Although he knew that he would inevitably have to deal with the Devil Queen at some point, Ren Zu did not show the slightest urgency to act. For someone like him, a few months were insignificant. And so, almost without noticing, six entire months passed in the blink of an eye.
During that period, enormous changes occurred throughout the Northern Divine Region. With the exception of the Soul-Stealing Realm, everything else had already become Ren Zu's absolute territory. Countless factions were subjugated, absorbed, or simply erased from existence, while his name spread further and further like an unavoidable shadow looming over the entire region.
However, Ren Zu himself rarely appeared in public. Throughout nearly all that time, he remained in deep seclusion within the Eternal Darkness Devil Palace, focusing entirely on increasing his profound strength, refining his own body, and advancing ever closer toward his ultimate goal: achieving true immortality. The expansion of his domain was left primarily in the hands of his subordinates, and he only intervened personally when a situation truly required his presence....
With the Burning Moon Realm officially reduced to the status of a slave, conquering the rest of the Northern Divine Region became absurdly simple. The combined armies of the two former Royal Realms, now reinforced by the forced submission of countless Star Realms, swept through the north like an unstoppable avalanche. One surrender after another followed in succession, and those who dared resist were crushed without the slightest mercy.
Even so, the entire process took longer than many had expected. And the main reason for that was a single person: the Devil Queen.
Neither of the two former God Emperors possessed enough courage to directly conspire against her or provoke the Soul-Stealing Realm without Ren Zu's presence. During his entire period of seclusion, both chose to avoid any unnecessary conflict with that faction, focusing all military expansion on the rest of the Northern Divine Region.
The Soul-Stealing Realm was originally known as the Realm of the Clear Sky God. Ten thousand years before the current era, Chi Wuyao had married the realm's previous king, Jing Tian. Afterwards, she attempted to usurp his position by stealing his soul. Although she failed to complete the process perfectly, she was still able to turn him into a puppet devoid of free will. After his death, Chi Wuyao completely took control of the realm before it descended into internal collapse, altering the ancient inheritances of the Realm of the Clear Sky God and transforming them into the current inheritances of the Witches.
That woman was someone who absolutely could not be underestimated.
Even blindly trusting in Ren Zu's monstrous strength, his subordinates understood very well that provoking Chi Wuyao without his direct presence would be far too risky. Because of that, they avoided any direct confrontation with the Soul-Stealing Realm during those six months, believing that once he emerged from seclusion, Ren Zu would personally resolve that final issue without much difficulty.
And now, at last, the moment had arrived.
The enormous doors of the main hall of the Eternal Darkness Devil Palace slowly opened, releasing a deep creaking sound that echoed throughout the silent corridor.
Ren Zu had emerged from his seclusion.
He wore entirely black clothing, a long robe of deep shade embroidered with subtle golden and violet patterns that seemed to absorb the very light around them. The cut of the garments was simple, yet carried a supernatural elegance impossible to ignore. The contrast between the absolute blackness of his clothes and his long white hair, pure as freshly fallen snow, created an almost hypnotic image, as though he were a perfect work painted by the heavens themselves.
His appearance was simply unparalleled.
He resembled an immortal exiled into the mortal world, a being that simultaneously embodied divine perfection and demonic wickedness within a single body. His face possessed refined and flawless features, a well-defined jawline, and thin lips curved into a faint cold and indifferent smile. His red eyes, deep as fresh blood, carried a terrifying intensity, a depth so oppressive that anyone who dared meet them would feel their very soul tremble involuntarily.
When he entered seclusion, he believed he would need at least another full year before finally acting personally. However, the result ended up surpassing even his own expectations. In merely six months, he had already achieved the initial goal he had set for himself....
During that period, he refined countless profound pills using the practically limitless resources of the entire Northern Divine Region. Combining that with his monstrous genius in the Medical Path, his profound strength finally broke through the bottleneck of the Divine Master Realm.
And it was not a minor advancement.
At that moment, he had already directly reached the third level of the Divine Master Realm.
For an ordinary person, such a leap would be considered impossible within only half a year. However, for him, who possessed resources equivalent to those of an entire region and medicinal mastery absurdly above even the Goddess of Life herself, it was perfectly natural. The real problem had never been talent or resources, but rather the time required to refine the pills, stabilize their effects, and fully absorb the power contained within them.
However, his profound strength was not the only focus during those six months.
In truth, most of his time was dedicated to another objective: fusing the [Vermilion Bird Flames], the [Divine Phoenix Flames], and the [Golden Crow Flames], transforming them into the [Pale Flame].
