"Ten thousand years, ah. To an individual, it’s a long time, but for the Holy Land, it’s merely the succession of two generations of Holy Masters. The Holy Land can afford to wait."
"Indeed, the Three Great Sacred Lands can afford to wait, a mere ten thousand years."
"When young, planting a tree in the field, by the time your grandchildren grow up, they can pick fruit under its shade."
"The key is that their family doesn’t have just one tree; each generation sows seeds. On average, a tree can mature every few thousand years. If I remember correctly, at this scale, almost every Holy Master’s tenure will yield a ’fruit-bearing’ tree."
"Indeed..."
"If we continue this way, perhaps it won’t take ten thousand years—maybe around a thousand years—a tree can be nurtured. By then, it will be the golden period of the Three Great Sacred Lands."
"A golden period capable of lasting a million years."
"What about after that?"
"What about after that."
"I mean after the golden period. Just as tides rise, they also fall. Would the seniors not discuss what happens when the tide recedes?"
"Recede?"
"Hehe."
"Where does this talk of receding come from? After benefiting from a million years, the rules of the Spirit Realm will fully stabilize. By then, it will be the day the Taoist Lords of the Spirit Realm attain their Tao, and the resources of the Celestial Profound Realm will have been exhausted by us cultivators!"
"Attain the Tao... is there a realm above the Taoist Lord?"
"Certainly there is."
"Then..."
"Then what, indeed? For a Taoist Lord to progress from the foundation, it takes a million years to calculate. During this period, your path must not be severed, nor must your humanity suffer from the calamity of merging with the Tao! Just with these two criteria, do you think you could accomplish it without a Holy Land to support you?"
".....I couldn’t."
"Indeed, you couldn’t." This will of Longevity sighed, "Not just you, even those Taoist Lords might not accomplish it. Perhaps one or two out of ten Taoist Lords could, or maybe even fewer... But if one truly achieves it, to us cultivators, they become an eternal, indestructible existence."
"Truly... eternal and indestructible?"
"Hehe, naturally, it’s not true eternity. However, ever since this ’Longevity Tao’ was opened, in the sixty-five million years, no Taoist Lord has died of old age in the Star Realm. Not a single natural death in sixty-five million years!"
"Then... to us, that already counts as eternal life."
"Not quite eternal life—once your weakness is found, you could still be killed. But should you truly reach the realm above Longevity, even if you wished to die, it would be something you couldn’t achieve yourself."
"Are you saying that... there have been those killed?"
"Certainly there have. The previous owner of the Celestial Saint Palace was ’forcibly fallen’. Otherwise, do you think such a fierce artifact as the ’Celestial Saint Palace’ could truly be forged by someone in the Longevity Realm?"
"The Celestial Saint Palace has passed down for over 1.1 million years, and the fallen one passed merely seventy thousand years ago... In other words, if you join the Celestial Saint Palace, you might still find some manuscripts and records left by that being above Longevity. Maybe if you have enough talent, you could inherit their legacy?"
"Hahahahaha...."
"The seniors jest...."
Some laughed heartily while others’ laughter was stiff.
The Celestial Saint Palace has existed for 1.1 million years, while that being above Longevity fell only seventy thousand years ago.
In other words, that being of the Celestial Saint Palace had been alive for less than thirty thousand years after breaking through to the realm above Longevity before being beaten to death by some unknown force!
Is there anything more terrifying than this?
They know how powerful the Celestial Saint Palace is. Even if they don’t know its upper limits, they certainly know it is beyond what ordinary Longevity Realm cultivators can withstand.
For the ancestor holding the Celestial Saint Palace to be killed, how formidable must be the one who killed him? This answer is enough to shock those of the Longevity Realm.
"Of course, such powerful beings are rare, and such individuals would not focus on the likes of us Longevity Masters. Otherwise, the Celestial Saint Palace wouldn’t have had the chance to make a comeback, nor would there be the momentum of today’s Celestial Profound Realm."
"Momentum or not, truthfully speaking, everyone in the Celestial Profound Realm, you, me, they, and those mortals, are all descendants brought from the void by the people of the Celestial Saint Palace, including the other two of the Three Great Sacred Lands, as well as the former Immortal Divine Court. We are all offspring of those refugees from that time!"
"Cough cough..."
"Cough cough cough, it’s best not to speak of such things."
"Why, am I not stating the truth?"
"Yes... but hasn’t there been a split now! We’ve all separated, so why talk about it?"
"Exactly, Brother Fan is right. We’ve split, so we don’t count as people of the Celestial Saint Palace anymore. Besides, even if we’re willing to acknowledge it, the Celestial Saint Palace wouldn’t acknowledge us...."
"We should refrain from discussing such topics in the future."
"Yes, Brother Li is right. It’s better not to mention it, lest we attract people from the Celestial Saint Palace."
With hearts unsettled, this group was unwilling to speak of the division of the Celestial Saint Palace in the past.
As for why the Celestial Saint Palace split back then, giving rise first to an Immortal Divine Court, then transforming into the Three Great Sacred Lands and the Hundred Schools, those are genuinely forbidden topics. Even mentioning them can trigger great danger.
Thankfully, these ’old seniors’ have clarified some of the realms within the Cultivation Realm.