This world, from ancient times to the present, has experienced several calamities: the opening of chaos, the struggle for Daoist orthodoxy, the dragon and phoenix catastrophe, the witch monster conflicts, the chaotic era of Xue Zu, the rise of the human race, and so on, in the conflicts over immortals and monsters.
In these successive struggles, many powerful races have been obliterated in the river of history, gradually forming a pattern where the Daoist Ancestor remained detached from the world, the Immortal Emperor governed the Three Realms, emperors managed the Mortal Realm, the Underworld Emperor controlled the netherworld, and the Demon Emperor oversaw all monsters.
The Heavenly Court was established by the Immortal Emperor with support from the Daoist Ancestor during the conflict between immortals and monsters, and it has existed for millions of years.
All the important positions in the Immortal Court were held by the veterans of the great war between immortals and monsters.
But over the millions of years, quite a few outstanding humans also ascended to the Immortal Realm and, under the arrangement of the Immortal Emperor, occupied important positions in the Heavenly Court.
The Ten Directions Celestial Venerable, the Three Officials Emperor, marshals of various roads, thirty-six Spirit Officials, seventy-two Sky Generals, the Nine Divisions Three Provinces, all sorts of Star Lords...
There were countless official titles and positions, the powers among which were constantly undermining and restraining each other. Sometimes, the God Spirits carrying out tasks below had several direct superiors...
The Heavenly Master’s Mansion was a newly emerged political force, initially deliberately supported by the Immortal Emperor to balance the influence of the veteran powers.
However, with insufficient heritage, the Heavenly Master’s Mansion was suppressed by the secretly powerful Celestial Venerables and was marginalized before it could rise, so much so that even the Immortal Emperor paid little attention to the few Heavenly Masters now.
Now, the four Heavenly Master’s Mansions basically held nominal but no real power in the Heavenly Court...
...
Lou Zhen prattled on about many things.
From his haphazard gossip, Duge analyzed many real situations within the Heavenly Court and finally concluded that the Heavenly Court was now bloated in structure, with unclear responsibilities, and overstaffed...
This situation was likely due to too long a peace.
The lack of major calamities to consume the long-lived immortals within the Heavenly Court was what led to the extreme bloating of power.
The Immortal Emperor had most likely lost control of the Heavenly Court, or perhaps couldn’t be bothered to control it anymore.
What Duge considered as a precise system targeting Alien Warriors was simply an outcome of the normal functioning of the Heavenly Court’s machinery.
It was also possible that the Alien Warriors, being nouveau riche in this world, had been too conspicuous, attracting disasters upon themselves.
In summary.
The Heavenly Court was not as united as he had imagined; otherwise, the one coming to investigate Dragon Tiger Mountain should have been the South Peak Emperor.
Instead, it was people from Dragon Tiger Mountain who arrived, which was probably an unofficial act of favor exchange...
Nevertheless, for Duge, this was a good thing, as it meant the oppressive presence from the Heavenly Court wasn’t as strong.
...
Duge also obtained a Cultivation Technique for immortals from Lou Zhen.
The Cultivation Technique Lou Zhen practiced came from the Heavenly Master’s Mansion, still based on the Dragon Tiger Mountain cultivation system. It was an upgraded version of the "Returning Yuan Daoist Method," prepared for the Immortal Body after ascension.
Duge’s current Realm was not yet suitable for practicing it.
In fact.
The Cultivation Technique active inside Duge’s body was already not much related to Dragon Tiger Mountain. The Cultivation Technique he created by integrating several methods was even more powerful than Lou Zhen’s upgraded version of the "Returning Yuan Daoist Method."
Duge believed that the Cultivation Technique he was using now could still be practiced upon reaching the Heavenly Court.
Just like the issues Duge was currently facing, it was incredibly difficult for an Immortal descending to the Mortal Realm to recover their power.
Unless relying on Immortal Pills, the efficiency of converting Mortal Realm’s Spiritual Energy into Immortal Spiritual Power was too low. In this regard, the Cultivation Techniques from the Immortal Realm might even be inferior to the ones Duge created himself.
One should know, Duge’s absorption rate of Spiritual Power was not slow.
It was only because he would deplete all Spiritual Energy of Dragon Tiger Mountain for his own cultivation, preventing others from practicing, that he didn’t cultivate intentionally...
And even if he exhausted Dragon Tiger Mountain’s Spiritual Energy, it wouldn’t increase his strength by much, only slightly faster than basking in the sun or sitting in the dark.
By comparison, Duge’s Divine Body and Divine Power should be not much different from an Immortal Body and Immortal Spiritual Power that had endured thunder tribulations, and might even be better.
After all, people like Lou Zhen don’t cultivate, and their power does not increase.
That’s also why Immortals seldom descend to the Mortal Realm; the Spiritual Energy below is too sparse to guarantee their growth.
Of course, an Immortal’s power is too strong for the Mortal Realm, which is why the conditions for their descent are very strict – they can’t just descend whenever they wish.
The number of Immortals was too great.
After so many years of development, resources in the Immortal Realm were no longer abundant. Most Cultivators from the lower realm who ascended without any background could only slowly absorb Spiritual Energy to improve their Cultivation Level.
Things like Immortal Pills, flat peaches, and ambrosia that could quickly boost one’s power had nothing to do with them.
And after ascension to Immortality, advancing to higher realms often required these divine items for breaking through.
To rise from a True Immortal to a Heavenly Immortal, to a Golden Immortal, and even to a Daluo Golden Immortal, one would need excellent comprehension and resources. Otherwise, it was almost impossible.
Because of this, most people after ascension could be stuck in the True Immortal Realm for life.
Because of his Daoist Rhyme, Heavenly Master Xu quickly broke through from a True Immortal to a Heavenly Immortal after his ascension, which garnered the Immortal Emperor’s attention. He was exceptionally appointed a Heavenly Master, and the so-called exorcising demons from the Mortal Realm to accumulate merits was merely an official pretext.
Even so, the Daoist Rhyme that Xu Wen’an and others had perceived only supported his rise to the Heavenly Immortal Realm. He had been stuck in the Heavenly Immortal Realm for decades.
Indeed, for decades.
In this world, the flow of time between the Immortal Court and the Mortal Realm is different.
Although not as exaggerated as one day in heaven being equivalent to a year on earth, a day in the Immortal Court is still roughly equivalent to over a hundred days on earth.