Zhi Xuan clasped his hands together, and imdiately the giant water vortex shattered like a river wave released from a single source. The expanse of the canyon was instantly hit by the unstoppable river water. The roaring sound was no longer just the noise of nature, but the manifestation of an Ancient God’s will awakened through Zhi Xuan’s fingers.
The three river streams shot forward like water dragons thirsty for the void, slamming into the canyon walls with a force capable of cracking the earth’s foundation. The towering cliff walls shook violently. Massive cracks crept rapidly like black lightning spreading across the stone surface.
Giant rocks weighing thousands of jin crumbled, but before they could even touch the ground, they were pulverized into dust by the pressure of the Heavenly River Flowing through the World. Suddenly, a beam of light carrying a sword intent that cleaved the sky appeared from the opposite direction, instantly splitting the river flow without resistance.
That sword intent was pure, sharp, and carried a holy aura that seed to descend directly from the throne of heaven. The slash did not just split Zhi Xuan’s spiritual river flow but also left a silvery trail that froze in the air, holding the energy ripples of the Heavenly River to prevent them from blowing up the entire canyon.
Zhi Xuan imdiately withdrew his spiritual essence. The three roaring river streams shrank, returning into orbs of blue light that were absorbed back into his hand. He floated calmly in the air, his brown robe still fluttering from the remnants of the storm, while his sharp eyes stared toward the bottom of the canyon in the opposite direction.
There, in the middle of the dark canyon fork, sat a figure that looked like a practitioner's corpse, no longer emitting the aura of life. The corpse’s robe appeared faded, pitch black, and his face was covered by a hood that extended down to half of his face. Yet the aura surrounding him felt capable of slicing Zhi Xuan apart.
A haunting silence enveloped the canyon floor for a mont after that Sword Intent split the sky. Zhi Xuan landed slowly, the tips of his boots making almost no sound as they touched the ground that had been pulverized into dust. He narrowed his eyes, piercing through the remaining mist of water essence, locked onto the figure sitting cross-legged on a block of black stone.
The figure did not move. He was like a statue that had been frozen for thousands of seasons, yet the rusted sword lying on his lap radiated a vibration that made the space around him pulse in an invisible rhythm of slashes. A thick aura of death crept from the corpse’s fra, yet strangely, the Sword Intent he had released earlier felt incredibly pure.
"Life-Death sword aura," Zhi Xuan murmured lowly. "He... he died because he wanted to understand the will of the Life-Death sword. I can feel it. This is higher than my own Man-Sword Unity."
He took an inch-long step forward, not daring to get too close as he saw transparent blades forming a domain around the figure. This was like a life-death enlightennt of sword intent, as if the figure before Zhi Xuan were a sword fanatic who sacrificed his soul to vanish just to form a blade shrouded in Life and Death.
"Coming to a remote place to understand the river, only to encounter an ocean of frozen swords," Zhi Xuan said, his voice calm, carrying a tone of sincere respect. "Sir, forgive the disturbance from this junior who has intruded upon your eternal enlightennt."
The figure before Zhi Xuan remained as still as a statue, but the rusted sword on his lap suddenly emitted a subtle ringing sound. The space around the corpse began to warp, shadows of the past seed to spin, revealing the man’s form while he was still alive, swinging a sword beneath a red solar eclipse.
"Life is the beginning of the sword, and death is the tip of its blade..." a voice echoed within that space. "Life and Death, what do they an? I live to give my sword Life, and I die to give my sword Death."
Zhi Xuan felt his soul vibrate violently. That voice did not co from vocal cords that had long since rotted, but was an echo from a Dao Heart left behind within the Sword Intent that had not been extinguished. The echo traveled through the air, piercing Zhi Xuan’s spiritual defense layers, and struck his sea of consciousness like a sledgehamr of truth.
Zhi Xuan shot backward for hundreds of zhang; the sword domain in front of him seed capable of cutting and slowly eroding a practitioner’s lifespan, proof of the Life-Death sword aura that was so powerful and pure. He retreated even further, standing on the base rocks of the canyon until he felt far enough to observe from a distance.
From afar, Zhi Xuan held his breath, letting the spiritual essence in his body rotate slowly to minimize friction with that terrifying domain. His eyes never left the corpse, which was now enveloped by alternating grey and white auras—the symbols of the extre Yin and Yang cycles, manifestations of the laws of Life and Death.
