Within the Creation Divine Hall, the black-robed elderly man revealed a smile.
“Black Robes, why did you release us?” A soft, feminine voice suddenly rang out. “Didn’t you say you’d silence us for a hundred million years?”
“That’s right! That’s right!”
“Old Black Robes must have gotten lonely again and wanted to chat with us,” another hearty voice chimed in. “But his patience has waned considerably this time. Last time he silenced us for over eight million years, yet this time it’s been less than four hundred.”
“You two, keep talking and I’ll really silence you for a hundred million years,” the black-robed elderly man said coldly. “Me, lonely? I can manifest numerous incarnations and traverse the realms of the Immutable Land. Can you?
I was afraid you’d go mad from loneliness.”
The two bantering voices fell suddenly silent.
After a moment, the soft voice spoke up again, “Black Robes, you only locked us away for a few hundred years this time. That’s not like you. Is there something you want to show off to us?”
“It must be,” the hearty voice laughed. “I reckon that little fellow Hou Feng has done well.”
“What was that word we learned before? Ah yes, ‘flexing’! Black Robes wants to flex on us.”
The two voices completed each other’s sentences like a duet, causing the black-robed elderly man’s eyes to bulge with anger.
“Hmph! You two short-sighted fools, you don’t know anything,” the black-robed elderly man snorted. “Do you know what Hou Feng has accomplished?”
“What did he do? Probably just cleared level nine of the Creation Tower,” the hearty voice chuckled. “Don’t tell me he actually comprehended the True Intent of a Great Dao?”
“Correct!” The black-robed elderly man revealed a hint of a smug smile. “And it just happens to be the True Intent of Creation.”
“What?”
“True Intent of Creation?” Both voices were suddenly shocked. “How is that possible? He’s been cultivating for less than a thousand years, hasn’t he?”
“I’d believe you if you said he cultivated a Greater Law to the Dao Field stage, but Great Dao True Intent?” The soft voice was particularly incredulous.
“Why would I lie?” The black-robed elderly man snorted, then smiled again. “The day I’m set free is not far off.”
“Old Black, don’t get too cocky. You said the same about the previous two, but they both died,” the hearty voice cautioned.
“That’s right, those two little ones showed promise too, but alas…” The soft voice began to speak.
“Silence!” The black-robed elderly man waved his hand forcefully, and the hall fell quiet once more. That’s enough bragging. Time to silence them again.
Hmm? A flash of surprise crossed the black-robed elderly man’s eyes. His Apotheosis root…why does it contain a trace of Spacetime’s profundities?
Could it be that he’s also comprehended the Great Dao of Spacetime?
…
In the test location, Wu Yuan sat in lotus position, his aura surging and spreading in all directions.
The grand Dao fluctuations previously enveloping him had now completely receded and vanished. However, his soul essence had undergone a fundamental transformation.
Within his upper dantian lobe, Wu Yuan’s body refiner self’s soul had split into nine Yuan Souls. Influenced by the Great Dao’s essence, his soul had progressed from the peak of the Yuan Soul level to the Divided Soul Will level.
Sss sss~ The black pagoda suddenly began emitting dazzling rays of light, facilitating the rapid recovery of Wu Yuan’s newly evolved soul. It swiftly reached the High Immortal soul level and continued to grow even stronger.
Nine Yuan Souls is considered the limit for normal immortal cultivators. Wu Yuan thought to himself. Even compared to many Sixth Tribulation High Immortal qi refiners, it’s impressive. However, it probably falls far short when compared to my qi refiner self.
His qi refiner self, having undergone a soul transformation thanks to the Origin Blood Droplet, had long surpassed his body refiner self in terms of soul strength.
…
Wu Yuan wasn’t too focused on the breakthrough and transformation of his Yuan Soul. Even if he hadn’t broken through under the influence of the Great Dao’s essence this time, he would have broken through after a few hundred more years of Visualizing the black pagoda.
He was slightly surprised by the sudden reaction of the black pagoda. In the past, the black pagoda had shown no signs of directly strengthening his Yuan Soul essence.
What truly concerned Wu Yuan was the transformation of his internal shambhala. For the past few hundred years, he had devoted all his energy to comprehending the 365 Creation Essence Diagrams.
Although he had been consuming divine crystals like water to cultivate his vital ether, he had only just broken through to the second stage. This was normal. For Earth Immortals and Earth Deities with lifespans of ninety thousand years, it was typical to spend tens of thousands of years cultivating to the ninth stage, barring the use of precious treasures to aid one’s cultivation rate.
After comprehending Creation’s essence, my internal shambhala has broken through its limits and expanded to six million li at just the second-stage Earth Eldritch phase. Wu Yuan marveled inwardly.
A first-degree immortal root was the limit under the rules of heaven and earth’s workings. This was indisputable.
In fact, from the research Wu Yuan had done, the vast majority of immortals and eldritch beings who underwent their Tribulations did so with second-degree or third-degree immortal roots.
A third-degree immortal root was the minimum requirement to forge an immortal body or deity body.
A first-degree immortal root? Even among immortals, deities and eldritches, it was rare. As for surpassing that? Wu Yuan had yet to hear of it before.
Perhaps my knowledge is limited. I was unaware of the Apotheosis soul too until my qi refiner self broke through. Wu Yuan mused to himself.
Now, the immortal root of his body refiner self had shattered the constraints of a first-degree immortal root, reaching a whole new level.
Rumble! The internal shambhala expanded, undergoing earth-shattering changes.
The Boundary Tree grew rapidly, becoming increasingly majestic. The sea of vital ether surrounding the tree also turned purer and more vigorous.
