Chapter 728: Breaking the Destiny

"You're not yet at a level capable of refining the Chaotic Ultimate Treasure; raise your cultivation further before you can refine the Eternal God Wheel."

Xing Jia dared not offend Ding Huan—he craved the Cosmic True Essence in Ding Huan's possession.

This statement was one he spoke with a twisted conscience.

"Then at what level must I cultivate to refine the Eternal God Wheel?"

"I think... you'd need to reach at least the Fifth Turn Saint to be able to refine it."

Xing Jia had originally intended to say that a God King like Ding Huan, cultivated in a shattered realm, would never refine the Eternal God Wheel unless he reached the Eternal Saint realm.

But he feared Ding Huan would lose heart, so he lowered the requirement somewhat.

In truth, he was certain Ding Huan had almost no chance of ever reaching the Eternal Saint realm.

He could sense that Ding Huan's Dao was indeed slightly stronger than that of ordinary cultivators.

But it was only slightly stronger.

A cultivator emerging from a shattered realm struggles even to enter true sainthood, let alone the Eternal Saint realm.

This realm doesn't even have complete heavenly and earthly laws—how can you transcend this realm while cultivating here?

Dream on.

Fifth Turn Saint?

Ding Huan looked at Xing Jia: "After attaining Sainthood, there are still First Turn, Second Turn, up to Fifth Turn?"

Xing Jia nodded: "That's exactly right."

He silently added in his mind: not just five turns, but nine turns.

Ding Huan fell silent—he suspected Lao Hou didn't even know about Fifth Turn Saints.

Because Lao Hou had never mentioned anything about turns of Sainthood in front of him.

Ding Huan raised his hand and carved out a space within his Dao-consciousness universe:

"Lao Jia, stay here."

"Ding Daofriend, imprisoning me here brings you no benefit. This is your consciousness world, isn't it? The fact you've cultivated a consciousness world proves your Dao is extraordinary."

"If I remain in your consciousness world, I might disrupt your Dao—why not release me?"

This, too, was a statement Xing Jia spoke with a twisted conscience.

In the grand cosmos, cultivators who had cultivated their own consciousness worlds were countless.

Yet for Ding Huan to cultivate such a world in this broken, forgotten corner of the realm was indeed remarkable.

He didn't realize what he saw was merely a corner of Ding Huan's consciousness universe.

If he knew Ding Huan had fused his Dao world with his consciousness world, even forming a nascent universe, he might not think so.

"Lao Jia, the most important thing in life is knowing your place. You attempted to possess me, yet all you did was answer my questions—now you want me to release you, and give you Cosmic True Essence?"

"Do you always live so selfishly and ungratefully? Do you believe others owe you everything, and you owe nothing in return?"

Ding Huan sneered.

Honestly, if he hadn't sensed this fellow still had great utility, Ding Huan would have crushed him with a single palm long ago.

Attempting to possess him, yet demanding this and that—who gave him the audacity?

Disrupting his Dao within his consciousness?

Hah—he could only say this fellow imagined too much.

He now possessed his own universe, formed from the fusion of his Dao world and consciousness world.

And the fusion was still ongoing.

To cast Xing Jia's fragmented soul into his own universe was, to Ding Huan, equivalent to adding a single law.

If he wished, he could instantly reduce that law to nothingness—or erase the very space where Xing Jia existed.

After sealing Xing Jia, Ding Huan pulled out the grotesquely ugly long knife, and grasped a block of Void Nirvana Gold several meters long.

Others used Void Nirvana Gold at most in fist-sized pieces, or even as small as silkworm beans.

But the block Ding Huan pulled out was at least one zhang long, with height and width exceeding one meter.

Ding Huan tossed the Void Nirvana Gold into the Grand Void Flame.

The Void Nirvana Gold, which had previously refused to melt, now dissolved rapidly.

Indeed, Saint Flame could melt Void Nirvana Gold.

Ding Huan also tossed the long knife into the Grand Void Flame.

His long knife was forged from Open Heaven Geng Metal; had his array skill not been decent, he couldn't have sealed its aura with forbidden patterns.

Otherwise, anyone who saw the blade would immediately recognize its material.

Open Heaven Geng Metal also melted swiftly.

As for impurities, such materials as Open Heaven Geng Metal and Void Nirvana Gold had none.

No impurity could take tangible form within Open Heaven Geng Metal or Void Nirvana Gold.

But both Open Heaven Geng Metal and Void Nirvana Gold carried certain law attributes Ding Huan didn't need.

So for the first time in his forging, Ding Huan constructed a Zhou Tian using Grand Cosmic Art—to discard all unwanted law attributes.

Under his Grand Cosmic Art Zhou Tian, every law attribute he didn't need was cast aside.

Open Heaven Geng Metal and Void Nirvana Gold gradually fused together under the Grand Cosmic Art Zhou Tian and the Grand Void Flame.

Unlike the difficulty of his first knife forging, the materials before Ding Huan now changed shape swiftly and fluidly.

Unwanted laws were discarded; desired laws were gradually fused in, one after another, through his Grand Cosmic Art.

Even before the blade's shape was nearly formed, Ding Huan began engraving forbidden patterns.

Previously, to decipher the forbidden patterns on Xing Jia's stone tablet, Ding Huan's array skill had broken through Eighth-Level Divine Array Master to Ninth-Level Divine Array Emperor.

