Heaven-Burst Earth-Rend shattered the rule restrictions and struck straight at the true body of the heaven-and-earth core. The heaven-and-earth core endured a violent explosion, and a few cracks appeared on the seven-tiered pagoda. The effect was not bad. This was the first time he had used it since the Corpse Explosion art had sublimated into Heaven-Burst Earth-Rend, and its effect was beyond his expectations.
With the heaven-and-earth core damaged, the rules fluctuated as well. At the moment of the explosion, dozens of Undying Spirit Soldiers broke through the rule restrictions; they were not transferred away and charged smoothly to the front of the pagoda. Light flashed in Lin Moyu's eyes. He had found a loophole in the rules.
The rule lifeform within the heaven-and-earth core combined several kinds of rules to form an extremely complete defensive system that could avoid almost any danger. Those rules existed in a subtle balance; as long as one could strike the true body of the heaven-and-earth core, that balance would be broken and gaps would appear in the rules. Once such gaps appeared, it would be extremely difficult for them to recover.
Lin Moyu remembered the position where the Undying Spirit Soldiers had previously broken through, and once again sent more Undying Spirit Soldiers charging through that breach. At the same time, the Undying Spirit Soldiers that had already rushed through began attacking the true body of the heaven-and-earth core. The Undying Spirit Soldiers bore the power of death; while corroding the true body of the heaven-and-earth core, they also invaded its interior and attacked the rule lifeform hidden within.
The rule lifeform in the heaven-and-earth core reacted and began to counterattack; all of its offense and defense were realized through rules. The Undying Spirit Soldiers attacking the heaven-and-earth core were silently transferred away, reappearing in the distance, and during the transfer they suffered lethal blows. The rule lifeform was extremely fast; the number of Undying Spirit Soldiers besieging the heaven-and-earth core dropped sharply.
Lin Moyu once more took out a corpse. Heaven-Burst Earth-Rend! The corpse turned to nothingness, and the heaven-and-earth core exploded again; the cracks upon it multiplied, and if this continued a few more times, the entire heaven-and-earth core would likely shatter. The heaven-and-earth core was powerful in that it bore the rules, yet its body itself was fragile and easy to damage.
Flame flashed in Lin Moyu's hand as the World-Burning Fire leapt through the breach and finally landed upon the heaven-and-earth core, beginning to refine it. The rule lifeform was frightened and screamed without cease, its shrill cries ringing unendingly within the soul. The World-Burning Fire did not spare it in the least and continued to burn. It tried to use the rules to transfer the World-Burning Fire away, but failed; the World-Burning Fire had already taken firm root in the heaven-and-earth core and could not be moved so easily.
The heaven-and-earth core hummed as the World-Burning Fire seeped into every crevice, boring inward until it touched the rule lifeform hidden within. The World-Burning Fire shrouded it completely; the rule lifeform had nowhere to flee and nowhere to hide, with no possibility left except to be refined. Lin Moyu let out a light breath. It truly was not easy to deal with. Dealing with a rule lifeform was not something that could be accomplished by brute force alone—unless his brute force could ignore the rules themselves, and at least for now he had not reached that level.
The fate of the heaven-and-earth core was already decided; from here on it was only a matter of time. Lin Moyu no longer paid attention to it, instead pondering over what he had just seen and gained. Just now, when he had first used Heaven-Burst Earth-Rend, on the surface, whether in process or effect, it had seemed no different from Corpse Explosion. But what Lin Moyu saw was not only the surface, but also the core.
The two arts were of one lineage; Heaven-Burst Earth-Rend was the sublimation of Corpse Explosion. It could not only detonate corpses, but also detonate all things under heaven and earth. Corpse Explosion contained only death, whereas Heaven-Burst Earth-Rend carried new life within death. Just now, when he detonated the corpse, Lin Moyu had sensed a faint strand of vitality. At that time he had felt that, while detonating the corpse, he could make use of that strand of vitality to create and gestate a lifeform.
