Again and again, it was like an endless cycle, a loop without end. Every time Lin Moyu shattered it, it would recover amid a scream. While it screamed, Lin Moyu couldn't move; at that moment it was as if the entire heaven-and-earth had turned into a prison, locking him firmly in place. Lin Moyu understood the other side's rule: its rule was that when it was broken, it would regenerate, and during its regeneration he himself would be unable to move and unable to stop it. On top of that, he couldn't shake it off—he couldn't even simply choose not to fight. He had tried retreating and avoiding battle, but quickly collided with an invisible wall. At some unknown point, the space here had been sealed off, trapping him inside. Only by killing the other party could he escape; otherwise he would just keep on fighting endlessly, never stopping.
Lin Moyu was a bit depressed; he tried all sorts of methods and none of them worked. He even used the World-Searing Fire, wanting to burn it to death, but the result was no different. The World-Searing Fire could indeed burn it to death, but when it was half-burned, it would let out that scream. The World-Searing Fire would retreat under the scream, and he himself would also be unable to move under the scream, able only to watch helplessly as the other party recovered as good as new.
The Hongmeng Stone laughed loudly. "Master, you're feeling pretty frustrated, aren't you?"
Lin Moyu gave a soft snort. "This rule is indeed a bit troublesome. Do you have any good ideas?"
The Hongmeng Stone said, "There are methods, of course, but I think it'd be better if Master figures it out yourself. That way you can deepen your understanding of rules."
Lin Moyu didn't press further; what the Hongmeng Stone said was not without reason. If he could find the solution himself, it would indeed help him understand rules better. By further comprehending rules, he could also make his Primordial-Heaven Art more perfect. This was a many-fold gain.
He calmed his mind and began to observe during battle, searching for a way to solve it. The other party followed its rule and seemed utterly unreasonable, but in reality it had a strict operating logic. It would not exceed its rule, and rules could not be perfect; as long as he found the corresponding loophole, he could deal with it.
This battle went on without end; Lin Moyu had already sunk into comprehending rules, and the fighting itself instead became mechanical, numb, and not so important. Again and again he pounded the other side to pieces, and again and again the rules lifeform recovered. Lin Moyu could no longer remember how many rounds they had fought.
Gradually, he discovered some issues in the rule. The instant he looked at the other party, it had already locked onto him. This rules lifeform had only him in its eyes and nothing else. Its attacks were extremely simple, with almost no tricks, straight and direct. In other words, all of its attention was focused on him; it wouldn't pay attention to anything else.
In that case…
In the gaps between exchanges, Lin Moyu quickly created a clone, having the clone and his main body attack from front and back. The rules lifeform ignored the clone and attacked only the main body. When the main body shattered it, it let out a scream; the main body could not move, but the clone could still act.
Sure enough—that was the rule. He finally knew how to break it.
When the rules lifeform recovered again, a new round of battle began. With a thought, Lin Moyu sent out the World-Searing Fire, but it did not attack the rules lifeform; instead, it fell into the clone's hand. The main body controlled the power of death, punching again and again and quickly shattering the rules lifeform. As the scream rang out, the main body was unable to move, and the rules lifeform began to recover.
At that moment, Lin Moyu's clone brought the World-Searing Fire down. The rules lifeform's recovery was forcibly interrupted, and the scream cut off abruptly. Before it could recover, it was burned to ash by the World-Searing Fire.
Lin Moyu felt space itself change; the seawater that had been frozen solid returned to flowing.
"Done."
He let out a long breath, his gaze especially bright. This battle, repeated who knew how many times, had allowed him to take his understanding of rules a step further.
Rules were actually very simple, not as complicated as imagined—they were just countless simple rules, ultimately woven together into the incomparably complex web of heaven-and-earth's rules. What cultivators saw was this great web; they did not see each individual rule that wove it. If he wanted to truly understand rules, he could not just look at the final great net; he should peel back the strands one by one and understand each rule.
The original intent of the Primordial-Heaven Art was precisely this: to finely manipulate each rule. The more finely it could be manipulated, the stronger the Primordial-Heaven Art became. By making micro-adjustments to heaven-and-earth's rules, though he could not change its essence, he could make a heaven-and-earth the strongest within its own tier.
Even among six-cycle heavens-and-earth, there were stronger and weaker ones, and this difference in strength was largely determined by rules. By fine-tuning the rules, one could make a heaven-and-earth stronger. And the most important aspect of heaven-and-earth's rules was balance.
Lin Moyu suddenly understood the true significance of the Balance Stone. It did not vaguely "balance energies and auras"; its true function was to balance the rules of heaven-and-earth. That was its greatest role. The way he had been using it normally was simply putting the cart before the horse, drawing only on a bit of its surface fur.
The Hongmeng Stone asked, "How does Master feel?"
Lin Moyu nodded. "The gains are great."