But Ding Huan knew better—his array skill, in the vast cosmos, meant nothing at all.

If someone else burned this ninth-rank forbidden pattern with sacred fire, it would likely collapse soon.

Unless he sets up a specialized Divine Fire Warding Array.

The Open Heaven Artifact has one hundred and eight forbidden patterns, some of which contain within each pattern another one hundred and eight forbidden patterns.

His blade must at least be inscribed with one hundred and eight forbidden patterns.

Moreover, these forbidden patterns cannot be locked—they must stack automatically as the blade grows. The one hundred and eight forbidden patterns he sets will one day become the most fundamental patterns of the artifact.

This sounds simple, but is extremely difficult to accomplish.

Ding Huan dares to think this way because he cultivates his self-created Great Cosmos Art, whose greatest strength is its solid foundation.

Ding Huan himself has grown ever more stable in his foundation as his cultivation has advanced.

What he must do now is use the Great Cosmos Art to carve the foundational forbidden patterns into his artifact.

He must ensure that as the artifact grows, its forbidden patterns also grow continuously.

When these foundational patterns grow, they must not collapse—they must become increasingly stable.

Three months later, a clear chime rang out in the void.

A silver-backed longsword hovered before Ding Huan.

The blade was three chi six cun long, its entire surface glowing with faint silver patterns.

Not a single stroke, a single hair, a single detail was wrong!

Even though Ding Huan had not yet activated it, the blade's momentum was already spreading, as if merely existing here, it formed its own space.

Ding Huan opened his hand, and the longsword landed in his grasp.

A sense of soul-link surged forth; at this moment, Ding Huan's confidence surged.

Indeed, the finest artifact is the one you forge yourself—whether it is primordial or not is irrelevant.

His spiritual sense seeped into it, and he sensed this was a top-grade divine artifact.

Even more directly, the longsword in his hand was still absorbing cosmic rules and slaughter qi.

Clearly, this was an artifact capable of upgrading—the key to its upgrade lay in absorbing the cosmic rules of slaughter.

What a fine blade—it deserves a name. From now on, it shall be called Po Jie.

As long as he holds Po Jie, he will shatter all cosmic calamities.

Ding Huan did not even forge a scabbard; he simply slung it across his back.

When he cultivated, the longsword hovered beside him; when he did not cultivate, it hung on his back.

He believed that one day, his longsword would rival primordial treasures.

He swept his spiritual sense outward and discovered that Seeing Qu Yi had ceased cultivation.

Ding Huan immediately rose, preparing to speak with Seeing Qu Yi.

Seeing Qu Yi was now at the Divine Lord realm; sensing Ding Huan's approach, she eagerly stepped forward and opened the forbidden barrier: "Big Brother Ding."

Ding Huan had come for a reason—he must have something to tell her.

"Yi Yi, I plan to leave the Three Gods Land and venture into the Vast Void to test myself." Ding Huan did not know what problems his trial might bring.

But he had to go.

From Xing Jia's words, Ding Huan knew the cosmic calamity had not yet passed long.

Throughout the Vast Universe and the Vast Void, everywhere were rule-worlds of various attributes.

He urgently needed these rule-worlds to perfect his Dao.

Such rule-worlds cannot be obtained at will—over time, they will slowly disintegrate.

Either merging into the Void, or merging into various star-continents and dimensions.

He had only this one chance—he absolutely could not miss it.

Likewise, this was his opportunity.

"I'll go with you," Seeing Qu Yi blurted out almost instinctively.

She looked at Ding Huan, a strange tremor stirring within her heart.

She was fortunate—not having perished in the Vast Universe Void, but instead arriving in the Divine Realm and meeting Ding Huan.

After Ding Huan spoke those words, a deep intuition arose within her: if she did not leave with Ding Huan, she might never see him again.

Back on Earth, she had once missed an opportunity.

This time, she would not miss it again, no matter what.

How could Ding Huan not sense Seeing Qu Yi's feelings?

But he clearly understood what he would face this time.

Searching for rule-worlds in the Vast Void was essentially dancing on the edge of a blade.

One misstep, and one could be swept into temporal or spatial rules, reduced to nothingness.

That was still the better outcome—if one encountered chaotic, misaligned spatial rules, the body might appear in one dimension while the head appeared in another.

What could Seeing Qu Yi do if she came with him, other than remain in his world?

She could not cultivate, nor could she perceive rule-worlds outside like he could.

Sensing Ding Huan's hesitation,

Seeing Qu Yi no longer cared for anything else—she rushed forward and embraced Ding Huan:

"Xiao Tu, I missed one chance—I won't miss a second. What meaning is there in me staying here to cultivate without you?"

In the Vast Void, she knew better than anyone what loneliness tasted like.

Sometimes, she would rather perish than endure endless solitude.

Warmth and heat surged upon him at once; Ding Huan's heartstrings were violently tugged.

He reached out and embraced Seeing Qu Yi.

Seeing Qu Yi, she hugged Ding Huan even tighter, not daring to let go, afraid that the moment she released him, she wouldn't know when she'd see Ding Huan again.

"Yiyi…"

Ding Huan didn't know whether he had a future in the void either; if that was the case, why not marry Qu Yi in Li Yin Shen Valley first, and then go to the void to seek opportunities.

Before he could even say the words, the restrictions on Da Xing Peak were being hammered frantically.

(Fellow Daoist, good night!)

(End of this chapter)