PtM Book 17 - Chapter 38: Breaking Through

3/3 this week!

--

Exhausted from his spiritual journey, Cha Ming left his spiritual sea and returned to his body. His inner world had reached an absolute bottleneck. It was heavy and bursting at the seams, with no room for further expansion.

The same was also true for his law runes. A single creation and destruction pair had already formed an embryonic law. His soul was now so dense that it couldn’t move even within his spiritual sea.

A sliver separated Cha Ming from the next realm, but that sliver was incomparably vast. Without a fundamental change in his existence, he would never be able to push past it. Or that would have been the case. The Second Truth of Mists changed everything.

Cha Ming’s law runes could be separated into five different rune pairs. These pairs were antagonistic and unstable. This applied even to the pair that were almost stitched into law, which was why he hadn’t been able to complete them.

Self-Wrought Existence changed everything. With it, Creation and Destruction weren’t so antagonistic. Cha Ming now understood why the sages said that the world was painted in black and white. And this was not shallow understanding. He’d experienced it personally.

Breaking was the same as mending when seen backwards in time. Pulling things apart created pieces. Accumulating energy was done by releasing energy from elsewhere.

Everything was connected, and this simple change in perspective didn’t just increase the harmony of his creation and destruction rune pairs – it united them.

Not everyone could handle these truths, because their implications changed the underpinnings of one’s existence, as well as one’s knowledge of how the world worked. Cha Ming’s sea of knowledge was undergoing largescale collapse. Every technique he’d ever learned, every rune he’d ever mastered, and every conversation he’d ever had; everything was recombined and recondensed to better reflect his new world view.

His knowledge shrank to less than a tenth of its original volume. This reuslt4ed in a much more stable base that could support many more thoughts and concepts.

Likewise, his runes consolidated. His first rune pair, Assembly and Dismantling, became Assembled Parts. His second, third, and fourth rune pairs combined to create Shattered Form, Combinate Splitting, and Modular life.

Accumulation and Eruption were on the verge of forming their own laws, but the changes in Cha Ming’s sea of knowledge could no longer support them. The threads and runes connecting them collapsed as Accumulation and Eruption became a single Bound Energy rune, a Grandmist Rune like the four before it.

Creation and destruction were originally a single entity. From that viewpoint, it could be argued that nothing was real, and everything was in a constant state of flux.

Grandmist was the source of all, but it had mysterious and contradicting properties. It behaved like the world’s heaviest substance but could be manipulated as a light material. It was resistant to the laws of time and space, and but could sometimes be used to bend them.

It was the same for creation and destruction, and the five elements. They blended into a single entity, and the boundary dividing these elements vanished.

In the end, there was only Grandmist.

Cha Ming’s energy was now 99.9% fused, but there still remained a tiny sliver of unfused energy. The ten original colors making it up still existed as a sheen on the pure and clear energy inside his inner world.

No more, Cha Ming thought. Eight of these colors collapsed into a single one, and the sheen turned gold, gray and jade.

Cha Ming then took things a step further. He wondered about divine, law, and spirit. Where did they begin? Where did they end? Was there really a need to separate them? He mobilized the Truth of Self-Wrought Existence and applied it to his energy pools, mixing past, present and future, and the very makeup of reality.

Gold, gray, and jade fused together, forming a single drop of terrifying energy. That energy dropped into the now clear and pristine pool of energy, causing it to hiss and bubble with law, divinity, and spirituality.

Ninesky was very interested in this new mixture. “Ooo, that’s pretty. And new!” She said. “What do you call it?” She had the look of a child who’d waited all year to finally unwrap her birthday present.

“I call it Clearmist,” Cha Ming said. “Not bad for a statr, right?”

“Not bad at all,” Ninesky agreed. “What shall we do next?”

“Next?” Cha Ming said. “Next, I’m going to merge everything I’ve ever cultivated.”

Once again, he applied the truth of Self-Wrought Existence. Five runic structures flew out form his body. Four of them represented immortal arts he’d cultivated, while the fifth was the qi cultivation art Cha Ming had made for himself.

The five arts unravelled and merged together, combining divine cultivation, law cultivation, and spiritual cultivation. This normally wouldn’t be possible, but Cha Ming’s Clearmist, the Truth of Self-Wrought Existence, and his Grandmist laws, defied common sense.

