After a little over six months, Alm and Bruno had used up all the bones they had in their inventory. All their soldiers, squad leaders, and even the members of the Yinblood Sect received reforged weapons.
After that, they implemented a new training test within the sect, using the reanimated skeletons they had captured in the Salamander’s seal. However, unlike previous tests, this time Alm made sure to divide the skeletons by levels, mixing those with more and less intelligence.
This test was one where a single mistake could mean death. Disciples would need to sense the fluctuations of the skeletons and react accordingly, without knowing which ones were intelligent. Most of them would probably die, but the brave and talented ones would rise, challenging themselves in the process.
After the test was implemented, Alm and Bruno exchanged glances. ’This free time we’ve gained... we were supposed to be studying, but we’re working non-stop...’
Finally, the two isolated themselves with Ruri and started studying the knowledge they had acquired.
First, they read the rune of knowledge the old skeleton had given them. It was about the queen’s race and his, the Charming Eyes Race.
In general, this race was one of the most favored by the heavens and was considered the most talented among countless races in the past.
Their origin, however, was strange. Members of this race could be born from any other race. It was as if the heavens randomly chose a race to give rise to a Charming Eyes Race individual.
Physically, they all had mystical golden eyes—an easily recognizable trait—and angelic wings, which made it clear from birth that the child had been blessed by the heavens.
Their cultivation could be described as incredibly easy. They had an innate ability called Divine Reflection, which made understanding anything related to heavenly laws much simpler. Because of this, they could quickly reach the peak of cultivation and attain the immortal level with ease.
But that was just the basics. Each individual developed their eyes uniquely, almost like their own Dao. In the past, before the Nine-Star Tree method to reach immortal realms existed, they were considered the gods ruling all universes. However, when the tree established its Dao, everything began to change slowly.
While it was easier for the Charming Eyes Race to reach the immortal level, the soul still needed to be prepared. Supreme talent at birth didn’t mean much.
Quickly, countless cultivators from other races reached the immortal level, and the Charming Eyes Race lost their hegemony.
That was until the birth of a woman from their race who ascended to the immortal realms. She united all her people and started a crusade to restore their power. However, not everyone from her race supported her, leading to an internal war.
In the end, she won after magically breaking through to an immortal realm no one had ever reached before.
She felt so powerful that, after her victory, she dominated her race and started killing them to become the sole survivor. She likely believed her race’s power was what allowed her to achieve that unique breakthrough and eliminated any chance of someone else reaching her level.
The few survivors of her race joined other immortals, leading to the holy war. The outcome of this conflict wasn’t clear in the knowledge transmitted.
Alm and Bruno finished reading and sighed in unison. Now, they knew the queen was beyond just a superior cultivation level—she had unique and stolen powers. Attacking without fully understanding her, even at the same level, would be like shooting in the dark.
Next, Alm and Bruno read a Jade Slip delivered by Nebai, which had been sent by Lansha. She had extracted all the obscure knowledge and rumors that Mihkriel had gathered in the past and sent it to the whale.
They read it... but only one thing subtly caught their attention. It was a collection of very old rumors about a place that practically no one knew anything about; its name was: World of the Higher Heavens.
How could no one know what existed there? Had no one ever returned? This smelled like some random fabrication; in the cultivation world, spreading false information was not uncommon. However, they had learned never to dismiss anything outright. They simply stored it as a possibility in the back of their minds until they found further clues. Then, they focused on deeply studying the earthly laws at the immortal level.
***
A year had passed since Almin and Lyra left.
At some point, the whale opened his eyes and sighed. ’We’ve reached less than 5% after all this time. At this rate, it’ll take five to ten thousand years to finish. We don’t have that time. Maybe it’s better to focus on something else.’ Bruno murmured internally.
Alm nodded. ’Rehvka and Maelik have already started the attacks with the entire alliance. In three to five years, everything should reach its climax.’
The two reflected on what to do. This side quest was hard to resolve in such a short time. The biggest problem was their low cultivation and the fact that they couldn’t draw too much attention or reveal themselves.
At that moment, Ruri opened her eyes. She had spent all this time refining her Dao, trying to complete it.
On her forehead, the mark of the beastly world appeared. From within it, Coltia emerged quickly and looked at the whale. "Her Dao is technically complete."
