Chapter Five: The Three Heavenly Realms

“Retire and enjoy your remaining years?” Wang Changsheng’s face showed a look of bewilderment.

Although he appeared quite old, from what he had briefly gathered about this place, the people here were generally of advanced age. At just over two hundred years old, his age was nothing remarkable.

“Yes, retire and enjoy your remaining years!” the young cultivator replied. “Compared to the Chengtian Realm, the Shentian Mirror has much richer spiritual energy and far better cultivation resources. If it weren’t for having lost hope in further cultivation, who would choose to go to Chengtian Realm?”

“Shentian Mirror? Chengtian Realm?” Wang Changsheng’s confusion only grew.

The young cultivator looked at Wang Changsheng’s puzzled expression with disbelief. “Don’t tell me you don’t know about these places?”

Wang Changsheng could only nod helplessly—he truly had no idea what the young man was talking about.

“Well then!” the young cultivator said, “It seems you really don’t know!”

With that, he took out a jade slip from his robes, smiling as he handed it toward Wang Changsheng. “Elder, I have a jade slip here that contains some basic information. Would you like it?”

Of course, he needed it!

What Wang Changsheng lacked most now was knowledge of this place—even some basic common sense eluded him. He had already made a fool of himself with the matter of opening doors using a jade slip.

Now, with the chance to obtain a basic introduction, he certainly wanted it.

“What should I give you in exchange?” Wang Changsheng asked.

The young cultivator’s smile grew even broader. “It’s simple. Just one lower-grade spirit stone, and it’s yours! Normally I sell it for five, but since fate has brought us together as neighbors, I’ll let you have it for just one.”

“Spirit stone?” Wang Changsheng said, “That, I know!”

“As long as you know!” the young cultivator replied, his smile brightening. “Given our fate as neighbors, charging you one lower-grade spirit stone is hardly unreasonable!”

As he spoke, he extended the jade slip toward Wang Changsheng.

“I’m sorry, but I truly don’t have any spirit stones,” Wang Changsheng said, spreading his hands with a wry smile.

“That’s easily solved! Just one lower-grade stone, the price of a teleportation array—” The young cultivator suddenly paused, dumbfounded. “You mean you don’t have even one? Not a single spirit stone?”

Wang Changsheng shook his head. “None. I truly don’t have a single spirit stone.”

The young cultivator stared at him as though looking at a strange creature.

Seeing Wang Changsheng’s helplessness, the young man was at a loss for words. “Well, you’re truly the oddest person I’ve ever met—no spirit stones at all!”

After a moment’s thought, he sighed. “Consider it a charitable act. I’ll just give you this jade slip.”

Wang Changsheng was stunned.

A gift?

Could there really be such a stroke of luck?

“You’re sure you’re giving it to me?” Wang Changsheng asked, skeptical.

“What? You don’t want it?” the young cultivator replied, exasperated. “If I say it’s yours, then it’s yours!”

He paused, then continued, “Besides, there’s nothing secret in this jade slip—just some common knowledge you could pick up by asking around.”

With those words, the young cultivator tossed the jade slip to Wang Changsheng.

“Thank you… thank you, friend!” Wang Changsheng cupped his fists in gratitude.

“No thanks needed. Consider it an act of kindness,” the young man said, waving his hand as he returned to his own room.

Following the young man’s instructions, Wang Changsheng entered his own room, immediately assailed by a musty odor.

“So this is a room?” Wang Changsheng muttered in surprise as he surveyed the space.

The so-called “room” was little more than five square meters, containing nothing but a meditation mat. The only other features were the many archaic talismans inscribed on the walls.

“I wonder how many spirit stones a place like this costs…” Wang Changsheng thought wryly.

Fortunately, the mat was at least usable. He settled himself cross-legged, took out the room’s jade slip, calmed his mind, and began to meditate.

As his consciousness touched the jade slip, a flood of information poured directly into his mind.

“So that’s how it is…” Wang Changsheng opened his eyes, comprehension dawning on his face.

From the information in the jade slip, Wang Changsheng gained a basic understanding of Yunzhou, though only a simple one—the contents were limited. The talismans inscribed in the room turned out to be related to array formations, including a soundproofing array to allow cultivators to train undisturbed. But all these arrays required spirit stones to activate, which Wang Changsheng lacked entirely.

Next, he took out the jade slip the young cultivator had given him.

This slip contained much more information, and of a wider variety. As the knowledge poured into Wang Changsheng’s consciousness, his head throbbed painfully. It took him five full hours to process everything.

