Amidst the boundless library of the Confucian Civilization, an expanse of myriad scrolls and texts. Lu Yuan sat centered within it.
His immediate task was to absorb the remnants of the shattered Great Desolation Small Thousand World Sword Scroll. It was common knowledge that the larger one's personal world, the greater their combat strength, and the easier it would be to ascend to the Civilization Realm in the future.
However, expanding one's world was no simple feat; it was exceptionally difficult, and many methods had failed them. Under normal circumstances, even Lu Yuan's great fortune and profound talent would not suffice.
But these were not normal circumstances. Using his "Gamble" word clone, Lu Yuan had already established his world, awaiting only the evolution of the Sword World.
This meant he was effectively stacking the Great Desolation Small Thousand World Sword Scroll atop his existing foundation. Lu Yuan sat, manifesting his own Sword World while simultaneously unleashing the Small Thousand World Great Desolation Shattered Sword Scroll.
A colossal Small Thousand World materialized, and the two incomplete realms violently collided in the air. Rumble!
The two Small Thousand Worlds clashed. In that instant, Lu Yuan felt an agonizing, visceral pain shoot through his soul.
He instantly understood: this was the direct consequence of the two Small Thousand Worlds colliding. If he could not suppress this conflict, he might very well perish here.
Damn it! He never anticipated such treacherous danger!
It was terrifying! Lu Yuan drew a deep breath.
He was at a moment of extreme peril and needed to calm himself. He had to devise a solution quickly, as failure meant death, and time was running short.
Lu Yuan marshaled all his mental energy, attempting to force the connection between the two impossibly large Small Thousand Worlds, using his own soul as a buffer. If successful, he would not only survive but reap unimaginable benefits.
Lu Yuan's soul was surprisingly potent; its current strength rivaled that of a peak World Realm master. With such a powerful soul, he could cast his divine sense across the entire land of Jin in a mere sweep.
Yes, his soul was that formidable. Of course, when sweeping across such a vast distance, the divine sense would necessarily be quite diffuse across every inch of space.
Now, however, Lu Yuan condensed every thread of his divine sense, attempting to create a cushion between his Sword World and the Sword Scroll World. The two worlds slammed into his soul, sending waves of searing pain.
He had to endure! The initial impact between his own world and the Sword Scroll World nearly knocked Lu Yuan unconscious, but he gritted his teeth and held fast.
He possessed only one conviction: he must persevere. Boom!
The second impact! The third impact!
The next two blows forced Lu Yuan to vomit several mouthfuls of blood, and his soul was effectively pulverized. Lu Yuan’s face was alarmingly pale.
This was unsustainable. While his soul possessed the strength of a peak World Realm master, facing the collision of two Small Thousand Worlds was far, far beyond its capacity.
What now? Time was almost up.
If he couldn't find a solution within the time it took half an incense stick to burn, he would surely die, utterly annihilated by this ferocious impact. It was too horrific.
Lu Yuan quieted his mind, desperately searching for solutions. The "Dao" clone was useless.
The small Sword Dao Tree was useless. The "Restrain" clone was useless.
The "Gamble" clone was useless. The twenty-nine secondary Sword Dao characters were useless.
Everything was failing. Damn it, was he really going to die here?
Just then, inspiration struck him. A triangle is the most stable form.
Currently, he had his world and the Sword Scroll World forming two corners. If he could add a third corner, would it not stabilize?
Adding that third corner was not easy—it needed to be commensurate with the other two worlds. Wait, he had an idea.
There was a way. The Sword Realm!
The Sword Realm was an unimaginably vast Small Thousand World. Naturally, he could not summon the entire Sword Realm here.
However, since the two colliding Small Thousand Worlds were currently within his possession, he could move this alien spatial nexus next to the Sword Realm. (Search "Huashan Immortal Gate" on Baidu for updates.) Lu Yuan activated the Bridge of Space, heading straight for the Sword Realm.
Upon reaching the gate of the Sword Realm, he simultaneously manifested his own world and the Sword Scroll World. A triangle, indeed, was the most stable configuration.
The Sword Realm was inherently immense, and the Sword Scroll World was extraordinary in its own right. Relatively speaking, Lu Yuan’s recently formed personal world was the weakest.
Even so, a point of balance gradually began to emerge, unlike the fierce, terrifying collisions from before. The Sword Scroll World, though once formidable, was incomplete and thus was gradually suppressed by the Sword Realm.
Once overshadowed, it slowly drifted toward Lu Yuan’s personal world, eventually completing the alignment. A joy surged through Lu Yuan as he began the process of merging the two.
His soul had recovered slightly, allowing Lu Yuan to carefully guide the two entities closer. As the Small Thousand Worlds drew together, Lu Yuan meticulously managed and arranged the process.