The whale nodded in understanding. They knew where she was aiming, but they allowed Ruri to try because they had a significant doubt about it; they wanted to test if she could succeed. Now, this was the moment to clarify.
"Ruri," Alm spoke seriously, and she looked at him, confused. "Coltia said it’s complete. Even though there’s room for improvement, and it’s good for you to keep refining, if your goal is to become a goddess, it’s likely that it’ll never happen."
"What? Why not?" Ruri asked, surprised.
Alm replied calmly, "Think about it. How many things have I created? It’s not just one. The two of us even created a technique capable of dealing with immortals together. More than that, just one of my flames is already something at the level of a supreme Divine Dao. But I’ve never even been considered a candidate for divinity."
"That..." Ruri murmured, tense. "It’s because Master is a missionary... isn’t it?"
"No, it’s not that. Before, you were a mortal trying to become a deity and unite with the laws. Now, you’ve become someone like me and skipped straight to being above the laws. There’s no going back," Alm concluded gently.
Coltia chimed in calmly, "In my time, there were two types of immortals: deities and common ones. When someone manages to become a deity before reaching the immortal realms, the process is much more arduous and difficult. However, once they succeed, their abilities as a deity and their Dao become much stronger. On the other hand, those who advance without reaching that state lose access to those benefits."
"Not that it’s necessarily bad not to become a god. Merging with the laws beforehand limits certain aspects of a cultivator. For example, they can’t cultivate immortal laws. This makes breaking through more difficult, and in the immortal realm, deities are at a disadvantage in that area compared to common immortals. However, the amplified power of their Dao can balance that out. There are other differences, but it’s just different, not better or worse."
Coltia finished her explanation, looking at Ruri seriously, waiting for a potentially disappointed reaction. Then, she glanced at the whale.
"I had already suspected this, but I wanted to confirm it with Ruri because of Maelik. He developed a Dao and was marked by the laws as a candidate. But... he has a divine soul like hers," Bruno asked curiously, knowing only Coltia could provide the answer.
"That... I’m not entirely sure why. But that half-demon—his divine soul is different. It’s something I’ve never seen before," she murmured thoughtfully. "The feeling I get is like that of a cultivator who forcibly advanced their realm using pills, for example. On the surface, he has a divine soul, but it’s barely 10% as capable as a real one."
Alm and Bruno were taken aback by this revelation. They had never noticed the difference due to their lack of experience and knowledge.
Coltia murmured, "I’d venture to say he doesn’t even have the most basic ability to regenerate like a divine soul should..."
The pieces fell into place for Alm and Bruno, so they explained everything to her in detail about that main quest where they were a two-headed Cerberus—specifically how they had created Maelik’s divine soul artificially.
"So that’s it. I’ve heard rumors of people trying to create a divine soul artificially, but they all failed, and it became regarded as impossible. But... coming from you, the impossible happened," Coltia said softly, clearly surprised.
Back then, Alm and Bruno had used their tattoos and divine souls, unaware that what they were doing was considered impossible.
"So in his case, the heavenly laws still see him as mortal—just much stronger than the average mortal," Alm commented calmly. "He can even retain his memories upon reincarnation, but most of the other abilities are absent."
The two had narrowly avoided making a fatal mistake with Maelik. The only reason they hadn’t was that he was still very young and couldn’t fully utilize his divine soul like Kaiyka and Coltia. But in their ignorance, if they had ever needed to sacrifice his divine soul for something, they would have done so—only to discover the hard way that he couldn’t regenerate like the others.
They both sighed. Now that they understood how difficult it was to become immortal, the fact that they had given Maelik a divine soul so easily in the past felt bizarre. It had been something forced and artificial, made possible only by the power of the tattoos. But that didn’t mean Maelik couldn’t fully develop his soul. It was like he was stuck at the elementary level of a realm indefinitely.
After the clarification, the two turned to look at Ruri, who had remained silent. Her rivalry with the other disciples was already doomed to fail. Being fiercely competitive, she was bound to feel deeply disappointed.
Feeling their gaze, Ruri snapped out of her stupor. She simply clicked her tongue, showing she no longer cared. "Whatever. Master doesn’t have one either, so I don’t need it. I’ll become stronger than all of them without it. My Dao can still be useful to Master, right?" she said, looking at him seriously.
