Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
A ten thousand feet black stone wall stood in an ancient temple, covered with metallic luster. It exuded dark energy, and the light of the Deity Patterns flowed over it like rolling mercury.
A black dragon with eight arms—covered with black scales and was as tall as the ceiling of the temple—was lying in the main hall right then. Each of its arms was a few thousand feet long and its claws were extremely sharp. Its head was like that of a crocodile and its mouth was full of sharp teeth. The energy it had was incredibly powerful, which shook the entire deity ground and was comparable to that of Divine Lord Tatian. Apart from the fact that it didn’t hold a “Soul Formation Cultivator” title like Divine Lord Tatian, everything else about this dragon wasn’t any weaker. It also had the Pseudo-Soul Formation Level.
That extremely powerful eight-armed Fiend Dragon was almost invincible in the deity ground.
Divine Lord Tatian might have even been unable to defeat that dragon when purely using his body and Dharma Power, if he didn’t have the personality of a Soul Formation Cultivator given by the Abandoned Planet Region. But right then, that dragon was lying in the main hall miserably. A wound a few thousand feet long ran from its belly to its tail. There was even a smaller slash, just an inch long, yet it had penetrated the entire core of its soul within its heart. It was still glittering, directly destroying its Fiend Soul.
“Boom!”
When the eight-armed Fiend Dragon died—
The sky above the entire deity ground was filled with the sounds of crying ghosts and howling wolves. It was raining blood and ghosts whimpered. Countless Dharma Laws appeared in the air and Flowers of the Grand Dao were scattered on the ground. Still, those flowers were all black and they carried endless Fiend Qi.
Countless fiends in the deity ground were trembling at the moment.
Thousands of Dao Laws wailed and Dharma Laws cried. This was a phenomenon caused by the death of a Soul Formation cultivator or a Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator. When a Nascent cultivator died, the phenomenon would only happen on half of a planet; in the case of Grand Cultivators, it could encompass the entire galaxy. If it hadn’t been restrained by the deity ground, it would have probably spread to the entire solar system or even further.
What terrified people was—
Such a phenomenon had been repeated ninety-six times in the past three years.
That was the ninety-seventh time!
In the past three years, ninety-seven Soul Formation or Pseudo-Soul Formation creatures had died! At first, those beasts or fiends wandering around the deity ground were still extremely furious. They roared to the skies and screamed frantically. However, after dozens of times, fear was the only thing left in their minds, and they hid in their caves, trembling. Even though the creatures weren’t intelligent, the death of so many Overlords was enough to terrify them.
“Unfortunately, it’s still a bit weaker than Tatian.”
Chen Fan watched many black strands of energy flow outwards from the eight-armed beast, swirling like flying dragons. Those were the core resources of a Pseudo-Soul Formation Fiend and were supreme supplements for Fiend Art cultivators or demons. So, he released the six Ancestor Fiends and allowed them to absorb the black energy.
“Their ‘Soul Formation’ power wasn’t strengthened by the planet regions. Although they were strong, they were completely vulnerable when compared to the real Soul Formation cultivators.” Chen Fan shook his head.
The power of a Soul Formation cultivator came from himself and was also strengthened by the world.
Once cultivators like Divine Lord Tatian left the Abandoned Planet Region, their power would fall below the level of Half Grand Cultivators. Such cultivators were merely Pseudo-Soul Formation Cultivators.
Those fiends in the deity ground didn’t even have a personality. They only had pure energy, and they weren’t much stronger than Chen Fan. The real Grand Cultivators like the Golden Bird Emperor and the Ancestral Patriarch of the Demon Sun Sect were almost unstoppable, as long as they stood in the human planet and the universe with the power granted by the world. Nothing could be taken away from them, unless they left the universe.
The human world and the universe were vast for many people, and the dazzling galaxy was almost the limit. They wouldn’t even think about going to other worlds, but Chen Fan didn’t think so.
“The power I want isn’t that of Soul Formation cultivators in the human world, which needs to be recognized by the world itself. What I want is an energy that truly belongs to me. Once I get this power, I’ll have it forever. Nobody would be able to take it away from me, not even the world!”
Chen Fan reached out.
His hands were crystal clear and fair like jade. The light green blood inside could be seen running like the Yangtze River. His organs also released beams of five-color light and his bones were like gold and jade. There was a small human sitting in his Qi Sea with a cross-legged position. It looked almost exactly the same as Chen Fan; it took in a large amount of Essence Qi with every breath, resonating with the world.
“Whoosh!”
Chen Fan clenched his fists gently and felt the endless power surging in them, getting rid of the air and breaking the different types of Dharma Laws around his body. That was an energy that completely belonged to himself; not a hint of it had been borrowed from the world.
As someone who had recultivated in his past life, Chen Fan clearly knew that the traditional path to the Soul Formation level was undoubtedly flawed.
“Apart from the gap in power, the biggest difference between the Soul Formation level and the Nascent Soul level is that Soul Formation cultivators are recognized by the world and have the personality of ‘Grand Cultivators,’ which allows them to control a region completely, turning it into his Divine Domain or Divine Kingdom. They’re almost unbeatable when inside their Divine Domains; the energy they can wield is enough to destroy the world.” Chen Fan gazed upwards.