CRASH! A massive sound echoed as the two continental plates collided, but this time, the impact brought them nearer rather than pushing them apart.
Success! He had finally succeeded!
Lu Yuan was overwhelmed with boundless elation; the rewards for this success were enormous. Scanning the Sword Scroll World with his divine sense, Lu Yuan noted it was about five times larger than his own world.
Since his world was already about twice the size of an average person's world, his world was roughly twelve times that of a standard practitioner. The larger one's self-constituted world, the greater their combat power—that was common sense.
His current Small Thousand World far surpassed that of ordinary people. Of course, Lu Yuan knew that merely surpassing ordinary people did not guarantee he was larger than the Son of the Barrens.
The Son of the Barrens, the Child of the Epoch, still held the upper hand in every aspect. But one day, Lu Yuan vowed, he would utterly dethrone the Son of the Barrens from the pedestal of the Epoch Child.
Currently, Lu Yuan’s world consisted of one half that had yet to develop mountains and rivers, and another half that was the original Sword Scroll World, devoid of nascent life force. All that was needed now was for this life force to awaken.
Once evolution began, it would manifest a colossal world, enabling him to reach the True Realm—a state of peerless combat strength. Now, he only needed to wait.
Both his original world and the original Sword Scroll World were now unified, designated as the New Sword World. Within his New Sword World, Lu Yuan realized he had forgotten something vital.
The Sword Intent Monsters. It had been mentioned previously that these monsters housed over a hundred strands of Sword Intent.
Due to a fortunate opportunity, Lu Yuan had drawn off dozens, leaving sixty-four strands remaining. He had been waiting for this moment to feast on these sixty-four strands, and now, finally, it was time.
Lu Yuan ascended into the sky, immediately setting out to track down the Sword Intent Monsters. He wondered what sword intents would manifest this time, and which iron laws they would help him forge.
Following the Deputy Master of the Confucian Civilization, a figure of Civilization rank, Lu Yuan finally grasped the true nature of the Ten Great Iron Laws. The foremost law was naturally the Iron Law of Destiny, touted as the supreme law—almost akin to the Dao in the language of scripture, representing the ultimate existence.
However, no one had ever managed to fully master it. Nevertheless, the Iron Law of Destiny had left behind numerous branches, such as the Minor Iron Law of Destiny, exemplified by Jian Yun-chou’s Gambler's Scripture.
The remaining nine laws lacked a precise ranking, as they were mutually constraining. If forced to emphasize one, the Iron Law of Karma was exceedingly powerful.
Of the remaining nine, Lu Yuan had studied seven: the Iron Law of Adaptation, the Iron Law of Order, the Iron Law of Yin-Yang, the Iron Law of Reincarnation, the Iron Law of Karma, the Iron Law of Time, and the Iron Law of Space. Among these, the Iron Law of Adaptation was nearing completion, while the other six were already finalized.
According to the Deputy Master of the Confucian Civilization, the final two laws were the Iron Law of Force and the Iron Law of Heart. The term "Iron Law" referred to the fundamental principles existing between sentient and non-sentient beings—truths that no object could evade.
When the Deputy Master of the Confucian Civilization explained this, Lu Yuan paused: "Heart, I understand that sentient beings possess a heart, but do entities like trees have hearts?" "Trees certainly possess a tree-heart; otherwise, how could various tree demons arise?" "And stones? How do stones have hearts?" Lu Yuan pressed.
"Stones, rivers—they all possess their own hearts. Many epochs ago, a monkey emerged from stone—the Heart of Stone.
That monkey caused quite a stir back then," the Deputy Master of the Confucian Civilization smiled faintly. "It even caused considerable disruption to the Celestial Palace established by the Immortal Ancient Civilization." "Every being, sentient or not, has a heart, hence the emergence of the Iron Law of Heart." "Then what about the Iron Law of Force?" Lu Yuan was utterly bewildered; he had never heard of such a concept.
"Among all beings and objects, forces exist. Between you and me, for example, there are attractive and repulsive forces.
The stars float in the void because different forces exist between them and between the stars and the continents. When gravity equals repulsion, they naturally hang suspended in the void." "The Iron Law of Force is divided into four fundamental forces: the Strong Nuclear Force, the Weak Nuclear Force, Electromagnetism, and Universal Gravitation.
If you can analyze and master these four forces, you will master the Iron Law of Force." "These are the Ten Great Iron Laws, the highest echelon of attainment in the realm of techniques. Mastering nine of them elevates one to the peak of technique application, beyond which further ascent is impossible." The Deputy Master of the Confucian Civilization recounted the Ten Great Iron Laws, explaining each point with clarity and grace.