Cha Ming expected the process to be very difficult, but in combining the arts, Cha Ming realized that Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations and Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations were originally part of a greater scripture. There were gaps where law cultivation should be, but Cha Ming used his own self-created art to fill the gaps.

The final product did not have a name. It did not have a grade, nor was it a technique. Only Cha Ming could ever cultivate it, and not even Ninesky knew its limits.

Next, Cha Ming worked on his soul. He couldn’t replace his angelic nature, nor did he want to. But like with his core, he replaced his spiritual essence with Clearmist.

When he tried to do the same to his inner world, however, he discovered that completely replacing the five elements was impossible. But he did discover that at the center of his universe, there existed Clearmist. He contained the concentrated essence of his universe, combined with his spirituality, and his core.

All these changes went a long way in alleviating the heaviness in Cha Ming’s body, but the only way to solve his mobility problem was a breakthrough. And for a breakthrough, I need energy. Conveniently, there happens to be a partial demiplane core just waiting for me.

Cha Ming drew on his connection to the Flamewing Demiplane and increased the rate at which he took in its energy by several orders of magnitude. He could do this thanks to his Grandmist runes and his Clearmist nature that could accommodate all forms of energy.

Though the increase in energy intake was pleasing, it wasn’t quick enough to satisfy Cha Ming. He decided to try a bold move and directly sucked the core of the Flamewing Demiplane, will and all, into the Clear Sky World.

Space collapsed around Cha Ming as the rest of the Flamewing Demiplane crashed into his inner world. The Dao Origin runes on his skin glowed bright red as they resonated with the core at the center of his being. These were a prototype divine shell, which was necessary to break through to the shell-marking realm.

Cha Ming had long since received the spiritual epiphany he needed by fusing all three of his auras into the Heartforge Spirit Flame. As such, only one more step was missing: completing his law projection.

Such a process required vast amounts of immortal energy, and the Flamewing Demiplane only contained a hint of this energy.

But with the help of his Grandmist runes and the Second Truth of Mists, everything changed. Cha Ming’s body was full of Clearmist, and he concentrated this Clearmist until it reached a sufficiently high grade. The framework around his Bound Energy law rune expanded into a net that was several times larger than the original creation and destruction framework.

“My first law will be a Law of Clearmist,” Cha Ming whispered. “The very first in this universe. I name this law Bound Energy Canvas.” The law threads he’d sketched out began stitching themselves into existence and formed a tightly-packed law tapestry. On this tapestry was a law that could bent the fabric of reality.

The Bound Energy Canvas was effectively an upgrade to Cha Ming’s Sky Canvas Domain and Crumbling Kingdom domain combination. The original domains were generic and encompassed energy, matter, spirituality, and living things.

The Bound Energy Canvas, on the other hand, was more focused. It was only concerned with energy. It was the first in a series of laws that Cha Ming would call his Crumbling Sky Canvas.

The completion of the Bound Energy Canvas law projection triggered a change in Cha Ming’s inner world. His law, spirit, and divine prerequisites for a breakthrough were now fulfilled. He could now incorporate the Flamewing Demiplane’s inner core, as well as endless fire-based planar building materials into his inner world.

Cha Ming’s earlier fusion of his rune pairs, his core energy, and his world energy had created much room for growth of his inner world. This enabled Cha Ming to skip past the tedious evolutionary process otherwise required to add the demiplane to his inner world.

He used the core as base, and the vast energy store in his inner world to paint a new Flamewing Demiplane. A world of fire and Flamewing Lifeforms. A world of explosive and vibrant paintings.

Cha Ming became engrossed in the process of world creation. It was just like his experience with Ninesky, but this time, he had freedom. He painted several varieties of Flamewing life forms, as well as many other flame-based creatures he had never known or witnessed. He painted their stories and their history.

He was so preoccupied with the process that it wasn’t until a few months later that he awakened form his transfer. “How much time did you say passed?”

“Um, months?” Ninesky said. “Don’t get mad, it’s fine. I’m just wondering if you could, you know, speed it up.” She shared the news of Huxian’s visit and the impending tribulation.

“You asked for his tails?!” Cha Ming exclaimed.

