Chapter 1329 – Secret of the Great Calamity

…

…

…

“Junior Lin Ming greets Senior Empyrean Divine Dream and Senior Empyrean Vast Universe.”

Lin Ming first respectfully bowed. Then, he said, “If seniors allow, this junior has some matters that he hopes two seniors can provide guidance with.”

“Speak.” Divine Dream casually waved her hand and the surroundings rapidly changed. The three of them immediately arrived in a charming spring prairie with fragrant flowers and trees all about. Springs trickled, beautiful to the eyes.

This was an enchantment that Empyrean Divine Dream laid down. Within this enchantment, it was impossible for anyone else to spy on their conversation.

“Seniors, this junior would like to ask about a previous matter first. As long as this junior has been able to enter the top three of the Earth Proclamation then I should have gained the rights to enter an Empyrean Heavenly Palace and study a transcendent divine might. This junior would like to inquire whether or not I have the option to choose.”

“Oh?” Empyrean Divine Dream faintly smiled, “What do you want to choose?”

“What this junior wishes to choose is the Divine Dream Law created by Senior!”

Empyrean Divine Dream was not surprised by Lin Ming’s honest words, but Empyrean Vast Universe smiled. He heartily laughed, “Young man, it seems that you don’t have a liking for my Vast Universe Heavenly Palace’s transcendent divine might!”

“Senior, this junior certainly does not mean that. The transcendent divine might that Senior Vast Universe established is wonderful, able to open multiple inner worlds and allow a martial artist to have an amount of true essence far surpassing all others of their level. This junior also wishes to study it, but it’s only that relatively speaking, the Divine Dream Law is more useful to this junior.”

“Hehe, according to what I can see, you have quite a few transcendent divine mights on you!” Empyrean Vast Universe suddenly said. Ignoring the elementary transcendent divine might that Lin Ming had created as well as the tiny bit of the Divine Dream Law that he had comprehended earlier, he had three different sets of transcendent divine mights. He possessed the Heretical God Force, Primordius martial intent, and also the extremely high level but very incomplete Divine Seal Art.

Lin Ming replied, “This junior’s luck has been good, thus I have been able to acquire the inheritances of some seniors thanks to some accidental opportunities.”

“Mm… you have a good number of transcendent divine mights. If you study too many then you won’t be able to bring them to a high enough level. Choosing to develop one or two of them is the wisest choice.”

Every transcendent divine might was enough for a genius to cultivate all the way to the Empyrean realm. If one studied too many, although one could comprehend more Laws and enhance their strength, they might lack too much time and energy.

For instance, Hang Chi had in fact only learnt a single transcendent divine might. From the time he stepped onto the road of martial arts he had been thoroughly studying the Wheel of Samsara all the way until now.

Although Lin Ming knew this, he would still walk the path he had chosen. This was just like how he chose to dual cultivate in body and energy, and then chose to triple cultivate in essence, energy, and divine.

“The Divine Dream Law… you may learn it, but I shall not accept you as a disciple.”

As Empyrean Divine Dream spoke, Empyrean Vast Universe was a bit surprised on the side. Lin Ming was such a good apprentice and he also delivered himself to their gates, so why wouldn’t she accept him?

“Divine Dream, are you not accepting Lin Ming because it is the custom of your Divine Dream Heavenly Palace to not accept male disciples? I don’t know when you decided on these rules, but isn’t Lin Ming worth breaking them for, at least once?”

Empyrean Vast Universe directly said. In his opinion, Lin Ming’s potential future achievements were limitless. If he joined Divine Dream Heavenly Palace, then with Frost Dream also there, who could still hope to compete with them?

The only thing worth considering would be the fact that Lin Ming and Frost Dream were two absolutely proud geniuses of heaven. If they were to stay together for a long time then they might form feelings between each other that would multiply. The resulting consequences might violate Divine Dream’s ultimate taboo.

The truth was that Empyrean Vast Universe also had a faint guess regarding Frost Dream’s status. If Frost Dream was truly the reincarnated half of Divine Dream’s primordial spirit then the previous matter would truly be a grave issue.