According to ancient records, when the Ancestral Goddess created the universe, she left behind what were known as the Three Tribulations and Three Gifts.
Among the Three Tribulations existed the most terrifying fire in all of creation: the [Pale Flame].
Known as the fiercest fire in the universe, the [Pale Flame] possessed enough power to burn space itself and reduce even the body of a god to ashes. Its pale white coloration carried an almost ghostly aura, and any existence touched by it was instantly incinerated without leaving a trace behind.
In the distant past, it was the Heretic God himself who managed to extinguish that absurd tribulation. However, even after its destruction, a seed of indestructible origin continued to exist.
Initially, the Heretic God attempted to directly master that absolute power. Yet even he failed.
With no alternatives remaining, he used the supreme power of the God of Creation of the Elements to divide the origin of the [Pale Flame] into three separate fragments. Later, those fragments were entrusted to three different divine bloodlines: the Vermilion Bird, the Divine Phoenix, and the Golden Crow.
And now…
After countless attempts, calculations, and refinements, he had finally managed to reunite those three flames once again, artificially recreating the legendary fire that had once been considered one of the greatest tribulations in the universe.
During that process, he also succeeded in recreating the [Glazed Ice], the purest Gift of creation and the existence opposite to the Tribulation of the [Pale Flame].
The [Glazed Ice] was described in ancient records as absolutely pure, flawless, colorless, and perfect. It was one of the Three Gifts left behind by the Ancestral Goddess herself when she created the universe. It symbolized supreme purification. Its existence could illuminate and purify anything impure, corrupted, or stained within the universe.
The origin of that transcendental ice came from the so-called Divine Aura of Glazed Glass, a sacred energy that once wandered freely throughout the universe. In extremely rare cases during the Primordial Era before that aura disappeared, it would bless newborns, granting them the legendary [Glazed Snow Heart]. Once that heart fully matured, the user would finally awaken the true [Glazed Ice].
A person of Glazed Glass could perceive good and evil with the heart and discern truth and falsehood with the eyes. Their body, soul, and aura were flawless and pure. If they stood close to heavenly law, they would receive its protection. If they stood near profound energy, it would be unable to harm them. If they stood near sin, sin itself would naturally feel guilt and shame....
As for the reason why he managed to recreate something of that level…
Naturally, it was because of his wife, Xia Qingyue, who naturally possessed the [Glazed Snow Glass Heart], and thanks to her unique physique at the time, he managed to partially share that essence with himself. Later, after his body evolved into the [Absolute Origin Physique], that small spark ended up undergoing a monstrous transformation.....
His current body was something even greater than the Ancestral Goddess herself. A primordial existence that preceded even the Primordial Chaos responsible for giving birth to creation. When he refined part of the Primordial Chaos existing within himself over recent times, his existence evolved once again, reaching an even more absolute state.
And it was precisely because of that that while artificially recreating the Tribulation of the [Pale Flame], his body naturally reconstructed the concept opposite to it, bringing the [Glazed Ice] back into existence once more.
The only plausible theory Ren Zu could formulate was simple… and at the same time terrifying.
The [Primordial Chaos] within his body might be slowly devouring the universe's current [Primordial Chaos].
Not in the literal sense of directly consuming worlds, but on a much deeper level: its laws, origin, and foundations were gradually being replaced by his existence. As though his body were ceasing to be merely that of a powerful cultivator and beginning to evolve into something beyond the very concept of a "living being."
And the more his profound strength increased…
The more evident it became.
His body had already surpassed the normal limits of a mortal long ago. Now, even absolute Tribulations and Gifts left behind by the ancient Ancestral Goddess, such as the [Pale Flame] and the [Glazed Ice], had begun to naturally emerge within him, as though the universe itself recognized his existence as a new primordial source....
Although…
Not everything was perfect.
Ren Zu let out a long and heavy sigh, perhaps the first truly bitter sigh to escape his lips in a very long time.
Despite successfully artificially recreating the [Pale Flame], the most terrifying fire in the universe, and also naturally awakening the [Glazed Ice], the absolute Gift opposing that tribulation, not everything had gone as planned. In truth, he had probably become the first man in history to possess the [Glazed Ice], something that even to him felt far too absurd to be real.
For a brief moment, it had been a source of genuine pride.
But everything changed when he attempted to advance even further within the [Ten Extreme Daos], seeking to create a technique capable of directly devouring the profound strength of other living beings and converting it into his own energy.
