"Do you guys wish to be dropped in the Lycan territory?" Yan Zaizen calmly asked the group. His current emotional state was much more settled, the greed no longer shining in his eyes like a sun.
"Ca-Can you send us out of this realm?" One of the girls hesitantly asked. The others silently agreed with gazes radiating deep hope. They obviously understood that Yan Zaizen current form and cultivation base was a deception. It's possible he was a Heavenly Commander in spatial laws! If so, he should be able to get them away!
After all, the hundreds of thousands of reinforcements were turned to dust or kidnapped. Only they survived and had no ability to help the Lycans.
Shaking his head Yan Zaizen calmly explained, "There's a larger barrier surrounding the realm. It's isolating all channels of space, even chaotic. Entering or exiting is not something the current me can achieve at will, at least not with others."
The expressions of others paled. In that case, wouldn't their life and death be determined by the Lycan's fate?
Amos, however, had a broader vision. "He asked us if we wished to be dropped off on the Lycan's side, we can still choose the Darnixian side. If we did, it's possible they would let us go!" After he clarified Yan Zaizen intent, the others had expressions of realization, but Ayala had violent hatred!
There was no need for her to say a single word to understand her desire.
She hated the Darnixian! To her very core!
After some discussion, Amos and the others decided to enter the Lycan territory. The likelihood of the Darnixian allowing them to live may be high, but they would most definitely be enslaved. This was not a fate they wanted, even if it meant life.
With a movement of his hand, the group was sent into Lycan territory. Amos gave his earnest thanks. If it wasn't for Yan Zaizen saving them, they would've most certainly perished earlier. Towards this thanks, Yan Zaizen only accepted it and nothing more. To him, he could've saved more using the Meteor Ring, but he didn't. The only reason he saved them was because of Amos's kind intentions.
He wasn't a good guy.
People will live and die by their choices. This is what he earnestly believed. If he had no connection to them, they held no meaning to him.
Less than dust.
Therefore, he wouldn't take any action to influence the fate their choices brought them.
"The Ancestral Lands of the Lycans...the twelve spatial regalias...the wealth stored in those ships!" Yan Zaizen's eyes erupted with a deep, terrifying light!
"You'll need to build your heavenly shrine if any of your plans are to work," Pinaka gently reminded.
"En," he agreed. It's been far too long since he cultivated the Essence Path, now was the time for his first step into the Heavenly Path! He remembered when Pinaka first introduced him to the Heavenly Path. In the Dead Soul Sea, he felt it was grand and majestic beyond imagination! Now, it was just a road he must walk!
The him before and the him now was drastically different. His reverence of the heavens was essentially non-existent. He only held a casual form of respect towards it, and even that was little.
"An Imperial Heavenly Shrine!" His eyes suffused with deep exhilaration from anticipation. Yan Zaizen had the best foundation possible, and albeit he didn't know how a Grand False Dao would interact with a Heavenly Shrine, he knew that his Mortal Dao was a peak upper-tier Mortal Dao - The Dao of Sovereign Ascension!
With that as its basis, an Imperial Law, and a foundation established to the utmost degree! He was more than ready to take that one and final step. No longer will his laws be insufficiently utilized due to his medium!
"I have a faint feeling that...my Heavenly Cultivation will easily exceed all my other paths with a single bound!" As he declared this, as he felt this deep in his heart, his excitement reached an absolute peak!
Looking around briefly, he noted the barriers that seemed to seal off all forms of space, even chaotic space. "It's truly profound." He inwardly sighed. It's likely that one of the Regalias used in the array was connected to chaotic space. It was similar to how Tao's spatial law encompassed the ripping force within.
"This is a perfect enough location," pondering, he decided to use this location. The only thing he feared was that, during his construction, another person would arrive to hinder him. If it was in the Xiantu Realm, he would have zero worries about this. However, the Major Canis Realm had multiple Heavenly Commanders and even an expert in spatial laws.
Taking a deep breath, he sat in the lotus position, floating stably within the empty nothingness that was chaotic space. "My construct!" His mind was ruminating on this subject.
To establish a Heavenly Shrine, one must first establish their Dao Foundation! It was called the Heavenly Foundation Establishment! It wasn't a realm but more so a foundational realm, much like the Crimson Star Realm.
In the cultivation world, Yan Zaizen had seen many shrines. The most notable two were Guan Yin's and the fifth-floor Heavenly Genesis expert during the sub-realm collapse. He had five orbs of flames, three floors, and nothing else. However, Guan Yin's was incredibly complex. She was essentially a shrine, with pillars, floors, and various other features.
This was called a foundation! It would house your laws, your heavenly law liquid, and even your heavenly dimension that could store objects! It was said that those at the Heavenly Commander can even store living things in their heavenly dimension! This was also why no heavenly cultivator stored others in their heavenly dimension, it was incapable of doing something like the Meteor Ring - creating an independent dimension that supports life!
All those in the heavenly dimension would be subjected to its immensity and power in full, uncontrolled and raw power. If a third-floor Heavenly Genesis cultivator entered a fire-attributed, first-floor Heavenly Genesis cultivator's heavenly dimension, they would burn to death! It was that simple.
When Yan Zaizen merged heavenly law liquid into his body, each drop could easily wipe out the entirety of Presba! The very minimum of establishing the first-floor is compressing and merging one hundred drops into one's foundation! That was the minimum! As the Mortal Dao becomes greater, the law increases in tier, and the complexity of your foundation is determined!
