The Heavenly Dao at the heart of the reality cluster, right above the Heaven of the Immortal Realm, had spread countless astral threads across the infinite void, like a chaotic constellation when viewed from afar.
These countless astral threads are connected and interwoven, forming an Astral Web—a cosmic structure that connects the worlds within its vast network and separates them from all other realities amidst the infinite void.
This is the true form of the Heavenly Dao World Multiverse!
Amidst the vast network of the Astral Web, there are countless worlds, each one connected by astral threads, placing them within the Heavenly Dao World's territory, under the Heavenly Dao's governance.
However, not every world within this vast territory remained under the Heavenly Dao's rule.
The worlds that are within the Heavenly Dao World's territory, yet are not ruled by Heavenly Dao.
These worlds are extremely unusual and do not occur normally.
The key to how this unusual emerged is the invader, the Wu(Void) God, a god-like being who came from the infinite void!
However, the emerging process of such a world is still not as simple as the invader forcing their way through with their immense power.
Even if the most dangerous kind of invader, like The Outer God, they won't be able to take the world away from the Heavenly Dao, since they will face the full might of the Heavenly Dao, which is considered equivalent to facing the full might of a transcendent being—the being who transcendent all the law.
No beings or entities within the infinite void or other realities across the five multiverse sectors could handle that immense power and remain unscathed.
The only way to take a world out from Heaven Dao's rule is to do so according to its allowing rules.
Of course, if powerful invaders simply destroyed a world, they could, and the Heavenly Dao would not retaliate, since Heaven doesn't truly lose anything from this; there are still infinite worlds within its astral network, losing one does not hurt.
However, that's not why they invaded in the first place—not for senseless destruction. Some senseless ones like the void natives might have done, but most of the invaders are not that senseless.
The invader that wants to take the world from the Heavenly Dao or other worlds of powerful cosmic entities mostly does it for resources, such as natural treasures, land, or people.
However, the truly powerful invader doesn't want those things. What they truly desire is the existence energy and records—the ultimate fundamental form of energy and essence of all existence, which could be used to raise their Existence Hierarchy's Tier.
To extract those, they have to take the world from the Heavenly Dao without completely severing all connections, severing only the part that prevents heaven from interfering, in order to usurp the Heavenly Dao's existence energy and records that flow through those worlds within its territory.
One of the rules of Heaven that invaders usually utilize, and the most effective one, to take a world from the Heavenly Dao without facing its retaliation, is...
The will of the people under the heavens.
The invaders will employ any method they can, force, deception, temptation, and despair, to cause the majority of the population, along with key individuals, to willingly reject the Heaven Dao's rule.
Willingly reject the Heavenly Path.
Only then could they hope to expel the Heavenly Dao.
This could be done with or without the presence of the invader, but in most cases, invaders are always involved.
This is because the people of the Heavenly Dao World possess a deep-rooted instinct to follow the Heavenly Path, implanted within their very spirituality.
It is extremely rare for one to deviate from this nature, let alone large enough people to cause a Heavenly Path Rejection phenomenon—Impossible.
According to the Heavenly Court, such realms were designated as…
The Heavenless Realms.
What would the world without Heavenly Dao be like?
It was blissful heaven for some.
It was a desperate hell for others.
The cultivation system was still functioning—one could still raise their cultivation realm, one could still comprehend Dao and Laws, and one could still become a true immortal.
They even had an easier time advancing compared to worlds under Heaven, since in worlds without the Heavenly Dao.
There are no hardships.
No obstacles.
No trials.
One could rise as far as their talent could allow them to by continuously consuming treasures—only needing to be careful not to cripple themselves—and continue breaking through cultivation realms, without fear of being struck by lightning from Heavenly Tribulation.
They could perform demonic methods to accelerate cultivation, and afterward, they could still walk proudly on the earth while bearing the immense weight of karma without fear of Heaven's punishment.
The strong will remain strong and will never face the consequences of their actions.
The weak will remain weak without a sliver of a chance to rise against the oppressor.
For eternity.
Despite how wonderful the world would be for the powerful, it was not without flaws.
They have another kind of difficulty.
