Chapter 1738: Secret of the Sage (Part 1)

Ayue Asura King recalled, "The Heaven Realm once invaded the Hell Realm, and we, the Hell Realm, also once ascended to the Heaven Realm."

"The two races, entangled for countless ages, never truly decided a victor."

"It wasn't until the last major war between the two races that our Hell Realm attacked the Heaven Realm and, after sacrificing a Realm Lord, successfully occupied the entire Heaven Realm."

Jiang Fan's pupils quivered.

Sacrificed a Realm Lord?

He recalled that the artifact spirit of the Purple Lightning seemed to be a soul fragment of a Heaven Realm Lord.

How brutal was the millennia-old conflict between the Hell and Heaven Realms?

Even Realm Lords could fall!

Jiang Fan asked, "What happened next?"

The Hell Realm's occupation of the entire Heaven Realm implied a great victory for them, but the current situation indicated otherwise.

Ayue Asura King's eyes flashed with indignation: "The Dark Asura lineage within our Asura race colluded with ancient dark beings, allowing them to descend upon the Heaven Realm."

"Our Hell Realm army was attacked from two sides by ancient giants and angels, caught between a rock and a hard place, which led to a devastating defeat."

"A newly ascended Hell Realm Lord perished in the Heaven Realm while protecting the main army's retreat."

"The Hell Realm suffered immense losses in that battle, and the Realm Lord echelon has not fully recovered its strength to this day."

Jiang Fan nodded slightly.

King Mingye Asura had once mentioned that the Asura tribes in the Heaven Realm originated from the remnants of the Hell Realm's expeditionary force from millennia ago. This corroborated Ayue Asura King's account of the ancient war.

Jiang Fan frowned and asked, "But why did the Dark Asura race betray us?"

That was the collective betrayal of an entire race, not as simple as the ten individuals of the Middle Earth's Ten Sins. As one of the Hell Realm's Ten Asuras, the Dark Asura race held crucial status, power, and resources. He couldn't imagine what benefit would justify their entire race's betrayal.

Ayue Asura King replied cryptically, "What else could it be for?"

"Naturally, it was for their clan to produce a Realm Lord."

"Each world can only accommodate a limited number of Realm Lords. Once that number is reached, no one else can break through to become one."

Jiang Fan stroked his chin, pondering, "The number of Realm Lords is limited in each world? Then the Saint Infants on the Grand Void Ancient Tree, which grant breakthrough to the Saint Realm upon consumption, must also have limits, right?"

He asked, "Senior, may I ask why there is a limit on the number of Realm Lords?"

Ayue Asura King countered, "Do you think a lot of resources are needed to break through to the God Transformation Realm?"

Jiang Fan thought for a moment. The resources he had consumed from the Foundation Establishment to the God Transformation Realm were immeasurable, easily enough to sustain a small to medium-sized sect. He nodded, "A lot."

Ayue Asura King continued, "What about cultivating a Sage?"

Jiang Fan recalled how the Heavenly Net Sage's ascendance to the Sage Realm had drained the destiny of Taicang Great Province, causing it to fall from being one of the top three provinces to the very bottom, taking eight hundred years to recover. He nodded again, "Enormous. Eight hundred years' worth of destiny from a single Middle Earth province is barely enough to birth one Sage."

Ayue Asura King's eyes held deep meaning. "Then how many resources would it take to give birth to a Saint?"

That...

Jiang Fan was stumped by the question. Calculating by destiny alone, becoming a Sage requires eight hundred years of a province's destiny. A Saint would surely need at least a thousand years of destiny from all of Middle Earth, wouldn't they? He finally understood why the number of Realm Lords was limited.

Ayue Asura King nodded gently. "It seems you've guessed correctly. Indeed, resources are insufficient."

"Take our Hell Realm, for instance. Giving birth to nine Realm Lords consumed ninety percent of our resources."

"The remaining ten percent is barely enough for all living beings."

"At that point, if another Asura Emperor wished to break through to become a Realm Lord, there would only be three paths."

"One path is to seize the remaining ten percent of resources from the world and break through."

