The Innkeeper

Cultivation progressed differently for different beings. The cultivation levels, as humans identified them, were a good standard to measure strength by, but other races may skip over certain realms. A very simple example of this was the fact that countless races were born at a higher cultivation level, such as dragons.

So while an upgrade for a human may result in extensive growth in power, such as moving from the Nascent realm to the Earth Immortal realm, that did not mean much on a universal scale. That was just the level of growth a human body and soul could sustain, before they needed to strengthen or amend their being, making it more amenable to more growth.

So, for a World Seed Lotus, growth looked like transforming from a lotus into a world. The power difference between those levels was absolutely massive.

But Lotus did not immediately burst into a metamorphosis and begin transforming into the world. It simply took in the scene of whatever was happening. It had been doing the same from Lex's body, but since Lex blocked out all his senses to focus on his own breakthrough, it had to come out.

But it was on the verge. It could feel that observing the birth of a new realm would be immensely beneficial for it, and its entire species! It had not forgotten the talk Lex had with it back at the temple, and the idea was beginning to take root. Why should it settle for a planet if it can be an entire star system, or maybe something even greater?

Why accept death when it can continue to support its friends, or others of its race. Lotus' mind did not work in the same way as a humans, and so it perceived existence very differently. It was very purpose oriented, so much so that even death was justifiable, or even recommended, if it could achieve its purpose. But if there was a higher purpose, then even if it had to make the sacrifice of not dying, it would do so!

Lex's body, meanwhile, was going through an unusual change where it was dissolving and regenerating at a visible pace. This was not an actual part of his realm breakthrough, but because it was happening simultaneously, his cultivation technique was reforging his body and its tolerances much faster.

For a normal human being, the Nascent realm was a fundamental change in their existence. So far, across the many realms, they had built their Foundation and prepared to access higher levels. The Nascent was, technically, more of the same. It allowed the soul to become strong enough to exist independently without the protection of the body.

Because of that, since the body was merely a vessel for the soul, cultivators could have their soul exit their body. They would gain the ability to sense other souls as well, and influence souls in general. It was at this level that one of Lex's favorite techniques, Evisceration, became less potent because enemies would have ways of protecting their souls.

But at the beginning, their soul was merely strong enough to exist without the body, and was not really strong enough to completely abandon the body. Nevertheless, it allowed the cultivator to a whole new world of possibilities.

They could abandon their bodies, even, if it was destroyed, or perhaps their Golden core was crippled, and possess another one. No other body would be as perfectly compatible for the soul as the original, which would result in a loss of strength, but it definitely beats dying. Not to mention, there were many ways around it.

Back on Earth, it was impossible to enter this realm in the traditional way, because the breakthrough was initiated by certain evolutionary laws. That was not to say that those laws weren't present on earth, but rather a weaker concentration of spiritual energy made it more difficult for cultivators to sense those laws.

To be clear, Nascent sou cultivators were still far away from being able to wield laws, or even properly sense them. But like the many realms before it, the Nascent realm was preparing the groundwork for the realms ahead.

The problem Lex, in particular, had was that his body, spirit and soul were merged. That meant his soul could not technically exithis body the way they did for other humans. If the breakthrough attempted to loosen the soul from the other two, it would greatly harm Lex, if not outright kill him.

This was not even mentioning the many subsequent problems he would have in the later cultivation levels if he did not achieve it in some manner. Lex himself did not have enough of an understanding of the higher realms to come up with a cultivation technique, which could take into account the many changes he would need to face, which is why he had to grow his cultivation technique.

Although he may have overachieved by a large margin, his cultivation technique had evolved, and he could now cultivate to higher realms once more. The difference was that instead of his soul leaving his body, he was gaining a new ability altogether.

He was gaining the ability to turn his physical body directly into a soul state. When he achieved that, Lex would unknowingly be able to enter all three states that made his being.

His physical being was his ordinary state, and through Mindmeld he could turn into thought, or spirit, if seen through a different lens. Being able to turn his being into a soul state would finally allow him to achieve all three!

It would also make him endlessly more resilient! Back when Lex had entered the Temple of Fasting, he had survived despite the thorough destruction of his organs because, well, as long as even a piece of meat in his body was still alive, his soul would continue to exist. That meant that as long as his Golden core was unharmed, and could supply his body with even a miniscule amount of energy, he could continue to live.

Now, though, even that requirement was no longer necessary…