Boundless Human World - Chapter 28 The Higher Realm

The first thing Shura felt on arriving at this ‘Higher Realm’ was that he felt very vulnerable. Before, when he was back in the ‘Lower Realm’ he was very powerful. He felt endless strength from his body, this strength seeped out of his body and even influenced his surroundings and overpowered it. He was even more powerful than nature then. His attacks could cause disruption in nature and spatial cracks and some other oddities.

But now that he was here, things were different. He felt devoid of strength. Though it wasn’t that he lost his strength, his strength was just too negligible compared to this world’s nature and his surrounding. The world was just vastly different compared to the worlds he had been to in the Lower Realm. His strength was still there. But his surrounding was different, the energies here was more powerful than him, everything else was also more powerful than him. The energies was so much more bountiful and dense. There was something special within it that the Lower Realm’s energies did not have.

An animal would be more powerful, even the wind or a tree would be more powerful. His current strength wasn’t anything at all in this new world. Just as anything could be dangerous and fatal to the frail mortals of the Lower Realm, this was the exact situation of Shura in the Higher Realm.

He already knew the reason for this. The quality of the energy in the Higher Realm was just so better than the Lower Realm. Everyone who was born here and grew up here would become a Spirit Sovereign in their adolescence. This mythical state that countless people of the Lower Realm strived for yet few succeeded in was something that every children took for granted here. It was natural.

Every cultivation level below the Spirit Sovereign level was called the Minor Stage here in the Higher Realm. It was minor because people who were in such states couldn’t really affect anything in the world, and also because every children would naturally go through it as they grew up.

The Spirit Sovereign level was the bare minimum requirement of strength because only Spirit Sovereigns could ascend, and the natural inhabitants of the Higher Realm would be more powerful than the Spirit Sovereign level naturally, and even then this level of strength could not be considered to be anything at all.

Above the Minor Stage was the Major Stage. The Spirit Sovereign level could be considered to have barely passed the threshold of the Major Stage. The Major Stage had seven sublevels, from One Star to Seven Star. Even a peak Spirit Sovereign was only a One Star cultivator. A One Star cultivator wasn’t anything at all. Peak experts were all Seven Star cultivators, and even then they couldn’t call themselves the strongest.

There was a higher level above the Major Stage, it was the level of the Saints. The level of the Saint was the start of the journey of cultivators to become the shakers and movers of the Higher Realm.

Shura reevaluated his strength in this new world. He was One Star cultivator. He wasn’t anything at all. He would need to increase his strength in order to get anything done.

The place that Shura arrived to after his ascension was a dark forest. The last time he teleported he also arrived in a dark forest… Spontaneously appearing at random places wasn’t something he was unacquainted with. By now such things had happened too many times for him to bother remembering.

He had never once been teleported right in the middle of a crowd or some place where people lived. He had only appeared in deserted places, was there some sort of rule behind it?

Then the quiet forest wasn’t quiet anymore. Shura heard sounds of people running. There were two groups. One was fleeing while the other was chasing.

This sounded right. If people didn’t interact with people, then what would they do, stare at trees and animals?

The sound became louder, they were both heading right for him.

Shura gripped his sword. His thought was disturbed ever since he had arrived here. It wasn’t until he gripped his sword on the thought of the imminent encounter that he became aware of this disturbance. Ever since he had arrived he had been intimidated by this new world where everything was so much stronger than him. Whether this “stronger” was real, tangible and palpible, or if it was all simply in his mind, he didn’t know and didn’t care. Subconsciously, he had began to be fearful and cautious. His mind had constricted himself. His world had constricted, his everything had constricted.

This was unacceptable. Shura gritted his teeth and his sword harder.

“So what if this is the Higher Realm!? Be cautious? Be afraid? Be anxious? The acts of a fool who would never amount to anything!” Shura yelled.

Although his One Star cultivation was the most basic in the entire Higher Realm, those people weren’t too far away form him so they heard him very clearly.

