Youdu Spirit stared at the abnormal sky. For him, who had always existed in the Nether Realm, it was the first time he had seen such a wondrous view.
Furthermore, he could tell that Youdu was no longer in the Nether Realm as if it was half in the Nether Realm and half in a strange realm.
"Tianyi, what did you do? You didn't really self-detonate, did you?" Youdu Spirit shouted.
The spirit didn't have time to ask anymore as he stared up. The nine celestial objects started to grow larger. It was moving towards the Nether Realm.
Youdu Spirit frowned. Without the interference of Ksitigarbha Yama Palace, he was free to utilize the full features of Youdu. The nether capital started to shine with black brilliance. Slowly, black specters floated from the ground.
Over five hundred thousand specters sprouted up, each one with the power of at least an earth immortal and over ten thousand with the strength of a true immortal. Armor and spears appeared in the specters' bodies, transforming them into soldiers.
The Nether Army had appeared.
Youdu spirit frowned. "If I was still connected to the ten Yama Palaces, I could have raised an army with over a hundred million and ten ghost sovereigns."
"Then, why didn't you do this when the Buddhists were trying to take you?"
"Who?" Youdu Spirit turned around to see Tianyi standing behind him. "Where were you? Before that, what did you do to summon that?"
Seeing Youdu Spirit point at the Nine Heavens System, Tianyi shrugged. "It's not an enemy. You can put away your army, and you haven't answered my question."
Youdu Spirit furrowed his brows, but he didn't put away the Nether Army. "I couldn't. The Ksitigarbha Yama Palace suppressed me and prevented me from doing anything."
"I'm guessing that you're also restricted from disconnecting the Yama Palaces yourself, right?" Tianyi asked. "Because you're fully capable of doing it by yourself if you had this many. I don't think the Huang Realm and the Numinous Realm combined have this many true immortals."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Youdu Spirit said. "And how did you appear here without my notice?"
A smug smile appeared on Tianyi's face. "My state is kinda like yours right now. Anything within my control, I can appear."
"Youdu is my domain, not yours," Youdu Spirit said.
"Youdu is inside my territory, so it's part of my domain, allowing me to appear anywhere. Anyways, can we hurry it up?" Tianyi asked. "The Heavenly Punishment really has it out for me this time. If we don't finish the relocation, I don't know when the next chance will come."
"Relocate where?" Youdu Spirit asked.
Tianyi pointed towards the Nine Heavens System.
"That's yours?" Youdu Spirit asks, still not believing it.
"Yes, everything above is me in a way. As long as it exists, I am eternal. Now hurry up and release all resistance," Tianyi said.
"Are you a spirit like that embarked on the path of cultivation?" Youdu Spirit asked.
"No, I'll explain later, just play along for now, okay?" Tianyi asked.
Youdu Spirit's brows furrowed even more, but he nodded. The armor and spears disappeared from the specters' bodies, and they sunk into the ground once more. Tianyi smiled and nodded.
"Okay, I can't keep this incarnation active while I do this since I need all my focus," Tianyi said as his body dissipated. "Remember, don't fight back, resist all urges!"
Youdu Spirit sighed as he controlled Youdu to cease all resistance, no matter what his natural reaction was. Like before, Youdu began to rise from the ground, only this time, there was no third party obstructing the process.
More and more buried parts of Youdu revealed themselves. The outer wall stood over a hundred meters tall, but the wall actually reached over nine thousand meters deep. When it was fully pulled out of the ground, a vein-like structure followed along. It was the core spiritual vein of the Nether Realm, which Youdu used to connect to the ten Yama Palaces.
Youdu's rise halted as the veins became taut. The tension increased as the Nine Heavens System came closer, increasing the attraction force. Finally, it snapped as Youdu broke free of the spiritual veins.
The spiritual veins fell back and connected with each other, creating a new core but with a weaker foundation and strength. Youdu continued to rise and rise until it broke free of the Nether Realm's influence and drifted to the eight planets.
Once close enough, the nether capital drifted to the fourth planet from the edge, Fourth Heaven.
Youdu flipped around so the bottom faced the planet, and it floated it down. As it pierced through the atmosphere, Youdu Spirit could see the land split apart. Inside the newly created hole was the center of a spiritual vein.
Youdu slowly descended into the hole. The spiritual vein beneath it merged perfectly with the spiritual vein already present in Fourth Heaven.
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With a heavy thud, Youdu perfectly merged with the continent on Fourth Heaven. Staring from Youdu's walls, a gray color spread, coloring the land with death. On the other side, a sapling brimming with vitality was planted.
Flora and vegetation started to flourish around the little sapling, and it kept growing. The more death spread from Youdu, the taller the sapling grew, and the more life spread. Youdu represented death and the sapling represented life.
Youdu Spirit could feel endless energy pouring into Youdu, making up for all the energy loss that came from severing the ten Yama Palaces. The spirit looked to see the Nether Realm slowly disappearing as if something was closing up.
"Finally, now I just have to overcome the heavenly punishment."
Youdu Spirit flinched and turned towards the suddenly materialized Tianyi. "Now, can you explain what is happening? Is this the realm you were talking about?"
"To be more precise, it's not a realm but a whole universe," Tianyi said. "When I was still a mortal cultivator, I condensed a primordial egg, and when I entered the Immortal Realm, I split open the egg and created this universe."
"Universe, this is a whole universe?" Youdu Spirit repeated as if in disbelief. "That's not something an immortal could do. Not even a divinity can accomplish such a feat."
