A D7-class alloy spaceship flew quietly through the Dark Universe.
Inside the safety cabin, Jiang Yao sat cross-legged, his expression pained and strange. One moment he looked vicious, the next he was holding back, as if two wills inside him were fighting for control of his body.
In truth, the two wills were indeed entangled in a fierce struggle.
Bizhang was worthy of being a Desolate God of the Tianhuang Ancient Continent. Even as a cub with only the strength of a Star-level being, his will was unimaginably powerful.
Jiang Yao had only opened the "door" to Xu Yuan Space a crack, yet that savage will had eagerly pushed a sliver of itself out.
Even that tiny sliver of Bizhang's will had put Jiang Yao under immense strain.
The gap between their wills was like trying to stop a blade with cotton.
The upside was that wherever this wisp of Bizhang's will passed, some mysterious force seemed to spur changes in his cellular genes. The changes were slow and slight, but even the smallest genetic evolution could trigger a complete transformation throughout his body.
The backlash to his origin and the damage to his potential from cultivating Xu Yuan Opening had all been repaired after he transformed into Bizhang and then reverted to his original form. What was more, his Gene Level had leapt to twice what it had been!
In the end, he exhausted his mental energy and sealed the wisp of will from Desolate God Bizhang back inside Xu Yuan Space.
Jiang Yao's body was now full of energy, but his mind was utterly exhausted. To him, this "willpower showdown"—a game that combined pain, torment, danger, and fear—was downright insane!
But after surviving the ordeal, he could feel the changes in his body and taste the fruits of his torment. He even felt a surge of excitement and the urge to go through it all over again.
Who knew how many times he had silently sworn during his struggle with Bizhang's wisp of will that he would never listen to that pig again and let Bizhang's will out.
But the sensation of his body growing stronger and his cellular Gene Level rising was simply wonderful!
Even if it had only risen by the tiniest bit.
There was something incredible about passively improving the essence of his life bit by bit, without making a major breakthrough.
That wonderful feeling made all the suffering he had endured while cultivating Nine Transformations of the Desolate God feel worthwhile.
Think about it: absorbing Xueluo Crystals had to be painful too. Maybe even more painful than struggling against Bizhang's will.
They said happiness came from comparison. By comparing it to the pain he imagined he would feel while merging with Xueluo Crystals, Jiang Yao found the resolve to go through the ordeal again next time.
Besides, his will had recovered a little, so he could put that energy into cultivating his comprehension of the Origin Laws. That was far more relaxing and pleasant than playing a dangerous "game" of willpower against Bizhang.
As he remembered from the original story, comprehending the Origin Laws seemed to have three stages.
The first was sensing the fluctuations of an Origin Law. Usually, one needed to reach the eighth or ninth level of a Domain to do that.
The second was comprehending a trace of a Universe Origin Law.
The third was crossing the threshold of a Universe Origin Law.
He had already reached the second stage with the Origin Law of Fire. Its fluctuations were also the clearest of all the laws he could sense. If he kept at it, it wouldn't be long before he crossed the threshold.
Although he had a decent ability to sense the fluctuations of the Origin Law of Light, he decided that one bird in the hand was worth two in the bush. He would cross the threshold of the Origin Law of Fire as soon as possible, then consider the rest.
That would bring an immediate boost to his combat strength.
What delighted him was that he had finally developed a Domain while comprehending the Origin Law of Fire. This time, it was a genuine fire-attribute Domain, not one simulated by the power of Xu Yuan Space.
For most members of the Human Race, a Domain was a stepping stone to comprehending the laws. Jiang Yao had managed to do things the other way around.
That also meant he no longer had to worry about being found out, whether in the Virtual Universe or the real world.
Xu Yuan Space was now completely useless, reduced to a prison for Bizhang's will. All its power was being used to suppress him. Jiang Yao couldn't even use Xu Yuan Space's controlling power to simulate a Domain in the real world anymore.
The Taihuan Token Envoy kept nagging in Jiang Yao's ear. "Don't celebrate too soon. Don't forget about your Lingtong Race innate divine ability. Even if I let you activate a divine ability from the source of your race's bloodline right now, it would only become food for Bizhang. So you can only keep pretending, acting as if Bizhang's will is the bloodline divine ability you awakened.
"But I'm warning you!"
The Messenger's expression turned solemn. "Don't release all of Bizhang's will from Xu Yuan Space unless you have no other choice! Only do it when your life is in immediate danger!"
"Are you worried I won't be able to pull it back in?"
"Heh. You have Xu Yuan Space and can control its power, and you've learned the sealing art. Of course you can pull Bizhang's will back in right now, even if it's difficult. But you've experienced transforming into Bizhang, so you should have some idea what he eats, right?"
Jiang Yao's expression turned complicated. "Life?"
Even now, he was still a little afraid of that feeling: losing his sense of self, with nothing left in his mind but hunger and the urge to hunt for food.
"Exactly. Life is his food, and eating helps him grow faster. So you understand how dangerous that is, right?
"Once you release Bizhang's will and it devours your enemy, you'll be next. Devouring life will make him stronger. At your current level, if you can't seal him once his power increases, your time will be up. Ah, no—that's wrong. It'll be the end of your personality and will as Jiang Yao. Your body will still be alive, and it'll live very well.
"And you absolutely mustn't transform into Bizhang. Releasing his will gives you a chance to survive. Transforming into Bizhang is just suicide!"
