Hua—

Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure tore through s.p.a.ce-time with Qin Yun and arrived in a land swirling with fog.

"Nüwa Palace." Qin Yun looked at the palace that appeared somewhat hazy amid the fog. He turned a little anxious since G.o.ddess Nüwa enjoyed a very unique standing in the Three Realms. She had mended the heavens to save the Three Realms through her powers alone. G.o.ddess Nüwa created humanity… so to humans, she was completely different from the other Heavenly Dao realm existences.

G.o.ddess Nüwa could be said to be the mother of all humanity.

It would also be Qin Yun"s first meeting with G.o.ddess Nüwa.

"Heavenly Lord." Two fairies outside the palace gates bowed reverently when they saw Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure.

"Good." Numinous Treasure led Qin Yun right in.

Nüwa Palace was extremely large with numerous palatial complexes, corridors, and gardens. It resembled a maze more than a palace.

Numinous Treasure led Qin Yun to a garden filled with abundant flowers. A regal-gowned woman was sitting cross-legged among the flowers, appearing tall even while seated. She watched Numinous Treasure and Qin Yun walk in with a smile. Her gaze rested mostly on Qin Yun as she extended her hand and said, "Numinous Treasure, and Disciple-Nephew Qin, please have a seat."

"This is G.o.ddess Nüwa?" Qin Yun"s first meeting with G.o.ddess Nüwa made him find her aura ethereal and unfathomable, but very warm despite his realm.

Numinous Treasure nodded and sat cross-legged with a smile. Qin Yun also sat cross-legged beside his master.

"Humans are indeed becoming stronger with every generation. Your people have now produced the first half-step Heavenly Dao existence for humanity." G.o.ddess Nüwa looked at Qin Yun with a genial and warm look, as though she was looking at her own child. "The light that s.h.i.+nes from providence on humanity is indeed intensifying."

The humans" Three Sovereigns were very powerful and, in certain aspects, they had reached the pinnacle below the Heavenly Dao realm.

For instance, f.u.xis.h.i.+"s previous incarnation was G.o.dfiend f.u.xi. He had acc.u.mulated immense amounts of insight and was best at array formations in the Three Realms.

Suirens.h.i.+"s Inextinguishable Torch Flame sent reverberations through the Three Realms and, ignoring Shennongs.h.i.+, the first two had strength not far from the half-step Heavenly Dao realm. Yet, they were never publicly acknowledged to possess such strength.

The number of half-step Heavenly Dao realm existences acknowledged in the Three Realms… was a pathetic number. There were only four before Qin Yun—the Buddhists" Amita, the Ancestral Dragon, Mighty G.o.d Hou Yi, and the Chaos G.o.dfiend, G.o.d King Zhurong, who once reigned supreme for a period of time! They had all proven themselves in battle, and now, there was another one—Qin Yun.

As the strongest sword immortal in the Three Realms, he possessed an Intrinsic Connate Cardinal treasure, leaving no doubts to his strength. After he slew Patriarch Spirit Devouring, his half-step Heavenly Dao realm strength was publicly acknowledged.

"The humans are truly richly endowed by nature," praised Numinous Treasure with a smile.

"I"ve always been worried," said G.o.ddess Nüwa with a smile, "that all those old freaks would appear after the few of us are forced to leave the Three Realms. The Three Realms would then turn to chaos as a result… However, with Disciple-Nephew Qin"s appearance, I"m a lot more at ease. His abhorrence of evil shall prevent those old freaks from causing wanton destruction."

"I know the temper of this disciple of mine. He will not tolerate any misdeeds made by those old freaks. However, he has to transcend the Itinerant Immortal tribulations before he can leave those old freaks in shock," Numinous Treasure said.

"Master, both of you were talking about being forced to leave the Three Realms?" Qin Yun asked out of curiosity.

"You aren"t aware?" Nüwa looked at Qin Yun.