No matter how strong a human’s power was, how could it be compared to the power of the world?
So, even though Chen Fan had the Half Nascent Soul Power and defeated many Half Grand Cultivators back then, he was like an ant before Divine Lord Tatian.
Every move Divine Lord Tatian had made didn’t only come from his own energy; it had also attracted the laws and Dao power of the entire Abandoned Planet Region. Even a portion in ten thousand or even one-billionth of it could easily suppress Chen Fan.
“The path to the Soul Formation level is called ‘Dao Recognition.’ Without the recognition of the Grand Dao and the acknowledgement of the Dharma Laws in the world, how can cultivators receive their personality and have endless power?” Chen Fan mumbled with a hint of disdain in his eyes. “However, going on this path means becoming the puppet and vassal of the world. The world lends you energy and offers you part of its authority and power, treating you like its own son. And then one day, you suddenly want to leave the world and get out of this universe. How would the world let you?”
It put in efforts to raise you, but then you say you wanted to leave. Who wouldn’t be mad? Although the world wasn’t human, it also had a will. The will of the world was manifested through tribulations!
When cultivating the eight main levels—
The lower four levels focused mainly on the cultivators themselves, building a good foundation step by step at the Qi Refinement level, Connate level, Golden Core level and Nascent Soul level. The upper four levels focused on the world. Cultivators had to constantly understand the Grand Dao of the universe, borrow its power and assimilate the energy of the world. When they went through a tribulation, they would be like kids finally becoming adults, trying to jump out of that world to another.
And yet, how would the universe that nurtured the cultivators allow this to happen?
So, the last stage for the cultivators was called Tribulation, and it originated from the universe which had raised them.
“The more karma I had with this universe back then, the stronger the disaster I had to encounter when I went through the Tribulation to ascend, and the more difficult it was for me to get away. Bodhisattva fears cause, mortals fear effect. Deities, the Buddha, Gods, Saints or pawns in the human world are all scared of karma.” Chen Fan shook his head.
Although he died in his past life because he had many formidable enemies—
Chen Fan had to go through the Deity Tribulation when it arrived, giving his enemies a chance to kill him. After all, he couldn’t truly be free because he hadn’t paid off the acquired karma.
“According to legend, Dao Ancestor Daluo completely transcended worlds without any karma and connection with any world, becoming unrestrained and free.”
Upon thinking of that level…
Chen Fan yearned for it, even though he had been the North Mystic Celestial Lord, known as the dominator of the cultivation world in his last life.
Speaking purely of power, he wasn’t much weaker than the Dao Ancestors in his previous life, but in terms of level and transcendence, he was indeed half a step slower than those ancient pioneers.
And that half step had caused Chen Fan’s death, which was why he had to live another life.
“But this is also good. I’ve been planning ahead to cut this karma off since the beginning of this life,” Chen Fan whispered as he clenched his fists and walked towards the ninety-eighth Origin Well.
“Boom!”
As he walked step by step…
A Divine Map gradually came out from deep inside of Chen Fan’s limbs and bones, appearing behind him. That map was full of dense light dots, each shining with fantastical light, as dazzling as stars. Upon a closer look, one would discover that there were a total of 129,600 light dots on the map.
There were 129,600 Full Nascent Souls.
It corresponded to the extreme of things in the world!
Meanwhile—
Most of the dots on the Divine Map had been lit and were releasing dazzling starlight. Only one-hundredth of them were still dormant.
Chen Fan sat cross-legged in front of the Origin Well and quietly absorbed the Deity Qi in the well.
One, two, three…
The more Deity Qi Chen Fan absorbed from the Origin Well, the stronger his energy and the more powerful his enemies would be. At first, the fiends in the Origin Divine Palaces had at most the Half Grand Cultivator level and Chen Fan had been able to kill them with a slash. In the end, his opponents had completely turned into Pseudo-Soul Formation Fiends. Divine Lord Tatian would have been no match for that eight-armed Fiend Dragon if he would have entered that place after going beyond the Soul Formation level.
“Whoosh!”
More light dots on the Divine Map behind him lit up as plumes of Deity Qi went into Chen Fan’s body, and his energy also became deeper and more ethereal. He even seemed to have gone beyond that world, as if out of tune with the universe around him. This condition made it seem as if he could leave the human world and ascend to Heaven by just raising his hands.
That was the difference between the road to the Deity Realm and the human world.
What the Deity Realm seeked was self-transcension, with the energy belonging to the cultivators themselves, while the human world borrowed the power from things in the world. Even though cultivators would be powerful, they wouldn’t have real power once they left their own universe and entered another, like a fish that jumped out of the ocean, a tiger that left the mountain and a dragon trapped in the shallows.
Chen Fan had walked the road in the human world during his previous life. This time, he was on the most powerful path.
“Whoosh!”
When the Deity Qi in the ninety-eighth Origin Well was absorbed by Chen Fan’s mouth and was completely refined, the 129,600 light dots on the map behind him lit up at the same time.
When only the last light dot remained dim—
Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes.
There was just one final step before attaining the Full Nascent Soul Power.
Once completed, he would go beyond the universe. He would have powerful energy in his own body without the help of anything else. He would be able to dominate the world, suppressing… the Soul Formation cultivators in the human world!