Youming Blood Sea!
At a thought, Lei Jun's true body faded from its original location.
Then it appeared elsewhere in the Primordial Wilderness.
It had taken only a thought.
Lei Jun appeared near the Blood Sea!
The moment he arrived,
Lei Jun knew he had come to the right place.
Even if Shen Ni wasn't here and had nothing to do with this place, Lei Jun still wouldn't have come for nothing.
Because the Blood Sea was the most polluted place in the Primordial Wilderness.
No matter the era,
the baleful aura here was always the densest!
Anyway, even if he wasn't taking advantage of Shen Ni, Lei Jun still needed to purify the baleful aura. And what place had more of it than the Blood Sea?
Purifying it here would definitely be more efficient!
After a brief sweep of his senses,
Lei Jun realized the Blood Sea was like a "low-lying basin" in the Primordial Wilderness.
Not a low point in terms of space,
but in terms of spiritual energy.
It lay at the lowest point of the Primordial Wilderness.
So even without anything drawing them in,
any kind of mysterious energy in the heavens and earth of the Primordial Wilderness might pass through this place.
That included baleful aura!
Looking more closely,
he saw that the Blood Sea's waters could actually absorb baleful aura!
Besides making the already polluted Blood Sea even more polluted,
this also gave the Primordial Wilderness a... landfill?
"Mm, that's about the feeling!"
"And it's fully automatic!"
"Though it doesn't absorb the aura very efficiently, it really does work!"
"No wonder Houtu created Reincarnation here!"
Lei Jun gradually understood.
Another idea came to mind.
He spread his Divine Sense across the entire Blood Sea, hoping to find evidence to support it.
If he found it,
there might be a great opportunity!
But after searching all around,
Lei Jun still hadn't found what he was looking for.
That didn't disappoint him, though.
Based on his reasoning, that existence couldn't be anywhere else.
If he couldn't find it now, either his cultivation wasn't high enough for him to sense it,
or...
that existence hadn't taken shape yet?
"Both possibilities are plausible."
"Forget it!"
"I'll wait a while, then investigate carefully once my cultivation improves!"
"For now, the priority is refining the baleful aura!"
"The Boundless Lightning and the Heaven and Earth Furnace should be used at the same time!"
"That's the most efficient way!"
With that,
Lei Jun didn't hesitate any longer.
He used his divine ability.
In an instant,
the Eternal Divine Furnace, vast enough to encompass heaven and earth, appeared once more!
It enveloped the entire Blood Sea.
But Lei Jun wasn't refining the Blood Sea itself. He was refining the baleful aura within it.
Just as before,
he would refine it into pills!
Although it wasn't Wuliang Fierce Shatter, so he couldn't make Small Return Pills,
after the Furnace "returned it to its origin,"
the pills he made
would hardly be ordinary.
They should be powerful medicines in their own right, with wondrous uses!
The key was
that he could keep producing them endlessly.
If the quality wasn't enough,
he could make up for it with quantity.
And if the quantity still fell short, that was fine too. It was better than nothing.
For a time,
the Blood Sea underwent a sudden transformation!
Time flew by.
Several Eons passed.
Lei Jun stayed in the Blood Sea the entire time, without going anywhere.
He did only two things:
one was refining pills,
and the other was searching for clues.
The first went well enough.
After all, Lei Jun had done this before and had experience refining pills.
What's more, these Treasure Pills he was making
weren't as rare as Small Return Pills.
Before long,
once seven Eons had passed, they would probably be ready.
And he wouldn't make just one.
He'd make a whole batch!
But the second task...
didn't go nearly as smoothly.
To be precise, he found nothing at all!
Several Eons passed,
and Lei Jun hadn't found much useful information.
He had come across traces of Shen Ni,
but they weren't any help.
He hadn't come close to finding Shen Ni's true body, either.
Lei Jun felt helpless about it.
"So be it!"
"I'll keep refining the baleful aura. It's not as though this trip was for nothing!"