"I heard Master mention it once, but I do not know the reason why Master, G.o.ddess Nüwa, and other Heavenly Dao realm figures have to leave the Three Realms," Qin Yun said, having heard his master mention it before when he was obstructing the Fiend Ancestor"s destruction body.

Nüwa looked at his disciple and explained, "It"s not considered a secret. Ever since Buzhou cracked, the Three Realms has been in a state of collapse. Even with Nüwa"s mending of the heavens to save the Three Realms, the immense damage to its foundations remains.

From the side, Nüwa nodded and said, "Back when Pangu split the heavens from earth, the Three Realms were in a much more prosperous state, but it was still slowly draining away. Ever since Gonggong slammed into Mt. Buzhou and crumbled it, the foundations of the Three Realms have been severely damaged. The Heaven and Earth spiritual energies have been constantly decreasing in the Three Realms. With the Heavenly Dao in place, how can the spiritual energy decrease? It"s to reduce the burden the Three Realms has to bear.

"The Three Realms is home to trillions of lives and it"s filled with countless immortals and fiends. The burden is just too huge. And each of us Heavenly Dao realm existences are a huge burden on the Three Realms," Nüwa said. "We can already sense the rejection the Three Realms has towards us. We can still stay for now, but as the rejection increases, it will not take long before we are forced to leave."

Qin Yun was enlightened.

He could notice the changes in the environment. Small Worlds would have Heaven and Earth spiritual energies decrease with time, making cultivation more difficult. That was only an ecological change at a small scale.

The changes to the Three Realms as a whole went deeper and farther.

"When the time comes, there will be nothing to rein in others in the Three Realms. All the lurking old freaks would appear. We will rely on all of you to maintain order in the Three Realms," G.o.ddess Nüwa explained.

Numinous Treasure nodded and said, "The Three Realms will continue changing, weakening the Heaven and Earth spiritual energies and making it harder to cultivate. It will come to a point when the Three Realms will enter an automatic cycle. We find it difficult to predict how long this process could take.

"Who knows when we might be expelled as well," said Qin Yun.

"It will still be a long while. Perfected Golden Immortals are still at the Golden Immortal stage, a realm below the Heavenly Dao. There is a qualitative difference," Numinous Treasure said. "If the Three Realms can"t even bear the burden of Golden Immortals, I do not even dare imagine what it would look like."

Nüwa sighed. "It can be certain that as Heaven and Earth spiritual energies thin, cultivation would become harder. The Heavenly realm would still be alright, but the Great Worlds would be in trouble. The billions of Small Worlds… might even see their path to immortality severed."

Qin Yun was deep in thought.

Severing the path to immortality?

He recalled…

Back in his second life when he dreamed a hundred years, he had descended as Meng Yiqiu. That Small World had the path to immortality severed. It gave rise to a martial path.

"Disciple, what you should be focused on is your transcending of the tribulations," Numinous Treasure said with a smile. "We will be leaving the Three Realms only after you transcend your tribulations. You only have a little over three thousand years left."

"I can only try my best. However, it"s still an unknown how powerful the twelfth Itinerant Immortal tribulation is. It"s also hard to tell if there"s a thirteenth, fourteenth or fifteenth tribulation…"

"It"s indeed unpredictable how the Itinerant Immortal tribulations will turn out." Nüwa nodded slightly.

Numinous Treasure said, "Nüwa, our visit here is to as for your help. How far is my disciple"s Intrinsic Flying Sword from a Merit Cardinal treasure?"

"Merit Cardinal treasure?" Nüwa looked at Qin Yun.

He immediately flipped his hand as a three-inch flying sword appeared in the middle of his palm. The flying sword was tiny, but it contained extremely powerful might and had immense merit within.

"Back when you swept through the twenty-six dominions and wiped out the fiends" nest, freeing countless Small Worlds from the grasp of the fiends, you won a good deal of merit." Nüwa looked carefully at the Misty Rain Sword.

While Qin Yun remained anxious, Numinous Treasure listened.

"Your Intrinsic Flying Sword is still twenty percent away from becoming a Merit Cardinal treasure," said Nüwa.