A cultivation system.
For many worlds, such a thing is not actually necessary.
For example, the universe before Tian’el’s transmigration—within that vast expanse whose mere tip of the iceberg already stretched beyond a billion light-years, even Earth, the Solar System, and the Milky Way were nothing more than specks of dust, let alone the human race on a single planet and whatever form of civilization they might pursue.
As the Celestial Emperor, Tian’el’s foundation stemmed from his authority over the origin of Heaven.
In theory, there was no need for him to create a transcendent system at all.
But the environment of the Vast Expanse was simply too harsh.
Monsters ran rampant across the Human Realm, and colossal beasts ravaged the starry skies.
Ordinary people would have no way to survive without some measure of power.
Therefore, if intelligent civilization was to develop, granting them enough strength to resist calamity was absolutely indispensable.
And since he was going to deliberately shape a transcendent system anyway, he might as well take it to its logical conclusion and choose the type most beneficial to Tian’el’s own growth, to the future order of the Celestial Court, and to the evolution of the Vast Expanse— First, the demonic path was excluded.
The Vast Expanse already stood on the brink of destruction.
There was no need to step on the accelerator.
The immortal path that sought feathered ascension and transcendence, as well as the Buddhist path that pursued emptiness and annihilation, were also set aside for the time being.
In a savage world whose very foundation was unstable due to flawed evolution, the system most urgently needed at this stage was naturally the divine path—one that operated authority and safeguarded the order of heaven and earth.
The problem was this: Tian’el wished to greatly expand the divine path, but he had no intention of delegating the authority of heaven and earth.
What then?
After all, the advantages and disadvantages of allowing gods to act as spokespersons for laws and wield authority to suppress the world were equally obvious— Gods were also intelligent beings.
They had their own joys and sorrows.
No one could say whether, after granting them the authority of heaven and earth, some impulsive moment in the distant future might not give rise to an upheaval that would shake eternity.
Or rather, under the erosion of incomparably long years, such a thing would inevitably happen, would it not?
Even in mortal kingdoms, there was the saying: once power is in hand, commands are carried out without restraint.
If one were to casually hand over the authority to reestablish earth, water, fire, and wind, to reverse past and future, and to toy with the cycle of life and death to a specific individual, then disaster one day would be almost inevitable.
After much deliberation, Tian’el ultimately decided that most of the authorities of heaven and earth that required divine operation would be unified under the future Celestial Court and divided into distinct divine offices and positions.
In this way, the divine positions of the Celestial Court would resemble official posts in a mortal dynasty.
The capable would rise, the mediocre would fall.
Under the rewards and punishments of the Celestial Emperor and the mutual checks of the other gods, they would remain in constant flux rather than being permanently bound to any single sentient being.
As for how ordinary people were to become gods and secure divine positions without being granted the authority of heaven and earth— They could gather boundless power and forcibly condense an authority of their own.
With overwhelming strength, miracles could be achieved.
Even without the authority of heaven and earth bestowed upon them, if one possessed power comparable to that of a continent, how could they be unworthy of the status of a lower god?
Moreover, in this way, everyone would only need to quietly cultivate their own strength, without worrying about blocking the path of those who came after.
What a fine thing that would be.
From the perspective of the Celestial Emperor, those monopolistic giants who occupied the very source of a concept, a law, or a path—who could arbitrarily modify related definitions so that no matter how hard later generations strove, they would only ever add bricks and tiles to the giant’s edifice—such existences were best left unborn.
If they truly dared to appear, that would be more than simple rebellion.
They would have to be crushed with an iron fist.
…
The jade slip transformed into a stream of light and entered the brows of the assembled gods.
Ares and the others immediately focused their minds, devoting their full attention to studying the brand-new cultivation system Tian’el had created, one based upon spiritual energy.
The first thing that met their eyes was a line of golden characters: The General Outline of the Sacred Path—Mortal Realm Chapter.
According to the detailed explanation that followed, the so-called Mortal Realm referred to the initial stage of cultivation, the phase of shedding mortality and transcending the mundane.
Its purpose was to strengthen the practitioner’s essence, energy, and spirit until, with a mortal body, they could gather boundless power, condense their own authority, and forcibly ascend the divine path.
Nine is the ultimate number.
Thus, Tian’el set nine stages for the Mortal Realm under normal circumstances.
First came the three stages of body refinement— First Stage, Body Tempering: diligently train in martial arts until grasping a thread of spirituality within the flesh.
Second Stage, Nourishing Life: after gaining preliminary control over the body, use resources to nurture and fortify the physique.
Third Stage, Vital Blood: once the physique reaches completion, one may circulate vital blood, transform the sinews, and cleanse the marrow.
Then came the three stages of qi refinement— Fourth Stage, Qi Refinement: continuously circulate vital blood, extracting inner qi from it until it fills the entire body.
