Chapter 151: The Three Realms of Transcendence

After the Void Eye was activated, Darcy City gradually returned to normal operations over the following few days.

Lin Huang did not go out hunting monsters during this period. Zhu Nian’s final attack had cleared everything within a radius of several hundred kilometers, leaving not even a single Black Iron-rank monster behind.

Lin Huang simply could not be bothered to leave. Every day, he stayed obediently in his hotel room and practiced his saber techniques.

The incident had caused a tremendous stir on the Imperial Heart Network.

Because of it, many ordinary people learned of Zhu Nian for the first time.

Quite a few also asked what the Sacred Flame Realm, the Immortality Realm, and the Commander- and Leader-ranks among monsters actually meant.

An anonymous post online had provided a detailed explanation. Lin Huang read it carefully from beginning to end, and only then learned exactly how powerful the Ghost-faced Clown he had previously sealed had been.

The Transcendent level was actually a collective term for the three realms before demigodhood, signifying existence beyond the limits of ordinary humans.

From lowest to highest, these three realms were the Sacred Flame Realm, the Immortality Realm, and the Imperial Palace Realm. Their corresponding monster ranks were the Commander-rank, Leader-rank, and King-rank.

The Sacred Flame Realm referred to the stage at which, after accumulating life energy to a certain level, one slew a Commander-rank monster to obtain a flame seed, ignited the life energy within one’s body, and condensed a life flame.

Upon reaching this realm, as long as one’s life flame did not go out, life energy would flow endlessly through the body. Moreover, because life itself underwent a qualitative transformation, one’s lifespan would increase to three times the natural human limit, reaching as much as 1,080 years.

Yet condensing a life flame was an extremely dangerous process.

If the body’s transformation was not strong enough to contain the life flame, the person attempting the breakthrough would, at best, have their life energy burned away and lose all combat ability. At worst, the life flame would burn through their body and kill them outright.

The mortality rate during this breakthrough was astonishingly high. Eighty percent of those who attempted it would perish at this stage. Of the remaining twenty percent, more than half would lose their combat ability and be reduced to ordinary people. Fewer than ten percent successfully completed the breakthrough.

After entering the Sacred Flame Realm, one’s life flame could be one of five colors. From lowest to highest, they were white, red, blue, purple, and gold.

According to the color of their life flame, Sacred Flame cultivators were divided into five ranks.

Zhu Nian had previously been a fifth-rank Sacred Flame expert. That was why Lin Huang had felt that his aura was stronger than that of every Transcendent he had ever encountered.

Above the Sacred Flame Realm was the Immortality Realm.

To reach this realm, one had to slay a Leader-rank monster, take its beast soul, and use that soul as fuel to condense life lamps.

A person could condense a maximum of nine life lamps. Each one represented 1,080 years of lifespan. With all nine combined, one’s lifespan could be extended to nearly ten thousand years. That was why this realm was known as the Immortality Realm.

Above that was the Imperial Palace Realm.

One had to slay a King-rank monster, seize its life foundation, and construct a life palace...

Only after passing through these three Transcendent realms could one reach the legendary demigod level.

Thinking that Zhu Nian, merely a Sacred Flame expert, had been able to slaughter a million monsters with one hand, Lin Huang found it almost impossible to imagine how powerful the Immortality Realm—and especially the Imperial Palace Realm—must be.

“Sacred Flame, Immortality, Imperial Palace... One day, I’ll climb them step by step and ultimately become the legendary demigod!”

Lin Huang’s goal had never changed. He believed that one day he would achieve it.

Four days passed in the blink of an eye. At last, the day arrived when Lin Huang had scheduled his departure through the spatial gateway.

Early that morning, Lin Huang reached the transportation center and joined the queue.

The number of times the spatial gateway could be used each day was limited. Long-distance gateways in particular had to recalibrate the coordinates of their destinations almost every time they were used. Being able to activate one ten times a day was already considered quite good. That was why Lin Huang had only managed to book a ticket twelve days in advance.

He arrived at the transportation center shortly after eight in the morning, but three people were already ahead of him.

Once a transportation ticket had been reserved, the reservation became void if the holder failed to arrive at the transportation center within the specified time. The opportunity would immediately be given to someone else in urgent need.

When Lin Huang approached, a middle-aged man with a slightly receding hairline came over to him.

“Hello. Did you reserve a ticket for today?”

Lin Huang nodded, somewhat surprised. The man did not look like a staff member.

“Can you resell your ticket? I have an emergency today. I can pay five times the price.”

The middle-aged man looked extremely anxious, as though he really was facing an urgent matter.

“I’m sorry, but I’m in a hurry too.” Lin Huang shook his head. There was nothing he could do about the situation. He wanted to reach Outpost 7A28 as soon as possible so that he would not miss his second transfer.

“My apologies for bothering you.”

The middle-aged man did not press him further. He nodded, turned around, and returned to sit in his chair.

Before long, another person arrived behind Lin Huang. The middle-aged man immediately went up to him and asked the same question, only to return disappointed once again.

Seeing this, Lin Huang knew the man must truly have an urgent matter. But he could not help, so he found a place to sit and patiently waited for the staff to begin work at nine.

Nine people who had reserved transportation tickets arrived one after another.

Besides the middle-aged man, several others entered the transportation center asking to buy resold tickets, but not a single person agreed to transfer theirs.

Anyone who could afford a transportation ticket naturally would not care much about credit points. Even tripling or quintupling the price held little meaning for them.

When the tenth person arrived, all those seeking resold tickets gathered around him.

“The spatial gateway will open in ten minutes. If you want to sell your tickets, you can come to me—but as for the price...” The speaker was a short, thin man. His narrow eyes darted craftily over the people before him. “The face value of my ticket is 530,000 credit points. Bidding starts at ten times that amount, and each subsequent bid must increase by at least five times. Whoever among you offers the most gets the ticket.”

His words caused Lin Huang and the others to frown slightly.

“So scalpers exist in this world too...” Lin Huang was speechless.

The resale price quickly soared as the bidders drove one another higher and higher. In the end, the ticket was purchased by the middle-aged man who had arrived before Lin Huang, at thirty times its original price.

The short, thin man’s ticket had originally cost 530,000 credit points. After the bidding frenzy, it sold for nearly sixteen million.

In fact, such behavior was forbidden by the transportation center.

According to its regulations, one person could resell no more than three tickets within a single year. Anyone who exceeded that limit would be placed on a blacklist and prohibited from purchasing any type of transportation ticket for three years. These rules existed specifically to prevent people from inflating ticket prices.

As soon as the ticket was sold, the scalper left. The staff arrived shortly afterward.

The middle-aged man who had obtained the resold ticket hurried over to change the destination on his reservation, paying several hundred thousand more credit points.

Fortunately, these tickets could not be forged. The scalper’s ticket was genuine.

At nine in the morning, the spatial gateway finally opened. The staff called the passengers forward one by one. After each transmission, they had to close the gateway and recalibrate its destination coordinates.

Lin Huang was the sixth person called, immediately after the middle-aged man who had just left with his resold ticket.

“Ye Xiu!”

When he heard the name, Lin Huang froze for a moment. It was only when the staff called it a second time that he remembered it was his alias. He rose to his feet at once.

After verifying his ticket and identity, the staff recalibrated the coordinates and pushed open the gateway.

Lin Huang immediately stepped through.