Yan Zaizen's current mental state was brimming with blazing fury and righteous indignation. His eyes suffused with untold rage and hatred, this was the first time in his life that he truly felt hatred.
Firstly, Xiha had under-explained all the supposed 'support' for achieving his beloved goal. This left a bitter taste in his mouth and a fire in his heart. If it wasn't for his quick action of performing the Absolute Dao Merge, his Dao could've shattered into nothingness from the inside out.
Even now, he still felt a bit of fear piercing his heart.
Other than that, without any forewarning or preparation, he sent him to an entirely different heaven without any explanation!! Now, he wasn't able to return besides waiting for thirty-three thousand years?!
He had half the mind to chuck this True Origin of the Sirius Path into the cold depths of chaotic space.
"To hell with this!" Yan Zaizen decided to throw caution to the wind. Ignoring the man in white, he turned around with eyes as bright as suns. They surveyed the area for remnant spatial activity. He wasn't going to take this lying down, and he had a supreme law - Realm of Chaotic Space!
"There it is!" With an excited exclamation, he dashed towards a specific location within the Milky Way's outer space border. Yan Zaizen was slightly relieved when he realized that the mechanics of space of this heaven was similar, if not the same, as the 27th Heaven.
Arriving at a location that seemed no different than the rest, Yan Zaizen stretched out his index finger and pointed forward.
"Oh?" A surprised sound resounded behind Yan Zaizen. It originated from the man in white. After a bit, he smiled. Without taking a step, his body shifted backward a considerable distance. He remained watching with a bit those calm, benevolent eyes.
Yan Zaizen's finger rippled with vast true-essence. He was galvanizing his entire qi cultivation base. The surroundings started releasing an odd screeching sound as if space was metal and Yan Zaizen's finger was a prying bar scraping against it.
Utilizing his law of spacetime, he located the opening of the inter-heavenly spatial formation.
"Hmph!" Yan Zaizen's eyes grew colder. If a mortal had seen his eyes, their souls would be frozen and their blood stagnated for eternity, dying on the spot. He retracted his index finger and then spread his fingers apart. With his entire palm, he ruthlessly pressed forward on empty space that was the spatial formation.
The ripples started to transform into waves of spatial energy and even time energy started to become chaotic as vague grey winds were being conjured from his palm.
"You will OPEN FOR ME!" His palm started to grow thick veins and his arm was releasing a sound of bones cracking. At the moment, Yan Zaizen was attempting to forcibly reopen the vortex that sent him here. With his Herculean body as the foundation, he drew upon his true essence and laws in its entirety to shatter a hole.
If he could forcefully reopen the tunnel that still exists, he could simply travel back to the 27th Heaven. It sounds simple, but opening an ordinary spatial tunnel required an understanding in it or a heavenly cultivation base, but to open up a spatial tunnel that interconnected heavenly domains?
Who knew the level of strength required.
If it wasn't for fear of the tunnel collapsing, Yan Zaizen would've used his deathly aura to siphon off the opening.
"So, he's a herculean?" The man in white silently mused, his benevolent smile never fading.
Boom! Boom!
The feedback from Yan Zaizen's attempts violently repelled him backwards, spouting out blood, and suffering severe internal injuries. However, as they came, they healed. He would immediately take another step forward and resume.
"Fine!" Yan Zaizen felt his cultivation base and comprehension was too weak. Initially, he didn't want to resort to using his dao for amplification as he didn't know the consequences of his actions yet, but his eyes blazed with decisiveness.
His back became straighter, his expression was suffused with the essence of imperial dominance, and his aura shifted drastically. No longer was he an ordinary cultivator with a warm and furious heart, but a sovereign with the pinnacle of regal charm.
The amber-gold egg within his soul form effused no light, but an ethereal brilliance within that seemed brighter than any form of natural light. His eyes, which were originally amber-gold, became like a contained sun. His irises looked like seas of resplendent amber-gold lava in constant motion. It was oddly beautiful.
His true-essence changed subtly. It still contained its original structure, currently mimicking spacetime-attribute, but it seemed to change on a fundamental level. As if it was no longer true-essence but a greater form of energy rivaling the heavens.
"Open," his voice was calmer than night itself. Yet, as he spoke, it was like an imperial decree of the highest degree had been evoked! If I say die, you die! If I say open, YOU OPEN!
"!" The man in white exclaimed slightly, his smile vanishing and his eyes narrowing. His expression was now deeply solemn.
The spatial ripples emitted from Yan Zaizen seemed to trigger something spectacular. The world's essence gathered around Yan Zaizen in an obsequious manner, as if he was their king. It was quite similar to how, when Yan Zaizen used Pinaka, the essence of the world gathered and compressed.
However, this wasn't something Yan Zaizen intended to do with formations to manipulate the heavens, but the heavens taking action itself! The essence that gathered were dense with spatial and temporal laws, allowing them to support Yan Zaizen to the maximum.
With one hand, he pressed again.
Craaaaaack!
A crack appeared in empty space. This crack was less than a millimeter in wide but as long as three grown men. Yan Zaizen grew elated as he looked between this crack. It was the spatial tunnel that he arrived in.
