Everyone ascended, but I didn't get on board

Chapter 222 The Origin of the Insects

"Fellow Daoist Yi, what are the different realms in the Immortal Realm?" Watching the group of people fly away in the air, Qiu Ci couldn't help but inquire about university courses.

Yi Hongyu withdrew his envious gaze and began to introduce them to her one by one, "There are five realms in the Immortal Realm: Earth Immortal, Human Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Golden Immortal, and finally Immortal Venerable. Each of the four Immortal Realms is guarded by an Immortal Venerable. Of course, above the Immortal Venerable is the Emperor, who is the only Immortal Emperor in the Immortal Realm."

"Immortal Emperor?" Qiu Ci was taken aback and asked curiously, "Is this a realm above Immortal Venerable?"

"Not exactly. It's just that the Immortal Emperor is recognized as the person with the highest cultivation in the Immortal Realm. All the Immortal Venerables can only look up to him, so he is revered as the Immortal Emperor. No one knows exactly what realm the Immortal Emperor has reached, but it is definitely above the Immortal Venerables. Moreover, he has long resided in the Nine Heavens and never appears easily, nor does he interfere in the affairs of the Immortal Realm. Not to mention us, even the Immortal Venerables of the Four Domains need to personally go to the Nine Heavens to pay their respects if they have something to discuss." Yi Hongyu pointed to the sky and said with a look of awe.

"I see." Qiu Ci nodded. "Then are those of us who have just ascended considered to be at the Earth Immortal realm?"

“No!” Yi Hongyu shook his head, looking somewhat dejected. “We’re not even Earth Immortals. Those of us who were forcibly ascended by the system are just empty shells with cultivation. Although we have immortal bodies, our state of mind, experience, and understanding don’t meet the requirements of Earth Immortals. So we can only be considered loose immortals. Only those who ascended through their own cultivation, like the one just now, can be considered true Earth Immortals.”

"What's the difference?" she couldn't help but ask.

“The difference is huge,” Yi Hongyu said seriously. “Cultivation in the Immortal Realm is several times more difficult than in the lower realm. The most important thing is to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth. Not to mention that we still have system loans and no time to cultivate, even if we had time, our mental state wouldn’t be able to sense the laws, let alone cultivate and improve.”

"So, we can't improve our cultivation until we pay off the loan?" Qiu Ci was a little surprised. That's not right, her cultivation had improved before.

"Of course!" Yi Hongyu nodded firmly. "You can try it if you don't believe me. We don't even... wait, you're actually going to try!"

Before he could finish speaking, Qiu Ci had already sat down cross-legged, his body surging with immortal energy and his immortal power beginning to circulate.

"It's no use," Yi Hongyu continued to advise. "No matter how hard you try, it's all in vain..."

Bang!
Before he could finish speaking, Qiu Ci's immortal power suddenly erupted, forcing him to take a few steps back. The surrounding immortal power surged wildly towards him, and his cultivation level visibly began to rise.

"This is... a late-stage Earth Immortal! How is this possible!" He rubbed his eyes hard, his face full of disbelief. It was one thing to improve his cultivation, but he had actually advanced two minor realms.

Qiu Ci also stopped, opened her eyes and felt her rising cultivation level. As expected, she had no doubt that the manager Yao who had just registered had transferred so much immortal power to her that she had already reached the critical point. She only needed to circulate the immortal power slightly to break through.

"Fellow Daoist Chu, you didn't... bind to the system only after you ascended, did you?" Yi Hongyu suspected there might be a mistake, otherwise how could only she be able to cultivate, and ascend so quickly?

"Perhaps." Qiu Ci didn't answer directly, but changed the subject and asked him about other things. Finally, she used the excuse that she needed to stabilize her cultivation and went into a room.

Qiu Ci raised his hand and set up several layers of isolation arrays before confidently calling out to the system in his mind, "Damn system, how's it going? Have you found Xiao Er and Juan Shan's location yet?"

[I'm sorry, Master, it's probably too far away. I couldn't detect Xiao Er's location, but its signal is still there, so it should be safe for now.]

Qiu Ci frowned. Juan Shan had arrived in the Immortal Realm before her, and he was carrying Xiao Er. If she wasn't mistaken, he was probably also a system-loaned rogue immortal, just like her. She needed to reunite with him as soon as possible. "What about the base?" she continued. "Have you detected a signal from the next base?"

[Waaaaah... No, Master! The Immortal Realm is far larger than the continent; the search can't cover the entire Immortal Realm.]

"Then what use are you?" You can't find anything, and you've even turned her into a debtor.

[Useful, useful!] The dog system quickly added, [I've completely parsed the databases of the systems my master fed me before.]

"Oh?" Qiu Ci raised an eyebrow. "So what did you discover?"

"Their central database shows signs of being altered, and I also found some information about the temple." The dog system said excitedly, "Master, do you remember those pirated systems that looked like insects?"

"The kind that Di Zifan and Miao Jia were wearing?"

"Yes, Master." The dog system swayed with a hint of smugness. "I've already found out how they got here."

"It must have been done by the temple," Qiu Ci blurted out.

[Huh?! Master, how did you know?] The dog system deflated.

"Nonsense, if they can target psionic machines, they must have studied the system beforehand," Qiu Ci said directly. The temple gained partial control over psionic machines through the system; if they hadn't studied the system first, how could they have stolen that control?

"Yes, Master guessed correctly. Those insect systems are all system-defense artifacts made by the Temple." The dog system continued, "The Temple has been researching these systems since they learned of their existence a thousand years ago, but they haven't been able to crack the core program. Therefore, they can only make defensive artifacts that are about 50% similar, and they haven't discovered the existence of a contract."

"That's normal." If they really managed to completely crack the system's core program, then everyone in the entire temple would probably be a high-level cultivator. "Do you know their purpose in creating the insect system?"

Oh, they're here to complete tasks in place of the hosts of these systems in the Celestial Realm.

"Mission complete?"

"Yes, Master," the dog system replied. "These lending systems sent down from the Immortal Realm are all categorized. For example, there's the 'face-slapping' system we encountered before, and the 'conquest system' that Chu Yongsheng had his power confiscated. Each system has a different category and issues different tasks."

"So, the temple created these insect systems, then set them up as subsystems of these systems, and spread them out to bind others to complete tasks for them?"

【Yes, Master is so clever!】A heart appeared on the system's light orb.

"Is this why the bug system appeared on the Lanru Continent?" Qiu Ci frowned. The Immortal Realm borrowed systems from the mortal realm, and the Temple borrowed systems from other continents to complete its missions. It turned out that the Temple was a second-hand creditor, and the kind that forcibly lent money.