In the cultivation world, what came after the Great Ascension Realm was becoming an immortal.
Of course, the different cultivation systems of the cultivation world each described becoming an immortal differently.
First, in the process of becoming an immortal, one had to cross a tribulation.
In many cultivation lineages, a Great Ascension Realm cultivator approaching immortality usually had to undergo a heavenly tribulation.
It was both a test and, by common reckoning, the final gate on the road from the mortal world to the immortal Dao.
Jie Ming, however, did not think he would be going down that path.
He was, after all, in the wizard world, and he had personally observed a seventh-level wizard advancing to the eighth level.
At the time, he had observed nothing resembling a traditional tribulation.
He had even seen plenty of seventh-level creatures advance to the eighth level, and had never seen any sign of a tribulation in those either.
Of course, that did not mean advancing to the eighth level was free of risk.
For instance, when high-level wizards broke through, they likewise had to complete “law fixation.”
But those risks were, in the end, not the same thing as the heavenly tribulation of cultivation legend.
At least judging by the information he currently had, the wizard world’s system of rules most likely had no mechanism that required undergoing a tribulation in order to become an immortal.
As for the requirements for becoming an immortal, apart from crossing the tribulation, what remained was the requirement to obtain a “fruit of the Dao.”
Deep in his consciousness, Jie Ming called up the records on the fruit of the Dao in the Great Dao Book Pavilion.
According to the materials from every side, the so-called fruit of the Dao was not merely a crystallization of power, nor just some special product a cultivator condensed at a certain realm.
It was closer to the result that formed once a cultivator reached a perfect understanding of a particular Great Dao.
Explained in the wizard civilization’s plainer terms, it was achieving complete mastery of a particular law.
Reading this far, Jie Ming’s expression gradually grew serious.
“Just as I thought.”
Seen from this angle, there was a quite obvious correspondence between becoming an immortal in the cultivation system and the wizard civilization’s requirements for advancement.
For a seventh-level wizard to advance to the eighth level, he had to completely master at least one law before he could attempt law fixation.
And the fruit of the Dao in the cultivation system likewise required the cultivator to reach perfection in a particular Great Dao.
The two differed in how the concept was expressed, but in terms of the actual requirement, the core conditions were extremely similar.
“If I can work out the difference between the fruit of the Dao and law fixation more precisely, I might find a deeper connection between the two systems.”
Jie Ming noted the idea down.
It would not be too late to verify it step by step when he actually needed to research immortality.
After all, he had only just advanced to the Great Ascension Realm, and there was still some way to go before truly becoming an immortal.
And compared with immortality, what concerned him more was the change that had taken place in his Dao Integration state after this breakthrough.
Jie Ming sank his consciousness into his spiritual sea once more.
The golden law threads that had already stabilized were now, astonishingly, beginning to slowly “grow.”
Watching the golden law threads lengthen at a speed visible to the naked eye, Jie Ming’s expression turned grave.
Before the breakthrough, he had had to rely on continuous study and research to raise his mastery of these laws bit by bit.
But now, even though he was not continuing to study, the golden law threads in his spiritual sea kept growing regardless.
“I knew the Dao Integration state would be strengthened somewhat at the Great Ascension Realm, but this enhancement is far too extreme! No wonder it gets listed separately as a new realm.”
Going by what Jie Ming felt, this was in fact his mind using the associations between the various laws to deduce new knowledge in an unending stream.
In his original Dao Integration state, he had already been able to use the connections between laws to promote the development of the Spiritual Qi Law.
But that promotion still needed knowledge and research as its foundation, and the speed of improvement was limited by his own capacity for understanding.
Now, with the dual cultivation of nature and life having completed a milestone breakthrough, his understanding of the many laws had deepened, and the connection between his mind and the laws had grown closer as well.
The knowledge he had already learned began to fuse further within his cognition.
So long as he kept on contemplating, he could gradually dig deeper content out of the basic rules he had already mastered.
It was like having learned only addition and subtraction and being able to deduce all manner of advanced mathematics from there.
And the growth of the other golden law threads would in turn promote the development of the Spiritual Qi Law.
This was the greatest gain the Great Ascension Realm had brought him.
Jie Ming wasted no time; he immediately called up his own law mastery records and compared the data from before and after the breakthrough.
As data was added, a growth curve took shape on the light screen.
He checked it carefully several times, and after confirming there were no obvious errors in the calculation, he finally arrived at a conclusion that satisfied him considerably.
At the current rate of growth, so long as he maintained his present state, his mastery count in the Spiritual Qi Law could be expected to reach ten thousand points in under three hundred years.
That was precisely the mastery count standard required to advance to an elite seventh-level wizard.
As for the other conditions, such as the strength of his mental energy, Jie Ming had long since met them.
In other words, barring any mishap in his contemplation from here on, he would need only somewhat under three hundred years before he could formally attempt advancement to seventh-level wizard.
“And that’s the result of letting it develop freely. If I keep studying during the process, the speed can go higher still.”
Looking at the result of the calculation, Jie Ming showed a satisfied smile.
Compared with the speed at which he had previously mastered laws through study, the current rate of improvement was clearly much faster.
“Not bad.”
Jie Ming closed the calculation model, in a thoroughly good mood.
The elite seventh-level standard that would once have taken ages to reach was now clearly in sight.
And so long as this state could be maintained, his future rate of growth might well rise further still.
At this thought, Jie Ming moved his attention away from the status records and turned to another research project he had long since prepared.
The Mustard Seed Dao-Holding True Body Art.
He had been researching this immortal art for a considerable time.
Previously, because his own nature cultivation and Dao Integration state had not yet reached the ideal degree, many key questions involving the mind, the laws and the structure of the true body had never received satisfactory answers.
It was not that he lacked the ability to keep researching, but that he lacked some condition that could truly link the different parts together.
Now, the situation was different.
The great leap in his Dao Integration state had given Jie Ming confidence once more.
Jie Ming called up the complete materials on the Mustard Seed Dao-Holding True Body Art, his gaze sweeping rapidly over its core structure.
Then he rearranged his original cultivation plan and formally moved this immortal art to the top of his current research.
Now that he had advanced to the Great Ascension Realm, it was the perfect moment to use this strengthening of his Dao Integration state to complete it once and for all.
Jie Ming’s gaze came to rest on the magic model on the light screen, and the corners of his mouth lifted.
Next, it was time to see just how many surprises this immortal art could bring him.