Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"This continent contains those who've stepped into the Heavenly Path, I believe I should explain thoroughly to you." Pinaka's soft voice resounded, her voice a little hesitant. Yan Zaizen's eyes lit up with shock. For a while, Pinaka was reluctant to enlighten him about the Heavenly Path. Considering that he was only at the late-Qi Unification Realm, it truly made sense that he should focus on the path in front of him and not beyond.

However, he has always held a deep-seated curiosity towards the next step in cultivation.

"I'm only telling you this so you, someone with a tyrannical dao, won't do anything that'll get you killed. If you do, then I'll have to find another...that'll be troublesome." Yan Zaizen nodded, obviously not taking her seriously. He was just silently waiting for her to explain.

"There are many forms of cultivation. Cultivation of heavenly laws, alchemy, armament creation, daos, arts, bloodline, the soul, the body, and finally, qi. Out of all these forms of cultivation, the qi interconnects them all in some form or way! The qi can allow the soul to live longer, allow the body to stay youthful longer, excavate and enhance one's bloodline, execute arts, comprehend and utilize heavenly laws, and works in conjunction with the dao!"

"This is not a coincidence. Even if you cultivate the soul purely, your body will eventually die. If you cultivated just the body, your soul will soon decay. You can't use soul energy or vital energy to execute heavenly law or excavate the bloodline! Therefore, the qi path is supreme!"

"The Qi Path has nine Essence Realm, three Heavenly Realms, but that's not it, there's another realm but I'm unsure of its name or characteristics. The nine Realms are: Qi Foundation, Qi Revolving, Essence Formation, Dantian Refinement, Pathway Expansion, Qi Unification, Origin Core, True Essence, and Crimson Star! Each one of these realms has the goal of enhancing your qi in quality, quantity, or increasing your foundation that houses your qi."

"By using essence underneath the heavens, one could progress in their cultivation, excavate their bloodline, and evolve their bodies! After one reaches the peak of the True Essence Realm, they can forgo the Crimson Star Realm and directly venture towards the Heavenly Path."

"The Heavenly Path is divided into three realms: Heavenly Genesis Realm, Heavenly Creation Realm, and Heavenly Ascension Realm! If one had to describe the three in simple words, Heavenly Genesis - Create your Heavenly Foundation! Heavenly Creation - Create Your Own Heavens! Heavenly Ascension - EXCEED THE HEAVENS!" Her voice at the end overflowed with reverence, respect, and excitement.

To create your own heavens?! To exceed the heavens?!

He's heard the term of cultivating to rival the heavens, to exceed the heavens, but you can become the heavens?! Wait...then…

Yan Zaizen's eyes constricted in realization. Pinaka once said that this era was the Rebirth Era, and the era before it was the Chaos Era. Could it be…

As if she read his mind, "Yes! The Chaos Era was ruled by a Heavenly Creation Expert! It was directly ended with his death and the replacement of another Heavenly Creation Expert! In this world, there are only 33 heavens above our skies and earths, ruled by 33 Heavenly Creation Experts. Within their own heavens, they are gods! They could draw power from the core energy of the heavens. They could even change the rules of their heavens at will! However, even gods can be slain!"

"The greater the expert, the more prosperous the heavens they held sovereignty over." Pinaka's tyrannical eyes were filled with reverence to the max, and she couldn't help but daydream of days passed.

"Wait...so...your previous owner?!" Yan Zaizen was always curious about this, could it be...Pinaka's owner was a Heavenly Creation Expert? Could he have created his own heaven?!

"NO! My master may have been profoundly powerful with his own dao, but he was only at the peak middle-stages of the Heavenly Genesis Realm. However, don't underestimate such a level of strength. Those at that level could directly control dozens of realms! They were by no means something you can criticise!"

Yan Zaizen held no criticism. He was filled with shock and awe. If so, then Pinaka's master must've been exceptionally powerful.

"Wait...you said middle-stages...what does that mean?" This was the first time he heard the plural form of middle-stages, typically it was mid-stage. Did the Heavenly Path have different levels than the Essence Path?

"In the Heavenly Genesis Realm, one develops their Heavenly Foundation, commonly referred to as their Heavenly Shrine! Using Heavenly Law Liquid and various heavenly materials, one can construct their Heavenly Shrine, and you would try to continuously build your Heavenly Shrine floor by floor for a total of Nine Floors. One to three is initial-stages, four to six is middle-stages, and seven to nine is late-stages of the Heavenly Genesis Realm."

"However, there's a requirement! One must possess a dao! Even if you're at the peak-True Essence Realm, you'll have less than a 1% chance of surpassing heavenly tribulation to succeed in forming your own dao! Because of this the majority, the VAST majority, of Heavenly Genesis Realm cultivators have bestowed daos."

"However, if the person whose dao you've taken perishes, and their dao vanishes, then you can choose to abandon their dao and your shrine, face Heavenly Tribulation without your shrine to retain it as your own dao, or take the dao of another. There are no other paths. You can not develop your own heaven, even your own foundation, without a dao!"

"You also can't reign over one of the 33 Heavens without your own dao! Furthermore, you can't construct your heavenly shrine without the appropriate comprehension into the heavens, so conceptual laws become exceptionally important. To even take a step into the Heavenly Genesis Realm, you need to reach the manifestation-level of your concept, to reach the middle-stages, you need to reach the domain-level, and to reach the late-stages, you need to reach the sovereign-level!" Recalling this information, Pianka became emotional.

Her previous master had reached the sovereign-level of his conceptual law, but couldn't construct his seventh-floor heavenly shrine. If he could've...then…

Yan Zaizen's eyes lit up in shock. Manifestation-level? Then one can take a step towards the heavens! Manifest your concept, build your own Heavenly Foundation, and touch upon the heavens!

Wait.

"How does the Heavenly Shrine help your cultivation?" This was an important question, typically each realm had a different variation in terms of power in the Essence Path, and it made sense in every regard. However, how does the Heavenly Path differentiate power?

"Hmph!" She snorted, obviously dissatisfied at Yan Zaizen's ignorance, "You should be able to make an educated guess! However, I'll tell you to avoid hurting your brain. Your Heavenly Shrine is constructed from heavenly materials and liquids. Your true-essence undergoes an evolution in quality and power with each additional floor. You can also directly draw power from the heavens within your floors as if it was your own, and since each floor requires vastly greater resources to construct, then the power difference between each floor becomes as great as the sky and the earth!"

Taking all of this information into himself, he couldn't help but marvel at the path of cultivation. To use the heavens to construct your own heavenly foundation, making its power your own, and reaching to a point where you can exceed the 33 heavens.

It was incredible.

"We're here!" Tao's voice broke Yan Zaizen out of his daydream. Looking ahead, he spotted a tall, dim grey door standing straight upright beneath a mountain of red sand. It stood upright and exuded a dull aura that seemed to consume one's soul when looked at directly. The door was oddly placed, it seemed like the mountain of red sand was the roof and walls, and all you needed to do was enter the door to enter a residence.

"Hell's Soul Gate!" Yan Zaizen exclaimed. He was here, the Anima Syndicate's Main Headquarters! People who focus on cultivating their souls to the peak were here!