Chapter 137: Nearing Home, A Touch of Unease?
He stood tall, and just by standing there, he gave off the feeling of facing the endless heavens and earth. Even giants would seem small and insignificant before him, overwhelmed by their own frailty.
"Jiang Zhe pays his respects, my lord."
Jiang Zhe was not daunted by his presence; he bowed calmly and respectfully.
"Reporting to you, my lord, the technique I just used was indeed the puppet art of the Ancient God Clan."
'What a formidable willpower.'
Jiang Zhe's composed reaction made the Lord of the Eclipse Palace inwardly sigh in amazement.
This young man's mental strength must at least be at the King level.
Jiang Zhe had surprised him time and again.
Suppressing the strange light in his eyes, the Eclipse Palace Lord smiled. "Interesting. Have you figured out who I am?"
"With such a presence, there's no way you're a mere native. And the way the laws of the universe naturally manifest around you proves you are a great being above immortality.
So, you must be the Lord of the Eclipse Palace who sits in the void, reigning over Bloodlock Continent."
The Eclipse Palace Lord's smile deepened. "That's right. I am the Eclipse Palace Lord."
"The native kings reported that there was a universe-level cultivator hunting domain masters here. It's rare to find a human genius who can leap two tiers to fight, especially at the universe level instead of domain lord level. Naturally, I had to come see for myself."
"I hope my performance has been satisfactory," Jiang Zhe replied modestly.
"I'm certainly pleased. Our race needs talents like you."
But then the Eclipse Palace Lord's expression grew colder.
"Bloodlock World was only meant to be a dangerous-level trial, a mutually agreed difficulty. That's why there are only domain lords on the continent—immortals were all driven into the Immortal Temple. Yet some dared to incite immortals to intervene, forcibly turning this into a desperate-level trial. They must have grown complacent, thinking our Virtual Universe Company's blade had dulled!"
Now truly angry, the Eclipse Palace Lord's aura darkened.
If he hadn't come down by coincidence, and if Jiang Zhe hadn't been strong enough, the human race might have needlessly lost a rare talent.
The race can accept losing geniuses, but not due to external conspiracies!
And Jiang Zhe's importance was far beyond those ordinary members of the Primitive or Primeval Secrets realms who only had the potential to become kings.
Before their genius even had a chance to be exposed to assassination by other races, you'd kill him right in the 'nursery'?
Jiang Zhe simply smiled, listening patiently, without getting involved in that matter.
"The hidden threat in Bloodlock World—I'll handle it later. For now, let's discuss serious business."
The Eclipse Palace Lord changed the topic and looked at Jiang Zhe.
"About that puppet art—did you inform your teacher?"
"I've already reported it and handed over the puppet inheritance. But it's not a universal legacy; this entire branch was fabricated by Lord Myriad Saints as a decoy."
"Ah, so it really is like that. We had suspected as much." The Eclipse Palace Lord sighed.
"Alright, continue your cultivation. Before you leave Bloodlock World, remember to meet me at the top of the Eclipse Palace."
With that, he vanished instantly.
'The same special treatment as Luo Feng—private guidance?'
Jiang Zhe thought to himself but didn't take it too seriously.
At his current realm, there weren't many who could still guide his understanding of the fundamental laws. Even his teacher, the Saint King at the pinnacle of King level, was already struggling to help him advance.
His spiritual force swept over the ruined city lord's mansion, picking up the spoils left by the fallen domain lords and immortals. Then he flew up into the clouds, taking a mechanical clan ship to a temporary base.
Ancient God Ruins, Immortal Temple.
After the Eclipse Palace Lord descended and slew Bloodlock World's king along with more than ten resentful immortals, he left without lingering.
This plunged the surviving immortals into a power struggle, sending dark currents roiling through Bloodlock World.
At the bottom of a sinister abyss in the Ancient God Ruins, a blood-red palace loomed amid the mists.
The palace had five stories, with lavish carpets that added a strangely human touch.
