Venerable Jie went to the Southern Jambudvipa Continent, claiming he was to meet a confidante from a hundred thousand years ago, intending to borrow a divine elixir to heal his wounds swiftly.
The Southern Jambudvipa Continent is the territory of various realms in the southern universe, predominantly inhabited by the demon clan.
Zhang Ruochen was highly skeptical, doubting that with Venerable Jie’s appearance, any female divine spirit from the demon clan would take a liking to him.
“Who hasn’t had a confidante? Who wasn’t dashing and talented in their youth? Wait on this island, and after I return, we will discuss the specifics of expanding and strengthening our clan.” These were the words Venerable Jie left behind before departing.
After Venerable Jie left, Zhang Ruochen set up spatial and concealment arrays on the island to prevent any aura from leaking out.
Since the universe was undergoing tremendous changes, turmoil was inevitable, and to establish himself securely, he needed to achieve divinity as soon as possible, mastering even greater power.
Of course, the path of cultivation required steady progress.
First, he aimed to break through to the Life-and-Death Realm.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Sundial and counted the divine stones he had.
Only one hundred and fifty-two remained.
The consumption of divine stones was immense, especially when Little Black squandered many on Ice King Star, crafting the so-called Nine Heavens and Ten Earths God-Slaying Demon-Slaying Array, which failed to unleash significant power and couldn’t even suppress a pseudo-god.
“One hundred and fifty-two stones, if used to cover the smallest range with the Sundial, minimizing consumption, can still support one hundred and fifty-two years of cultivation.”
Having accumulated a strong foundation in the Hundred-Shackle and Thousand-Question Realms, breaking through to the Life-and-Death Realm was a natural progression for Zhang Ruochen, achieved in an instant, followed by six months of consolidation.
The most critical aspect of the Life-and-Death Realm was comprehending the Rules of the Sacred Path, increasing the number of rules within the body.
However, for most cultivators, comprehending these rules was an extremely slow process, often yielding only a hundred billion rules after a thousand years in seclusion.
This realm, named Life-and-Death, required cultivators to undergo various trials, tempering themselves on the edge of life and death to accelerate the growth of Sacred Path Rules, continually surpassing their limits to reach higher levels of rule accumulation.
Without such trials, cultivation could be painfully slow or even stagnate.
Even Bai Qinger, with her Epochal Genius talent, stagnated in the Life-and-Death Realm for a thousand years due to a lack of life-and-death trials, not counting time spent in temporal arrays.
Other cultivators progressed even more slowly, some lingering in the Life-and-Death Realm for ten or twenty thousand years until their death.
Since embarking on the path of cultivation, Zhang Ruochen had faced countless life-and-death trials, traversing seas of blood and mountains of corpses, making this realm less daunting for him.
Moreover, he possessed a vast quantity of Epochal Sacred Medicines harvested from the Origin Temple.
These medicines, containing pure origin power, could break the cultivation speed suppression of the Life-and-Death Realm, enabling rapid accumulation of Sacred Path Rules.
The reason Great Sikong and Second Sikong reached the Supreme Realm within a millennium was due to these Epochal Sacred Medicines.
Cultivating under the Sundial alongside Zhang Ruochen were Kong Lanyou and Kong Xuan.
Zhang Ruochen shared some Epochal Sacred Medicines imbued with origin power with Kong Lanyou, then took out the Divine Dragon Enlightenment Chamber and entered it for secluded cultivation.
The Divine Dragon Enlightenment Chamber doubled his speed of comprehending Sacred Path Rules.
He also split his sacred soul into six parts.
One part remained in his body, responsible for consuming the Epochal Sacred Medicines, absorbing their power, and converting it into Sacred Path Rules.
The second, aided by spatial mysteries, focused on rules related to the Path of Space.
The third, with temporal mysteries, studied rules tied to the Path of Time.
The fourth, supported by origin mysteries, explored rules of the Path of Origin.
