In the Yuanchu Secret Realm, high above the floating island, Sovereign Chuheng and Supreme Being Yuanqi stood side by side in the void. Looking at the ocean of the ten Law origins gradually dissipating in the sky, the former clicked his tongue in admiration. "When an ordinary World Lord steps into the Eternal rank, the descent of the Law ocean lasts about a hundred breaths. When advancing from Eternal to Supreme, the Law ocean likewise lasts no more than an hour. Yet Huang Tian's breakthrough lasted a full five days!
"In those five days, who knows how much Law power poured into his body? The divine power within him is at least several hundred times that of ordinary people!"
After a cultivator advanced from World Lord to the Eternal rank or Supreme, the source power within their body would fuse with the power of Laws, transforming into higher-grade divine power. The more Law power one absorbed during a breakthrough, the more divine power one would possess.
Although the sheer quantity of divine power did not entirely equate to combat strength, several hundred times was simply staggering. Channeling and detonating it through secret arts at a crucial moment would be enough to cause one's strength to surge explosively in an instant!
When experts clashed in life-and-death combat, an increase of even a single fraction in strength was enough to decide victory, defeat, or even survival—let alone an increase of dozens of percent or multiplying by several folds!
Supreme Being Yuanqi showed an approving look. "After all, he ascended straight to Supreme from World Lord in a single step, accomplishing what countless people throughout history could never achieve. Moreover, he did not merely comprehend a single Law of Space or Law of Time, but fully comprehended all ten Laws in one fell swoop. Having wrought such a miracle, it is hardly surprising that his foundation is several hundred times that of others..."
As the two spoke, the ocean of the ten Law origins in the sky completely vanished.
Inside the manor, Huang Tian, who had just completed his metamorphosis, wore a smile on his face. He could sense that every single cell in his body was brimming with incomparably majestic divine power. If he were to unleash this divine power completely, his body could instantly expand to a height of over a hundred million kilometers!
The diameter of the New Star was only thirteen thousand kilometers—before him, it would be smaller than a grain of sand!
"All ten Laws have been fully comprehended by me. Next, I must first fuse the Laws of Time and Space to advance to Sovereign, and then fuse the remaining eight Laws into them one by one..." Huang Tian thought to himself.
However, he knew that fusing ten Laws was no simple matter. The time required would undoubtedly be longer—far longer—than comprehending the ten Laws!
Otherwise, the various Supreme Beings and Sovereigns of this universe would have achieved it long ago and advanced to that unknown realm.
*Whoosh!*
After pondering for a few moments and making a simple plan, Huang Tian flew up toward the high sky, coming to a halt before Sovereign Chuheng and Supreme Being Yuanqi. "Master!"
Several days ago, when he discovered that this expanse of spacetime had been isolated by a mighty power, he had known his master had arrived. However, as he had been at the critical juncture of his breakthrough, he had not stepped forward to pay his respects.
"This is Supreme Being Yuanqi." Sovereign Chuheng nodded with a smile and introduced the person beside him. "The sole Supreme Being of our human race, and our greatest powerhouse!"
"Greetings, Supreme Being Yuanqi!" Huang Tian looked at the man clad in deep purple armor. He did not feel entirely unfamiliar with him; after all, the Yuanqi True Martial Academy was one of the five great factions of the human race and enjoyed immense fame, so he had long heard the name of its founder.
Supreme Being Yuanqi smiled gently. "No need for formalities. As Chuheng's personal disciple, you are practically equivalent to my own disciple. Furthermore, now that you have advanced to Spacetime Supreme, you already rank among the powerhouses of our human race. Becoming a Sovereign in the future will not be difficult either, at which point we will be peers, so feel free to be at ease."
"Yuanqi is right. My disciple is his disciple," Sovereign Chuheng said with a beaming smile. "Since our disciple has broken through and advanced, shouldn't we masters show a token of appreciation?"
Hearing this, Supreme Being Yuanqi could not help but laugh. "Listen to you. Even if he were not your disciple, I could hardly be stingy toward a talent of our race."
