Away from the trivialities and the suffocating noise of Heiyun City, the land transitioned into a deep, lush expanse dominated by towering, ancient trees.
This was the Spirit Mountain Range, a massive, untamed forest standing like a silent sentinel behind the city. Here, the Primal Chaos Qi resonated with the very breath of Heaven and Earth.
The biting cold air of the peaks swept down through the valleys, blowing all the way into the streets of Heiyun, carrying the scent of frost and ancient wood.
Shen Xuan moved through the dense forest at the base of the mountains. He simply walked, his pace steady, yet his bare feet never truly touched the soil. He left no footprints upon the thin blanket of snow or the fallen branches.
To the giant, colossal trees, whose black and iron-grey bark cracked like the scales of an old dragon, he was nothing more than a passing breeze.
After a few hours of ascent, he reached the summit of a smaller mountain where the snow was thin and the view was vast.
To his left, the great snow-capped peaks loomed. A waterfall cascaded down from those higher giants, the water so cold it steamed as it fell. It crashed into a natural stone basin on the peak, forming a crystal lake that reflected the deep blue sky.
The water in that lake did not stagnate. It swirled in a perfect, silent vortex before spilling over the cliff's edge, merging with the river below.
"Flowing without retention. Existing without attachment," Shen Xuan murmured, his breath forming misty clouds in the frigid air. "This is what I was searching for."
In the records of this era, this zone was considered a Natural Deadzone. Even those at the Chaos Divine Transformation Realm did not dare to venture deep into this forest.
According to the knowledge he had gathered over the past few days, a terrifying existence was said to dwell within these woods. Furthermore, the Chaos Qi here was too pure, too wild, and too cold for modern cultivators to absorb without freezing their meridians.
But for Shen Xuan, this was nothing. Although his current body was not yet capable of surviving in the true Cosmic Void, immune to the raw Chaos Qi that permeated the vast universe, this low-level terrestrial Chaos Qi was easy to tame.
He walked to the center of the stone platform and retrieved a portable dwelling he had purchased. It was simple, a single-room hut, but it was all he needed. This would be his sanctuary while he destroyed his flawed cultivation and reclaimed his true foundation.
After placing the hut, Shen Xuan took out the fifth-grade formation disk, the array flags, and several Heavenly Chaos Crystals from his storage ring.
He gently tossed the formation disk into the air. It hovered, resisting gravity, emitting a low, vibrating resonance that caused the snow on the ground to tremble. Shen Xuan's fingers moved with blinding speed, weaving seals that were complex, obscure, and long forgotten.
He was not merely feeding the formation with crystals.
Instead, he was using the crystals to ignite a resonance with the natural world, allowing the array to draw power directly from the environment, becoming an energy-free, self-sustaining loop.
"Earth as the anchor, water as the vein, snow as the shroud, and…"
His eyes flashed with a cold, golden light as he completed the final seal.
"…Heaven as the lid."
Boom!
A silent shockwave rippled out.
The portable hut, the lake, and the mountain peak vanished from sight, replaced by a seamless illusion of empty, jagged rock. The formation was set.
After completing the formation, Shen Xuan walked over to the basin where the waterfall was falling, crouched down, and touched the water, feeling its slight coldness.
"The water is too cold. I need to prepare hot water as well."
Murmuring to himself, a ray of light flashed from his index finger and landed on the ground right beside the lake formed by the huge waterfall.
"Law of Order and Chaos: Reform."
A low-pitched sound came from his mouth as the entire mountaintop shook.
Then, within just a few breaths, a pond was created. Water flowed from the waterfall basin, filled the pond, and then left, merging again with the lake to form the river.
Shen Xuan then quickly created a small formation to warm the water in the pond.
Thus, both cold and warm water were available to him.
"Huh… finally done. Everything is as it needs to be." Shen Xuan looked at the small living house he had created and said.
"Wait… something is missing here…!"
He looked at the green grass covered with a little snow and then thought of something.
"Am I going to let my feet touch this world?"
As he murmured, he looked into the sky of the Loushi World. A smile appeared on his face, and then his bare feet touched the ground for the first time ever after being sealed.
The moment his feet touched the cold ground, the snow on his left side started to melt. The grass to the left of his feet began to grow as if it had been given vitality for hundreds of years in a single breath. Everything seemed to be filled with life, and even order itself responded.
On the right side, the snow did not melt but instead froze, crystallizing into obsidian-like shards, while the grass withered into fine grey ash.
Creation and destruction danced and locked into a perfect equilibrium.
Shen Xuan stared down at the patch of earth beneath his feet.
A small smile formed on his cold face.
He once stood at the apex of these rules, and even in this weak, fragile world, they still responded to him, even knowing that his essence was toxic to this plane.
To touch the world and change it with a single step, to exist was to demand the universe's submission, something he never wanted.
Looking at that patch of land, he murmured,
"The ten supreme laws:
Life and Death, Karma and Fate, Space and Time, Creation and Destruction, and finally, Order and Chaos."
"With these ten supreme laws of the entire Chaos, even those in the Chaos Dao Origin Realm must comprehend them until they reach the peak."
But what about him? He was born with these laws. However, in the history of Chaos, there had never been a single person born beyond the Supreme Realm. It was simply impossible.
For those who reached the Divine Transformation Realm, they had already come into contact with the power of laws. By the Holy Realm or Saint Realm, one must master the laws they cultivate.
To step into the Emperor Realm, one needed to create laws of their own, or rely on the laws of Chaos to cultivate until the Supreme Realm. But after the Supreme Realm, when attempting to break through to the Chaos Dao Realm, the laws of Chaos were no longer needed.
What was required was an understanding of everything cultivated up to the Supreme Realm. Then, with the help of the Chaos Heavenly Dao, one had to create their own laws to advance beyond the Chaos Dao Realm.
As for the Chaos Mortal Fragment Realm, the Chaos body needed to undergo three processes.
The first was body transformation, where the essence of Heaven and Earth transformed the physique and strengthened the muscles.
The second was blood transformation. With the help of body transformation, the blood itself needed to be transformed so that it could properly circulate through the strengthened body.
The third was soul transformation. If the body was too strong while the soul was weak, it would become a heavy burden. Thus, in the final stage of mortal transformation, the soul also entered a new realm.
When all three were perfected, one could choose to break through to the Chaos Seed Realm.
There was, however, an interesting aspect of the Mortal Fragment Realm. One could cultivate the body, blood, and soul simultaneously or one by one.
But to cultivate them simultaneously required exceptional talent and immense resources, along with powerful techniques.
From what Shen Xuan had observed during his days in the city, most people cultivated these aspects one by one, not simultaneously. Even members of the top clans in Heiyun City were no exception.
Thus, he was certain that this method did not exist in this lower world.
.However, he was going to destroy his cultivation, but not the Chaos Mortal Fragment Realm, because he did not need to. His soul was currently at the highest level. His body, though weak, would transform back the moment he reached the Chaos Seed Realm. As for his blood vessels, he did not need to modify them either. Thus, he had no problem with the Chaos Mortal Fragment Realm.
But the real problem for him was not the Mortal Fragment or Divine Transformation realms, but the Chaos Seed Realm, which would be fatal even for him.
If it was not handled well, it could destroy him.
However, for that problem, he had already obtained a solution. It could increase his chances by almost 30–40%.
As for that thing…