Chapter 1847 - 1846: Ascension

Main World·Gobi Desert

He Ao’s body emerged from the depths of the world, fine sweat covering his body as he lifted his head to glance at the already dissipated clouds in the sky, then took a deep breath.

The next moment, the scenery around him rapidly changed.

Countless knowledge and memories resonated in his mind.

The soul rules of the Main World were even more profound than he had imagined.

These rules themselves were hidden within the life rules. When He Ao first replicated it, he saw similar rules, although he didn’t understand them, he still moved them to the Martial Arts World.

But obviously, rules related to the soul are similar to the rules of time, both have specific instances of invocation and use, simply replicating them is of no use.

So just now, He Ao delved deep into the world, carefully studying the soul rules of the Main World.

Under normal circumstances, he would need some time to directly understand these rules, so he cut a corner by forcibly merging with these rules using Martial Arts Divine Sense.

In this situation, his understanding of soul rules was greatly enhanced, allowing him to roughly grasp the structure of these soul rules.

The soul rules of the Main World are different from the time rules, they do not need to invoke the universe’s deep-seated rules. Or rather, these soul rules are some modification of the universe’s deep-seated rules, just like how He Ao modified the time rules in the Martial Arts World, so there’s no need for invocation.

This is good news.

If the soul rules also needed to mobilize the foundational rules of the universe, He Ao currently couldn’t make another trip to the Starry Sky to find soul-related rules.

Moreover, he had a vague feeling that the fundamental soul rules of the universe might relate to the Grim Reaper, making it even more challenging to invoke or learn the soul rules.

Through the study of the Main World’s soul rules and comparison with the knowledge of the Netherworld in his memory, He Ao also discovered some additional ’special’ aspects of the Main World.

Under normal circumstances, soul rules should also invoke the fundamental rules of the universe, which results in the souls of the deceased directly entering the Netherworld.

Even worlds like the dungeon world, which have been severed from the Netherworld by the War God, should be invoking the fundamental rules of the universe. It’s just that some rules have glitches and errors, causing souls to dissipate directly within the world.

Whereas the Main World is a complete exception.

This seems to relate to what He Ao had ’seen’ before, about the Main World being hidden in some kind of ’Deep Sea’.

The Main World itself is ’hidden’.

Invoking the basic rules of time is because no one can find the Main World through time rules.

However, if the fundamental soul rules were invoked, the powers of the Netherworld would extend, meaning the Main World would be directly exposed under the gaze of the Grim Reaper.

Even if the Grim Reaper is not interested in the Main World, he could potentially sell its coordinates to divine beings like the God of Machinery in exchange for benefits.

So this path was blocked at the outset.

And after the soul rules of the Main World were stripped from the cosmic fundamental rules, the soul situation in the Main World resembles the dungeon world.

After death, the soul dissipates, then these spirits gather during the birth of newborns to become their soul, throughout which spirits are fully merged with heaven and earth, serving as a measure to suppress mutations.

However, similar to the dungeon world, this rule carries the consequence that the spirits of the deceased might undergo mutations under the influence of Extraordinary Powers, albeit with lower probability.

But another trait of the Main World offset this side effect, that is, most of the time, the Main World nearly lacks Extraordinary Powers.

Or rather, this soul rule is based on the foundational setting of the Main World having no Extraordinary Powers.

The negative effects of the two rules cancel each other out, resulting in no negative effects.

Sometimes the rules of the Main World are overly precise and ingenious, causing He Ao to suspect they were custom-made by someone.

In fact, this probability is not low.

Of course, he couldn’t find evidence.

Even if the rules of the Main World were modified by someone, no signatures were left in the modified rules.

However, at least these soul rules have helped He Ao to some extent.

Because there’s no invocation of cosmic fundamental rules, these rules can be directly replicated in principle.

Just with some ’modifications’.

The soul rules of the Main World are about the soul’s self-reincarnation, capable of operating detached from the external universe.

But regardless of the reincarnation process, there must be souls at the beginning.

These souls won’t appear out of thin air, perhaps the foundational rules of the universe have rules for creating souls out of nothing, but He Ao can’t see those foundational rules.

The soul rules of the Main World are designed for worlds full of life, not empty newly created worlds.

To solve this problem, either directly bring people from outside, let them be born, age, get sick and die, or directly kill them to fill the initial souls.

Or, find a large number of souls and directly fill them into the new world, like digging from the Grim Reaper’s Netherworld, though this way leads to faster death.

So, is there a place where large quantities of deceased souls exist, fully ’free and ownerless’?

Yes, there is.

He Ao lifted his gaze, looking at the surrounding deep forest, in the still world.

Here exists a thoroughly destroyed world where all living things met their end in that destruction.

Yet this is a closed world where the killed and destroyed souls remain ’imprisoned’.

Over prolonged years, these souls have merged into this desolate world.

He Ao lowered his gaze, looking at the silver longsword in front of him.

Round and round, back to the starting point.

Structurally, the new world is still based on the Martial Arts World but also has extensive segregation from it.

Spirits remaining in the Martial Arts World won’t smoothly enter the new world according to rules, which is why the soul rules of the Main World can take effect but the new world still lacks souls.

These rules only apply to the current world.

Under normal circumstances, the rules of the new world can never mobilize the spirits of the Martial Arts World.

Yet coincidentally, He Ao’s mind holds another set of rules related to the soul.

The ’Netherworld’ rules.

Even if He Ao doesn’t fully grasp these rules, the part connecting the new Netherworld to the dungeon world is his handiwork.

The Martial Arts World, in some sense, can also be the ’Netherworld’ of a new world.

As long as these two worlds are linked, establishing the soul channel.

The wooden leaves emitted a faint glow as He Ao’s consciousness and body once again plunged into the world’s deepest depths.

