Chapter 275: Void Refinement Stage Trials

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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“Is there a need to consume your own lifespan? It is enough to snatch another’s. Although it would have been impossible in the past, with your current realm, you can sufficiently do so.”

After trying to forcibly ignore the Heart Demon’s voice, he realized that it was not a good method.

A Heart Demon was a sprout of doubt that lay deep in one’s heart.

If it was not properly resolved, it would return in an even more dreadfully distorted form. He had to deliver a proper answer.

So let us think.

Snatching another’s lifespan to make a powerful wish with the Supreme Great Ability…

“Is that really possible?”

“Compared to offering your own lifespan, the efficiency would be lower. But what does that matter? If one is insufficient, then ten. If ten are not enough, you just need to offer thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of millions.”

Certainly. With his current strength, capturing tens of millions of low-realm cultivators was not difficult.

If he locked up countless low-realm cultivators in the sub-space and made powerful wishes at the cost of their lifespans when needed…

Even a powerful means like the Moon-Reflecting Blade Canon could be used without any risk.

“…”

Leaving aside for a moment whether this was feasible, he pondered why he had not tried it until now.

Was it because of some petty sense of morality?

He could not say it was not that at all. There was clearly such a reason in his effort to keep the line he had set for himself.

However, he had not held back entirely for the sake of others.

Not stealing lifespan was, ultimately, for himself.

What would happen if he actively utilized the lifespan of others?

He would be able to grow at an incomparably, overwhelmingly faster speed than now. The unit of time consumed for cultivation itself would change.

However, how long would that work?

If he killed, killed, and killed again, to the point where at some moment, humans felt as insignificant as bugs.

At that time, would the Supreme Great Ability still react?

‘No way.’

The fundamental reason why the Supreme Great Ability could transcend limits when lifespan was consumed.

It was because lifespan was something incomparable and precious.

The determination to cast away a part of one’s existence, the desperation to the point of risking one’s life, and the crazed belief.

Those were the true driving forces that moved the Supreme Great Ability.

Nothing in the world was obtained for free.

Could one reach a miracle with a half-hearted determination that could not even risk life?

Sometimes, a path that looked like a long detour could be the fastest.

Even if he slaughtered hundreds of millions of living beings, the result was obvious.

One day, suddenly.

Others would feel like meaningless dust to him, and the Supreme Great Ability would fall silent.

Since everyone was bound to get used to things, that result was inevitable.

At that time, what must he offer?

Not others unrelated to him, but the people close to him?

Just by having such agonizing thoughts,

He would already have become a completely different existence from now.

He would have become a monster that burned the entire world just to accumulate a handful of law power.

“The survival of the fittest is originally the law of nature. I do not know what you are so concerned about.”

“Whether it is the law of nature or whatever, it is none of my business. I did not cultivate hoping for such a result.”

“Then?”

Why do you cultivate?

“I am merely curious. What lies at the end.”

After a moment of silence.

The voice carrying a sneer continued.

“To measure the limits of the Supreme Great Ability by yourself. How foolish. If so, why do you master the Light-Moon Silent-Life Sword directly?”

If you registered it in the proficiency system and invested the Supreme Great Ability, you would be able to master it dozens of times faster.

The result would also be much more splendid.

Because the Light-Moon Silent-Life Sword improved by the proficiency system would have become a blade art of an entirely higher dimension.

“…”

It was hard to answer easily.

Confronted with a peerless technique like the Light-Moon Silent-Life Sword, he asked himself again why he was buying trouble.

Should he register it in the proficiency system even now and pour in the Supreme Great Ability?

…No.

Although the beginning might have been an ignorant stubbornness as a sword cultivator, it was different now.

Now, he truly believed that treading the path directly was right.

One day, at the very end of the end.

If he met an existence against whom even the Supreme Great Ability did not work, what should he do?

Should he give up and meekly bow his head?

No.

He must surpass even the Supreme Great Ability. Solely with his own strength.

His stubbornness to master the blade art directly was a cultivation for that day that would eventually come.

