Chapter 52: Supreme Law!
The moment Jiang Zhe broke through to the Stellar Level, he revealed his final card—cutting directly into his very soul.
Will as bone, consciousness as blade!
Gathering his mental strength, the brilliant radiance of his stellar soul dimmed, like red-hot coal cooling down.
Suddenly, a dazzling white light appeared at an angle on the "coal" and began to extend.
"AHHHH!"
Jiang Zhe let out a painful roar. The agony of soul-level damage was nearly unbearable.
Still, compared to the torture he had suffered during the Star Tower acknowledgment, this was minor. That had been torment over time—this, only for an instant.
Since Jiang Zhe dared to cultivate the Second Soul Technique, he was naturally prepared. He clenched his teeth and endured it.
"Split!"
With a low shout, the slanted white streak burst into radiant brilliance.
The miniature star that represented his soul core was sliced—one-third of it cut away!
A wave of exhaustion hit him like a crashing tide. Jiang Zhe staggered mentally, nearly losing consciousness. But he dared not let go. If he passed out now, everything would be over.
The separated fragment of soul could not be reattached. If it didn't find a vessel quickly, it would simply vanish.
Oriana pushed a metal box in front of Jiang Zhe, who was seated cross-legged. Inside it was the basketball-sized Thunderglass Primordial Core.
In a flash of light—
That soul fragment transitioned through space via the Prokaryon, instantly appearing in the inner world and rushing toward a divine crystal placed on a stone table.
Jiang Zhe instinctively held his breath, tense beyond belief.
This was a chance to transform from fish into dragon—it all depended on whether the Divine Crystal would accept him.
In a blink, his soul streaked like flowing light and entered the divine crystal without resistance.
"Hahh!"
Jiang Zhe finally exhaled in relief. Emotion surged like a dam breaking.
"Yes! It worked! Hahaha…"
But the joy only lasted a few heartbeats.
Soon, Jiang Zhe refocused on the task at hand.
The fragment of his soul was still under his control. He reached out to sense its state within the crystal.
A wave of comfort washed over him.
Like returning to a mother's embrace.
Like a drifting boat finally reaching shore.
Warmth and peace filled his soul.
The soul had found its shell—of course it felt good.
But as that initial comfort faded, a strange sense of oppression lingered.
Like having a chubby cat sitting on your chest while you sleep.
Like drowning—unable to breathe.
Something was suppressing him… or rather, he was trapped.
The second soul—formed, but not complete.
Something massive inside the divine crystal was pressing down on him—something beyond his control.
It was... the Dao of Heaven.
The laws governing an entire chaotic world.
Massive, obscure, and completely alien to the thunder-based laws he had previously comprehended. It clashed with everything he understood.
"Do I have to fully comprehend these heavenly laws? Or at least grasp the core principles of this chaotic Dao… to gain control of the divine crystal?"
Jiang Zhe shook his head repeatedly.
That would take forever!
If he could comprehend anything with "chaos" in its name, he'd already be at the late stages of cultivation.
By the time his second soul was ready to be unleashed, the world might have already changed. The human race could have conquered the Sea of the Universe, with top-tier powerhouses moving on to the Origin Continent.
"Besides, the Dao inside the divine crystal is so different from this world's rules—it can't link with the universal source. Even if I did comprehend it, the power would be weak or misaligned."
It's like trying to command local troops using a foreign military token—it simply won't work.
"I need outside help. I must localize the divine crystal. Even if there's risk of losing it completely, that's better than letting it rot uselessly in my hands."
He couldn't solve the problem himself, but Jiang Zhe knew who could.
Before becoming a True God, you can always count on the Original Universe.
Theories of "Heavenly Dao conspiracies" didn't apply to the Original Universe's Source Will or the Supreme Law.
They were like the best babysitters in the Source World—unconditionally good to the children they birthed.
Jiang Zhe wasn't one to hesitate. He decided to reach out to them.
After all, even if he eventually grasped chaos and mastered the divine crystal, once he left his inner world, the Source Will—or even the Supreme Law—would still test him.
Better to move that test forward.
"Original Bro, you've been visiting me often lately, and you seem pretty helpful. Could I trouble you for a cosmic ID card and maybe a few innate techniques?"
Losing the divine crystal… or evolving into the most promising lifeform in the Source World?
This was a high-stakes gamble.
Now that he had a plan, Jiang Zhe could no longer hold on—his weak soul urgently needed rest.
The "Dormant Dragon Technique" activated.
Jiang Zhe drifted into a deep slumber, his consciousness fading into the void, memories sealed once more. Like reincarnation, he began a new life within a dream.
This time, he got lucky.
He reincarnated as a sea dragon, not unlike the Thunder Dragon King said to reside beneath the Pacific Ocean.
The weakness of his soul seemed to push his potential to the limit.
Meanwhile, the soul fragment within the divine crystal also activated the Dormant Dragon Technique to complete itself.