"Hahaha!" Sovereign Chuheng laughed heartily. With a flip of his hand, two objects radiating faint glows materialized in the void: a suit of armor and a bead. The armor was heavy and engraved with intricate secret patterns on its surface, while the bead was azure-blue, resembling a single drop of water.
However, he did not introduce the two treasures immediately, but first addressed Huang Tian. "You have now attained the Supreme realm, so as your master, I will explain the divisions of strength among Supremes and Sovereigns to you.
"Supremes are broadly divided into four minor tiers.
"An elementary Supreme refers to someone who has just advanced, possessing neither eighth-rank offensive and defensive secret arts nor an eighth-rank offensive supreme treasure.
"An intermediate Supreme possesses one of the two.
"An advanced Supreme possesses both.
"A Spacetime Supreme is your current realm. For a Spacetime Supreme, even without either, one can still overpower an advanced Supreme.
"As for Sovereigns, it is similar to Supremes, likewise divided into four minor tiers.
"An elementary Sovereign has just advanced, possessing neither ninth-rank offensive and defensive secret arts nor a ninth-rank offensive supreme treasure.
"An intermediate Sovereign possesses one of the two.
"An advanced Sovereign possesses both.
"A peak Sovereign not only possesses both, but has also successfully fused three or even four Laws, including the Laws of Space and Time!
"Finally, there are the Supreme Beings, who have fused five Laws."
Only then did he point to the armor and bead floating in the air. "Whether one possesses a supreme treasure has an immense impact on a cultivator's strength. However, supreme treasures are difficult to obtain. All ninth-rank supreme treasures in the world are born naturally from the universe, things that can only be encountered by luck, not sought. I only have a single ninth-rank offensive supreme treasure myself and cannot spare any extras, so I can only grant you these two eighth-rank supreme treasures.
"This is the Mountain-Coiling Armor, which can drastically weaken enemy attacks, especially those targeting the soul.
"This is the Realm-Anchoring Bead. You need only throw it out to anchor the spacetime within a radius of one light-year, trapping enemies inside and leaving them struggling to move.
"Originally, besides these two supreme treasures, I had an eighth-rank offensive supreme treasure to give you, but it happens to be a soft whip, which does not match your chosen weapon. After some thought, I gave up on it. Better to let Yuanqi bestow one upon you; he has plenty of good things in his pockets."
Mid-jest, Sovereign Chuheng waved his hand, and the Mountain-Coiling Armor and Realm-Anchoring Bead floated toward Huang Tian. The latter did not decline and accepted them directly. "Thank you, Master, for bestowing these treasures!"
At this moment, Supreme Being Yuanqi glanced at Sovereign Chuheng. "You—you've simply set your sights on that saber I obtained from the Guohuan Secret Realm more than seven hundred thousand years ago."
Sovereign Chuheng retorted with righteous confidence, "Hasn't that saber of yours just been sitting idle anyway? You might as well give it to Huang Tian. He happens to be skilled with a saber."
Supreme Being Yuanqi shook his head in amusement. With a wave of his hand, a frost-white, brilliantly gleaming saber manifested in the air.
"This saber is an eighth-rank war saber I obtained from the Guohuan Secret Realm. Because I had no use for it at all, and no one in the race ever redeemed it, it has never found a true master, to the point that it hasn't even been named."
To Supreme Being Yuanqi and the Sovereigns of the human race, while eighth-rank supreme treasures were still fairly precious, they often possessed extras. Those surplus treasures that went unused would be placed into the race's treasury.
The Supremes of the human race could use contribution points to redeem supreme treasures from the treasury, points primarily earned through guarding missions, nurturing geniuses, pioneering secret realms, or exchanging supreme treasures.
Of course, besides redeeming supreme treasures with points, they could also be directly bestowed by Supreme Beings and Sovereigns, just as was happening with Huang Tian now. But the prerequisite for such treatment was that the recipient possessed extraordinarily high potential and supreme talent, making them worth the race's massive investment to nurture; otherwise, one could not even dream of it!
"Take it. Don't be polite with Yuanqi; he's the wealthiest of all," Sovereign Chuheng said cheerfully.
Since his master had said so, and Supreme Being Yuanqi showed no displeasure, Huang Tian accepted the eighth-rank war saber. "Thank you, Supreme Being Yuanqi, for bestowing this treasure!"
