Chapter 579: Stage Four
Translator: Radiant Editor: Radiant
Standing at the mountain's peak with the wind blowing down on him, Xue Ying looked toward the vast world in front of him. There was a continuous flat region ahead, and at the rear end of these plains was a community of farmers, complete with its own government, its own Transcendents and Deities...
Xue Ying then vaguely noticed a long river where countless humans, beasts, and other lifeforms seemed to be sinking. There were Deities and even World Deities here. In fact, Xue Ying even felt himself be a part of this very river! He was like a towering giant, and half of his body was above the surface of the water. From his vantage point, he could easily glance at all the countless lifeforms surrounding him. However, this long river emitted a powerful attractive force which pulled and bound him, preventing him from escaping.
'The River of Time?' Xue Ying nodded slightly.
It was only now that he grasped the Time-Space Deity Heart that he could finally 'see' the River of Time.
This rumored location was filled with countless lifeforms; even the dead continued existing within! As long as one was a lifeform born after the emergence of the cosmos and they had yet to escape from it, they would be found here! It was the goal of many others, as well as Xue Ying's, to transcend this River of Time and finally reach true eternity.
Otherwise, they would remain bound to the River of Time. Anyone stuck within would be unable to reach eternity.
'The laws of the world are truly orderly.' Xue Ying looked at the beautiful sceneries surrounding him, yet in his eyes, they were no longer vistas, but rather countless laws in operation.
Every central or essential law was like a string instrument, and it formed something like a 'law' zither!
At the moment, Xue Ying could comprehend and use four of these zithers, and even these four zithers alone could allow him to play beautiful music! This was just like how a long bridge that would normally be supported by nine pillars could also stand and be stable with just four! In any case, now that Xue Ying grasped hold of four grade one Deity Hearts, his understanding of the complete laws of the world was naturally at a very high stage.
On top of that, these four grade one Deity Hearts were core, essential parts of the world. They were imprinted on one another, thus allowing Xue Ying to begin gathering a comprehension towards all the other grade one Deity Hearts.
These were the so-called 'side Daos'. Once one's realm reached a high enough stage, they could smoothly sense various other Deity Heart. In fact, Xue Ying inwardly knew that he could even begin to comprehend the extremely mysterious 'Karma Deity Heart' if he so wished. Maybe comprehending the entire Karma Deity Heart would be very difficult, but comprehending a major part of it would be relatively easy.
Jing Qiu, for instance, had already comprehended the majority of it, and could now use it to sense where other people were located.
...
The world was like a ball of yarn, strung together by means of many strings.
At first, it seemed complex and chaotic, but upon grasping four of the main pillars, four of these strands of yarn, an expert could easily attempt to reorder the entire ball of yarn.
'I've finally taken this final step.' Xue Ying chuckled. However, if I were to leave with my current combat power, I'll most likely be easily stomped by the more formidable powerful existences like Emperor Qi Hai.'
The realm was, indeed, fundamental, but the factor that mattered most in a fight remained one's combat power. In Xue Ying's case, it meant the combined power of his spear technique secret skills, his absolute arts, and various other aspects of cultivation.
'Whether it's cultivating the "Luminous Sun" to the fourth boundary realm, or the "Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body" to the fourth level, either would be extremely difficult.' Xue Ying understood this well. 'Still, the"Luminous Sun" and "Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body" use different sorts of profound mysteries. The one I should focus more on is… hmm, I think it's the"Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body".'
Even if he were to cultivate the "Luminous Sun" to the fourth boundary of the fourth volume, he would still die as soon as he left!
This fourth boundary was very formidable; it would allow him to reach an extremely powerful stage even amongst powerful existences—he would be at the very gates of the paragon realm. Most likely, even the Nine Yang Palace Head and the Purple-Gowned Hex Emperor were only close to this level. That's it, just very close! They would still be lacking in an actual fight against such enemies. After all, the Nine Yang Palace Head was one of the Temporal Island Lord's disciples, as well as a powerful existence who owned an absolute art.
The gap between stage four World Deities and powerful existences was small. After all, powerful stage four World Deities who accumulated power for a long enough time could practically comprehend the complete laws of the world, and they would only be lacking by a single bit in terms of the realm, even when compared to powerful existences.
When it came to the "Luminous Sun" absolute art, the fourth volume's fourth boundary would provide combat power comparable to the second boundary of the fifth volume. The only came in one's use of the laws. The fourth volume of "Luminous Sun" used the profound mysteries of side laws, and the fifth volume even used the complete law of the world. Cultivating to the second boundary was relatively easy, but reaching the third boundary of this fifth volume was way more difficult even than reaching the fourth boundary of the fourth volume!
And as for the fourth boundary of the fifth volume… by the time he reached that, he would certainly have already opened his own Dao path to become a Paragon. This is why Xue Ying felt that both the Nine Yang Palace Head and the Purple-Gowned Hex Emperor only one step away from opening their own Dao paths.
