Several hours passed in the blink of an eye.
The silent sea of flowers seemed frozen in time, motionless and untouched, while all the furious darkness being drawn toward Ren Zu—as though he were a black hole—was completely devoured.
When the process ended, all that remained in that space was ordinary darkness, devoid of any aura.
Yet even after consuming all the environmental energy and even the Evil God's seeds, Ren Zu had still not awakened from his meditation.
His profound veins had transformed into a spectacle of vivid colors: golden lines glowed like threads of liquid light, intertwining with traces of black so deep they resembled a bottomless abyss. These two colors, magnificent and imposing, dominated the entire array, radiating a beauty that surpassed any description.
The black occupied the center, vast and dense, like a primordial core that absorbed everything around it. In contrast, the golden threads wound through that darkness, shimmering with an almost divine intensity. The other colors—red, green, purple, and gray—orbited around these two forces, delicate as distant constellations. Yet it was the harmonious confrontation between absolute darkness and golden light that truly shaped that inner landscape, making it as mesmerizing as it was unfathomable.
The profound strength contained within them had become truly terrifying. If before it had been merely a glass of water, it had now expanded into a vast ocean. The difference between then and now was so abyssal it seemed to compare two entirely distinct worlds…
In this world, this was the most powerful level of profound strength.
He had reached the First Level of the Sovereign Profound Realm!
There were three reasons for this. The first was that he had absorbed practically all the diabolical darkness aura present in the dimension created by the Evil God—an amount of energy even greater than that contained in the Nine Suns Jade he had received from the Golden Crow.
The second reason was the absorption of the two Evil God Seeds, brimming with an immense amount of condensed elemental profound energy. That alone would have been enough to elevate any profound practitioner who possessed the Evil God's veins by several levels at once.
The third reason was the absorption of the [Ancestral Spatial Symbol], a treasure formed by the very laws of heaven and earth.
In truth, if any other cultivator had absorbed all these combined energies, they would have easily reached the Divine Profound Realm and far beyond it.
But his profound veins demanded an infinitely greater amount of energy than those of an ordinary practitioner… thus, even after devouring all of this, they were still far from reaching the Divine Profound Realm.
Even so, he had attained the highest level of profound strength in this world! Leaping directly from the Fifth Level of the Emperor Profound Realm, he had crossed the entire Tyrant Profound Realm and ascended to the long-coveted Sovereign Profound Realm—the pinnacle sought by all profound practitioners!
Yet despite this colossal leap, he barely felt any difference. Part of it was because his mind had been completely immersed in comprehending the Spatial Laws during cultivation; another part was because, to him, the level of profound energy had always been merely a detail.
With the experience he had accumulated after facing hundreds of millions of opponents as powerful as himself, his devastating profound arts, and above all, his incomparably superior body, trying to measure his strength based on cultivation level would be the worst mistake anyone could make…
On the other hand, although he clearly felt the transformation of his profound strength and, as always, faced no difficulty in controlling it perfectly, Ren Zu kept his focus on comprehending the "Path of Space."
His efforts were quickly rewarded when he finally achieved complete understanding!
…Space is not emptiness. It is not absence, but rather the vast primordial sea from which all life springs. It is an inherent property of all matter; it is not that space contains matter, but rather that its existence can only be measured after the emergence of the countless things that define it. The immensity of space is like the existence of man and woman to humanity: only after the birth of humanity itself do these concepts gain meaning. Likewise, only after matter emerges does space acquire essence and purpose…
The truth, however, ran even deeper: time and space have always coexisted as a single, indivisible existence. If a force field were powerful enough to distort space, it would inevitably alter the flow of time as well. Thus, it was not strange that both were affected simultaneously, for they were two faces of the same primordial law.
The axis of space… the eons that have stretched since time immemorial…
The universe, in its totality, was merely the eternal fusion of space and time…
He had finally achieved complete understanding of the "Path of Space." And just as had happened with all the other elements when he reached the highest level through his cultivation method, the [Ten Extreme Daos], this absolute, perfect, and irreversible understanding caused everything related to that Law to spontaneously bow to his will.
More than that: absolutely nothing that depended on the element "space" could affect him against his will.
Distance, location, confinement, transfer, dimensional gaps, distortions… all had become irrelevant before him. The entirety of space, from the smallest point to the greatest conceivable expanse, was subordinate to his will—just like all the other elements…
When he finally concluded his comprehension and his consciousness returned to his physical senses, Ren Zu noticed something even more astonishing: the dimension created by the Evil God had effectively become his own [Subspace], as he himself had named it.
