Divine Emperor of DeathDivine Emperor of Death
"That said…" Davis heaved a breath, "We will abandon this mini realm. If you can salvage it quickly, it's fine. If not, you can destroy it."
"No," Stella hopped, "I can quickly absorb the mini-realm. It's only a small mini-realm, so I only need about ten minutes… Moreover, salvaging it would allow me to recover a bit of my cultivation. Maybe I can reach Level Eight or even Level Nine Immortal Emperor, considering the time and resources I spent on this mini realm. Besides, if I don't salvage it, it would take a lot of years before I can restore the seed. Without the seed that is produced from a full cycle, I can't create a mini realm."
Davis blinked, "Couldn't you just keep doing this repeatedly until you reach the peak? It's easy, right?"
"It doesn't work that way." Stella quickly shook her head, "Once I absorbed it once, it would no longer work again because my body became used to it. My cultivation wouldn't increase. It wouldn't be until I reach another cycle or more that my body would grow and become capable of more absorption, accommodating further increase in cultivation base. Therefore, we Void Dust Trees would usually wait to create a massive mini realm and nurture it before reabsorbing it into our system, allowing us to go from Level One Immortal Emperor Stage to Level Nine Immortal Emperor Stage in an instant, but that takes a period of three million years."
She looked annoyed, her brows frowning, "Obviously, absorbing resources and cultivating is far better, so we don't bother doing it anymore. It is something we do when we're stranded and have no other options to do so, and it becomes increasingly difficult to raise cultivation that way since the more we use that method, the lesser the cultivation increase we receive in the latter cycles. In the end, we might not reach the Empyrean Stage that way, so we only employ such a method if we absolutely needed to."
"…" Davis placed a hand on his chin and contemplated. He understood what Stella said.
He recognized that his Everlasting Samsara Tribunal Soul Physique might also follow a similar pattern. After all, rebirth actually increased his cultivation.
"…!"
Abruptly, his heart churned. His soul almost flipped in his soul sea.
'Could it be… that this ridiculous soul physique of mine that has a strong resistance to permanent death… also… also has cycles…?'
Davis's hand moved from his chin to face as he trembled.
It couldn't be that he had to fucking die and resurrect nine times like Stella has nine cycles, right?
"Big brother…?"
Davis went silent for a while before Stella awakened him. He heaved a breath before smiling.
"Stella, can you form a very small mini realm, one that's extremely secure, hidden, and unable to be found? We don't need to be in there."
"Oh, yes, why?" Stella cutely blinked before she looked enthusiastic to help, "Of course, if I made it extremely small and empty and placed it in a complex location, then the chances that it would be found become abysmal. Then, if we have Tia do her karmic thing, then it would become nearly unlocatable!~"
"Oh, great!" Davis's eyes flashed, "Then can you make it collapse at a whim or on the slightest external touch?"
"…?" Stella blinked. She pondered for a moment before she nodded, "There are no previous experiences in my memories, but I feel like I can do it. Swallowing the Gilded Realm Ascended Pill also helped my realm creation abilities vastly superior to any Void Dust Trees that I've seen in this stage. But why an empty, very small mini-realm? What do you want to do with it, big brother?"
Davis couldn't stop himself from grinning as he looked all the way down at the miserable wretches.
"A burial site for those who don't want to listen, of course."
"Great!"
Stella jumped as she rejoiced.
She absolutely didn't have any remorse for killing them. In fact, she seemed excited.
Davis wasn't surprised because she once killed an entire army just because they interfered with their romance.
Regardless, he could now see his plan taking shape, making him take a deep breath.
'Celestial Transcendent, it's your choice. Either you can accept the gift that I'm giving you for saving Clara and even go as far as to accept her as your disciple and give her immunity, which makes me thankful... or accept war and watch these Heaven's Warriors all die as they get crushed by raw spatial force.'
Davis went through one of the soul essences he plundered. It belonged to Autarch Flaren, the Autarch who knew about Autarch Elluro Coldwing's plan.
In his memories, there was the information that the Celestial Transcendent would descend within a week or two. At the same time, he knew Autarch Elluro Coldwing was almost moments away from soulscouring Clara, but the fact remained that he mistreated her, causing Davis's killing intent to reignite.
He was now regretting leaving Autarch Elluro Coldwing alive, wishing he could crush him beyond repair, but he reminded himself for the fourth time that he wasn't powerful and needed to stop relying on treasures.
Then, he quickly formulated this plan as he wasn't foolish enough to keep the hostages with him.
If the Celestial Transcendent accepted his proposal to cease fire at least for a period of time, he would have been willing to release the hostages and say they were gifts, getting rid of his karmic debt with the Celestial Transcendent. It was hitting two birds with one stone.
Of course, he wasn't expecting the Heaven's Warriors to stop. He only needed the Celestial Transcendent to stop. That was the only person who gave him the shivers.
If the Celestial Transcendent didn't accept his proposal, that would also be fine, as it would be within his expectations. He would've long hidden himself by then, never to show his face again for the current decade at the very least.
Finally, there was one other reason that he didn't want to come face to face with the Celestial Transcendent right now.
"Fallen Heaven, are you sure about what you said?"
"Yes, now that my powers have increased, I can see the unseen world more passively. Your meeting with the Celestial Transcendent and battling would spell your demise in more ways than one, not because you would lose but because the chances that he finds me is fifty-fifty or less in our stakes. I need to hide like I would hide from a tribulation, or I'm done, as I would likely come under the gaze of the heavens and be expelled."
"…!"
Davis almost jumped.
Fallen Heaven only said it was not a good idea to face the Celestial Transcendent as he would most likely lose, but it hasn't revealed the other reasons until now.
'That means… I can't use Fallen Heaven's energy to boost the black-white stone in front of the Celestial Transcendent…?'
Davis's gaze shook.
He looked down and saw the miserable Heaven's Warriors.
These ants now appeared like pitiful angels to him that needed saving. If he could deliver them to the Supreme One, perhaps he may get some leeway. His decision to spare them despite his urge to make a mincemeat out of them made him feel like he had made the most pragmatic decision in his life.