Fifth Stage, Qi Nourishment: actively absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, transforming inner qi into true qi.
Sixth Stage, Intent: true qi washes over the entire body, sharpening spiritual perception and enabling one to comprehend and wield the intent of heaven and earth.
Finally came the three stages of spirit refinement: Seventh Stage, Spirit Refinement; Eighth Stage, Spirit Nourishment; and Ninth Stage, Domain.
Only when cultivation within the Mortal Realm was complete would one find a way to project their own destiny into the Vast Expanse Heaven, leaving behind a mark that transformed into a Stella Fortuna, becoming a demigod comparable to an elite ferocious beast.
The ultimate goal was to push the demigod path to its limit, gather boundless power to condense authority, and then, under the guidance of nine Stellae Fortunae, ascend to the Vast Expanse Heaven.
“It looks extremely promising—especially this setting of projecting one’s destiny into the Vast Expanse Heaven and then using a Stella Fortuna to become a demigod…” After finishing the Mortal Realm and Demigod chapters of The General Outline of the Sacred Path, the gods present could not help but click their tongues in admiration.
The nine stages of the Mortal Realm described earlier were highly detailed and belonged to the foundational phase.
In theory, so long as one possessed sufficient resources, anyone could reach the end.
The crucial point was that if one wished to go further, they had to find a way to raise their own Stella Fortuna within the Vast Expanse Heaven…
Judging from the subsequent ascension to godhood, this stage was clearly a threshold deliberately established by the Celestial Emperor before them.
In this way, the most outstanding talents from other worlds—those with the potential to ascend to godhood—would ultimately be drawn into the Vast Expanse Heaven.
Which was only reasonable.
Having expended such effort to create this cultivation system, he was naturally doing so to nurture and attract talent for himself.
It would make no sense to strengthen his enemies for no reason.
“The Mortal Realm, Demigod, and even Lower God—I’ve more or less perfected the first three chapters of The General Outline of the Sacred Path.
They will certainly be applicable within the Vast Expanse.
In another world, however, adjustments would need to be made according to local conditions.” The so-called Sacred Path originally referred to the way of sages in governing a nation.
The reason for this name was that, in Tian’el’s vision, the existence of the Sacred Path system was meant to perfect the three-realm order centered upon Heaven.
Any practitioner who walked this path to its later stages should contribute to the evolution of the Vast Expanse and be capable of giving back, rather than acting as a parasite concerned only with plundering the resources of heaven and earth.
The Way of Heaven diminishes the excessive to supplement the deficient.
The way of man is otherwise: it takes from the deficient to offer to the excessive.
In many worlds, the essence of so-called cultivation was nothing more than exhausting the resources of heaven and earth.
The strongest sought every possible means to squeeze out all manner of resources, raising themselves to the point where they could change maps.
The moment they reached that stage, they would abscond with everything, leaving behind nothing but devastation.
Tian’el had no intention of allowing his Vast Expanse to be ravaged into such a state.
He was only willing to be the one who introduced talent—and even then, those who ascended would have to undergo an evaluation of character.
Anyone burdened with grave sins would be struck dead on the spot by a bolt of heavenly lightning.
Therefore, from the very inception of the Sacred Path system, its core philosophy had to be firmly established.
Specific conditions would be added at each realm so that every individual who stepped onto this road would be compelled toward the correct direction of development.
It sounded outrageous, like scooping the moon from water.
But for Tian’el, it remained well within his capabilities— When others created methods, they modeled themselves after heaven and earth, adapting to the world.
For the Celestial Emperor, at worst, he could first conceive a system aligned with his ideals and then push heaven and earth to cooperate, deliberately evolving suitable laws, environments, and resources.
Faced with the same objective, the difficulty of working from the bottom up and from the top down was clearly not the same.
“So next comes verification, right?
With a single command from you, Lord, I can bring over the hundred thousand troops of Rakia!” Ares was visibly impatient.
“By the way, can we gods cultivate using spiritual energy as well?” At these words, the subordinate gods present exchanged glances.
Once they grasped the implication, their eyes lit up with anticipation as they looked toward the charming fox girl standing by the spiritual spring.
Tian’el merely replied indifferently, “Why not try it yourselves?” A system like divine grace, which excavated potential, was useless to the gods themselves, for they stood at the end of that path from the very beginning.
But the Sacred Path system originating from the Vast Expanse was not necessarily the same.
After all, if the gods of the Danmachi world were placed within the Vast Expanse, they would at most count as first-rate powerhouses—still far inferior to true high-level exotic beasts.
However, the Mortal Realm and Demigod stages alone would certainly not grant them much improvement.
“In other words, it’s really feasible?” Reading this meaning in the Celestial Emperor’s words, Ares and the others immediately broke into ecstatic smiles— Whether they could grow stronger was secondary.
