Power.
A concept so profound, so varied, that its meaning changes based on who you asked. The power of choice; the power of many; the power of love; the power of wealth—it can go on without end.
But, the greatest undeniable power to beings who cultivate was strength. The strength to destroy, to suppress, to traverse the world freely, to claim lives, to decide your own terms in life, to pursue freedom, to grasp love, to provide, to protect loved ones, to do EVERYTHING. In the eyes of cultivators who seek the next stage of cultivation, their personal desires might be varied, profound, or vile, but the concept of power was this.
So, why did cultivators seek power? Seek out strength?
Han Yuhei was frighteningly pale, suffering injuries internally and mentally. A cold, uncomfortable truth had splashed his mind, lowering his body temperature, inflicting uncompromising damage to his psyche, yet he was always firm in his goals and next step, never retreating from it for a single moment.
To obtain greater strength!
As an Earthly Saint in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, few would be able to understand how such a powerful being who could sweep the lives of quadrillions with little effort still sought after more.
Almost nine thousand years ago, Han Yuhei was a mere lad barely off his mother's milk, favored by his cousin who dominated the lands of the Myriad Yore Continent. A bright-eyed, energized youth ready to tackle the world, even if it was as small as a flat continental earth.
One day, as that young, strapping youth, he saw a battle far beyond his previous imagination. A single battle started it all.
A trio of beings protected the world with their all against the ravenous, carnivorous, and vicious scaled beasts known as Dragons. That day Han Yuhei was exposed to power far beyond Mortal Limits, and felt as if his small world would collapse.
He realized how tiny he was on that day. How insignificant his strength was. But most importantly, his life changed as he felt a power that far exceeded his imagination. A desire manifested as a seed, germinating in his mind, rooting in his heart, and growing continuously. It drove him to seek greater and greater heights. To grasp what he believed was true power.
He had thought that after reaching this height of an Earthly Saint, he would never feel like that again—a sense of difference so massive that his imagination had never considered it before. Especially as an Earthly Saint, an existence regarded by quadrillions as one of the 'strongest' in the stellar region.
Yet, fate would decline him this mercy. It would open his mouth, grab his heart, and stuffed it in with an unforgiving disregard. He once again felt tiny, as insignificant as when he was a young mortal watching gods fight against gods, as if he was rediscovering what it meant to have power—true power.
…as the world went still.
The War Commander no longer held back his Mystic Aura, fully unleashing it. Zhan Zheng was not an ordinary Earthly Saint nor an ordinary Ascended being. He had a body meticulously crafted by beings far, far beyond the Mystic Ascendant Realm, beings that understood the Soul.
He was the expression of the ultimate artificial Ascended, one with profound knowledge of War, instincts, and raw intelligence that greatly exceeded many living beings. Wei Wuyin had yet to truly grasp the concept of value that 1,000,000 War Souls possesses. To him, it felt exceptional, but also insignificant. A strange contradiction due to its limitations, not even having knowledge of the Realm of Sages.
The various things he acquired from the Battlefield and Nexus Battlefield had yet to manifest in any tangible way. At best, it granted him an Earthly Saint. It was a consequence of time, of a division of focus, and largely due to his own ignorance. While Wei Wuyin's mindset vastly exceeded even those beings who forged the War Commander, exposed to the Hell, Heavenly Daos, and mysterious existences like Fuxi, it didn't mean he understood the weight it carried.
At least, not fully.
Even if the frog in the well knew of the Solar Stars beyond the sky, it didn't diminish the grand ingenuity or exquisite elegance of the well itself or the vastness of the sky.
The War Commander was the result of the beings who lived beneath the sky. As such, when his Mystic Aura pulsed outwards, a degree of Mysticism that had yet to be fully understood by those of this stellar region exploded outwards that stilled the world.
The Soul Saint King's eyes contracted to its limits!
Zhan Zheng exuded his Mystic Power, fueled by his Spirit of Cultivation—A Mystic War Soul! A byproduct of merging a War Soul with a Spirit of Cultivation! Yet, it didn't stop there.
The dragonhead War Commander's physique emitted pounding roars of war, shouted of battle, instilling a sense of bloody slaughter, valiant deaths, and absolute cruelty of the battlefield into their Mind's Eye, threatening to breach and influence their souls in its madness!
At the moment, while releasing no fantastical lights or roaring forces, the War Commander seemed to transform into a War God!
WORLD WAR PHYSIQUE!
With a single breath, he caused the eyes of the Soul Saint King to gradually grow increasingly bloodshot. An unsteady and vicious intent leaked out of his body, threatening to descend into the madness of war!
Suddenly, Chaos Mana of the Dark Void itself began to become wild! It crashed against the celestial bodies' atmospheric protections, smashing against the protective formations again and again as if possessing a mind of its own. From this Chaos Mana, faint silhouettes formed that held weapons of war that violently fought against each other and everything else!
Millions, no, billions of billions of varied beings from ghastly beasts to armored warriors manifested. They fought against each other, no allies, only enemies.
Light distorted. Various colorful lights flared out as if the entire light spectrum seemed to plunge into a reckless battle against each other. Extreme chill of the Dark Void and extreme heat of the nine Solar Stars began to clash, condense and formed intense areas of their divisions!
