Chapter 388: Primordial Blade Path — Divergence
Within the Council Hall, disputes arose among the Lords regarding how to cultivate the next generation of cultivators.
“We have already reclaimed many important resources and raised the exchange thresholds.” Wulan could not help but say, “Jin, do you still think we need to further cut resources? At this rate, there will be far too little!”
“Too little?”
Jin sat there and shook his head. “When Yuan was weak, there wasn’t even a single Lord in the entire Cultivator Faction. At that time, there were no good resources at all! Yuan could only comprehend the operation of the Source World’s origin rules, yet he still became a Lord. When I was weak, the Cultivator Faction only had Brother Yuan as a Lord, and resources were scarce—yet didn’t I still make it all the way?”
“Look at Luo Feng!” Jin said. “Luo Feng rose from the very bottom of a weak ‘Primal Universe’ in his home Source World! Resources were practically negligible. Later, after enduring countless hardships, he reached the core region of the Source World—the ‘Origin Continent’—and was still extremely poor! At that time, the wealthiest forces on the Origin Continent were the two Ancient Kingdoms, and resources were almost completely monopolized by them!”
“After Luo Feng left the Source World and arrived at the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, he was still poor. He couldn’t even afford Primordial Bloodline materials and could only buy scraps of low-rank Primordial Lifeform materials.” Jin said, “What does that show?”
“It shows that fewer resources can instead squeeze out greater potential,” Jin said. “If too many resources are given, these juniors won’t cherish them.”
Luo Feng smiled and nodded. “Brother Jin seems to know quite a lot about me. I also agree with what Brother Jin said! We must let the younger generation of cultivators grow accustomed to a ‘poverty-style cultivation method.’ If resources remain scarce and they can still reach the Ultimate Divine King level, that proves they are worth nurturing.”
“With limited conditions, reaching the Ultimate Divine King level or even the Half-Primordial Level is far more difficult than now. Those who are selected under such harsh conditions, once given top-tier resources, may truly escape the prison cage,” Luo Feng said.
He himself had always tried to squeeze out the full potential of every bit of resource.
“Luo Feng’s cultivation path also proves another point,” Yuan said. “After he entered the God Emperor stage, he completely explored his path in darkness, without relying on any inherited teachings.”
“The inheritances we left behind before have already proven to be harmful instead!” Wulan also agreed.
The more powerful an existence, the greater the influence of their inheritance—making it extremely difficult for later generations to forge their own path.
“As for inheritances that lead to escaping the prison cage, I believe they should be completely prohibited from spreading,” Yuan said. “Let the younger generation explore on their own.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
One after another, the Lords nodded.
They had all taken wrong turns before. All past experience proved one thing: to become a Lord, one must rely on their own exploration.
“As for resources? In this era, we will follow Luo Feng’s experience,” Yuan said with a smile. “Let the younger generation grow under scarce resources. Only after they prove themselves sufficiently outstanding will they be given corresponding resources.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
One after another, they voted. According to longstanding rules, the cultivation methods of a new era would largely follow the experience of the newest Lord’s breakthrough.
“Brother Luo Feng also rose from a Source World,” Momman sighed. “So far, all eight Lords have emerged from Source Worlds. This shows that although the countless worlds we created contain more lifeforms, their talent and aptitude have inherent flaws.”
“The worlds we create are fundamentally different from Source Worlds,” Yuan said.
As one who had mastered the Primordial Rule Operation Path, he had always sought to create a Source World—but had never succeeded.
“In the future, resources should be more inclined toward Source Worlds,” Wulan said. “After all, only Source Worlds can give birth to new Lords.”
“I think that within the entire Cultivator territory, ‘calamity-type cultivators’ should be completely eliminated,” Luo Feng said. “A single cultivator can treat all life within a Source World as nourishment. While they may achieve something, they cut off the hope of all other lifeforms within that Source World.”
