Great Venerable of All Laws

"Venerable! Venerable!" Su Xiaomei's shouts roused the Heavenly Physician from his memories. "Venerable, look at this new divine ability I've comprehended! What do you think?" As she spoke, Su Xiaomei parted her small lips and spat out a beam of black sword light brimming with an aura of ruin, shooting straight toward the Heavenly Physician. The black sword light was grounded in the perpetual, inexhaustible power of the shifting Five Elements, driven by a valiant resolve of facing death without thought of survival, and edged with a ravenous hunger that snuffed out all existence and plunged all things into oblivion. As the sword flew forth, it seemed capable of shattering a world! It was truly hard to imagine that a divine ability of such terrifying might could originate from the hands of a child not even ten years old. A glint of admiration flashed through the Heavenly Physician's eyes, yet facing this sword light of oblivion, he made no attempt to dodge. He let it strike him squarely between the eyes. In an instant, the flesh of his face transformed into a crisscrossing lattice of lines. Like a colossal net giving way slightly under impact, it easily intercepted the Great Five Elements Annihilation Sword. From the countless threads of that giant net, wisps of golden light erupted. They swarmed over the Five Elements Annihilation Sword, devouring it outright. The sword light silently melted away like ice into water. Seeing this, Su Xiaomei, who had been ecstatic a moment before, pouted. "You really are strong, Venerable. Even after reaching the Nascent Soul realm with my Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, I'm still nowhere near your match." The Heavenly Physician chuckled. "You little girl, how many days have you been cultivating? If you could catch up to me so easily, where would I put this old face of mine?" Patting Su Xiaomei on the head, he adopted a solemn expression and said slowly, "This divine ability of yours is certainly impressive—unrivaled among your peers, in fact. However..." Su Xiaomei looked up, her eyes wide as she listened intently. "It is still quite far from the true essence of the Great Dao. For instance, what is oblivion?" The Heavenly Physician extended a finger, and a black light surged from its tip as well. Yet compared to what was contained within the Great Five Elements Annihilation Sword, this light was far more profound, fathomless, and elusive. "True oblivion does not exist within the self-sustaining cycles of a world. So-called extinction is merely a precursor to a better rebirth." "If you wish to touch true ruin, you must venture deep into the starry cosmos..." "You are still too young. Wait until you've grown stronger. Mm, perhaps when you advance to Dao Integration, you can give it a try," the Heavenly Physician said, stroking his beard. Su Xiaomei's face immediately fell. "I have to wait until Dao Integration? When will that ever be? Forget it, I'm going to play with Senior Sister Zhao!" Before her voice had even faded, Su Xiaomei vanished without a trace. "Zhao Ruoxi..." Murmuring the name under his breath, a shadow fell across the Heavenly Physician's face. This person had originally been the sect master of the Dadao Sect in the Xuanhuang Realm. The ultimate victory of the Tianfa Realm in the ancient two-realm war did not mean that every cultivator of the Xuanhuang Realm had perished. Just as the Xuanhuang Realm had ultimately been merged into the Tianfa Realm, a small handful of Xuanhuang cultivators had now become part of the Tianfa Realm. In fact, the Tianfa Realm's eventual triumph had been closely tied to these very cultivators. However, this group was willing to share in prosperity, but never in adversity. Over the past ten thousand years, things had been manageable. Though the Tianfa Realm had faced disaster after disaster, these individuals had long stood atop the cultivation world, remaining largely unaffected. Yet now... Tianfa was on the verge of falling into the Immortal Ruins. Every one of these cultivators harbored their own sinister schemes, not one of them genuinely willing to save the Tianfa Realm. The Heavenly Physician let out a cold snort in his heart. For now, none of them had completely torn off their masks, so he could not easily make the first move. He would wait. At present, the most crucial matter was still to elevate his own cultivation. His bright eyes gazed directly toward the firmament, seemingly catching sight of that True Immortal in the Immortal Ruins who was currently comprehending the Dao. "The vast majority of my strength stems from the Heavenly Dao of the Tianfa Realm. Though I slumbered for nearly ten thousand years due to grievous wounds, the overall strength of the world more than doubled after Tianfa devoured the Xuanhuang Realm. My cultivation naturally rose with the tide..." "Especially with all the Heavenly Venerables fallen, the Constant Dao of Tianfa has converged entirely upon me." With a thought, the Heavenly Physician felt his consciousness drift above the highest heavens, transforming into the ethereal firmament itself, the Heavenly Dao of Tianfa, looking down upon the mortal realm. Unlike other cultivation realms, the Tianfa Realm possessed no conscious will of the Heavenly Dao or world consciousness. There was only the machine-like Constant Dao of Tianfa, operating autonomously since the dawn of creation, unmoved by the wills of any living beings within the world. As the saying went: *The laws of heaven are rigorous, upholding rules and restraint. The heavenly laws cannot be defied.