"Is there some special secret art that facilitates the transformation?"
Li Yuanwang shook his head. "It's not a matter of using a secret art to transform anything. Rather, from the very beginning, these individuals cultivate a specific type of cultivation technique. This technique doesn't possess overwhelming power, nor does it offer any advantage in combat. But it allows the practitioner, upon death, to convert their Small World into a Small Source World. Of course, things aren't quite that simple either. The birth of a Small Source World is an enormously complex affair—a practitioner must essentially devote their entire life to it."
Li Yuanwang nodded gravely. "No one forces them. They know their future fate from the moment they take up this technique."
To toil away at cultivation for an entire lifetime, only to have one's Small World become a Small Source World upon death—a training ground for others. That required an extraordinary degree of selfless dedication and an incredibly deep sense of belonging to one's Sect.
But what might seem as difficult as ascending to heaven for other forces was far more manageable for the great Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands, which had inherited countless lineages over the ages. Finding such disciples was no great difficulty for them. Moreover, cultivating this special technique posed no actual harm to the disciple—it only put them at a disadvantage during combat, since the technique wasn't suited for fighting, only for cultivation.
"The formation of a Small Source World is no easy feat, nor does it succeed every time," Li Yuanwang explained. "Usually, among ten people who cultivate that technique, only one will successfully give birth to a Small Source World. Put that way, you should understand why Small Source Worlds are so precious, even to the great Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands."
At its core, a Small Source World was a Blessed Land or Cave Heaven left behind by a deceased upper-grade Open Heaven cultivator. And how many years did it take for a warrior to grow from an ignorant child into an upper-grade Open Heaven master, and then to death?
A long, patient wait, with only a ten percent chance of a Small Source World being born in the end—how could it not be precious?
Li Yuanwang nodded. "Of course! The disciples who cultivate that technique never participate in combat. Once they advance to upper-grade Open Heaven and their inner Small World solidifies from ethereal to tangible, they begin raising living beings inside their body and establishing the laws of heaven and earth for their Small World. Those beings multiply and thrive, ensuring that after the master's death, the World Force of the Small Source World can continue to grow and replenish itself endlessly. And the various rules the master established during their lifetime become the objectives that the disciples who enter to train must strive to achieve. Once that objective is met, the trial is complete, and the trial-taker receives the recognition of that Small Source World's laws of heaven and earth—along with tremendous benefits!"
Understanding dawned on
The rules of the Divine Weapon World he had entered required seizing one of the ten great divine weapons. The result was that
That single trial had effectively consumed at least three other disciples' opportunities!
It was all the effect of the Small Source World's laws of heaven and earth—and those laws had been established by the Small Source World's master during their lifetime.
"Generally speaking, the Small Source Worlds possessed by the great Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands are only Blessed Lands. True Cave Heavens are rare," Li Yuanwang continued. "A Blessed Land is left behind by a deceased seventh-grade Open Heaven cultivator, so it allows Open Heaven cultivators below the seventh grade to enter and train, gaining benefits. A Cave Heaven, on the other hand, is the legacy of an eighth-grade cultivator, so only seventh-grade cultivators are qualified to enter."
Seventh-grade Open Heaven cultivators—as long as they could advance directly to the fifth grade upon first breaking through to Open Heaven, they could reach the peak of the seventh grade through long ages of cultivation. Disciples of this caliber were countless among the great Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands.
But those who could cultivate to the eighth-grade Open Heaven were an entirely different matter. They were each Sect's Core Disciples, like
Disciples with this level of talent, once they grew, became the cornerstones and pillars of their Sects. How could anyone bear to have them cultivate that special technique?
But there were always exceptions. Some selected disciples showed unremarkable talent in their youth, yet as they cultivated, they shone ever brighter—bright enough to possibly advance directly to the sixth grade. When these disciples perished after reaching the eighth-grade Open Heaven, what they left behind was a Small Source World at the Cave Heaven level.
Across the vast expanse of the heavens, among more than a hundred Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands and several hundred Small Source Worlds, those at the Cave Heaven level numbered fewer than ten.
And for the ten Sects that possessed Cave Heaven-level Small Source Worlds, their seventh-grade Open Heaven cultivators trained significantly faster than those of other Sects.
Over long ages, the number and frequency of eighth-grade cultivators they produced were also somewhat higher.
Heritage and foundation were, after all, the accumulation of endless time.
"Wait, that doesn't add up!"
When he had trained inside the Divine Weapon World, only about two months had passed in the outside world—but inside, several decades had gone by!
That rate of time dilation was terrifying. Even he, who had reached the sixth and most exceptional level of mastery in the Dao of Time, could only make time inside his own Small World flow at twice the speed of the outside.
Those who cultivated the special technique couldn't possibly all surpass him in the Dao of Time—and by several times at that!
The essence of a Small Source World was a Blessed Land or a Cave Heaven. That kind of time flow was impossible to explain.
"The great Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands have all pondered this question, but no one has a definitive answer."