Ninesky huffed. “I need his tails. And if I get them, it will only help us.”

Cha Ming stifled a snarl and inspected his cultivation. His soul was completely transformed now, meaning that he could move about, but it had no offensive abilities. Without digesting the demiplane first, he wouldn’t be able to move. In fact, his wouldn’t even be able to use his law projection.

Huxian had just arrived from his fiend blood gathering trip. He dropped a heavy sphere in front of Cha Ming’s immobile body.

You’re not giving her your tails, Huxian, Cha Ming said.

The fox jumped. “You can talk!”

But I can’t move, Cha Ming said. I’m doing my best to absorb this demiplane, but my best just isn’t cutting it.

“Then can you think of a way to get past this tribulation that doesn’t involve me cutting off my tails?” Huxian asked.

No, but –

“Then shut up,” Huxian said. “Your artifact spirit and I are going to defend you from this tribulation, so unless you can think of something useful, don’t you dare get in our way.

Huxian had already broken through to the fusion realm and was now in possession of eight magnificent tails. When he entered his fusion transformation state, they whipped about on astral winds – or they did, until a blade of void energy descended and sliced off all eight of them. He reverted to his human form, looking pale and depleted.

“Take them,” Huxian said to Ninesky, then sat down to recuperate.

The deed was done, so there was no point in bickering. Ninesky flew over to the eight tails and absorbed them into her body. Her black hair darkened. Her white hair brightened. Then these colors blended, creating an eight-trigram pattern that controlled time and space.

Ninesky’s eyes changed as well. They became twin yin-yang symbols that spun endlessly. The life and death of the universe was captured in her eyes. She took in a breath, inhaling energy from Cha Ming’s Clearmist reserves, then exhaling impurities. Their energy cycled several times until the black and white coloring her hair fused into silver-gray, then faded to the same clear color as Cha Ming’s Clearmist. Her eyes, however, remained the same.

Huxian ate several natural treasures to restore a portion of his blood essence and energy, while Ninesky familiarized herself with her new energy composition. And as they prepared, a fierce energy built up in the sky that filled Cha Ming with dread.

This energy built up until it manifested a will. Its gaze passed over Cha Ming and lingered on Ninesky for a few seconds. When it saw Huxian, it seethed with hatred.

The tribulation mobilized Heaven and Earth, summoning a bone-chilling wind that swept across the void. Huxian hissed. “Seriously? The Barren Wind Calamity? That’s so unfair.”

What’s the barren wind calamity? Cha Ming asked.

“It sweeps away the qi of heaven and earth in the area and locks it down,” Huxian said. “It doesn’t hurt us directly, but for the rest of the tribulation, we won’t be able to recuperate energy.”

Cha Ming’s own inner world was spared the barren wind’s energy sweeping effect, but his energies froze up and couldn’t be mobilized as easily. Fortunately, this didn’t affect his ability to modify the demiplane he was absorbing. As long as he finished the process, he would be able to finish his breakthrough.

It’s not just the ambient energy we can’t absorb, Cha Ming realized. All spirit stones, pills, and talismans have been locked down by local laws. In fact, the only regeneration ability still active on me is World Phoenix Rising, since it doesn’t replenish my energy but my foundation.

This overbearing calamity was just the beginning. When the winds stopped blowing, the tribulation rumbled again and gathered Heaven and Earth energy for a second calamity.

“This is bull,” Huxian complained. “This calamity almost never hits. The odds are less than one in twenty.”

“Less complaining and more healing,” Ninesky said.

“How am I supposed to keep healing with this stupid desolate wind?” Huxian said.

Maybe you could both stop fighting for a minute and cooperate, Cha Ming sent the two of them.

“You’d better not make me regret this whole tail-cutting business, Cha Ming,” Huxian said. “They’ll take me two or three years to grow back, you know. And without them, I can’t use my fusion transformation.”

What can we expect for these calamites? asked Cha Ming.

“The first one – or the second one in this case – never changes,” Huxian said. “It’s called the All-Creation Calamity. Heaven and Earth will directly materialize all sorts of creatures to attack us. Thankfully, they’re not very intelligent.”

They decided to hole themselves up in what was left of the Flamewing Demiplane. Not only could they use it as a shield, but the calamity would also do some of Cha Ming’s work for him.