Space twisted! The gravitational forces of the celestial bodies seemed to be at odds with the gravity emitting from the vast Dark Void. In the depths of the sealed region, a supermassive Black Hole seemed to rile in ferocity. Almost everyone, even the Earthly Saints, hadn't noticed that the celestial bodies were being pulled just a little bit closer to the center and the celestial bodies, such as planets and Solar Stars, were abnormally active and fighting against it!
Fight!
Fight!!
FIGHT!!!
A war of the entire world began!
The changes were freely observed by all living beings in the Ninestar Starfield as they remained unaffected. They looked to their neighbors, feeling the abnormality occurring, a wisp of fear in their hearts. They were unaware that they were spared from this influence of Laws.
"Huuuu…haaaa!" The Soul Saint King forcefully closed his eyes, regulating his breathing as he soothed his turbulent Mind's Eye with his Primary Soul Light Energies. Unlike others, he had grasped the profundity of Soul Light after coming across a fragmented Nascent Soul mutated by a strange environment. After recklessly refining it during his Astral Core Realm days, it allowed him to comprehend Primary Soul Light and thus greatly helped him to reach his current level off its boundless benefits.
The War Commander silently observed the Soul Saint King. 'The mortal was right; this Ascended human has grasped Primary Soul Light.' His reaction was lukewarm, no praise or surprise. However, he never underestimated his enemies, allies, or any stranger, a mindset instilled into him by his purpose—for war. A small rock by a small man can take down a giant. This was a concept that he fully understood.
The Soul Saint King opened his eyes, a wisp of solemn awe swam within his lime-green irises. The phenomenon currently happening was fully in his senses, but he knew they were mostly harmless. While these manifestations fought in the Dark Void, formed by Chaos Mana, they held very little strength. As for the distortions of space and light, as an Ascended being, how could these things affect him?
However, he'd never seen such a terrifying physique before.
It was downright terrifying!
Zhan Zheng wasn't given the title War Commander without reason. His foundation was formed using the basis of the Warring Soul, Triumphant World Method, the Peak-Earth grade Cultivation Method that allowed one to gain a War Soul as their Spirit of Cultivation, forming the Peak-Level War World Physique using its unique star force.
Of course, the strength of the War Commander didn't stop here. But his current strength was limited by his initial cultivation base, the Fourth Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, the Earthly Saint Phase, as it meant the true beginning of one's journey as a Mystic Ascendant!
The world had gone from still to rampant, and Zhan Zheng's Mystic Aura and Physique was the cause, but his strength was now in full view of everyone! The Soul Saint King had jumped from one surprise to another!
His eyes once again contracted as he sensed the Mystic Runes swirling around this strange being!
One…
Two…
Four…
Six…
Nine…
NINE!
NINE!!!
All Nine Mystic Runes served the War Commander, swirling around him with a hectic behavior as if they were clashing against each other. At times, one or two Mystic Runes would shatter! Then, they'd reform instantly using each other's pieces, and somehow grew even more radiant. And they clashed against each other again!
This process was as if his Mystic Runes were in constant war against each other, and this process strengthened the durability and stability of each and every rune. After all, they were pounding against each other with feral-like ferocity, elevating the War Commander's Mystic Aura, but very few of them actually shattered!
Instantly, the Soul Saint King realized that this was a unique auxiliary method in effect. A method beyond his understanding. He would never dare purposefully destroy his Mystic Runes. They were expressions of his Mystic Strength and destroying one meant a portion of strength was lost, requiring copious amounts of Mystic Essence to repair!
While it took a lot to reach this point, the entire moment from Zhan Zheng's unleashing to now required only a few milliseconds of time!
The Soul Saint King brandished his long sword, the quasi Mystic-World grade armament! The nine Solar Stars seemed to respond slightly, causing three of the nine silver solar stars etched into the sword's blade to emit a gorgeous golden radiance.
Fearless!
Nine Mystic Runes?
A powerful physique?
It mattered not!
The Soul Saint King was not a coward! With his sword in hand, he charged!
His own Mystic Soul was pushed to its limits, revealing all its unique characteristics! A Spirit of Cultivation of Light! A Radiant Light Mystic Soul!
With the Radiant Modifier in effect, his innate light energies were several times stronger than average, actively refined by his other energies, so as he strengths his four fundamentals, his innate light energies would be automatically enhanced! Additionally, his Primary Light Source was naturally four times larger even without products such as Wei Wuyin's Neo-Dawn Soul-Sea Elixir or similar products! He had four times the limit of storage of his Primary Soul Light, an already transcendent-grade light source!
With his Mystic Light Soul, his core energies of his power were light! As such, these two parts of his cultivation were extremely synergistic when combined! The light energies refined by the Soul Saint King was effectively twelve times greater than those of his cultivation base!
With this, his speed was prodigious! His flow of energies? His attacks? His reactions?
EVEN FASTER!
The other Earthly Saints gawked as the Soul Saint King vanished in a splash of explosive light—a light-type Movement Art! He arrived before the War Commander, sword-in-hand, in almost an instant and slashed!