The lifeform thus nurtured would be linked to the corpse in countless subtle ways and could even be regarded as the corpse's reincarnation. Naturally, such gestation would not easily succeed—the probability was low—but it could indeed be done. The main issue was that the vitality in a single corpse was too weak, so weak he had almost failed to sense it.
Thinking of the information he had obtained when he first comprehended the Heaven-Burst Earth-Rend art: if what he detonated was not a corpse but an entire heaven-and-earth, then could the colossal vitality contained within that heaven-and-earth allow it to be rekindled from dead ashes and undergo a second gestation?
Thought flickered in Lin Moyu's gaze. It was said that there was a divine beast that could be reborn in fire. The Hongmeng Gemstone spoke, "The divine beast you speak of should be the phoenix." Many heavens-and-earth had nurtured lifeforms called phoenixes, and phoenixes did indeed possess the ability to undergo nirvana in fire. However, the conditions were extremely harsh; at the very least, they could not be utterly dead. Once truly dead, they likewise could not undergo nirvana.
Lin Moyu continued, "Divine beasts are also products nurtured by heavens-and-earth. In that case, could a heaven-and-earth itself also possess such an ability?" The Hongmeng Gemstone was startled. "Master, I feel like you're thinking of something outrageous again."
Lin Moyu went on muttering to himself, "The evolution of a heaven-and-earth in the beginning stems from a great explosion. If I detonate the remnants of a heaven-and-earth and let it begin evolving anew… At the start of its evolution, vast amounts of Primordial-Heaven Qi would be born. If, within Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, I evolve a new heaven-and-earth and, at the very moment its evolution begins, devour and fuse it, I can obtain a vast amount of Primordial-Heaven Qi."
On hearing Lin Moyu's words, the Hongmeng Gemstone was clearly frightened. Lin Moyu's idea could no longer be described as merely bold—it was downright monstrous. To bring a newly evolving heaven-and-earth into his own heaven-and-earth, then merge it into his own—so that all the Primordial-Heaven Qi born in that new heaven-and-earth would belong entirely to his own heaven-and-earth. The Hongmeng Gemstone really wanted to ask: how did its master even come up with such a ferocious idea?
After thinking it over again and again, Lin Moyu felt this method should be feasible. At once his will moved as he gave an order to the World-Burning Fire, not allowing it to refine the entire heaven-and-earth, at least leaving him the remains of the heaven-and-earth core. The World-Burning Fire slowed, its refinement gradually easing. A seven-cycle heaven-and-earth was enough for the World-Burning Fire to feast upon for quite a while.
The rule lifeform hidden in the heaven-and-earth core did not escape in the end; it died within the heaven-and-earth core, all its power reverting to rules and returning to the heaven-and-earth core. The refinement continued. The heaven-and-earth roared, and tsunamis rose in the distance; this heaven-and-earth composed purely of sea was collapsing along with the World-Burning Fire's refinement.
The collapse quickly spread to where Xunzhi True Lord was. His half soul, together with that sea-wax body, shattered along with the heaven-and-earth. In Xunzhi Heaven-and-Earth, Xunzhi True Lord suddenly let out a muffled groan, his aura dropping sharply. The fall of that half of his soul had inflicted no small damage upon him. But Xunzhi True Lord felt no sorrow at all; instead, joy appeared on his face. "Brother Lin has done it. This old man has finally gained freedom."
Beside him, the Po-Cang Emperor said, "Then are you planning to leave?" Xunzhi True Lord nodded. "Better to die than go on living like this. But before I die, I will hand this heaven-and-earth over to Brother Lin as repayment for his kindness." The Po-Cang Emperor said, "Are you truly not at all interested in what lies beyond the Life-Forbidden Zone?"
Xunzhi True Lord shook his head. "What if I'm interested, what if I'm not? That is not something I need concern myself with." The Po-Cang Emperor gave a light cough. "What I mean is, don't go and die just yet. You can come stay inside the Po-Cang Crystal. If, one day, Brother Lin truly steps past the Life-Forbidden Zone, we can also take a look at the scenery there."