* Later, beings of great wisdom emerged between heaven and earth who could resonate with the strands of the Constant Dao of Tianfa. Through this, they could enforce the law on behalf of heaven. The world referred to these individuals as "Venerables." Tianjue, Tianyin, and Tianyu had all been Venerables of the Tianfa Realm. Yet the two-realm war had been so devastating that those Venerables had perished to the last. Before their deaths, they imparted all the insights and resonance with the Constant Dao of Tianfa they had accumulated over the ages to the sole survivor—the Heavenly Physician. Thus, when the Heavenly Physician awakened from his slumber, he found that he had become the unprecedented Great Venerable of All Laws. In any other cultivation realm, he would be nothing less than an Avatar of the Heavenly Dao. With a single thought, he could rewrite the mountains and rivers of the Tianfa Realm at will, stirring winds and shifting clouds. "Furthermore, unlike an ordinary Avatar of the Heavenly Dao, my power does not merely originate from a conscious will." "Through ten thousand years of resonance with the Constant Dao, the power of the world has long since penetrated the depths of my soul, fusing with me as one. Even if I leave the Tianfa Realm and step into the cosmos, I can still exert eighty percent of my strength." "With my power, escaping the Immortal Ruins alone would be child's play. I could even carry hundreds or thousands of people with me without issue." "Yet if I wish to take the entire Tianfa Realm along..." A feeling of powerlessness welled up within the Heavenly Physician. "Unless I can grasp power capable of rivaling a True Immortal." In the years since his awakening, the Heavenly Physician had already attempted several avenues. The first was studying the residual power of the True Immortal scattered across the star sea. From it, he had comprehended several True Immortal seal characters. He could be said to have mastered a few trump cards, but they offered no substantial boost to his foundational strength. The second avenue was borrowing the power of ancient immortal artifacts. The Xuanhuang Realm possessed profound foundations; it was said that before the fall of the Immortal Realm, many sects had maintained continuous contact with the higher realm. Had the Immortal Realm still stood, the Tianfa Realm would never have been a match for Xuanhuang. Fortunately, by the time the great war erupted, quite a few years had passed since the Immortal Realm's destruction. Even so, the Xuanhuang Realm had deployed several immortal artifacts, inflicting grievous losses upon the Tianfa Realm. After the war, those immortal artifacts had scattered in all directions. Most were swallowed by the Constant Dao of Tianfa, turning into natural wonders of heaven and earth to nourish the realm itself. Yet a small portion remained intact. "The Boundless Mirror." "The Great Sun Golden Bell." "The Hunyuan Five Elements Disk." These three were what the Heavenly Physician had gathered over the years. Compared to their peak states, however, these immortal artifacts were now heavily damaged. Using them to comprehend the power of a True Immortal was feasible, but activating them... They could likely be used only once before shattering completely. That was unless he could find immortal spirit power to repair them. The three immortal artifacts transformed into three motes of light, flickering incessantly within his sea of consciousness. Insights into the immortal realm flowed into his mind like a trickling stream. "The gravitational pull of the Immortal Ruins is actually a form of power governed by True Immortal seal characters." "Only an immortal can counter an immortal." "Perhaps I could gather all the surviving immortal artifacts in the Tianfa Realm and detonate them simultaneously." "Fighting poison with poison, the sudden storm of unleashed immortal spirit power should be enough to propel the Tianfa Realm away from the Immortal Ruins." As the Heavenly Physician pondered this, he suddenly sensed something amiss. His eyes narrowed, and his gaze drifted toward the void beyond the cosmos. "Escape the Immortal Ruins... and then what?" He had a faint intuition that an even deeper secret lay hidden in the depths of the star sea. Once the thought took root, it could no longer be suppressed. "The Tianfa Realm looks as though it can still hold out for a while." "As the saying goes, plan before acting. I must venture into the depths of the cosmos to investigate." After a moment of deliberation, the Heavenly Physician made up his mind. Transforming into an imperceptible thread of light, he soared toward the Pitch-Black Star Sea. Leaving the Tianfa Realm, his trajectory was pulled and warped by the suction of the Immortal Ruins. Yet he traced a graceful arc, successfully breaking free from the reach of the ruins' gravitational field. He sped through the void. Within the Pitch-Black Star Sea, as far as the eye could see, there was only silence and darkness. No matter how far he flew, his surroundings seemed entirely unchanged. Occasionally, residual immortal power drifted past, but it posed no threat to him. After an unknown amount of time, a sprawling Sea of Relics suddenly appeared before him. Even as he marveled at the magnificent spectacle, the sight of remnants from so many destroyed cultivation worlds gathering in one place in the cosmos struck him as deeply abnormal, immediately putting him on high alert. He pressed further in. When he saw the endless fragments of worlds and sensed a power increasingly identical to the gravitational pull of the Immortal Ruins, the Heavenly Physician's heart shook uncontrollably. Countless once-prosperous cultivation realms had