“Do you mind if I reshape the landscape a bit?” Huxian asked.

Shape away, my friend, Cha Ming said.

Huxian summoned his knife and trowel and started shaping defensive structures out of the flame-based material. “Stupid calamity,” Huxian muttered. “It’s practically targeting me. I’m a spatial architect, and I can’t even use my Sumeru Terrarium or Mobius Labyrinth.”+

Does this mean we can’t use ink? Cha Ming asked.

“We can’t use ink,” Ninesky confirmed. “We can’t use pre-made paintings or concoctions or other things not deemed part of our personal strength.”

What about Luther, Coral, and Disaster? Cha Ming asked. Can we use them if they wake up?

“We can, since they’re bound to your blood and soul,” Ninesky said. “Of course, you’re assuming those sleepyheads are going to wake up.”

When Cha Ming had drifted off to sleep, the bloodstorm trio had naturally accompanied him. They’d woken up for a short while but had gotten attracted to his Clearmist energy. All three of them were currently hibernating in his Clearmist pool, doing their best to evolve to the next level.

Cha Ming tried to prod them awake, but they refused to stir. He could tell based on their activity levels how far each was from successfully evolving. Luther was closest to waking, which made sense, as he was originally stronger. In fact…

Luther, if you don’t wake up, I’m going to make things very difficult for you, Cha Ming sent to the cat. Seeing that the cat did not wake, he added. I’ll take away your wine, Luther. If you don’t believe me, keep on trying your luck.

Luther’s eyes shot open. “You wouldn’t dare,” he said.

Ahah! You’re awake! said Cha Ming.

Luther yawned deeply. “… five more minutes, Master.”

No. Get out now, Cha Ming said.

“So you don’t want me to finish unlocking mid-stage combat prowess? Luther asked him. “Very well, who needs extra power?” He started walking over to the exit.

Wait, Cha Ming said, seeing that Luther’s aura was indeed on the cusp of a breakthrough. How long do you need?

“Ten minutes,” said cat.

Fine, Cha Ming said. You can have ten minutes. Ninesky, what else can we do? What else can you do? He still couldn’t lift a finger.

“I can paint using your Clearmist energy,” Ninesky said. “I can also draw on Luther, Coral, and Disaster’s essence, though it would be best if they finished evolving before that. Oh, and Huxian’s spatial qi. I’ve got a few tricks I can use since I took his tails.”

What about the Heartforge Spirit Flames? Cha Ming asked her.

“I can use those as well,” Ninesky said. “In fact, that might be the most economical solution. I suspect that they can be used to drive away the will freezing up our energies.”

Cha Ming tried mobilizing his law projection, but to no avail. His body was equally as unresponsive. I’ll do my best to pick up speed, he said to Huxian and Ninesky. It seems that Ninesky’s upgrade is helping. The Flamewing Demiplane is almost completely absorbed.

“Just do your thing,” Huxian said. “We’ll be fine. Probably.”

The All-Creation Calamity had started several minutes ago, but thanks to the Flamewing Demiplane’s defenses, they only now started facing its summoned creatures. Thousands of illusory cultivators bombarded the demiplane with divine, law, and spirit attacks. There were demons and humans, Daoists and Demigods, Buddhists and Evil Spirits.

This wasn’t a weak army either. Every single one of them was an initial law stitching cultivator, or the divine, demonic, or spiritual equivalent.

This is supposed to be a calamity?! Cha Ming exclaimed. It feels more like an execution.

“Now you know why my ancestor founded the Eight Generals,” Huxian said. “His bond with Fuxi helped as well. Even then, he barely survived immortal ascension.”

Should you really have to face this tribulation? Cha Ming asked. You’re not a Godbeast anymore.

“Even so, I’m still a many-tailed fox,” Huxian said. “And the universe hates us for some reason.”

I’m sorry, Ninesky sent to Cha Ming. I didn’t know it would turn out like this. Tiger, Rooster, and Rabbit didn’t like foxes, so I made things especially hard for them.

Cha Ming let out a mental sigh. Huxian, how did all your fellow eight-tailed foxes make it through this?

“Um… they usually don’t make it past the swamp and mountain tribulations,” Huxian said. “But hey, we got this far! That’s got to count for something!”

