The black-hole sealing space.

Entering this sealing space once again, he found its appearance utterly transformed.

The original power of the Law had been weakened by at least eighty percent — and even that could only be sensed outside the world of ice and snow Empress Vivienne had created. Once he entered the world of ice and snow, Yue Yang discovered that it was truly a crystalline world of wondrousness beyond all telling. Exhaust every word in the world and you still could not describe this brilliant, transcendent space of creation… In this moment, only now could Yue Yang truly feel where the gulf between himself and Empress Vivienne lay — and truly sense the might of a powerhouse at that rank, the Holy Supreme!

All things, created within her two hands.

A single thought, a whole world.

Only an existence such as this could truly be called a “god.”

“Oh?” Empress Vivienne, sensing Yue Yang, came in person to greet him — but before the delighted woman could so much as embrace this beloved boy, she stopped short, astonished to discover that the one who had entered this time was already vastly different from before.

The more Empress Vivienne looked, the more astonished she became, until at last she had to cover her lovely mouth with one hand to barely stifle the cry of shock bursting up from the bottom of her heart.

She knew, of course, that Yue Yang’s towering natural gifts were finer than any in the world could match. She knew, too, that his powers of comprehension were outstanding to a degree that was simply without precedent. This was a genius who came along once in ten thousand years. In all the world, she believed, there was no one who understood his future and his growth better than she did.

And yet — even so — when Yue Yang appeared before her this time, she still found it hard to believe.

Holy Supreme… in a scant few months apart, this little fellow had actually risen to the realm of Holy Supreme. And that was not what most astonished Empress Vivienne. What she found truly inconceivable was that the boy standing before her had already left the Holy Supreme far behind — had left even the utmost of her own imagination far behind — and had reached a peerless realm she had never in her wildest dreams conceived of before.

“You’ve completely comprehended creation, destruction, and eternity?” Empress Vivienne embraced Yue Yang in her excitement, and, beside herself with joy, planted several kisses on his face in a row. “The reason I never told you the true meaning of the divine realm was that I feared that once you understood, you’d ascend to the divine realm and from then on stagnate, never again advancing at the flying pace you had before. And instead, not only did you comprehend it on your own, you left it far behind — and haven’t even locked yourself into the divine realm! This is wonderful. I’ve been worrying all this time, and now it’s all well. I’m completely at ease. Tell me, though — how did you do it?”

“How did I do what?” Yue Yang still didn’t quite follow.

“I mean you’ve already reached and surpassed the divine realm’s standard, and yet you haven’t fixed yourself in the position you’ve reached. How did you manage that?” Empress Vivienne could not understand how this little fellow came to be so very different from everyone else in so many ways.

“Ah — I don’t know. I thought everyone was like this!” Yue Yang broke into a heavy sweat. Wasn’t this how other people cultivated?

“Hahaha, you funny little man. You didn’t think that after reaching the divine realm you could go on advancing at your old flying speed, did you? No, no. Apart from you, every person in the world holds to one and the same standard: upon reaching the divine realm, they manifest their great power. Because they have transcended the human body, warriors who reach the divine realm are no longer bound by anything; their will and intent are mighty beyond compare. In a single thought they can create ten thousand things; in a single thought they can destroy ten thousand things. In and of themselves, within the divine realm, they have already become eternal!” Empress Vivienne laughed. “Can warriors like that still advance easily? Of course not! They have no way to endure hardship, and no way to cultivate away their own deficiencies — because everything about their bodies has transcended the human body and reached the realm of a ‘god.’ That is a relatively eternal realm, which is to say that no easy change can ever be made to it again, whether for the worse or for the better.”

