Zhu Ziyang was genuinely surprised. The evolution of the Undead Sub-plane had taken a full two days and nights, during which he had entered a state of deep meditation, only waking up on the third morning.
During the daylight hours, if Electrolux and Second Frost hadn't returned him from the sub-plane in time, Jiang Nannan, who came knocking to call him for breakfast, might have discovered his absence. Even so, his extended meditation had drawn concern from Elder Lin and Elder Song. They had good reason to worry—after all, he'd entered that state shortly after receiving the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife. If not for the fact that his aura remained stable, they might have already initiated emergency measures.
After waking, Zhu Ziyang first thanked Jiang Nannan, Ma Xiaotao, and the two elders for watching over him. Then, using the excuse that he needed to rest and organize his insights, he politely sent them away.
Once alone, he wasted no time. Opening a portal, he rushed into the Undead Sub-plane.
What awaited him took his breath away.
The size of the sub-plane hadn't changed—but its appearance had transformed completely. The cold, gray atmosphere had been replaced by a warm, vibrant spectrum. The once-black, desolate land now sprouted lush green moss—a symbol of life. The sky was now a clear white, and the once-dim sun shone a radiant gold. Though not yet a perfect replica of the real world, it lacked very little.
This was no longer a mere Undead Sub-plane.
"I didn't expect this either," Electrolux said as he floated out beside him, his expression a mix of excitement and bittersweet regret. "Just one piece of Life Gold, and it completely filled in the missing laws of life. Sigh… seems I overestimated the depth of the sub-plane's structure."
Zhu Ziyang quickly comforted him. "Teacher, maybe it's my fault. I reduced the plane's size by half when I took it over—if it were still at its original scale, that one piece of Life Gold wouldn't have been enough. So, no… you were right."
"Haha, thank you, Ziyang." Electrolux smiled gratefully but remained clear-headed. "It really is because of you. Not the size—but the power you possess. Your abilities manifested within this plane during its transformation. You can sense them now, can't you?"
Ziyang closed his eyes briefly—then his face lit up in astonishment.
"The Laws of Light and Ice!" he gasped.
"Exactly," Electrolux nodded. "You've already reached the human limit with both elements. As the master of the plane, when the Life Gold was absorbed, your comprehension of those elements took physical form—embedding light and ice laws into the very structure of the plane.
"That's also why the integration of the life laws went so smoothly. Your fortune truly is astonishing."
Ziyang understood now. His plane, once fueled only by death, now held four elemental laws: death, life, light, and ice.
He toured the new landscape and soon reached the valley where the undead creatures once gathered. It was silent. No longer filled with eerie groans, the valley was now calm and quiet—its inhabitants had all transformed into massive eggs, their shells pulsing with faint light.
The evolution of the plane had given them a rare opportunity: to become living beings.
Such a transformation, from death to life, went against the very order of the world and carried enormous risk. Weaker undead might fail and perish. But top-tier entities—like the Lich King and Hell Knight—had no such risk. For them, rebirth was all but guaranteed.
Ziyang and Electrolux both smiled as they looked at the five largest eggs in the valley's center.
Electrolux sighed. "Only five of them left... I once promised I'd help all my subordinates reincarnate as humans. I guess… I only managed to fulfill that for a small few."
He thought back to his past—most of his companions had perished or remained behind in his original world. Only a handful now enjoyed the rewards of Zhu Ziyang's efforts. The memory filled him with complex emotions.
"Teacher, it's okay," Ziyang said gently. "When I become a god, I promise I'll take you back to your world to see it again."
Electrolux laughed heartily. "If that day really comes, I'll bring every princess and saintess of my world back and offer them to you as maids!"
Ziyang laughed too. "You better keep your word, old man!"
Together, they stood atop the valley, laughing freely.
Eventually, their laughter faded. Electrolux turned serious.
"Alright, let's leave them to rest. The Lich King and the others should emerge in about seven days. Now, we need to address something important: what should we name this new plane?"
"Hm…" Zhu Ziyang fell into thought. After a moment, his eyes lit up. "Let's call it the Sanctus Arcana Sub-plane (Holy Law Sub-plane). After all, Teacher, you are its true creator."
"Sanctus Arcana…" Electrolux repeated the name softly, then burst out laughing. "Good! Good! That's a fine name. Ziyang—you have a good heart."
"Hehe, just doing what I should," Ziyang said, scratching his head sheepishly.
With the name decided, they left the Sanctus Arcana Sub-plane.
Back in his room, Zhu Ziyang began to organize the benefits he'd received from the plane's transformation.
The most immediate was his soul power, which had just broken through to Rank 64. After the transformation, it now reached Rank 65.
Next was his spiritual power. Having been washed by the Life Gold's energy, his spirit had become even purer, and his spiritual sea expanded by 30%.
Then came his physical body, which had also been strengthened. His endurance and resilience had risen to a whole new level.
But most importantly—he had gained a new ultimate talent.
With his affinity for light now maxed at 100, matching his ice affinity, he had awakened the light element's ultimate gift: Righteous Aura (Haoran Zhengqi).
This innate talent granted him a 30% boost to soul power recovery—a game-changing advantage.
To understand why, we must look at how soul power recovery works:
Normally, a soul master's recovery slows as their cultivation level rises.
In meditation, one can recover 50%.
Outside meditation, only 10%.
And with each spirit ring added, this rate drops by 1%.
So, a one-ring soul master recovers at 10%, but a Title Douluo may only regenerate 1%.
Those who possess a soul core, like Ziyang, can boost their recovery by 5–8%. In his case, his soul core gave him an extra 10%, raising his total to 15%.
Now, with Righteous Aura, he reached 45%—a threefold increase.
Even better? Unlike soul cores, this bonus didn't diminish with level.
It was like having an infinite soul power battery.
And finally, the greatest reward of all:
Because he was now the master of the Sanctus Arcana Sub-plane, and the origin of its light and ice laws, Zhu Ziyang could, under extreme circumstances, channel the power of the plane to unleash a law-based attack.
A law-based attack is, in essence, a god-tier strike. After all, only those at Rank 100 and beyond—gods—can wield laws.
Thus, Zhu Ziyang now had the power to unleash one divine-level attack, even as a mortal.
This became his ultimate trump card.
Of course, there were limits:
He had to be at peak condition to avoid draining his life force.
And he could only use this move three times.
Beyond that? The will of the Douluo World would no longer tolerate it.
To use a metaphor, it would be like a foreigner trying to run for national leader—a provocation of the highest order.
Three times was the world's tolerance. More than that… and the heavens themselves would strike him down.
After all—he still wasn't strong enough to defy the rules.
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