“To retire and enjoy my remaining years…” Wang Changsheng murmured. “Is that what Second Uncle meant?”

After absorbing the contents of the jade slip, he finally understood what the young cultivator had meant by “retiring and enjoying one’s remaining years.”

This place was known as the Three Heavens: the Chengtian Realm, the Shentian Mirror, and the Weitian Realm.

The Three Heavens were distinct yet interconnected—indeed, they could be considered three separate domains, divided by boundaries that spanned the starry sky, filled with raging spatial turbulence. Should a cultivator stray into these, even a master of the Golden Core Dao might not survive.

Only the cloud ships could navigate these regions, and only along established routes; to be swept into the void’s chaos meant certain death, no matter how sturdy the ship.

Wang Changsheng’s immediate destination was the Chengtian Realm. Second Uncle had claimed it was safer there because it was a mortal domain, filled with sprawling empires and kingdoms, with very few cultivators.

For a cultivator, the Chengtian Realm was a harsh land—spiritual energy was sparse, and spiritual herbs and stones were rare, so few wished to go there.

The Shentian Mirror, where the Loose Cultivators’ Pavilion was located, was quite different: the spiritual energy was abundant, there were many mines and spiritual herbs, and all kinds of cultivation resources were available, allowing cultivators to reach higher realms.

As for the Weitian Realm, the jade slip offered scant information, only a single warning:

“In the Weitian Realm, powerful cultivators of the Golden Core Dao are rampant. Enter with the utmost caution!”

“So this is the Three Heavens!” Wang Changsheng let out a long, slow breath, lost in thought.

According to the jade slip, it was clear that remaining in the Shentian Mirror would be best for cultivation. His body was already aging—here, with abundant spiritual energy, plentiful herbs, and stones, his breakthrough to the Opening Veins Stage would be much faster.

Once he broke through, his physical functions would be restored, and cultivation would proceed more swiftly.

If he went to the Chengtian Realm and failed to break through before his second great tribulation arrived, he would face the end of his lifespan.

“But the Shentian Mirror is far too dangerous—any cultivator could easily end my life…”

“Since I’m here, I’ll make the best of it,” Wang Changsheng resolved. “Now that I’m already aboard the cloud ship, there’s no getting off.”

As for “retiring and enjoying his remaining years,” Wang Changsheng cared little for such things.

In his previous home, he had cultivated to Perfection of the Innate Realm—what other cultivators called the peak of Qi Refinement—even without a trace of spiritual energy. Could the Chengtian Realm truly be any worse?

He put away the jade slips and took out the two letters Second Uncle had given him.

“To Changsheng—personal and confidential.”

Wang Changsheng opened the one addressed to him and read carefully.

The letter was brief, outlining the situation in the Three Heavens, and contained even less information than the young cultivator’s jade slip. It also explained why Wang Changsheng was being sent to the Chengtian Realm.

“Just as I expected. Although the Chengtian Realm is harsh, it truly is better suited to my survival,” Wang Changsheng thought. With a surge of true energy, he destroyed the letter.

At the end of the letter, Second Uncle had specified a destination—where Wang Changsheng was to go upon arriving in the Chengtian Realm.

“Cloudpeak Empire…”

The other letter was addressed to the Empire’s Guardian General. Wang Changsheng did not peek at its contents, for he could easily guess what it contained.

Combining the information from the letters and the jade slips, Wang Changsheng sorted through what he had learned, gaining a deeper understanding of the Three Heavens and the path of cultivation.

After a long moment of contemplation, Wang Changsheng finally turned his gaze to the bundle before him.

It was a bundle given by Second Uncle, containing relics left by his father.

Looking at it, Wang Changsheng hesitated, feeling a trace of trepidation he could not explain.

“Father…” His eyes filled with longing.

His father had left with Second Uncle when Wang Changsheng was still a child. Now, only fragmentary memories of his father’s appearance remained.

After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Wang Changsheng finally looked away and opened the bundle of his father’s relics.

Inside were only three items: two sets of new gray martial attire, an ancient scroll, and a jade box.

Ignoring the two sets of clothes—clearly prepared by Second Uncle—Wang Changsheng picked up the ancient scroll and examined its contents. At once, he felt a deep sense of familiarity.

“This is… this is the Longevity Art…”

The familiar figure, the distinctive patterns of silk threads—it was undoubtedly the Longevity Art he knew so well. The only difference from his previous, destroyed copy was that these threads depicted a different diagram.

“This must be the second diagram of the Longevity Art,” Wang Changsheng said quietly.