Supreme Being Yuanqi waved his hand dismissively.
Immediately afterward, Sovereign Chuheng said, "Now you are a Spacetime Supreme, and you possess eighth-rank supreme treasures for offense, defense, and trapping enemies, so you lack no armaments. The only remaining gap is a combat secret art... Yet I heard that back when you were a World Lord, you fought Dong Liansha, defeated him, and he claimed the secret art you displayed was even more profound than his seventh-rank Eternal-level secret art?"
"He did indeed say that," Huang Tian replied candidly.
Sovereign Chuheng looked thoughtful. "Mm, that isn't particularly surprising. Those with high comprehension and a strong affinity for Laws naturally find it easier to learn or create secret arts of astonishing might... Did you create that secret art yourself, or did you learn it from someone else?"
"I created it myself."
"If this self-created secret art of yours could surpass the seventh-rank secret art Dong Liansha practiced and help you cross realms to defeat him, then even if it isn't an eighth-rank secret art, it cannot be far from it. In that case, combat secret arts are not a weakness of yours either..."
Listening to Sovereign Chuheng's words, Huang Tian thought to himself: when it came to secret arts, that was truly what he needed to worry about least.
Along his journey, he had mastered countless martial techniques, dharma arts, minor divine abilities, and divine abilities... In this world, those divine abilities were roughly equivalent to ninth-rank secret arts, but that did not mean his strongest techniques were limited to the ninth rank.
Take the Five-Colored Divine Light, for instance: back in the Earth Immortal Realm, he had already deduced the Five-Colored Divine Light further into the Great Five Elements Yin-Yang Divine Light, which had vaguely transcended the ninth rank. By the time he ascended to Daluo, he had continually refined it, allowing it to surpass the ninth rank entirely...
Although the Yin-Yang Laws were obscure in this world, making it difficult to manifest the full wonder of the Great Five Elements Yin-Yang Divine Light and restricting him to displaying it in the form of the Five-Colored Divine Light, it was certainly not something a mere ninth-rank secret art could ever hope to compare against.
"You have supreme treasures and combat secret arts; only one final thing remains: mastering a spacetime tracing technique." Sovereign Chuheng tapped his finger, sending a streak of light into Huang Tian's glabella. "In the vast universe, secret arts are beyond count. Among them is a special category known as avatar arts.
"Those who learn an avatar art can divide out several, dozens, or even hundreds of avatars. Walking outside and exploring secret realms using avatars in daily life is almost entirely safe.
"The reason I say 'almost' is that a Spacetime Supreme who has fully comprehended space and time can, at the very moment of slaying the opponent's avatar, use a spacetime tracing technique to trace back to their true body, thereby channeling the damage onto the true body itself, leaving them heavily wounded or even slain.
"This is also why I did not have you learn an avatar art. Anyone capable of fighting you and wounding you must be a Spacetime Supreme or even a Sovereign, so learning an avatar art would be completely meaningless. You would do far better to learn this spacetime tracing technique, lest you find opponents using avatar arts troublesome in the future."
Digesting the spacetime tracing technique in his mind, Huang Tian immediately understood its underlying principle: it was a technique of karmic tugging!
The Law of Karma in this world was just like the Law of Yin-Yang, obscure yet intimately linked with space and time. This spacetime tracing technique mimicked the profound mechanics of the Law of Karma to achieve the effect of implicating the true body by slaying the avatar.
"Huang Tian, what are your plans next?" Having bestowed the treasures, transmitted the spacetime tracing technique, and confirmed his combat secret arts were not lacking—with everything in order, Supreme Being Yuanqi finally asked, "Do you intend to continue staying in the Zhouguang Domain, or will you venture outside to temper yourself?"
Hearing this, Sovereign Chuheng opened his mouth to speak, but did not know what to say. On one hand, he worried that if Huang Tian left the Zhouguang Domain, he might encounter danger and perish unexpectedly; on the other hand, he feared that without undergoing tempering, Huang Tian's path ahead would only become more difficult, preventing him from bringing his talents into full play, which might ultimately lead to failure on the eve of successfully fusing all ten Laws...
