“Esteemed Senior Guest Minister.” Outside the luxurious cave abode on the Fan Clan’s Demon Mountain, two guards stood in attention. Upon seeing the white-robed youth descending from the distance, they both bowed respectfully in unison.
“Hmm.”
Dongbo Xueying acknowledged with a nod and strode inside.
This was his first time residing in the cave abode prepared for him by the Fan Clan since becoming a Senior Guest Minister. The interior buzzed with activity as maidservants, who had been waiting for a long time, hurried forward to greet him respectfully: “Esteemed Senior Guest Minister.”
“I will be in seclusion for some time. Do not disturb me.” Dongbo Xueying, already in possession of the cave abode’s command talisman, could manipulate every formation within it. With a single thought, he surveyed the layout and located the meditation chamber.
“Yes,” the maidservants chorused in unison.
Soon.
With a resounding boom, the door to the meditation chamber opened, and Dongbo Xueying stepped inside. The door closed behind him, and all returned to silence.
“Our esteemed Senior Guest Minister…” The maidservants exchanged bewildered glances. Entering seclusion immediately upon arrival? The Fan Clan typically prepared temporary residences for guest ministers, as most preferred to return to their own strongholds for prolonged cultivation.
…
Inside the meditation chamber.
Incense burned, its fragrance permeating the air.
Seated cross-legged on a black cushion, the white-robed Dongbo Xueying was utterly serene.
“Boom.”
His soul had already begun its silent metamorphosis, rooted in the ‘Illusory World’ rule he had comprehended! His soul was being restructured from its very essence, transcending from one level of existence to another. The evolution of the soul marked the true transcendence of life’s essence. And now, he was stepping into the ultimate realm of cultivation—Cosmic God!
Though Cosmic Gods varied in strength.
Just as Chaos Realm cultivators could be divided into several tiers, they were all fundamentally the same in terms of life essence.
The same applied to Cosmic Gods. The weaker ones, like those in the source world ‘Chaotic Void’—such as Ancestor Tianyu and Void Primogenitor—were merely at the first tier of Cosmic God. The ‘Sacred Master’ belonged to the third tier! Yet, the difference lay only in their comprehension of the ‘Dao,’ not in their life essence.
Invincible beings like Patriarch Fan and Emperor Xia were also third-tier Cosmic Gods! However, residing in the Heart Realm Continent, where the foundation was deeper and accumulation richer, they could unleash their power more perfectly with the aid of numerous techniques. Moreover, they possessed terrifying treasures that elevated their strength to even greater heights!
Take the Southcloud Monarch, for instance—a second-tier Cosmic God. Though he had mastered many techniques, such as the perfected ‘Five Phases Sealing Art,’ which reached the threshold of the third tier, his ability to harness his own power surpassed even that of the ‘Witch Ancestor’ and ‘World Ancestor’ in the Chaotic Void. Yet, what truly skyrocketed his strength was the supreme treasure ‘Two Realms Blade,’ which allowed him to operate at a higher tier.
Fighting above one’s tier.
This was something only possible in the Heart Realm Continent! A Chaos Realm cultivator could unleash tenfold power, while an ordinary Cosmic God could exhibit second-tier combat prowess—provided they had suitable treasures.
Take ‘Flame Brilliance Monarch,’ for example. Though also a second-tier Cosmic God, lacking a supreme treasure, his strength paled in comparison to the Southcloud Monarch. Many Cosmic Gods found themselves in similar predicaments, which was why so many were willing to pledge allegiance to top-tier factions like the Fan Clan. Yet, even by ‘selling themselves,’ ordinary treasures were easy to come by, while supreme treasures remained rare.
After all, with a supreme treasure like the Southcloud Monarch’s, one could wield third-tier Cosmic God power! Even against Patriarch Fan, survival was assured.
…
“This feeling.” Dongbo Xueying opened his eyes. His soul had completed its transformation, and due to the ‘Illusory World Rule’ governing his soul, it was now several times stronger than that of an ordinary Cosmic God.
“Inner world.”
With a single thought from Dongbo Xueying—
Boom!