On a pitch-black throne sat a figure wreathed in thick baleful aura, his body tall and mighty, clad in blood-red robes with long scarlet hair.
This was "Blood God" Ba Qi, a peak domain lord and the greatest genius Bloodlock World had seen in countless eras—having fused eight Bloodlock Crystals. His status in the Immortal Temple was on par with immortals.
A massive bull-like beast, four stories high and made of bronze, stepped into the hall.
"Boom—"
The wild beast, a Qiniu, snorted twin jets of heat from its nostrils and rumbled in a deep voice, "Ba Qi, did you hear about the upheaval in the Immortal Temple? Don't you want to go back and take a share of the spoils?"
Ba Qi opened his eyes, revealing no emotion. "What's mine will be mine, regardless of who ultimately wins. As for what I truly desire—once I break through to immortality, I'll claim it myself."
"Right now, the most important thing for me is to become a 'Black Warrior'!"
"Once I become a Black Warrior and advance to immortality, I'll be the new king of Bloodlock World, changing the tragic fate of my entire race!"
"Hahaha!" The Qiniu thundered with laughter like rolling thunder. "Ba Qi, I like your confident spirit. That's exactly why I chose you as my brother!"
"Oh, by the way—there's a sky-tier outsider in the southeast of the continent who's been slaughtering world lords in fair fights. Want to go meet him?"
"Just a sky-tier?" Ba Qi's eyelids lowered, uninterested. "If it were a world lord, maybe. But a sky-tier? Not worth my time."
"Being able to kill a world lord head-on does mean he's strong, but he's just bullying the countless weaklings outside the ruins. No point wasting my time on someone like that."
He suddenly thought of one of his own sky-tier geniuses. "What about Ninety-Seven? Any strange behavior lately?"
The Qiniu shook its massive head. "Not really. Three months ago it was still cultivating deep in the crater, barely moving around."
"Good. That means we can tentatively trust Ninety-Seven," Ba Qi said. "If that outsider causes too much chaos, have Ah Yi take Ninety-Seven along to give him a taste of the real world."
"Got it. I'll be off then. Keep up your cultivation." The Qiniu lumbered out of the hall.
Many elite domain lords of the Immortal Temple were cultivating in the Ancient God Ruins.
Most of them, like Ba Qi, chose to keep training and strengthen themselves.
Once the undercurrents settled, as long as they hadn't clearly taken sides, they would still receive their rightful share.
Back in Bloodlock World, dark tides surged. But none of that concerned Jiang Zhe. He planned to stay in seclusion until leaving this world.
Crane Cry Valley, Cliffside Palace.
Jiang Zhe entered the spacious main hall, sat on a high-backed throne, and closed his eyes in repose. His consciousness entered the virtual universe to comprehend the fourth volume of Space-Time Evolution.
The phase of honing his skills through combat was over. He had a clear grasp of his own power now.
Facing immortals—even the weakest first-level immortals with over a hundredfold domain lord strength—he had no way to win except through trickery.
When he entered his "Divine Ascension" state, native domain lords were at his mercy. But against native immortals, he stood no chance.
Continuing to hunt would only satisfy his thirst for battle without any real benefit.
"Next is the final training world: the Abyss. After that, I'll break through to domain lord and head home."
"I'll let my Candlelight clone complete its perfect gene upgrade, then see if the Demon Clan is worthy of being my second clone's source. Once those two matters are settled, staying in these training worlds any longer would just be a waste of time."
So Jiang Zhe calmed his mind and began to cultivate.
Thanks to the Dream Memories of Lord Hulei, he had fully grasped all the time-path insights in the fourth image of the Cosmic Chaos Monument.
He only needed to finish comprehending part of the space-path to completely master the fourth image.
Together with his silver-clad soul, he estimated that in just a year or two, he could reach the fifteenth floor of the Sky-Bridge—equivalent to Marquis-level law comprehension.
The next target was the fifth image of the Chaos Monument.