"This is Yin-Yang," Zhi Xuan hissed, his mory returning to the realms above the Sacred Passage. "Is this... a figure who has surpassed the Sacred Passage, touching the Yin Nightfall and Yang Radiance? His presence feels more terrifying than Patriarch Zhu Tian Sheng back then."
"No, this is not the realm of the Heavens Shatterer," Zhi Xuan whispered, his eyes sharpening. "This is a law, a law that lives within the body. How can soone turn into a vessel of law after their soul has vanished?"
The silence following Zhi Xuan’s murmur felt heavier than the pressure of the deepest ocean. On his shoulder, Ao Sheng did not even dare to hiss; the small golden dragon huddled trembling, his scales dimming as if his prideful light were being sucked out by the void emitted by the corpse.
"A figure so arrogant that he even surrendered his soul as a sword," Zhi Xuan murmured. "He wanted to step into a higher realm, but when he failed, he didn't want his understanding to just vanish. He rged with the understanding itself."
Zhi Xuan stood still, his eyes as deep as the ocean reflecting the grey and white cycle spinning at the end of the canyon. He realized that before him was not just a rotting fra, but a Dao Monunt carved from the regret and ambition of a genius of the past.
Zhi Xuan moved his fingers, and imdiately a sword intent transcending form clashed around him. He did not try to fight back but instead tried to erode the powerful Life-Death sword aura using his understanding of the unity of sword and man.
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He felt every strand of his Sword Intent that touched the domain instantly wither—shriveling and aging like leaves in autumn, before finally turning into spiritual ash. Yet, at the sa ti, from that ash erged sparks of new energy being born again, trying to penetrate deeper into the center of the vortex.
This was the unending cycle forced by the corpse’s domain upon every existence that tried to approach. This was not like his Reincarnation Domain; if his was about the six paths of reincarnation and the heart's belief in refusing reincarnation, then before him was a law that seed higher than his current understanding.
"Incredible, truly peerless," Zhi Xuan said, withdrawing his sword intent, his face full of brilliance. "Life and Death, truly a majestic law lying within a sword. One blade sends death, one scabbard gives life."
"You want to absorb that domain to form a second domain?" Ruo Xianxue’s voice cut through the silence, piercing directly into Zhi Xuan’s intention. "Naive. Even though you possess the Silence of Slaughter which has not yet reached the Domain stage, forming two Domains is not sothing that can be done by a Lower Realm practitioner. You absorb that corpse’s domain, and you are just an imitator of soone else’s understanding, not your own law."
"Imitator..." Zhi Xuan repeated the word with a bitter tone. "You are right, Great Saint. If I take a shortcut by swallowing soone else’s law, then my sword will have a limit one day. My Dao Heart will be shackled by the shadows of this person’s failure."
He took a long breath, allowing his spiritual essence to calm down again. His sapphire eyes now looked at the corpse no longer as prey to be drained of power, but as a senior providing a final warning through his death.
"This senior surrendered everything for a single understanding," Zhi Xuan thought. "If I steal it, I am not only insulting his Dao but also betraying my own Dao which wants to tear the sky in my own na."
However, even though he did not intend to absorb the domain, Zhi Xuan did not turn his face away. He remained sitting cross-legged at a distance, letting his eyes record every vibration of the Life-Death law being radiated. He did not want to steal the result, but he wanted to observe the process.
"Who said I wanted to absorb his domain?" Zhi Xuan said. "I can form my own domain after seeing a figure like this. Weaver Transformation might be the formation of law into a Domain. But now, I see that even a Domain remains eternal while the body has no cultivation."
"Have you truly gone mad?!" Ruo Xianxue hissed. "Forming two Domains? Heh, practitioners who use swords never know their direction. Zhi Xuan, this is not sothing you can do in your current realm. You have Sword Intent and Slaughter Intent; you want to unite them and form a Domain? Naive!"
Zhi Xuan did not answer Ruo Xianxue’s rebuke. Instead, he closed his eyes, letting his consciousness creep slowly toward the boundary of that Life-Death domain. He did not try to enter to conquer, but positioned himself as a speck of dust carried by the current of that law vortex.
Within his inner darkness, he began to visualize his two most extre energy poles. On one side was the Silence of Slaughter—an aura pure for ending all life, cold and without denial. On the other side was his Sword Intent, which he had sharpened with the will to live and transcend destiny.
"Everything has Life and Death, a Beginning and an End, Moving and Arriving," Zhi Xuan murmured. "The question of Reincarnation has never been answered; I understand the Six Paths of Reincarnation. I see for myself the fra that gives death for the sword, the living fra that gives life for the sword. My path will not be separated from slaughter, nor will it be separated from rebellion."