Grudges, conflicts, and the law of the jungle—Luo Feng could understand all of that.
But those who themselves became calamities, slaughtering all life in a world, even harvesting entire Source Worlds across cycle after cycle—such cultivators should not exist.
“Brother Luo Feng, I am a calamity-type cultivator,” Jin looked at Luo Feng.
“I am as well,” Naigu said, looking at Luo Feng.
Jin said, “I was born as part of the Destruction Demon Clan. Under the influence of the Source World, destroying all living beings was my destiny! Only by sinking into destruction and then mastering it did I ultimately become a Lord.”
“For the sake of my cultivation path, all living beings are naturally my nourishment,” Naigu said calmly. “Even in the future, I will still require the corpses of Ancestors as nourishment.”
“Every path has its reason to exist!” Jin looked at Luo Feng. “Calamity-type cultivators have their purpose.”
“Pure destruction cannot give birth to life,” Luo Feng said. “Even you have comprehended a portion of the profundity of life.”
The Primordial Destruction Path that Jin cultivated still contained a fraction of life essence—otherwise, it could not form life.
“I had to first sink into destruction before ultimately transcending and mastering it,” Jin said. “Every cultivator has a different path! No path should be restricted. Any path may give birth to a Lord.”
Minghuang said coldly, “A path filled with monstrous sins that destroys countless lives should not exist!”
“What is ‘sin’?” Naigu looked at Minghuang. “In this Infinite Space, there is only strength and weakness. ‘Sin’ is merely your own inner judgment. Minghuang, you are too narrow-minded!”
“We are all life,” Luo Feng said. “We should show compassion to the weak—we all originated from weakness.”
“The strong prey on the weak. If the weak die because they are weak, that is simply fate,” Naigu said calmly.
Yuan felt a headache seeing this scene.
Over the long years, there had always been conflicts among the Lords.
Jin, Naigu, and Momman formed one faction—though Momman was not as extreme as Jin and Naigu, he still appreciated the “survival of the fittest” approach.
Minghuang was compassionate, and Wulan also appreciated Minghuang, forming another faction.
Yuan tolerated all, while Star Light Lord remained an observer, not participating in disputes.
“It seems Minghuang and Luo Feng share similar attitudes. The conflicts will only intensify in the future,” Yuan thought helplessly.
Previously, the strongest opposing force—Minghuang—had been somewhat isolated. But now, with Luo Feng, who Breaks Through Techniques with Brute Force, the two factions had gradually reached a balance.
“Show compassion to the weak? The Naturally Born Primordial Lifeform Faction certainly won’t,” Jin retorted. “Luo Feng, you cultivate the Life-and-Death Path as well. Don’t you understand? The weak are destined to be destroyed.”
“Jin! Destruction exists to protect life!” Luo Feng looked at him.
Both sides had deep understanding of life and destruction, but their directions were clearly different.
“A harsh environment allows them to grow better,” Momman said. “Brother Luo Feng, when you were growing, you also faced calamity-like existences! When you were weak, you faced the Golden-Horned Beast. Later, you faced Realm Beasts! These calamity-type cultivators can provide powerful motivation for others.”
“The calamity-type cultivators we must target are those who annihilate all life within an entire Source World,” Luo Feng said. “Against such existences, weak cultivators don’t even have the chance to resist!”
“Enough.”
Yuan finally spoke. “Stop arguing. We’ll follow the old rules!”
“First, if you Lords have your own ideas, you may implement them within your own ‘Absolute Territory.’ In the rest of the vast Cultivator territory, we will continue the free-range strategy.”
“Second, if persuasion fails, rely on strength. Whoever can defeat the combined forces of the other Lords—then we follow their way. If your strength isn’t enough, endure it.”
As soon as Yuan said this, the Lords fell silent.
Defeat all other Lords combined alone? No one in the entire Infinite Space could achieve that.
“No choice,” Luo Feng sighed inwardly.
