BXBX NOVEL Chapter 519 - 518: Rules Are Greater Than Heaven
The Emperor of Earth sighed, “There seem to be many coordinates, but now less than 20% of these worlds have not been destroyed. The coordinates that are marked in red represent desolate worlds, devoid of life.”
“The Immortal Realm first uses cunning schemes to lead the creatures of the human path to destruction. When these creatures have died out or their numbers have dropped below a certain threshold, ensuring that a new Heavenly Dao won’t be created, the Heavenly Immortals make their move, killing the remaining creatures of the human path and the beasts’ path.”
“The creatures of the beasts’ path have no wisdom and thus cannot create a new Heavenly Dao. The Immortal Realm kills them merely to avoid the risk of them developing spiritual intelligence.”
“To my knowledge, only your Nine Provinces have given birth to the rudiments of the Heavenly Dao, which you refer to as the Nine Provinces Earth Veins. Every successive Human Emperor can be considered a representative of these budding Heavenly Dao.”
“The Immortal Realm probably lacks knowledge about your Nine Provinces, otherwise they would have sent Heavenly Immortals and Golden Immortals to besiege you long ago.”
Jiang Li was not overly surprised by the response. He shook the jade pendant and asked, “Are there no coordinates for the Immortal Realm in here?”
“No. The Immortal Realm is constantly moving. If any new life were to be born in the Immortal Realm, we could locate it by tracing the birth direction. But not a single newborn exists in the Immortal Realm now, so we are powerless.”
“If the Human Emperor wishes to find the Immortal Realm, it wouldn’t be difficult. Now that the worlds and realms are being destroyed to such an extent, it should be time for the Immortal Realm to shift their focus and deal with us in the Underworld.”
“I was originally worried that if the Immortal Realm made a move, as I am the only one in the Underworld with the transformation of the Primordial Infinite Immortal, we may not have any chance of victory. This world would then be truly doomed. But now that I see you, Jiang Li, I no longer need to worry about the Immortal Realm.”
Ever since learning about the fusion of the Immortal Realm from Dao Ancestor, the Emperor of Earth had been practicing sleeplessly, preparing for a mutual destruction with the Immortal Realm.
The appearance of Jiang Li relaxed her.
Practice cultivation? What cultivation? After all, even if she practiced, she would not reach the height of the Dao Ancestor, let alone the Heavenly Dao. It would be better to rely on Jiang Li.
“When the Immortal Realm takes direct action against our Underworld, you, the Human Emperor, can step in. By then, you should be able to locate the Immortal Realm.”
Jiang Li hesitated for a moment, then said, “Should I stay in the Underworld all the time? If the Heavenly Dao takes direct action, I fear the Underworld will be hard-pressed to resist.”
The Emperor of Earth shook her head, “There’s no need for that. The Heavenly Dao will not take direct action against our Underworld.”
“Why?”
“Because of the rules. The rules are greater than the heavens, and the Heavenly Dao must act within the framework of rules.”
“You, as the Human Emperor, should know how the Heavenly Dao was born, right?”
“I heard that it is the result of collective will.”
“All beings throughout the realms and worlds operate according to the rules. As the Heavenly Dao is the product of collective will, it cannot exceed the limit of beings. It, too, must act within the rules.”
“The rules aren’t a vague concept but are established existence and an unalterable theorem that all beings must follow. For instance, the cycle of life and death rules states that the dead cannot be revived; they must go through reincarnation to be reincarnated.”
“The promotion of spiritual energy to soul is a derivative of the cycle of life and death rules. The Heavenly Dao creates souls, and the revival of dead fairies of the Red Dust is based on this principle.”
“Take, for instance, the survival of the fittest rule. You see, in the cultivation world, the strong are respected, and those of higher level can oppress those of lower level at will. This is an embodiment of such a rule.”
“The law of conservation of energy. Energy neither arises out of nothingness nor disappears into nothingness. It only transforms from one form to another, or transfers from one object to another, and the total amount of energy remains constant.”
“The mass-energy conversion rule. Mass can be converted into energy, and energy can be converted into mass.”
“And the time rule. Time is eternally moving and constantly changing. If the Underworld embodies the rule of the cycle of life and death, then the River of Time embodies the rule of time.”
“That’s why there are no concepts of life or death in the River of Time, as both are subject to rules, are of the same rank, and the Underworld doesn’t qualify to manage the River of Time.”
“Space rule. The existence forms, state of movements, and other differences of matter constitute space, which can be expressed in length, width, and height. The derivative of the space rule is the Dao of space.”
“Probability rule. The development of anything has uncertainty, the same person encountering the same event may make different choices. This is also the foundation of the parallel world theory. No one could confirm this before, but now you have.”
“The rule of life evolution. The evolution of life is a process of gradual accumulation and sudden breakthrough. For instance, progressing from the first to the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation is the accumulation process, whilst advancing to Foundation Establishment is the breakthrough process.”
“The evolution of life will be a quantum leap. From Qi Cultivation to Foundation Establishment, power will make a leap. There’s no smooth progress to Foundation Establishment.”
“Evolution of life is essentially cultivation. Any cultivation system can be linked with the cultivation system, such as the martial arts system, the enhancer system, etc. Cultivation levels are divided into Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divinity Transformation, Integration, Disaster Crossing, Earth Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Golden Immortal, and Primordial Chaos Immortal.”
“The ‘immortal power’, which is derived from the rule of life evolution, is necessary for becoming an immortal. Without immortal power, it’s impossible to become an immortal.”
“The source of immortal power is in the Immortal Realm, which is the fundamental reason the Immortal Realm is the center of all realms and worlds.”
“The Underworld lacks immortal power, so we can’t continue to cultivate after death. Whatever our cultivation level was in life, that’s what it will be after death.”
“All things in this world operate according to these eight rules, or are derived from these eight rules.”
“That explains a lot.” Jiang Li felt enlightened. This information was definitely confidential, probably only known to the Primordial Chaos Immortal. Even a scholar like the Eternal Sage did not know it.
“If these eight rules were discussed in detail, three days and nights would not be enough. We several Primordial Chaos Immortals are all studying the rules – I am studying the life and death cycle, the Dao Ancestor is studying the life evolution, Buddha Ancestor is studying the space rule, Confucius Saint is studying the survival of the fittest rule, Yuan Ancestor is studying time rule, and the Immortal Emperor is also studying life evolution.”
“The Heavenly Dao operates within these eight rules and cannot violate any of them. If it directly strikes at us in the Underworld, it would be violating the life and death cycle, and it would be the first to suffer.”
“The Heavenly Dao can only send the Immortal Emperor or Yuan Ancestor, or both of them to lead the Golden Immortals and Heavenly Immortals to attack the Underworld. Even if two Primordial Chaos Immortals make their move, I have confidence that we can temporarily hold our own. During this gap, you, Jiang Li, can come here.”
“Alright.”
“Don’t move.” The Emperor of Earth reached out and took Jiang Li’s right hand, inscribing a mark in his palm.
“This unique mark I created is called the Six Paths Mark. If the Immortal Realm comes here, I will call you through this mark, and you can come here by using it.”
“If you ever want to come here, you can also come through this mark.”
Jiang Li nodded, bidding farewell to the Emperor of Earth.
The Emperor of Earth watched as Jiang Li left the Underworld. She lowered her head and fell into deep thought. After a long time, she slowly spoke.
“The Ten Halls of Yama is having a three-day vacation. Maybe I should take a three-day vacation for myself too.”