Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Chapter 2171: Ancient Remnant Soul (2)

Learning from the different tests set up by the ancient remnant soul, Xuan Hao understood that the fragmented continent had been flourishing with powerful cultivators everywhere before it had ended up in its current state, with the reason behind it ending up in the current state not being much different from how the old divine world had been destroyed in the past and fragmented into several smaller continents like the Ewaria Continent that he lived on alongside the Star Shattering Sect. The main difference being the fact that the world itself remained intact and only the landmass that had once been known as the divine continent at the very core of the world had been fragmented into several large continents and countless smaller islands that were now disconnected from one another.

If not for the fact that the war during the ancient times hadn’t shattered the world itself from what he knew, he would have even suspected that the fragmented continent he found himself on might be some part of the ancient divine world that had somehow been cut off in the ancient times and been left to drift through the void on its own as it was slowly torn apart over time.

After all, the strength of the shattered continent was far beyond anything he had heard about when it came to other worlds within the void and almost seemed comparable to the ancient divine world to some extent. Only a bit weaker, as the world that the fragmented continent had once been a part of had also ended up facing something related to the Dao of Corruption that had ultimately ended up with the original world of the fragmented continent perishing.

Speaking of which, even the old remnant soul wasn’t certain what had happened back then, as most of his memories regarding the fate of his original body and soul had been lost, with the remnant soul itself being a kind of last assurance he had left behind to continue his legacy in case he ended up perishing in the final battle that didn’t just end up with the fall of the original world of the fragmented continent, but also ended up with the palace complex where the old remnant soul was located being sealed off to ensure it survived the destruction, something that was only possible according the old remnant soul because there was no living beings left inside the city center where the palace complex was located outside a few remnant souls similar to him.

Of course, while Xuan Hao wasn’t too surprised over the information that the remnant soul shared regarding the history of the world that the fragmented continent had once been a part of, the same couldn’t be said for the group of youths who had been completely unaware of the state of their world before now.

To say they were left depressed would be an understatement, as they essentially learnt of a past where they didn’t have to fear the constant void storms and spatial anomalies that wrecked their land, while also learning about the high ceiling that existed for cultivators compared to today.

From the old remnant soul, they also learnt about how with their current cultivation, they would have been able to live on forever, but because the original laws had collapsed and the world, they were part of was no longer around, the cultivation path had degraded to the point where they could only barely live to a million years.

Compared to an infinite lifespan that was shared with the world itself, it was obvious that the group would be depressed, but at the same time, Xuan Hao was also shocked to learn about the original lifespan these four would have had if they followed the original cultivation path of their world before it had collapsed. In a way, it wasn’t different from the Profound Immortal Realm and the Celestial Immortal Realm, as those two cultivation realms didn’t have a set lifespan either. The five-million-year lifespan that most associated with those two realms were after all, just the time after which the tribulation to the Venerable Realm would descend.

Maybe in the past, this wasn’t the case, but at least for now, the descend of the Venerable Realm tribulation wasn’t something that could be stopped. Making Xuan Hao think about what the old remnant soul had said regarding the original laws of the world being damaged by the ancient war that had shattered the world of the fragmented continent. Maybe the state of his world had also been damaged in the ancient war it had participated in.

Only, the damage wasn’t to the point of shattering the world itself but had still been enough to damage the cultivation path that was the main cultivation path of the world, the traditional immortal cultivation path. The damage in question being the fact that one had far less time to prepare during the Profound Immortal Realm and Celestial Immortal Realm for the Venerable Realm. Making it far harder to reach the Venerable Realm compared to ancient times.

At the same time, Xuan Hao also learnt about how unique the original cultivation path of the fragmented continent was, as different from the current state of the cultivation path, it had once been far more inclusive and could essentially embody all Daos. Allowing one to merge far more intimately with the Dao one specialized in during what was now known Void Integration Realm that was in the past known as the Dao Integration Realm.

The reason why the Dao Integration Realm had ended up becoming the Void Integration Realm also became obvious, as the original path for integrating with a dao became impossible after the original world perished. Forcing the cultivation path itself to undergo countless changes before the Void Integration Realm came to be under what the old remnant soul guessed was the joint effort of a few survivors from the war back then that had somehow managed to cling to life.

Speaking of these survivors, the old remnant soul guessed that they would still be alive if they had managed to avoid the final clash to some extent. After all, at their cultivation realm, they wouldn’t run out of lifespan and were essentially immortal.

Of course, the reason why the old remnant soul couldn’t replicate this feature even though he had in some sense survived, was because the remnant soul itself was only a small part of his soul and not his complete soul. Not to mention, his original body had already been lost. Making any recovery through potentially relying on his physical body impossible.

Possession was possible from what Xuan Hao could tell, but at the same time, he also understood that this would at most buy the remnant soul a bit of extra time, it wouldn’t solve the underlying problem, as it would continue weaking until it inevitably perished... And with this in mind, it was clear that the remnant soul preferred to pass on its legacy to what it viewed as a group of promising juniors instead of extending its existence by another few million years.

After all, outside of learning more about this talented little group of young people, it had also taken the opportunity to learn more about the current state of the fragmented continent. Learning that even if it left the palace complex to search for another group of talents, it wouldn’t be likely to find anyone more talented than the four that had come before him. Not to mention, leaving would also mean having to abandon his legacy and the countless formations that allowed his remnant soul to at least wield strength at the same level as when he had still been alive. Leaving would leave him with no way to exert this level of power and would ultimately mean he wouldn’t be able to fully pass on his legacy.

Keeping this in mind, he had already silently concluded that he was going to pass his legacy onto the group of four. Focusing on the one that had talked about eating him not that long ago.

Not because he felt especially good about this unique youth, but instead because he was the only one that had shown talent when it came to the Dao of Alchemy and his main Dao and legacy was ultimately alchemy and without any affinity for the Dao of Alchemy, it would be impossible for him to pass down his full legacy.

Then again, for him to consider someone talented in the Dao of Alchemy also made it clear that this young man was far more talented than he let on.

What might have looked accidental to someone like Xuan Hao carried a far deeper meaning in the eyes of a skilled senior like the old remnant soul who had spent his entire life on the Dao of Alchemy. He could pick up on small things that someone like Xuan Hao, even with his relatively high comprehension of the Dao of Alchemy, ended up missing at first glance.