Chapter 295

Chapter 295: Divine Observation!

Less than a month remained before the great battle between the Yang family and the Divine Realm.

During this time, both the Guanxuan Domain and the Divine Realm had been frantically recruiting powerful fighters and rallying major factions.

The major powers across the entire universe, each weighing their own interests, began choosing sides one after another.

Across the entire universe, a storm was brewing.

By the lakeside.

During this period, Ye Tianming still spent each day reading, though he now focused mainly on cultivation-related texts.

These were all purchased from the Immortal Treasure Pavilion, covering every cultivation realm from Body Tempering to Ancestor Ascension, each described in extraordinarily clear detail.

When he had scattered his dao back then, his realm had been reset to zero.

The reason it had no impact on his combat power was that he had always walked the path of reverse cultivation, combined with the Law of All Beings — so in truth, his strength had not diminished but grown.

The reason he was now studying these realms was not to re-cultivate them. For him, what he needed to do now was to slowly begin breaking the rules.

What are rules?

In his view, the realm system itself was a kind of rule.

Just like the various laws of the world — they are all a form of rule, designed to constrain people.

Of course, if everyone were equally constrained, that could be considered fair. But more often than not, those who create laws and moral codes are themselves exempt from them.

Laws and morality are simply tools they use to govern the masses.

Of course, he also understood that not all laws and morality are bad. The establishment of morality and law also serves to stabilize society.

Duality!

After leaving the Guanxuan Academy, he had come to understand one truth within its walls — that everything has two sides, meaning there is always a good side and a bad side.

And would his own Law of All Beings have two sides as well?

Naturally, it would.

Now, the reason he was studying this realm system was twofold. First, to ground himself.

Whether it was establishing his dao back then or having his realm reset to zero now, he had walked his path far too quickly. In his own estimation, his foundation was still too shallow. Second, he wanted to thoroughly internalize the existing realm system.

His future goal was to develop the Law of All Beings in the direction of “dao.”

But before that, he had to fully understand the existing “dao.”

He began cultivating inside his storage ring, intending to walk through every realm once — but only once. He was not truly re-cultivating the realms. Simply put, he still had no realm.

Cultivating in reverse was undeniably easier. The various cultivation difficulties he had once faced now seemed like non-issues. Beyond that, for certain realms, he had his own unique insights and even improvements.

The early stages went smoothly.

But the further he went, the harder it became.

Especially after reaching the stage of establishing a dao, because establishing a dao meant involving the Grand Dao Rankings.

And right now, he still knew nothing about the Grand Dao Rankings.

All he knew was that any cultivator who established a dao had to receive recognition from the Grand Dao Rankings, and beyond that, they needed to achieve dao consolidation.

Establishing a dao and ascending to Ancestor was not actually that difficult. What was truly difficult was dao consolidation.

Two cultivators at the same Ancestor realm — one with dao consolidation and one without — were worlds apart.

Dao consolidation meant you could draw upon the grand dao power of the Grand Dao Rankings, while without it, you could not.

This was the primary reason for the vast difference in strength between the two.

As for his previous two grand daos plus Xiao Hun’s grand dao, they could only be considered established daos, not yet consolidated daos.

In truth, the Order Dao he had later developed did count as a consolidated dao.

But he had scattered it.

He felt no regret, yet for him, that experience had been enormously valuable.

To consolidate a dao, theory alone was not enough — it had to be supported by practice.

The reason the Order Dao had been able to reach consolidation was that his various policies had been implemented across the Guanxuan Universe and had proven effective.

And even among consolidated daos, there were differences in strength.

For instance, if his policies could be implemented across the entire universe, then the Order Dao he had consolidated would certainly rank near the top.

What he was actually most curious about now were the top-ranked grand daos on the Grand Dao Rankings.

What he knew of were Fate, Karma, and Reincarnation.

These three grand daos were currently ranked in the top three on the Grand Dao Rankings.

Who had established and consolidated these grand daos?

Although he had already scattered his dao, his dao philosophy remained. As long as the philosophy remained, the dao had not truly dissipated.

He had also begun to sense a crisis.

Because the Law of All Beings, as it currently stood, was still within the bounds of dao. While it was an unrivaled existence against those below the Circle-Drawing realm, it would be ineffective against a Circle-Drawing realm powerhouse.

Therefore, he felt that the next law within the Law of All Beings could no longer remain within the bounds of dao — it had to reach the level of the Circle-Drawing realm.

It was fortunate that Tower Ancestor had given him this storage ring, otherwise he would not have had enough time.

Inside the storage ring, he spent a full three months walking through every realm once more, stopping only after reaching Ancestor realm with dao consolidation.

As for the path ahead, he had already formed a detailed plan.

Step one: re-establish a dao.

Establish the dao only, without cultivating a realm.

Like someone in the mortal world who only acquires knowledge but does not attend school — not defined by any realm.

Step two: consolidate his sword techniques. All of his previous sword techniques and sword domains now seemed overly complex to him. He wanted to integrate all of them.

Whether sword domain or sword technique —

the purpose was to kill.

And to kill, one sword was enough.

There was no need for excessive flourishes.

Step three: lay a solid foundation and write the fourth law.

This time, his ambition ran a little deeper, because this fourth law would be different from the previous three.

