The initial stage had been fraught with difficulties.
Qin Zhao's first task was to use the Gravity Space profound mystery as the core and simulate a powerful, controllable Gravitational Field. This was no simple matter of applying gravity. He needed to create a stable "domain" whose internal rules of gravity he could dictate.
Just this first step took him nearly a year. He constantly adjusted his Origin Force output and altered the Gravitational Field's structure, failing again and again in his experiments. Sometimes the gravity spiraled out of control and wreaked havoc on the surroundings; other times, the Gravitational Field's structure proved unstable and collapsed in an instant.
After finally stabilizing the Gravitational Field, the next step was to incorporate the Pulse of the Earth. He needed to make the field more than static, giving it a unique oscillation frequency, like the breathing of the earth. These oscillations could disrupt the energy circulation and Soul Will of anyone trapped inside, while also resonating with the material that would later take shape and strengthening the prison.
This step was even more delicate. If the oscillations were too fast, the Gravitational Field would disperse; if they were too slow, they would be ineffective. He needed to find the perfect balance! To that end, Qin Zhao drew on the exquisite control of force transmission in the Shockwave secret art. He also referenced the way Earth Pulse Guard handled the condensation of Earth Element and structural stability, hoping to fine-tune the Gravitational Field's oscillations by combining the strengths of both secret arts.
The process of comprehending these principles was incredibly tedious, and progress was painfully slow. More often than not, an idea that seemed workable failed in practice due to energy clashes, structural instability, or the rejection of one Law by another. But Qin Zhao didn't lose heart.
The insight he had gained from the Emperor Flow Nectar, along with the more powerful Soul Will he possessed as a Midgod, allowed him to learn from every failure and adjust his approach. The Law of Earth mark between his brows also let him sense more clearly how well each energy combination aligned with the Laws of Heaven and Earth.
Two years passed as he fine-tuned the field. Only after the Gravitational Field and the Pulse of the Earth had initially merged, forming a stable, constantly oscillating Gravity Space, did Qin Zhao finish constructing its basic framework.
Next came the most crucial step—condensing matter and building the prison.
He activated the Earth Element profound mystery, drawing on the Earth-style energy in the universe and trying to imitate the condensation of solid "black stone" within the Gravity Space. However, one problem after another arose. Inside the powerful, oscillating Gravitational Field, condensing Earth-style energy became extremely difficult. It would be torn apart by gravity almost as soon as it gathered, or shattered by the oscillations of the pulsating field.
He hit another bottleneck. For an entire year, the stones he managed to condense and stabilize inside the Gravity Space simply couldn't match the effect of Soul Stone.
"Looks like simple condensation won't work..." Qin Zhao paused his cultivation and fell into thought. Soul Stone wasn't ordinary stone. It contained peculiar Law patterns and was seamlessly integrated with the entire Gravitational Field. Since he had no Soul Stone to use as a reference, it was unrealistic to expect to achieve the same effect as Linley's Black Stone Prison.
"Law patterns... integrated..." A spark of inspiration flashed through Qin Zhao's mind. "Why do I have to condense the material first and then incorporate it into the domain? Why can't the domain itself naturally give rise to matter? If I do that, I can simply add soul techniques directly to the domain!"
He changed his approach. Instead of forcibly condensing earth and stone from the outside, he tried to inscribe the Law patterns of the Earth Element profound mystery directly onto the force-field structure formed by the fusion of Gravity Space and the Pulse of the Earth!
He would make the Law of Earth an inseparable part of the force field, giving the field itself the properties of "matter"! This would also lay a solid foundation for adding Soul Attacks to the force field in the next step!
The idea was extremely bold, and putting it into practice was even harder. Combining and interlocking different Law runes at the microscopic level required a deep understanding of the essence of each Law, as well as powerful Soul Control.
These five years were the most grueling of Qin Zhao's life. He barely slept, working in tandem with his Earth God Clone to make deductions. He simulated billions of combinations in the Virtual Universe, and in reality, countless clashes between Law patterns blew up his force field and left him covered in dust.