'While the "Luminous Sun" is formidable enough, especially since it allows my strength and speed to greatly increase, I'd still be eventually and killed if I were to ever face that a whole bunch of enemies at once!' Xue Ying understood this point well enough. 'Furthermore, the White Sovereign is also waiting outside.'
'If I wish to survive, I'll have to cultivate the "Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body",' Xue Ying thought to himself.
The Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body had the most heaven-shattering defensive ability he ever experienced! If his defenses were already so powerful, despite having only trained the technique to the third level, as soon as it reached the fourth level, nobody any weaker than a paragon could hope to injure him. Furthermore, the Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body also provided him with incredible strength and speed.
'I must calm my heart, take it slowly.' Xue Ying was very clear that cultivating the fourth level of the "Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body" was not any less difficult than the cultivating the fourth boundary of the "Luminous Sun"'s fourth volume. As such, it will definitely take a long time for him to succeed.
The fourth level of the"Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body" already begun displaying just how powerful this absolute art truly was, but it was also reaching a more profound level.
At this point, the "Luminous Sun" and "Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body" began to move in different directions.
"Luminous Sun" cultivated one's energy to spawn the luminous sun force.
But the "Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body" cultivated the substance, improving the body and creating the armor!
Xue Ying was fully aware of the fourth level's difficulty, but it was only once he actually started cultivating it that he realized that its difficulty far surpassed even his imagination…
******
Xue Ying had already become a stage four World Deity and immediately began concentrating on cultivating the "Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body". He knew nothing of what was happening outside.
In the clouds just outside the Three Chieftains Sacred Mountain, where tables and chairs made of a cloudy material were laid out.
The White Sovereign was sitting here, enjoying his wine and the scenery. He was fully appreciating every single point of beauty in the world.
"Sou." A figure suddenly appeared by his side belonging to a green-robed madame. She had a humanoid appearance and was relatively beautiful. The weapon she carried was a divine sword, and she seemed to be keeping her aura inside.
The White Sovereign looked at the madame, and could not help but be stunned. He actually took on a more reserved attitude as he laughed out. "I see you have arrived, monarch. Please, have a seat."
The green-robed madame chuckled then sat on one of the chairs. "Old White Ghost."
The corners of the White Sovereign's eyes could be seen twitching slightly.
There were not many experts in the entire Dark Abyss who would dare refer to him an 'Old White Ghost' to his face. In fact, the only person he could not be angry at was this woman sitting in front of him.
"Monarch, what's the matter?" White Sovereign chuckled.
"Old White Ghost, you sure are carefree. For the sake of that useless first half of some absolute art, you're actually wasting your time here?" The green-robed Madame shook her head.
"I've nothing to occupy my time with in any case. I'll be able to use that first half of the absolute art to teach my disciples, or to exchange for some treasures with Great Destruction," the White Sovereign said.
The green-robed madam solemnly said, "I have something important to tell you about."
"Something important?" the White Sovereign asked, a trace of anxiety in his voice.
"Indeed." The green-robed madame nodded. "While you were sitting here so carefree, the Ruler took me, the Hex Devil, the Bloodshed God Emperor of the Deity World, and the Overlord of Destruction together for an operation…" she began explaining in detail.
"Ruler Nile and the Bloodshed God Emperor?" White Sovereign carefully listened.
"The Temporal Island Lord is indeed a most cunning character, and he left no chance untouched. This time, we were schemed on by him. He, together with the Myriad God Palace Head and Empress Qian He, worked together to kill Ruler Nile and take away a most important treasure. Both my avatar and the Hex Devil's avatar died in the battle, as well as the Overlord of Destruction. The Bloodshed God Emperor escaped the battle alone, even when faced against the other three!" the green-robed madame said.
"What! Ruler Nile died?" The White Sovereign was shocked silent. Even though it was just an avatar who died, it still belonged to one of the three rulers of the Dark Abyss, the 'Bloody Ruler' Nile. For even his avatar to perish, it was easy to see just how intense the battle must have been.
"The relationship between Empress Qian He and the Bloodshed God Emperor is really good. To think that they would actually fall out at such a time." The White Sovereign shook his head.
"Isn't this a common theme, when a huge opportunity arises?" The green-robed Madame shook her head. "Which of these rulers do not wish to be the first to take that step?"
"Just what was this important treasure?" the White Sovereign hurriedly asked.
"I'm not sure. All I could see was that it had the appearance of a three-legged cauldron emitting a bloody aura. I would guess it is related to Ancestor Devil," the green-robed madame said. "Ruler Nile is furious. He scolded the Temporal Island Lord in his anger and considering his, there's a high chance he'll start a war against the Temporal Island in the following years."
White Sovereign sneered mildly. "Of the three rulers of our Dark Abyss, Ruler Nile is the weakest. For him to be the most irritable of the three is nothing but a joke."
The green-robed madam heard this, and could not help but comment: "You better pay more respect to the rulers."
"If there's ever anything troubling you, just come to find me," the White Sovereign said.