Deity Heart of Space

Cloud Sea Prefecture City, Qie Residence, the training grounds.

Just as Qie Yunzhou had guided him many years ago, Qie Qiong was now guiding Qie Yunzhou in his cultivation. This scene had played out countless times over the past twenty years.

Qie Qiong stood in the middle of the grounds with his hands behind his back. Opposite him, Qie Yunzhou wore a focused expression, space fissures appearing around him in waves.

It was unmistakably the Grade Three True Meaning Embryo of Space Cutting.

Back when he was held under house arrest at the Thunder Sacred Land, Qie Yunzhou had already reached the Second Level of the Wind of the Myriad Existences Realm.

Twenty years ago, after escaping, his thoughts had become clear, and he had reached the Third Level.

By rights, from then on he should have cultivated step by step until he mastered a Grade Six True Meaning: the True Meaning of Wind.

But over these past twenty years, as if years of accumulation had finally borne fruit, he had directly used the mysteries of wind to grasp the embryo of the True Meaning of Space Cutting.

His cultivation path resembled the one Chi Qiubai had displayed in the Xia Clan's Material World in Qie Qiong's memories.

Looking at it this way, if not for Qie Qiong's arrival, his father would have been the most talented person in the Cang Yun Material World in ten thousand years.

After all, grasping a True Meaning Embryo meant one was certain to master the complete True Meaning.

And since it was a lower True Meaning of the True Meaning of Space, Qie Qiong could guide him even better.

After all, Qie Qiong himself had comprehended the True Meaning of Space.

Nor had Qie Qiong made no progress at all over these twenty years.

It could even be said that no one in the entire Cang Yun Material World had made greater progress than he had in those twenty years.

When he returned back then, he had only just grasped the complete True Meaning of Space at the First Level. Over the past twenty years, he had already reached the Third Level of the True Meaning of Space.

Though the three levels of the True Meaning of Space were not particularly major hurdles,

it had still been only twenty years, and Qie Qiong had already reached the Third Level. And even now, he was only about fifty-five years old.

He was just one step away from condensing a Deity Heart of Space. If Qie Qiong could maintain this pace without the aid of the Golden Light, then he could be called a legendary Grade One True Meaning Transcendent seed.

Following Qie Qiong's guidance,

Qie Yunzhou sat cross-legged. The space fissures that had previously flickered in and out around him were now growing ever clearer, as if invisible carving knives were etching space itself.

Qie Qiong stood to the side, watching his father calmly.

He could clearly sense the faint power of Space Cutting surrounding his father.

Twenty years of accumulated effort, with guidance from a cultivator of the True Meaning of Space throughout those years, had clearly brought him to the threshold of a breakthrough.

"Father," Qie Qiong's voice was not loud, yet it had a peculiar penetrating force, as if it went straight to the soul. "In cultivating any True Meaning, the most important thing is for heart and intent to become one. As for the True Meaning of Space Cutting... your obsession over those years at the Thunder Sacred Land..."

Qie Qiong's guidance was like a sudden jolt of enlightenment.

The moment his words fell, Qie Yunzhou's tightly shut eyes snapped open!

There was no doubt left in his eyes, only the resolve to cut through everything.

"Riiiip—!!!"

A long, narrow spatial fissure, flashing with blinding silver light, appeared out of nowhere in the sky above Qie Yunzhou.

The First Level of the True Meaning of Space Cutting, achieved!

The aura around Qie Yunzhou, as if capable of cutting through all things, surged abruptly to a whole new level. He seemed like a peerless divine sword, freshly drawn from its sheath.

With Qie Yunzhou's breakthrough, among all the Saint Rank Transcendents in the three kingdoms, he was now the strongest.

After all, he had mastered a complete Grade Three True Meaning.

He could even kill ordinary Demigod ancestors.

This was something no Transcendent of the current generation in the Cang Yun Material World had ever done.

At the very moment Qie Yunzhou's breakthrough succeeded and the intent of Space Cutting climbed to its peak, setting off a violent fluctuation in the laws of Heaven and Earth—

"Buzz!"

Qie Qiong, standing to the side, felt something stir in his heart.

The rhythm of the most fundamental laws of the True Meaning of Space, stirred by his father's breakthrough, seemed to let Qie Qiong find the missing piece he had been lacking all along.

This foreign, pure fluctuation of spatial laws formed a strange resonance with the Third Level of the True Meaning of Space he himself had mastered.

In an instant, Qie Qiong's mind became utterly clear.

All his past insights into the True Meaning of Space, from the Myriad Existences Realm to the Third Level, had seemed like separate fragments of mystery, yet were also closely connected. Now, they instantly came together in perfect harmony.

It was as if he were building a grand spatial temple that connected Heaven and Earth.