King Lanchen offered him guidance several times during this period, mainly on techniques for stably interlocking Law patterns and on how to better draw upon the power of the Law of Earth Origin to stabilize the structure, using the authority granted by his recognition of the Law of Earth.
Finally, in the eighth year since he had begun creating the technique, a breakthrough came.
During one experiment, when specific Earth Element runes were successfully embedded at several key points in the oscillating Gravitational Field, the entire force field shuddered. It was no longer an intangible field; a metallic sheen, like that of obsidian, spread across it! A solid, weighty aura that seemed to imprison everything filled the air. Within the field, space seemed to solidify, and invisible walls formed naturally.
Although this "material barrier" was still unstable and collapsed after only a few seconds, he was on the right track!
Over the next two years, Qin Zhao continued to refine the structure, strengthen the stability of the interlocking runes, and adjust the energy output. He even began trying to incorporate a hint of his understanding of the Teleportation profound mystery of the Law of Space. He wasn't doing this to teleport, but to use the stabilizing effect of the Law of Space to make the interior of the Black Stone Prison more resilient and harder to break through by brute force.
The tenth year. Thick Earth Continent, inside Qin Zhao's private cultivation grounds.
He hovered in midair, his gaze sharp. With a thought, the Midgod Earth Divine Power within him joined forces with his Spiritual Force, drawing upon the Law of Earth Origin in the universe.
"Vmmm—"
A strange, dark-yellow domain abruptly expanded from him, instantly covering a radius of a thousand meters! Within it, the light dimmed and the air grew sluggish as an immense pressure appeared out of nowhere, as if countless mountains were pressing down on anyone inside. The pressure wasn't constant; it pulsed in a strange rhythm, like the heartbeat of the earth, making blood surge and souls tremble.
Even more astonishingly, along the edge of the dark-yellow domain, walls as solid as black crystal appeared out of thin air! Complex, earth-yellow Law Secret Patterns flowed across them, perfectly fused with the entire oscillating Gravitational Field. The walls sealed off the whole area, cutting it off from the outside world.
Black Stone Prison, complete!
It was only a rough first draft, with plenty of aspects still needing improvement, such as its expansion speed, energy consumption, and ability to restrain stronger enemies. But its core framework was in place. It perfectly combined the powerful restraint of Gravity Space, the dual soul-and-matter attacks of the Pulse of the Earth, and the physical barrier formed by Earth Element.
Qin Zhao could feel that his self-created Black Stone Prison far surpassed any secret art he had cultivated before in its ability to trap and weaken enemies.
It was still nowhere near perfect. It consumed enormous amounts of energy, could only be maintained for a limited time, and was less effective against opponents with exceptionally strong Soul Will. It was also leagues away from Linley's Black Stone Prison, which could trap and kill Highgods. But it truly had powerful restraining, suppressive, and internal attack capabilities. This marked Qin Zhao's first solid step along the path of creating his own secret arts.
"Ten years of hard work, and it wasn't for nothing," he murmured. "In terms of restraint and suppression, this Black Stone Prison's prototype is far beyond anything I've seen before. If I unleash it without warning, I doubt anyone at Universe Level could escape. Even Domain Lords would be severely restricted."
And this was only the beginning. Black Stone Prison had enormous room for improvement. For example, how should he incorporate the Vitality profound mystery? Should he turn it into nourishment and healing for himself, or use it to erode his enemies' lives? How could he combine it more effectively with the Law of Space to create an effect similar to spatial confinement? These were all directions he would need to explore in the future.
Regardless, possessing a self-created secret art with such tremendous potential gave him more options in battle and bolstered his confidence.
"Next, I should focus most of my efforts on soul techniques."
Qin Zhao knew very well that Black Stone Prison was only halfway complete. Without the suppression of soul techniques, it couldn't possibly kill multiple enemies as effortlessly as Linley's technique! If he wanted to unleash the Black Stone Prison's true power, he had to complete its soul techniques!
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