Chapter 2089 - Fueling the Epoch Spark’s Development

A month later.

A group of gods had gathered outside a hidden realm.

“From the look of this hidden realm, there’s got to be a first-level Godhead up for grabs inside,” said Bo Yun, his gaze inscrutable. “That means that heretic’s gotten his hands on yet another chance at divinity.”

The other gods all had strange looks on their faces.

Over the past month, they’d followed Su Yi wherever he went. Along the way, Su Yi had stopped at thirteen hidden realms, effortlessly acquiring thirteen first-level Godheads!

His harvest left the gods unwittingly stunned. They couldn’t help but cluck their tongues in amazement.

It was just insane!

The Deification Star Sea didn’t have very many first-level Epoch Fragments to begin with, yet here Su Yi was, gathering thirteen of them from thirteen different hidden realms in just one month. Who wouldn’t have been shocked?

Chances at divinity weren’t cabbages. You couldn’t find them just anywhere. And first-level Epoch Fragments and Godheads were especially rare; even in the God Domain, you could practically only happen upon them by chance!

It was for this reason that when the Path of the Ancient Gods opened, the top factions of the God Domain all brought their divine children to explore. So long as the divine children got a chance at divinity,

any

chance at divinity, it would be enough. They dared not even dream of acquiring a first-level one.

They were just too rare, and the competition was far too brutal. Moreover, all of these hidden realms were full of endless, untold perils. A moment’s incaution could lead to doom!

Given the circumstances, who could have imagined that Su Yi would harvest a whole pile of first-level chances at divinity in just one short month? It was simply too unbelievable!

“To the divine children, the Deification Star Sea is a brutal trial ground brimming with peril. Even if they risk it all and push themselves to their limit, there’s no guarantee that they could acquire a chance at divinity,” Wen Xiao said bitterly. “But look at that heretic! He’s picking them up so casually that it almost seems like he’s selecting produce at the farmer’s market.”

The gods’ expressions were instantly strange.

“He controls both the Epoch Spark and the power of reincarnation. On top of all that, his combat strength is heaven-defying. That’s why it’s so easy for him. Were that not the case, why would we old-timers have needed to join forces against him?” Ren Beiyou said expressionlessly. “But the more opportunities he acquires now, the better. After all, they’ll be ours in the end, now won’t they?”

Many of the gods laughed.

It’s true. So long as we kill Su Yi in the end, all of the treasure he acquires will be ours to divide amongst ourselves!

......

Su Yi sat cross-legged within the hidden realm, cultivating.

The chaos-like Epoch Spark hovered within him. A rain of murky gray chaos light flowed around it. A bundle of resplendent blue divine light floated above the Epoch Spark, slowly but steadily melting into source power, which in turn fused into the Epoch Spark.

It was utterly unbelievable, but it was really happening.

A Godhead was a god’s foundations in the Grand Dao, but it was fundamentally the source power of an Epoch Law. If a Great Realm cultivator melted a Godhead down, they could use it to ignite their Divine Flame, prove their Dao, and achieve divinity!

But Su Yi wasn’t breaking into divinity right now. Rather, the Epoch Spark he’d fused into his cultivation base was absorbing and devouring the Godhead’s origin power!

Actually, this was already the eleventh Godhead that Su Yi had melted down.

He’d originally planned to hold onto the Godheads he acquired to give to other people later, but against all expectations, the Epoch Spark reacted to the first Godhead he tried to store for later, absorbing it into itself!

This development caught Su Yi completely off guard. It was only later that he vaguely understood that this was due to the fundamental mysteries of the Epoch Spark.

This Taboo Treasure was unbelievable to the extreme. It could illuminate the mists of the Path of the Ancient Gods, see through illusions, and find the truth. With it, he’d be able to find the greatest chance at divinity available in the Path of the Ancient Gods!

More importantly, the Epoch Spark was fundamentally a nascent epoch civilization’s preliminary state, the chaos prior to the first parting of heaven and earth. It had every possibility of one day transforming into a complete epoch civilization, with new worlds, new Daos, and new systems of cultivation...

Simply put, the Epoch Spark was like the seed of a new epoch civilization. Whoever controlled it would become the true ruler of the epoch civilization it grew into!

But much like an actual seed, the Epoch Spark’s development required fertilizer to sprout.

Unlike a regular seed, the Epoch Spark’s “fertilizer” was source power of the Grand Dao. Specifically, that of Epoch Laws. Godheads were just the kind of fertilizer it needed!

That was why the Epoch Spark had reacted so strangely. It needed to fuel its development!

A while later.

That Godhead condensed out of divine blue light melted fully into the Epoch Spark.

Su Yi could keenly sense the Epoch Spark’s wondrous changes. It now produced vigorous energy fluctuations of the Grand Dao, like surging, undulating chaos full of endless mysteries and transformations.

Unfortunately... None of these changes had anything to do with Su Yi’s cultivation.

Even though the Epoch Spark had long since fused into his foundations in the Grand Dao, the Taboo Treasure was far too mysterious. He couldn’t really control it at all yet.

