Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

He instantaneously plummeted through the starry sky.

The next instant, Zhao Sheng opened his eyes and found himself on a boundless ocean.

It had suddenly become daytime, with the Great Sun at its zenith, the sunlight bright and cheerful, the sky clear for thousands of miles.

The tranquil ocean had no waves, and within its waters grew various kinds of algae like red, green, and yellow algae.

A slight sea breeze carrying a fishy scent with a hint of tartness brushed against Zhao Sheng's face.

He stepped onto the water beneath him and said with an emotionless calm, "Star Algae Sea? This is an illusion realm!"

"Correct! Welcome to the world of the Divine," came the reply.

No sooner had the voice faded, than another "himself" slowly rose from the sea opposite Zhao Sheng.

In appearance, body, demeanor, and temperament, it was identical to Zhao Sheng.

Under Absolute Rationality, Zhao Sheng's actions were unusually direct and simple, and he immediately asked, "Your Highness, are you trying to mimic me?"

"Hehe, Divine now looks exactly like you," the other "Zhao Sheng" replied joyfully.

Although the Divine's face and words carried a "smile," it gave off an eerie feeling, for it still lacked any genuine emotions.

"Your Highness is not me! Why bother mimicking me?"

By this time, Zhao Sheng had begun to grasp a bit of the Divine Spirit's thought logic, hence his speech became even more direct and simple.

Just as he had said, the Divine was not human, and there was no need to adhere to the mundane rituals of the Human Clan with such a strange life form.

"But... you really seem like... Divine also wants to go out? But Divine never grows up."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng immediately asked, "Your Highness, are you the Sea God?"

"Hmm! Divine seems to be what you call the Sea God. But Divine doesn't like this name. Heavenly Dao has given Divine a true name 'Algae.' You may call Divine 'Algae.'"

Hearing this, Zhao Sheng thought to himself, "Indeed... the Divine Spirit is the Star Algae, and the Star Algae is the Sea God!"

In fact, he had roughly guessed this possibility before, but it was confirmed only after hearing it from the Divine Spirit.

With a flash of thought, Zhao Sheng immediately lifted the state of Absolute Rationality.

"Oh, you've changed again, turned into a human. Zhao Sheng, you really are human!" The Divine Spirit's thought pattern was linear, vastly different from that of humans.

Zhao Sheng couldn't help but smile wryly and seriously explained, "I have always been human, Your Highness. There's no need to remind me again and again."

"I'm very curious about Your Highness's current state of existence. How big is your true body? Could it be as big as the entire Star Algae Sea?"

"Not just the Star Algae Sea, but wherever there is algae, there is Divine. However, Divine's consciousness never grows up, and its true body is probably just about the size of the Star Algae Sea," replied the Divine Spirit, its words somewhat contradictory and obscure.

But Zhao Sheng was extremely perceptive and immediately grasped the meaning behind the Divine Spirit's words.

The Divine Spirit was likely a type of collective life form, representing the collective spiritual consciousness of countless algae in the Shattered Star Sea.

The places where algae grew most vigorously and densely, such as the Star Algae Sea, harbored stronger consciousness of the Divine Spirit.

However, in the Outer Sea and other oceans, due to the scarcity of algae and small clusters, they could not support the Divine Spirit's spiritual consciousness.

This caused the Divine's spiritual consciousness to not spread to the farther Outer Sea regions.

What the Divine Spirit meant by "never growing up" was likely that the reproduction rate of the algae was too slow and could not scale up.

If one day, the Star Algae could entirely cover all four great oceans, then the Divine Spirit would surely grow to become a great existence comparable to the Heavenly Dao.

Actually, such Sea God species of collective life forms like the Divine Spirit are inherently legendary creatures with longevity.

In the Taiyi Spirit Realm, the Sea God is also known as "Earth Immortal,"

In the Spirit Clan and other higher races, a fully mature Sea God is a naturally born Divine Spirit, capable of acting on behalf of Heavenly Dao. Thus, it is also known by other great titles such as Main God, Realm Master, and Heavenly Dao Spirit.

Compared to others of its kind, the Divine Spirit was like an infant just learning to walk, its spiritual consciousness weak and unstable. Occasionally waking for a moment, it would then fall into long periods of deep sleep, waiting endlessly for the day it would "grow up."

But that day might never arrive, for more than twenty thousand years ago, when the Divine Spirit had just begun to develop consciousness, it was discovered by the Great Ability of the Human Clan.

