This was the first time Li Chang’an had encountered such a hypothesis. A significant portion of this journal was dedicated to exploring it. The senior cultivator’s claims were not without merit.
Many terrains recorded in Ancient Texts had completely vanished by the era of the Nine Great Immortal Sects. Numerous Ancient Texts mentioned a vast ocean in the northern part of the Cultivation Immortality Realm, referred to by the Ten Thousand Races as the North Sea. However, during the era of the Nine Great Immortal Sects, the North Sea simply did not exist.
Furthermore, various legends spoke of an Ancient Wood supporting the heavens right in the very center of the Cultivation Immortality Realm. Its hundreds of thousands of roots allegedly transformed into the earth veins that sprawled across the entire land. Yet, this Ancient Wood was equally nowhere to be found.
"An Ancient Wood supporting the heavens?" Li Chang’an subconsciously thought of the Ancient Wood Evergreen Technique.
Years ago, when he first acquired the Ancient Wood Evergreen Technique, an Illusion had manifested before his eyes. Within that Illusion, he had witnessed a towering Ancient Wood. That Ancient Wood had weathered countless tribulations, enduring wave after wave of Celestial Thunder bombardments and suffering the relentless assaults of millions of Immortals, yet it always remained standing firm. Its trunk was exceptionally magnificent, piercing straight through the clouds, as if connecting the Nine Netherworld with the highest heavens.
He did not know what ultimately became of that towering Ancient Wood. The vision was abruptly cut short when a massive hand appeared in the Illusion. That boundless, colossal hand had torn through the sky and smashed his Illusion to pieces.
Even now, recalling that sky-obscuring hand left Li Chang’an somewhat shaken. Even with the strength of a Nascent Soul, he would still be as insignificant as an ant before it.
"The Magic I created based on that giant hand, the Heaven-Tearing Hand, is still something I cannot fully control," Li Chang’an thought, lowering his head slightly to look at his own hands.
Ever since he invented this technique, he had almost never used it against an enemy, simply because this Magic would instantly drain all the Magical Power from his body. Although its might was devastating, it could not be used lightly. If he failed to obliterate his enemy with a single palm strike while simultaneously depleting his own Magical Power, he would be in grave danger.
"That towering Ancient Wood must have existed, and there were still legends about it during the era of the Nine Great Immortal Sects," he mused. "Unfortunately, in today’s Cultivation Immortality Realm, even the legends have faded away..."
As Li Chang’an recalled the Illusion he had seen back then, it felt incredibly real, as if he had personally experienced the growth of that Ancient Wood. If the Ancient Wood was real, then the legends of the North Sea and the accounts recorded in the Ancient Texts could all be true as well. Following this logic, the Cultivation Immortality Realm had indeed shrunk.
The senior cultivator wrote in his journal that during the Ancient Era of Ten Thousand Races, the Cultivation Immortality Realm was said to be unimaginably expansive. Even if a Nascent Soul Powerhouse flew continuously for several months, they would not reach its edge. However, many people of his time found such legends absurd. How massive must a world be to keep a Nascent Soul flying for months without end? Yet, this senior firmly believed that all the legends were true.
"If the Cultivation Immortality Realm hasn’t changed, why are the battlefields of the wars between the Ten Thousand Races from the ancient times nowhere to be seen? The wars of the Ten Thousand Races lasted for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, with corpses piling up like mountains, but today we hardly see any remains of the Alien Races..."
According to the senior’s records, the Cultivation Immortality Realm of his time—whether in terms of the number of geniuses born or the frequency of various heaven and earth Treasures appearing—was far inferior to the Ancient Times documented in Ancient Texts. Many believed that these changes were due to the Cultivation Immortality Realm becoming barren.
But he suspected that the Cultivation Immortality Realm hadn’t become barren; it had simply become smaller. In a smaller world, even if the probability of a genius being born remained unchanged, the sheer number would noticeably decrease.
"If we follow this deduction, the current Cultivation Immortality Realm is even smaller than it was during the era of the Nine Great Immortal Sects," Li Chang’an thought to himself. "Various Treasures have become rare, and for many Elixir Pills and Magical Treasures, even if the refining methods are known, the materials for refining them are gone."
Although he had lived through two lifetimes in antiquity, his Cultivation in those lives wasn’t high enough, and he had faced great calamities in both. He had never had the chance to properly explore the Cultivation Immortality Realm of the ancient years. However, based on many details from those two lifetimes and the massive number of Ancient Texts he had read, he could surmise that the Cultivation Immortality Realm during the era of the Nine Great Immortal Sects was indeed significantly larger than it was today.
"The Cultivation Immortality Realm is shrinking, and perhaps one day it will completely disappear, leading to a world where there are no longer any Cultivators. I need to find the path to the Immortal Realm before that happens," he thought.
Li Chang’an’s state of mind remained relatively stable. Judging by the passage of time in the past, the Cultivation Immortality Realm would not vanish completely in the short term. He reined in his wandering thoughts and continued reading.
The latter half of the journal was almost entirely dedicated to hypotheses on why the Cultivation Immortality Realm was shrinking. In his quest to find the cause, the senior cultivator had traveled extensively, expending a considerable amount of Top-grade Spirit Stones.
"Oh? Top-grade Spirit Stones can activate Teleportation Arrays?" Li Chang’an’s eyes lit up when he read this.
He had long heard that Top-grade Spirit Stones had other uses beyond Cultivation, but he had never known exactly what they were. Today, he finally learned the answer. They were used to power Teleportation Arrays!
Deep within the Divine Mountain of the Fire Cloud Secret Realm, there were over a dozen Teleportation Arrays. Those Teleportation Arrays led to other Secret Realm Worlds controlled by the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty. Now that the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty was long gone, if Li Chang’an could enter those Secret Realm Worlds, he would have all their resources at his disposal.
"Those Teleportation Arrays have all been destroyed by the officials of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty," Li Chang’an thought with a quiet sigh. "It seems that if I want to go to other Secret Realm Worlds, merely repairing the Teleportation Arrays isn’t enough; I’ll also need to find Top-grade Spirit Stones. And there isn’t a single one in this senior’s Storage Pouch..."
In the present-day Cultivation Immortality Realm, Top-grade Spirit Stones had not appeared for a very long time.
"The Teleportation Array inside the Vermilion Bird’s Nest is intact and operational, which means there are still some Top-grade Spirit Stones left behind," he mused. "In the future, I must find an opportunity to enter the Vermilion Bird’s Nest again and figure out a way to take that Teleportation Array and the remaining Spirit Stones with me."