“Let me give you an analogy. A warrior who reaches the divine realm is like an originally very weak human being who is suddenly elevated to an innate realm he could never have imagined. Without a higher method of cultivation to guide him, can he advance? Of course not — because for that originally very weak human, the innate realm is already an unimaginable height. Having reached it, he must pass through a long span of time to understand and adapt to it, to congeal his divine nature, to make everything about himself perfect, before he can attain anything higher. And even then, further progress within the divine realm is exceedingly minute; it can never be as easy or as fast as before. Because warriors of the divine realm have no way to cultivate at all. Their potential is spent, and their intent and their power have merged into divine intent and divine power. Without so much as lifting a hand or foot, on a single thought alone, they can accomplish all manner of things — so how could they possibly cultivate the way they did in a human body? Of course they cannot!”

“Which is to say: weak as the human body is, it is in fact the most precious thing of all. When a warrior transcends the human body, it means he can never make any great progress again — he is fixed at a certain realm!”

“But you — reaching the divine realm’s standard, not ascending to godhood, and muddling along in a haze besides — this is the first time I’ve ever seen such a thing!”

Empress Vivienne sighed over it at length in the end. She had no idea what the cause of it was. But that Yue Yang could be so utterly different from everyone else was precisely the outcome her heart most hoped for.

What did it mean? It meant that Yue Yang could go on growing at a flying pace within the divine realm… While every other divine-realm warrior crept forward at an ant’s pace, he still possessed a human body, and could still cultivate and advance as he had from the very start!

That being so, his future attainments would be beyond imagining.

Her saying all this, however, left Yue Yang perplexed.

He couldn’t help asking: “If every warrior who reaches the divine realm is fixed to the same standard of realm, then why are there differences in strength among ‘gods’ at all? Shouldn’t they all be the same?”

Hearing this, Empress Vivienne laughed until she could hardly stop: “The divine realm is a standard. Reach it, and you ascend to godhood and are fixed in that position. Yes — that’s what I said just now. But I never said that the rank and the strength attained by every person after reaching the divine realm are the same. The higher one’s potential, the greater one’s investment in cultivation, and the more penetrating and lucid one’s comprehension, the higher the rank a warrior reaches upon ascension, and the greater his strength. Say a man has a hundred points of potential, pours in a hundred points of effort, and comprehends the true meanings of creation, destruction, and eternity a hundred percent — then when he ascends to godhood, the divine rank he attains will be quite high indeed. Likewise, if a man has only eighty points of potential, his effort falls short, and his comprehension of the true meanings does not reach a hundred percent, but for one reason or another he arrives at the divine realm anyway — how could his rank possibly be the same as the former’s?”

Put that way, understanding dawned on Yue Yang all at once.

Different cultivation and different talent, different foundation and different insight — and the attainment is entirely different too. One man cultivates his way to the divine realm and is a great god of boundless might; another likewise reaches the divine realm, and is merely a small god who barely scraped a pass…

No wonder the sword-spirit imperial-lady had always had him cultivate — insisting that however much time it took, he must lay a solid foundation. So this was the reason: there was a ceiling of attainment waiting for him in the future. Cultivating on a foundation as flawlessly perfect as his, when he finally did ascend to the divine realm, there was truly no telling what heights he might reach. And leaving all else aside — it seemed the longer the cultivation, the better. Before he had entirely shed the bindings of the human body, before he had fully ascended to the divine realm, the longer he cultivated and the more bitterly he cultivated, the more thoroughly his potential would be developed; the more he invested in cultivation and the more he comprehended, the greater the “divine rank” he would ultimately obtain!

“In that case, if I just kept cultivating forever, wouldn’t that let me defy the heavens?” Yue Yang, a little greedy and never satisfied, thought: forget reaching the divine rank — ten thousand years of cultivation wouldn’t be too few, a hundred thousand wouldn’t be too many. Best of all to cultivate forever and end up the foremost man under heaven!