And,

No matter how outstanding a means was, the meaning of relying on it entirely and simply using it as a tool was completely different.

I will not rely on something for my life.

Even if that object is the Supreme Great Ability.

The moment he silently made a resolve, there was no longer any voice echoing in his ears.

Was it because his mind was set straight?

He felt as though his soul, which had been losing its balance and faltering, was revived.

As his mind became clear, he was able to know what he had to do.

‘First, grasp the situation.’

The surroundings were still a bizarre space full of contradictions and his soul was shaved away moment by moment, but he tried to maintain his composure.

Nothing works if one makes a hasty resolve.

What would be accomplished by moving in a flurry? When confused, grasping the situation came first.

‘Is that… wind?’

Narrowing his eyes to scan the surroundings, he saw something like an invisible flow.

It was the feeling of dust or fog being pushed by the wind, but it was difficult to concretely grasp what shape it was.

A blazing flame, thick snowflakes falling from the sky, a rough sand wind swirling between canyons…

It was because like a kaleidoscope, its shape changed every time he looked.

‘No, this is not changing, but…’

Only after looking for a long time did he realize vaguely.

The scenery in front of his eyes was consistent all along. It had not changed even once from beginning to end.

It had merely shown different appearances according to his perception.

‘Ah.’

The formless shape that was unclear condensed and became the shape of characters.

It was like the Milky Way rising in the night sky.

So numerous that counting was impossible, hundreds of millions of characters emitted brilliant light and drew complex trajectories.

Looking at the infinitely spread sea of starlight, he realized what these meant.

‘Every single one of those starlights was a law …’

Fire leaves ash, and water flows and gathers in low places.

All things in the universe have rules they must follow.

That is precisely the law .

What exists between cause and effect. The thread that sews together the beginning and the end.

The chaos in front of his eyes was a place where the laws of heaven and earth gathered and blended.

‘It is spectacular…’

Was it because his mind had changed?

The unknown, the chaos that was once considered terrible, looked different. It looked like a land of fortuitous opportunity where he could observe the natural form possessed by countless laws.

Staring at the cluster of stars shining like the Milky Way, he fell into thought.

He knew that this was a space created by the gathering of laws.

If so, what must he do to get out of here?

No, the question was wrong.

What must he do to ascend to the Void Refinement stage?

‘I see.’

It came to him instinctively.

Only by engraving his own law in this chaos that was none other than confusing could he finally become a Void Refinement stage cultivator, who was called a transcendent.

Tempering his will while staring at the chaos made of laws.

When he reached his hand into the air, a familiar piece of iron was grasped.

The extreme sharpness that could cut through all things. Gathering the keen Qi he had accumulated until now, he forged a sword.

The moment he swung it down as if dividing into two.

Clang!

A thick wall that appeared like an illusion blocked his front, and at the repulsive force as if hitting a great mountain, the sword blade vibrated as if about to break.

‘…It is not easy.’

Shedding the shock that seeped into his bones, he narrowed his eyes.

He had tried to engrave the sharpness that could slice anything as a law, but failed.

It was because he had tried to create a phenomenon that clashed head-on with existing laws.

With an expectant mind, he tried to engrave other laws, but failed similarly.

The natural laws existing in reality, called common sense, blocked his front.

As he pondered the method, he suddenly had an instinct that now was precisely the moment he needed a Void Refinement stage spiritual object.

And, putting his hand into his robe, uniquely, the Profound Lotus Precious Fruit was grasped.

To think it could maintain its existence normally even in this bizarre space.

‘Is that why it is a Void Refinement stage spiritual object?’

Just as he was about to swallow the fruit wrapped in golden clouds, he paused.

Was it because his soul became stronger by overcoming his Heart Demon?

He could feel what law was contained in the Profound Lotus Precious Fruit, and it harbored the power to fix a formless existence like fog.

At any rate, it seemed to be a law useful when deploying formations.

Presumably, if he consumed the Profound Lotus Precious Fruit and broke through to the Void Refinement stage, there would be advantages in treading and realizing related laws.

‘It is not bad… but it does not suit me.’