Jiang Yao rolled his eyes at the Messenger's taunt. "So, for now, Bizhang is my trump card for taking an enemy down with me?"
"You understand perfectly."
"Then I'd also like to know how powerful my 'trump card' is." Jiang Yao added, "I'm just curious. At least I'll know what kind of enemy I can take down with me."
The Messenger raised a pig's hoof to his chin. "Well, Bizhang is currently equivalent to a newborn cub. His level of power is actually about the same as yours, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to cultivate Nine Transformations of the Desolate God.
"But in this world, he's the darling of both the Origin Law of Fire and the Origin Law of Light. Even if it's only his will, once you let him out of Xu Yuan Space and expose him to this universe, he could easily contend with an ordinary Universe-level being.
"If you couldn't control the power of Xu Yuan Space and didn't know the sealing art, a hundred of you wouldn't be able to suppress his will.
"As for a true transformation into Bizhang... Heh, even Domain Lord-level powerhouses would probably face a tremendous threat. But it's never actually happened, so I can't make an accurate estimate."
Even though Jiang Yao had been prepared, he was still taken aback. That meant that if he transformed into Bizhang, he could probably fight at a level two major realms above his own. No wonder Nine Transformations of the Desolate God had been known as invincible among its peers in the early days of the Tianhuang Ancient Continent.
And later, after the rise of the Myriad Races and all kinds of sects, it had lost that title. How monstrously powerful must the techniques that surpassed Nine Transformations of the Desolate God have been?
At that thought, Jiang Yao decided to probe further. "You said before that Nine Transformations of the Desolate God was a cultivation technique the Taihuan Sect's outer disciples could choose. Were there no techniques for inner disciples or even the True Disciples you mentioned? Or can I just not cultivate those better techniques yet?"
Jiang Yao wasn't dissatisfied with Nine Transformations of the Desolate God. Even though he would die if he didn't grow stronger, the struggle against Bizhang's will was painful, and he was constantly at risk of the Tribulation of Lost Self, a terror every bit as dreadful as death.
But he knew exactly how much Nine Transformations of the Desolate God had benefited him.
He didn't know how far its ability to continually raise his Gene Level could take him, but since even a Desolate Beast's minimum level upon adulthood was True God, he doubted the technique's ability to improve his Gene Level would disappoint him.
In Jiang Yao's mind, Nine Transformations of the Desolate God had already become his own Nine Tribulations Secret Manual.
Even if its limit fell short of the Nine Tribulations Secret Manual, if it couldn't surpass the Perfect Gene Level or deal with World Beasts, that was fine. Wasn't Luo Feng there?
The Galaxy Lord would lead the Human Race to its peak, transcend reincarnation, and deal with the World Beasts.
Jiang Yao would be satisfied if he could become a high-ranking member of the Human Race and get close to Luo Feng. Luo Feng would shoulder the greatest dangers, the conflicts below wouldn't threaten him, and he could enjoy eternal life in peace. What could be better?
But a shadow had been lingering in Jiang Yao's heart.
It was the Taihuan Token, his cheat.
The Messenger had first claimed that the underlying structures of the Source World differed too much, so most techniques couldn't be cultivated without modification.
Then he had used the excuse of the Camouflage Domain to guide Jiang Yao into cultivating Xu Yuan Opening, and had him open Xu Yuan Space within his eyes. Next, he had told him to visualize Bizhang's appearance and disguise it as a bloodline divine ability.
Then he had directed him to cultivate Nine Transformations of the Desolate God, only for him to discover that Xu Yuan Space could seal a Desolate Beast's will.
This little pig, who looked so adorably silly, had led him step by step, with one link following another, until he had no choice but to reach his current position.
Of course, he had gained immense benefits, but that didn't erase the strangeness of this so-called Taihuan Token Envoy's behavior.
If the Messenger truly was responsible for teaching the Token Bearer the cultivation techniques passed down by Divine Lord Taihuan, why had he been so evasive?
And there was the fact that the Messenger had initially been so arrogant, constantly going on about "how great Divine Lord Taihuan was" and "how lucky you are to become Taihuan's Token Bearer." But after learning this was a Source World unlike the Tianhuang Ancient Continent, all that arrogance had vanished.
All the strange things had cast a shadow over Jiang Yao's heart.
Of course, even if the Messenger didn't tell him the truth, there was nothing he could do. He could only keep pretending not to notice. He had no room to resist the pig's arrangements or schemes, and he wouldn't resist anyway. This was his only path to becoming an eternal being.
Still, that didn't stop him from testing the waters. After all, he had already been led into cultivating Nine Transformations of the Desolate God and brought to the edge of a cliff, constantly facing the Tribulation of Lost Self. There wasn't much left to fear.
The Messenger fell silent for a moment, then said, "I know you've had doubts for a long time. But I told you before that you and I are in the same boat, and that wasn't a lie. Fine. You've already cultivated Nine Transformations of the Desolate God, so now you can know some things."
As he spoke, the Messenger, who had long seemed lazy and even frivolous, appeared to become an entirely different person.
His appearance hadn't changed at all, but the once adorably silly pig's face no longer seemed cute. It was as if an ancient beast had come back to life. Even in the void space inside the Taihuan Token, his presence left Jiang Yao feeling oppressed and breathless.
What he said next was like a bolt from the blue.
"Do you really believe that story about 'Divine Lord Taihuan suffered a tribulation and died, then sent out 129,600 Taihuan Tokens before his death to pass on his techniques to destined people and cultivate a new Divine Lord Taihuan'?"
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