“What an idiot’s notion. Every person’s talent and potential are limited — how could anyone cultivate on forever? There is always a summit! Once potential reaches its summit, you cannot advance however much you cultivate, because that is the end of it! Besides, who could persevere at endless cultivation with no goal in sight? Even if nothing went wrong along the way, goalless cultivation would very likely lead a person astray, turning it into an obsessive pursuit — which would land you in the lower tier instead!” Empress Vivienne laughed and waved a hand, indicating that this approach was not to be taken, and added: “Besides, though cultivation is slow once at divine rank, it isn’t entirely without a shred of progress. As the days accumulate, one naturally does rise slowly — it’s only slow compared to cultivating in a human body. Reaching the divine realm is safe and comfortable; so what if the pace of improvement is a little slower? Why not enjoy it?”

“That’s true enough.” Yue Yang laughed aloud.

“Cultivation is only a means of igniting your own potential faster and better. Once your potential reaches its summit, that alone is enough to secure you an immeasurable position in the divine realm. So you — don’t overthink it. Just go on cultivating and that will do!” Empress Vivienne couldn’t resist giving him another kiss. This kid was too extravagantly blessed by heaven: reaching the divine realm without ascending to godhood, and still able to keep cultivating. It made even her a little jealous!

“Understood.” Yue Yang remembered the purpose that had brought him here, and asked: “I was originally in Human Valley… then I entered the boundless world of the silver grimoire for the trial, and after great difficulty I comprehended my way through it — and suddenly some mysterious force flung me to Earth Valley’s Mountain Beyond the Mountain. What’s more, that mysterious force transmitted a faint wisp of consciousness to me, telling me to obtain Earth Valley’s ancient relic.”

“Earth Valley’s ancient relic was originally held by the two true gods Taiyan and Bingli. But those two were mortal enemies, and both fell in battle against each other, so by now it’s probably fallen into the hands of that pack of false gods in the Mountain Beyond the Mountain.” Empress Vivienne shook her head with complete indifference. “False gods are false gods. Had Taiyan and Bingli not fallen, when would it ever have been their turn to take custody of an ancient relic… As for the silver grimoire’s boundless world, I’ve taken that trial too, but I never sensed the mysterious force you speak of. Perhaps it’s some forebear of the ancient era, or perhaps the residual divine consciousness of some ancient god. As for why you were flung to Earth Valley’s Mountain Beyond the Mountain, there is certainly a reason for it — perhaps it was guiding you… Had you not received this forebear’s guidance, you’d likely have ascended to godhood beyond your own control, squandering a vast measure of your potential. How then could you be as you are now, still able to cultivate, and with a divine-realm comprehension besides, congealing your divine nature ahead of time!” Empress Vivienne did not immediately explain why Yue Yang had been flung to Earth Valley’s Mountain Beyond the Mountain rather than back to Human Valley — but from the look of it she clearly knew something of the reason behind it, and simply chose not to spell it out.

“That’s exactly it!” Yue Yang thought it over. Had that mysterious, wholly emotionless consciousness not flung him — mid-absorption of the boundless world’s energy — out to Earth Valley’s Mountain Beyond the Mountain, he’d likely have ascended to godhood already. A narrow escape!

“In a word: those old ghosts play favorites. You, little fellow, get their guidance at every turn, while the rest of us have to grope our own way through the dark!”

Empress Vivienne, feeling the injustice of it, rewarded Yue Yang with a roll of her eyes, signaling her envy at a fate that had someone watching over him at every step.

Yue Yang roared with laughter. Her Majesty the Empress wearing an expression like that was simply too adorable — and rarest of the rare!

After talking a while, Yue Yang suddenly recalled the true gods and false gods she’d just mentioned, and thought again of the evil god sealed in Human Valley. So he put a question to Her Majesty: “Within the divine realm, are there true gods and false gods as well? Could you tell me about the difference and the ranks of strength between the evil god in Human Valley and that pack of false gods in the Mountain Beyond the Mountain?”

