Ordinary people naturally had no idea why the Void Dao Academy selected talented individuals. Over tens of thousands of years, countless gifted martial artists had been brought to the Academy, only to vanish without a trace. No one knew where they had gone. All that existed were rumors claiming these powerhouses had shattered the void and departed the Void World to pursue higher realms of martial cultivation.
Fang Tianchi had heard these rumors before but hadn't taken them particularly to heart. After all, rumors were often built on speculation and rarely reliable.
Only now, having actually been brought to the Void Dao Academy, did he realize the rumors were true.
Many secrets that seemed profound to the warriors of the Void World were simply common knowledge here at the Academy.
It was only at this moment that he finally understood that the Emperor Realm was not the pinnacle of martial cultivation. Above the Emperor Realm lay the Open Heaven Realm, and the Open Heaven Realm was divided into nine grades — each grade representing an entirely different level of heaven!
Condensing a Dao Seal, opening heaven and earth within one's own body to create a small universe — that was what it meant to reach the Open Heaven Realm.
The entire Void World was actually the small universe of the Dao Master himself!
In other words, all the countless living beings in the Void World were living inside the Dao Master's body...
When he learned this truth, Fang Tianchi was momentarily stunned. His knowledge and experience were not shallow — he had traveled for a thousand years, roaming across the entirety of the Void Continent.
But learning the true nature of the Void World still shook him to his very core.
The more he understood, the more he could appreciate just how powerful the Dao Master truly was.
Such an enormous world, and it was nothing more than the Dao Master's small universe? What grade of Open Heaven was the Dao Master?
The person responsible for receiving him was a senior brother surnamed Liu. He introduced himself as Liu Jingshan. In terms of age, he might be younger than Fang Tianchi, but his cultivation was a solid Third-Order Emperor Realm.
Every person brought to the Void Dao Academy was assigned a dedicated guide, whose primary role was to explain the founding purpose of the Academy and answer the newcomers' questions.
Fang Tianchi voiced the doubts churning in his mind.
Liu Jingshan smiled. "What exact grade of Open Heaven the Dao Master has reached? None of us know either. But it surely can't be low — either eighth grade or ninth grade!"
Every warrior in the Void World regarded the Dao Master as a god, so naturally they assumed his cultivation must be as high as possible.
Fang Tianchi nodded in agreement, then ventured further: "Senior Brother Liu, if the Void World is the Dao Master's small universe, how were the predecessors from previous generations able to shatter the void and leave?"
If such a feat were truly possible, wouldn't it mean punching a hole through the Dao Master's stomach? Just imagining that scene sent a chill down his spine.
Liu Jingshan replied, "They say 'shattered the void,' but that's not actually what happened. They were simply guided out of the Void World by the Dao Master. And that ties directly into the Academy's purpose for selecting talented individuals."
"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother." Fang Tianchi's expression grew earnest. After a thousand years of traveling, he understood worldly affairs well enough. Though his reputation was illustrious, he deliberately kept an extremely humble demeanor before Liu Jingshan.
"Well, to put it simply, the human race beyond the Void World is locked in a war against an exceptionally evil clan. This clan is enormously powerful — even the Dao Master struggles to match them. Should the humans lose, the outside world could face total annihilation. That is why the Dao Master needs a great many allies, and we — the disciples recruited to the Academy — are meant to become his helpers in the days ahead."
Fang Tianchi's heart trembled slightly. "What kind of clan could make even the Dao Master feel troubled?"
Liu Jingshan considered for a moment. "They're apparently called the Ink Clan. Their power is highly corrosive — once it touches you, it cannot be shaken off. What's more, the Ink Force can transform humans into ink, stripping them of their true nature and turning them into puppets under4 < " the their.}},,
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