Divine Emperor of Death

Chapter 4651: Astral Cultivation

"The cursed artifact isn’t simple~"

Myria’s melodious voice echoed, "I have also heard a little about them. It is said to attract, tempt, and make one use it. It brings calamities in the form of curses and destruction, just like how you waved it, and it not only affected the energy but also the person behind it. The more you use it, the more it could affect the people around you and, in the end, even erase you. I advise you to throw it away, but I know you won’t listen."

Davis hid a chuckle as he nodded, "Don’t worry. I’m confident it won’t affect me. Would you like to see? Or would you like to test it yourself?"

"Mhm..." Myria thought loudly, "I would test it, but if I were to swing it two times, would you die because it would be counted as the third time for you?"

"Possibly," Davis nodded without a hint of hesitation, "With my current prowess, it’s very likely that I would die at the third usage regardless of who used it. However, I don’t think it can erase my soul."

"That’s a given." Myria agreed with him.

The two of them went silent.

After a few seconds, Davis opened his mouth, "The cursed artifact doesn’t have a spirit, but it has spirituality. It has recollections of its actions and is capable of ’knowing’ itself as well as interfering with the mental realm of lifeforms. From this, we could see that it existed for a long time here. Wasn’t there something about cursed artifacts being thrown away by tribulations? Is it indestructible in nature?"

"..." Myria could only smile lightly.

They have heard so many rumors about Cursed Artifacts, but none were verifiable. They didn’t belong to a great power, nor did they have peculiar channels to learn about these things.

Seeing that Myria had no answer, Davis nodded, "I’m keeping the cursed artifact, so don’t complain about too many unknowns. Naturally, I’ll have it sealed all the time, so don’t worry."

"As you already know, there are two main approaches to Astral Cultivation."

Davis switched topics, his tone slow and concise, "The first is support-type astral cultivation. By absorbing energy from a cluster of stars that naturally link to form a constellation, they could amplify their own prowess. This kind of energy they could absorb is mostly scattered and diluted, but cultivators who choose this additional path gain an advantage over other cultivators. When they are out of energy, astral cultivation could be a timely aid for them to deal a death blow or to escape."

Myria’s brows faintly arched as her mesmerizing eyes flickered with interest.

"The second way to cultivation astral energy is to make it a main cultivation. Cultivators of this pathway are neither immortals nor transcendents. They are called astrals or astral masters. It was a cultivation method that appeared long ago but was discontinued because it wasn’t helping much in the war effort for the human race’s survival and glory. It was weaker than the Immortal Cultivation Pathway. Naturally, they also have their own variation of the First Stage to the Ninth Stage and Immortal Stage to the Empyrean Stage. It only comprises essence and body, but later, after many eons, they managed to incorporate soul into it as well."

"Hence, it accommodates all three kinds of astral energies, but at the end of the day, it’s still worse than the Immortal Cultivation Pathway and Transcendent Cultivation Pathway."

Myria nodded. To this point, she didn’t have any doubts, and she could guess at it, too.

Davis continued, "The First Stage to the Third Stage corresponds to the Astral Refinement Stage, which consists of sensing astral entities in space and then calling out to them. The cultivator would then be able to make a connection, form an astral seed within the preliminary dantian in them, and tap energy from them."

"The Fourth Stage to Sixth Stage corresponds to the Astral Descent Stage. Here, the cultivator becomes able to hold on to multiple astral stars and derive energy from their unified link."

"The Seven Stage to Eighth Stage corresponds to Constellation Domain Stage, where cultivators are able to summon domains from their stars. It matches the Law Dominion Stage, the Seventh Stage of mortal cultivation."

"The Ninth Stage is the Constellation Rune Stage. At this point, cultivators would’ve already decided which astral stars to dedicate their cultivation to. It is incredibly hard to change after this stage, so this became a major reason for the human race to discontinue this cultivation method."

"The Immortal Foundation Stage is called the Constellation Ascendant Stage. Then Constellation King Stage, Constellation Emperor Stage, and Sky Empyrean."

Myria’s bosoms rose before falling as she listened to a glorious cultivation method that had fallen off its pedestal. She was in a place where supreme geniuses gathered, but hadn’t seen even on cultivator who used Astral Cultivation as their main cultivation.

Just before she could say anything, Davis raised a finger, indicating that he wasn’t done.

