by Tinalynge
Thinking this, he nodded his head and with a gentle kiss on Rong Xing's forehead he followed behind Hui Yue and Huli.
These three started their trip towards the mountain range where they had left the Formation of Life. The mountain range was far away and laid in a desolate place, but the distance was quickly traversed for a God. Huli, who was the strongest of them, cloaked Deng Wu in her Ancestral Worldpower and dragged him with her so that his speed was as fast as theirs.
"This is going to be quite exciting," he said breathlessly to Hui Yue and Huli who both gave him a wry smile.
"It is not that simple to be a God," Hui Yue warned, "I have just realized recently that when you become a God everything changes. Your attacks change and the way one cultivates changes too. It is not as simple as it might seem, but then again, I have no doubt that you will be able to breakthrough."
Hui Yue said smilingly and slowly they reached the mountain where they had left the formation. Both Huli and Hui Yue possessed the power to open up this formation, and with but a wave of their hand, a loud rumble was heard as the ground trembled and the mountain slowly peeled open, revealing a large formation underground.
Light shone into the formation from outside and Hui Yue, who had expected that Cai Jie would need a lot longer to break into the God rank again, could not help but smile. His side had just gained an even stronger expert in their fight against An He!
As the mountain was completely opened, a beam of light shot out from deep within and landed right next to Hui Yue. Looking at this figure, a smile flourished on Hui Yue's face.
"You succeeded! And so quickly too!" He said with excitement in his voice, and Cai Jie, who was standing in front of him, nodded his head. His entire face beaming with happiness.
"This strength! I have dreamed about my powers returning so many times! Although I have less Ancestral Worldpower than I had when I was last a God, I am still a God of Creation. Since it never influenced my understanding of the dao, I still have completely comprehended four minor daos."
"Four daos is in no way a bad thing!" Hui Yue exclaimed shocked. But Huli just shook her head.
"I need to tell you something," she sighed. "Amongst Primordial Gods or Primordial Immortals as your rank is called, it is natural to have comprehended three or four daos."
"The reason they were considered strong in Skydragon fortress is that they were the people who had appeared on their own. Anyone who was an Immortal of Creation, or God of Creation, would have been given a direct invitation by Yanluo, himself, and they would not need to stop at Skydragon Fortress but would have gone directly to Diyu."
"Anyone who has comprehended more than four daos would also have been sent directly to Diyu."
"So that means that I will be fighting someone who is even more outstanding than the experts of Skydragon Fortress?" Hui Yue asked dejectedly, and Huli just nodded her head.
"Don't be too sad," she continued, "I don't think that you will be participating in a direct tournament. What Yanluo needs is not the strongest cultivators, but the one who has the best affinity with the souls of the dead. Although strength is needed, I can't help but feel that this trial is not as simple as many think."
Hearing this Hui Yue truly hoped that she was correct. Shaking his head, he decided to not think about it right now. "For now, I will comprehend the dao of the sword. When I have completely understood this dao, I will also be someone who has comprehended three daos, and since one of these daos is the dao of devouring, I am certain that I can handle quite a few of the experts!" Hui Yue mumbled to himself but as he spoke to himself Cai Jie's face turned to shock.
"Three daos! Three complete daos?!" He yelled in a high pitched voice. "It took me a thousand years to comprehend four daos, and I was considered a genius! You have not even spent a decade, and you already comprehended three?!"
"Not really," Hui Yue scratched his head. "I comprehended the dao of devouring because of my memories and previous lives, so that does not count. I only needed to meditate on it for a short while, and then I understood it all. Then I happened to see this strange man in space which somehow increased my speed of understanding the dao of inferno. By relying on this, I managed to comprehend my second dao."
"I planned on comprehending the dao of space, but considering the difficulty and my urgent need to increasing my strength I shelved it, and now I'm focusing on a very simple dao, the dao of the sword."
"You’re such a cheat," Cai Jie complained, but even so he still had a smile on his face. "I wish I had my previous lives that provided me with insights into the dao. Then again we can't all be as lucky as you are. You are my brother, so your strength is my strength! I can only be happy to see you improving at such insane speeds!"
Cai Jie who, at first, had seemed shocked to the core was now laughing loudly. "An He just you wait! Since Yue still has a lot of lives waiting to be merged, he will become one of the most outstanding geniuses you have ever seen!"
Cai Jie was ecstatic. He had feared that it would take quite a long time before they would dare seek revenge, but now he realized that because of Hui Yue's special situation it was likely not going to be too long a wait!
"Hui Yue, who understood Cai Jie's excitement, smiled slightly but he also knew that some of these lives might not be as amazing as they hoped. Although the green witch was beneficial due to her abilities with lifeforce, she had never reached the God rank and thus never understood any daos. It was possible that all the memories that he had left were the same; that they had not reached the God rank.
