The Path of Cultivation

Of course, the probability of that was extraordinarily low. Besides, reaching such a profound realm was nearly impossible for the vast majority of people. Most Mighty Ones habitually chose breadth—mastering more rules and combining different ones to produce greater combat power. Zhougelasi, however, was clearly an exception. He had chosen depth. "A rank-five enhancement rule?" "Rules have ranks?" Gong Qian stepped forward, looking at Zhougelasi with curiosity as she asked. "It is actually just a method I came up with to measure my own strength," Zhougelasi answered honestly, looking a little self-conscious toward the end. "What we call thoroughly mastering a rule is not truly thorough mastery. It merely means mastering an amount of the rule commensurate with oneself. For example, if your soul strength is a hundred and the rule power you command is also a hundred, you will fall under the illusion that you have thoroughly mastered the rule. "As long as you continue cultivating, even though progress becomes exceedingly slow, you can still advance. When your soul strength remains at a hundred but the rule power you command reaches two hundred, that corresponds to rank two. If your soul strength is still a hundred and the rule power is three hundred, that is rank three, and so on. "However, this is merely my personal perspective and not necessarily correct. Take it with a grain of salt, everyone." Yu Xian came to an understanding. "So that's how it is." "I saw you nodding just now and thought you actually knew," Gong Qian teased him. Yu Xian chuckled sheepishly. "I assumed every Mighty One in the myriad worlds knew about it. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if I was the only one who didn't? Of course I had to act like I knew." "Smooth." Everyone stared at Yu Xian, utterly speechless. "I think I understand what Zhougelasi means," Niman said thoughtfully. "Suppose the world is full of blades. Becoming a Mighty One means taking up a saber. Cultivating an additional rule is like acquiring an extra weapon—it could be a sword, a spear, or an axe. But every weapon weighs the same; you simply switch between them or wield them together. "Zhougelasi is different. He holds a single saber, and while practicing his saber techniques, he constantly tempers the blade itself, reforging it with more and better materials so its overall weight grows heavier and heavier. "When we clash with him wielding a 100-jin weapon, his is a heavy weapon weighing 1,000 jin. Naturally, he can crush us in an instant." Yu Xian smiled and said, "As long as Mighty Ones don't court death, their lifespans are virtually endless. From my point of view, breadth or depth—I want both! We have all the time in the world to make steady progress anyway. Old Zhang couldn't beat Zhougelasi not because he's weak, but simply because he's younger. Zhougelasi, how old are you, and how long have you been a Mighty One?" "Me? I've forgotten my exact age," Zhougelasi replied. "All I know is that I should have lived for over a hundred thousand cosmic annihilation epochs. I became a Mighty One roughly three thousand cosmic annihilation epochs ago, so it has been quite a while." Everyone present was struck completely dumb. This was an antique among antiques. Zhang Shou, meanwhile, felt instant relief. He had barely cultivated for any time at all; losing to Zhougelasi was only natural. Besides, he was no genius to begin with—he had only become a Mighty One thanks to having a great best friend. Without Yu Xian, he would probably still be struggling for dear life back on Earth, amounting to absolutely nothing. "Yaoyao, between you and Zhougelasi, who's older?" Yu Xian asked curiously. Zhang Buyao rolled her eyes at him. While she didn't mind having her age known, she certainly wasn't going to volunteer the answer. "All right. Since there's no treasure here, this matter is settled. Let's head back," Nora smoothed things over. She sensed that if she didn't speak up, Yu Xian would blurt out something earth-shattering and end up getting beaten black and blue by Zhang Buyao. Yu Xian indeed had more to say, but with Nora cutting in, he swallowed his words and echoed, "Mm, mm, time to head back. Zhougelasi, come with us." With that, the group retraced their steps. Along the way, Yu Xian remembered something and spoke up: "Chi Feihong, you owe me a treasure. Remember that." "Master, I only said there was suspected to be a treasure here. I never said there was definitely one," Chi Feihong said with a fallen face. Yu Xian played shameless as he walked. "I don't care. You made me make the trip for nothing, so you owe me a treasure. Are you going to honor that or not?" "Fine, fine. You're the master, after all," Chi Feihong sighed. Yu Xian was truly reliable when it mattered, but equally unreliable in everyday life. What could he do? He had chosen this master himself, so he could only indulge him. "Zhougelasi, how many times have you reinforced this space?" Yu Xian asked curiously as they continued walking. Zhougelasi answered honestly, "Roughly thirty thousand times. Because it is an enhancement rule, everything here appears indistinguishable from the outside world, but if an ordinary creature were to barge in, it would instantly dissolve into nourishment for this space." "Wouldn't that cause endless slaughter?" Yu Xian asked. Zhougelasi shook his head. "In truth, ordinary creatures cannot enter at all. At the very least... I don't believe any creature below the level of a Mighty One has the ability to break in." "Then why set it up like this in the first place?" Feng Mingge asked, puzzled. Zhougelasi answered in a subdued voice, "Just in case, of course. Any fragile creature could trigger my malice and stir up the desire to prey on the weak, so I couldn't take the gamble. "If I were to completely succumb to demons, countless living beings across the myriad worlds would suffer devastation. Even if the probability was minuscule, I had to take precautions." Thinking back to Zhang Buyao's students, Yu Xian and Zhang Buyao both nodded in agreement with Zhougelasi's viewpoint. After falling to demons, her students had wrought boundless slaughter; even if it wasn't their intention, their crimes were unforgivable. This showed that Zhougelasi was actually exceptionally intelligent. Though he spoke slowly and sometimes gave off a clumsy impression, he possessed the wisdom that appeared as folly, with wisdom and experience maxed out. When they reached the edge of the space, Zhang Shou asked curiously, "Are you just leaving this space behind?" "Refining this space was not easy. I will take it with me," Zhougelasi replied. The group filed out of the space one after another, Zhougelasi exiting last. He reached a hand out toward the silvery expanse, and the next moment, the silver space began spinning rapidly, ultimately shrinking into a silver pearl. He set the "silver pearl" onto his clothing and gave an honest, sheepish grin. "That will do." Once everyone returned to the Aska, Zhougelasi remained standing beside the ship. He was simply too massive for the Aska to bear his weight. "Zhougelasi, can't you shrink yourself?" Yu Xian asked curiously, leaning over the ship's railing. Zhougelasi gave a wry smile. "I have applied enhancement to my own body too many times. Ordinary transformation arts can no longer affect my form." In truth, his body was terrifyingly formidable, possessing an extraordinarily high tier of immunity against all sorts of powers. Never mind transformation arts like shrinking or expanding—even extreme curse-killing techniques could not affect him in the slightest. Yet this also indirectly demonstrated just how horrifying the source behind the demonic fall phenomenon truly was, capable of corrupting even a being whose terrifying power left him immune to virtually everything else.