Though he had previously reached the Chaos Realm at an unprecedented speed through bloodline cultivation, when re-cultivating the ‘Illusory Path,’ he still adhered to the Rule and Mystery system.
“Rumble—” The miniature cosmos within him, once a swirling chaos, now erupted with thunderous force.
Under the complete ‘Illusory World Rule,’ the miniature cosmos rapidly evolved. Wind, thunder, earth, and fire surged as energies clashed. Land formed, and life sprouted—everything unfolded at a terrifying pace, far faster than recorded in many ancient texts. Soon, living beings emerged.
Birds, beasts, insects, and even humans—under Dongbo Xueying’s guidance, they were born swiftly.
As the cosmos evolved, it also expanded at an astonishing rate.
Yet, strangely, the inner cosmos flickered faintly, as if not entirely real.
“An ‘Illusory Cosmos’ within?” Dongbo Xueying understood clearly.
Different paths determined the final form of the ‘cosmos’ in the Rule and Mystery system.
The branch of the ‘Illusory Path’ Dongbo Xueying had comprehended was the ‘Illusory World.’ Thus, the cosmos born within him was not an absolute, real universe. Ordinary Cosmic Gods typically forged real universes, but Dongbo Xueying’s was an ‘Illusory Cosmos.’ Of course, the lives within it possessed spirit, emotions, and experiences—birth, growth, and all the rest.
Love, cultivation, raising children…
Countless lives thrived in the Illusory Cosmos, each believing in their own reality. They aged, fell ill, and died. The strong among them also embarked on the path of cultivation.
The uniqueness of the ‘Illusory Cosmos’ lay in two aspects:
First, the flow of time within it could easily be maintained at ten thousand times the normal rate—without burdening Dongbo Xueying. He could even forcibly accelerate it further, though that would gradually strain him.
Second, the Illusory Cosmos was ten thousand times larger than the real universes of ordinary Cosmic Gods. After all, maintaining an illusion versus reality posed different challenges.
Yet, despite this, Cosmic Gods yearned more for an ‘Illusory Cosmos’ than a real one.
Beyond the terrifying power of an Illusory Path Cosmic God, the ‘Illusory Cosmos’ itself held many unique traits. Being ten thousand times larger and with time flowing ten thousand times faster, the rate at which life and even powerful beings proliferated within it was incalculably higher than in ordinary Cosmic Gods’ universes. Moreover, if Dongbo Xueying was willing to pay the price, he could ‘manifest’ any life or object from his Illusory Cosmos into reality.
Transforming illusion…
Into reality!
This was the terrifying capability achievable upon reaching Cosmic God in this path.
“Disciple, what you pursued is real.” Dongbo Xueying smiled.
In his homeland, he had a disciple named ‘Xinghuo Xunyi.’ To cultivate the Illusory Path, Xinghuo Xunyi had immersed himself in an illusory world… and ultimately became lost in it. He lived with a woman there, even forming a Dao partnership. He did everything to prolong her life, treating the illusory world as reality without regret.
But when the illusory world collapsed, he could only watch as his wife perished with it. In the final moments, she gazed at him—aware she was but a life within an illusion.
That day…
Xinghuo Xunyi was driven to madness, haunted by inner demons.
Through Dongbo Xueying’s guidance, Xinghuo Xunyi came to believe that the ‘Illusory Path’ could one day make all illusions real. Yet, in their homeland, the source world ‘Chaotic Void,’ no one had ever become a Cosmic God through the Illusory Path. Until now, Dongbo Xueying had been the highest achiever. And today, he had finally ascended to Cosmic God.
He knew now—his past conjecture was true!
…
As his inner cosmos evolved, the meditation chamber voraciously devoured the surrounding world’s energy, funneling it inward to sustain the cosmic transformation.
Though the chamber typically isolated disturbances, the birth of a cosmos demanded such vast energy that even the Fan Clan’s Demon Mountain trembled faintly under the surging power.
“Hmm?”
Clad in black robes, the Heaven-Rending Great Venerable strode through the void, arriving outside Ying Shan Xueying’s cave abode.
He gazed down at the residence below. “Such commotion… Even practicing techniques wouldn’t cause such a disturbance. Has Guest Minister Feixue broken through to Cosmic God?”
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