If the First Level was the foundation, the Second Level the pillars that held up Heaven and Earth, and the Third Level the temple's floor tiles...

Before, though they had all been there together, they had seemed discordant to an outsider.

Now, every edge and corner fit together, and even the carvings on the tiles were instantly exquisite.

"Space."

Qie Qiong murmured unconsciously. He felt as if he had become space itself.

At this moment, space was clearer to him than ever before, as if its origin were within reach!

In a flash of sudden enlightenment, the true Deity Heart of Space successfully condensed.

Suddenly, a phantom resembling a gigantic crystal ball appeared behind Qie Qiong.

The crystal ball was transparent throughout, yet within it lay every direction of space, folded, twisted, and sliced, depicting the birth and annihilation of space.

The space throughout the entire Qie Residence, even above Cloud Sea Prefecture City, seemed to be under the control of an invisible force. Everyone who had mastered Unity of Heaven and Man felt a jolt in their hearts, as if the will of the Ruler of this world had abruptly descended.

"A Deity Heart of Space?!" The one who felt it most deeply was naturally Qie Yunzhou, standing right beside Qie Qiong, whose True Meaning of Space Cutting had just broken through.

He had not even had time to feel the changes within himself before he looked up sharply, his eyes filled with joy.

As someone who had mastered Space Cutting, he felt this higher-level fluctuation more clearly and deeply than anyone.

Qie Qiong's comprehension of the laws of space had become utterly complete and unified, reaching the level of a Deity Heart.

But this was not the end. It was a new beginning.

In particular, although he had reached the Deity Heart Realm, Qie Qiong felt he had not understood much of the parts related to space in the Golden Light scripture within his Sea of Consciousness.

"My Deity Heart of Space has formed..." Qie Qiong understood this, but felt somewhat puzzled. "The 'Cosmic Body' and 'Space Phantom' are clearly things I found in the Golden Light. Why do they fit me so perfectly?"

One had to know that when others broke through to the Deity Heart Realm, they had to create their own secret techniques.

But Qie Qiong had only cultivated step by step. At the Second Level, he had cultivated the two secret arts to the same level, and the same had been true at the Third Level.

Then he had slowly reached the point where he was just one step away from condensing a Deity Heart.

At the very moment he mastered the Deity Heart Realm of Space, the methods for continuing to cultivate the "Cosmic Body" and "Space Phantom" immediately surfaced from the Golden Light.

The first level of the Deity Rank secret art "Cosmic Body" appeared before him.

It was completely different from the three levels of the "Cosmic Body: Preliminary Version" he had cultivated before.

The three preliminary levels pursued an increase in the body's strength, from peak, to Demigod, and finally to Deity.

But the core of the first level of the Deity Rank secret art "Cosmic Body" was no longer the body's level of power, but a transformation of its very essence.

"Condense!"

At a thought from Qie Qiong, his Deity Heart of Space began to operate, and his body seemed to turn into a gigantic vortex, madly devouring the power of the surrounding spatial laws.

Rather than using Spatial Power to temper his body as before, his entire body now drew closer to the origin of space under the guidance of his Deity Heart of Space.

Qie Qiong's body began to radiate a hazy silver light. Guided by the laws of space, this light was gradually transforming his body.

His body's strength had long since reached the level of a Deity. Now, it did not increase further as new power flowed in, but his entire body was undergoing an earth-shaking change.

His body was transforming into a Deity Body of Space, more perfectly attuned to space.

The process was silent, yet it contained the most fundamental mysteries between Heaven and Earth.

Qie Qiong felt a degree of control over space he had never experienced before.

Space was no longer merely an external thing. It was more like a part of his body—or rather, his body had become a manifestation of the laws of space.

Now, he could call himself the Child of Space.

Deity Body of Space, achieved!

Immediately afterward, information about the first level of the Deity Rank secret art "Space Phantom" surged into his mind.

"So that's how it is. Only when the nine Phantom Bodies become one do they become real." Qie Qiong's eyes flashed with brilliance.

With a thought, the power of the Deity Heart of Space within him began to circulate once more.

In an instant, nine silver figures identical to his true body silently appeared around him.

Each Phantom Body was made of highly condensed Spatial Power. Their auras were lively, their eyes sharp. They were precisely the Nine Illusory Bodies he had been able to achieve through cultivating the Third Level.

However, with Qie Qiong's breakthrough in the True Meaning of Space, the Phantom Bodies that had once possessed half his strength would now be lucky to retain even a tenth.

But in a battle between opponents of the same level, it made no difference whether there were nine or even a hundred of them.

They would all be doomed to serve as cannon fodder.

Fortunately, the super-grade secret art "Space Phantom" was not the end, but the beginning.

The first level of the Deity Rank secret art "Space Phantom" existed for this very moment.

