The Demonic Grotto lay deathly still, silent through the ages.
The Purgatory earth stretching for tens of millions of miles lay heavy and still as primordial cold iron, the entire space sealed tight by supremely dense deathly energy of annihilation.
No wind stirred waves, no clouds veiled the sky, no creatures moved, and no Great Way shifted.
From beginning to end, this hopeless land, sealed by an Overgod for hundreds of millions of years, held only eternal darkness and cold.
The supremely gentle, perfected Death Law filling the sky resembled an ancient river of the Way flowing quietly.
Again and again, it gently washed through Shiheng's flesh and skin, meridians and bones, and even the deepest origin of his divine soul.
The supreme, perfected resonance of the Way nourished him silently, constantly tempering and consolidating his limit at the forty-nine-point-nine level of Midgod.
At the same time, wisps seeped into his divine soul, patiently nourishing and nurturing the weakest of his four origins sharing one source: his Life Law origin, which had yet to reach Midgod.
Shiheng stood quietly with his eyes closed at the core of the Demonic Grotto, his body and mind empty, all stray thoughts gone.
His Dao Heart remained as firm as an ancient divine mountain, and he always abided by his supreme, inviolable rule of cultivation.
All four aspects shared one source and one rank. If one failed to advance, all remained locked.
He would never covet a momentary surge in cultivation, nor would he use the Perfected Laws to force a breakthrough.
He willingly suppressed his peak reserves, quietly waiting for his Life Law to make up its deficiency, waiting for the day when the Great Ways of all four aspects reached complete balance and shone together without flaw.
Amid this atmosphere of utter,