Chapter 101: Cultivation! (Read with Caution)
(Author's note: This chapter includes some in-depth original lore and cultivation mechanics that may contain spoilers for future developments.)
Someone argued,
"With His Highness's talent, isn't it only natural for him to be acknowledged by the Origin Laws at the Universe level?"
"That's right. His Highness already cleared the twelfth floor of the Sky Piercing Bridge. With insights surpassing immortality itself, even fully comprehending an entire branch of the Thunder Origin Law should be expected."
As the guards of Jiang Zhe, the domain lords and world lords stood proudly, sharing in the glory.
Bermington was visibly excited. Part of his consciousness in the Virtual Universe had already rushed to the manor to inform Mopusang, who was in secluded cultivation.
"I must immediately report this to Master—and also to Granduncle."
Inside the stilted bamboo house—
Boom—
The surrounding space trembled faintly.
A droplet of dark purple liquid materialized out of thin air, fell upon an ancient stone-like core, then seeped inside. It penetrated the void itself, appearing directly within the core's sea of consciousness, and finally fused with the black hole at the center of Jiang Zhe's soul.
Simultaneously, deep within his body-world where he was comprehending the Thunder God Codex, a net-like imprint appeared at Jiang Zhe's brow, faintly emitting an awe-inspiring ripple of law. This was a mark of being acknowledged by the laws themselves.
That "electric net" was essentially a spread of countless lightning chains.
It symbolized Jiang Zhe's complete comprehension of one of the sub-paths within the Thunder Origin Law.
If he had comprehended a different sub-path, the mark would have looked entirely different.
So, what does being acknowledged by an Origin Law actually do?
First, it serves as a pass—a permit you'll need after ascending to the Immortal level.
It's well-known that beyond immortality, further insights into the laws become exponentially harder.
For instance, someone who broke through to Immortal by mastering the Thunder Law would afterward only be able to comprehend the Time Law. Their insights into the Five Elements, Light, or Wind Laws would meet immense resistance, with the difficulty soaring by ten thousand or even a million times. As for the Space Law? Forget it—there would be no path forward at all.
Fortunately, the universe leaves a sliver of hope.
If, while still a World Lord, one earns the recognition of the other seven lower Origin Laws or even the Space Law, that acknowledgment serves as a pass. Although the speed of comprehending those laws would still be greatly reduced, at least one could continue cultivating and clearly sense progress.
Second, once acknowledged by an Origin Law, one's consciousness can merge deeper into the Sea of Laws, dramatically accelerating comprehension.
Why are World Lords considered the prime stage for cultivation?
Because genetic source energy and spiritual force together give rise to the power of the world.
World Lords can use this power to resonate with the universe's core, freely comprehending the eight lower Origin Laws and the two higher Origin Laws.
Thus, even if someone was mediocre as a Universe or Domain Lord, they could still, as a World Lord, cultivate to the point of being acknowledged by the Origin Laws.
Once acknowledged, a World Lord's consciousness can dive even deeper into the corresponding Sea of Laws, causing their comprehension to skyrocket.
A purely verbal explanation may be abstract, so let's quantify it with Luo Feng's case.
After his Golden Horned Beast advanced to World Lord, Luo Feng's consciousness descended into the universe's source region. His clarity in comprehending the Wood, Water, Fire, and other laws could be rated at 100. For the Gold Law, it was 10,000. For the Space Law, it was 200,000.
After being acknowledged by the Gold Origin Law and entering its Sea of Laws, his clarity doubled to 20,000 (ignoring the 10x boost from the Blood Luojing).
Being acknowledged allowed Jiang Zhe to enter the Sea of Laws and accelerate his insights into the Thunder Law.
But for him, there was no need to keep pushing the Thunder Law—better to pause here to avoid the awkwardness of over-comprehension.
After stepping out of the bamboo house to show his face and accept congratulations from guards and servants, Jiang Zhe returned inside to continue cultivating.
On choosing cultivation tasks
He could complete most tasks effortlessly with his current strength. But with average rewards of only 10,000–30,000 points, was that really worthwhile?
Jiang Zhe chose to remain at the Universe level doing cultivation missions not for the paltry points, but for the hidden special opportunities.
Things like the Blood Luojing, the Twin God General inheritance, the Zichen Bailuo Leaf (worth 2 million Hunyuan units)...