First, the cultivators of the Heavenless World were weak; their average strength was much lower than the cultivators from worlds governed by the Heavenly Dao.
This was expected, as there was no heavenly filter feature like Heavenly Tribulation to weed out the undeserving from the cultivation path.
Second, the resources. The situation regarding resources in most cultivation worlds was the same—they were never enough.
But in the case of the Heavenless Realm, it was even worse, since their main cultivation method focused on continuous consumption, not deeply rooted in Heaven and Earth comprehension like other realm cultivators.
This caused many Heavenless Realms' cultivators to rely mostly on demonic cultivation methods, using humans as the main resource, raising them like livestock and harvesting their flesh and souls for cultivation.
Third and final, the most fatal issue for high-rank cultivators: they could not ascend to the True Immortal Realm like cultivators from other worlds did; they had to find an alternate ascension method that did not rely on the Heavenly Dao.
Even if they managed to become one, True Immortal or as Tier 10 beings, they would be marked by the Heavenly Dao as the traitor—no longer considered its people—and could not progress further in the cultivation realms along the Immortal path or any path of the Heavenly Dao World.
If one doesn't want to become a traitor, they could redeem themselves by traveling to another realm where the Heavenly Dao is present and then undergoing the Heavenly Redemption Tribulation.
However, most did not consider this as an option, since only one in a million among even the most powerful cultivators would survive this intense tribulation.
To solve this issue, in order to progress further in their strength, they have to cultivate an entirely different path, whether it be the cultivation method of another multiverse or merely raise their Existence Hierarchy by absorbing existence energy and records from whatever its source.
In summary.
The Heavenless Realms are those rare worlds that exist within the Heavenly Dao World's territory but have severed themselves from its rule, not by force, but by the will of their people.
The realms are havens for the powerful and hells for the weak.
The powerful hold unchecked freedom, while the weak majority pay the price for allowing this to happen.
The price of that freedom is…everything.
Amidst countless astral threads of the Heavenly Dao World's Astral Web.
The astral thread's interior appears as the astral tunnel. This astral tunnel is the pathway that leads people back and forth between the worlds within the Heavenly Dao's territory without fear of being touched by the void.
There is a small glowing blue orb made entirely out of energy that seems to be Spiritual Qi, moving through one of the astral threads at an impossible speed that cannot be measured by the science of humans on Earth, but it is at the very least trillions of times faster than light.
It moved back and forth quickly as if trying to avoid something. It soon found the loophole and quickly pierced through the invisible barrier that was made by a method not belonging to the Heavenly Path.
In front of the small glowing blue orb is the Heavenless Realm.
The High Realm, which is the Tier 9 realm!
A realm capable of easily withstanding the presence and power of Tier 9 beings!
This realm is only slightly weaker than the Five Pillar Realm, which is a Tier 10 realm.
This realm was once known as the White Cloud Realm, named after the vast sea of white clouds that surrounded its continents, regions, and lands, as if the entire realm had been placed within the heavens themselves.
However, its name has since been changed to reflect the faction that now rules over it.
Now it's called.
The Burning Cloud Realm
Named after the Burning Cloud Imperium, the current ruler of this realm.
The small glowing blue orb did not waste time and dashed toward its target!
Silently break through countless layers of the sky, phase through the roof of a small hut, and sink into the recently dead body of a young boy slave, he looked around 15 years old from his appearance.
Thump...
Thump... thump...
Thump... thump... thump...
The sound of a heartbeat returned to the boy's dead body, and the wounds from being beaten up by the young master of the Lei Clan were healing at a visible rate.
A moment later, the boy's eyes snapped open!
Pain surged through them, but not a single scream escaped his lips. His wide, shocked gaze slowly turned cold and unreadable.
A thought formed in his mind.
He recalled this last memory. "What happened? Wasn't I supposed to die in that bomb testing accident?"
Then he observes his body, "And… this isn't my body?"
He thought for a second, "Did I just reincarnate like in those novels I used to read when I was a kid?"
Before he could process it further, a flood of memories—those belonging to the original owner of this body—rushed into his mind. The sheer force of it sent searing pain through his brain.
Then—
Ding!