Compared to mortals who sought longevity, immortals sought the path to eternal life.
1 million years was considered longevity.
But after 1 million years, one"s body would still crumble, and one"s dao would dissipate.
Only eternal life was true freedom from death.
For example, the Jade Emperor had been around for about 2 billion years.
But the Yan Huang Ancient Emperor did know much about the future path after that.
All he knew was that after the Nine Xuan Dao Realm lay the Immortal Lord Realm.
In the 8,000 Sky Palaces, the Ancient Emperor was actually a borderline failure.
But Wu Yu knew that above the Immortal Lord Realm, there had to be more. If he could devour a more capable immortal, maybe he would know.
"The 8,000 Sky Palaces are layered one on top of the other. The strong are above, the weak below.
"Martial cultivators, in order to attain longevity, cultivate dao to become immortals.
"Immortal cultivators, in order to attain eternal life, and climb to the top of the 8,000 Sky Palaces, dominate other immortals and all life."
Standing at the 7,000th level of heaven or high and looking down on all the land - the feeling had to be incredible.
As Wu Yu looked up and saw that there were more than 7,000 levels of heaven above him, the thought of so many immortals being above him made him uncomfortable.
It felt like his fate was being controlled.
He felt that perhaps after he won back his body and became immortal dao companions with Luo Pin, he could go and study the meaning of immortal cultivation.
As for now, he was not able to do immortal cultivation at all. All he could do was devour.
Therefore, his goal was unshakable: head to the Pu Yuan Sky Palace and get his real body back.
Before that, he would go to Qingyuan City and buy an immortal treasure wars.h.i.+p.
It would be his first time stepping into a city of immortals.
Actually, Wu Yu had already seen many immortals before entering.
These immortals were mostly heavenly immortals, and there were young and old ones, men and women. They might have their own immortal residences, but they could not possibly stay secluded forever. Many cultivation materials could only be traded for in the immortal cities.
There were only about 100 immortals and ghostly immortals in the Great Ancient Ink Realm, and Wu Yu could already see many more than that before him now.
Besides, the strongest in the Great Ancient Ink Realm were only 3-Yuan heavenly immortals. This place was completely different. Many looked unremarkable, but they might have the power to make Wu Yu quake.
In the body of the Heaven Devouring Avatar, his sense of danger was extremely acute.
For example, there was a veiled man who stood before the castle gates, unmoving. Wu Yu suspected that he was not at the Longevity Immortal Realm, but the Nine Xuan Dao Realm.
Because his aura was not that of a heavenly immortal. Compared to the notable strength of a heavenly immortal, his body was developed to perfection, and also had a hint of dao to it. It made him blend into this world even more easily. Therefore, if one did not look carefully, he might appear to be a normal immortal.
When Wu Yu entered Qingyuan City, he realized that there were a lot of immortals here. Within the immortal city, they were just ordinary immortals.
At most, they were looked at with a little respect by the heavenly immortals.
Qingyuan City was one of the more than 2,000 immortal cities in the Green Argus Border Region. It was roughly the size of the Immortal"s Capital.
But here, there were innumerable immortals. The number of shops selling immortal treasures, immortal essences, immortal talismans, and precious artifacts[1] was beyond counting.
The immortal city was bustling with the voices of the immortals, chatting and discussing dao.
This was a sky palace!
Wu Yu had once dreamed about this place. In his imagination, the sky palace was just a single palace. Who knew that it was so big?
8,000 Sky Palaces!
After taking a tour around Qingyuan City, he had seen so many immortals who had lived for more than 100,000 years. It was extremely hard to take in for someone who had just come from the mortal domain.
However, he had to speed up the pace.
He could only briefly enjoy the sky palace of his dreams.
He found a shop selling immortal treasure wars.h.i.+ps. It was not a big shop, and the owner was an elder. Evidently, he had lived the majority of his life. He was roughly a 4-Yuan heavenly immortal, but perhaps three yuan had already pa.s.sed for him.
This meant that he was already an ancient ancestor for Wu Yu, if this was the mortal domain.
This elder"s name was Shen Gonghu.
"Your eyes are pretty special. I rarely see them that color." Shen Gonghu took Wu Yu around his store.
"I want this one." Wu Yu looked at the wars.h.i.+p. It cost 80 Immortal Recovery Pills.
Its name was the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p. Because of the connection to the Dong Sheng Divine Continent, Wu Yu really liked the name. Besides, it had spirit designs that had bewildering speeds. If Wu Yu used it, his speed would easily be multiplied by 10.
This was a fine thing to have on the road.
Its drawback was that it was not very stealthy.
"You have a good eye. This Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p is indeed very speedy. Seems like you"re headed for the Well of Eternal Life?"
This old man had a shrewd eye.
"Indeed."
"Be careful on the way. The Well of Eternal Life is quite far from here. I really envy you. Young and full of vigor. I"m already old - I will just spend the rest of my days here in the Green Lotus Sky." Shen Gonghu sighed.
Although he had started to enter his sunset years, he actually still had tens of thousands of years left.
But after attaining immortalhood, struggling to become a 4-Yuan heavenly immortal meant that his talent was just ordinary.
