Cultivators have always used the same standards for grading monster realms as they do for cultivation realms.
From bottom to top there are nine realms in total.
As for a truly legendary immortal-rising great demon, such a thing has never appeared in the long sweep of history.
This classification system is entirely reasonable.
The biggest difference between beasts and human cultivators is the way their true qi and spiritual energy circulate.
Humans often lump a beast’s "true qi" and "spiritual energy" together and call it "demonic qi."
Other than that, the cultivation ranks of beasts and human cultivators can almost always be matched one-to-one.
Take the giant scorpion demon Chen Yan is facing now: its claws burst up out of the desert, reaching hundreds of zhang in height.
Yet the demonic qi it gives off is not that strong. Compared to the true qi intensity of a Passable God Realm cultivator, it’s probably at least half a tier weaker.
If this scorpion demon had demonic qi on par with a Passable God Realm cultivator, then among fifth-realm beasts it would be absolute top-tier.
Even so, Chen Yan was still in quite a mess confronting it.
After all, there was a significant gap in realm, but compared to that gap—
Sharp spines suddenly drilled up from the ground, each dozens of zhang long, incredibly sharp, lunging toward Chen Yan.
Chen Yan hurriedly activated Xun Wind Step and dodged to the side.
One by one the spines burst out of the sand, then blocked Chen Yan’s escape in front of him.
Chen Yan had no choice but to leap, then ride his qi into the air to hover.
The mountain-sized scorpion claw above him slammed down toward Chen Yan, and having difficulty readjusting his posture and direction again, he had to activate Hidden Immortal Clear Rainbow and meet the scorpion demon’s attack head-on.
Under the scorpion demon’s immense force, Chen Yan was thrown sideways again.
Then from the ground where he fell, several more spikes drilled out immediately.
He twisted his body with everything he had and barely brushed past one of the spikes.
But the spike’s sharp tip still cut Chen Yan’s right arm, opening a wound several inches long on his skin, and his robe began to stain red with blood.
Falling onto the desert, Chen Yan ignored the pain in his arm and hurriedly directed true qi to stop the bleeding from the wound.
What could he do?
Maybe it was the scorpion demon’s battle intelligence, or perhaps just pure predatory instinct, but whatever the cause, Chen Yan’s current resistance was nothing more than a trapped beast’s struggle.
The scorpion demon’s attacks completely sealed off Chen Yan’s escape possibilities and gradually tightened the area in which he could move.
More spikes burst up from beneath Chen Yan’s feet. Chen Yan activated Xun Wind Step and twisted and darted, but was still forced into a corner by the scorpion demon’s assault.
If Hidden Immortal Clear Rainbow wasn’t enough—
Chen Yan raised his hand, met the mountain-like scorpion claw slamming toward him, and activated Great Derivation Art.
He transformed the true qi gathered at his fingertip through Great Derivation Art into spiritual energy, then triggered it with the Kongshan Finger technique.
Great Derivation Kongshan Finger!
The spiritual energy blasting from Chen Yan’s fingertip shot toward the scorpion claw. Immediately, a circular hole roughly seven feet in diameter was punched through that mountain-wall-like claw by the Great Derivation Kongshan Finger.
It was effective!
But Chen Yan didn’t have time to feel happy about that. The huge scorpion claw slammed down toward him again, smashing him heavily into the ground, and spikes quickly drilled out from the sand, starting from Chen Yan’s abdomen and piercing straight through.
The gigantic spike nearly split Chen Yan’s body in half.
Lying on his back with his face to the sky, Chen Yan’s pupils dilated, and his consciousness finally faded.
[Reincarnation Ended.]
[This Reincarnation Rating: B- (Experience must be accumulated)]
[Accumulated Cultivation: Peak Qi Sea Realm]
[Reincarnation Reward: Purple Mansion Record Mastery]
[Reincarnation settlement complete, the host will return to the previous reincarnation save point, inherit this reincarnation’s accumulated cultivation, and restart life]
...
The first thing Chen Yan felt the moment he regained consciousness was the scorching burn of the sun.
Then Mr. You’s brilliant smile came into view.
Chen Yan of course knew what that moment signified.
“No, you don’t—”
He had only just started to speak when Mr. You vanished from in front of him the next instant.
Chen Yan was left standing alone in the desert.
"Sigh..."
Chen Yan let out a breath.
Sometimes the refresh of a reincarnation save point is just that abstract.
Then the ground shuddered from deep beneath the desert, and the huge scorpion claw burst up from the earth again, rushing toward Chen Yan.
This time Chen Yan did not immediately activate Xun Wind Step to dodge like in his last life;
he waited for the right moment.
He injected true qi into the sand dune under his feet, and the surging true qi began to squeeze into the gaps between the grains.
Then Chen Yan activated Great Derivation Art, transforming the true qi injected between the sand grains into a violent wind.
Sand tornado!
A massive sand vortex rose up suddenly, enveloping Chen Yan. Hiding within the twister’s cover, Chen Yan quickly used Xun Wind Step to reposition himself to the side of the scorpion claw.
This was Chen Yan’s strategy.
Then—
Great Derivation Kongshan Finger!
This time Chen Yan pierced a through-hole in the giant demon’s scorpion claw from the side.
He seized the little spiritual energy still left in the claw and activated Great Derivation Art again, transforming the remaining spirit energy into frost.
Countless ice spears erupted from the wound in the claw. For a while, sickly brown-green ichor splattered everywhere, evaporating quickly upon hitting the sand and emitting a nauseating bug stench.
When the sand tornado dispersed, Chen Yan flew on the qi and stared at the claw he had just struck. The mountain-sized claw seemed to be in terrible pain, twisting and contorting, then withdrew beneath the desert.
Success!
Chen Yan felt a flush of excitement in his chest.
If he could disable one scorpion claw, the threat that this scorpion demon posed to his midair movement would be greatly reduced...
Hiss!
Suddenly, a sound of flesh being torn rang out from in front of Chen Yan’s chest.
He looked down in disbelief and saw a black scorpion tail needle piercing through his chest.
[Reincarnation Ended.]
[This Reincarnation Rating: D (Isn’t it normal for a boss fight to have a second phase? You didn’t really think otherwise, did you?)]
[Accumulated Cultivation: Peak Qi Sea Realm]
[Reincarnation Reward: None]