"Unite."

Qie Qiong and the nine Phantom Bodies gave a simultaneous low shout. The nine figures instantly turned into nine silver streaks of light. They did not simply merge, but first converged rapidly toward Qie Qiong's true body.

When the final silver streak of light entered Qie Qiong's body,

"Rumble!"

An aura countless times stronger than when the nine Phantom Bodies had been separate suddenly burst from Qie Qiong.

This aura was exactly the same as that of his true body.

Whether it was the surging Dou Qi or the profound Deity Heart of Space, everything was at Qie Qiong's peak.

A silver figure, identical in appearance to him, stood quietly at Qie Qiong's side.

This was the first level of the Deity Rank "Space Phantom": a Space Phantom with exactly the same combat strength as his true body.

Qie Qiong felt that it could no longer be called a Phantom Body. It was a Space Clone.

Qie Yunzhou stared in stunned disbelief. The joy he had felt at just breaking through to the first level of the True Meaning of Space Cutting was completely eclipsed by the shock of what he saw before him.

At this moment, the Deity Heart of Space had formed, and he had also successfully cultivated the first level of both Deity Rank secret arts.

Qie Qiong felt his control over the space of this Heaven and Earth had reached an unprecedented height.

He clenched his fist slightly. An invisible spatial fluctuation quietly spread out from him, as if the space of the entire Cang Yun Material World were submitting to him.

Before Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou could properly take in the changes brought by their breakthroughs,

they heard hurried footsteps coming from afar.

Qie Qiong looked up and saw Qi Lingfei, who had already become a Title Knight, walking toward them.

Over these twenty years, the Origin Stone veins in Extreme Thunder World had been given only to members of the Qie Clan, Fang Yun, and Qi Lingfei.

This had raised the strength of the latter two to the point where they could barely match Title Rank.

After all, because of the wars outside, more people had come to Cloud Sea Prefecture City over the past twenty years.

And Qie Qiong only intervened when Transcendent beings were involved.

As for Title Rank offenders, he couldn't very well make a move against them, could he? That would be beneath him.

That was why he had these two who could barely match Title Rank. They could handle most situations this way.

"Uncle Qi, is something the matter?" Qie Qiong asked as he looked at Qi Lingfei approaching.

After all, in recent years, since he and Qie Yunzhou had needed to cultivate, they had left the Qie Clan's affairs to Qi Lingfei and Fang Yun to handle as they saw fit.

In any case, they wouldn't dare betray them. That was the Transcendent World!

"Old Clan Head, Clan Head." Qi Lingfei hurried over to the two of them. "It's Mountain Suppressing Saber Saint Yue Qianshan. He fled into our prefecture badly wounded. The patrolling knights just found him and brought him back."

Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou exchanged a glance, both showing some interest.

Before Qie Qiong became Transcendent, Mountain Suppressing Saber Saint had already been a celebrated figure in the Cang Yun Material World.

For someone like him to be so badly wounded, the Thunder Empire must have lost another battle.

Qi Lingfei relayed the information Yue Qianshan had brought. "Clan Head, Langya Prefecture City is finished. Demigod Wuyang of the Cangyun Empire personally intervened. Apart from Yue Qianshan, the entire army was wiped out. The Cangyun Empire's Azure Flame Sword Saint led the assault, and Langya has fallen."

Qie Qiong chuckled. It was more or less as he had expected.

But he hadn't expected that, during the war, the Cangyun Empire could break through the blockade imposed by the forces of the two great empires and bring Demigod Rank power into play.

But why had Yue Qianshan come here and deliberately told him all this?

Yes, deliberately. After all, even if a Transcendent was seriously injured, unless he wanted to be discovered, how could the Qie Clan and its knights find him?

As for seeking protection?

That seemed unlikely, too. The entire Cang Yun Material World knew that Transcendent-level beings were forbidden from fighting within the territory controlled by Cloud Sea Prefecture City.

So all he had to do was find somewhere to recuperate. There was no need to let Qie Qiong's people find him, much less bring him this irrelevant piece of information.

There was only one explanation: he wanted Qie Qiong to intervene.

If Yue Qianshan had been here and known how to read minds, he would surely have been so astonished that he couldn't speak.

Everything Qie Qiong had just guessed was correct. As Yue Qianshan saw it, although the Thunder Empire's imperial family had wronged the Qie Clan, the Qie Clan had been citizens of the Thunder Empire for over a thousand years. Surely they must still feel some attachment to the country?

That was why he had come to pass on the information.

But he was wrong. In Qie Qiong's eyes, it made no difference who unified the Cang Yun Material World.

After all, he was destined to become the lord of this Material World.

By then, wouldn't the entire Cang Yun Material World belong to him?