Meanwhile,
deep in the Blood Sea,
inside an Innate Great Array, a consciousness trembled in fear.
At that moment,
Ming He, still in his Origin state,
was completely dumbfounded.
He was terrified.
He wanted to cry out, but feared disturbing the terrifying existence above the Blood Sea—an existence that could not be known, seen, or spoken of.
All he could do was suppress his fluctuations as much as possible,
hoping not to be discovered.
Or...
to be spared.
In his heart, he kept wailing in despair.
"I'm doomed!"
"Why has the Heavenly Dao set its sights on me? For dozens of Eons!"
"It's over now. Everything's finished!"
"Am I really going to be refined?"
Who could know how Ming He had endured these past years?
Not a moment had passed without him living in fear.
There had been no chance to comprehend the Heavenly Dao or enter seclusion, either.
"No!"
"I can't go on like this!"
Inside the array,
Ming He steeled himself and made a decision that went against his original intentions.
He would stop hiding.
His consciousness reached outward.
He no longer concealed himself,
but instead wanted the being who had descended here to understand his position!
He decided to stand his ground for once!
As though he had made an enormous resolve,
he spoke in a solemn, grave voice.
"Heavenly Dao above, I, Ming He, beg you to spare my life. From now on, I'm willing to worship the Heavenly Dao forever!"
"If this goes on, I... I'm afraid I'll be finished!"
"Waaaah..."
Above the Blood Sea,
Lei Jun suddenly opened his eyes.
His Divine Sense reached upward.
His expression turned peculiar.
Ming He?
Of course Lei Jun knew Ming He existed.
No matter how hard Ming He tried to hide,
he couldn't escape Lei Jun's perception.
Lei Jun also knew that purifying the Blood Sea might cause Ming He's roots to fall away.
Even so, he had chosen to do it.
After all, he and Ming He were neither relatives nor friends.
Nor did they have any Karma connecting them.
Why should he stop purifying the Blood Sea just because Ming He's roots might fall away?
Was it because Ming He had taken shape here?
That made no sense.
Lei Jun could just as well say that purifying the Blood Sea benefited the Primordial Wilderness!
So even though Lei Jun knew this would harm Ming He,
he had no intention of stopping.
If Ming He's words hadn't been so astonishing—and left Lei Jun utterly speechless—he wouldn't even have opened his eyes.
What was that supposed to mean?
He'd spoken with the bravest attitude while saying the most cowardly thing?
No!
It was Ming He. He had actually made a Great Oath!
A Heavenly Dao Great Oath!
At once,
Lei Jun's expression turned strange.
He was utterly speechless.
"Why make an oath out of nowhere?"
"Could you just make a Heavenly Dao Great Oath whenever you felt like it?"
"That would be one thing!"
"But you even swore to the wrong thing!"
"Well, now look what happened. You've summoned the Heavenly Dao!"
At that moment,
the winds stirred and clouds gathered overhead, as if some being
were about to descend!
Ming He had actually summoned the Heavenly Dao with a single sentence!
Rumble!
At that moment,
the winds stirred and clouds gathered between heaven and earth.
In the unseen depths,
a will descended!
This will seemed to be everywhere, encompassing and containing all things.
It possessed nearly infinite power,
yet remained unfathomable!
Mysterious and Profound.
One could only gradually try to fathom it through insight.
The whole process
might not be accurate.
There might be discrepancies.
But this was the only way.
This was the Heavenly Dao Will.
Or rather...
a part of the Heavenly Dao's will!
In an instant,
Lei Jun used this as a basis to compare his own cultivation with the Heavenly Dao's.
Then he reached a conclusion.
Though he had already known it all along,
"Just as I thought!"
"The Heavenly Dao is far above me!"
"Even with only part of its will, its realm surpasses mine!"
"The gap between us
is like that between Hunyuan and those below Hunyuan!"
Compared with Hunyuan,
all those below Hunyuan were mere ants.