Of course, he couldn’t directly speak about this.

Empyrean Divine Dream shook her said, saying, “I have a different reason for not accepting Lin Ming as my disciple. In addition, there is another matter that I will be honest about. Lin Ming, you are not suited to study the Divine Dream Law because… you do not possess spirit source. Think about your decision carefully.”

“Spirit source?”

Lin Ming was startled. He had also heard this term before, but as for what spirit source truly was, he still wasn’t sure.

Empyrean Divine Dream said, “A human has essence, energy and divine, and the universe also possesses essence, energy and divine. The essence of the universe is all the matter that exists, the energy of the universe is all the myriad energies that exist, and the divine is represented by the Heavenly Dao Laws. All three of these aspects have a source which represents their very beginning. Do you know of grandmist energy?”

Lin Ming nodded. He was familiar with grandmist energy; it was the foundation of his grandmist space.

“Yes, a great part of the reason that Empyrean Primordius was able to wield the Grandmist Laws was because he possessed a tremendous amount of grandmist energy. Grandmist energy is the source of all matter.

“Besides grandmist energy, there are also two other kinds of sources in this world. They are genesis energy and spirit source. The two of them correspond to ‘energy’ and ‘divine’ respectively. The reason that I could create the Divine Dream Law was by relying on spirit source!

“My Divine Dream Heavenly Palace has a very small number of people, only several hundred disciples. As for the disciples I have personally accepted, for all these millions of years, there have only been 10. The reason is because of a limitation in my requirements. All of my disciples must possess spirit source. However, you do not, thus you are destined to make no progress in the Divine Dream Law.”

As Empyrean Divine Dream explained this, Lin Ming was suddenly enlightened. No wonder there were so few people in Divine Dream Heavenly Palace.

Grandmist energy, genesis energy, spirit source, these were the three foundations that represented the essence, energy, and divine of the universe. This was the first time Lin Ming had heard of this.

“Now, are you still determined to study the Divine Dream Law?” Empyrean Divine Dream slowly said as she looked at Lin Ming.

“I am.” Lin Ming replied without hesitation. The triple cultivation of essence, energy, and divine was related to the Laws of the 33 Layered Heavens, he certainly couldn’t give up on it.

“Very well…” Empyrean Divine Dream no longer opposed. “Since you insist, I will not refuse you. I only hope that you do not waste your time.”

As the one who founded the Divine Dream Law, Empyrean Divine Dream could confirm that it was impossible to cultivate it without spirit source. However, she also didn’t wish to meddle in Lin Ming’s growth. She believed that Lin Ming had his own wonderful destiny to follow, and if he were subject to the intervention of others, he would never have reached this step.

“I thank Senior Divine Dream for the help.” Lin Ming happily said. He only wished to learn the Divine Dream Law; he didn’t care whether or not he formed any good relations with Divine Dream’s disciples.

“Senior Divine Dream, this junior has a question concerning the great calamity 3.6 billion years ago. This junior would like to ask – just what is the great calamity?”

On the Divine Seal Altar, Lin Ming had seen some remnant scenes of the great calamity.

Empyrean Divine Seal had stood atop the Divine Seal Altar. With Empyreans as generals and Holy Lords as soldiers, the God Beasts that soared through the universe had blocked out the heavens like massive celestial bodies. This scene had left a tremendous impact on him!

“The great calamity…” Upon mentioning this term, there was an ethereal tone to Empyrean Divine Dream’s tone.

“Countless years have passed since the birth of the universe; no one knows just how old this world is. It could be a trillion years or even a quadrillion years or more. And during this time, martial arts civilization has been destroyed many, many times, with countless worlds being destroyed and reborn. If this universe was truly destroyed then even a True Divinity would not be able to escape. If one looks back through the trillion plus years of the universe’s history, there have been many instances of this so-called ‘great calamity’. Facing the vast universe, even Empyreans are nothing more than ants.”

