"Get out!" Clone Ye Chen spun around and kicked out, slamming the old man in the green talisman in his snot-and-tears-streaked face, sending him flying.

"How cruel you are!" The old man in the green talisman murmured with an aggrieved expression.

Clone Ye Chen rolled his eyes dismissively. "Who was just saying they were going to take over my body and kill my sister?"

The old man scratched his head, looking utterly confused. "Did someone say that?"

"You did," Zixiang huffed, cheeks puffed out.

"The sun is so lovely today…" The old man tilted his head back toward the sky, exclaiming in wonder.

The sky was a uniform, ashen grey; there was no sun here at all.

Clone Ye Chen waved his hand, saying no more. He naturally knew that the sleazy old man had only said that to provoke him into waking up. He immediately turned to Zixiang and said, "I'm fine now. You two don't need to worry."

"Really? Master," Zixiang asked pitifully.

Clone Ye Chen's heart softened. He gently rubbed the top of her head and nodded slightly. Then, glancing at the talisman spaceship not far away, he pondered for a moment before walking over to his main body. He fumbled in the main body's robes and pulled out two exquisite miniature spacecraft and a small, dark-black cauldron.

Clone Ye Chen approached the talisman spaceship, enveloped it with the Little Nine Cauldron, and retracted it inside. Then, he put the two delicate spacecraft into the cauldron as well, intending to use the talisman spaceship as the primary material for refinement.

"Refinement failed!"

"Cannot refine Dao Artifacts at this time!" The system voice within the Little Nine Cauldron prompted in Clone Ye Chen's mind.

Clone Ye Chen frowned. He poured out the talisman spaceship and the two delicate Dao Artifact spacecraft, pondering, "There are nine of these Little Nine Cauldrons in total. I wonder what level of Dao Artifacts they are. Given the situation, perhaps if I gather the rest of the Little Nine Cauldrons, I might be able to refine Dao Artifact-level items."

Thinking this, he put the two delicate spacecraft and the Little Nine Cauldron back into the inner armor of his main body's clothes. Then, looking toward the Heavenly Dao Mountain in the distance, he paused before telling Zixiang and the old man in the green talisman, "Wait here. I'm going to cultivate."

"Cultivate here?" The old man in the green talisman sounded surprised.

Clone Ye Chen nodded slightly, his figure shifting as he darted straight up the Heavenly Dao Mountain, moving toward the steps of the fourth level and ascending further…

Meanwhile, Ye Chen, still lying on the ground, continued to sense his body, attempting to control it. After several tries, he still couldn't manage it and finally gave up, thinking grimly to himself, Must I spend my entire life as a vegetable like this?

He frowned, looking up at the ash-grey spatial layer in the sky. Suddenly, his heart felt empty, and a thought struck him: I fear not even death, so why fear being paralyzed?

Once he had resolved this within himself, he stopped fussing over his rigid body and immersed his consciousness deep inside, carefully observing the crimson-gold heart. He noticed that the edge of the heart was blood-red, but this red was gradually transforming into gold, as if a fleshy, material substance was shifting into another kind of matter.

Ye Chen gazed intently for a short while, then stopped looking, focusing all his mind on the secret runes covering the heart. His consciousness was immediately captivated by these complex and intricate markings, making him completely forget everything external.

Time flowed by…

In the blink of an eye, a year passed.

In this space of eternal silence, a gentle breeze drifted by. The old man in the green talisman sat on the observation deck of the talisman spaceship, his feet propped up on a table. The area around him was piled high with fragrant fruits and fine wine, all treasures stored within the spacecraft. He sipped his wine while watching the figure continuously climbing the Heavenly Dao Mountain.

That black silhouette gasped for breath, drenched in sweat. After taking a few more steps, he would be violently repelled by the intense pressure of the Heavenly Dao Mountain, tossed high into the air, and crashed back onto the ground, shattering several bones. Blood stained the ground crimson, nearly causing him to pass out.

Zixiang, clad in a purple dress, rushed over quickly, holding various medicines in her hands. She swiftly stuffed a red pill into the black silhouette’s mouth. As the pill entered, the bones within his body convulsed like popping beans, and the breaks healed instantly. The skin on the outside mended at a visible rate, leaving not a single scar.

The black silhouette gritted his teeth, pulled himself up from the ground, and then stubbornly and resolutely advanced toward the Heavenly Dao Mountain with determined steps.

He charged again and again, was thrown back repeatedly, then got up again, and continued to rush forward!

Zixiang held the medicine, watching the retreating figure of the black silhouette with worry. Over this past year, she had tried to persuade him many times, but it was all in vain. She could only choose to support him, rushing forward with medicine immediately whenever Clone Ye Chen's body suffered severe injuries and profuse bleeding.

Not far away, the main body of Ye Chen lay quietly on the ground, eyes tightly closed, his consciousness focused entirely on the interpretation of various laws. After a moment, his eyes suddenly snapped open, two beams of piercing light shooting out like sharp swords, bright and piercingly clear. "So that's it. This is the core!"

In his mind, he instantly sensed that all the laws were like a disk, perfectly integrated and understood.

Boom.

The void trembled faintly, and a golden vortex opened directly above Ye Chen’s head. This vortex churned the surrounding clouds and wind, immediately drawing the attention of the old man in the green talisman and Zixiang nearby. They both turned their heads in astonishment, staring blankly at the golden vortex.

