Chapter 2: Tiny Blue Planet

Xu Tao had completed his cultivation... and to his very own surprise, he had actually succeeded. He had reached the Divine Heaven Immortal Stage—fabled to be an unreachable realm! Of course, he didn’t lower his guard. He wasn’t sure how long had passed, but the Divine Heavenly Tribulation could be waiting for him just outside the cave. "...Time to see the outside world, after so long." But more than the threats, he was feeling proud. He wanted to greet his sect members and boast to them about his successful breakthrough. He walked toward the cave’s entrance in a single step and realized that the Nine-Yang Seal was still intact. Xu Tao smiled, feeling the earnest prayers of the Elders—his former disciples—who had protected him during his cultivation. "But it’s too flimsy," he shook his head. "You all still need to study harder." With a single tap of his finger at the center of the seal, the nine red chains of flame burst, fell to the ground, and turned to dust. Even the most powerful seal blocking the entrance was no different than an open door before the current Xu Tao. He stepped out of the cave, half expecting to be welcomed by the bright, colorful flames of the Starfire Lake... "What?" But the view shocked him. He wasn’t in the Starfire Lake anymore. No—rather, he wasn’t anywhere familiar at all. All around him was a dark void, with unfamiliar blinking stars in the distance. It wasn’t the heaven he was used to seeing. "This place is...?" Xu Tao murmured in wonder. He casually took a step, exploring his new surroundings—the place called outer space. In one step, he covered 10,000 li, but even with that distance, it felt like he had barely moved from his original location. "This space is so vast!" Xu Tao gasped, repeatedly moving onward, 10,000 li at a time. Along the way, he saw various small planets. Four of them, in a row. But Xu Tao didn’t stop to check—he didn’t need to. There was absolutely no presence of Qi on any of those planets. Rather, he could feel only the presence of death in them. "Over there..." And finally, after a long time, he arrived at a certain planet. A tiny blue world floating in the void of space. One that had oceans covering most of its surface—the only planet where Xu Tao felt signs of life... and a hint of Transcendent Qi. "This must be the place," Xu Tao nodded to himself. "I hope my Azure Dragon Sect is here too..." It was practically the only planet with signs of life, so if his sect wasn’t there... he could only shake his head. Xu Tao took another step, bringing himself right to the surface. He landed in the middle of a thick forest. The cries of insects and chirping of birds rang beautifully in his ears. He took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh air— "COUGH! COUGH!" Or not. "What the...? What’s this air filled with pollutants?!" Xu Tao felt like he would die in just a few years if he continued breathing this "dirty" air! Without delay, he used his internal energy to protect his lungs and throat, filtering out the pollutants. With that, he could now breathe a little more easily. "But there’s nobody here I can ask," he sighed, realizing his mistake. Without hesitation, he took another step—heading toward the closest location where he felt hundreds of thousands... millions... billions of living humans gathered. All within a "small" piece of land. But as soon as he stopped in the middle of a busy street, Xu Tao was confused. "What the hell is this place?" Buildings were everywhere, taller than even the tallest pagoda he had seen before. Honing his eyes, he could even see figures of people within them. Thousands inside each building, working like ants and writing things down on paper. Some were even tapping on mysterious objects while staring at glowing mirrors. Turning his head downward, he observed the people around him. Everyone walked with their heads tilted half-forward, half-toward a small glowing box in their hands. Even if they bumped into someone else, they would just swerve slightly and continue on—not a single apology was heard, but not a single fight occurred... it was weird. But that wasn’t the end of it—in fact, it was just the beginning. On some buildings, giant Soul Mirrors were attached. Inside them, human souls were locked, forced to repeat certain actions with smiles on their faces. Some were even dressed like cats in skimpy, colorful outfits which would embarrass any of his female disciples to death! "What a brutal torture..." Xu Tao frowned, but decided to let it be. He wasn’t in a position to punish whoever was responsible for locking up souls right now. His priority was finding his sect members, and figuring out where he was. BEEEEEP! "...!" Right then, a black, low-tier spirit beast that didn’t even have spiritual power roared loudly at him. But as they said, the louder a dog howls, the weaker it is. This over 30-meter-long spirit beast was no threat to Xu Tao. "HUP!" He casually swung his hand down, like hammering a nail into the ground, hitting the beast’s face. And to his surprise, just as the beast’s face crumpled like paper, it regurgitated a human being. "I’ll save you!" Xu Tao shouted in response, catching the old man who was spat out. The old man had fear in his eyes, trembling greatly while looking at Xu Tao. His lips parted as if to speak, but no words came out. "Poor old man, you’re safe now." Xu Tao smiled, nodding lightly as he put the old man down. "Next time, be careful not to get eaten by another one of those spirit beasts." And just like that, feeling as if he had done a good deed, Xu Tao walked away with a smile—leaving the driver of the 20-wheeler truck still confused as to what had happened. "...I must be high..." The old man reasoned to himself, voice trembling, before running off with a crazed smile. "I’m high! Hahaha! I didn’t see a man punch my truck with one hand like a punching bag and stop it! Hahaha! I’m not crazy—!" Xu Tao had no idea that the man he rescued had ended up losing his mind, unable to—no, refusing to—believe what he had just seen. The person himself? "You damned noobs! Don’t you know it’s better to learn the Flowing Flower Cultivation Method as a starter? Why did you choose the Raging Tiger Method? You trying to die?!" He was frozen still, lips slowly curling into a smile after finally finding a clue.