He already had a faint idea for this fourth law, but that idea was not yet sufficient to support putting it into writing. He still needed a little more time.

In short, he wanted to increase his own strength.

Because going forward, he would not only have to face the Yang family — he would also have to contend for the Grand Dao Rankings. He was well aware that with his current strength, whether facing the Yang family or competing for the Grand Dao Rankings, he was simply not strong enough.

Beyond that, he also needed to forge ties with more factions.

Back when he was in the Guanxuan Universe, he had come to understand that his current capabilities were not enough to stand against certain powers. Had it not been for the help of the Boundless Lord, the Sacrifice Clan, and Liu Sha at the time, he would have had no way to stand against the Divine Realm.

Of course, the greatest help had naturally come from Tower Ancestor.

But if you wanted to make more friends, the prerequisite was having sufficient strength and the right background.

As for the identity of the Cultivator Academy, he was no rigid traditionalist — what needed to be used should be used.

This time, he could not be as passive as before, letting the Yang family move their pieces however they pleased.

This time, he too would become a player moving the pieces.

On this day.

Ye Tianming stood sword in hand at the edge of a sea, his eyes slowly closing. In that moment, it was as if heaven and earth themselves had frozen still.

Suddenly, he and Xiao Hun transformed into ten thousand streaks of sword light, slashing toward the heavens and earth.

Shhk!

That single sword strike tore the entire sky and earth apart.

Then in an instant, all the sword light scattered across the heavens and earth converged back into one.

Scatter into sword!

Gather into person!

This was a brand new sword technique he had created after merging with the dao during his final battle with Yang Jia.

This sword strike undoubtedly pushed both his and Xiao Hun’s power to the absolute limit, and the two of them were in perfect harmony.

This was also the first sword technique he had created in all these years.

A moment later, Ye Tianming slowly closed his eyes again. Suddenly, a mysterious force appeared between heaven and earth.

Restraint Sword Domain!

As the Restraint Sword Domain emerged, wave after wave of terrifying sword intent surged forth from the heavens and earth like a tide.

Invincible Sword Dao!

The sword intent grew more and more fearsome.

Suddenly, Ye Tianming and the Tianming Sword in his hand dissolved directly into sword light, merging with the sword intent and sword domain that filled the heavens and earth.

The next moment, a streak of sword light shot into the sky, slashing toward the heavens and earth.

One sword to decide life and death!

With this sword strike, his sword intent surged once more, reaching an entirely new height.

One sword passed, and the entire sky and earth began to shatter piece by piece.

A moment later, Ye Tianming stopped. He stood in the void, his face full of smiles. The next moment, he swung his sword again.

And so, through his continuous attempts and integration, his Restraint Sword Domain, his Invincible Sword Intent, his unity of person and sword, and his one sword to decide life and death were ultimately fused into a single sword strike.

Just one sword!

No unnecessary flourishes.

It could be said that aside from the Law of All Beings, this sword strike was his most powerful — though of course, it was also his only one.

If one strike couldn’t kill the opponent, then he’d strike again.

The Divine Academy.

Inside the great hall.

Vice Principal Zhou Qing stared at the storage ring before him, grinning from ear to ear.

This was aid provided by the Immortal Treasure Pavilion.

After entering into cooperation with the Immortal Treasure Pavilion, the Pavilion had kept its word and extended support to the Divine Academy.

And this support was truly substantial — not only in funds, but also in equipment, capable of greatly enhancing the Divine Academy’s overall strength.

Zhou Qing looked at the blue-robed woman across from him and smiled. “Miss, is there anything else you need our Divine Academy to cooperate with?”

The blue-robed woman smiled faintly, then said, “That Ye Guan…….”

Just then, as if sensing something, she suddenly turned her head to look.

Zhou Qing’s expression also shifted. He raised his head to look, and there, in the deepest reaches of the cosmic river, a pair of eyes utterly devoid of any emotion were at that moment gazing upon the Divine Academy.

The next moment, a voice suddenly rang out across the entire Divine Academy, “Someone from my Cultivator Academy — you dare drive them away?”

Boom!

In an instant, the space above the Divine Academy suddenly shattered. Immediately after, a hand reached down forcefully, and before Zhou Qing could even react, that hand had seized him by the throat.

Zhou Qing’s expression changed drastically. “Shen Guanzhao!”

Shen Guanzhao!

The second senior sister of the Cultivator Academy!

From deep within the cosmic river, Shen Guanzhao’s voice rang out again, “Today I will slaughter half the people of your Divine Academy, to teach your Divine Academy a lesson it won’t forget!”

Boom!

The words had barely fallen when, inside the Divine Academy, countless powerful fighters were directly shattered by a mysterious force.

Zhou Qing was horrified. He quickly looked toward the blue-robed woman. “Miss…….”

The blue-robed woman slowly rose to her feet. She looked at Shen Guanzhao, and just then, the space before her suddenly turned hazy and illusory. The next moment, a face leaned down from within that hazy void.

It was none other than Shen Guanzhao!

Shen Guanzhao looked down at the blue-robed woman. “Watch carefully. I’ll kill him right in front of you!”

With that, she lightly snapped her fingers.

Bang!

Zhou Qing’s body and soul were instantly annihilated.