Empyrean Divine Dream suddenly emitted a deep feeling. Lin Ming was silent, respectfully listening to her.

“Now, the great calamity of 3.6 billion years ago should be referring to the fading of the barriers of the 33 Layered Heavens.” Empyrean Divine Dream softly said. But as Lin Ming heard this, he felt a chill run up his spine. “Barriers of the 33 Layered Heavens? What is that?”

The Concept of the 33 Layered Heavens was part of the Laws that Lin Ming cultivated. But as to what the 33 Layered Heavens truly were, he had no idea even now.

Empyrean Divine Dream said, “You should know that there are countless divergent mystic realms in the Divine Realm, right?”

Lin Ming nodded. He had gone to two divergent mystic realms before. One was the God Beast Mystic Realm governed by the four God Beast Clans, and the other was the Red Desolate Mystic Realm governed by Carefree Island.

In these two mystic realms, Lin Ming had harvested a supreme dragon bone one time and obtained a massive wealth the second time.

“The barriers that Senior refers to, are these the barriers that separate the divergent mystic realms?” Lin Ming suddenly asked as he recalled something.

Within the Divine Realm there were countless divergent mystic realms, each with tremendous amounts of wealth. However, wanting to enter them was difficult. This was because there existed barriers between the Divine Realm and these divergent mystic realms.

In order to pass through this barrier, one had to go through specialized transmission arrays and also consume a massive amount of violet sun stones. Also, the person transmitted couldn’t have too high a cultivation. The higher the cultivation, the more energy was required to transmit that person.

It was also because of this reason that no matter if it were the four God Beast Clans entering the God Beast Mystic Realm or Carefree Island entering the Red Desolate Mystic Realm, they had to consume a considerable amount of resources each time.

“Yes, the barriers of these divergent mystic realms are in truth the barriers that divide the 33 Layered Heavens. The Divine Realm’s endless divergent mystic realms are in truth the gaps between the Divine Realm and these other realms. There are 33 Layered Heavens and the Divine Realm is only one of them; its name is the Divine Shifting Heavens.

Empyrean Divine Dream’s words were slow and calm, but when she spoke them they struck Lin Ming’s mind like a titanic steel ball!

The heavens had 33 layers, and the Divine Realm was only one of them!?

This was…!?

Lin Ming was completely mind-boggled. He had already felt that the Divine Realm was vast to the point of being incomparably terrifying, but now he learned that the Divine Realm was only one realm of these 33 realms?

He never knew just what the legends of the 33 Layered Heavens meant. But now he knew just what the 33 Layered Heavens were. The ‘heavens’ meant other realms altogether, not the skies above.

Empyrean Divine Dream continued, “There are barrier walls that separate the 33 Layered Heavens. These barrier walls can separate all existences. The more powerful an existence is, the more difficult it is to cross. However, periodically, like the tide, these barrier walls will weaken to the point that they vanish altogether. The great calamity of 3.6 billion years ago was also because these barrier walls vanished.

“Beyond the Divine Realm there are alien races that are the mortal enemies of humanity. Moreover, they covet the resources of the Divine Realm beyond all reasoning. This leads to great wars between the different races. In the past, a bloody war swept through the entire Divine Realm, and nearly all martial arts masters died because of it! The leader of the martial arts world at that time – Empyrean Divine Seal, also perished because of this…”

As Empyrean Divine Dream spoke, Lin Ming could feel various emotions surging within him. “Alien races?”

“Yes, these alien races possess different Laws and cultivation methods from humanity. In truth, the Concept of the 33 Layered Heavens that you practice is said to be amongst the highest of Concepts because it is suitable for all worlds within the 33 Layered Heavens; this means that it is also suitable for the alien races.”

Empyrean Divine Dream’s words were astonishing. As Lin Ming heard this he was incomparably shocked. So that’s how it was! This was the true face of the 33 Layered Heavens Laws, and what Empyrean Divine Seal cultivated in the past were these 33 Layered Heavens Laws.