Huxian’s defensive arrangements began to fall. His carefully erected traps and walls broke down, so the fox could only enter the fray personally. He couldn’t use his fusion transformation without his tails, but he was still quite strong.

Eight sharp knives twirled around him as he launched himself at a group of wolf demons that managed to break through. Space tore apart wherever he moved, slicing armor, fur, and bone alike.

Unfortunately, whatever he killed became energy, and that energy lingered and reformed into another enemy, much like fiends did when their blood was left unattended.

Ninesky also couldn’t do much in that regard. She had summoned an army of Clearmist kittens, and it was efficiently destroying summoned creatures wherever it passed. But whenever she put a foe down, another rose to take its place. This calamity, it seemed, was endless.

Um, Ninesky? Cha Ming said. Why cats?

Kittens, Ninesky corrected. As the for why, I painted an army of battle kittens because you love kittens and you won’t admit it.

I don’t love kittens, Cha Ming protested.

Says the man with two kittens and a cat, said Ninesky.

They just showed up, and I had to keep feeding them!Cha Ming said.

That’s what they always say, said Ninesky.

Cha Ming did admittedly have a soft spot for cats, but these kittens were something else. They were vicious killing machines, and there were hundreds of them. Each of them was as powerful as an initial law-stitching expert and could charm fiends into submission.

The battle raged on, and Huxian and Ninesky did their best to conserve energy. They used the complex terrain to mount ambushes on the calamity projections, and even used pieces of ruined planar material to smash them to pieces.

Although they couldn’t deplete the huge mass of Heaven and Earth energy, Cha Ming could sense that their fight was having and impact on the strength of the tribulation’s will.

Unfortunately, Cha Ming was the weakness in their defensive strategy. He was completely immobile, and Ninesky was occasionally forced to sacrifice paintings to protect him.

I think… I think you guys can let some of them attack me,Cha Ming said to them. I can’t move, but my body is pretty powerful.

“Are you sure?” Huxian asked.

I’m sure, Cha Ming said. How about you try hurting me and see what happens?

Ninesky sent a kitten to try out this hypothesis. Its claws scratched Cha Ming’s back without holding back. A few sparks flew, but he was otherwise undamaged.

“Change of plans,” Huxian said. “Full guerilla tactics. Use Cha Ming as bait.”

“Copy that,” Ninesky said.

Huxian blended into the void and became near invisible. He flitted between cracks in space to dodge. Defending territory no longer made much sense.

Ninesky’s kittens were conspicuous, as she’d painted them in several colors. Since these colors were now detrimental, she painted them over until they were clear attack kittens that blended in with their surroundings, attacking any who drew near Cha Ming.

Cha Ming was now the only visible target of the calamity, so the creatures swarmed him from all directions. They attacked him with teeth, claws, axes and sword, with the five elements, with wind, and wind lightning.

Unfortunately for them, Cha Ming was already halfway through his breakthrough, and they could not breach his defenses. Most of the attacks bounced off his embryonic divine shell, as well as a transparent suit of armor that was in the process of forming.

My Inkwell War Plate is only half complete, but it’s already so effective, Cha Ming thought. Too bad I won’t be able to complete it without pillaging water from the Central Inkwell Sea. As it was, he had an incomplete divine ability that not only increased his defences by ten percent but allowed him to become nigh invulnerable for a single second, once per day.

Of course, the greatest contributor was still his incomplete divine shell. Normally, a divine shell at initial shell marking wouldn’t be so overpowered, but his inner world was far from normal.

Not only is my inner world ridiculously huge, but a piece of it is also a demiplane with its own energy core, Cha Ming thought. Moreover, my divine shell will only get stronger as it harmonizes with my Clearmist Energy.

Once he completed his breakthrough, it would become impossible even for the most powerful initial-law-stitching cultivators to harm him, except for Dao Lords and Dao Gods.

For a time, Cha Ming’s defences were adequate; but then powerful enemies began to appear, forcing Huxian and Ninesky to pick off these targets, wasting precious energy.

The calamity clearly wasn’t completely mindless. These creatures had grown from the horde of weaker creatures from the essence of the defeated.

Eventually, their attacks reached the point where they could cause serious damage to Cha Ming Huxian and Ninesky were forced out of hiding to confront them.

