God Emperor

The space here was extremely fragile and dangerous. This was also why it was the best place to learn the spatial rules.

If Zhang Ruochen could comprehend it, he was sure that he could cross the broken space above the sea of lava and reach the black volcano in the center.

He unfurled the golden dragon wings on his back. Adding the rule of speed into his wings, he stepped off from a black stone. Using the force, he jumped forward.

He took five steps where he landed on the lava. Zhang Ruochen’s feet stopped on a rock around 200 feet from land. The rock was actually burning hot and it was harder than steel.

There were spatial cracks all around the rock. They looked like gaping black mouths. Anyone who looked into the distance would be terrified.

Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged at the top of the rock. He cast his Space Domain and Spiritual Power, enveloping a spatial crack in his Space Domain.

At the same time, two deity prints appeared in his eyes. A complicated mass of Rules of Saintly Way was before him. They wove together like thousands of strings. Only the spatial crack was a dark, empty hole.

With the Eye of the Deity Print, Zhang Ruochen was able to quickly comprehend the Rules of Saintly Way. This was because they were all before his eyes now. All he had to do was read them.

Whoosh!

Zhang Ruochen’s martial soul burst out of his head and hovered in the air. The martial soul had 17 Rules of Saintly Way in total. The thickest one went from the head of the martial soul to the feet.

This was the Tao of the Sword, one of the 72 Supreme Saintly Ways. It was also the only Supreme Saintly Way that Zhang Ruochen had comprehended.

One day later, two new Saintly Ways appeared in Zhang Ruochen’s martial way. They were the rules of fire and wind—two of the 3,000 Major Ways.

After observing for three consecutive days, Zhang Ruochen entered the scroll world to study in isolation. He spent all his time on comprehending the ways.

Two months later, Zhang Ruochen walked out of the scroll world. There were now 319 Rules of Saintly Way in his martial soul now. This included one Supreme Saintly Way, five Major Ways, and 33 Minor Ways.

His martial soul was now more consolidated. The aura it radiated was very strong too.

Zhang Ruochen’s martial soul wasn’t any weaker than a first level Half-Saint now. He could activate all the Spiritual Qi within hundreds of miles and convert them into his own strength.

After all, a regular Monk in the Ninth Change of the Fish-Dragon Realm only had to comprehend 12 Rules of Saintly Way before trying for the Half-Saint Realm.

Zhang Ruochen’s martial soul had many more times the number of Saintly Ways that they had.

The two months that had passed in the scroll world was only six or seven days in the outside world. Altogether, only around ten days had passed.

No wonder the spatial rules are part of the Nine Ancient Ways. It’s not that easy to comprehend.

Zhang Ruochen had the Time and Space Martial Deity Print, had drunk the Supreme Saint Heavenly Tea, had opened his Eye of the Deity Print, and had this area of broken space to help him. He’d really had all the advantages and coincidences.

Even so, he’d only deepened his understanding of the Saintly Way. He hadn’t touched the spatial rules yet.

Zhang Ruochen’s eyes hardened and looked deeper across the sea of lava. There was a relatively large rock around 300 feet away from him. The large rock looked like a person’s hand.

The further he got from land, the more spatial cracks there were. The waves of spatial energy were more active as well.

There are four places to land. If I use the physical technique carefully, I should be able to get there.

Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath. He waited for the spatial energy to calm down a bit. Then he rushed forward with five bursts. When he stabilized himself, he finally landed on the rock.

Crack.

Zhang Ruochen’s physical technique had caused his Holy Qi to seep out, shattering the space around the rock. Dozens of fissures appeared. The surrounding space was like a cracked eggshell; Zhang Ruochen was inside the egg.

If the space broke now, it would destroy the rock under Zhang Ruochen’s feet. Then he would definitely fall into the sea of lava. His body might get torn apart by the space too.

Pushing with his hands, Zhang Ruochen opened up his Space Domain. He worked hard on fortifying the surrounding space and finally mended the broken space.

He let out a long exhale.

That was so risky. Thankfully, I supported the space… Since I can do that, it must mean that my control of space has improved greatly.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ruochen’s confidence soared. He sat cross-legged on the rock, putting his all into studying the spatial rules.

Hot wind would sometimes blow across the sea of lava, lifting huge waves of lava. But despite the dangers around him, Zhang Ruochen still kept calm. It was as if he’d become one with the rock.

