The small black hole seemed insignificant facing the golden sphere, yet when the collision happened, an odd, almost eerie silence spread about across the world. Anyone who saw this sight may think that they were hallucinating, and the reason for that was…
The sphere that seemed to contain all of heaven's laws, hold an immense amount of power that was incalculable, and a size that looked as if it encompassed all creation started to tremble as it came into direct contact with the black hole.
Yan Zaizen, as the black hole, felt a flow of power drench his entirety. In his mind, a thought so grand emerged.
Exceed. The. Heavens!
These three words echoed endlessly, yet it seemed as if it had only been spoken once!
Yan Zaizen paid rapt attention to the feeling he garnered from direct contact. It was like being bathed in silk and milk, continually washing his soul, laws, and consciousness in a pure, overwhelming force. However, this power seemed obedient and fearful.
He came to the conclusion that the reason there was no sound of thunderous nature emitting from the sphere was because...it was afraid! That's right, it trembled and grew absolutely silent in fear. It was as if the black hole was its most fearsome enemy in this world, one where it couldn't help to overcome despite its vastness in size of power.
"Incredible! To think...it worked," Yan Zaizen said somewhat absentmindedly. When he first heard about the heavenly tribulation a sovereign had to overcome, one related purely to the soul. He thought about Tao[1] in the Xiantu Realm. They courageously broke a heavenly oath willingly, and Yan Zaizen had fought against the tribulation lightning with a ferocity beyond any he'd displayed before at that time.
When he held victory, he also was capable of absorbing the remnant Heavenly Aura that lingered for cultivation purposes. This Heavenly Aura wasn't massive in the grand scheme of things, but that was because Tao was relatively weak at the time and didn't provoke a strong enough tribulation.
His original intention was to create a massive tribulation and overcome it, but not by force, but by devouring it! He speculated that, by devouring the source power of the heavenly tribulation, he would be able to rapidly accelerate his cultivation and reach profound heights. He was currently on a deadline in the Fortune Cemetery where Heavenly Creation Realm experts exist, but his cultivation was remarkably weak, formerly at the Second-Floor of the Heavenly Genesis Realm.
However, he only had a general outline of how to do this.
Unfortunately, his soul cultivation was weakened, and he couldn't even begin to accomplish this. This changed after his Dao had merged with his Soul, becoming inseparable, yet far, far more potent than before. After a little bit of analyzing and planning, he decided to accomplish this when he had the opportunity.
Then, he was attacked randomly by a Yaoguai with strength at the Ninth-Floor Heavenly Genesis Realm. It reminded him that he didn't have to time nor luxury to actually wait. When he was being smacked around, he knew his current strength couldn't defeat this Yaoguai, so traveling would be even more perilous than ever before, and likely...he could and would die to anyone who becomes greedy for his possessions.
This was why he decided to do the seemingly suicidal action of entering the Yaoguai's mouth, to slowly absorb its heaven heart. Initially, he didn't know he could directly consume the Yaoguai for its insights. When this was known, all of his plans seemed to come together.
However, even then, it seemed like his time was limited. Somehow, somewhere, someone had interfered with his near-prophetic instinct. Later, he recalled Pinaka's original words when she told him about Non-Entities.
They were the most desirable bodies for experts because of their pure, untainted mind. This meant his time was even further limited as he was definitely being hunted by someone. While his enemies lurked in the shadow, his instincts towards the future being suppressed, and surrounded by demons that could kill him with a swipe, he pushed himself to the furthest possible limit under this immense pressure!
Yan Zaizen devoured the golden sphere in a remarkably fast speed. It took three literal blinks of an eye before the immensity of the golden sphere had seemed to flow like water into a never-ending depth of a hole. All of its heavenly aura, might, tribulation power, and essence was absorbed in its entirety. As he felt this power surge into his soul, he felt his avatars of law glow brilliantly. They emitted light of their respective laws with a profound connection to the heavens.
"After devouring heaven...I wonder how strong I've become?" Yan Zaizen's mind quickly calculated, but he couldn't come to any proper assessment. He sensed his original body and inspected his Heavenly Shrine. When he did, he felt elated.
His Heavenly Shrine was an abnormality amongst Heavenly Shrines, containing unique abilities of his Soul Bloodline to devour any and all forms of heavenly materials and processing them rapidly beyond any standard, while also containing a unique mimicry base that allowed it to absorb any and all heavenly materials.
His Heavenly Shrine had devoured the Heaven Heart of the royal-class Yaoguai and body, using its materials to help construct his seventh and eighth levels, with its Ninth-Level in the process of being created. He reverted back to his original soul form state. He smirked slightly, feeling immensely satisfied with his discoveries.
"To think I've reached such a high level of comprehension of the heavens, could I have truly devoured heaven itself?" As he pondered over these matters, he couldn't help but be taken aback at the thought. The heavens were an entity that was hard to describe. It wasn't a universe, a world, or a lifeform. In fact, it could be considered a machine that could, at times, be and become any and all things necessary. It was an awesome concept, and it was always ever-present like an omnipotent god.
If there was a god in this world, a true god, then the heavens were it.
The reason why he couldn't help but think that he devoured the heavens themselves were because of his law realms. Outside of his Imperial Laws, all of his Laws from Mortal to World has reached the Peak of the Sovereign Realm! His will was in much the same way as the will of the heavens!
If heavenly cultivators steal until they can build, then Yan Zaizen just stole the heavens original house keys in one fell swoop!