Jiang Fan frowned. "The remaining ten percent of resources have long been distributed and used by all living beings. It would be impossible to gather them all."

Ayue Asura King's gaze deepened. "Therefore, one must take the second path."

"That is, to sacrifice all living beings, using their very essence to forge the path to sainthood."

Jiang Fan abruptly stopped, his hairs standing on end!

Sacrifice all beings in an entire world to become a Saint?

He froze on the spot, his heart filled with unspeakable shock. As the saying goes, 'A single general's success is built upon the bones of ten thousand.' But at the peak of martial arts, in the Saint Realm, the emergence of one Saint means the annihilation of billions of common people!

Ayue Asura King said, "Therefore, every realm strictly controls the number of Realm Lords, and your Middle Earth is no exception."

"Once the number of Realm Lords reaches its limit, subsequent cultivators, no matter how unparalleled their talent throughout history or how astonishing they are for generations, can only wait."

"Only when a Realm Lord perishes and their essence returns to the world can another step into the Saint Realm."

Jiang Fan asked, "What if someone violates the limit and forcibly sacrifices living beings to break through to the Saint Realm?"

Ayue Asura King said, "No one would violate that."

"This is the supreme rule of any world."

"Violators would be suppressed by the Saints, utterly destroying their body and soul."

Jiang Fan nodded gently. Indeed, forcibly breaking through to Realm Lord status would mean destroying the entire world. How could the existing Saints stand idly by?

He realized, "So, the Dark Asura race betrayed us because they wanted to secure a qualification to become a Realm Lord in the Heaven Realm?"

Ayue Asura King said, "Precisely. This is the third path to breaking through to Realm Lord."

"Seizing a qualification from another realm!"

"An ancient Realm Lord had fallen in the Heaven Realm, but no new Realm Lord had emerged for a long time."

"That's why the Hell Realm, willing to gamble the fate of an entire realm, launched an unprecedented war and was on the verge of success."

"Unfortunately, human schemes are no match for divine will. The Dark Asura race was swayed by ancient giants, turned against us, and drove our Asura race back to the Hell Realm."

"They, however, remained in the Heaven Realm permanently, gaining the opportunity to ascend to Realm Lord."

Jiang Fan fully understood. The great war between the two realms was, in essence, a struggle for Realm Lord positions. Once a Realm Lord falls in a realm and no new one quickly takes their place, that realm inevitably becomes a target for covetous outsiders.

Jiang Fan exhaled slightly, saying, "It's fortunate that no ancient Saints have fallen in our Middle Earth, otherwise, your Hell Realm would have invaded us long ago."

To his surprise, Ayue Asura King shook her head. "Who said your ancient Saints haven't fallen?"

Jiang Fan's soul trembled, and his pupils contracted: "Senior, you're not joking, are you? Our Middle Earth ancient Saints, have they ever fallen?"

Ayue Asura King nodded. "Otherwise, why would Dongfang Canyue go to such lengths to send her son into your Middle Earth? Isn't it precisely to covet a Saint qualification in your Middle Earth?"

What? Jiang Fan was utterly shocked. He had considered the Asura Saint Son's ambitions to be vast, but it had never occurred to him that what he coveted was Middle Earth's Saint qualification!

Reflecting on it, if the Asura Saint Son's plan had gone smoothly... He would have wielded the "Soul Suppressing Prison Sutra," and exploiting Middle Earth's great defeat, harvested the merits of all departed souls to smoothly ascend to the Three Calamities Sage Realm. At that point, Middle Earth would have been reduced to ruins, and powerful individuals would no longer exist. With only him, a Three Calamities Sage, remaining, who could possibly contend for a breakthrough to the Saint Realm?

Unfortunately, both the mother and son made repeated miscalculations. First, the "Soul Suppressing Prison Sutra" was lost, and then Middle Earth achieved an unexpected great victory, which foiled the Asura Saint Son's elaborate plans.

He took a deep breath and asked again, "Senior, when did a Saint fall in our Middle Earth?"

Ayue Asura King hesitated for a moment and said, "A thousand years ago."