The fifth, assisted by swordsmanship mysteries and the Third-Rank Sword Path Sacred Will, delved into sword rules, cultivating sword soul, sword spirit, sword intent, and sword techniques.
The sixth, guided by the First-Rank Sacred Will, “Limitless Sacred Will,” comprehended myriad paths of heaven and earth, embracing all.
The Third-Rank Sword Path Sacred Will was named “One.”
The First-Rank Sacred Will, formed from the fusion of time, space, fist path, palm path, and the five elements, was named “Limitless Sacred Will” by Zhang Ruochen.
“Limitless” signified the boundlessness of time, space, yin-yang, and the five elements.
Limitless precedes Taiji, which gives rise to the Two Principles, which produce the Four Images, which generate the Eight Trigrams, evolving into all things.
With various mysteries, the Limitless Sacred Will, the Divine Dragon Enlightenment Chamber, and Epochal Sacred Medicines, Zhang Ruochen’s speed in cultivating Sacred Path Rules was unmatched.
In just ten years, the number of Sacred Path Rules in his body reached one trillion, and his cultivation broke through the early, middle, and late stages, reaching the peak of the Life-and-Death Realm.
For others in this realm, reaching this level allowed them to attempt forming the Supreme Law Body to break into the Supreme Realm.
However, those with ambition and grand aspirations would strive to accumulate more in the Life-and-Death Realm.
Only by surpassing ten trillion rules could the Supreme Law Body be strong enough to potentially claim the top rank in the mortal world.
Zhang Ruochen aimed higher, not only to lead the mortal world’s first rank but also to surpass the accumulation of Epochal Representatives and Epochal Geniuses in the Life-and-Death Realm.
He continued his secluded cultivation.
…
The Dark Abyss, located at the tail of the Yellow Spring Star River, was near the Dark Temple and the Yama Outer Heaven.
Of course, “near” was relative, still infinitely distant, measured in light-years, beyond human traversal.
The Dark Abyss was a massive spatial void suspended in the vast, dim cosmic void. Even with Chi Kunlun’s Great Saint cultivation, he couldn’t fully discern its shape, as it seemed infinitely vast, stretching to the edge of the starry sky, inspiring awe.
The abyss constantly emitted dark energy, rendering the surrounding hundred billion miles of starry sky pitch black and bone-chillingly cold. Only Saint Realm cultivators could linger here.
This dark energy sometimes formed misty bridges spanning star domains, sometimes condensed into flower-like shapes larger than planets, or spread as thick demonic clouds.
“Roar!”
A dark beast, over five hundred meters long, resembling a giant octopus, emerged from a dark demonic cloud, extending serrated tentacles toward Chi Kunlun.
Chi Kunlun grabbed the air, tearing five spatial rifts, splitting the beast into six parts.
The dark beast screamed, its shattered body collapsing into six clumps of pure dark energy.
Chi Kunlun inhaled deeply, absorbing the six clumps into his body, converting them into his own power, slightly enhancing his cultivation.
Over the past millennium, he had trained near the Dark Abyss, encountering countless such beasts.
Their ambushes could not harm him.
Clad in a black cloak, with sharp brows and starry eyes radiating cold light, he flew forward, landing on a planet at the edge of the Dark Abyss.
The abyss’s edge hosted many planets, varying in size, all black, composed of dark rock and soil, some covered in black vegetation.
The planet Chi Kunlun landed on was only half a planet.
It had been cleaved in two by a sharp blade, forming a vertical ten-thousand-mile cliff running through the planet.
The cleaved area was freezing, mostly ice-sealed, except for a golden waterfall flowing from the planet’s north pole to its south along the cliff.
It resembled a ten-thousand-mile golden river.
At the waterfall’s top sat a young man, appearing human, Buddha-like, demonic, monstrous, ghostly, and divine, his aura cycling through these states. Behind him hovered a radiant Wheel of Reincarnation, illuminating the entire planet.