Previously, he had merely used the [Ancestral Spatial Symbol] to envelop that place, turning it into a temporary extension of himself—almost as if he had stored the dimension within his own personal space. But now it was different. After completely devouring the [Ancestral Spatial Symbol], the bond between them had become absolute. The dimension was no longer an external space being "carried" by him; it was something intrinsically connected to his being, almost as if it had become his inner world.
It was a concept too complex to explain precisely… but the sensation was clear.
That entire "plane," formerly belonging to the Evil God, now functioned as a personal domain, fully integrated into his essence. He could access it whenever he wished, carry it with him anywhere, and above all, no one but him could ever enter it.
Unfortunately, he would still have to deal with all the Ancestral Diabolical Beasts that inhabited that space. Another issue was that the appearance of the [Subspace] could not yet be modified; his understanding of the other Laws simply wasn't deep enough to reshape an entire dimension. But that didn't bother him. It was only a matter of time. In the future, once he mastered other Laws beyond those he already possessed—Space, Darkness, Fire, Lightning, and Light—he would be perfectly capable of molding that inner world according to his own will.
But setting those two points aside, the greatest advantage of having transformed the Evil God's former dimension into his own [Subspace] was simple and undeniable: all the Underworld Udumbara Flowers now belonged to him. There was no longer any need to ask Ji Nie for permission or wonder whether he could take them with him; they were part of his domain, part of his newly established authority.
Moreover, Ji Nie could remain there whenever she wished, resting or sleeping while accompanying him on his journeys. For her, it wasn't merely convenient—it was perfect. That dark, silent environment wrapped in an ancient aura was exactly the kind of atmosphere that felt natural and familiar to her…
Ren Zu slowly opened his eyes.
His black pupils seemed far deeper, as if they reflected the darkness that existed before the creation of the universe.
And the first thing he saw was… her.
Ji Nie was floating less than a handspan from his face, the girl's multicolored eyes silently studying him. Ever since he had entered meditation, her gaze had not shifted even once. It wasn't the look of someone observing a stranger; it was the look of someone admiring their own world.
Her silver hair fell like a curtain of liquid moonlight, gently brushing his cheek.
She did not blink.
She simply stared.
As if she had spent the last several hours right there, waiting for the exact second he would emerge from meditation.
Ren Zu raised an eyebrow.
"…Sorry for taking so long…"
Ji Nie did not reply with words, but her eyes brightened even more.
She tilted her head to the left. Then to the right. Then brought her face one centimeter closer, as if confirming he was real.
Ren Zu let out a short, amused sigh.
"You were waiting for me, huh?"
"…" The little girl nodded, looking at him with curiosity.
Ren Zu waved his hand through the air as if brushing away the last remnant of a distant dream, letting out a soft, almost lazy murmur.
"I've already done everything that needed to be done with this place. Now all that's left is to help you, and then we can leave…"
"…" Ji Nie seemed a little emotional; her expression didn't change much, but her eyes filled with anticipation.
Noticing her gaze, Ren Zu smiled faintly beneath his mask and raised his left hand; a red glow ignited in his palm—first a gentle flicker, then a living, vibrant flame that burst into a deep crimson like boiling heavenly blood. The Divine Flames of the Vermilion Bird rippled around his fingers before gathering, compressing, folding upon themselves until they took shape.
A cauldron of fire with no base, no metal, no weight. Merely the pure manifestation of the Law of Fire bending to his will.
Ren Zu traced a finger through the air in a simple, almost indifferent gesture, and immediately dozens of profound herbs emerged from his spatial ring—each glowing with a distinct color and releasing fragrances as potent as the surrounding sea of violet flowers: Destiny Reversal Lotus, Primordial Spirit Fire Essence, Nebula Swan Root, Thousand Night Moon Pearl, Supreme Soul Dew, and Nine Lives Nine Deaths Flower… More than a hundred and eight types of rare herbs. In the next instant, they all rose like tiny living constellations, floating toward the blazing cauldron.
The moment they touched the heat of the flames, the air distorted. The herbs spun, dissolved, reconstituted themselves, intertwining in patterns that only someone with his mastery of alchemy could achieve. Every spark, every drop of herbal essence was guided with absolute precision by the slightest movements of his fingers.
It was undoubtedly an art that only Ren Zu could perform.
And Ji Nie…
The silent little girl did not take her eyes off him for even a single instant.
When the flames appeared, her eyes widened as if witnessing a spectacle she had never imagined could exist. She slowly drifted closer, almost gliding through the air. She floated until she was beside him, so close that her silver hair lightly brushed his arm.
She remained there, motionless, utterly hypnotized.
The aura of the herbs reflected in her multicolored irises like fireworks trapped inside a crystal globe.