"Scenery…" Xunzhi True Lord fell into thought; his heart was somewhat moved.
The seven-cycle heaven-and-earth continued to collapse. Outside the heaven-and-earth core, countless points of light appeared, each a tiny shard of rule crystal. While devouring and refining the power of the heaven-and-earth, the World-Burning Fire was also purifying and producing rule crystals. It did not need the power of rules; all power that passed through its refinement would turn into source power. Lin Moyu, however, needed rule crystals, so it refined and purified the excess rule power into rule crystals.
Lin Moyu collected all of the refined rule crystals. These rule crystals would become nourishment for Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, strengthening the rules within Yushen Heaven-and-Earth. The collapse of the heaven-and-earth continued; in only a dozen or so days, the collapse had spread close to the heaven-and-earth core. A spatial passage revealed itself, with remnants of Xunzhi True Lord's soul-bridge still present, becoming Lin Moyu's path back.
This passage would not last long and would soon disappear. If Lin Moyu could not return in time—in just a few breaths—then he would never be able to go back. "Go!" Lin Moyu gave a low shout and flew toward the passage. As he entered the passage, the World-Burning Fire completed its final refinement and flew over carrying the heaven-and-earth core, now several times smaller.
Lin Moyu told it to leave the heaven-and-earth core behind, and the World-Burning Fire obeyed. Although the heaven-and-earth core that fell into his hands was only a hollow shell, its internal power almost entirely refined away, at least it still existed. Lin Moyu rushed into the passage with the heaven-and-earth core and sped forward within it, while the passage behind him shattered at a terrifying speed, unleashing astonishing destructive power as it collapsed.
Lin Moyu vaguely glimpsed the pitch-black void outside the spatial passage. Within that void radiated the power of annihilation—that was the Life-Forbidden Zone, capable of erasing any living being that entered it. If he was even one step too slow, he would fall into the Life-Forbidden Zone, body and Dao both annihilated. The Life-Forbidden Zone was somewhere he had to go sooner or later—but not now.
Lin Moyu kept accelerating, not daring to pause for even a single step. Only when he drew near to Xunzhi True Lord's heaven-and-earth, with the power of a heaven-and-earth supporting him, did the rate of collapse behind him finally slow. Lin Moyu let out a breath of relief and only then spared a glance at the seven-tiered pagoda resting in his hand. The seven-cycle heaven-and-earth had already collapsed; as the former heaven-and-earth core, the seven-tiered pagoda could now only be considered the corpse of that seven-cycle heaven-and-earth. Lin Moyu had great use for this corpse—it concerned one of his outrageous ideas.
Putting away the seven-tiered pagoda, a mass of blazing flame appeared in his palm. The color of the World-Burning Fire was a few shades deeper than before, its aura become even more profound. Through this bout of absorption and refinement, the World-Burning Fire had grown much stronger; if he had not ordered it to absorb a little less, it would have become stronger still. The Hongmeng Gemstone suddenly spoke. "Why does the power of the World-Burning Fire feel somewhat like the annihilation power inside the Life-Forbidden Zone?"
Lin Moyu shook his head. "The power within the Life-Forbidden Zone, I call annihilation power. It can obliterate and erase all living beings, but its erasing effect on things that are not living is not as strong. Furthermore, my World-Burning Fire can refine both heaven and earth; it is not merely simple annihilation. It is fundamentally different from the Life-Forbidden Zone, and I feel the level of the World-Burning Fire is no lower than that of the Life-Forbidden Zone.
"The Life-Forbidden Zone is called a Life-Forbidden Zone mainly because it targets life. An ordinary supreme powerhouse cannot live more than a few breaths in the Life-Forbidden Zone, yet a piece of Supreme-level material can remain within it for nearly half a day. The difference between the two is obvious, so the power of the Life-Forbidden Zone is aimed squarely at living beings.
"The World-Burning Fire can target living beings and also refine heavens-and-earth; its scope of effect is broader than that of the Life-Forbidden Zone. Right now the World-Burning Fire has not yet sublimated to its peak; by then, it may truly surpass the Life-Forbidden Zone."