Chi Kunlun approached, saying, “Master, you have sat here for a century. Have you formed the Supreme Law Body?”
“Not one hundred years, but one thousand six hundred.”
Yan Wushen transformed into a thirty-foot Buddha, surrounded by temporal seals faintly outlining an array.
Then, he morphed into a deathly demonic figure, with the Book of Death manifesting above, saying, “The Supreme Law Body can be formed anytime. But reaching that unprecedented height in the Life-and-Death Realm is one step short, missing a catalyst.”
“What catalyst?” Chi Kunlun asked.
“This catalyst might be an experience, a pressure, a life-and-death trigger, or a sudden epiphany.”
Yan Wushen stood, radiating bright white origin light, appearing holy, gazing into the dark abyss below.
His ears twitched, catching the sounds of dark beasts from the abyss’s depths.
“The Dark Abyss grows increasingly unstable, with more and stronger beasts emerging. It seems the universe’s ten-thousand-year calm is about to break.”
An ancient, mysterious stone bridge appeared beneath Yan Wushen, with a Yellow Spring flowing beneath it.
He stepped onto the Bridge of Helplessness, gazing afar, saying, “Whenever the universe falls into chaos, forbidden zones and cosmic frontiers erupt, and countless prodigies and heroes emerge from Heaven and Hell. Seizing this chance could lead to ascension. Where is the catalyst I lack?”
Chi Kunlun knew that, despite his master’s Life-and-Death Realm cultivation, his Sacred Path Rules surpassed many demigods. The catalyst he sought was likely harder to find than a demigod’s path to divinity.
“Pity, pity, pity!” Yan Wushen suddenly exclaimed thrice.
“What do you pity, Master?” Chi Kunlun asked.
“I pity that, despite the abundance of prodigies and heroes, there is no true overlord, leaving one lonely without a challenge. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have sat here for one thousand six hundred years,” Yan Wushen said.
Chi Kunlun asked, “Isn’t Que from the Temple of Destiny a true overlord?”
“He’s only half one!”
Yan Wushen shook his head, adding, “Pity that your father died in the Origin Temple a thousand years ago. Since then, aside from me, there has been no era-defining overlord.”
Chi Kunlun’s eyes grew misty, his fists clenching involuntarily.
He knew his father came to the Hell Realm to save him and Kong Le, only to perish in the Origin Temple.
With his father’s talent, he should have been a world-dominating overlord, yet he was slain before fully rising, his body unrecovered.
Yan Wushen said, “Your talent is remarkable, but compared to your sister, you fall short. She absorbed part of Xiuchen Tianshen’s divine soul, advancing rapidly. You must work harder.”
“I understand,” Chi Kunlun replied.
Yan Wushen added, “Why did you come to see me?”
“The Great Saint Dasenluo Huang of the Death Clan seeks an audience, claiming to have an important letter to deliver personally,” Chi Kunlun said.
Yan Wushen replied, “I won’t see him.”
With his current cultivation and strength, how could a mere Death Clan Great Saint demand a meeting?
His priority was breaking through that final step.
He pondered whether to explore the Dark Abyss’s depths to temper himself, perhaps pushing to the brink of life and death for a breakthrough.
“Wait.”
Suddenly, Yan Wushen turned, asking, “Who did you say?”
“The Great Saint of the Death Clan, Dasenluo Huang,” Chi Kunlun repeated.
Yan Wushen said, “Didn’t Dasenluo Huang perish with your father in the Origin Temple a thousand years ago? Even the Temple of Destiny couldn’t trace their life auras. How could he reappear?”
Chi Kunlun, absent from the Heaven-Hunting Battle a thousand years ago, was unaware of the connection between Dasenluo Huang and his father.
…
These past two days, I’ve been busy and could only manage one chapter daily. I apologize. Tomorrow will likely be one chapter, possibly two.
Starting the day after, I’ll resume two chapters daily.