Zixiang, being well-traveled and knowledgeable, paused momentarily before crying out, "Law Domain!"

From within the golden vortex, streams of light slowly drifted out, enveloping Ye Chen’s entire body. These lights were brilliantly colored, totaling nine distinct hues, coiling around Ye Chen’s body like spirit snakes. They permeated his pores, washing through his bones and muscles, and even the most fundamental source of his soul.

Ye Chen felt his entire mind buzzing, as if he had swallowed a stimulant, causing his brain to become so manic that it experienced a brief blankness.

After a long time, the nine-colored light gradually faded away, and the mysterious golden vortex slowly vanished. Ye Chen’s body returned to normal, and his consciousness slowly recovered. He immediately sensed a world-altering change. He felt as if the world before him had become infinitely clearer; even with his eyes closed, he could clearly perceive the scenery from any angle around his body. Furthermore, his body and the space felt fused together, inseparable; with a mere thought, he could step into this water-like space.

Moreover, he discovered numerous reflection points in the surrounding parallel spaces, allowing him to travel between them instantaneously.

"Is this the Law Domain?" Ye Chen was deeply shaken. "What a powerful feeling. The strength of this Law Domain is actually determined by one's state of mind."

After experiencing several life-and-death trials, his state of mind had become clearer. Witnessing the ebb and flow on White Spirit Mountain, seeing through life and death, coupled with this current enlightenment of the laws, he had gained immensely. His state of mind had unexpectedly jumped from the third stage of Sage Realm to the ninth stage of Sage Realm, comparable to the state of mind of a Peak Deity.

This rate of advancement was a quantum leap, yet it wasn't entirely unexpected; outside of the norm, it was logical. Ordinary people in the Mortal Realm could sometimes achieve sainthood or damnation with a single thought, directly jumping from the Mortal Realm to the Saint Realm state of mind. Such people have existed in history; for example, Siddhartha Gautama, the Tathagata Buddha, achieved Buddhahood through sudden enlightenment, resulting in a phenomenal leap in his state of mind and the perfection of his virtues.

"Based solely on the strength of this Law Domain, it is sufficient to rival a Peak Deity. However, my Law Domain is still relatively rudimentary; I haven't comprehended my own Domain World yet."

Ye Chen mused. He had previously searched through a great deal of information concerning Deities in the Hall of Geniuses.

Deity powerhouses were divided into four major tiers: Low, Mid, High, and Peak!

Low-tier Deity powerhouses comprehended fundamental laws, formed their own domains, and possessed the ability to teleport!

Mid-tier Deity powerhouses explored their own path, integrating their own Dao into the domain they comprehended—for example, a Domain of Fire or a Domain of Wind.

High-tier Deity powerhouses perfected their domains further, comprehending the Dao of Life and Death, Yin and Yang, causing their domains to become 'alive.'

Peak Deity powerhouses achieved a state of perfect unity, merging the two paths of life and death into a single World Domain. They only needed to shatter the domain to break and then re-establish themselves, achieving the rank of God Emperor!

Alas, many people, during this process of 'breaking and re-establishing,' managed to break, but failed to re-establish, resulting in immediate death.

"If I encounter a Mid-tier Deity powerhouse, my domain strength should allow me to contend with them!" Ye Chen thought inwardly. He glanced at his heart, feeling a slight exhaustion in his consciousness. He stopped further contemplation and tried again to move his body. He strained to open his mouth; his mouth was stiff, but this time it relaxed. After gradually opening it, it took Herculean effort just for his lips to twitch slightly.

Ye Chen realized for the first time what an arduous task merely trying to speak was.

However, the slight movement of his lips filled Ye Chen with immense joy. "I can move! It seems if I give it enough time, my body will move too!"

With this thought, his spirits soared. He once again focused his mind, sinking back into the heart in his chest to continue contemplating the profound secret runes covering it. These runes were extremely complex. Ye Chen vaguely felt that the runes on this heart surpassed the level of the Domain Laws; if he could only comprehend a fraction of them, he might reach the level of a Peak Deity!

Time flew like a shuttle…

Ten years, twenty years, thirty years…

The days passed one by one.

Forty long years later, while Ye Chen was immersed in comprehending the laws, he suddenly felt a jolt in his chest. A magnificent pressure surged from the surrounding sky. Countless Demigod Powers, spawned from the void, furiously gathered and flowed into his body, where they were then compressed violently.

"Heavenly Dao Realm, Seventh Heaven!"

Ye Chen was overjoyed, feeling the terrifyingly dense Demigod Power within him. He couldn't help but tremble slightly with excitement. This Demigod Power had been compressed a million times. Based on the Demigod Power within his body alone, without adding any secret manuals, it achieved an amplification factor of one million!

Simultaneously, on the seventh layer of the Heavenly Dao Mountain, the crystal sphere in the clone's hand suddenly shattered. As the inheritance crystal sphere broke, a phantom figure slowly floated out of it—a figure ancient and majestic, standing firm in this realm, radiating infinite pressure, reigning before the clone.

"Disciple, it has been a long time…" The ancient voice carried a hint of gentleness, yet it did not diminish its authority in the least, inspiring reverence and an urge to kneel and worship.