The lines and the framework built from lights reflected again in his pupils.

He reached out, a beam of light fell in the palm of his hand, related to the rules of life and soul.

Void Consciousness fanned out from his palm, entering the light, beginning to ceaselessly modify the structure of the light, reshaping the related rules.

Simultaneously, he reached out, underneath the new framework, around the framework penetrated by grey cracks, a repaired light flew by.

He Ao quickly reshaped the structure of this light, erasing the repaired portions, restoring it to its damaged state.

Then he quickly manipulated several other damaged lights, reshaping their structure, enabling these lights to inherit the intelligence of the light he just stripped.

Under the power of the Eternal Silence Mark, the number of rules in the Martial Arts World is limited.

To infuse a new rule, He Ao must streamline the structure of other rules to add a new one.

Once everything was done, He Ao picked up the incomplete light again and began crafting new rules onto it.

Then he carefully released the light, allowing it to float back to the side of the Eternal Silence Mark.

Soon, this light embedded itself into the incomplete framework.

The gray fissure shimmered but showed no further change.

Then, He Ao shifted his gaze to the new framework.

With the flicker of that framework, an invisible radiance spread down from the new frame, connecting to the incomplete frame below.

This is the link between the new world and the Martial Arts World.

He Ao fixed his gaze firmly on the radiance.

This radiance was purely ’extraneous,’ and it pointed directly towards the new world.

If this radiance were marked by the Eternal Silence Mark, the severed light might not be limited to this radiance; the new world might also be judged by the Eternal Silence Mark.

And with He Ao’s gaze, the radiance finally connected entirely with the incomplete framework below.

At that moment, the light of the Eternal Silence Mark suddenly blazed.

He Ao’s body instantly tensed.

The invisible radiance appeared extremely fragile under the brilliance of the Eternal Silence Mark, on the verge of being severed at any moment.

But the light of the Eternal Silence Mark flickered a few times, seemed unable to find a target, and gradually settled back down.

Ultimately, the feeble, barely visible invisible radiance still connected the new and old frameworks.

At that moment, He Ao’s body also began to descend to a lower level.

He lifted his gaze, his entire body floating up, returning to the Martial Arts World.

The chill wind rustled through the deep forest, producing a rustling sound.

He Ao looked up, gazing at the desolate world around.

This world was so silent, yet it seemed different from before.

Some kind of dormant essence in the deepest part of this world was now gently stirring.

They had always been there in this world, and now, they awakened.

He Ao’s field of view shifted in an instant, instantly reaching the new world surrounded by oceans on all sides.

He returned to the stone by the shore where he once sat, gazing at the divine giant bird standing before the stone.

The roaring waters flowed past him, the roaring of a great river.

A faint glimmer hid and appeared on the stone beside him.

He Ao raised his head, looking around.

Since He Ao’s last departure, this world had undergone some kind of transformation.

Solid rocks were decaying under the power of time, transforming into soil by the riverbank.

Finally, he withdrew his gaze, looking again at the giant bird before him.

Now, it was time to make the final choice.

If he chose to activate the Soul Rules and complete the last missing piece of this world, he might leverage this new world to enter an even newer domain.

However, he would also be rejected by the Main World, losing the opportunity to unite with the Main World and the chance to become a powerful Usurper God.

But this was not truly a choice.

He Ao lifted his hand, the tips of his fingers glowing, touching the giant bird in front of him.

The brilliant radiance instantly illuminated the space between heaven and earth, then suddenly contracted, merging into the body of the giant bird.

The empty eyes of the giant bird instantly filled with an invisible divine charm. It lowered its head, gazing at He Ao, then bowed its head and gently rubbed He Ao’s palm.

He Ao lifted his head, looking at the mountains and rivers, the sun, moon, and stars before him.

In the next moment, his body shattered suddenly, transforming into a brilliant light falling into the entire world.

The towering mountains, tranquil rivers, surging waves, everything in the world seemed at this moment to possess a certain divine charm.

The noble giant bird raised its head, scanned around with curiosity, then let out a cry like gold and jade clashing, spread its wings, and soared into the sky.

Thunder descended from the firmament, where the sea turned emerald.

The world, like a moved clock hand, experienced the rapid changes of sunrise and sunset, spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Rivers carved mountains into canyons, flowing winds turned giant rocks to dust.

The surging rivers carved vast plains over the earth.

Dust arose from the depths of the sea, then turned green, these greens linking together to form life.

Fishes and giant beasts emerged within the sea.

The first tree rose from the eastern ocean, the burning sun like a fruit on its treetop, where the noble giant bird rested its body.

Then, countless trees spread over the land, covering mountains and plains.

The first fish climbed from the water onto the land, raising a brilliant vitality on earth.

These were contending giant beasts, were creatures tearing each other apart.

Some powerful beasts gained wisdom between heaven and earth, becoming intelligent life. They gathered, dominating the sky, land, and sea, ushering in the era of the first civilization.

Unknown ages later, above a vast plain, ancient stones emitted a faint glow.

The dim void appeared as if permeated, with gray and purple hues of light emerging, which then gathered, as a blurry youth stepped out from the void.

The surrounding beasts, startled by this gathered light, suddenly fled.

He lifted his head, looking around. The once towering stone mountains, over long ages, were erased, leaving only boundless plains.

The ever-changing world.

Time...

While moving the time changes in this new world, he gained a deeper insight into time.

The youth took a step forward, his body rapidly solidifying with his movement.

Something seemed to change around him, but also seemed unchanged.

The startled animals returned naturally, a monkey even climbing onto the youth’s shoulder.

At this moment, the youth stood here, seemingly indistinguishable from the mountains, rivers, and streams around.

He was nature, and nature was him.