Long Aojing led Wu Hong to his mansion, and as soon as they arrived, a beautiful woman in a pink robe, with red hair and a voluptuous chest she was not afraid to display, weled them.
"Lord, is this a new sister?"
"No, no, no," Long Aojing swiftly explained. "This is Fellow Daoist Wu. Go prepare a room for her, and have Hua'er clean up the library."
The mander glanced at Wu Hong out of the corner of his eye to gauge her reaction, but she remained cold and indifferent. He sighed to himself before leading her to his study, where he made tea.
"I'm sure that fellow Daoist is used to better tea, but this is the best I can currently offer."
Wu Hong did not immediately ment on the tea and just calmly drank it. Of course, she tested it first. As soon as the tea touched her mouth, an invisible rune absorbed and swiftly analyzed it before she consumed it.
"It's fine," she answered. In her life, she has drunk better and worse tea; this one could be described as mediocre — not good, but not bad either.
"That's good," Long Aojing replied, a twinkle in her eyes. He was now more sure of his assessment. Emperor Path cultivators care too much about proving they are better than everyone else. As such, most of them are rude, criticizing everything that is not from the Emperor Path. And their arrogance has even affected the other holy lands, which in turn influenced everyone in the central area, as they do everything possible to show their superiority over the people of the Borderworlds.
Long Aojing continued the conversation, or at least, he tried. Unfortunately, Wu Hong's short, direct answers did little to maintain it. A few minutes passed, and she finally asked: "This should be enough for you to remove the sensitive information, right?"
"Oh, right," Long Aojing nodded while secretly sighing to himself. He then led her to his library.
"It's smaller than I thought," Wu Hong thought. However, considering that this civilization was on the verge of extinction, it made sense that record-keeping was not one of their priorities. The empress did not waste time on the library's size before diving in. She knew people were probably secretly monitoring her, so she used her divine sense to read countless pieces of information at once, leaving no clue to her purpose. A few days passed, and Wu Hong finished all the books and recordings in this library.
"Things are a bit plicated," she thought. This timeline — which the native referred to as the Myriad Vitality All-Heaven World — diverged from the Primordial Timeline around the end of the Qi Age. As the cultivation of Qi was rapidly being replaced by the Emperor Path, cultivators across the entire timeline resisted. After all, no one wanted to bee obsolete.
That war was called the Dao Path War, and the records show that Emperor Path held the advantage until a brilliant mind emerged: Paragon Three-Virtue. He single-handedly reorganized the Qi Cultivation System to be on par with the Emperor Path and led Qi cultivators in a counterattack against the Emperor Path.
However, just as the Qi Path was about to prevail, the Emperor Path summoned an unknown power into the world: the Red Cloud and the Destructo Race. The Red Cloud spread from one world after another, destroying everything in its path. Luckily, just as the timeline faced annihilation, three Saints appeared: Paragon Three Virtue, Paragon Five Element, and Emperor Sui.
The three created the three holy lands as the world's last refuge before entering the Red Cloud to find the source. From that day on, the speed at which the Red Cloud spread drastically decreased, but the Saints were never heard of again. And without the Saint's presence to control the situation, cultivators did what they were best at: fight among each other.
"The existence of Saints has raised the danger level of this outing," Wu Hong thought. "Plus, there is also the source of the Red Cloud — that's an unknown and rather dangerous variable."
Her mind operated rapidly as she analyzed the information she had just read. Much of it was unreliable due to the immense bias; It's quite evident that a Qi Cultivator wrote these records, and without seeing the other side, Wu Hong couldn't rely on much of the information provided.
"The Red Cloud might be very useful in perfecting my Destruction Seal, and even achieve my objective in ing here," Wu Hong thought. If done correctly, she might be able to deduce her own Omega Rune without traveling to countless other destroyed timelines. "However, the greatest trouble I need to prepare for is the Saints."
Wu Hong did not like the idea that her life would be in absolute danger the moment the Saints returned. Although all signs indicate they might have died, she wasn't willing to risk it. Her safety should not be left to some undetermined possibility.