But his second self—Jiang Zhe No.2—wasn't as lucky.
His dream started from being a worm.
Then a pigeon. Then a falcon. A deer. A cheetah. A human office worker. A snake cultivator…
Step by step, he evolved.
While the real Jiang Zhe was still in his first dream, No.2 had already gone through six cycles.
Only in the seventh, when he finally became a cultivator, did the dream stabilize and start extending in duration.
---
Time passed. No one knew how long.
In the dream, the Thunder Dragon encountered a powerful foe far beyond its level. Forced into submission, it refused to yield—and was killed.
The moment the dragon's head exploded in the dream, Jiang Zhe awoke with a start.
His eyes widened, turning into cold vertical slits, electricity crackling from them. His aura surged with unrestrained power.
He took several deep breaths and calmed himself.
Hide the light. Blend into the dust.
That draconic majesty disappeared instantly.
It was as if nothing had ever happened.
Jiang Zhe now seemed like a plain stone—his presence so faint, it was easy to overlook him.
This was a unique manifestation of his cultivation path:
Resonating with the universe.
Unity of self and surroundings.
No form. No ego.
The tiger was him. The dragon was him. The stone was also him.
He wasn't influenced—he became all things.
If Jiang Zhe could gain a transformation-type innate talent, he'd be a match for the shape-shifting Demon Killers—a master of disguise.
Because he could alter the essence—his soul aura.
"So this… is the life of a cosmic wanderer with no background, no cheat codes? This hard?"
He sighed inwardly, remembering his teacher Huyan Bo, and felt a newfound respect.
"Maybe teacher really does have some talent. The Chaos City Lord's praise for his 'Soul Seal' wasn't just flattery."
"Master, is everything going well?"
Oriana's voice rang in his ears, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"It's okay," Jiang Zhe replied vaguely. "Prepare a C9-class spaceship. We're leaving Earth—there's something I need to do in the cosmos."
"Understood, Master."
"Ship locked. Estimated 17 minutes to complete calibration. Ready for launch."
---
In the desolate cosmos—
Jiang Zhe gazed at the shrinking blue planet through the external view simulation. A strange emotion rose in his chest.
But his powerful will quickly regained control.
"If not for the Giant Axe, why would I leave my home?
Risk life in the dangerous universe just to awaken my second soul?"
"The weak can't even protect their own homeland!"
"Even a race… isn't a charity."
His eyes dimmed with melancholy—a foreigner's loneliness crashing down on him.
"Master, ten seconds until we reach light speed and enter the Dark Universe."
"7!"
"6!"
…
The stars blurred and vanished. Space turned to pitch-black nothingness.
"2!"
"1!"
The simulation closed. The ship entered the Dark Universe.
---
Approximately 27 hours later—
The soul fragment within the divine crystal awakened from the Dormant Dragon Technique.
"Ana, exit the Dark Universe. Locate our current coordinates on the star map. Find a nearby lifeless sector."
"Master, we've been traveling at 2.5 times light speed. We've exited the Milky Way and are now over 80,000 light-years from your home planet…"
Oriana delivered the report.
Having copied Babata's memory, she had access to the complete star map—Jiang Zhe wouldn't get lost in the universe.
Within an asteroid belt, the C9 ship burrowed into a 100-kilometer-wide asteroid.
The ship stabilized.
Jiang Zhe showed no hesitation. With a thought, he summoned a gem the size of a double fist—crystal-clear and radiant—from his internal world.
The moment the divine crystal appeared, the Original Universe's Source Will locked on, pressing down with suffocating force.
Time froze.
But in the next instant, that frozen space shattered.
A greater power arrived—the Supreme Law that governed the Sea of Universe and the entire Source World.
Even it paused for a beat upon seeing the divine crystal's structure—and sensed the soul fragment and budding life within.
Ultimately, the Supreme Law chose to grant this new life a chance.
It acted.
It erased the divine crystal's foreign essence, modifying it to align with this universe's laws.
It shattered incompatible rule imprints inside, freeing the soul fragment.
It refined the crystal—erasing all that didn't match and reshaping the rest into harmonized affinity with local rule types:
Chaos → hidden
Life → hidden
Destruction → hidden
Earth → revealed
Fire → revealed
… and more
The once-transparent divine crystal turned chaotic in color, dark golden inscriptions appearing on the surface.
Tracing its origin, the Supreme Law infused it with life, granting it innate powers.
Then, it modeled a new cultivation method after the Original Universe and embedded it within Jiang Zhe's soul fragment.
Finally—it shattered the soul, fully merging it with the divine crystal, transforming it into a genuine energy-based lifeform.
Thus, the transformation was complete. The Supreme Law withdrew.
The Original Universe's Source Will returned.
It lingered for a moment, silently observing the crystal, recording this unique lifeform, and copying the embedded cultivation method.
Before leaving, it left behind a unique innate technique.