"This is..."
He murmured, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Congratulations."
A voice came from the Void, gentle and kind. Chen Laoshi looked up and saw an old man with white hair and beard, wearing a plain Daoist robe, standing not far away, smiling at him.
That is the embodiment of the Heavenly Net, outwardly manifested as the Heavenly Venerable Bai Yunzi, Heavenly Venerable of Universal Thunder Transformation.
"Heavenly Venerable." Chen Laoshi quickly bowed.
Bai Yunzi waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to be so polite. He walked up to Chen Laoshi, looked him up and down, and his eyes were full of satisfaction.
"You're very good," he said. "With your Divine Immortal power, you've slain three eight-winged Main God, seventeen six-winged Angel, and countless ordinary Angel. This achievement is enough to advance you to the Golden Immortal."
Chen Laoshi was stunned for a moment. "So I've already accumulated enough merits?"
"Indeed," Bai Yunzi smiled slightly, "Every cultivator who fights for the Heavenly Court and dies for His Majesty has their merits recorded by the Heavenly Net. When their merits reach a certain level, the Heavenly Net will bestow power, directly raising their cultivation level."
Of course, Chen Laoshi knew all this.
He nodded.
Bai Yunzi paused, looking at Chen Laoshi with a hint of admiration in his eyes. "And using war to sustain war, growing stronger with each battle—this is precisely His Majesty's original intention in creating the Heavenly Net. As long as we can hold our ground and kill enough, we will become stronger and stronger. Every enemy we kill is one less enemy, but every one of our deaths can be exchanged for ten stronger newcomers. This is the true advantage of the Spirit Saint Domain, and since it is an advantage, we must make the most of it."
Chen Laoshi was deeply moved as he listened.
He finally understood why His Majesty had ordered them to hold out to the death. It wasn't because they could hold off the enemy, but because they could grow stronger in battle. As long as they held out long enough, the enemy would grow weaker and weaker, while they would grow stronger and stronger. In the end, the balance of power would completely tip in their favor.
"Then..." Chen Laoshi suddenly thought of a question, "If I kill even more, can I continue to be promoted?"
"Of course," the Heavenly King laughed. "Above the Golden Immortal is the Daluo Golden Immortal. Above the Daluo Golden Immortal is the Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal, also known as Saint. As long as you kill enough enemies and accumulate enough merit, the Heavenly Net can continuously help you advance. Theoretically, you can even advance all the way to the Saint realm by killing enemies."
"Of course, this is on the premise that Your Majesty has also reached the realm of Saint."
Chen Laoshi took a deep breath, a fierce light flashing in his eyes.
"Then I..."
"No rush," Bai Yunzi raised her hand, interrupting him. "Take a look at yourself first."
Chen Laoshi was taken aback and looked down at himself.
He then realized that his giant axe had changed.
What was originally just an ordinary immortal weapon now gleamed with a faint golden light, and chaotic energy swirled around its blade. It was no longer an ordinary immortal weapon, but had evolved into an Innate Spirit Treasure.
"Your path has changed," Bai Yunzi said. "Before, when you used the axe, it was just brute force. Now, when you use the axe, you have developed your own path. Sensing it carefully, what kind of path is it?"
Chen Laoshi closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surroundings.
Images flashed through his mind—scenes of the battle he had just fought. Every swing of his axe, every slash, every teleportation, every reaping of an enemy general's life... those images replayed in his mind, faster and faster, clearer and clearer, until finally merging into a dazzling light.
The beam of light transformed into four large characters—
Hunyuan Wuji.
Chen Laoshi opened his eyes, his gaze filled with shock.
"The Dao of Hunyuan Wuji..." he murmured, "Is this my Dao?"
"Not bad." The Heavenly King nodded with a smile. "The Dao that I created for you in battle is the most suitable Dao for you, the Dao that best suits your heart. Hunyuan means the Yuanshi chaos; Wuji means endless and Endless. Your Dao emphasizes breaking through magic with force, using brute force to subdue ten techniques. What do I care about any supernatural powers or spells? I'll just chop with my axe. If I can cleave it open, I win; if I can't, I'll chop again."
He paused, then remarked, "Simple, direct, and domineering. Just your style."
Chen Laoshi remained silent for a moment, then suddenly looked up at the sky and roared.
The roar was like thunder, rolling through the chaos. Countless heavenly soldiers and generals who were fighting heard the roar and couldn't help but look at him, their eyes filled with awe and worship.
"Brothers!"
