Therefore, whether escaping on his own or joining the major powers, it was a dead end, unless one joined the side of the victorious Dao Integration Emperor, for there was a chance of survival.
Perhaps, in some simulations of joining factions, one could completely survive for over a thousand years…
Another day passed.
Wang Yuan simulated again.
The Nascent Soul realm had quite a gap compared to the Spirit Transformation realm. To reach Spirit Transformation, there were basically no shortcuts; it all depended on what was called "enlightenment."
In a certain path, such as the path of qi, fire, water, wood… excluding alchemy and artifact refining, reaching the realm of Great Dao Accomplished in any one path, comprehending the so-called laws, and possessing one's own domain, that was the Spirit Transformation realm.
There were no pills that could provide a shortcut.
However, there was also no high risk of shattering the core to form a nascent soul, of breaking through from the Golden Core to the Nascent Soul realm…
What could be comprehended could naturally lead to Spirit Transformation; what could not be comprehended carried no risk of death…
This was, in fact, advantageous for Wang Yuan.
In the simulator, normally, starting with the cultivation of late Nascent Soul would allow one to survive peacefully for over three hundred years.
During these three hundred years, the simulated self would contemplate the Great Dao and comprehend the laws.
The Great Dao was difficult to achieve. Each path could be divided into six stages: initial glimpse, entering the hall, reaching perfection, reaching the divine, true realm of the Dao, and Great Dao Accomplished.
Those who could cultivate to the late Nascent Soul stage had basically reached the level of reaching the divine in the path they excelled at.
After all, a great cultivator in the late Nascent Soul stage could not have had no insight into the Great Dao of fire, water, and so on.
The various spells and even divine abilities cultivated through the different cultivation realms were enough to allow great cultivators to reach the level of reaching the divine in their chosen Great Dao.
It was just that from reaching the divine to the true realm of the Dao, comprehending the true essence of the Great Dao, and even being evaluated as Great Dao Accomplished in a certain path, this was an extremely difficult matter.
For ordinary great cultivators in the late Nascent Soul stage, cultivating from early Nascent Soul to peak Nascent Soul already wasted a lot of time. They would at most have one or two hundred years to comprehend the Great Dao. In this way, achieving the true realm of the Dao was unlikely within their lifetime, let alone reaching Great Dao Accomplished.
This was why, although the seventy-four prefectures of the Azure Sky Realm still had great cultivators in the late Nascent Soul stage in some core prefectures, Dao Lords in the Spirit Transformation realm were rare, and they were mostly concentrated in the Central Heavenly Prefecture.
But as long as it concerned the matter of time, nothing was difficult for Wang Yuan.
With just one simulation, his comprehension of the path of qi advanced from reaching the divine to the true realm of the Dao.
And from the true realm of the Dao to Great Dao Accomplished, it only took him three more simulations.
In total, with four simulations, spanning over sixteen hundred years, Wang Yuan completed the process of breaking through from late Nascent Soul to early Spirit Transformation – this was something that normal people could not achieve, as they would have long since exhausted their lifespan.
Even as an early Spirit Transformation cultivator, Wang Yuan would still die in the battle for Dao Integration around the age of three hundred in the simulator.
This battle for Dao Integration affected the entire Azure Sky Realm, and the stronger one's cultivation, the worse the outcome.
If Golden Core cultivators could possibly escape due to being too small a target.
Nascent Soul cultivators could basically not escape. Places like the Seven Star Cloud Sea were completely annihilated by Spirit Transformation Dao Lords.
And as Spirit Transformation Dao Lords who could contend for the opportunity of Dao Integration, they were even less able to escape this war.
If Nascent Soul cultivators could still seek refuge with Spirit Transformation Dao Lords, and if such a Dao Lord succeeded in integrating with the Dao and won the battle, they might not die.
After advancing to early Spirit Transformation, Wang Yuan had lost the qualification to seek refuge – after all, no other Spirit Transformation Dao Lord would believe that they could take in a cultivator of the same rank as a subordinate.
This meant certain death.
After experiencing several deaths and drawing simulation rewards, Wang Yuan had obtained the secrets of Dao Integration.
The secrets of Dao Integration were a book, recording the hidden matters of Dao Integration. Wang Yuan thus also learned how to integrate with the Dao.
If a Spirit Transformation Dao Lord had almost completely understood one Great Dao, then the Dao Integration realm was about controlling all the Great Daos of the Azure Sky Realm.
The difference between the two.
It was from one to all.
It was also from thorough understanding to control.
After reading this book, Wang Yuan understood how Spirit Transformation realm cultivators could advance to the Dao Integration realm.
One way was to wait for the opportunity of Dao Integration to appear… just like in three hundred years, within the operation of the great trend, the Heavenly Dao consciousness manifested unconsciously, and then various Spirit Transformation Dao Lords would fight fiercely. When only one Spirit Transformation Dao Lord remained, the Heavenly Dao consciousness would possess them, and then they could integrate with the Dao.
However, this kind of event, in the fifty thousand years since the Azure Sky Realm was created, had only occurred once, three hundred years later. It did not happen at other times.
This required relying on external forces like the Heavenly Dao consciousness.
The other way, Wang Yuan called it proving the Dao by force.
If the first method was a clever trick, relying on external forces.
Then the second method was to rely on oneself, without needing the so-called opportunity of Dao Integration, one could still integrate with the Dao.
However, the difficulty involved was extremely high.
The Azure Sky Realm had a total of three thousand Great Daos and one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred laws.
A Spirit Transformation Dao Lord merely comprehended one Great Dao and understood it to the extreme.
A Dao Integration Emperor, on the other hand, was required to comprehend and master all three thousand Great Daos and one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred laws, forming their own world.
There was no Spirit Transformation Dao Lord in the Azure Sky Realm who chose this method.
This was because this method was basically impossible to achieve.
Excluding the time spent from Qi Refining to Spirit Transformation, a Spirit Transformation Dao Lord's two thousand years of lifespan was basically reduced to only one thousand years.
Within a thousand years, to master the three thousand Great Daos and one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred laws of the Azure Sky Realm – this was completely impossible. Even if time were three thousand times longer, it would still be impossible.
Even if one had been comprehending laws since the beginning of the Azure Sky Realm's creation, and up to the point when the Azure Sky Realm entered world reincarnation, one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years would not be enough to comprehend them – unless one could comprehend one law per year.
If it were only like this, then Wang Yuan could still barely manage – after all, his one day could be counted as over three hundred years.
As long as he underwent one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred simulations, which would take about a thousand years in reality, he could approximately achieve proving the Dao by force…
But it was not calculated like this.
Even without mentioning the time required to comprehend these Great Daos, the conflicts between Great Daos and laws were too numerous.
Water and fire, life and death, light and darkness…
There were too many conflicting laws and Great Daos. In the process of proving the Dao by force, conflicting Great Daos and laws could instantly lead to the cultivator's utter annihilation.
Therefore, the so-called proving the Dao by force, even for Wang Yuan, was a path to death – the task of mastering all three thousand Great Daos and all one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred laws was impossible to achieve.