But Jiang Zhe didn't plan to keep following the Chaos Monument's dual path. The fifth image's ultimate goal was merely to comprehend a subcategory of mysteries and be acknowledged by the laws of time or space.
It was more efficient to switch to studying law fusion.
His main body would focus on lightning-time fusion, while his silver soul would work on earth-space fusion. Wasn't that also cultivating time and space?
Meanwhile, controlled domain lords arrived at Crane Cry Valley, offering up the Bloodlock Crystals they had gathered. Under Oriana's arrangements, they then departed for a new world to harvest more.
Soon it was January 2251 by the Hanxia calendar.
Jiang Zhe did something rare: he spent a whole month in the virtual universe with his family, from just before the New Year to after the Lantern Festival. The mundane atmosphere nourished his state of mind.
The four from Earth each walked their own path of the heart:
Luo Feng pursued the ultimate.
Thunder God retained a childlike heart.
Hong embodied infinite mind, embracing and encompassing all.
As for Jiang Zhe himself, he felt it was like "returning to the ordinary," living with heaven and earth, becoming one with all things.
After the Lantern Festival, the Jiang family got busy again—cultivating or running businesses.
Jiang Zhe exited the virtual universe, ready to complete the final stage of his training in Bloodlock World.
...
A thousand Bloodlock Crystals and countless universe crystals turned into a river of blood, refined until transparent, then condensed into a hundred thousand tiny diamond-like tetrahedrons. Together they formed a single sphere with 10,081 facets.
When embedded into the Candlelight clone's body, it brought the total number of such spheres inside it to 10,080.
Now it was like a dazzling star, a massive spherical special lifeform with 10,080 facets.
Jiang Zhe gazed up at this "little sun" hanging in the sky, sensing its imperfection—and feeling an urge to complete it.
Just one more fold, and it would reach the 10,081-fold perfect life gene level.
But Jiang Zhe hesitated. He didn't dare proceed.
Oriana glanced at the small pile of leftover Bloodlock Crystals—still over 8,000—and asked curiously, "Master, why aren't you continuing?"
"Anna, I fear something might happen that my current universe-level self couldn't handle. Like, say, its body suddenly swelling to the limit of divine bodies."
Oriana blinked, then suddenly asked, "Master, do you mean that 'over 90,000 kilometers' limit?"
That number stunned Jiang Zhe. He turned to Oriana. "Wait—why exactly is it 'over 90,000 kilometers'?"
Oriana tilted her head innocently.
"Wasn't that the common data in the cosmic knowledge you gave me?"
Jiang Zhe stood there, baffled, staring up at his radiant "little sun."
Its diameter was already over 900,000 kilometers.
Yet Luo Feng's main body, the Youhai clone's normal state, the Golden Horned Beast, and even Sitting Mountain Guest were all perfect divine bodies just over 90,000 kilometers.
"My Candlelight clone, and other plant lifeforms in the original universe like the World Tree—where did this discrepancy come from?"
"That 'over 90,000 kilometers' figure in my memory might not be reliable after all."
"So what exactly blocked Luo Feng?"
📝 Author's note (from the original Chinese):
Bit of a bug. Later in the original novel, the normal Youhai clone (~chapter 1024, after 500 years), the Golden Horned Beast (~chapter 1094, 'the predicament'), and Earthling main body (~chapter 1123, 'life gene bottleneck') were all just over 90,000 kilometers.
Seems the author forgot about the World Tree, which was massively beyond spec... As were many plant lifeforms with similarly oversized divine bodies.
Yet the 90,000-kilometer limit did block Luo Feng and his three clones. Not sure what the original author was thinking.
Even the Nine Nether Lord's 12-light-year form likely fell below 90,000 kilometers in normal state once his innate secret art 'Sea Form' ended.
When Luo Feng and the Golden Horned Beast broke through the first layer of the divine power path and expanded tenfold, they only grew from ~100,000 kilometers to ~1 million kilometers (~chapter 1411, 'final step').
So it's genuinely confusing why that 90,000-kilometer limit existed.
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