Void Tribulant

Ascendant Empyrean (Half Step Into Grand Empyrean)Grand Empyrean

This is the fourth and final stage of the Third Step.

## Classifications

Due to the degree of renown that is held for those who manage to attain this level, the practitioners are awarded the title of **Grand Exalt** for merely stepping into the Void Tribulant stage. Even Late Stage Void Tribulants are called as such, however, those who are infinitely close to the Peak of Void Tribulant but still fail to bridge that gap are known as **Golden Exalts.** Those rare few who do achieve the peak are called **Empyrean Exalts.**Finally, those who exceed this level, yet do not manage to enter the Grand Empyrean stage, are called **Ascendant Empyrean.** As for the Grand Empyrean stage itself, this power exists beyond the peak of Void Tribulant yet not yet in the Half Heaven Trampling realm above. Throughout the Immortal Astral Continent, Ascendant Empyreans are exceedingly rare with just 48 at present, and there are only about a thousand Empyrean Exalts. As for Grand Empyreans, with as few as four exceptions, the only way to achieve this level was by obtaining a great fortune from the Immemorial God Realm, and two of those four achieved the level through an inheritance.

## Characteristics

The gap in power at the Void Tribulant stage is huge, such that Early, Middle and Late Grand Exalts are vastly distinguishable from each other, they are in fact so far apart that they can almost be considered different Realms of Cultivation. Mid Stage Void Tribulants are allowed to rule over sizeable sects even by the Immortal Astral Continent's standards while Golden Exalts are powerful enough to rule over one of the Nine Sects and Thirteen Factions. Empyrean Exalts and Ascendant Empyreans tend to be scouted by the Grand Empyrean Nine Suns and often serve them directly, there are thus few of these beings actually active outside of the Central Continent.
Those who reach Peak Void Tribulant(Empyrean Exalt) gain the ability to fuse Dao directly into their bodies. This allows them to use spells with the flick of a sleeve, and indeed an Empyrean Exalts power is as much about how many spells they can release simultaneously in this manner as it is their actual Cultivation Level. Only an Ascendant Empyrean can combine more than 100 spells into a single move in this way, making that the hallmark of Ascendant Empyreans in general. Further beyond the power of an Ascendant Empyrean lay the Grand Empyrean Realm. At this stage a person generates a sun around his or her being and can use Faith Spells, which are spells with the capability to alter reality itself.

## Stages

1. Early(Grand Exalt)
2. Middle(Grand Exalt)
3. Late(Grand Exalt)
	1. Peak of Late(Golden Exalt)
4. Peak (Empyrean Exalt) - Can fuse/layer spells
	1. Ascendant Empyrean - Can fuse/layer 100 spells
	2. Grand Empyrean - hallmarks are the Formation of a Grand Empyrean Sun and ability to use Faith Spells

## Trivia

* This level has never appeared inside Wang Lin's Cave World, with exception to Old Ghost Zhan and the Seven Colored Daoist, who were splintered souls of a cultivator from the Immortal Astral Continent.
* For Ancient Clan members, this stage seems to be equivalent to the 10th to 27th Star they can obtain by practicing the full powers of all three bloodlines and undergoing the final Trial's Three Calamities.
	+ A good example is that someone who has managed to completely fuse the power of the 3 bloodlines is at the very least as powerful as a Golden Exalt).
	+ It has also been shown that, through the same fortune as Celestials, Ancients can become Grand Empyreans.