The transformation of his immortal root strengthened his ether, similar to a breakthrough of a cultivation phase. To maintain the expansion of his internal shambhala, Wu Yuan frantically absorbed the spiritual qi from the test location.
What surprised Wu Yuan was that this test location seemed to be aware of his state. Streams of dense spiritual qi poured in continuously, flowing directly into Wu Yuan’s body.
Whoosh! Unknowingly, a Dharma Body phantom appeared behind Wu Yuan, towering at 120,000 zhangs, its aura vast and boundless.
A 120,000-zhang Dharma Body? Wu Yuan was stunned for a long while.
Just like the Yuan Soul, which was normally divided into nine, the Dharma Body was the strongest physical form body refiners possessed to battle heaven and earth. Some grand ether arts for cultivating the body considered nine as the ultimate number, allowing a body to grow up to 90,000 zhangs tall at most.
120,000 zhangs? Wu Yuan had never heard of such a thing before. Clearly, this was also a result of breaking through the constraints of a first-degree immortal root.
Several hundred years have passed. Judging solely from my Dao comprehension, my qi refiner self has also made great progress. I wonder what the situation there is like now? Wu Yuan thought to himself.
My soul’s perception of Creation’s essence…It’s as if I’ve undergone a Tribulation to become an immortal, my soul merging with the Dao’s essence.
Now, I can only comprehend the Essence Great Dao of Creation, meaning I can only comprehend the Law of Life and Law of Death encompassed within this Great Dao. Wu Yuan mused.
He became increasingly aware of the significance of Master Kua Chi’s words.
The path of comprehending an Essence Great Dao wasn’t an easy one to walk. The power it granted wasn’t necessarily stronger than that of Greater Laws and might even have many limitations. The best path was one that suited oneself.
Regardless, I’ve already set foot on this path. I can only continue forward. Wu Yuan’s eyes flashed with determination.
The path was set and couldn’t be changed. Moreover, the True Intent of Creation was indeed powerful beyond imagination.
Previously, when my understanding of Life advanced to the fifth-level True Intent stage and I deeply comprehended the Law of Death, the saber technique I could unleash by combining the two barely reached the Astral Lord level, comparable to a seventh or eighth-stage Archimmortal. Wu Yuan reflected.
But now? Waves of concentrated Dao fluctuations enveloped his body, perfect and flawless. They brimmed with vitality, as well as death that awaited at the end of life. An aura of death shrouded him.
Life and death, perfectly fused and complementary to each other. This also caused the power of this trace of True Intent to reach an unimaginable level.
Great Dao True Intent, transcending heaven and earth. The Great Daos are truly eternal Daos, truly flawless Daos. Wu Yuan thought to himself. The gap between them and Greater Laws is too vast.
Once a Great Dao’s True Intent was crystallized, its power could rival that of a complete Intermediate Law, equivalent to the Dao comprehension of a newly advanced Astral Monarch.
A single transformation brought me from the level of a seventh-stage Archimmortal to that of an early-stage Astral Monarch? Wu Yuan marveled inwardly at this inconceivable transformation.
However, he didn’t dwell on it further. This transformation had brought great progress, but the cultivation path ahead would be much more difficult, as his perception of the Creation Dao’s essence was too vague. It was a thousand times vaguer than his perception of the Life Dao’s essence or Death Dao’s essence.
Without the guidance of the Dao’s essence, he could only continue comprehending the Law of Life and Law of Death, then slowly explore ways to fuse them on his own.
I just hope it hasn’t affected my qi refiner self. Wu Yuan furrowed his brow again.
When Wu Yuan’s soul fused into the Creation Dao’s essence, the parts of his spirit and consciousness concerning the Law of Time and Law of Space remained unaffected. Yet, all his insights about the fusion of the two Greater Laws of Space and Time seemed to be extracted and erased by an invisible force. Even when Wu Yuan tried to comprehend them again, he found himself unable to do so.
Is this the singularity of Essence? Wu Yuan’s body refiner self shook his head slightly, only able to patiently continue the transformation of his internal shambhala.
The internal shambhala was fundamental and could not be compromised.
With about twenty years left until the four-hundred-year deadline, Wu Yuan wasn’t in a rush.
…
His body refiner self broke through and transformed.
Meanwhile, on the Spacetime Island, inside his private hall.
Spacetime True Intent. Wu Yuan sat in lotus position on the jade platform, grasping this Essence Great Dao’s True Intent. With a single thought, a powerful Dao fluctuation descended. Countless Spacetime profundities merged.
The perfect union of Time and Space. Spacetime is the foundation of all Daos, and Spacetime True Intent is the perfect fusion of the True Intent of the two Greater Laws. In Wu Yuan’s eyes.
There wasn’t any distinction between time and space when it came to all things in heaven and earth; the two were inherently one. In his perception, all matter existed perpetually in Space, while some objects around him—like the divine hall, the jade platform, and Star Moon standing in the distance—were also enveloped by inseparable fluctuations of Time.
Everything could be attributed to Spacetime.
With a thought, I can manipulate the flow of time, speeding it up tenfold or a hundredfold? Wu Yuan gave a mental command, and the flow of time around him began to change.
Fivefold…tenfold…twentyfold! Wu Yuan gradually felt the strain. The greater the change, the heavier the burden on his mana and mental strength.
Yet he continued to accelerate time: thirtyfold…fortyfold…sixtyfold… When it reached eightyfold, the space around him began to tremble subtly. The impact on his surroundings was too intense.
Star Moon, standing in the distance, was already dumbfounded, watching this scene in disbelief. In her vision, Wu Yuan’s form had become completely blurred. He seemed to have entered an entirely different dimension of existence.