Chapter 871: Chapter 41: Thirteen Souls, Comprehending the Divine Domain
"Self-abandonment of cultivation? Saint Master, you must think clearly. We are about to enter the Great Domain; abandoning your cultivation now might backfire."
Xiong Ba said with some concern.
Xiong Ba’s concern wasn’t about Zhou Yan abandoning his cultivation and no longer being able to take care of them, but rather, that their own strength might not be enough to take care of Zhou Yan without his cultivation.
With these words, both Zhou Ying and Ping’er understood, and it was natural that Zhou Yan understood as well.
"Rest assured, being able to comprehend now means there’s still a bit of opportunity, precisely grasping this chance. Since we have grasped it, it doesn’t matter if we enter the Great Domain a bit later."
"Although entering the Great Domain later might be more difficult and dangerous, I’ve calculated that it would be more secure than entering directly. Moreover, I am in an excellent state now, though I don’t know how long it will last, so I want to first stop the Flame Throne in this void.
Wait for me a few days; once I’ve comprehended the general direction of the Divine Tao rules, I’ll guide you all to abandon your cultivation and re-consolidate the Divine Tao."
"At that time, with my example and guidance, it won’t be difficult for you to condense a brand new Divine Domain."
Zhou Yan pondered aloud, his voice somewhat solemn.
"This—"
Xiong Ba hesitated slightly, revealing a peculiar expression unique to bears. He retained the appearance of a bear while existing in the form of a human man, yet his visage was unflattering.
Especially when stunned, this visage was quite ugly.
However, demon beasts’ aesthetics were different from humans’. In Xiong Ba’s view, he possessed both the charm of a bear and the handsome demeanor of a human.
"Abandoning cultivation is no issue; rather, it’s a good thing for truly complete places. But can we really stay here safely? If something happens to us, it’s okay, but Brother Zhou Yan, you’re bearing too much, and absolutely cannot have anything happen."
Zhou Ying said solemnly.
Her voice remained gentle, her light purple gauze dress adding nobility and mature elegance beyond her past innocence.
"Since I’ve made this decision, just follow along. I wouldn’t do anything I wasn’t confident in. Hmm, let’s leave it at that, this rare state, I’ll continue on the Enlightenment."
As Zhou Yan spoke, he casually wielded soul power, forcefully halting the Flame Throne, leaving the throne desolately suspended in this dim and cold wasteland of the Star Domain.
Zhou Yan quickly returned to an unfettered state without any thoughts; in this state, all difficulties seemed no longer difficult, and all obstacles were no longer obstacles.
The rules of the Dragon Soul Form Dark God Domain were quickly comprehended by Zhou Yan, nearly reaching completion.
This process was far easier than Zhou Yan had imagined.
Such ease left Zhou Yan himself in a trance, seemingly unbelievable.
"So simple? Is it complete like this? One domain, equivalent to one world; where my soul power extends, within stable space, where soul form power extends and covers, is my heaven and earth, subject to my sovereignty over everything.
This heaven and earth isn’t a real heaven and earth, but a void world akin to Sumeru; it is a non-existing space, yet residing within the soul body."
"This is how soul power derives a space. This space exists for me as a small heaven and earth, a tiny Sumeru world, but it doesn’t exist for others, because it’s my domain. Similarly, others’ domains are like this, derived from their soul power as a Sumeru world, which doesn’t exist for me."
"Isn’t this too simple? This simple thing, is it the true Divine Tao First Transition in the Great Domain? Divine Spirit First Transformation? Does that mean, by abandoning cultivation and reconsolidating this Tao into the soul body, I’d achieve the Divine Spirit First Transition?"
Zhou Yan comprehended in mere moments, what took half a day before was only deduction; now true enlightenment came in a breath, so quick that Zhou Yan found it somewhat unreal."
"Is it like this? Testing it will reveal!"
Zhou Yan executed Soul Slash, forming the destruction rules of the soul, dispersing everything, simultaneously destroying the physical form, equivalent to self-Transformation.
Yet Zhou Yan had Tao heart guarding his self and also possessed Swallowing Sky Divine Dao, so all dispersed energy transformed into the purest origin energy.
And as cultivation was abandoned, when Zhou Yan constructed the void with soul power, the original soul sea directly ’woosh’ into it, forming a vast Soul Power Ocean in the Soul Domain.
A giant wolf from the sea and a gray dragon danced, roaring amidst void lightning.
This world could practically massacre endless divine spirits.
A thought, soul power extended, domain unfolded, capturing the enemy into this soul sea, where a single breath of flame from the gray dragon could annihilate countless warriors.
"This—this is simply astonishing, what on earth is happening?"
Zhou Yan was taken aback; this cohesion process was so smooth it made him suspect, as if in a dream.
Smooth, simple, effortless!
The pain of abandoning cultivation had yet to linger, the success of Divine Spirit First Transformation autonomously devoured the scattered origin energy around, while also consuming the dark unknown energy from this star domain to elevate the realm.
Still in just a breath, Zhou Yan found his heavy injuries had recovered to fifty percent, and the dormant eleven Sword Souls remained unaffected.
It’s simply miraculous, nearly impossible for Zhou Yan, who had planned for massive repercussions and even anticipated the War Beast Sword Soul being impacted while keeping its core yet giving up some things, unexpectedly found everything proceeding so shockingly smoothly.
Zhou Yan completed the accumulation of the Divine Spirit First Transition Realm, and his whole being seemed to suddenly gain a new force and momentum. However, he did not stop and continued to comprehend in one go.
In the span of a breath, Zhou Yan realized the embryonic form of the second realm of the Divine Spirit Second Transition—Soul-cutting Dark God Domain.