However, before he could attempt to press further, his mind started to pound with a sensation of intense danger. It originated from the tunnel! However, Yan Zaizen didn't bat an eye! He pushed forward with relentless determination.
BAM!
The crack became an inch. The moment it did, the man in white that became aghast! He was in utter disbelief at the series of events. If anyone had even told him that a cultivator on the Essence Path was using his qi cultivation base to open up a inter-heavenly spatial tunnel, he would disregard their opinions from henceforth!
Yet, here it was.
Yan Zaizen was also in disbelief. His dao amplification wasn't simple. It felt as if it amplified his laws as well! This was a first! Before, his dao had only enhanced the medium of his laws, but now it acted as if his connection to heavenly law was directly being enhanced.
Just as he was reveling in his newfound power, he heard a soft, tender cry within his soul.
"Zai..."
Those words caused his heart to tremble as he looked at the crack in space. From there, a faint sound that seemed to calm his very heart resounded. His eyes of a king, no, of a sovereign, turned softer in an instant.
"Pinaka?!" He lowly shouted. Before, he could assess more, a voice spoke from behind him.
"You should stop. If you try to forcefully open up that spatial tunnel more, you could collapse it and it'll be worse than an entire Grand Realm collapsing." Initially, the man in white had no intentions to interfere. However, Yan Zaizen displayed an ability that should've been well beyond his cultivation base and age. Not to mention, the backlash that should've killed anyone under the seventh-floor Heavenly Genesis Realm was being withstood by him without any harm.
The only reason he allowed Yan Zaizen to do so was to expand his horizons and understand his limitations, but that didn't seem likely. With that, he decided to inform him of the consequences. "You can already see the split effusing cataclysmic energy." He calmly pointed out.
Yan Zaizen was originally going to ignore him, but he looked at the crack and his pupils constricted. There was a one millimeter golden circle at the center of the crack. This was the same type of circle produced from a sub-realm collapse!
As it grew, so did the intensity of the explosion until it could no longer contain the energy and violently erupt.
Earlier, he had felt a deep sensation of danger, but decisively ignored it! He didn't notice the cause before, but with a thorough inspection, it was as plain as day. This caused his heart to race. If an inter-heavenly spatial tunnel were to collapse, would the black hole be able to devour it?
No! His thinking was wrong. If it exploded, he still wouldn't be able to go home! If this man was telling the truth earlier, wouldn't he be stuck in the 27th Heaven?!
He had to stop.
"Zai!!" The voice was clearer than before.
"Pinaka?!?!' Now he was sure. Pinaka was within the spatial tunnel! As she grew nearer to this heaven, the connection between them became stronger!
During the beginning of the Earthly Beginning and Heavenly End Trial, Pinaka vanished. He didn't understand why or how, but he knew she was still alive. Not believing he was going to be sent to another heaven, he didn't feel one way or another about it. After all, he would see her after.
However, the true reason Yan Zaizen wanted to rip open the heavens to return was because of Pinaka! When he thought of not seeing her for countless years, the rage in his heart turned into the fiercest of hatred.
As he pressed against the crack, he felt the expansion of the golden circle and the resistance it offered. "Wait! If I close this now, what happens to the built up energy?" If this cataclysmic energy was being stored, where would it go if he stopped?
"..." The man in white was confused, furrowing his brows, he answered, "it'll spread through the tunnel, it'll be harmless."
These words to anyone else would be a relief and lead to the closing of the tunnel, but Yan Zaizen only felt dread! He absolutely can't!
"Come!" He thunderously shouted, his amber-gold eyes became more tyrannical and fierce. He used two hands, gripping the crack as if it was a physical crack in a wall.
"Even if the world is destroyed, she can not be!" His thoughts spiraled as he attempted to communicate with Pinaka through the spatial crack. His body effused vibrant spatial-attributed vital energy as he used the Regalia of Mimicry ability! With this, he struggled to maintain the crack.
Seeing Yan Zaizen take such actions, the man in white frowned but didn't make a move. Instead, he was curious at Yan Zaizen's actions and only watched.
"I'm coming!" Pinaka's voice was as clear as day. This meant their connection was growing stronger.
"Come on. Come on!" He felt his body split apart at a cellular level, but they regenerated at a pace that the destruction couldn't match. Keeping open the crack without expanding it was harder than opening it! For the first time in a long while, he felt his body reaching a limit.
A soft blue light shone from the cracks. It approached at a staggering speed that seemed to be faster than light itself.
Yan Zaizen grew deeply excited. The man in white wore an expression of understanding and smiled slightly. He actually misunderstood something. He believed Yan Zaizen's actions from the beginning was to save this spirit and not to return. Because of this, his impression of Yan Zaizen favorably shot up several points.
The soft blue light shot like a bullet. Before Yan Zaizen could say anything, a soft physical form smashed heavily into his body. He released the crack and embraced this physical form.
Boom!
The crack slammed closed in an instant. A slight rumbling sound emitted in the surroundings. This was caused by the release of cataclysmic energy.
Yan Zaizen's dao aura faded, and his expression had a hint of warmth. With a sly smile, he said jokingly, "following me to another heaven? Some may think things."
In his embrace, a soft voice resounded that caused Yan Zaizen's heart to stop and his mind to go blank, "I'll follow you anywhere! Every step, every breath!"