anch.o.r.ed themselves in the Cultivator Plane. It was no longer possible to retrieve them. And because the sects couldn’t just abandon the battlefield, they continued to select people from the battlefield. But these people were no longer chosen to enter the sects. Instead, they would be sent to another place, the Life and Death Arena!”
Luo Ying sighed and said, “The Life and Death Arena just emerged in the last couple thousand years. At first it was just used by bored cultivators. They would capture beasts and then put them in the arena to kill each other. But slowly, the cultivators felt that seeing beasts fight had become boring. Then a fight between cultivators happened in the arena. From then on, more and more people watched. Gambling also became more lucrative.”
Zhao Hai smiled bitterly. The more he heard it, the more he was reminded of the underground arenas back on earth. But in this Great Realm of Cultivation, it sounded reasonable and was legal.
Luo Ying continued, “Back then, people from sects would partic.i.p.ate in the fights. They would even initiate life and death duels. But this behavior was stopped by the sects before long. This was because the sect geniuses began dying in the arena. They couldn’t bear such losses.”
Zhao Hai nodded. These sects train their disciples from the ground up. Naturally, they would need trials to become stronger. Plenty of disciples undergo trials. But if a disciple perishes during these trials, it means that all resources spent on them was wasted. Even powerful sects wouldn’t be able to stomach the losses if it happened more than normal.
Moreover, duels weren’t as simple as two cultivators initiating the battle on their own. Sects can also use this opportunity to kill geniuses from an opposing sect. This method was realized later, causing geniuses to die on a large scale. Because of this, sects stopped these kinds of battles.
Luo Ying added, “Although the fight between sect disciples had stopped, the Life and Death Arena didn’t cease to exist. Talents recruited from the various battlefields slowly became unsuitable for cultivation. The Great Realm of Cultivation’s progress was so rapid that the Cultivator Plane has lagged behind. Those who were selected from the battlefields would be much worse in comparison to those who came from the Great Realm of Cultivation itself. Therefore, the sects began to lose interest in recruiting these people. They became useless.”
Hearing Luo Ying so far, Zhao Hai knew why he was being called a battle slave. Luo Ying continued, “Later, since their disciples couldn’t be sent to the Life and Death Arena, the various sects began to send the people from the battlefields to fight. Then these sects would take charge of the bets. In the end, the people selected from the battlefields became Battle Slaves of the Great World of Cultivation.”
Luo Ying sighed and said, “These sects could also be regarded as a bit conscientious. Although the cultivators they recruited from the battlefields had been turned into war slaves, they can still become an outer sect disciple once they manage to win a hundred duels. It’s even possible to be promoted to be an inner sect disciple, becoming an official member of the sect.”
Zhao Hai looked at Luo Ying and asked, “Are there levels lower than outer disciples in these sects?”
Luo Ying replied, “Naturally there is. Under Outer Sect Disciples are Serving Disciples. Serving Disciples have skill but not enough to be a talent. They can slowly level up to become Outer Disciples. Strictly speaking, Serving Disciples are on the same level as Battle Slaves, minus the dangerous situation.”