It seemed that as long as the soul body completed a full advancement, the Xingyi Dark God Domain could progress from its near Great Success stage to Great Perfection, allowing him to complete the Divine Spirit Second Transition and grasp the second realm.
But at this moment, it seemed the Nine Orifice Exquisite Heart was blessed by the Ancient Evil Heart, enabling Zhou Yan’s Enlightenment Sword Body to exert terrifying abilities. After the initial emergence of the Soul-cutting Dark God Domain, Zhou Yan smoothly derived the third domain rule—his own third domain rule.
The third domain was the Thunderflame Dark God Domain.
After the third domain emerged, the silhouette of the fourth domain followed, then the fifth, sixth, and all the way to the ninth rule form, all clearly presented themselves.
Zhou Yan lacked the ability to grasp them, yet he saw these rules as bright guiding lights, illuminating his path forward in the Great Domain.
The third domain, Thunderflame Dark God Domain.
The fourth domain, Void Dark God Domain.
The fifth domain, Soul Devouring Dark God Domain.
The sixth domain, Demon Heart Dark God Domain.
The seventh domain, Emperor Sword Dark God Domain.
The eighth domain, Soul-killing Dark God Domain.
The ninth domain, Chaos Dark God Domain.
This is the Sword God Nine Transitions, corresponding to the nine rules belonging to Zhou Yan in the Divine Spirit Nine Transitions, and he saw all of them and their structures.
However, Zhou Yan suddenly realized that after self-abolishing his cultivation, the current ability of his nine great sword bodies temporarily remained. But these abilities, compared to the domain rules, could only be considered as general auxiliary means.
Zhou Yan was very excited, almost wanting to immediately condense these nine great rules, but although the second domain rule also felt extremely simple, the first domain rule had not yet achieved Great Perfection, rendering the second domain rule with a sense of having the heart but lacking the strength.
"If the first rule has not become a ’rule’ and is incomplete, I cannot comprehend the second rule? Can’t I increase the rule domain by using the other sword bodies to comprehend the first rule?"
Zhou Yan quickly devised a countermeasure, because for each sword body, if the Xingyi Dark God Domain was activated, due to different Sword Souls, the rules would be different, hence more complete and comprehensive.
The Twelve War Beast Sword Souls, with twelve souls plus his own soul, shouldn’t they be able to comprehend the already Great Success Xingyi Rule to Great Perfection?
This was a very simple solution, so Zhou Yan collected his thoughts, preparing to fully convert sword bodies.
Yet, at that moment, it was as if a bucket of cold water was quickly poured down, leaving Zhou Yan utterly stupefied.
His other eleven great sword bodies, including his own soul, were all suppressed by the invisible power of the Great Domain.
It was as if after the Dragon-shaped Sword Soul manifested, all other Sword Souls were sealed.
"What, what is happening?!"
Zhou Yan was truly shocked and dismayed. This situation appeared extremely abruptly, almost taking away all his trump cards. This is something no cultivator can remain calm about.
"Zhou Yan... maybe, once the Dragon-shaped Sword Soul is fully restored, you can use it to activate the next Xingyi Sword Soul. Also, it’s because your main soul is not in the leading position, and the completeness of the Great Domain requires you to be complete to progress.
You have thirteen souls. Each soul must enter the Divine Spirit First Transition before you can have a chance to enter the Divine Spirit Second Transition. Your abundant foundation has become your nightmare this time."
Xuanyuan Ancestor’s somewhat weak voice transmitted, solving Zhou Yan’s endless doubts.
However, this explanation caused Zhou Yan’s heart to sink to the bottom.
This result was absolutely unexpected for him, but the completeness of the Great Domain also signifies the rationality of all this.
And based on this point, Zhou Yan immediately realized something very important and thus said in a deep voice, "Then aiming for infinite realm progression with the Demon Heart Sword Body has become empty talk, hasn’t it?"
"With a complete Great Domain, do you think it’s still possible? The reason the Great Domain is the Land of Transcendence is that each can dominate their rules, but all are unified within the Great Domain. When you fight within the Great Domain, you cannot shatter the Void. However, moving mountains and filling seas is possible. The so-called ’Domain’ is a domain of Heaven and Earth. Breaking the domain of Heaven and Earth means a transcendence domain, which should not be possible.
Therefore, the Demon Heart Sword Body and other sword bodies only originate from the plane and can only be regarded as a body’s physical quality in the Great Domain. Otherwise, how could the Dark God Domain become the Land of Transcendence coveted by many Nine Heavens Supremes?"
"Then am I... with thirteen souls, not just trash amongst trash, but forever lagging behind others?"
Zhou Yan’s face carried a bit of bitterness.
This blow was indeed extremely heavy.
"You can’t say that. Those are just appearances, not results. It’s like a person possessing One Dragon Power, while you have thirteen souls. Once all achieve First-Transformation God, you’d have the power of thirteen dragons. In the same realm, you could be invincible. This is quite an achievement in the Great Domain.
And astonishingly, others might need about a year to comprehend a rule, and it could take ten to a hundred years to condense the first Divine Spirit rule, but you accomplished it in just a breath. Although accumulating comprehension later will surely multiply in difficulty, overall speed, you should not be too different from an ordinary cultivator. Yet, if your later comprehension is slower than now, you’d be worse than the worst trash in the Great Domain. The comprehension difficulty accumulated from your thirteen souls... I have never seen or heard of it and cannot specifically judge."
Xuanyuan Ancestor seemed to have been silent for a long time, pondering for a long time before giving such an answer.