Chen Laoshi raised his giant axe, the blade gleaming with golden light and surrounded by chaotic energy.
"His Majesty has granted me the advancement to Golden Immortal! His Majesty has granted me the Dao of Hunyuan Wuji! His Majesty has granted me unparalleled combat power!"
"Tell me, how should I repay His Majesty?"
The three thousand heavenly soldiers roared in unison, "Kill the enemy! Kill the enemy! Kill the enemy!"
In the long war, the original 3,000 heavenly soldiers had long been killed or wounded. The later ones were formed through repeated battles, with shortages and replacements accumulating time and time again, and the faces of the soldiers had changed many times over.
War is a war where people die, but the comforting thing is that the heavenly soldiers and generals are all connected to the Heavenly Net. As long as this war is won, they can be resurrected based on their merits accumulated in their previous lives and have another chance to be reincarnated.
"Alright!" Chen Laoshi laughed loudly, "Then follow me and keep killing!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared from the spot.
The next moment, he appeared before a group of powerful figures from the Profound Arms Realm. These powerful figures were engaged in fierce battle with the Heavenly Soldiers, each wielding a divine weapon, their auras sharp as blades. Leading them was a Blade Emperor, whose aura had reached the peak of the Golden Immortal realm.
Without saying a word, Chen Laoshi swung his giant axe and slashed fiercely at the Sword Emperor!
"Die!"
With a single axe strike, the chaotic energy was torn in two! The Sword Emperor was terrified and hastily raised his longsword to defend himself—
"Snap!"
The longsword snapped in two with a crack. The giant axe, its momentum undiminished, cleaved the Sword Emperor in two!
One move, instantly kills a peak Golden Immortal!
Even Chen Laoshi himself was stunned.
He hadn't expected that his strength would increase so much after advancing to the Golden Immortal. If that Blade Emperor had been at the previous Divine Immortal realm, he would have needed at least several hundred rounds to barely defeat him. But now, he had finished him off with a single axe stroke.
"Is this the power of Golden Immortal?" he murmured.
"No."
Bai Yunzi's voice came from the Void, carrying a faint smile, "This is your power. The Dao of Hunyuan Wuji, combined with your reckless fighting style, and your perfect harmony with the Heavenly Net —you are now an invincible being among the Golden Immortal."
Chen Laoshi took a deep breath, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.
"Then I..."
He raised his head and looked at the battlefield where fierce fighting was taking place in the distance.
Countless enemies continued to charge, and countless celestial soldiers continued to fight. There were Blazing Angel, God King, Sword Emperors, and Steel Warships. Each of those enemies was stronger than the ones he had killed before, and each one could potentially take his life.
But he wasn't afraid.
"Bring it on."
He raised his giant axe, its blade gleaming with golden light.
"Let me see how many more I can kill!"
The four forces were engaged in a fierce battle around the Spirit Saint Domain, with Walker from the Eternity to ordinary ones unleashing their full light and heat.
For a time, it was impossible to determine a winner.
However, for the time being, the Spirit Saint Domain is still being suppressed without any doubt.
This is not surprising, given that the three opposing forces are all incredibly powerful and well-established.
However, Logo remained calm, because he believed that as time went on, his side would only grow stronger. After all, compared to the three old men on the other side, his realm had not yet broken through. Once he advanced to the Eternity Realm, everything would be completely changed.
A faint will emerged from somewhere in the chaos.
This will seemed as vast and boundless as the earth, generous and benevolent, capable of bearing everything.
It was the will of the Mother of the Stars, the Earth Mother Goddess, that was projected upon us.
They witnessed the war erupting around the Spirit Saint Domain.
A look of surprise flashed in the eyes of the Mother of the Stars. She murmured to herself, "Fortunately, the Profound Arms Realm also joined this battle of containment. Otherwise, the Divine Realm and the Northern Spirit Empire alone wouldn't have been able to suppress the Spirit Saint Domain for very long. But now, it should be enough."
The voice gradually drifted away into the Chaos Sea.
The will of the Mother of the Stars has dissipated.
Next, He will concentrate all His energy and attention on the Astral Realm.
The Mother of the Stars did not discover it.
After He left, a long time passed, and then, countless imperceptible threads appeared in the Chaos Sea. They twitched slightly before Concealment again. These threads seemed to be integrated with the entire Chaos Sea, inseparable from it, and even Eternity being could not detect them.
But far away in the Spirit Saint Domain.
Within the Heavenly Net, Logo, who was battling three Eternal, had a slight glint in his eyes.
