Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

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This was still the division of the Solar Avatar, with the Mecha body displaying the Sleeve Universe. Should the true self residing in Divine Land personally take action, then even Imperial Arms would have to revive their Extreme Dao divine might to possibly break free from Prohibition.

The grey-clad old ape, despite being a Demon God of the Upper Realm who has cultivated for tens of thousands of years and is also considered a powerful being among Demon Gods, still couldn't defeat him; in fact, there was no need for his true self to rush back. A single Solar Avatar paired with an Eighth Order Mecha was enough to subdue him.

But obviously, he was just a pawn. Capturing him meant little.

The key was...

Xu Yang looked at him, speaking directly, "You come from the Upper Realm?"

"..."

The grey-clad old ape, now a prisoner at his feet, sat on the ground unwilling to answer. But considering his words about "refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit," he eventually responded coldly, "Why ask when you already know!"

Hearing this, Xu Yang remained unfazed, "Was the blood sun phenomenon a few days ago caused by the Upper Realm, penetrating the Lower Realm?"

The old ape let out a cold snort, responding curtly, "Yes!"

Xu Yang shook his head at him, "You are willfully ignorant!"

With that, he raised his hand and pressed it towards the ape's head.

"What do you intend to do?!"

The old ape's complexion changed, rising in alarm and anger, ready to resist, but he was restrained by the Five Colors Divine Light and could not move at all.

"I'm going to Soul Search!"

Xu Yang's expression was indifferent as he uttered the awe-inspiring words, "You are a Demon Immortal. If you resist, the force of my power may become uncontrollable, and a slight mishap could scatter your soul. Therefore, I advise you to act wisely."

Finishing his words, he paid no attention to the feelings of the grey-clad old ape, pressed his hand upon the Divine Ape's Heavenly Spirit, and as the Daoist Sun God activated his Divine Power, he began the Soul-searching and Soul-snatching.

The grey-clad old ape was filled with terror, but, hearing his words, he did not dare to resist and could only let his Primordial Spirit be searched.

In this way, after an unknown amount of time, Xu Yang finally retracted his hand, and the grey-clad old ape collapsed on the ground, his eyes filled with grief and resentment, grinding his teeth.

But Xu Yang paid him no attention, with a sweep of his sleeve gathered him up again, then sat alone on the cushion, frowning in deep thought.

This grey-clad old ape was indeed the ancestor of the Northern Domain's Demon Race, a Demon God who had completed the Nine Tribulations tens of thousands of years ago and ascended to the Upper Realm. Through Soul Searching him, Xu Yang obtained quite a bit of information, and many of his previous questions were answered.

First was the structure of the Upper Realm, as well as the mystery of cultivators' Ascension from the Lower Realm.

According to the old ape's memory, after ascending to the Upper Realm, he was taken under the wing of the Demon Race's major Tao Lineage, the "Heavenly Demon Palace."

The Heavenly Demon Palace is one of the three great Holy Palaces of the Demon Race, with the Heavenly Demon "Kunpeng Great Saint" as its lord. Below Kunpeng Great Saint, there are dozens of Tenth Order Demon Saints and thousands of Ninth Order Demon Gods. Even in the True Immortal Upper Realm, it was an absolute behemoth.

Ninth Order Demon Gods who ascended from the Northern Domain were mostly taken under his wing, including this grey-clad old ape.

But according to the old ape's memory, the status and treatment of these ascended Demon Gods in the Heavenly Demon Palace were not high; there was even a sense of being "prisoners." The Heavenly Demon Palace imposed many Prohibitions on them, strictly monitored, and wantonly commanded them, a stark contrast to the treatment of Demon Gods native to the Upper Realm.

Not just the Demon Race, but the Human Clan and the Devil Race were the same: the treatment of those who ascended to True Immortal was extremely poor, subject to strict surveillance and control, driven around by others, with their potential smothered, and basically none could break through the Earth Immortal Realm, let alone become a Heavenly Immortal.

That the treatment for ascending True Immortals was so poor, there must be a reason.

But the Heavenly Demon Palace did not provide explanations. The grey-clad old ape, through his own struggles, managed to gather some fragmented clues.

The possible reason for the poor treatment of the ascended True Immortals might be related to the catastrophe at the end of Ancient Times when a Demon Star fell from the Nine Heavens, causing Divine Land to sink.

According to the clues collected by the old ape, behind that Demon Star was the struggle among the various Heavenly Immortal Taoist lineages of the Upper Realm, a supremely powerful Heavenly Immortal Taoist Master perished because of it, became a Demon Star that fell into the Lower Realm, causing the Heavenly Pillar to collapse, Divine Land to sink, and the Upper Realm and Lower Realm to be separated from then on.

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That Heavenly Immortal Taoist Master, even among the Heavenly Immortals of the Upper Realm, was a pinnacle figure, and it was even rumored that he had the potential to become a Golden Immortal. However, for some unknown reason, he was besieged by various Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages, and ultimately, unable to withstand the many against one, met defeat and death, becoming a Demon Star, plunging into the Lower Realm.