That was the moment something went terribly wrong…
His entire life had become an almost perfect cycle of victories ever since he eliminated Yun Che. Everything seemed to flow in his favor. Power, resources, techniques, opportunities… it was as though the universe itself were opening a path before him. A paradise of achievements where real failures barely existed.
But he had once heard of the so-called "regression toward the mean."
When something remains good or bad for far too long, the balance of the world inevitably attempts to correct the course of things.
And that was exactly what happened.
Or at least, that was the disturbed explanation he found to justify what had happened to him…
While conducting experiments to create that new technique using the [Ten Extreme Daos] as a foundation, Ren Zu ended up making a fatal mistake.
His greatest flaw was his lack of knowledge.
The [Ten Extreme Daos] were a method originating from a world of true immortals, a place where Fourth Step cultivators could destroy Primordial Chaos itself with a mere thought, or erase entire universes solely from the residual impact of their battles. Compared to that level of existence, even someone like him was still insignificant.
And in the end…
He underestimated its danger.
The result was disastrous.
He lost Hei Jiyue.
The small and mischievous spirit who had accompanied him since the beginning, the living manifestation of the [Wheel of the Myriad Tribulations of the Evil Infant], was completely devoured when the technique spiraled out of control. The wheel itself ceased to exist as an external artifact and was directly absorbed into his existence, permanently fusing with his body, soul, and origin.
But it was not only her.
The [Samsara Mirror] and even the [Sky Poison Pearl] suffered the exact same fate. The three supreme relics he possessed were consumed by the violent assimilation caused by the [Scripture of the Nine Serenities], becoming inseparable parts of his very existence.
Ren Zu slowly closed his eyes.
For the first time in a long while, the silence around him felt heavy.
Hei Jiyue's absence left a strange emptiness within him, a hollow space that not even the absurd increase in power could fill.
"…It was too high a price…" he murmured softly, and there was a rare trace of genuine bitterness in his voice.
During the past months, he spent more time than he would have liked mourning Hei Jiyue's loss.
Even now, at times, he could still clearly remember her irritating voice, her constant teasing, the mischievous way she appeared without warning simply to bother him or complain about something insignificant. That little spirit had remained by his side since the beginning, accompanying his rise, his battles, and even his darkest moments. Her absence left an uncomfortable emptiness within the Eternal Darkness Devil Palace… and within himself as well.
But in the end, he knew he could not remain trapped in the past.
So he decided to move forward.
And it was precisely because of that that he gave that technique the name [Scripture of the Nine Serenities].
A name Hei Jiyue had once told him.
According to her, "Nine Serenities" was the true meaning of her original name, something she had thought of by herself during the millions of years she remained sealed...
In the end…
That monstrous technique ended up becoming her tombstone..
He shook his head lightly and continued walking....
He remained expressionless, yet continued moving forward.....
Once, I screamed, but little by little I lost my voice.
I used to cry, but slowly, my tears ran dry.
After suffering, gradually, I became capable of enduring everything.
I once rejoiced, but gradually, I became indifferent to the world.
And now!
All I have left is an expressionless face, my gaze as hard as a monolith, with only perseverance remaining in my heart....
___________________
(A/N: Yeah… I know a lot of you probably got completely caught off guard by the fact that I created Hei Jiyue only to kill her off like this shortly afterward.
But honestly, it was necessary.
In a way, she paved another small part of Ren Zu's development. One of the things I want to build within his character is that same sense of time, loss, and emotional exhaustion carried by characters like Li Qiye from Emperor's Domination.
Many of Li Qiye's losses were never even truly shown on-screen to us readers, yet you could still feel the weight of them. You could feel that he had lived for far too long, lost far too many people, and gradually became someone distant from the world around him.
And that is exactly the kind of atmosphere I want to bring to Ren Zu.
Not just someone overwhelmingly powerful, but someone who is gradually becoming distant from emotions, attachments, and even from the very concept of mortality itself.
Hei Jiyue's death was not written purely for shock value. It was meant to leave behind silence. A strange emptiness.
And honestly… I'll probably miss writing her too.
But…
This is only the beginning.
The path Ren Zu is walking is not one where someone can keep everything intact forever.
The higher he rises… the more things will inevitably be left behind.
Want to read ahead of everyone else? Then come join Patreon!
If you enjoy following the story ahead of time, with higher quality and exclusive content, this is your chance.
There are currently up to 150 chapters available on Patreon, and the story is now moving into its final stretch.
Don't miss this opportunity — join Patreon and dive in before everyone else!
My Patreon: patreon.com/Adam_Kadmon
Thank you so much for your support — you make all of this worthwhile.)