Rather, the Crimson Heart Lotus he had consumed in the Asura territory attracted him more. Since the Crimson Heart Lotus was a lotus that bloomed by feeding on the spirit of struggle.

At the moment of hesitation.

Something like a heavy boulder hit his shoulder and passed, and his mind became dizzy.

At the feeling of a handful of his soul being torn away, he realized that he did not have much time.

After pondering for a moment, he unfolded A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens in the form of a barrier to dominate the surroundings.

He had intended to buy at least some time using A Single Flash Lightens the Heavens, which had awakened as a Law Domain after consuming the Crimson Heart Lotus, but an unexpected phenomenon occurred.

The feeling of his soul being shaved away moment by moment was drastically reduced.

Simultaneously, he realized.

That since he had already realized the Law Domain, holding out in this place was not difficult.

‘Was I already half-ascended to the Void Refinement stage…?’

Just as his tension was about to loosen without him realizing.

Startled, he pulled himself together.

What meaning was there in a half-baked one? At any rate, just holding out was meaningless.

To become a true Void Refinement stage cultivator, he had to engrave his own law in the chaos.

Calming his mind with a deep breath, he sharpened his senses.

He intended to realize another law directly, instead of the law contained in the Profound Lotus Precious Fruit.

The starlights floating around.

As he observed the laws as numerous as the Milky Way one by one, at some moment, something like an illusion flashed in his head.

He saw a thick shadow cast on a giant stone tablet.

What kind of law did this scene signify?

Although it would depend on the interpretation, the shadow seemed to show that it inevitably accompanied light.

Thereafter, the illusions continued.

The hot cools, and the cold is warmed.

A volcano condensed to the limit must inevitably explode.

Natural phenomena that could be seen countlessly in life. These were all results of laws.

If he understood that flow of cause and effect, the next was to redefine the phenomenon.

The moment a shadow is created by light, the moment lava compressed to the limit explodes, the moment boiling water turns into steam.

Newly interpreting the scenes he had seen just now, he realized what speed was.

What already occurred the moment it was perceived.

He forged the momentary change occurring beyond senses into a law.

The moment he captured the phenomenon called speed in his mind using realization as a brush.

His Divine Sense, which had lost power and withered, revived as a Law Domain , and

Escaping the space filled only with chaos, he was able to open his eyes in the cultivation room.

“Ah.”

He had awakened a complete Law Domain.

The moment he realized that he had become a Void Refinement stage cultivator in name and reality.

Rumble…!

Red lightning wavered in the dark clouds covering the sky.

The Lightning Tribulation that sought to punish the cultivator treading toward defying heaven.

Although it was a powerful heavenly punishment that made all things into ash…

There was no fear.

Since he had mastered the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art and the Primordial One Qi Art, the Lightning Tribulation was merely a fortuitous opportunity in the name of a trial.

***

Meanwhile.

The Ghost Smoke Grand Palace Elders were hurriedly heading toward the Plateau Desert.

It was because they had belatedly learned the fact that Jin So-myeong was breaking through the great realm.

“I do not know how he has already become a Great Circle Soul Formation stage cultivator…”

They had thought it would take at least several hundred years for Jin So-myeong to reach the Great Circle of the Soul Formation stage.

At the young man’s muttering as he clicked his tongue, the woman next to him urged.

“Let us hurry. We must arrive before Jin So-myeong overcomes his Heart Demon Tribulation. Then…”

The woman whose expression became cool took out a 6th-rank mid-high grade divine treasure, the Soul-Shattering Bell .

It was a bell carved with a demon grasping lightning with six hands, a treasure borrowed from the Dark Soul Demonic Sect, one of the largest forces in the Stone Heart Realm.

“There is no need to pierce the cave of the Thunder-Pattern Hermit Lizard either. Jin So-myeong will die while breaking through the great realm.”

The Soul-Shattering Bell was a Dharma Treasure specially manufactured to obstruct cultivators crossing a great realm, possessing the ability to amplify the power of the Heart Demon Tribulation and the Lightning Tribulation.

The young man and the woman whose eyes firmed increased their speed with all their strength.

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