Zhao Yuanzu took the sandalwood box but did not open it immediately. He lowered his head to study the golden pattern on its lid, sensing the vast, ancient aura faintly seeping through the box.
His fingers brushed lightly across the lid. His face remained expressionless, but desire slowly burned in the depths of his eyes.
"Of course I understand the risks." Zhao Yuanzu's voice was so flat it bordered on cold. "Breaking through to the Divine Domain requires fusing your own domain with the power of rules, transforming it from an ordinary transcendent domain into a divine domain."
"This process requires comprehending at least one complete thread of the power of rules, and that is precisely the unbridgeable gulf between the half-step Divine Domain and the true Divine Domain."
"Without the power of rules, no matter how strong a domain becomes, the change is merely quantitative. Only with the power of rules can a domain undergo a true qualitative transformation."
"But the power of rules is itself a double-edged sword. Master it, and you ascend to the heavens in a single step. Fail, and you are shattered to pieces."
Zhao Yuanzu gently set the sandalwood box on the table and looked at Su Wanqian. "Do you know why I decided to take this risk?"
Su Wanqian did not answer.
He continued, "Brother Su, you and I both know that no matter how powerful someone in the half-step Divine Domain is, they merely live a few centuries longer than others."
"Centuries of accumulation, centuries of refinement, yet in the end, there is still no escaping the fate of declining vitality."
"You chose to keep this bone until now for no reason other than that you dared not use it yourself. Your body cannot withstand the backlash of the rules. You know