Even in his soul form state, he could feel the heavenly laws that encompassed the entirety of the world. From Light, to Yang, to Sound, to Bones, to Death. The invisible laws that governed all things were as visible to him as the ground, the grass, or the gloomy clouds in the sky. He could see why the ladder that was laws were shifted and how.
It was fascinating!
If he wanted, with a thought, a single thought, he felt it possible to cause the heavens to punish all those he wished! Because he could become the heavens!
If there was a level that could be described as what he seemed to feel, then perhaps the Nascent-Level of the Heavenly Law.
As he was immersed in this profound state of heavenly bliss, the three giants above looked towards Yan Zaizen with an empty expression. However, they didn't attack. Instead!
Something absolutely unimaginable happened.
They, those figures billions of kilometers in size, KNEELED!
Yes, kneeled!
Their upper bodies were nearly transparent, but they still kneeled with the sky as their ground, and their heads bowed towards Yan Zaizen's direction. This action caused Yan Zaizen to be startled, breaking free from his shock to look at them. They looked like pious servants at first glance, like slaves almost.
However, his eyes flickered with immense killing intent instead. This killing intent materialized into a tangible existence, flaring upwards like a pillar of flames. "DIE!!!" Yan Zaizen's eyes flashed crimson with murderous light. He, in his soul form state, roared ferociously at the figure that contained a likeness similar to the figure from Hell.
When he yelled this out, the figure lifted its head after trembling slightly. With a tremble, it started to dissipate into mist and vanish like a ghost in the wind. It was as if its existence was no longer tolerated and it disappeared, vanished from the world.
Yan Zaizen's eyes, which contained hostile killing intent, widened in disbelief. He suddenly felt that…
"No way!"
He suddenly felt the laws of Samsara had vanished from the surrounding area. While life, death, and soul exists, the combination of these things had disappeared completely! If someone were to die in this area of billions of kilometers, they would linger and become discarnate spirits incapable of finding the afterlife to be born anew!
This...this was a Ghost Zone!
To create one with a single word was heaven-defying, heaven-toppling, and should be impossible!
He looked towards the other two figures and pondered. These weren't the Sovereign's Gate to the laws, and he wasn't capable of absorbing them. They were just manifestations of the laws, representing them in a specific form and not tribulations when they appeared, they weren't visible to anyone but Yan Zaizen!
This reminded him of something…
The Giant Eye outside of the Paradise Sword Realm!!!
When he first saw that eye, it was conscious and seemed like a living being, but it had a strangeness about it. He had never seen something so gigantic before yet seemed so close. These manifestations were similar in that they were billions of kilometers in size yet seemed to be right before you.
"Could the Giant Eye be a manifestation of a law...or…" He inspected the eyes of the figures once more, and his eyes widened in utter and sheer disbelief!
"Could Imperial Laws be...be...other universes?!?!?!" As he thought about this, his mind trembled fiercely. The eyeless, eyebrowed figure had emerged from Hell. Hell governed the laws of Samsara in the Thirty-Three Heavens! This was something he knew. This was something everyone knew!
If Hell was another universe, then…
He thought about the Non-Universe, its enormity and how it acted as a sea-like existence to the Thirty-Three Heavens. In the Non-Universe, there was a law of purity that was absolutely immense and profound, it could even be considered the core, significant law of the universe. That law couldn't be found anywhere else, and even Yan Zaizen couldn't find the law within the Thirty-Three Heavens or Heavenly Origin Grounds.
In that case, could the Law of Samsara, Spacetime, Rebirth, and all the other Imperial Laws be core laws of other universes?!
"Heavenly Cultivation! Cultivate the Essence of Heaven, construct a suitable body at the True Essence Realm! Establish a Heavenly Shrine, rival the Heavens, create your original law, create your original path, and merge it with the Heavens! Could the Imperial Laws be…" As he pondered on the concept of heavenly cultivation, his mind spiraled with various thoughts.
After some thinking, he shook his head slightly. "Unlikely, the Imperial Laws are embedded too deeply within the Heavens, and it would be far too well-known if they were cultivators before. It would be everyone's goals, or fears...then...it's likely my thought of fragmentation of a universe was correct! Only the number was wrong...The Thirty-Three Heavens are comprised of various universes! But...how many?!" He felt like he just touched upon a taboo of the world.
"Wait…" As he thought about it further, his eyes shined. He recalled the bloodline of Mimicry within his blood, an Imperial Law.
"Descendents of the Universes used?!" This thought was insane! If so, then the Thirty-Three Heavens likely destroyed a large number of universes just to form!!! However, the Non-Universe could not be destroyed or maybe...whoever didn't do so purposefully…
The true question was…
"But why?"
Before he could ponder further, the two manifestations started to vanish, their laws undisturbed. When they disappeared, Yan Zaizen cautiously inspected them. These emotionless figures...the eyeless, eyebrowed figure…
He felt that...they were all enslaved.
BOOM!!!!!
ZOOM!!!
A powerful explosion occurred like lightning striking and a missile traveling. Yan Zaizen turned to see a black, dirty stone shot forth from that direction like a comet towards him. His eyes widened in shock as he saw this small object that seemed like the most tainted item in the entire world. It smashed into his soul form before he could say a word!!!
Soundlessly, his soul form turned black as taint before it crumbled like crushed stale bread!!!
The figure that was like lightning dashed fiercely towards Yan Zaizen's unprotected body.
It was the Oneuli Empire's Crown Prince, Yi Seo-Jun!!!