We can’t continue like this, Cha Ming said to them. I’ve already exhausted twenty percent of my energy reserves. Huxian, you’re not looking good either. He sent his awareness back into his Clearmist Pool. Luther, you’d better be finished. We need you out here. Now.

“But master,” Luther said. “That’s a heavenly tribulation.”

“Which means you’ll die if we don’t pass it,” Cha Ming said.

“Very well,” said Luther, his voice dripping with malcontent. He hopped out of the Clear Sky World and began spewing out bolts of puppet lightning, enslaving dozens of heavenly tribulation projections. The pressure on Ninesky and Huxian instantly alleviated.

Luther was originally a Rank 13 lightning soul, but he’d just broken through; his energy reserves were relatively low. As things were, Cha Ming could only supplement him with his own Clearmist reserves – a resource he currently couldn’t replenish.

Luther’s appearance also provoked a change in the All-Creation Calamity. Since smaller summoned creatures weren’t doing the trick, it collapsed them to create more powerful ones. Thousands of initial-law-stitching creatures became a little over a hundred early law stitching creatures.

“I don’t think we can block this,” Huxian said. “How many can you control, Luther?”

“Maybe ten,” Luther said. “Twelve if I’m lucky.”

“I’m only good for that many as well,” Huxian said. “That leaves what, eighty-some more?”

“It looks like it’s time for magical me to save the day,” Ninesky said. “Watch and learn, my furry friends.” A stream of Clearmist poured into the Clear Sky Brush and merged with a stream of Huxian’s spatial qi. The brush painted in eight directions, producing a flat bagua symbol with Cha Ming at the center.

Space reoriented itself. Their three-dimensional environment became a two-dimensional one. Everything was flattened onto a single horizontal plane. The eight directions shifted. Fire and water, mountain and swamp, and wind and lightning collapsed, leaving only Heaven and Earth active.

Ninesky painted a setting, a rule that had to be obeyed: Out of the eight directions, only these two could be attacked and defended.

“That’s…” said Cha Ming.

“A real battlefield painting,” Ninesky said, and Cha Ming couldn’t help but agree. Being able to funnel their enemies into two directions was a great improvement over their previous three-dimensional battlefield arrangement.

Luther and his puppets covered Earth, while Ninesky and Huxian covered Heaven. Ninesky’s kitten army was no longer effective, so she pulled a leaf out of the tribulation’s book, enhancing a few kittens as the rest of them fell.

Cha Ming, relieved that the situation was manageable again, turned his sights back to the Flamewing Demiplane. His abilities were still locked down, and only by freeing some of them up would he be able to contribute to the battle.

Cha Ming was not yet able to mobilize the Bound Energy Canvas in the outside world, but the same did not apply to the Clear Sky World.

The Bound Energy Canvas specialized in plundering energy, so Cha Ming was able to convert much of the core’s energy into primal chaos energy. The first calamity’s rule was still in place, but he was able to funnel this energy to the many mortal planes in his inner world and nourish them.

The real bottleneck is the plane’s core, Cha Ming thought. My Bound Energy Canvas can convert energy, but it can’t produce Dao Origin fragments. The detonation and degradation of the plane’s core was a problem he needed to fix. Otherwise, the demiplane would remain unstable inside his inner world, which would eventually lead to largescale collapse.

Luther was already showing signs of exhaustion. The number of puppets he could control had shrunk down to ten. Huxian still had twenty-five enemies remaining, but they were stronger than before. His energy reserves were dangerously low.

I can only try something risky to turn the situation around, Cha Ming thought. There are law runes missing in the Flamewing Demiplane that I can’t fix. But I might have a way around that.

Cha Ming mobilized his first law, Bound Energy Canvas, and brought it beside one of the eight world sources governing his inner world, his fire-aligned source. This core controlled all fire in his inner world. In other words, energy.

For this plan to work, I need the Flamewing Demiplane to become a part of my inner world, Cha Ming thought. In that case, let’s make it a source world!

He forced the fire-based world source and his Bound Energy Canvas law together. And thanks to the adaptability of Clearmist, the process was extremely easy.

The fusion of law projection and world source affected his inner world on a fundamental level. Energy went from being simple to complex.

