Yuan Ji and the two saintesses were now in a mountain city.
This mountain city was a last stop before they officially departed from the orthodox fraternity into the unorthodox fraternity.
They were now at a tea house and taking a short rest.
Yuan Ji said to the steward, “Room for two. And bring me your best dishes for three.”
The steward humbly smiled at him, “Great Celestials, I will see to it now.”
Hua Wuwu frowned, “We’re all golden celestials here. Do we even need to eat?”
It is true that once a cultivator has attained to the fifth realm level, they will no longer have the need to eat or drink. It is because they can cultivate upon the spirit forces that are around them and it is equally as nourishing to them.
Golden celestials are truly half-step immortals with extremely long lives as well.
Yuan Ji laughed, “But real food is tasty. It just takes a little effort to dissipate the food as profound energies. What? You mean you don’t eat at the Hundred Flower Divine Palace.”
Hua Wuwu smiled coldly, “We have never taken any solid food for centuries.”
Hua Baiyue nodded, “In our Hundred Flower Divine Palace, we have the tasty celestial fruits for our cravings. Why do we need to eat these ‘un’ delicious oily food?”
Hua Wuwu returned a nod too, “You can have all the dishes to yourself. We’re definitely not eating it.”
Yuan Ji laughed, “What a pity then. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
All of a sudden there was a noise in the street and Yuan Ji could see two golden celestials were drawing swords against each other.
He immediately stood up and muttered, “They’re having a duel?”
He was overheard by the steward who immediately chuckled, “That is right. That is Li Ye, a fifth realm golden celestial and the other one is Duan Tian who is a sixth realm golden supremacy.”
Yuan Ji was startled, “Is this even a fair duel? That Duan Tian obviously has the stronger profound strength.”
The steward laughed, “It is a fair duel because this Li Ye had been challenging several sixth realm supremacies recently and had won. Now Duan Tian is challenging him to a duel to avenge the honor of his protégé clan.”
“This Li Ye is so formidable?” Yuan Ji was further startled.
Even Hua Wuwu and Hua Baiyue were also looking in the direction of the duel.
The steward explained, “This Li Ye had actually ascended from the lower realm recently and he did not know the rules of the Desolate Celestial Fraternity. Therefore he had unwittingly offended some high level golden celestials.”
Yuan Ji nodded as he rubbed his chin, “This is interesting. He is from the lower realm?”
The Desolate Celestial Fraternity was actually part of the Celestial Realm that the mortals from the lower realm had always dreamed of ascending.
If a peaked cultivation practitioner from the lower realm manages to ascend to the Celestial Realm, they will always be a fifth realm golden celestial. It is because during the ascension to the Celestial Realm, their body will undergo a metamorphosis, transforming their mortal body into a golden body.
The vast majority of the celestials in the Celestial Realm are actually born in this realm and that included Yuan Ji. It is extremely rare to see anyone that is from the lower Mortal Realm and it is so rare that this was actually the first time that Yuan Ji had actually seen one.
In the Celestial Realm, all the native celestials are actually descended from the cultivation practitioners that had ascended from the Mortal Realm.
And it was these ancient celestials that had passed down their various cultivation practices, martial techniques and profound arts to the present celestials by forming the protégé clans.
The native celestials are actually weaker than the Ascended Celestials as the majority lack the mental fortitude or talent to actually cultivate into a golden celestial.
It is estimated that over 97% of the native celestials are unable to cultivate into a golden celestial at the end of their life span.
Out of the 3% of the native celestials that have managed to cultivate into a golden celestial, over 66% are at the fifth realm golden celestial level, 33% are at the sixth realm golden supremacy level while only 1% can be fortunate enough to attain to the seventh realm sacred saint level.
Failure to breakthrough to the fifth realm, sixth realm and seventh realm level will often mean instant death for the cultivators. Therefore these three realms are also called the Life and Death Tribulations.
Unless it is time for their realm breakthrough, most golden celestials will never dare to forcefully attempt for a breakthrough. It is because no one is willing to die prematurely.
Because of the great difficulty of becoming a golden celestial, the celestials that had managed to attain it are often given the honorable address of Great Celestials and that was how the steward had addressed Yuan Ji, Hua Wuwu and Hua Baiyue when he saw that they had golden eyes which are the characteristic of a golden celestial.
If the realm level of the golden celestial is known, a fifth realm golden celestial will also be known for example as ‘Celestial’ Yuan Ji, a sixth realm golden supremacy as ‘Supremacy’ Yuan Ji and a seventh realm sacred saint golden saint as ‘Saint’ Yuan Ji.
For the native celestials that wants to be a golden celestial, it is a constant battle against time. It is because unlike the Ascend Celestials who had been tempered by the Divine Calamity of their ascension and are given a new ageless body, the native celestials are not so lucky.
They have to quickly cultivate to the Third Realm Enlighten Celestial Level before they can slow down their aging process.
Only when they have reached the Fourth Realm Immortal Celestial Level, then will their aging completely be ceased.
Needless to say, the younger the golden celestials looks, the more likely that they are the geniuses of their generation.
Yuan Ji, Hua Wuwu and Hua Baiyue are all young looking and they are really the geniuses of their generation.
Although Hua Wuwu and Hua Baiyue may have the appearances of a young maiden but they were in fact many centuries old.
Yuan Ji was now looking curiously at the duel and he was rubbing his chin. The reason why he was rubbing his chin was because he had lost his beard and got nothing better to do with his fingers. But of course, no one would care for the reason why he was rubbing his chin.
He was actually calculating the profound strength differences between the two duelists as he rubbed his chin.
Profound strength originates from the cultivator’s soul sea. The soul sea is also known as the inner cultivation sea, elixir sea or energy sea depending on the local cultivation practice.
In order to muster profound strength, the cultivator must harness the profound energies that are within the soul sea.
And in order to harness the profound energies within the soul sea, the cultivator must cultivate the spiritual auras that are in the mountains in order to fill the soul sea.
Each time the cultivator has a breakthrough in the realm level, the boundaries of the soul sea will also increase, affecting the profound strength and the recovery rate of the cultivator.
Therefore even though Li Ye and Duan Tian are both golden celestials, the differences in their profound strength may affect their odds.
Yuan Ji asked the steward, “Do you know their exact realm level and stage?”
The steward chuckled, “This Li Ye is only at the initial tier of the fifth realm level while Duan Tian is at the upper tier of the sixth realm level.”
Yuan Ji was startled. “The differences between them are so great?”