But such an existence cannot be viewed with common sense. Death to him was merely a state rather than a complete termination. Furthermore, there were numerous suspicions surrounding the incident of that Demon Star's fall, so a resurgence, making a comeback, was nearly expected.

Thus, the Immortal Gods who ascended from the Lower Realm, especially those originating from the Divine Land, were subject to the supervision and control of the various Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages after their ascension. They would even resort to soul-searching and soul-snatching to investigate their origins, in order to guard against the possibility of that fallen Heavenly Immortal Taoist Master making a comeback and returning to the Upper Realm.

For this purpose, the various Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages also jointly anchored the Lower Realm, such that all ascenders, whether they originated from the Divine Land or the other Four Domains' cultivators, could only arrive in the Upper Realm after ascending and fall into the "Ascension Pools" constructed by the various Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages. They were then allocated to different Tao lineages based on their race, origin, and background.

In taking these measures, the various Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages were still not satisfied. They were on high alert around the ascending cultivators, imposing various prohibitions. They were called Immortal Gods, but in reality, their status was no different from that of slaves. Their communication with the Lower Realm was even more heavily monitored, and they absolutely could not reveal the true situation.

Through the treatment of these ascending cultivators, Xu Yang saw fear—the fear of those Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages towards that Taoist Master of the Heavenly Immortals.

A Heavenly Immortal, nearly at the level of a Golden Immortal, was actually besieged and killed by various Tao lineages, falling as a Demon Star to the Lower Realm.

The motives behind this were indeed thought-provoking. What exactly caused all the Tao lineages to act this way, to the point of guarding against and enslaving the ascending cultivators so tenaciously?

Unknown. But this is the landscape of the Upper Realm and the treatment of ascending cultivators.

And this time, the return of the grey-robed old ape to the Lower Realm was also a result of the combined efforts of the various Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages.

The Heavenly Immortal Taoist Masters of the various lineages, by unknown means, had reconnected the space between the Upper Realm and the Lower Realm, allowing the Immortal Gods of the Upper Realm to descend to the Lower Realm.

However, this method seemed immature, and the risks of descent were extremely high. Even for True Immortals and Demon Gods, there was a possibility of being utterly obliterated.

The grey-robed old ape, as a Tongbei Divine Ape, had an extremely resilient Fighting War Saint Body and was thus chosen as one of the first batch of Immortal Gods to descend to the Lower Realm, taking on the heavy responsibility of "paving the way."

What they called "paving the way" was actually more akin to laying down one's life; over ten True Immortals and Demon Gods descended, but only he, relying on that powerful Fighting War Saint Body, arrived safely. The others encountered dangers along the way, either disappearing without a trace or being obliterated.

This indicated the perils of Immortal Gods descending from the Upper Realm.

But no matter how perilous, it did not shake the resolve of the various Heavenly Immortal Tao lineages. This grey-robed old ape was only the first batch; there would be a second, a third, a fourth... The Ninth Order Immortal Gods of the various Tao lineages would continue to descend to the Lower Realm, and it was even said that Earth Immortal Demon Saints would be mobilized.

These Immortal Gods returning to the Lower Realm carried two major tasks: the first was to go to the Divine Land to find the whereabouts of that Demon Star, and the second was to come to the Northern Domain to annihilate this Wandao School, and to capture this Master of Ten Thousand Paths alive.

That's right, these people were targeting him!

As for why they were targeting him, Xu Yang did not have to think to know that it was very likely that those bastards in the Upper Realm considered him the reincarnation of that Heavenly Immortal from before, so they were coming to nip the problem in the bud and prevent future troubles.

After all, it's better to kill the wrong person than to let go of the actual target!

The various Tao lineages of the Upper Realm were extremely wary, even fearful, of that Heavenly Immortal Taoist Master who fell and became a Demon Star. If there was even the slightest possibility, they would go to great lengths to eradicate it.

Even if we put that aside and say that Xu Yang is not the reincarnation of that Heavenly Immortal Taoist Master, his actions and the values he displayed in the Northern Domain over the years, as well as the information he revealed, would be enough reason for the various Tao lineages to take action against him.

After all, his myriad of miraculous deeds in the eyes of others were a sign of possessing great treasures.

Therefore, it won't be long before a group of True Immortals and Demon Gods, or even Earth Immortal Demon Saints, descend to the Lower Realm to trouble him.

How to deal with this?

Xu Yang frowned deeply, pondering for a long while, then waved his sleeve and released the grey-robed old ape.

The old ape rolled to the ground, his fur bristling, filled with grief and indignation: "If you want to kill, then kill, why play these games..."

"Do you wish to remove the prohibitions and regain your freedom?"

A single utterance, startling everyone; the old ape lay bewildered on the ground, unsure of how to respond.