Reaching the 3rd step is a monumental achievement in cultivation.

It is the level where the destruction of worlds becomes relatively easy, but attaining it is a formidable challenge.

To ascend to the 3rd step, one must embody perfection in every aspect, including physical qualities, soul quality, and more.

The approval of "The Grand," is required to become a perfect cultivator.

However, even getting approval of “The Grand” and becoming perfect is not enough.

The cultivation of a specific law is crucial. A law is a complex concept that governs various aspects, such as blood.

Its usage and potential applications are left to the practitioner's creativity. To advance further on the path to the 3rd step, one must refine and perfect their chosen law.

In the 3rd step, it is not uncommon for multiple individuals to share the same law.

However, this changes in the 4th step.

Each law must be unique to an individual at this level. Others can attempt to imitate it, but a true master of a specific law in the 4th step is unrivaled in usage of that law.

For example, individuals wielding the power of time law may use it to bully weaker opponents, but when confronted by someone who has mastered the time law, their magic crumbles like a fragile bubble.

In their specific law, a 4th step individual reigns supreme regardless of their opponent cultivation level.

This principle holds true for both demons and mages, with minor differences in the finer details. Everything originates from the same source but has diverged slightly along the way.

Stealing someone else's law is usually impossible since it is based on one's personal understanding and must be approved by "The Grand."

Even if someone were to steal all the memories of another person, they would likely not gain approval from "The Grand." The process of reaching the 3rd step seems to involve being subjected to inspection by this mysterious entity.

Hao Gongming finished reading one of the high-grade informational books she acquired from a different world.

The nature of "The Grand" piqued her curiosity. She found it suspicious that one must be approved by "The Grand" to reach the 3rd step.

However, she wasn't willing to undergo such scrutiny. Reaching the 3rd step seemed unattainable for her at the moment.

She decided to focus on leveling up instead, determined to one day be able to defeat a 4th step cultivator with a single punch.

She stored away the books she had been reading and stretched.

Leaving the library, she called for Su.

Su arrived with a serious expression and asked if she wanted him to gather boys to read books for her.

Hao Gongming found his choice of words peculiar and remarked that he seemed to be becoming more attuned to her preferences.

She smiled and explained that reading these books could be dangerous for lower-level individuals.

High-level books might carry corruption that could drive people insane, which is why many sections of the library were restricted.

Hao Gongming then inquired if Su had formed the team of geniuses she had requested.

Su replied solemnly, assuring her that he had selected the smartest, most loyal, and most beautiful and handsome boys for her.

However, he added that he also included a woman who had been accepted as her disciple a long time ago, as she was exceptionally talented and he couldn't reject her.

Hao Gongming appeared upset but ultimately relented, saying that it was acceptable for one woman to be included.

Nevertheless, she emphasized that it was her harem, drawing a comparison to ancient kings who would not accept other men into their harems. She made it clear that influential positions within the sect should not be given to women, as they were already quite popular.

Su was surprised at how anti-woman Hao Gongming was, but he nodded seriously nonetheless.

Hao Gongming smiled again and said, "I'm going for now. Get the genius advisory board ready. I'll visit in one month." Then she disappeared.

Su looked serious and went to fulfill his duties.

…

Hao Gongming possessed many abilities, but she hadn't used many of them.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Now, she had come to a desolate world to test them out one by one.

First, she decided to try her cloner ability.

She picked up an ant from the ground and infused it with a tiny bit of world source. Immediately, the vicinity of hundreds of kilometers was filled with ants towering as tall as skyscrapers. Hao Gongming teleported away and sighed, "I underestimated the power of world essence.”

“I should clone women for my artist boys who don't cultivate or if their lifespan is running out, so they can have children and contribute to the growth of the sect. And if the babies are girls, I'll keep them but won't allow them in the harem. Maybe creating a special sect exclusively for women is the way to go."

Also, the women she will clone would be her own creations using her skills, so they would still, in a sense, be her.

Her shadow clones couldn't have children, so she had to find a different way like this.

Next, she wanted to try her Spell Improvement skill.

She desired to create a spell that would enlarge an ant to the size of a human. Instantly, the spell construct appeared in her mind instinctively.

She targeted an ant and cast the spell, causing the ant to grow significantly and appear quite bewildered.

She tried the same spell again, but this time she used Spell Strengthening.

Another ant grew, this time reaching the size of a two-story building.

"Spell Strengthening is indeed very powerful," she remarked.

For her next experiment, she decided to try Natural Mage.

Without using any spell, she willed an ant to grow larger, but this time it only reached half the size of a human.

"The power weakens a bit, but the speed is faster," she observed.

Continuing her exploration, she activated Magical Body, transforming into pure wind element.