Empress Vivienne thought a moment, then answered: “It isn’t an absolute standard, but we collectively call all divine-realm warriors who have no summoning grimoire ‘false gods,’ because even having reached the divine realm they are comparatively low — and they can never possess a world of their own! Their divine power, divine intent, and divine nature are all comparatively low; they cannot comprehend more within the divine realm, and there are defects in many aspects. Divine realm it may be, but it is not perfect! Conversely, we call those divine-rank warriors who possess a grimoire and can build a world under their own dominion — Creators, makers of things — ‘true gods.’ Meaning that they are gods truly capable of anything: at the very least, within the divine position they occupy, beneath their own divine nature, they can do anything at all! And if there is a summit among true gods, it is the ‘Holy Supreme.’ Holy Supreme is the term used in our Sky Tower and the Heaven Realm above, meaning the supreme existences among true gods… By the old standard, only a warrior who absolutely possessed the Sovereign Intent, a superlative divine nature, and a platinum-grade grimoire or higher could be called a Holy Supreme. And among the Holy Supremes, those warriors possessing a Divine Codex or a Holy Codex are the most exalted of all — the Holy Supremes who surpass everything, everything!”

Yue Yang knitted his brows. How many Divine Codices and Holy Codices even were there? There seemed to have been a fair number of great gods in ancient times; if each one held a copy, how could there possibly be enough to go around? Besides — the Divine Codices he’d encountered so far all had no master. What was the reason for that?

To this question of Yue Yang’s, Empress Vivienne could give no answer: “The affairs of the ancient gods I do not understand. They have their own reasons for existing at their rank, and their own Laws. Let’s not think about such things for now. Even among forebears and powerhouses of the not-so-distant past there are plenty of matters that our present realm cannot peer into! Better that we cultivate steadily and rise higher, and explore it slowly then. I believe that will be the true knowledge we seek all our lives!”

She paused, then told Yue Yang a little about the situation in Earth Valley and Human Valley — though not in great detail; she preferred that he grope his way through it himself.

At the last, unwilling to see Yue Yang disappointed, she gave him one more reminder: “There’s nothing to fear from false gods. Just fight them carefully — and if you can’t win, run. They only have the advantage of numbers. It’s that fellow in Human Valley you need to watch out for. You must not let him recover his true body.”

Worried that Princess Qianqian and the others were waiting anxiously back in the Grimoire World, and having learned about as much as he could, Yue Yang hurriedly took his leave to return.

Empress Vivienne, though somewhat reluctant to part with him, did not press him to stay.

With a slender forefinger, she lightly touched the center of Yue Yang’s brow. A strand of divine consciousness was transmitted across — a commendation of sorts, and also a personal insight and guidance for him amid the confusions of the divine realm… Experience so precious that, had it been anyone else, she would not have traded it for any treasure at all, now given over to him wholly and without reserve.

Her Majesty the Empress sometimes wondered whether she was being too good to this kid!

As she sent him back, she didn’t forget one last word of caution: “You may not have fixed your position in the divine realm yet, but you have comprehended the true meanings. Take care not to share your divine consciousness lightly with those girls, or you may harm them without meaning to. If their strength is insufficient, they’ll be gravely wounded by your divine consciousness. If their strength is close to yours, your divine consciousness will trigger a sudden enlightenment and send them straight up into the divine realm, squandering a great measure of undeveloped potential and talent! What? Duoduo and two of the others have already ascended? And they can go on cultivating upward? Whose guidance did they receive, exactly? That is truly inconceivable! Never mind. Your affairs are beyond my managing. You can go and get the headache yourself!”

Yue Yang knew perfectly well whose guidance Duoduo and the others had received — the phoenix sisters!

And perhaps, behind them, the sword-spirit imperial-lady as well.

Only they knew how to control one’s cultivation within the divine realm so as to keep rising… At the thought, Yue Yang suddenly found himself very much wanting to see the sword-spirit imperial-lady once more. Even if he asked nothing and did nothing — just one look at her would be enough to bring his heart to peace.

(End of Chapter 1135)