From this,
one could see just how vast the gap was between Lei Jun's realm and the Heavenly Dao's.
It could not be made up for with numbers.
Lei Jun remained completely calm. He wasn't worried that the Heavenly Dao would attack him.
Because although the Heavenly Dao's realm and cultivation were far above his,
the two were actually on equal footing.
The Heavenly Dao could not govern Lei Jun.
It had no power to restrain him.
After all, Lei Jun also had the Honghuang System's "Permission Right"!
Compared with the Heavenly Dao, it might be meager,
but having it was enough.
For instance, right now,
Lei Jun did nothing else. He merely revealed his "Permission Right"—in other words, his Source of Blessing.
The Heavenly Dao Will seemed to freeze.
Normally,
after responding to a Great Oath and descending, it should fulfill the oath-maker's request,
thereby making the oath binding.
But now, that request could not be fulfilled.
Suppress Lei Jun?
That wouldn't work.
Because if it attacked Lei Jun, it would find that the Primordial Wilderness Power could not gather.
Leave?
That was even less of an option.
If it did that, what would become of the Heavenly Dao's dignity?
But it couldn't advance, and it couldn't retreat.
Surely it couldn't just stay there?
Believe it or not,
the Heavenly Dao really did stay there—or rather, it "stuck"!
It had "crashed"!
It had encountered an unexpected error, causing its "program" to freeze completely!
It didn't know what to do next!
For a time,
the atmosphere grew increasingly strange.
The Heavenly Dao was fine.
It was just a "machine." Even in this situation, it wouldn't feel awkward.
Lei Jun was fine too.
The scene was a little bizarre, but it had no effect on him.
But on the other side,
Ming He was mortified!
Deep within the Blood Sea,
Ming He was
completely dumbfounded.
He seemed to have frozen too, standing motionless on the spot.
What was going on?
Had the Great Oath been fulfilled?
But...
the Blood Sea was still being purified!
That was right.
Lei Jun ignored the Heavenly Dao.
Even after the Heavenly Dao's will descended, the Furnace didn't stop.
Clearly,
the Great Oath hadn't been fulfilled.
But what left Ming He speechless was that the oath seemed...
to have already taken effect?
At that moment, if there was any change to speak of,
it was that deep within his Origin, there seemed to be an extra set of "Shackles"!
They bound him to worship the Heavenly Dao from then on!
He couldn't break the oath!
Otherwise, he would be punished!
Huh?
The restraints were in place?
But the oath's terms hadn't been fulfilled?
Wasn't this screwing me over?
At that moment,
Ming He nearly broke down!
Just then, another will appeared.
It entered the grand formation.
This will was equally Mysterious and Profound.
It was quite similar to the Heavenly Dao,
and just as difficult to fathom.
Before Ming He could react, a Dao Sound rang out.
"The Heavenly Dao has only just been born, and its rules are incomplete!"
"The Great Oath you made was the first grand vow in the Primordial Wilderness. A few mishaps along the way wouldn't be impossible!"
"Or perhaps you obtained some opportunity you shouldn't have!"
"So you happened upon a loophole that might not appear once in a billion Eons!"
"Should I say you're lucky, or unlucky?"
Did that even need saying?
Of course he was lucky!
Ming He was about to answer.
But then his Origin trembled with fear.
He was utterly shocked.
It was one thing for the Heavenly Dao Will to enter the grand formation.
But how could another being get in?
And this was clearly more than just a will—it was a consciousness!
What did that mean?
It meant this was a cultivator!
Had an Innate God taken form already, at this stage?
And with cultivation this profound?
In an instant,
Ming He forgot all about the Great Oath and the Blood Sea water that was still being purified.
He only wanted the answer to one question.
Then he asked it.
"May I ask who you are, Senior?"
After a brief pause,
Lei Jun spoke in an even tone.
"My name is Lei Jun. You may also call me..."
"Lei Jun Tianzun!"
Before you continue