She became ethereal, able to pass through objects like a ghost. However, her attacks were limited to the wind element.

When she unleashed wind-based attacks, they were significantly stronger. She also summoned a clone and instructed her to attack, but any attacks that were not of the wind element proved ineffective in dealing damage.

Next, creator skill.

Lost in thought, she attempted to create a small, cute, and intelligent ant named John in the second step of cultivation.

John came into existence and looked at Hao Gongming with loving eyes.

Hao Gongming realized that she had depleted a lot of world source, so she decided not to create too many of these creatures.

However, love had to be reciprocated.

She picked up the ant, kissed it, and decided to give it to Su for safekeeping.

The ant didn't want to leave and resisted, but it was forcefully sent away to Su. Anything troublesome was always sent to Su.

Next, she decided to try the skill Soul Out of the Body. She activated it, causing her body to go limp and lifeless.

Even in this state, her soul remained strong and powerful. She discovered that in her soul state, she could pass through solid objects, effortlessly float, and move at a faster speed.

Satisfied with the result, she moved on to the next skill, Soul Transplant.

Her soul left her body and entered the two-story-tall ant, possessing it. After playing around and enjoying the experience, she returned to her own body.

"These skills are fun, but not very useful to me," she concluded.

She then decided to try Soul Clone, a skill she had experimented with before.

This type of clone was completely one with her, sharing the same vision and simultaneous memory. It was practically indistinguishable from her, but its strength was at the second step.

However, it was also dangerous because if an enemy captured it, it could pose a threat. Thus, she preferred not to use it unless absolutely necessary.

Moving on, she tried Soul Eater. She grabbed the two-story-tall ant, extracted its soul, and devoured it with her own soul.

Her soul became very slightly stronger, and for a brief moment, she experienced fleeting thoughts and memories of the ant.

"Eating strong souls can alter my personality. I should avoid using this skill as much as possible," she noted to herself.

Finally, she tried Soul Master. She gazed at the ant of human size, and all the information about it appeared in her eyes, such as its soul age, lifespan, desires, elemental affinity, mood, and more.

"This skill is quite useful; I should use it more," she said with a smile. She realized she could use it on her harem members to gauge their moods.

Moving on, she tried the skill Soul Creator. She imagined creating a soul for an ant the size of a human with intelligence.

Soon, the soul materialized and looked around in confusion. After a while, it recognized Hao Gongming as its creator and tried to please her by moving around her.

However, instead of being pleased, she grew annoyed and replaced the original soul of the human-sized ant with this new one. She then sent it to Su to deal with.

Next was Soul Shield.

She activated it, and a transparent shield appeared all around her. It could probably resist attacks from someone at the 6th layer of detachment realm, but it wasn't particularly useful since it only protected against soul attacks.

Moving on, she tried Life Giver.

She picked up a stone and infused it with life. She then sculpted eyes, a nose, and a mouth for it.

It didn't need ears since it was magical and could hear without them.

"Don't underestimate it; it's as strong as Yin Yang Transformation," she remarked.

The animated rock looked around and asked, "Are you my creator?"

Hao Gongming replied, "Yes, welcome to my harem!"

She then placed the stone in her pocket, ignoring its questions about life and existence. She named it Talker1 and decided to keep it for herself.

Next was Soul Charm. She selected an ant half the size of a human and charmed it. The ant went insane and started trying to get close to her, perhaps to kiss her.

Hao Gongming threw it away, declaring, "Not very useful for me; I don't need these tricks."

Next on the list was Soul Tracer. She chose the half-human-sized ant and used her ability to sense its soul.

She then teleported it to the other side of the world but could still feel everything about it.

"This skill is useful for protecting harem members. I may not be able to do it personally, but my clones can," she thought.

Her clones, created by the system's skill, were able to use all her skills at full strength.

However, they didn't gain experience points when they killed and didn't share memories until they died. They also didn't share vision and lacked a direct communication channel.

Even if one of the clones was captured and unable to self-destruct for some reason, it wasn't a significant problem.

Next, she looked at the Achievement Core Master skill.

For a long time, there had been a "yes" or "no" mark there. This was because her monster core had merged with her human golden core and hatched into a nascent soul, so she didn't actually possess a monster core.

Even if she pressed "yes," the monster core that appears would only be at the Core Formation stage, rendering it useless.

Then she turned her attention to the truly interesting skill: Breaking the Void.

Since her promotion to the Administrator level, this skill had become much stronger, allowing her to travel to distant worlds. She decided to try it right away.

Summoning a clone, she instructed it to open a portal. However, it took much longer to open this portal compared to previous attempts.

Nonetheless, Hao Gongming smiled and said, "Let's see what this distant world has in store for me," as she jumped in.