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"Master, what do you mean?"

"Something about this feels off. I think we should take a personal look into the situation with the Heavenly Demon Sect," the old man said in a grim tone.

"Master, is that necessary? If you need anything, you can tell me. I will ask my Xing Empire to make sure that everything is satisfied. There is no need for you to make a trip," Xing Siukong said anxiously.

The old man looked at Xing Siukong deeply and sighed. Shaking his head, he beckoned Xing Siukong to follow him and started walking.

"Little Siukong, I have always wanted to tell you this. But, your obsession with destroying the Heavenly Demon Sect was one of the things that motivated you to progress in cultivation this fast. So, I have never said these things," the old man said causing Xing Siukong to have a bad feeling.

"Master has always known about your ambition to eradicate the Heavenly Demon Sect and establish full control over the Xing Empire. But, taking out the Heavenly Demon Sect is not something you or your empire can accomplish," the old man sighed.

"What do you mean master?" Xing Siukong asked in agitation.

  "The Heavenly Demon Sect is not something you or I can take on. Even the top factions of the Central Continent are wary of them. Do you know why?"

"The top factions of the Central Continent are wary of the Heavenly Demon Sect? I don\'t understand, master," Xing Siukong asked in a hurry. "They are just a hegemonic sect in the Dragon Scale Continent. There are countless factions in the Central Continent that have Ascension Beings among them. Not to mention the top factions," Xing Siukong said in confusion. 

"Sigh, I never wanted this day to come. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. You have benefitted from being ignorant until now. But, if you want to step into a higher realm, you must open your eyes and see the truth plainly. I think knowing about the Heavenly Demon Sect would be good for your cultivation in your current state. This will let you know how vast this world is."

"This matter is considered as a top secret among the top factions in the Central Continent. Not many people know of them. The establishment of the Heavenly Demon Sect and its true purpose was lost to time amongst today\'s cultivators. But, there are some old foggies like me who remember the secret behind the Heavenly Demon Sect," the old man said in a grim tone. 

"What do you know about the Descent of the Aghori Path from the histories?"

*****

"Where is he? Did you find any information about him?" Han Shindong raged at his subordinates.

He wasn\'t having a good time currently. Ever since they stepped inside this barren valley, they have been attacked constantly every night. Some of his subordinates have lost their lives in this treacherous wasteland despite being in the Violet Palace realm.

Han Shindong had almost lost his life a couple of times too. If not for the quick reactions of the bodyguards beside him, he would have been buried under the sand just like some of his subordinates. This made him feel incredibly frustrated.

The scorpions in the valley ambushed them time and time again. This caused their progress to be slowed down and thus made it difficult for them to obtain information about their prey. Every night was a nightmare for the people present in the valley.

And what irked him most was that these scorpions were not stronger than them. There were hardly any Level 3 scorpions present. Most of those that attacked them were only at Level 2. Despite that, the casualties in his party have been piling up as time went on.

If it was in any other location, his subordinates could have mowed down the lot of them with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, this barren wasteland was an ideal place for these scorpions to ambush them every night.

"Young Master, the people we met indeed saw someone like our prey. However, we are not able to pinpoint where he is now. As this valley is pretty much filled with sand and scorpions that ambush at night, everyone is concerned about their life and does not pay attention to the whereabouts of a Spirit Sea realm cultivator," one of his subordinates sighed miserably.

They all felt that their Young Master has become more and more erratic of late. Before entering the Grotto Heaven, their Young Master would at least pretend to listen to their opinions. But, these days, their Young Master was only focused on tracking down that Spirit Sea realm cultivator and wasn\'t thinking about anything else.

"So, he did indeed come to this region," Han Shindong said with a cruel smile on his face. "Ha ha ha, then it is good. We can search this entire area and root him out slowly. Let\'s see where he will escape to after this."

"Young Master," one of the bodyguards beside him suddenly spoke causing Han Shindong to look over. "You are losing your calm. You need to think about it more."

Han Shindong frowned hearing the bodyguard\'s words. 

The two bodyguards beside him were personally selected by his father to accompany him. Unlike his other subordinates, they were in the Golden Hall realm. Such experts are highly valued in the outside world. He couldn\'t ignore his words as he did with his other subordinates

Cultivators in this world could easily be segregated into three demesnes. No matter what kind of cultivation technique they used, everyone would fall under these demesnes.