Still, Hui Yue thought about the black figure with the white specks of light and a silly smile appeared on his face. He could not wait for the time when he could merge with the memory which had comprehended the dao of space.
Deep in thought, his mind entered his core and looked at the open memories. He had the memories of the wings, which the City Lord assumed was from some sect called the Celestial Sword Sect, but he also had the memories of whatever this red gem was which had been dormant most of the time. Together with the red gem was also the memory of this mysterious shining star that Hui Yue had never actually seen do anything.
Smiling, Hui Yue withdrew his mind from his core and looked at his friends, "it is indeed a cheat, so why not start using this cheat properly?" He said as a big grin appeared on his face.
Chapter 529 - Soulforce
* * *
Chapter 529: Soulforce
"First, let’s help Deng Wu into the Formation of Life," Hui Yue said with a sigh as he cloaked Deng Wu in his Ancestral Worldpower. "Cai Jie and I were able to enter the Formation of Life on our own. However, it was filled with pain, and it was not easy. I doubt that the rest of you can depend on your own power to enter, and to be honest, there is no real reason for you to force your way through the dangerous and powerful gale of the essence of the heavens and the earth so let me help you out."
Having said this, Hui Yue looked at Deng Wu and smiled gently, "You will have to stay within this formation beneath the mountain. Unfortunately, you will not see the sun again until you reach the God rank, but you will have complete silence to focus on your cultivation. If you’re not entirely sure you want to go through with this, then now is the last time to say so," Hui Yue said with a wry smile causing Deng Wu to just scoff in disdain.
"I am your brother. A few years without sunlight is nothing," he said decisively and cloaked in Ancestral Worldpower, he flew directly into the Formation of Life.
Reaching the formation the speed with which he was flying decreased quite a bit, but even so, he kept pushing forward. The more he pushed through the barrier, the smaller his cloak of defensive Ancestral Worldpower become. After pushing with all his power, Deng Wu finally reached the inside of the formation. Sitting down, he looked up at Hui Yue and gave a decisive nod before he closed his eyes.
Looking down on Deng Wu, Hui Yue felt gratitude in his heart. With a wave of his hand, the entire area rumbled as the mountain closed once more.
Hui
Yue kept looking at this mountain and said nothing before he was certain that the area was as silent and natural looking as it had been before they arrived. Spreading out his soul, he looked to see whether or not there were any living creatures close by, but no matter how far he searched, all he found were weak magical beasts and no signs of stronger beasts or humans which could pose a threat to Deng Wu during his cultivation.
After this, Hui Yue looked at Huli and Cai Jie.
"I am afraid that I don't understand the world of Gods very well," he said with a sigh. "I don't know what it means to be considered a God nor a weak one. What is the average level of a God ranked cultivator? What am I really up against in these upcoming trials?"
Hearing these questions, Cai Jie and Huli looked at one another and nodded their heads. It was clear that they both felt that Hui Yue needed an answer to the questions that he asked.
"For Gods or Immortals as they also are called there are two different ways to rank them. One is by how much Ancestral Worldpower they possess while the other is by how many daos they have comprehended." Huli started to explain.
"Ancestral Worldpower might seem like it is not a very important energy to gather now that you know about the dao, however, if you want to go from a Primordial Immortal to an Immortal of Creation you need to absorb an enormous amount of Ancestral Worldpower."
"Although Ancestral Worldpower is not as important as the dao, it is still important for your stamina. To activate the dao in combat, you need Ancestral Worldpower. The more Ancestral Worldpower you have, the better your stamina will become. So although you focus on the dao, do not forget to cultivate and absorb Ancestral Worldpower as well."
"A God who has been a God for thousands of years will naturally have a great advantage over you even if you have mastered many daos. As you are now, you will not be able to defeat someone who has such a big reserve of Ancestral Worldpower that they can draw upon."
"Of all the Gods out there only one percent manage to become Immortals of Creation. Although it sounds simple to merely absorb Ancestral Worldpower, it is not as simple as one might expect. Out of a hundred Gods, only one will advance. An Immortal of Creation who has understood one complete minor dao can rival a Primordial God who has comprehended up to five minor daos. That is how much of a difference the amount of Ancestral Worldpower one has makes, so never underestimate it!"
"The other way to rank someone is by how many daos they have comprehended."
"Daos are the most direct way to raise your strength! Of the Primordial Immortals around about three out of ten are stuck comprehending one dao, five out of ten have comprehended two daos, one and a half out of ten have mastered three daos, and the rest have comprehended more than three daos."
"Only one in ten thousand have comprehended five daos, and one in every hundred thousand have comprehended a major dao."
"If you are a Primordial God and you have comprehended six or more minor daos you can compete against a God of Creation."
"As a Primordial God you are incapable of comprehending a major dao, and the moment you do you will instantly gain so much Ancestral Worldpower that you will be promoted to a God of Creation. One needs an enormous amount of Ancestral Worldpower to be able to use a major dao."