She tilted her head, following his every tiny movement with pure, simple fascination—the kind of fascination that exists only in someone who has never seen the world… and who, for the first time, was seeing something beautiful.
Ren Zu noticed it. He always noticed everything. One corner of his mouth lifted in a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
Inside the cauldron, the mixture suddenly exploded into light—not violent, but intense enough to illuminate the entire [Subspace].
A perfect, radiant sphere took shape, glowing with pure energy.
A newly created pill.
A pill that had never existed before.
For someone who carried the Legacy of the Creation Goddess of Life, which contained absolutely everything imaginable about medicine in this world, creating new pills tailored to different herbs, properties, and each patient's condition was as natural as breathing.
Perhaps it was because of the legacy… or perhaps it was simply because he was an unparalleled genius who made the impossible trivial.
When he had previously analyzed Ji Nie's condition by holding her hand, countless solutions had instantly appeared in his mind. The main problem was clear: she existed only as the "Devil Soul," the demonic half of the Evil God's daughter's soul. In other words, her spiritual body was incomplete, reduced to just one part of the original soul.
His idea, therefore, was to restore Ji Nie's soul to its full state, just as they had once done with Hong'er, who was the "Divine Soul" of the Evil God's daughter.
To that end, he created the [Heavenly Full Soul Empress Pill], an entirely new medicine conceived by his own hands. Its purpose was simple to explain yet extraordinary in execution: to partially restore Ji Nie's "devil soul," strengthening and refining it until it approached the state of a "complete soul," even without its original other half.
In essence, this pill would grant her a full spiritual body capable of interacting with the world, manifesting stably, and everything else.
It was not the perfect restoration Ren Zu desired… but it was the best he could do at that moment.
Ji Nie leaned in further, her eyes as wide as a child watching a magic trick for the first time in her life.
Ren Zu closed his hand around the small luminous sphere, feeling the gentle, rhythmic pulse of the concentrated energy within. The pill was warm, vibrant, as if a tiny sleeping heart were beating in his hands. He turned to Ji Nie, who still watched him with that motionless, wonder-filled gaze, as if beholding something sacred.
"It's for you."
His voice came out low, calm, almost like a gentle invitation. He extended his open hand, revealing the pill that glowed like a small blue-red sun in the center of his palm.
"Eat it."
Ji Nie slowly raised her face. Her multicolored eyes sparkled, reflecting the pill's light like polished crystals under moonlight. She didn't seem to fully understand what it meant, but she trusted him—trusted him in that absolute, silent way that belongs only to someone who had never had anyone to trust before.
She took a hesitant step forward, brought her small hands—almost trembling—toward it, and touched the pill with her fingertips.
The gentle warmth it radiated made her eyes widen a little more. The little girl nodded slowly, with a tiny, almost shy gesture.
Slowly, she brought the pill to her lips.
Ren Zu watched in silence as she tilted her head and swallowed the radiant sphere in one go. The moment the pill disappeared into her mouth, a subtle glow coursed through her spiritual body, like clear water being poured over transparent glass.
Ji Nie's already nearly imperceptible breathing became even lighter.
Then her eyes blinked once.
Twice.
And in the next instant, the little girl swayed to the side, too drowsy to keep her body stable.
Ren Zu raised his hand in a natural reflex, enveloping her with a gentle ripple of space. Her body floated for a moment, light as a petal blown by the wind.
She fell sideways—not onto the hard ground that had never existed there, but onto the sea of violet flowers, which molded around her like a welcoming nest.
Ji Nie instinctively curled up, pulling her knees to her chest, her little hands near her face, exactly like a kitten falling asleep in the lap of someone it had just learned to love. Her silver hair spread in soft waves over the flower petals.
Soon afterward, a bluish energy began to emerge around her.
It was a clear, calm, almost maternal light.
It enveloped the small spiritual body of Ji Nie, permeating every fragment, every crack, every flaw that had been imposed by existing as half a soul. The light pulsed slowly, as if breathing with her, nourishing, strengthening, rebuilding.
Ren Zu stood there, silently watching the scene.
He sighed…
"…It'll take some time before you wake up."
His eyes traced the sleeping girl's form. Ji Nie looked so fragile… so small… yet the energy surrounding her was tranquil and steady, like a protective cocoon being woven around her.
He gently brushed a strand of her silver hair aside, just to keep it from falling over her face.
"Hopefully, by the time you open your eyes again…"
His voice dropped lower, almost a murmur.
"…I'll have already taken Hong'er back from that scum Che."
That part of the [Subspace] fell silent as his figure completely vanished, heading toward the Ancestral Diabolical Beasts.
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