Guan Yin choose a foundation that required far, far more heavenly law liquid than normal to offset her lower-tier Mortal Dao and Mortal Law! Essentially, she was stronger than Xue Lang!
"Constructing your foundation is important as it determines the amount of heavenly law liquid you'd be able to assimilate!" Pinaka reminded. This decision was one of the most, if not the biggest decision a heavenly cultivator could decide!
"I already know my foundation!" Yan Zaizen eyes radiated an amber-gold glow that seemed to exist as a superior to all things in creation. In Yan Zaizen's heart, he knew what his foundation was, and what it had to be!
Pyramid!
In the cultivation world, the Pyramid was a universal icon that signifies the death of a king! In the Presba Imperial Family, in Grux Imperial Family, and even in ancient clans, pyramids were constructed as an icon to represent the king's legacy. However, it did so much more than that! It immortalized the king itself! It told the world: I, your king, am here! I, your king, ruled!!
To Yan Zaizen, this gave a profound meaning, especially for a Heavenly Shrine. Even if he were to die, his heavenly shrine would always be proclaimed to the world that he, he as a cultivator, existed!
"It's more than just that. A pyramid of my legacy, of my path. What I wish to be inside, is inside!" His eyes gleamed with a profound light that could cause scholars to tremble.
"Let's begin!" His words were calm, his body effused an aura of calm, but his cells were emitting immense energy! An amber-gold egg formulated an inch from his chest. This was the manifestation of his False Grand Dao! On this amber-gold egg, an illusory crown sat rightfully atop. It was as if the world destined for this egg to be king, it was a rule and law that could not be defied! Within this egg, a swirl of deep blackness and misty whiteness swirled against each other peacefully.
Looking at this False Grand Dao avatar of his, his expression didn't change. Instead, he took a deep breath and put his right hand's middle-finger with his thumb.
"Shatter!"
SNAP!!
This snap caused the chaotic space to fill with the sound of fierce rumbling. It was like a cry to the heavens! This gave Yan Zaizen the oddest feeling, as if he no longer needed to exert force over the temporal winds or ripping force within, they would simply obey his commanders!
This snap caused the amber-gold egg to shatter into bits and pieces, like glass. Yet, Yan Zaizen's Dao was as stable as ever as his eyes effused amber-gold light. These pieces of glasses floated about in place, they radiated an ever-present light that seemed to shine across all of chaotic space.
With his left hand, his middle-finger and thumb came together.
SNAP!!
"Construct!"
His voice was like absolute commands that needed to be followed by all. For some odd reason, Yan Zaizen knew that this was not the standard way to construct a foundation, but it was definitely the right way for him. Typically, the dao's energy would be slowly poured like hot metal into a structure the individual wanted. It was a careful and cautious procedure. After all, no one wanted their dao to be destroyed!
The amber-gold pieces turned into motes of white light that swirled together like a cyclone. This cyclone, with each rotation, spun faster and faster until the motes of light no longer looked like motes. It became a twister of amber-gold light!
This twister flipped, expanded, and reshaped! It continued to do so until it became a pyramid that was in constant rotation. It became solid, but within this solidness, there was a clear division between the first-floor and ninth-floor! Within these floors, there were unique designs for each, but the top was the most important! Within the top was a throne! A throne and a casket embedded into the floor of the ninth-floor behind it!
It was as if this floor represented a specific saying: "At the peak, this will tell the story of how I ruled, and It'll be where I rest!"
This may have taken a short time to explain, but the process was exceptionally long! Decades!
"Condense!" He thunderously roared once more, no longer doing anything else.
BOOM!!!!
An amber-gold pyramid was constructed!
It was smaller than a baby's fist! The walls were transparent, obviously lacking substance. The designs within each floor, including the throne and casket, was dull and lacked any heavenly quality.
"Wait? What?!" Yan Zaizen was startled by a development. As he inspected the pyramid, the floor on each floor wasn't dull or lack substance. Instead, they were different!
"Each floor is a black and white swirl?" As he questioned, he could see the swirl in constant motion. Then he looked at the throne and within this throne's seat, a crown - much like the one on the egg - sat neatly.
"My heavenly shrine is? We'll figure out later." He felt like there were more mysteries to his heavenly shrine, but he'll have to time to explore it more. When he creates his second and others, he would closely study the development of these differences.
With that, he raised his hand to the pyramid and commanded, "Return!" However, there was no response. With furrowed brows, he shouted once more with his dao circulating in full, "RETURN!"
At this moment, according to common logic, his Grand False Dao avatar should reform and recover within his soul. This was how the procedure typically went. After all, you couldn't merge your dao as a construct unless you actually merged it! Only when finished could you pull out its core essence and wait for it to recover with time, but…
"What's happening?" Yan Zaizen was dumbfounded by these events. He was still deeply connected to his Grand False Dao, this was obvious by him being able to utilize its power. Even now, his irises were like amber-gold lava was flowing within.
"...Zai, I think-" Pinaka didn't have much knowledge regarding this, so she could only make an uneducated assumption. She even had intent on comforting Yan Zaizen if something had gone wrong.
However, before she could say another word, Yan Zaizen exclaimed with deep shock and even...excitement! "Is it really so?!"