The Lords could not fully agree with one another. They could only seek common ground while reserving differences.
When he was weak, Luo Feng had believed that becoming a Lord would allow him to establish rules entirely according to his will. But now that he had become a Lord, he realized… even he could only change so much.
Not to mention the enemy faction—even within his own faction, decisions were made collectively by all eight Lords.
“Next matter,” Yuan immediately moved on. “With the birth of a new Lord, according to tradition, a grand celebration must be held.”
The birth of a Lord was special.
In the Naturally Born Primordial Lifeform Faction, even the birth of several Ancestors would not warrant a celebration. Only when an Undying and Indestructible existence emerged—one qualified to hold a seat in the Eternal Land—would there be grand festivities.
Every Lord was an existence that drew the attention of the entire Infinite Space and naturally held a seat in the Eternal Land. Of course, a grand celebration would be held.
“Let’s first reclaim our territory,” Luo Feng said. “Among our three thousand six hundred World Clusters in the Cultivator territory, many have yet to be recovered. Once the territory is reclaimed, then we will hold the celebration.”
“Alright, we’ll follow your idea,” Yuan nodded. “Our most important task now is how to reclaim our territory.”
The eight Lords began their discussions.
Internally, they had disagreements.
Externally, they stood united. Even Jin and Naigu understood how much the Cultivator Faction had benefited them.
Soon, a complete plan for reclaiming territory was formulated, with each Lord assigned their own tasks.
……
Origin Land, Tianyue Sea Cave Dwelling.
At this moment, countless High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms gathered outside the cave dwelling.
They were extremely excited, discussing among themselves as they waited for an audience with the Lord—Luo Feng.
“The last time we saw the Lord, he was still only a Half-Primordial Lifeform. In the blink of an eye, in less than two thousand eras, the Lord has reached the peak and even ended the war.” The thin old man Teng was quite excited. Around him gathered a large group of companions—they were all High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms from the Dark World Cluster.
In the past, the Dark World Cluster had been insignificant.
But now, it was the homeland of Lord Luo Feng—it was his Absolute Territory!
“Our Dark World Cluster has become the Lord’s Absolute Territory. In the future, it will prosper tenfold, a hundredfold.”
“We fellow natives will all be heavily valued.”
Outside Absolute Territories, everything followed a free-range strategy. And when new Lords were born, territories would be reassigned. Only Absolute Territories received full development from a Lord and naturally became extremely prosperous.
In addition to the tens of millions of High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms, there were also 23 World-level Primordial Lifeforms waiting outside.
Tianlangke was among these 23.
“Brother Tianlang, you are a fellow native of the Lord! As the only World-level Primordial Lifeform born in the Dark World Cluster, you will definitely be heavily valued,” a companion beside him said with a smile. “I believe you will take one of the three major inspection positions.”
Other World-level Primordial Lifeforms also looked at Tianlangke with envy.
After all, being from the same homeland as the Lord—it was only natural to be favored.
“The first time the Lord came to the Origin Land, over ten thousand High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms from his world cluster went to pay respects—yet this Tianlangke did not go,” the World-level Primordial Lifeform Zhu Huo watched from the side.
Suddenly—
An invisible fluctuation descended!
The 23 World-level Primordial Lifeforms and the tens of millions of High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms all fell silent. Under that terrifying aura, they all felt their own insignificance.
A Black-Robed, Black-Haired Man descended from the void.
Tianlangke looked at this existence. Only now did he see his Lord—Luo Feng—for the first time! As a World-level Primordial Lifeform born within an Absolute Territory, he would serve under Lord Luo Feng for endless years to come.
“Greetings, Lord!”
All 23 World-level Primordial Lifeforms bowed respectfully.
“Greetings, Lord.”
The tens of millions of High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms were all incomparably respectful.
Only by truly facing a Lord’s true body once could one understand the vast, insurmountable gulf between themselves and a Lord.