In the beginning, Mu Lingxi stood by the sea of lava. She looked around cautiously, prepared if anyone tried to attack Zhang Ruochen. But as time passed and no dangers had appeared, she also started cultivating.

An ice phoenix hovered above the heart of her Sea of Qi. As she performed techniques, the remnants of divine power above the sea of lava gathered toward her forehead like strands of fog. They flowed into her Sea of Qi, entering the ice phoenix.

In ten days, two deity prints solidified on the ice phoenix. The phoenix’s mass had also doubled and now emanated shocking icy Qi.

In addition to the deity print that had formed when Mu Lingxi had refined the divine blood, she now had three deity prints. The ice phoenix also hadn’t stopped absorbing divine power to form a fourth deity print.

…

Zhang Ruochen sat on the rock for one month without moving. Only his Eye of the Deity Print moved as it studied the spatial rules of the world, comprehending its secrets.

Just then, Zhang Ruochen slowly raised a hand. He pressed in the direction of a spatial crack more than 100 feet away and moved his hand to the right. The spatial crack actually moved to the right slowly as well.

One must know that before this, the spatial crack would stay in place even when Zhang Ruochen cast a spatial crack. He couldn’t move it at all. This was why the spatial cracks had limited power before.

Zhang Ruochen put his hands together. The spatial crack also closed slowly. Finally, it recovered into a complete, unbroken space.

Zhang Ruochen continued casting the power of space. His control over space strengthened.

At the same time, a beam of the spatial rules slowly formed in his martial soul. Then it grew thicker and thicker.

In his martial soul, even the Tao of Sword—the thickest and one of the Supreme Saintly Ways—was only as thick as his pinkie finger. However, the Way of Space was as thick as his wrist. It was still growing as well.

The thicker a rule was, the greater its potential and the stronger its power could be.

The dozens of Minor Ways that Zhang Ruochen had comprehended were thinner than a strand of hair. They were entangled inside his martial soul like a spider web. They couldn’t be compared to the sword rules and spatial rules.

As he continued perfecting the spatial rules, Zhang Ruochen’s martial soul also grew stronger. It radiated with domineering aura. He seemed like a ruler that controlled the world.

Pops sounded inside his body. It was as if he was about to break into the next realm. This was the sign that his martial soul was about to become a saint soul and that he would soon become a Half-Saint.

Zhang Ruochen woke up from his extremely focused cultivation state. He immediately put away all his Holy Qi into his Sea of Qi to repress his state. He couldn’t enter the Half-Saint Realm before he comprehended the time rules.

Furthermore, Zhang Ruochen hadn’t accumulated enough in the Fish-Dragon Realm. He’d only comprehended around 40 Rules of Saintly Way. This was too far from the top talents.

The geniuses in the Heir’s levels had all comprehended close to 100 Rules of Saintly Way. Some had even surpassed 100.

Zhang Ruochen hadn’t been studying the rules for too long, so he couldn’t compare to the others. Of course, comprehending the spatial rules, one of the Nine Ancient Ways, was already a big accomplishment. This single way counted as thousands of other ways.

Zhang Ruochen stood up and carefully sensed his surroundings. Then he performed a series of fast movements and returned to the ground, landing beside Mu Lingxi.

The sea of lava radiated with waves hot enough to melt steel. But when the hot waves reached Mu Lingxi, they were dissolved by her icy Qi. The scalding rock under her had cooled down and was even covered in a layer of ice.

Mu Lingxi’s eyes flew open and she exhaled deeply. “After I awakened my phoenix bloodline, I discovered that I could absorb the remnants of divine power here and form deity prints.”

Zhang Ruochen was surprised. “How many deity prints did you form?” he asked.

“Six,” Mu Lingxi said.

The Heirs who’d drank from the Holy Spring could only form five or six deity prints. However, Mu Lingxi had formed six with her own power. She was equal to the Heirs now.

She furrowed her brow lightly and said, “But I’ve reached my limit. If I don’t enter the Half-Saint Realm and continue absorbing divine power, my body might not be able to take the power anymore and explode.”

Zhang Ruochen was thoughtful. “The remnants of divine power here are valuable to you. If you miss this, you might not be able to find another chance like this again.”

After the two discussed, Mu Lingxi entered the scroll world to try reaching the Half-Saint Realm. Zhang Ruochen remained beside the sea of lava to strengthen his spatial rules.