Immersive Cultivation

The Silvermoon Fiend was surprised to hear that Hodan wanted another hundred thousand Soul Golden Beads, but he didn't say anything. After all, everyone had their own secrets.

But Hodan couldn't buy that many Soul Golden Beads at Heiyan Castle all at once. It was a hundred-billion-Inkstone transaction, after all, and Silvermoon City didn't usually sell that many in an entire month. A god's life was infinite, but his wealth was not. Most gods chose to spend time slowly cultivating their souls to perfection. Someone like Hodan, who used money to force his soul to perfection, was following the approach of a scion from a major clan.

The Silvermoon Fiend had come by this method as well, thanks to the Purple Blood Fiend.

The Silvermoon Fiend didn't mind spending such a small sum, but seeing Hodan's serious expression, he accepted the Inkstones Hodan offered. He didn't need to handle the matter himself, of course. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned a servant from the City Lord's Mansion and handed over the Space Ring Hodan had given him, instructing the servant to purchase and arrange for the supplies. He also told the servant to deliver them to the house where he used to live once everything was ready. After giving those instructions, the Silvermoon Fiend wasted no more time and led Hodan to his former residence.

They soon arrived at the Silvermoon Fiend's former home, not far from the City Lord's Mansion. It was a traditional Chinese-style courtyard, about three mu in size. There was a pond and a garden in front, along with various ornamental rocks. A small bridge over the pond led to the rear courtyard, where people actually lived. There stood a two-story pavilion. The whole place was peaceful and secluded, putting one at ease. It was truly a lovely place.

The Silvermoon Fiend pointed to the pavilion and said, "This is where I used to live. I became a Seven-Star Fiend here, so I kept the house."

"I set up a magic array inside. The elemental density is more than ten times that of the outside world, which can help someone comprehend the laws more effectively. It's yours now. Here's the deed." After speaking, the Silvermoon Fiend took a deed from his Space Ring. He erased the soul aura on it and said, "Imprint your soul aura on it, and it'll belong to you."

There were quite a few procedures involved in transferring the deed, but as the city lord of Silvermoon City, the Silvermoon Fiend had this much authority. He could simply give his subordinates an order to complete the paperwork afterward.

Hodan took the deed and imprinted his soul aura on it. When he was done, he felt a little dazed. He was now a homeowner in Hell, and could cultivate in peace.

The Silvermoon Fiend said nothing when he saw this. He had once been in Hodan's shoes and knew how difficult it was to own a house in Hell.

The Silvermoon Fiend said, "Focus on your cultivation. If you need anything, you can come to the City Lord's Mansion and find me."

Then he left. As the city lord, he had his own duties to attend to, and he also needed to cultivate.

Hodan came back to himself and hurried to the place he'd been renting to terminate his lease. The receptionist was quite surprised. He'd prepaid a thousand years' rent, but after only a few years, he wanted to leave. Even so, the receptionist processed the termination. Hodan couldn't get his prepaid money back, but he no longer cared about such a small sum.

When Hodan returned to the courtyard, the servant who had gone shopping was already waiting at the gate. As soon as he saw Hodan, the servant handed him a Space Ring and took his leave.

Hodan swept it with his divine sense. Inside were a full 114,000 Soul Golden Beads. It seemed the Silvermoon Fiend had exchanged both the money Hodan paid for the house and the money for the Soul Golden Beads into Soul Golden Beads, then sent them all to him. Hodan wouldn't be short of Soul Golden Beads for a long time. Once again, he had passively accepted a favor from the Silvermoon Fiend.

Hodan entered the pavilion and found that there really was a magic array inside. Under its effects, the elemental density in the house was about twenty times that outside. The elemental density in Hell was already more than a hundred times that of the Material Plane, so here it was two thousand times as dense.

Hodan's Saint Domain True Body immediately found it easier to comprehend the Thunder Element. In an environment with such a high elemental density, he even found the point of compatibility between the Thunder Element and the Swiftness Profound Mystery. For a time, Hodan couldn't spare any thought for anything else. His Thunder God Clone and Saint Domain True Body focused all their efforts on comprehending and fusing the Thunder Mysteries.

As for the Fate God Clone, it focused on absorbing the Soul Golden Beads. Even without having to divide its attention to refine the Soul Essence, there was still a limit to how quickly it could absorb them. The house fell quiet.

Time passed slowly, and Hodan's Divine Clones gradually grew stronger.

Hodan had gained a new insight into cultivating and fusing the Mysteries. If fusing Mysteries was like building a house, then the Mysteries were the materials needed to build it: sand, bricks, rebar, and so on. A god's level was like cement and water.

For a Lowgod, the cement had just been mixed with water, and the two had not yet blended completely or reached their optimal state. By the time a god became a Mid-God, the cement had been thoroughly mixed and its properties had reached their peak. When a god became a Highgod, the cement had already hardened. The hardening process was irreversible, which was why it was best to fuse Mysteries as a Mid-God.

As someone cultivated, he gradually brought these materials to the foundation he had prepared—in other words, the corresponding Law. When a cultivator was at the Saint-level, the Mysteries were scattered materials. Upon becoming a god, one of those materials would be ready, but building a house with just one kind of material was clearly impossible.

Then, as a Mid-God, one had well-mixed cement and could freely add materials to it. Even if some materials weren't available at the time, one could add them once they were ready. But by the time one became a Highgod, the cement had hardened. Adding materials then wouldn't make them stick.

That was why fusing Mysteries as a Highgod was so difficult. To fuse Mysteries, one had to make or find new cement, and only then could one continue building the house. A Mid-God, by contrast, added materials bit by bit to the wet cement from the foundation up and waited for it to harden. Naturally, that was much easier.

Having thought this through, Hodan became even more determined to fuse the Thunder Mysteries while he was a Mid-God. Once he had fused almost all of them, he would cultivate to become a Highgod and, in the instant he advanced, fuse all the Mysteries straight to Paragon. This was the cultivation path Hodan had planned for his Thunder God Clone.

The Four Rules didn't require all this fuss, because the Laws of the World judged them. One could reach Paragon by comprehending them, or remain stuck at Mid-God forever if one failed. The Rules had no concept of fusing Mysteries. One advanced directly from Lowgod to Mid-God, then Highgod, and finally Paragon. Of course, how much strength one could wield depended on one's comprehension of the Rules and whether one had created a suitable ultimate technique.

The Laws of the World wouldn't hold back one's fusion of Mysteries. One's level of comprehension was what it was. Unlike the elemental laws, there was no way to sense one's own cultivation progress, know how many Mysteries one had fused, or estimate one's strength. The Rules were judged entirely by the Laws of the World. As for one's strength, one had to compare it with others.

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