"But, how do I protect myself from them?" Wu Hong thought. As soon as she asked herself that, she had an answer: "That Destined Hero Array, it seems to have the potential to reach the Saint Tier. Could I use something similar?"
Many ideas popped into her mind; however, none of them were feasible or free of flaws. After realizing this could not be done in a day, Wu Hong walked out of the library, where a servant awaited her.
"Give this to your lord," she said, handing him a talisman with a few methods to temporarily fix the array. After reading all the information in that library, she had an even better understanding of this world. Hence, her solution was not only more effective than the one she previously used, but it also didn't require a foreign system such as runes.
"Y-yes, ma'am," the servant replied as he took the talisman with both hands.
"You've prepared a room for me, right?"
"Yes, follow me."
Wu Hong walked to her assigned room, and as soon as she was alone, she set up an array that immediately found a few dozen hidden techniques for spying on her. Now that she is alone with her thoughts, she can better plan for her next step.
"Let's begin with analyzing the cultivation system."
Before sanctification, this timeline's system is divided into six stages. The First is Qi Gathering, which is also divided into three sub-sections of low, middle, and top. Qi Gathering does exactly as implied: a cultivator uses any Energy Gathering Area (Dantian, Sea of Consciousness, etc.) to amass Qi or energy. Different techniques determine which kind of Qi is used or which organs to use.
The second stage is called Heaven and Earth Qi, which is also divided into lower, middle, and upper levels. In this stage, Qi cultivators usually condense their souls to analyze and manipulate the energy between Heaven and Earth. According to Wu Hong's analysis, their strength is between the Supernatural and the Primordial Spirit Realm.
Stage three is the Qi Ocean Stage. The name refers not only to the vast quantity of energy within a Qi Cultivator's body, but also to the concept that they now see the universe as an ocean of energy to manipulate. In this stage, everything is or can be turned into Qi — including the Power of Law.
The Fourth Stage is called the [Ascension Stage], and it's similar to the realm of [Immortality]. In this realm, the cultivators have many options. There is the obvious Immortal Path, the Qi Paragon Path, and the Emperor Path, which is still about understanding the Grand Dao Source. However, unlike those on other Emperor Paths, the cultivators in this timeline do not have a Dao Body/Emperor Body. Instead, they have a Dao Sea.
In the Primordial Timeline, an Emperor Body is achieved by absorbing a cultivator's energy, laws, and abilities; only the soul remains a semi-independent entity. Everything else is bined into a better and more potent whole. However, this timeline does the opposite.
The cultivators' bodies, laws, and everything else are absorbed into their vast ocean of Qi; the Qi Ocean bees the main body of the cultivator. One of the flaws of the Immortal and Dao Path is that their cultivation will be gone as soon as their Immortal Mansion and Inner Worlds are destroyed. However, this issue does not apply to the Dao Sea. Just as an Emperor Body is a semi-conceptual entity with enormous defensive and regenerative powers, the same principles apply to the Dao Sea; it even shares the immunity or defense that the Dao Body provides against Qis.
Aside from this difference in manifestation, this timeline's Emperor Path differs little from the Primordial Timeline. Emperors, Empyreans, and Paragons must deepen their understanding of the Grand Dao Source, thereby further developing the Dao Sea/Dao Body. The Paragon Soul must also be cultivated separately.
The fifth stage is the [Primal Stage]; just like the Primordial Timeline, it involves optimizing the soul, creating Ultimate Techniques, and then manipulating the Grand Concepts. However, since this world only has the Source Qi Space, the cultivators have pushed this single manipulation to the absolute limit; some of the Primals of this timeline would be on par with SSS-Class Primals despite only using one Grand Construct.
However, that's not what Wu Hong cares about. The biggest truth she learned about this timeline's cultivation system is the fact that the Emperor Path lost its dominance after the fifth stage. In fact, they technically lack a sixth stage, whereas the Qi Paragon Path does have one.
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