He didn’t care if anyone heard him or knew that he was an ascender either. The sword in his hand would do the talking if they didn’t know how to behave.

Myriad moons of many colors shone in the night sky, but the whole forest was lit up even further by Shura. He breathed in deeply and his body began to greedily suck in energy. He would fill himself to the brim and as much as possible before those people arrived. He glowed.

Before long he saw them. The group in the front had five members. Four men and one woman. The four men were guarding the woman in the center.

Behind them were men in armor. It looked like they were part of the army. There were a few dozens of them.

“Who are you, what do you want?” the man in the lead of the fleeing group beckoned his companions to stop and asked Shura. He stared at Shura with caution, so did everyone else.

Shura wrinkled his brows. Why would he ask him that? Couldn’t he see that he was a One Star cultivator, the weakest of the weak, and that from what he had said earlier, he was probably a ‘country bumpkin’ who had ascended?

“I am an ascender, this is the spot that I ascended to,” Shura replied honestly.

The man had a surprised expression on his way.

Seeing that he was in a hurry, Shura stepped aside and gestured for him to continue.

The men continued on their way, they were on their guard as they passed by Shura.

Soon, they were gone. Then the other group appeared in his vision.

Shura thought to himself, ‘If I don’t get involved, then what should I get myself involved in?’

It was a silly thing to be thinking. But the good thing was that he wasn’t anxious anymore. If any of these people wanted to make trouble for him, then he would gladly take them on.

A man’s body can die, but his spirit shouldn’t. Dying while giving it your all was better than dying a coward’s death.

The newcomers came close enough for Shura to see. They all wore heavy armor from head to toe, their faces were covered by elaborate metallic masks. It didn’t seem like they wanted to conceal their faces, the mask was a part of their armor.

Shura mused that the people of the Higher Realm were rich to be able to afford such a meticulous and fine armor for footsoldiers.

Five men detached themselves from the group and circled Shura. The others continued their pursuit without even looking at Shura.

Shura frowned.

“What is this?” he asked the soldiers who surrounded him.

“Only the dead keep their mouth shut,” one of the men said.

“That’s reasonable,” Shura replied.

“Get it over with,” another said. “The five of us to deal with a measly One Star is overkill.”

“Excessive, you mean,” another man said.

“Yeah, excessive,” the previous man replied.

“Must we do this? I don’t know or care who you guys are, why do you have to make this troublesome?”

“Blame your bad luck for being here,” a soldier said and he slashed at Shura with his sword.

A red light flashed in the dim forest. Shura’s sword left a red light glowing in the air.

The soldier rebounded back. “What strength, careful, this one is almost a Two Star.”

Although Shura knew what the stars these soldiers were talking about was, he didn’t really know how to tell their strength. If it was in the previous Lower Realm. He would know as soon as he felt their spirit power fluctuation. But there was no such fluctation here. Everyone’s strength was strictly confined to within their own bodies.

Calling people One Star or Two Star also sounded funny compared to calling someone a Spirit Lord or a Spirit King.

“Would you mind enlightening me how to tell what stars people are at?” Shura asked the soldiers.

“Why would we waste our breathe on a dead man?” one of the soldier asked.

“But you did it just now,” Shura replied and laughed.

The battle continued. It was one versus five, but Shura didn’t find it difficult at all. What level were these men at? It would be funny if they were just One Star, and if they were Two Star cultivators, then it would still be amusing. If they were Three Star, then that would just be weird. He didn’t feel too different from how he first broke through to the Spirit Sovereign level from a half-step Spirit Sovereign.

‘Ah, right. My body is already filled to the brim with this Higher Realm’s energy, is this the reason why I am neither weak nor feel vulnerable anymore?’

After almost a hundred exchange of blows, the soldiers were starting to get tired. Only Shura was still breathing calmly.

“I’m not belittling you all, but I don’t think you are my match. How about we just call it quits? Let’s consider this a friendly spar, no need to lose lives over it,” Shura said.