Chapter 174: Turning Misfortune into Fortune

As the aura of death expanded, Zhou Heng thought of Life Energy. Unsure of the relationship between the two, Zhou Heng began to experiment, converting the soul power within his body into life force to place alongside the aura of death.

As the life force strengthened and the aura of life and death within his body gradually shifted, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Zhou Heng's mind.

He extended his left hand to release life force and his right hand to release the power of death. Zhou Heng brought his hands together; the powers of life and death collided and canceled each other out, but under the influence of Zhou Heng's immense mental power, the power of life transformed into the power of death, and the power of death transformed into the power of life.

The two collided, transformed into one another, and canceled each other out, eventually even reaching a state of mutual resonance.

Under Zhou Heng's intervention, the powers of life and death formed a tiny, rudimentary cycle in his palms.

The two, which had originally been as incompatible as water and fire, began to transform into each other bit by bit, finally reaching a state where there was 'you' in 'me' and 'me' in 'you'. Life and death were no longer clearly demarcated, but had instead developed a strange harmony.

"The end of Extreme Ice can be sublimated to the extreme, transforming into Extreme Fire; conversely, Extreme Fire can also transform into Extreme Ice.

The two can achieve a state of mutual generation and mutual restraint, a single entity of Yin and Yang.

Then, the mutual transformation and sublimation of the powers of life and death can also become a true Taiji.

Some opposing things may actually possess the possibility of mutual generation."

Feeling the Pseudo-Demigodhood in his mind, Zhou Heng could not help but recall the various mythological stories he had read in his past life.

"I can be the God of Poison, Plague, and Death, but I can also be the God of Healing, Medicine, and Life.

A Godhood is merely one of my choices, not my only choice.

A person can simultaneously possess the two traits of evil and kindness; a person can simultaneously possess the two attitudes of seriousness and frivolity. Humanity itself is contradictory yet harmonious; why can't a Godhood be the same?

The God of Destruction can also be the God of Creation, the God of Wealth can also be the God of War, and the Guardian God of believers can also be the God of Destruction who crusades against heretics.

A king who is benevolent to his people can also be a cold-blooded butcher to foreign tribes. I had been contemplating the Pseudo-Demigodhood of Poison, Plague, and Death while at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, constantly pondering the essence of toxins and what constitutes Ultimate Poison, only to realize today that there is no such thing as Ultimate Poison in this world at all.

In fact, there is no poison at all; the essence of what is called a toxin is simply disharmony."

Humans feel happy when eating chocolate, but dogs die if they eat it. This is because humans can digest it while dogs cannot.

Why are things that many people can come into contact with in daily life highly toxic to animals?

Because of disharmony; they cannot accept it, and that is the essence of poison.

A venomous snake's venom is harmonious to the snake itself, but disharmonious to other life forms, so it is poison.

But if it is weakened to a degree where it can be utilized harmoniously, then snake venom is no longer poison, but a medicinal ingredient.

Some highly toxic substances combined together will be neutralized, while some non-toxic substances combined together will give birth to a deadly poison; these are all manifestations of harmony and disharmony.

Poison is only a superficial element; contradiction and disharmony are the core of poison.

Poison can be a physical phenomenon, an element, or even a concept.

Everything has harmony and disharmony; every existence has a contradictory other side.

Just as light is a deadly poison to dark Spirit Beasts, and darkness is a deadly poison to light Spirit Beasts, yet light and darkness can transform into each other.

The Trimurti of India, the Three Pure Ones of Taoism, the Great Emperor Zhenwu.

The Forty-four Images of Buddhism, the Eighteen Arhats, the Furious Vajra—those beings with three heads and six arms, where every face represents an emotion.

Sameness and difference exist in one body; it is both contradiction and unity.

Zhou Heng closed his eyes, visualizing the appearance of Taiji in his mind, his thinking gradually shifting.

Recalling the Godhood of Poison, Plague, and Death while thinking of the corresponding elements, he attempted to converge them.

The ominous power filled with deadly poison and plague and the life force filled with a gentle aura alternated within Zhou Heng. Zhou Heng's temperament shifted: at times like a cold-blooded tyrant, at times like a gentle father, at times like a warrior, at times like a doctor. His entire being seemed to split into countless different and contradictory individuals in an instant.

After several days passed, the aura on Zhou Heng, who had originally seemed so complex he was about to split apart, finally became unified and calm once more.

After a long while, Zhou Heng opened his eyes; although his gaze carried deep exhaustion, it also held a glimmer of excitement.

He had not used this realization to directly condense the Godhood that was the opposite of his current Godhood of Poison, Plague, and Death, but Zhou Heng already had some clues in his heart regarding how to condense an opposing Godhood and unify them.

With his future growth and the gathering of Faith Power, Zhou Heng was confident in achieving the realm where good and evil return to one, and life and death return to one—where a person is both the beginning and the end, both Alpha and Omega.

He could even eventually use his own attributes to create an opposite, changing himself from one to ten thousand, then merging ten thousand back into one, governing all elements and all changes to become the Lord of Myriad Changes.

At this very moment, Zhou Heng's soul power level had increased from the seventy-eighth level, where it was when he first left the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, to the eightieth level.

The cultivation speed inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was much faster than outside. In the less than two months since leaving the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Zhou Heng's cultivation speed was equivalent to only twenty-plus days of cultivation inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, barely filling more than half a level of soul power.

According to normal Spirit Masters, an epiphany would also increase one's soul power level; Zhou Heng had clearly been in a state of deep epiphany for several days just now.

But that was all credited to the soul power already lying dormant within a Spirit Master's body, and the state of being able to unconsciously attract the maximum amount of external soul power during a deep epiphany.

Zhou Heng currently had no such dormant, useless soul power in his body, and even if he were conscious, he could easily obtain a large amount of soul power from the outside world, so an epiphany really only had the effect of improving his insights for him, and was of no great help to his soul power.

Feeling his soul power, Zhou Heng was thinking about which Spirit Beast he should obtain his eighth Soul Ring from.

Although with his current physical fitness and state, he could already go directly to hunt a Beast and absorb its Soul Ring, there were not many Beasts on the Douluo Continent to begin with, and even fewer that were suitable for Zhou Heng.

As for the Douluo Continent, Ziji in the Star Dou Great Forest was suitable, but if Zhou Heng dared to go to the Great Fierce Land, he would definitely be surrounded and beaten to death.

At the lightest, he would be surrounded by the top three visible powerhouses of the Star Dou Great Forest—Wan Yao Wang, Xiong Jun, and Di Tian; at the worst, it was uncertain whether the Silver Dragon King would also take action.