Of course, he wasn't particularly keen on the first two:
The Blood Luojing was ill-suited for his attributes and would have diminished effects.
The two divine general inheritances were redundant, as his own Conqueror secret technique could perfectly replace them. Accepting a legacy rashly might trigger unforeseen consequences.
Not worth the risk.
"The major opportunities in the desperate-level tasks are almost always guarded by Immortal gods…
Anna, hurry up and break through to World Lord. With the Blood Transformation Divine Blade counted in, we might then stand a chance to snatch chestnuts from the fire."
After encouraging Orianna, Jiang Zhe immersed himself once more in cultivating Temporal Evolution and Black Hole Evolution.
On diversification of combat methods
Most of the native worlds tied to these cultivation tasks were quite hostile to spiritual masters. Luo Feng couldn't use his Godly Weapon there, so naturally Jiang Zhe's Time-Space Hand would be similarly restricted.
Thus, he had to master other means of combat.
Within the Black Hole Evolution manual's Earth-Space Law branch, the Nine Refinements Fist and Mystic Crystal Ninefold Body were excellent martial techniques.
He paired them with the spear techniques from the Cloud Thunder Manual.
Purely by martial prowess alone, Jiang Zhe could be rated at the eleventh floor of the Sky Piercing Bridge—enough to trounce any Universe or Domain Lord genius in the Primal Secret Realm.
Now that he had Temporal Evolution, a research-oriented secret manual roughly equivalent to 10% of the Universe Chaos Monument, he discarded similar aids like Shadow Lord's Spear Canon, Earth Origin, and Intro to Space.
Current main cultivation path
Research/Insight type:
Temporal Evolution (≈10% of Universe Chaos Monument), to aid in comprehending the dual Origin Laws of Time and Space.
Pure combat type:
Black Hole Evolution, focusing on Nine Refinements Fist and Mystic Crystal Ninefold Body.
Flight for spiritual masters:
Layered Shadow Forbidden Domain, trained to its third stage Ten Thousand Layered Shadows, which splits into countless illusions to disrupt time-space itself.
Time-Space Hand applications:
Reached the sixth level, Thunderforge Star, with power equivalent to the twelfth floor of the Sky Piercing Bridge.
Spear techniques:
Cloud Thunder Manual, a near-peak level secret art, blending Thunder and Time Laws.
Rapid advancement
The first three volumes of Temporal Evolution aligned with the first three images of the Universe Chaos Monument, expounding on the initial 9, 27, and 72 basic profundities of the dual laws.
After being acknowledged by the Origin Laws, Jiang Zhe took one week to finish the first two volumes, then another week to push the third volume to the limits of his current insights.
Half a month later, he converted all his gains from before leaving Chaos City into solid law comprehension.
By then, he had fully grasped 96 of the basic profundities of the Time Law and 92 of the Space Law.
Turning to ultimate techniques
Next, he focused on the ultimate manual Black Hole Evolution, emphasizing Nine Refinements Fist and especially Mystic Crystal Ninefold Body.
Once completed, the Mystic Crystal armor would provide not only formidable defense but also comprehensive boosts to speed and attack.
Of course, just like Luo Feng's True Self World technique, it required vast treasures.
Orianna calculated that the 300,000 points saved by the Holy Spirit King would be just enough to cultivate it to the fourth level.
Mystic Crystal Ninefold Body overview
First refinement:
Requires 25x force output.
Yields energy armor with C1–C9 metal defense. Boosts speed and power.
Second refinement:
Requires 50x force output.
Armor at D1–D9 level.
Third refinement:
75x force output.
Armor at E1–E9 level.
Fourth refinement:
100x perfect force output.
Armor at F level.
Fifth to ninth refinements:
Unknown.
"I suspect the later refinements might transform into body-amplification secret techniques," Jiang Zhe speculated idly during cultivation.
Meanwhile, Orianna was absorbing E-level treasures to rapidly raise her life level.
Jiang Zhe buried himself in Black Hole Evolution, completely ignoring the outside world. He didn't even bother attending the public law lectures given to Primal Secret Realm members, since most of what the Immortal instructors taught was of negligible value to him now.
Both master and servant were wholly focused on extracting even greater benefits from this cultivation universe.