This had many advantages, but the sudden change caused his inner worlds to collapse and combine. Mortals died by the millions, and Cha Ming felt every death. Yet he could only harden his heart and stomach the death of individuals. If he couldn’t stay alive, none of these countless mortals had a future.

He moved on to the next step of his plan. What he now called a law source appeared beside the Flamewing Demiplane. He pressed the law source against the world core and had these two merges as well. The demiplane froze as its core programming started being overwritten. Fire-based rules and regulations were replaced with Clearmist rules and regulations.

The moment the fusion occurred; Cha Ming sensed one of his abilities trigger. This was none other than World Phoenix Rising, which had been furiously trying to free him from his paralysis. Previously, World Phoenix Rising had been of little help, but now that this damaged demiplane was officially a part of his foundation, it could finally start working its magic.

Unfortunately, the process was extremely slow. It would take time for the shattered remnant of a world to heal. But in a short time, the world stopped decaying and even started rebuilding, a vast improvement over its prior state.

The fusion had just begun, and already, Cha Ming could feel the effects. The mortal planes beneath the Flamewing Demiplane accelerated their reorganization, and the merging of mortal planes became smoother and resulted in less casualties.

A secondary effect was that Cha Ming’s Bound Energy Canvas expanded to the remnants of the Flamewing Demiplane. He had not yet absorbed these remnants, but they were now connected to him on a fundamental level. This was because these fragments were bound by rules, which were government by the Flamewing Demiplane’s Dao Origins.

Cha Ming could not yet use his body to spread his law projection, but with the help of these framgents, he was able to gain control over the local laws of Heaven and Earth. Within the confines of the Bound Energy Canvas, energy accumulation he disapproved of would disperse. Energy would gather where he commanded.

In theory, this law was absolute, but in practice, Cha Ming had to wrestle for control of the heavenly laws with the tribulation’s will, Huxian, Luther, and Ninesky. This meant that instead of prohibiting the reaccumulation All-Creation Calamity projections, he plundered a portion of their energy and fed it directly to Huxian, Luther, Ninesky and himself.

The trio struck like lightning, destroying as many as they could before the tribulation’s will could react, replenishing a good portion of their energy stores. The tribulation’s will could only retreat and adapt.

A tribulation of this level wasn’t just instinctual. It was intelligent and would try to find the best way to destroy its targets. Since its All-Creation Calamity was no longer effective, it detonated the remaining early law stitching projections, forcing Huxian, Ninesky, and Luther to retreat into the Clear Sky World, and Cha Ming to activate his Inkwell War Plate’s once a day ability.

Cha Ming’s divine shell absorbed most of the impact, but his connection to the Flamewing Demiplane proved to be a double-edged sword. The explosion destroyed many of the demiplane’s fragments, taking a large chunk out of his Clearmist pool. By the time the explosion was over, only a tenth remained.

The dust settled, revealing ruined planar fragments floating in the void of space. Cha Ming’s body was still present, but no longer anchored.

But not all was lost. The explosion was damaging, but it had jolted him in other ways. He hadn’t yet regained control of his physical body, but his law projection had reached completion. He could now completely control his Bound Energy Canvas both inside and outside the Clear Sky World.

Cha Ming mobilized the law projection and immediately began to recover the pieces of demiplane - or those that hadn’t been blasted away by the explosion. His harvesting of the Flamewing Demiplane continued; the process was easier, but his task was more difficult. Assimilating destroyed bits of planar matter was now less taxing, but the fragments were now spread out over a larger area, and much of the demiplane was now missing and unavailable for consumption.

Huxian and Ninesky hopped out of the Clear Sky World and looked around with wide eyes. “This isn’t a tribulation,” Huxian said. “This is an assassination!”

“That’s pretty much what tribulations are, last time I checked” Ninesky said.

Cha Ming was also forced to reassess the tribulation’s will. It was much more intelligent than he’d given it credit for. The Barren Wind Calamity, for example, had been chosen to counter Huxian and his low-cost, endurance-based fighting still that relied on a great deal of tools. The self-destruction of the All-Creation Calamity wasn’t normal and had only been enacted once it observed Cha Ming’s connection to the Flamewing Demiplane’s remnants.

And now, it was charging up for a third attempt. Cha Ming doubted they would be so lucky to find a loophole again.