"Continuing to stay in the Zhouguang Domain is an option. But if you wish to go outside for tempering, you could choose to go to the Divine Pillar Secret Realm. The Sky-Supporting Divine Pillar in that secret realm was formed by the great fortune of the universe; though not a supreme treasure, it surpasses supreme treasures, harboring the complete profundities of the fusion of the Laws of Space and Time!
"Among the various races, whoever achieves the status of Spacetime Supreme will head to the Divine Pillar Secret Realm to observe the divine pillar's profundities and seek inspiration from it. Your comprehension is already extraordinarily high; if you observe it, you will surely reap immense gains!"
Supreme Being Yuanqi added, "Furthermore, like other top-tier secret realms, the Divine Pillar Secret Realm occasionally gives birth to supreme treasures naturally. If luck is on your side, you might even have the chance to pick up an eighth-rank supreme treasure for free."
Picking up a supreme treasure for free?
The divine pillar harbored the complete profundities of fusing the Laws of Space and Time?
The latter moved Huang Tian far more than the former. He knew very well that if he merely sat idly in the Zhouguang Domain, his efficiency in fusing the Laws would be extremely low. It would be far better to visit the Divine Pillar Secret Realm and behold its Sky-Supporting Divine Pillar; eight or nine times out of ten, it would allow him to swiftly fuse the Laws of Space and Time.
As for danger... what danger could there be? Without even employing the Five-Colored Divine Light, relying solely on the supreme treasures in his possession, his various divine abilities, and divine power several hundred times that of other Spacetime Supremes, he was confident he could clash head-on with a Sovereign!
If he activated the Five-Colored Divine Light, even a Supreme Being would suffer a stumble!
It was only because he did not yet have absolute certainty of suppressing all the myriad races of the universe single-handedly that he had restrained himself from acting completely unchecked...
*However, once I successfully fuse the Laws of Space and Time and advance to Sovereign, I will certainly be able to suppress the entire cosmos by my own power...*
With that in mind, he smiled and replied, "Ever since entering the Yuanchu Secret Realm, I have yet to step outside the Zhouguang Domain for tempering. This time I will make up for it and head to the Divine Pillar Secret Realm."
Sovereign Chuheng glanced at Huang Tian upon hearing this and did not utter any words of dissuasion, only saying, "If you go, it would be best to conceal your identity. Otherwise, if word gets out that you went from a mere mortal to a Spacetime Supreme in just over three years, all the myriad races will be shaken with dread. They will frantically coerce you to uncover the secret behind your rapid cultivation, or perhaps kill you to eliminate future trouble!"
"This disciple understands." Huang Tian did not refuse. Concealing his identity was merely temporary; once he attained the rank of Sovereign, he would sweep across everything and crush all opposition!
And he had a premonition that such a time was not far off...
A moment later, Supreme Being Yuanqi departed alongside Sovereign Chuheng, while Huang Tian flew back toward the manor to prepare his belongings.
"Your Highness!" Seeing Huang Tian fly back, Dong Liansha immediately stepped forward, trembling with sheer excitement, his lips quivering. "D-Did you truly advance to Supreme?!"
Even though he had witnessed the scene of Huang Tian's breakthrough with his own eyes, at this moment, he still could not resist asking, as if doing so were the only way to vent the shock in his heart.
"I did indeed break through," Huang Tian nodded with a smile.
Receiving a definitive answer, Dong Liansha fell into a daze, his heart filled with shock, joy, and a total crisis of doubt regarding his own life...
Huang Tian said nothing more, nor did he remind Dong Liansha to keep it a secret. Being in the Zhouguang Domain, where the Virtual Universe monitored everything, neither Dong Liansha nor any of the guards and servants had the opportunity or ability to leak the news.
*Whoosh!*
The next day, a starship of sleek purple and black flew lightly out of the Zhouguang Domain, heading toward a wormhole connecting to the star territory where the Divine Pillar Secret Realm was located.
The starship's exterior simulation activated. Hands clasped behind his back, Huang Tian gazed out at the endless sea of stars and held his head slightly high.
"From this day forth, I shall be known as the Demon-Subduing Supreme!"
Chapter 280