"I see..."
"It's actually this person."
"Heh, as expected, after reaching this level, there are no longer any so-called good or evil people. Everyone has their own interests to pursue, without exception."
Logo had also suspected that the Mother of the Stars was the mastermind behind everything, but now it's completely confirmed.
He wasn't surprised at all.
Only after determining who his true enemy was did a huge weight lift from his shoulders.
"So what is the purpose of the Mother of the Stars going to such lengths to drag me along?"
Logo pondered this in his mind.
Despite battling the three Eternal, he didn't seem to be struggling as much as the outside world perceived him to be.
It was as if he had already broken through that barrier, and what the outside world showed was just an illusion.
"To understand the Mother of the Stars ' intentions, I must first understand my own strengths and the potential threat I pose to Her."
Logo started a brainstorming session, analyzing things frantically.
"My greatest advantage lies in my own path; a perfect path allows me unparalleled growth potential."
"Then there's the control over the very origin of the entire Spirit Saint Domain, which naturally grants me the ability to take the Second Step of Eternity."
"The Second-Step Eternity is already enough to threaten the Mother of the Stars, but she has already reached that level. Whether she has made any progress over the years is still unknown. I am more inclined to believe that she has made some progress, at least reaching the threshold of the Third-Step Eternity."
"If we extrapolate from this, the Mother of the Stars ' goal becomes quite simple."
"Like all Eternal, He certainly desires to ascend to the Third-Step Eternity."
"If I remember correctly, the Mother of the Stars achieved Eternal through Matter System, and then entered the realm of Second-Step Eternity through Law System. In other words, what she lacked was only the missing piece of World System."
"According to the records left by the Spirit Saint, each step forward in the Eternity Realm requires more foundation. If the foundation required to advance from the peak of the Supreme God to the Eternity Realm is 1, then First-Step Eternity to the Second-Step Eternity requires at least three times the previous foundation accumulation."
"However, the foundational accumulation required to Second-Step Eternity to Third-Step Eternity is several times greater."
"In other words, if the Mother of the Stars wants to advance to the Third-Step Eternity, the Inner Universe it needs must be nearly ten times the size of a major plane like the World Tree Universe, the Bottomless Abyss, or the Divine Realm."
Logo was startled by this thought.
He seemed to have figured out what the Mother of the Stars ' purpose was.
Looking across the vast Astral Realm, there is nothing that the Mother of the Stars would even think of.
Perhaps only the Astral Realm itself can be found.
Before gaining control of the Spirit Saint Domain, the very origin of this realm, Logo never believed that the multiverse could be controlled by humans.
But isn't that exactly what he's achieved, becoming the supreme Heavenly Emperor?
So why can't the Mother of the Stars control the entire Astral Realm, subdue its Astral Realm Will, and become the supreme Empress?
Nothing in this world is impossible.
The more Logo explored the mysteries of chaos, the variables of the world, Logo the evolution of order, the more he understood this principle: the world Infinity, Infinity people's hearts, the paths are Infinity, and beyond Miracle... there are still Miracle!
If my guess is true, then if I continue to think along these lines, I seem to understand why the Mother of the Stars is specifically targeting me.
Because the Spirit Saint Domain has already formed a preliminary resonance with the Astral Realm Will, and His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor, Logo, even has the World Tree Universe as an inside agent in the Astral Realm.
This means that the Spirit Saint Domain can quickly merge with the Astral Realm. Once the two realms merge, even if the Spirit Saint Domain is the weaker one, when the World Will collide, Logo, as the world's ruler, will inevitably have a certain amount of authority, which is equivalent to shares in a company.
Logo's acquisition of a stake in the Astral Realm, a colossal corporation, naturally poses a threat to the Mother of the Stars, who is essentially the controlling shareholder.
In this situation, the Mother of the Stars would naturally take preventative measures to nip the danger in the bud.
Thus, this grand spectacle was orchestrated behind the scenes.
No, or rather, it's not entirely the Mother of the Stars's manipulation, because the Divine Realm and the Northern Spirit Empire have long coveted the Heaven-Bearing Reincarnation Disc of the Spirit Saint Domain, a method for distributing pure Power of Faith; they've simply begun to act on it.
However, the Profound Arms Realm must be the work of the Mother of the Stars; otherwise, such a coincidence would not have occurred.
After going through the whole process, Logo suddenly understood and his future became clear.
Now that we know who our final opponent is, everything else is much easier.
We just need to find a way to take them down.