been reduced to ruins and shards, buried here in desolate solitude. A wave of sorrow washed over him, and he stood frozen for a long time. When he finally collected himself, he pushed against the pervasive, tidal waves of force, reaching the end of the Pitch-Black Star Sea. Here, the Heavenly Physician's advance was forcibly halted. The path ahead was severed; there was nowhere left to go. The Pitch-Black Star Sea was a place of eternal confinement. "No way forward... and no way back..." Even he was somewhat surprised by how quickly he accepted this reality. An invisible high wall sealed off the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea. All living beings within had nowhere to flee. Standing beneath the high wall, sensing that absolute "nothingness." After a fleeting moment of despair, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. "The beings of the Tianfa Realm must never learn of this high wall's existence. Otherwise, despair will spread, and disaster will surely follow." "This high wall..." "For now, even I cannot fathom its mysteries. Most likely, only a True Immortal can cross it." At the thought of bearing the future fate of the entire Tianfa Realm on his shoulders, the Heavenly Physician took a deep breath. "A True Immortal's power could certainly cross the wall. But to take the Tianfa Realm along with me..." "Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!" His mind was shaken; before might that exceeded his comprehension, he experienced a momentary daze. Yet for some reason, despair did not take deep root in his heart. It was as if that invisible high wall was not entirely aloft and insurmountable to him. The Heavenly Physician shot out several golden threads once more, attempting to perceive the secrets of the wall. In the end, he found nothing. Sensing that he had lingered at the border of the star sea for too long and fearing unforeseen changes in the Tianfa Realm, he resolved to return. On the journey back, as he looked upon the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds, an idea suddenly sprang into his mind. "The corpses of these worlds might be used to nourish the Tianfa Realm." "After all, they are not entirely dead ruins; faint traces of worldly vitality still linger." "Just like taking in food, if the Tianfa Realm swallows them, it will surely grow somewhat stronger..." The Heavenly Physician's resolve translated swiftly into action. The moment the thought arose, countless golden threads shot forth, seeking to haul one of the fragments away. Yet just as the threads finished wrapping around it and he was about to pull, he abruptly stopped. He paused to carefully observe the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds once more. A moment later, understanding dawned on him. "So that's it. The reason this unbroken line of remnant worlds can withstand the True Immortal power accumulating beneath the high wall is because of the natural formation they form together. If I rashly extract a piece from among them, it would likely disrupt the balance." "Like a breached riverbank or a collapsed dam, the True Immortal power accumulated over all these years would sweep across the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea..." "And the Tianfa Realm would be caught in the deluge." The Heavenly Physician frowned slightly, though his brow soon relaxed. "It isn't that I cannot take any; I simply must choose the right moment and the right target." He observed carefully once again, eventually selecting a suitable remnant world fragment. Sensing the True Immortal power beneath the wall dip into a tidal low, he seized the opportunity. Countless golden threads bound the target tightly like iron chains. Dragging it behind him, he sped through the star sea toward the Tianfa Realm. After another indeterminate passage of time, he finally returned. A violent gravitational pull rushed over him, but the Heavenly Physician held fast to the world fragment, keeping it from falling into the Immortal Ruins. His thoughts raced. "Ever since the Tianfa Realm swallowed the Xuanhuang Realm ten thousand years ago, it has not fed again." "Not only that, it has been constantly drained by its cultivators. More than half its foundation has been hollowed out, leaving it terribly frail." "If I graft this remnant world into it rashly, it may be too weak to assimilate the nourishment." After brief consideration, he nodded slightly. "A guiding herb is needed." "Cultivators of the Xuanhuang path swallow heaven and earth with insatiable greed. Yet their bodies are fused with the world, making them prime candidates to serve as a medicinal catalyst." "Those few Longevity realm experts shouldn't be touched for now. But sacrificing a few Dao Integration cultivators won't cause much of a stir." Guided by his thoughts, five transparent threads shot from his left hand toward different corners of the Tianfa Realm. Five Dao Integration cultivators fell unconscious without the slightest ability to resist. They were bound layer upon layer by the transparent threads. There was not a shred of pity on the Heavenly Physician's face. He extended his forefinger and tapped toward each of them in turn. Without any sign of pain, the Dao Integration cultivators crumbled into fine powder. With a wave of his broad sleeve, the Heavenly Physician gathered the powdered remains of the cultivators. He then swiftly cast them into the dragged remnant world. Nourished by the power of the Heaven-and-Earth Essence, signs of life seemed to stir once more within the ruined world. It emitted a soft, resonant hum. Only then did the Heavenly Physician slowly stitch it into the Tianfa Realm.