Foundation! Transformation! Ascension!

Cultivators at Qi Gathering, Spirit Sea, and Violet Palace realms are called Foundational Cultivators. Those at Golden Hall, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul realms are called Transformational Experts. And those in Spirit Severance, Dao Transformation, and Earth Immortal realms are termed Ascension Beings.

Whether it be a sect, an empire, or a faction, the demesne of the top cultivator present in them determines their status. If they are headed by a Foundational Cultivator, then they can only be a low-level faction. Medium-level sects and factions need a Transformational Expert and the top factions have Ascension Beings holding the fort down. 

A Golden Hall expert can easily establish a medium-level sect and prosper. As Transformational Experts, their words have a lot of weight in the cultivation world. Han Shindong\'s family has an Ascension Being as their patriarch. He knew far more about cultivation than an ordinary Foundational Cultivator.

Foundational Cultivators are considered to be beginners on the path to immortality. There are countless people who can be found in these three realms. Breaking through the Spirit Sea realm to the Violet Palace realm was not considered to be a huge obstacle. 

But, the breakthrough between the Violet Palace realm and the Golden Hall realm is considered to be the first true test for a cultivator. The chasm between the two realms is very big and countless people fail at this juncture.

In the Qi Gathering realm, a cultivator gathers his qi inside his body and uses it to temper his body and release the impurities present in the body. The qi gathered in the body is in a gaseous state at this stage.

To break through to the Spirit Sea realm, a cultivator must condense this gaseous qi into a spirit sea that is in a liquid state. This gives a form to the ethereal qi present in a cultivator\'s body. 

Only when the qi becomes a liquid sea can one channel their qi into attacks and attack long range. The cultivator also gains an extra 60 years of lifespan due to the qualitative change of qi in their body. 

As a cultivator moves up in the Spirit Sea realm, they will slowly refine this liquid qi. Apart from absorbing more qi in each realm to increase the quantity of the qi present, a cultivator must also refine the qi present in one\'s body during the Spirit Sea stage.

The level of refinement can easily be identified by the color of the aura they emit. When one breaks through the Spirit Sea realm, their qi sea would be in red color. With each advancement, the color will change and finally arrive at violet color.

In the following breakthrough to the Violet Palace realm, the gathered qi is further condensed into a semi-solid state to establish a violet palace in a cultivator\'s dantain. This breakthrough will boost a cultivator\'s strength tenfold and will increase his lifespan by another 100 years.

But, breaking through from Violet Palace to the Golden Hall realm is not that easy. In order to break through from the Violet Palace realm to the Golden Hall realm, apart from the increase in cultivation level, one must also be able to grasp an intent.

The breakthrough between the Violet Palace realm and the Golden Hall realm is considered to be the first barrier because of this. For a cultivator to break through, not only their cultivation, but their martial arts must also progress to a certain level.

Most cultivators will be stuck at this level due to their inadequate martial dao level. This is the first watershed that differentiates between low-level cultivators and those with the potential to progress further.

Earlier, when they were chasing after the Spirit Sea realm cultivator, both of Han Shindong\'s bodyguards haven\'t acted. Their only job was to safeguard him. Even their Han family didn\'t dare to ask too much of Golden Hall level figures. If they had acted, that Spirit Sea realm cultivator would have stood no chance.

Golden Hall cultivators can walk away and establish their own faction easily. This made making unreasonable requests out of them very hard. A cultivator who is at Golden Hall level has already grasped a martial dao intent and they would be welcomed by other factions with open arms. 

When his father gave these two men to him to act as bodyguards, he warned Han Shindong to not go overboard with his requests to them and to always listen to their opinions while doing things. Even though he was arrogant, Han Shindong knew when to draw the line and wouldn\'t cause too much trouble for a mere Spirit Sea realm cultivator. 

The person who spoke right now was called Long Rongchen. He was someone who had watched him grow up. He mostly didn\'t interfere with Han Shindong when he did things.

So, Han Shindong knew to listen to his words when he spoke up.

*****

A/N: Check out my other stories and let me know your thoughts...

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