The key was that this novel leveling game would keep them from falling into boredom for a very long time…
…
Over the following days, the entire Bashe Mountain Range was sealed off.
Under the commands of the gods, a hundred thousand troops took the lead, and all the citizens of Rakia began entering the mountain range in rotation to cultivate and lay their foundations.
At the same time, news spread throughout the kingdom and even to other nations across the continent that Ares had voluntarily demoted himself to a subordinate god, and that the assembled gods now jointly revered the Sovereign of High Heaven as Rakia’s highest chief deity.
There was no doubt that once this explosive announcement was released, it immediately triggered the expected uproar.
But such minor matters were handled by the members of Ares’ familia responsible for daily administration.
For Tian’el, the most significant gain at this stage was naturally the growth brought to the Vast Expanse by nearly twenty Danmachi gods bowing their heads— Within the Vast Expanse Heaven, inside the palace complex named Maitreya Palace by the Celestial Emperor.
Tian’el extended his hand forward.
An invisible black vortex opened, from which sheets of “indenture contracts” spewed forth.
The content was simple: Tian’el would take the gods of Rakia to witness various other worlds, and in return they would work for the Celestial Court for ten thousand years.
Provided their lives were not endangered, the Celestial Emperor could freely employ their power.
Ten thousand years sounded like an exceedingly long span of time.
But for the Danmachi gods, whose ages exceeded a hundred million years, it was little more than the length of a nap.
Yet if they failed to seize this opportunity, even after expending hundreds of millions more years, they might never encounter another chance to step beyond their world.
Thus, the subordinate gods signed the contract with ease.
In truth, neither side was truly profiting at the other’s expense.
Each was simply taking what they needed.
The next moment, as these contractual clauses entered the Vast Expanse Heaven, the sheets stained with the blood of the gods ignited without fire, transforming into more than a dozen crimson-gold beams that shot into the origin of heaven and earth.
Silently and imperceptibly, the starry sky of the Vast Expanse seemed to grow heavier and more expansive.
Across the land, various phenomena symbolizing slaughter and destruction unfolded, stimulating countless exotic beasts into losing their sanity.
War, riots, city-destruction, fear, discord, revenge…
One rule after another was replicated, dismantled, and recompiled, becoming part of the operation of the three realms until fully integrated into layered concepts.
Hm…
They all seemed to be authorities symbolizing the negative tendencies of heaven, earth, and all living beings?
But it did not matter.
The Celestial Emperor bore the three realms upon his shoulders and governed all spirits.
Whether it was the natural changes of sun, moon, stars, wind, rain, and thunder, or the mortal fortunes of lifespan, prosperity, misfortune, life, and death, all lay within his jurisdiction.
Mere negative rules—what could they amount to even when combined!
Thus, the Power of High Heaven shone brilliantly, directly suppressing the vastly surging aura of calamity between heaven and earth.
Tian’el’s will spread outward.
He could sense Heaven gradually expanding.
Even the Earthly Realm at the deepest layer of space-time—once stunted in its development—began to emit faint glimmers of light.
This feast had indeed been a satisfying one— [Divine Status]: Celestial Emperor of the Vast Expanse [World Authority]: Heavenly Sovereignty (66%), Vast Expanse Sovereignty (11%) [Core Authorities]: Power of High Heaven, Sacred Path System [Remaining Transmigration Attempts]: 5 The newly integrated rules within the origin of Heaven were already under the control of the Power of High Heaven.
Once they fully merged into the operation of the three realms, they naturally increased Tian’el’s authority over the Heavenly Realm and the Vast Expanse.
That they could rise so much in a single day was indeed because the Vast Expanse was permeated everywhere by the aura of destruction and calamity, which had already become a prevailing trend within the three realms.
The negative authorities replicated and analyzed from Ares and the other gods just happened to be capable of initially interfering with these concepts.
Strange as it seemed, the operation of a world did indeed encompass the possibility of its own destruction.
Therefore, it was only natural that the Celestial Emperor could control the corresponding authority.
From this perspective, if one wished to completely resolve the Vast Expanse’s trend toward destruction, aside from increasing the world’s carrying capacity and eliminating the sources of calamity, there was also the path of fully bringing destruction under control.
Mm.
The future was bright.
Keep up the effort.
A faint smile appeared on Tian’el’s face as he turned his gaze once more toward the Danmachi world.
As time passed, numerous intelligence agents dispatched by Orario and the various nations of the continent to investigate Ares’ “death” had already arrived one after another.
The swiftest among them was a refined male god with a refreshing smile.
He wore simple casual clothing and a hat adorned with a feather.
Tian’el silently watched as the other party gathered information throughout the royal capital of Rakia.
Ultimately, not daring to enter the Bashe Mountain Range, he decided to first steal a few pieces of material transported out from the mountains from ordinary soldiers.
“As expected of the god of thieves…”