Su Yi guessed that when he broke into divinity, the Epoch Spark was likely to transform dramatically.

His reasoning was simple. Igniting one’s Divine Flame was a critical step in achieving godhood.

The Epoch Spark defied the natural order of creation. It was beyond the bounds of the Laws of the present day, and thus, it was considered a Taboo Treasure.

For a Transgressor like Su Yi, the Epoch Spark was the perfect means of igniting his Divine Flame!

He could see it already. When he ignited the Epoch Spark and used his Dao of the Sword to cleave open his own unique path to the divinity, the Epoch Spark would transform and become Su Yi’s to control!

This was why his first incarnation left the Epoch Spark in the Tower of Ancient Evils for him, and why he entrusted Gongye Futu with watching over it. He was paving Su Yi’s path to an unprecedented breakthrough into divinity!

But before that, both Su Yi and the Epoch Spark needed to continuously increase their strength.

Su Yi needed to temper his Hidden Summit Realm cultivation base to the limit, while the Epoch Spark needed to continuously refine Godheads and accumulate power!

One more step, and I’ll reach the mid-stage Hidden Summit Realm,

thought Su Yi as he took a moment to take in his transformation.

Over the past month, he’d explored thirteen hidden realms. In addition to thirteen Godheads, he’d acquired a considerable amount of divine herbal medicines and materials. Most of the herbs, he’d already refined. His cultivation had thus advanced considerably over the past month.

Were a Lesser God to refine all that medicine, their cultivation base would surely undergo an earth-shaking transformation, but they didn’t even quite get me to the mid-stage Hidden Summit Realm...

Su Yi was a bit rueful.

The Hidden Summit Realm was extraordinarily wondrous. It was full of numerous undiscovered mysteries and brimming with latent potential. However, it was also a money pit, practically a bottomless hole. He required an enormous abundance of divine medicine to fuel his cultivation.

Fortunately, this was the Path of the Ancient Gods. Were he in the River of Epochs, it would have been hard to find all these divine medicines.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Still, at the very least, he’d made obvious progress. His combat strength had increased by about twenty percent. His physical body, qi, and blood had grown about thirty percent stronger. His soul had grown stronger too.

Even the Sword of Proximity, a Mystery of Chaos, could display more of its strength than before!

Were I to fight a Greater God now, I might not be a match for him, but my ability to defend myself is far greater than before...

As Su Yi pondered, he rose, then proceeded out of the hidden realm.

......

The outside world.

When the gods saw Su Yi emerge, they barely reacted; they’d gotten used to this a long time ago.

Su Yi was accustomed to it, too.

When he set off, the gods followed, like stars clustered around the moon. They’d even developed a strange sort of tacit understanding.

Those who didn’t know better would think the gods were loyal attendants accompanying Su Yi to ensure his safety...

Three days later.

“Hm?” Su Yi abruptly stopped in place.

A massive star with a shocking aura appeared in the distance. It was golden throughout, dazzlingly bright, and it emanated seemingly undying black thunderclouds. The thunderclouds churned, and thunder rumbled and boomed, shaking the surrounding starry void.

The massive star was the only celestial body in the area, as if here, it were the sole, unparalleled sovereign.

When the gods accompanying Su Yi saw this, they were unwittingly stunned. “This place likely hides a supreme-level opportunity at divinity!”

A month had passed, but this was the first such mystical hidden realm they’d encountered. They didn’t even need to think to know that it contained a supreme chance at divinity. Anyone who acquired it would have no need to fear failing to become a Master God. This was an unparalleled stroke of good fortune!

Even the Greater Gods were tempted, and their gazes grew heated.

Such good fortune was extraordinarily rare even in the God Domain, and whenever it arose, it led to inevitable bloody conflict and turmoil. Even Master Gods would join the fray. Yet now, such a grand stroke of good fortune was hidden in that distant hidden realm. Who wouldn’t have been tempted?

Whoosh!

All eyes were instantly on Su Yi; the gods knew that there was no way that Su Yi would pass an opportunity like this up. They just didn’t know if Su Yi would use this opportunity to become a god or not!

If that happened, it wouldn’t be a question of “whether or not they could accept it.”

It would mean an end to the stalemate between them, and it would mean new, unexpected variables!

None of the gods wanted to see that happen.

But it was then that a startled voice resounded from afar. “Fellow Daoists, why are you traveling with Su Yi?”

When the gods looked to see who’d spoken, they saw a tall, upright figure standing near that massive golden star. He stood on a lotus platform, holding a monk’s staff, and he was dressed in Buddhist robes. His entire body was enveloped in searing, holy light.

This was none other than Buddhist Venerate Ghama, the greatest Heavenly God of the Kingdom of Lasting Light and a true Greater God of Buddhism.

The crowd was instantly in uproar.

Su Yi, however, asked with great interest, “Don’t tell me that Buddhist Son Lian Sheng is exploring that hidden realm?”