The Hongmeng Gemstone could not see through the origins of the World-Burning Fire at all; it only felt that the World-Burning Fire was incredibly, incredibly powerful. The current World-Burning Fire could refine a Supreme's soul in an extremely short time—by that alone, Lin Moyu already stood in an invincible position within the Supreme realm.
At last he left the spatial passage and returned to Xunzhi Heaven-and-Earth. The Po-Cang Emperor and Xunzhi True Lord were both smiling as they looked at Lin Moyu. Xunzhi True Lord said to Lin Moyu, "Many thanks, Brother Lin, for allowing this old man to regain his freedom."
Looking at his expression, Lin Moyu could roughly guess a few things. "Senior Xunzhi, you've thought it through, haven't you?" Xunzhi True Lord nodded. "I have. Originally, this old man intended to go and die, but now I also want to go with this old fellow and see scenery we've never seen before."
The Po-Cang Emperor muttered, "You're at least a supreme powerhouse; stop always thinking about dying. It was one thing if you weren't living happily before, but now stop entertaining such thoughts." Lin Moyu added, "As long as you live, there's hope. Perhaps one day, Senior Xunzhi can stand at the peak once more."
If Xunzhi True Lord were to just die like this, it would truly be too great a pity. Now, after the Po-Cang Emperor's persuasion, his willingness to go on living could not be better. If Lin Moyu later had any questions about the path of destiny, he could consult him at any time—there was no downside to him. As for words about returning to the peak, those were only words; the likelihood was not great. Xunzhi True Lord's heaven-and-earth had already collapsed, and for a supreme powerhouse, his heaven-and-earth was his very foundation. With his foundation shattered, it was nearly impossible for him to reach the peak again.
Xunzhi True Lord said, "I will wait inside the Po-Cang Crystal together with this old fellow for Brother Lin's good news. This old man possesses nothing much, only a few small things I can give Brother Lin. Brother Lin, there is no need to be polite—just accept them." Now, any external objects were indeed of no use to Xunzhi True Lord. Lin Moyu understood this and did not stand on ceremony. "Then many thanks, Senior."
Xunzhi True Lord said, "First is this soul crystal. Within it are this old man's insights into the path of destiny. If little friend has time, you can look at it; it may be of help. Second is this heaven-and-earth. Although it has collapsed, it still has some use. Little friend can further refine it."
Xunzhi True Lord split off another wisp of soul, condensing it into a soul crystal and handing it to Lin Moyu. Within this soul crystal were his insights into the path of destiny. On the path of destiny, he had already surpassed the heaven-and-earth he resided in and could even see destiny beyond his heaven-and-earth. His insights were an unparalleled treasure to anyone cultivating the path of destiny. Even if one was not cultivating the path of destiny, one could still refer to it, gaining understanding of rules and drawing inferences by analogy.
As for this heaven-and-earth, it was already useless to Xunzhi True Lord, but after all it was one of his third- or fourth-cycle heavens-and-earth; his willingness to give it away so generously was indeed rare. Xunzhi True Lord forcibly severed his connection with his heaven-and-earth and dragged his remnant soul into the Po-Cang Crystal, not forgetting to tease the Po-Cang Emperor as he went. "You now have only a single strand of consciousness left—this old man is still better off."
The Po-Cang Emperor retorted without the slightest politeness, "Better off or not, you still have to borrow my place to live." Xunzhi True Lord chuckled. "You're the one who invited me. Now, even if you want to kick me out, you can't." A supreme powerhouse's skin was thick. Xunzhi True Lord now counted as a forceful tenant; getting him to leave was basically impossible.
The two old fellows bickered their way into the Po-Cang Crystal, neither yielding to the other. Lin Moyu smiled, feeling that this was pretty good—having someone to talk to was always better than being alone. The World-Burning Fire flew out once more and began refining Xunzhi Heaven-and-Earth. As before, Lin Moyu instructed the World-Burning Fire to leave behind the empty shell of the heaven-and-earth core.