"However, it"s already better than being a mortal. Haha." Shen Gonghu laughed. He was a little ashamed.
Becoming an immortal was not the end point.
It was but a second starting point.
And he had not managed to make it too far from the second starting point.
"I don"t have Immortal Recovery Pills. Can I trade other immortal treasures for it?" Wu Yu said.
"No problem. Take out your treasures, and I"ll see what you have." The old man was very easygoing.
Wu Yu took out four immortal treasures.
The old man"s eyes lit up. "You have quite some treasures."
He looked them over and said, "But their quality is pretty ordinary. They"re not equal to this Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p of mine. How about this. I"ll take two of them. That"s a fair deal, and I"m not ripping you off."
"Deal." Wu Yu agreed easily. Actually, he was getting the worse end of the deal, because his immortal treasures were offensive weapons, while the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p was not. Therefore, even though the spirit designs were roughly the same, offensive immortal treasures were usually worth a bit more.
"Use it well," Shen Gonghu advised.
"Got it."
Wu Yu took the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p. This was his first time blood bonding with an immortal treasure. He left Qingyuan City and began immediately in the outskirts. It was not difficult. His immortal spirit was currently extremely overpowering, so the immortal treasure could not hold out against it.
"Go!"
After settling it, he rode the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p towards the Well of Eternal Life. It was also where the Green Lotus Immortal Palace was. It was said that the Green Lotus Sky"s Green Lotus Immortal King lived there.
The Green Lotus Immortal King was the ruler of the Green Lotus Sky. He had accepted the edict of the Jade Emperor and was appointed as the top immortal here to govern the Green Lotus Sky.
"I wonder how strong this Green Lotus Immortal King is. And what cultivation level he is at."
Wu Yu was full of antic.i.p.ation at reaching this new stage of the 8,000 Sky Palaces.
The Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p was indeed very fast, as expected of an immortal treasure. Flying in the sky above the sky palace, the scenery around him was a blur. And because the spirit designs were activated, the drain on Wu Yu"s immortal energy was rather minimal.
Right now, he was singularly focused on reaching the Well of Eternal Life as quickly as possible. Therefore, he locked on to the shortest direct path and increased the throttle.
He had no time to stop and smell the roses.
"Ancient Emperor, I"m coming."
Looking ahead, the killing intent in Wu Yu rose.
But suddenly, he felt a shock.
He did not know what had happened, but the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p was actually being attacked.
Because the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p was very fast, and weak in terms of both defenses and concealment, it was extremely obvious. But ordinary people would not attack others out of the blue!
And the impact was huge and repeated. The first blow had already sent the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p cras.h.i.+ng into the ground, churning up much soil and many trees. It was already damaged.
The Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p crashed and skidded for a long time before it stopped. Wu Yu was just about to take flight again when another attack came.
"Are you mad?" He had not even offended anyone here.
But the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p could not afford to be damaged anymore. He quickly stowed it, emerging outside. The ground outside had been churned into a mess by the Divine Continent Wars.h.i.+p. The trees had been sent flying and thick furrows had been gouged into the soil.
Wu Yu immediately locked on to the culprit.
It was a young man and woman. Of course, they were immortals. The youngster wore lavish robes that were probably the transformation of some immortal treasure. He had a unique air about him and wore a green hairband. He held a foldable fan in his hand and an air of swagger hung around him. He resembled the Full Moon of Nanshan a little.
The beauty was wearing long robes of pink. She was cute as a b.u.t.ton, although a little pampered. She looked at Wu Yu with an uncomfortably condescending look.
But Wu Yu did not know them at all.
He had just emerged when he saw the girl cuddle up to the man"s arm. "Big Brother Liu Yuanqing, you"re so awesome. It’s such a fast wars.h.i.+p, but you could hit it. That"s so cool."
The man called Liu Yuanqing smiled. "I told you. Big Brother"s ‘shooting skills’ are fairly accurate. Want to try it for yourself?"
Gu Meiyu blushed. "Big Brother is so naughty, to tease like that." Liu Yuanqing laughed. "But you promised me. If I can shoot down the wars.h.i.+p, you"ll give me a kiss. Don"t be shy now."
Seeing their soppy banter, Wu Yu was speechless.
He had been intently covering ground. These two had actually knocked him out of the sky just for their own romantic amus.e.m.e.nt?
What nonsense was this?
More, they did not seem to have the slightest inclination to apologize. Wu Yu had a face full of dust, and they were treating him like he did not exist.
"I say, you should scram. Don"t bother us." Liu Yuanqing did not even look at Wu Yu. While fondling the girl, he waved a hand at Wu Yu.
"In the end, immortals in the sky palaces are no different from mortals, albeit stronger. The rules here are still the same - the strong feed on the weak. It"s no different from the law of the jungle."
From the memories of the Yan Huang Ancient Emperor, along with his own experience now, Wu Yu understood this.
This man was a 7-Yuan heavenly immortal, and was frightfully strong. He could crush Wu Yu, so naturally he did not take him seriously.
1. the name of precious treasures in the sky palaces