"The astral scholars classified these stars and constellations according to the space they were in and the power they could bestow. In our Three-Layered Universe, the Third Layer is where the weakest stars exist. They range from Mortal Rank to Immortal Rank. These are shallow, and the energy one could absorb from them is limited."

"The Second Layer Constellations climb from Immortal Rank to Empyrean Rank, and the First Layer Constellations climb from Immortal Emperor Rank to Exalt Rank."

Once he arrived at this point, Davis took a deep breath, "Then there are Zero Layer Constellations, which are considered to be a space outside the living space of the Three Layers and inside the Three-Layered Universe, the vast emptiness, stretches where one wouldn’t be able to find anything in a thousand years, much less survive. In other words, the space where Elluro Coldwing was thrown to."

Myria’s heart shook. She maintained her calm expression as she gave her opinion, "The drawbacks are obvious. People wouldn’t be able to connect to powerful astral stars upon starting their astral cultivation, especially people from the lower layers. Only people from the Greater Realm could possibly connect with powerful astral stars."

"Indeed," Davis nodded. He sucked in a cold breath, "Our Xiesha is someone who caught the eye of a Zero Layer Unique Star, the Eternal Winter Star. She is in the Third Layer, but the Eternal Winter Stage willingly made contact with her. I’m not sure how to digest this... especially after I learned that the Storm Divergent is also someone who made a connection with a Zero Layer Unique Star using his physique."

"It’s called the Torn Diworld Explosion Star. It is actually a Divergent Star."

"..."

Myria’s gaze shook as she turned to look at him, "Did Eldia also connect with a Zero Layer Unique Star?"

"I think so..." Davis’s expression took on a deep frown, "She is absorbing astral energy, but in the Third Layer, what she could absorb is very limited. However, she said the star’s name is Cosmos Extinction Star. I suspect it is another Divergent Star. The star made contact with her first, like the Eternal Winter Star did for Xiesha. It caused Eldia to change forms, becoming a mutated spirit."

Myria’s lips curled in worry, "The stars in space are called Void Calamities and Realm Calamities for a reason. However, this is the first time I’m hearing about stars that are Divergents. How aren’t they destroyed by the Heaven’s Warriors yet?"

Davis wryly smiled in response, "Perhaps because they’re outside the three layers?"

"..." Myria was baffled that it made sense.

"Also, for some reason, main-type astral cultivation is banned in the Celestial Transcendent Galaxy, but it isn’t full-blown like it bans Divine Exalt Cultivation Method. I think the ban is somewhat relaxed in the Second Layer and Third Layer."

"..." Myria imagined that it was to disallow people from connecting to Divergent Stars and turning ’evil’.

Davis also thought the same. After all, from the Greater Realm, it should be a bit easier to sense stars at the Zero Layer. Still, the difficulty was too high to connect to powerful stars at the First Layer and Zero Layer. Otherwise, the Astral Cultivation Pathway wouldn’t have been abandoned. Only with powerful stars could they hope to compare with immortals and transcendents.

Still, the two of them could only smile at each other, feeling some strangeness to the universe they were living in. It seems like many things were buried in history. At the same time, the true nature of a Divergent came into question.

What exactly is a Divergent? Just a lifeform that can avoid fate strings, lines, and bubbles that fate and destiny have decided for them? A lifeform that offended the heavens by stealing from it?

What all fit the criteria for one to become a Divergent?

They sat silently for a while, submerged in the strange atmosphere. It wasn’t heavy for them since they were used to it, but it didn’t make them feel good since they had a family to look after. They were worried for Xiesha.

They wondered if they should make her cultivate Astral Cultivation as a main or support type. Without verifying what kind of star the Eternal Winter Star was, could they make that decision?

They watched the resplendent sun in mid-air without a change in expression while Nadia’s doppelganger and Freya also quietly sat by their side.

There wasn’t anything to do other than guard Niera. Freya was bored, but recognizing the atmosphere, she didn’t dare make any noise. She silently closed in and wrapped the two of them over her warm wings, causing them to smile.

Davis and Myria laughed lightly, causing Freya to also break out into a smile.

Soon, Davis stood up and embraced Myria, giving her a soft kiss before he bid them farewell. He didn’t forget to thank her for taking over the watch before leaving. From a distance, he saw Niera’s light disappear from his gaze before he made his way back to the marketplace.