Huli paused for a moment, and Hui Yue, who had been listening to her speaking turned serious.
Seeing that he understood what she was saying, Huli sighed and continued, "Although it sounds like not many have comprehended four or more daos, don’t think that they are that rare. There are countless Gods throughout the galaxy, and these Gods are everywhere. In total there are so many that one would never be able to count them all. Because of this, there are actually quite a few who have comprehended so many daos, so it’s not unexpected to encounter a God of Creation going about their business."
Hui Yue nodded his head in understanding. He understood that although it was the minority which had understood quite more than a few daos, these experts were likely to have been invited directly to Diyu. He also finally understood exactly what strength the different Gods had and which ones he needed to be wary of.
Hui Yue was silent for a long time as he thought about what he had just learned. Both Huli and Cai Jie were unaware of what Hui Yue was thinking about, but neither interrupted him. All three experts just floated in the air above the mountain as silence enveloped the area.
After a long time, Hui Yue finally nodded his head and sighed. "It seems I truly do have a very long road ahead of me," he said as he looked at his two friends, but despite his depressed tone, he smiled at them.
"There is one more thing I want to know," he said after a bit. "After I became a God my soul seems to have undergone certain changes. I can scan large areas with my soul or consciousness, and I can sense when people lie to me. Also, I am aware of even the most minute changes to people’s expression. I can feel people without seeing them, and I can sense a lot of things I have never been able to sense before. What is this magnificent power, and how come it keeps evolving together with my understanding of the dao?"
This was something which had confused Hui Yue for quite some time. He had never heard about this strange power of the soul before, and thus, he had no other option than to ask about it.
Hearing what Hui Yue had just said, both Huli and Cai Jie's eyes widened in surprise before they looked at each other and a manic but excited smile appeared on their faces.
"It’s soulforce!" Huli said excitedly, "Soulforce is an amazing ability that some Gods gain insight into as they comprehend the dao. Only one out of ten thousand can sense and use soulforce!"
"At the start, it does just that! Soulforce allows one to feel the changes around them using their soul. It’s as if you have eyes that can sense everything that happens around you. As you train and increase your soulforce, it becomes stronger and possible to attack with it. You will be able to overturn mountains with but a thought and create invisible attacks that no one else can sense, unless they too have soulforce. It is perfect when fighting."
"I don't know much about soulforce, since I don't have it myself, but as far as I know, the only way to increase your soulforce is to comprehend the dao. The more your mind expands, the stronger your soulforce will become!"
"I see," Hui Yue said clearly not as excited as Cai Jie and Huli were. This was because he knew that it would take an amazing amount of time and effort before he could use this ability in combat. Still, the ability to scan one’s surroundings and know whether or not you were being followed, if there were dangers around, and if people were lying to him was quite a beneficial ability. But since he had yet to develop this ability to any degree of mastery, he was quite calm about it.
'There is another way to strengthen your soul,' Lan Feng suddenly commented from within his core. 'You did it once already… This is by consuming the souls of others, you will become much stronger,' he said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. 'I am not telling you to absorb souls wantonly, but you could absorb the souls of the most heinous people you come across. This way you will be able to increase your soulforce much faster.'
Hearing this, Hui Yue nodded his head slightly. That was indeed a possibility, but as Lan Feng had said, Hui Yue was not going to wantonly consume souls. He was not willing to do so just yet.
"Both of you, thank you," Hui Yue said with a smile as he looked at his two friends. "Thanks to you I finally understand just how weak I am currently. Let’s return to the mansion so I can completely devote myself to comprehending the dao of the sword! I cannot waste any more time!"
Together the three friends flew as fast as they could towards the mansion, and since all three of them were Gods, their speed was astonishingly quick. It did not take them long to reach the mansion, and as soon as they did, they noticed that a banquet had been prepared. Sha Yun was standing smilingly as she saw the three of them return and the mansion was filled with their friends. All of them lifted their glasses to Cai Jie.
"Congratulations on finally reaching your rank o
nce more. May you gain enlightenment on the dao and may you be a great asset in our fight against An He!"
Hearing the words, Cai Jie felt rather confused at first, but when he saw all the smiling faces, he could not help but be filled with warmth.
"Although we need to train, it seems that tonight will be spent together with friends," Cai Jie said with a smile as he landed on the grass, and Hui Yue just nodded his head. Although he was in a hurry to train, he also understood that his friends needed time to celebrate, especially when something as amazing as this happened. Having an extra God on their side was indeed something worthy of celebration, especially since this God was not a Primordial God but instead a God of Creation.
"Let us enjoy ourselves for once," he said with a smile to Cai Jie. "Although we need to train we will celebrate tonight. It is indeed a great thing to celebrate!"