"Well, my strength is between an immortal monarch and emperor, so I classify myself as an immortal monarch," Tianyi said with a shrug. "I don't think I can even classify myself as a divinity either. At least, not yet."
Youdu Spirit just stared at Tianyi as if he still had yet to process what Tianyi had just revealed. Finally, he sighed. "This isn't your real body, is it?"
"Nope, just an incarnation, as I said before," Tianyi said. "How is it? You won't ever meet Empress Ping or merge with your other half as long as you are in my Nine Heavens Universe, right?"
Tianyi wasn't afraid of revealing his secret because Youdu Spirit was never going to leave the Nine Heavens Universe.
"You are correct. I never personally experienced another universe, but I do know about one divinity that had one," Youdu Spirit said.
"You do? Who is it?" Tianyi asked. 'Pangu?'
“I never met him myself, but he's known as the Almighty."
"The Almighty? How powerful is he that other divinities call him that?" Tianyi asked. "Could I reach the same level?"
"I don't know," Youdu Spirit said. "However, I know that he was powerful enough that the Immortal Court had to unite with other pantheons to compete against him."
Seeing Tianyi's shocked expression, Youdu Spirit elaborated. "Pantheons are organizations like the Immortal Court composed of divinities from other Systems. The Three Thousand Immortal Realms System isn't the only one in the greater universe, beyond the Vast Void."
"No, I know," Tianyi said. "I'm just surprised that you would reveal such facts to me."
"Is there a point in keeping it? You are my future Master, after all," Youdu Spirit said.
"Tell me more about the Almighty," Tianyi said.
"I didn't know much, but I heard that he created a unique race called angels. Angels are born with immortal level strength and can even have the power of divinities, depending on how many wings they are born with."
'Angels? Is it the Christian God?'
"Luckily for the rest of the pantheons, including us, the Almighty was not interested in fighting us. The Almighty spent all his time warring against the devils," Youdu Spirit said. "But I'm not sure anymore. After the fall of the Immortal Court, we no longer have contact with other pantheons. If the Almighty were to invade us, we'd stand no chance."
"Okay, that's a lot to take in," Tianyi said. "Give me a moment to digest all this information.”
"Okay, let's continue," Tianyi said less than a second later. "I'm going to refine you now."
Youdu Spirit nodded. He had already expected this. This time, Tianyi's incarnation didn't disappear, but Youdu Spirit still felt an immortal sense enter every corner of Youdu. It took less than a week with Youdu Spirit's cooperation for Tianyi to refine him.
"Since I'm your master now, I'm going to give you a new name since Youdu is no longer suitable," Tianyi said. "Since you're on Fourth Heaven and I plan to make you the planet spirit, your new name will now be Sitian."
"Thank you, Master," Youdu Spirit, no, Sitian said. "Master, I noticed that the universe is incomplete. There is no Six Paths of Samsara present. Dead souls cannot reincarnate."
"That's hardly the only problem," Tianyi said. "I can't create new souls at all either. I'll try to make one, but for now, I'm going to focus on the Law of Death and Law of Life to merge them into the Law of Life and Death," Tianyi said.
Sitian nodded. "Master, why don't you absorb a part of the Six Paths of Samara while traveling through?"
"I'm going to stop you right there," Tianyi said. "I already blew up my body to integrate you into my inner universe. It's going to take at least a hundred years before I can recreate my body and travel back to my timeline."
He pointed up. "More importantly, whatever is left of my body is currently undergoing heavenly punishment. I don't know what will happen if all my body is destroyed in a timeline. Maybe nothing will happen, or I can never go back to that timeline again, I don't want to find out."
"All I want to do is overcome and recreate my body. And then finally go back to my timeline, goddammit, why is everything going wrong?!" Tianyi growled out.
"What should I do?" Sitian asked.
"I created a new tree using parts of my flesh. It has the potential to become a world tree, and it will represent my understanding of life. You just need to terraform half the planet, so Fourth Heaven will be a planet of life and death."
Sitian nodded and disappeared. With his manual control, the spread of death on Fourth Heaven advanced.
During this time, Tianyi focused on keeping what little flesh he had in the Nether Realm alive. The Nine Heavens Refining Formation had shrunk until it was no more than palm-sized. Inside, the last bits of Tianyi's flesh struggled to survive as continuous punishment lightning descended.
The punishment lasted more than ten years before it finally disappeared with an unwilling thunderous roar. Tianyi finally sighed. He did not want to experience it a third time.
Two times was enough, thank you very much.
With his mind free, he shifted the Five-Colored Egg from Ninth Heaven to Fourth Heaven, above Sitian City.
Daoyi had already migrated from Sixth Heaven to Fourth Heaven. She didn't move into Sitian City but comprehended the Law of Life under the world tree Tianyi planted. The two formed a resonance and increased Daoyi's comprehension, indirectly benefiting Tianyi.
He noticed that whenever Daoyi grasped something, he grasped it a little bit as well.
"If only I had a whole bunch of people here comprehending. It'll be like having an infinite number of experience shares," he had said.
Still, the world tree couldn't be without a name, and Tianyi named it after the legendary Fusang Tree.
He started to rebuild his body destroyed from self-detonation. During this time, he appeared in the core palace of Sitian Heaven. Daoyi was there too, drinking alcohol as she did every once in a while.
"Want a cup?" she asked.
Tianyi sighed and pointed up. "Can't you sense it?"
Daoyi looked up. "Oh, my divine avatar is about to be born."