To prevent the Divine Spirit from "occupying" this world, the Great Ability of the Human Clan had already made many arrangements in advance and set up the Sealing Heaven and Locking Sea Array.
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The mission of the Star God Palace and the Four Great Ancient Clans was to guard the Star God and prevent it from losing control.

Additionally, they were responsible for maintaining the normal operation of the Sealing Heaven and Locking Sea Array.

The cultivation technique of the Star God was completely different from that of the Human Clan.

Compared to the Human Clan, whose cultivation assimilated myriad divine skills and power into oneself.

The consciousness of the Divine was law, divine skills, it was both life and path!

Within the range of the Divine consciousness, a part of Heavenly Dao Authority was usurped, possessing power to call the wind and summon the rain, to transform heaven and earth—the title of Heavenly Dao Spirit was not without reason.

Although the Star God was among the weakest of its kind, its natural instincts still persisted. At least within the range of the Star Algae Sea, it was almost omnipotent and omniscient.

But back to the main point!

No sooner had the Star God finished speaking than Zhao Sheng cried out in astonishment, "Wait... the entire Star Algae Sea spans tens of thousands of miles, is it really where your true body resides?"

As he spoke, he looked up at the boundless ocean, his heart unavoidably shaken by such a miraculous and grand life.

"This realm can actually nurture such a magnificent lifeform, the wonders of the Heavenly Dao creator are beyond anything, next to the Star God!"

"Of course! Although the Divine is small now, it will grow one day. It's just that your Human Clan's Star God Palace is too annoying. It always stretches out a Magic Net, binding the Divine's body. Can you help the Divine destroy it?"

"No, I can't," Zhao Sheng shook his head and said bluntly.

Facing a miraculous lifeform like the Star God that could pierce directly into one's heart, any human lies and deceit could barely be concealed from it.

Zhao Shengr had keenly perceived this and thus spoke the truth.

"You can't do it now, but that doesn't mean you can't do it in the future. If you can help the Divine break free from its bonds, the Divine will repay you," the Star God said earnestly.

"For twenty thousand years, your highness has seen countless Children of Destiny. If these born protagonists couldn't do it, how could I, a mere subject, manage?"

"Heavenly Dao told the Divine, you are different! You can do it."

For some reason, the Star God was exceptionally serious this time.

Zhao Sheng actually sensed a trace of excitement in those emotionless words.

"Hmm! Your highness is really... I cannot guarantee that I can help you break free, but if one day I can, I will do it if it's convenient," Zhao Sheng reconsidered and then spoke outright.

"Hehe, at most a few thousand years, sleeping through dozens of awakenings will pass it. Such a short time, the Divine can wait," thought the Star God, its perspective simply invincible.

Its concept of time was fundamentally different from that of the Human Clan.

A civilization might only span five thousand years from its birth to maturity, but to the consciousness of the Star God, it was merely a few dozen awakenings.

Looking at the Star God, this unprecedentedly strange life-form, Zhao Sheng was extremely curious at the moment, curious about how the Longevity Species viewed the Human Clan's cultivation for longevity.

When he asked the Star God what the true Longevity Technique was,

the Star God responded, "The Divine does not understand your Human Clan's cultivation methods. For the Divine, eternal youth does not exist. The Divine is born every moment and dies every moment.

Once, someone interesting said an interesting thing, he said the Divine is "the 'I' of yesterday is not 'me', and the 'me' of today is neither alive nor dead."

"The Divine also doesn't understand your Human Clan's Longevity Technique, the Divine's consciousness is life, thinking is cultivation, the Cultivation Technique is consciousness, Heavenly Dao is the Divine's teacher, the world is the Divine's body. The larger the consciousness, the larger the body, and you say the Divine is powerful.

But what is power? Heavenly Dao doesn't know, the Divine doesn't understand."

Saying this, the Star God gave a peculiar laugh and suddenly blurted out a phrase: "In the ancient beginning, who conveyed the doctrine? Above and below not formed, how can it be verified? Dark bright and dim obscured, who can determine it? Bearing semblance yet elusive, how to recognize...

"These words were spoken by the Human Clan that confined the Divine twenty thousand years ago. At that time, he also said that when the Divine truly understands the meaning of these words, it will be the day the Divine has grown up."

"Zhao Sheng, the Divine has asked countless people, countless people have given the Divine different answers, yet the Divine still hasn't 'grown up'. Do you know the true meaning of this passage? Why, oh why!"

Zhao Sheng was stumped by the Star God for a moment.

It was like asking why one plus one equals two?

It seems very simple, but in fact, it is an exceedingly tough question.

Moreover, everything discussed above comprises eternal mysteries.