"Yes, it will still be a unique technique of yours. But, just like I’ve created several techniques, you can also refine it further, and now, you can even integrate immortal-level laws into it. For example, your spatial rune has already reached the immortal level. Once you fully master it..."
"I already mastered it during this time," Ruri interrupted quickly. "With master’s knowledge, I got close to completing it. Then, I went beyond and finished it on my own. Actually, if I were still trying to complete the Dao, the changes I made would have been useless, because I wouldn’t have been able to use them."
Alm and Bruno were curious. "Show us your completed technique."
Ruri nodded and murmured, "The Dao of the Moonlight Goddess doesn’t fit it anymore. I’ll rename it to World Completeness."
She gestured, and the entire room was engulfed by a spatial distortion. It was similar to before—the environment transformed into a world separate from the heavenly laws, where any enemy inside would lose access to many of their abilities, forced to fight with only what their body possessed.
Within this world, Alm and Bruno noticed constant changes in the environment. First, they saw the familiar, dazzling Paraselene, which soon gave way to a magical sunrise. They remembered seeing this before—when they accepted Ruri as their woman and began their relationship.
Next, they found themselves in a common forest, bringing back memories of their early days training Ruri as their disciple after leaving the Divinestone clan. Finally, the setting shifted to a dark, damp place.
"What the hell is this?"
This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.
Ruri appeared before them, laughing softly. "Ah, master... that time you taught me that thing was unforgettable for me. I felt like I was floating, and when..."
Alm and Bruno recalled the moment they advanced to another level with the tattoos thanks to Ruri... but in exchange, they had to teach her how to satisfy herself. Later, this turned out to be a mistake, as she didn’t want to handle it alone, forcing them to assist her. (Chapter 488)
They decided to ignore the memory, turning their focus back to the ever-shifting environment.
With her new immortal soul, Ruri had managed to create this world, now able to alter reality within it. She had reached the peak of the mental cultivation system she received from them not long ago. Coupled with her immortal-level spatial rune and the accumulated knowledge of her past lives, she had made it possible.
Above them, Alm and Bruno noticed something immutable: a violet, ethereal lotus spinning gently. They realized Ruri had used the knowledge she gained as an Immortal Lotus... but this went beyond mental cultivation—she had created a new level.
"Now I can use my mental power along with other laws and techniques. I can integrate it into absolutely anything. I no longer have to choose between this and other abilities," Ruri explained with a smile.
Alm and Bruno nodded. She had surpassed the creator of mental cultivation, just as they had. Likely, the Immortal Lotus who created it wasn’t truly immortal or hadn’t had access to terrifying resources like Ruri. But there was more.
Ruri gestured again, and time began to distort within that world. She had also learned to use time laws effectively.
Bruno jumped in surprise. "Wait, you can distort time here compared to the outside world?"
Ruri nodded affirmatively.
"And how long can you keep this world active?" Alm asked.
"Hmm... if I’m not fighting, the laws aren’t consuming too much, so I can replenish the energy from the outside world. Technically, it’s infinite that way," Ruri responded thoughtfully.
Alm and Bruno asked her to distort time to the maximum while maintaining the technique’s sustainability.
After some testing, they concluded excitedly: ’One year in the queen’s universe equals a thousand here. And that’s because her cultivation is still low, limiting her power.’ Bruno thought, thrilled.
Alm agreed. For cultivators, training here would be nearly impossible because the world was disconnected from the heavenly laws. Advancing in realms would never happen, and even a breakthrough using external Qi would be risky. Everyone was subject to failures, and if that happened in this place, they’d be irreparable.
Still, the place was perfect for studying all their accumulated knowledge. Internal processes and reflections for people as ancient as them could easily take years or decades. They constantly had to monitor themselves to avoid losing track of time, but now, Ruri would solve their problems.
"Excellent, this will help me a lot," Alm affirmed excitedly, making Ruri beam with pride.
Of course, before taking full advantage of this new benefit, they had to reward her for her efforts. But now, even that would have minimal impact on the outside world’s time.
’Wait... did she create this with that intention?’ After several days, Alm and Bruno finally realized they had been set up. ’Well, in the end, it was what we needed.’