"Even though I separated my body to separate the Heavenly-Blood Body and the Slaughter Karma," Zhi Xuan said. "It also does not deny that I am a practitioner who will walk straight in this rotting world. Without denial, without the necessity to submit."
"Slaughter is the end of the cycle, and Reincarnation is the beginning of the cycle," Zhi Xuan said, his voice echoing. "Slashing to end, not to ponder. Every death has a aning, every life has an opportunity. This is my Dao. Life-Death Slaughter."
The roar that previously filled the canyon suddenly vanished, replaced by a silence that was far more terrifying. Around Zhi Xuan’s fra, the air began to solidify. The divine essence that usually flowed like a calm river now began to sort itself into two contrasting yet entwining colors.
These two auras did not destroy each other but chased one after another, forming a Taiji vortex that was wild yet possessed a strange order. In the center of the vortex, Zhi Xuan sat calmly, yet every strand of his hair now radiated an intent capable of tearing the sky.
In the void of his sea of consciousness, the Heavenly Samsara Wheel vibrated subtly as it turned. The runes of the Six Paths of Reincarnation seed to be clashing with a new rune about to be ford upon the authority of the True Domain, which was Zhi Xuan's primary understanding. Above the starry sky, dark clouds appeared in a vortex radiating flashes of heavenly lightning.
The tribulation clouds hanging over the canyon were no ordinary clouds; they were the manifestation of Heaven’s jealousy toward a mortal understanding heavenly laws. The heavenly lightning crackling within the vortex was reddish-purple, radiating an aroma of destruction capable of pulverizing even a soul.
Zhi Xuan remained unmoved. His eyelids were tightly closed, but behind them, he was witnessing the rebirth of his Dao Heart. Before him, the vision of the swordsman’s corpse began to fade, replaced by a much broader understanding. He no longer saw Life and Death as two opposing things, but as two sides of a coin tossed into a well.
"Slaughter is not the end if it gives birth to Reincarnation... and Reincarnation is just a repetition if it is not ended by Slaughter," Zhi Xuan murmured. "Domain Seed, rise!"
Instantly, from the center of Zhi Xuan’s Divine Wheel, a pulse of energy exploded with a vibration capable of silencing the roar of thunder on the horizon. The air at the bottom of the canyon was seemingly pulled forcibly into a single circle before finally being spat back out in the form of a sweeping spiritual wave.
This was no longer just a radiation of sword intent. This was a Domain Seed—an embryo of absolute law that would one day dictate the rules within its range of influence.
The Taiji vortex entwining Zhi Xuan’s fra suddenly solidified. The two colors no longer chased each other but rged into a faded grey radiating an aura of emptiness. Around him, within a radius of ten zhang, the previously shattered rocky ground began to experience a strange phenonon: the dust gathered back into stones, then broke again into dust within seconds—a forced cycle of destruction and restoration.
DUM! CRACKLE!
A bolt of heavenly lightning struck Zhi Xuan’s fra, tearing his brown robe in several places. Again, heavenly strikes continued to arrive, weighing down until Zhi Xuan bowed as the pressure above the sky grew heavy. Every ti that reddish-purple flash hit Zhi Xuan’s body, a violent tremor traveled to the marrow of his bones, trying to collapse the structure of the Domain Seed he had just sown.
Zhi Xuan waved his hand, letting the three celestial creatures behind his robe step aside for hundreds of zhang. The roaring heavenly lightning seed furious to see a mortal trying to steal the secret of Heaven’s balance. Zhi Xuan looked up, his calm face now illuminated by flashes of destructive light. In his eyes, there was no fear, only a thirst for proof.
BOMMM!
The seventh strike hit him right on the crown of his head, making the ground beneath his cross-legged form sink a zhang deep. Yet, instead of being destroyed, Zhi Xuan’s fra radiated an increasingly thick grey glow. The Domain Seed he had just created sucked in the lightning energy, using it as fire to forge his Life-Death Slaughter to be even firr.
"You wish to destroy , O Heaven?" Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice hoarse yet carrying an echo that shook the canyon walls. "You are too late. This seed has been planted, and it will grow by drinking the blood of your injustice!"
Zhi Xuan spread his arms, and imdiately the Slaughter Gods Crescent appeared in his slightly trembling palm. He rose to his feet, floating above the sky as he swung the Slaughter Gods Crescent, sending a slash that t the crackling heavenly lightning.
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