He now had more ideas about the Primordial-Heaven Art. Once he went back, he would adjust it; he believed that after the adjustments, the Primordial-Heaven Art would become stronger and gradually approach perfection. He was already not far from creating a Primordial-Heaven Art suited to the Language-God Heaven-and-Earth.
Moreover, Lin Moyu felt that perhaps he could merge the Primordial-Heaven Art with Xunzhi True Lord's Ling-Heaven Art, turning them into a special secret art belonging only to himself. Once this thought appeared, it became impossible to suppress. Lin Moyu knew that this sudden surge of inspiration might well be the right path.
The World-Searing Fire gradually died down, and within the embers a tiny point of light appeared. It was a fingernail-sized transparent crystal, like a piece of crystal, radiating a strange aura.
Lin Moyu picked it up and examined it carefully. This was a rule crystal. He could feel the power of rules contained within it. After refinement by the World-Searing Fire, the power in the rule crystal had become extremely pure and could be used to strengthen the rules within the Language-God Heaven-and-Earth.
"A fine thing," Lin Moyu was very pleased.
Rule crystals were not easy to obtain; previously, when he refined heaven-and-earth cores, he had not gained any rule crystals. In heaven-and-earth remnants, most rules had already collapsed, so rule crystals were hard to come by. Only in heavens-and-earth of seven cycles and above did many rules remain in a relatively complete state, even evolving to give birth to rules lifeforms. From some of the stronger rules lifeforms, one could obtain rule crystals.
Back then, for the sake of rule crystals, Po-Cang Emperor directly refined heavens-and-earth that had not yet shattered, and for that he killed quite a few Supreme Beings. But in doing so he also left hidden dangers; the rule power he obtained was not pure and contained many impurities.
In the end, although his heaven-and-earth reached the limit of a six-cycle heaven-and-earth, it was unfortunately not solid. When he later entered the Life-Forbidden Zone, his heaven-and-earth was the first to collapse, and the power of that heaven-and-earth did not help him at all.
Now that the conditions of those years were gone, if he wanted rule crystals he could only seek them in heavens-and-earth of seven cycles and above. Moreover, Po-Cang Emperor had not walked the right path back then; he would not repeat that mistake himself.
"Let's keep going."
Putting away the rule crystal, Lin Moyu continued toward the heaven-and-earth core.
At last, he saw the core of heaven-and-earth. The core of a seven-cycle heaven-and-earth was completely different from the ones he had seen before. The heaven-and-earth core before his eyes was actually a pagoda, seven storeys tall, proclaiming its identity as a seven-cycle heaven-and-earth.
The Hongmeng Stone said, "Heavens-and-earth of seven cycles and above are different from those below. They should have undergone a qualitative transformation, and all their cores become pagodas. Seven storeys is a seven-cycle heaven-and-earth; an eight-cycle heaven-and-earth's core is an eight-storey pagoda."
Lin Moyu mused, "So a seven-cycle heaven-and-earth has a chance to be elevated to an eight-cycle?"
The Hongmeng Stone said, "Master can even guess that."
Lin Moyu said, "Earlier, Xunzhi True Lord said he elevated a five-cycle heaven-and-earth to six cycles. That means there was no qualitative change between five and six; only the power grew stronger. A seven-cycle heaven-and-earth underwent a qualitative change, so his elevation failed. But above seven cycles, the heavens-and-earth have similar cores; that is to say, their difference lies only in strength, not in essence. So heavens-and-earth above seven cycles can be elevated."
The Hongmeng Stone grunted assent. "That's right. This has happened once before: a heaven-and-earth rose from seven cycles to eight, though I don't know why it was able to ascend. At the same time, another heaven-and-earth fell from eight cycles down to seven, and I likewise didn't understand why it fell. As an onlooker, there are many things that happen inside heavens-and-earth that I don't know."
Lin Moyu said, "I think I've already found a way to elevate a heaven-and-earth, and now is the most suitable time. Seven cycles is a threshold; above and below seven cycles are two different tiers, almost impossible to cross. A heaven-and-earth's tier is only finally decided during its first great tribulation—the Heaven-and-Earth Life-and-Death Tribulation. When a heaven-and-earth is newly born, it has no tier.
In that case, now is the best time. The Language-God Heaven-and-Earth has not yet迎来 its first great tribulation; in other words, it hasn't set yet, and can still have its tier raised. I just need to strengthen the Language-God Heaven-and-Earth so that, when it faces its first tribulation, it can become a seven-cycle heaven-and-earth. After that, it can be steadily elevated to a nine-cycle heaven-and-earth.
Of course, if it could directly become a nine-cycle heaven-and-earth, that would naturally be best, but that won't be easy.
Moreover, I have another thought—I want to become a Supreme Being before the Language-God Heaven-and-Earth迎来 its first great tribulation. The earlier one proves the Dao, the greater the benefits, and the higher the future ceiling. The two complement each other and neither can be missing. Only when both reach their limits will there be a chance to break through the Life-Forbidden Zone and reach that place no one has ever reached.
It will be very hard—but I have confidence and believe I can do it."