"A divinity?" Daoyi said. "Is that even possible?"
"Why not?" Tianyi asked. "Since your avatar isn't going to leave the Nine Heavens Universe, why not attempt it?"
"How much do you know about divinities?" Tianyi asked.
"Not much except that it's the realm after the Immortal Realm," Daoyi said.
"You should know that the Cloud Goddess is a divinity, right?"
Daoyi nodded.
"She's what is known as a false divinity," Tianyi said. "There are two methods to become a divinity, the orthodox and unorthodox. Cultivating and ascending to the Divinity Realm is the orthodox method."
"When one reaches the Divinity Realm, they are able to harness the faith energy of mortals or immortals who believe in them. Alternatively, if someone absorbed enough faith energy before they reached the Divinity Realm, they could also become a god. But they are a false god like the Cloud Goddess became. If the Cloud Goddess had reached the Divinity Realm through the orthodox method, she wouldn't just be the uncontested hegemon of the Huang Realm but the whole Three Thousand Immortal Realms System."
"Enlightening," Daoyi said. "But what does that have to do with creating a divine avatar? I don't have the necessary mastery of the law. If I did, do you think I would create an avatar to increase my comprehension?"
"I was getting to there. Speaking of which, what branch of law are you comprehending?" Tianyi asked. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me, but I need to know if you have any insights into the Law of Death."
Daoyi nodded. "I have mastered some concepts of death."
"Good," Tianyi said. "What about the Spectral Rising Jewel? Would it cause any loss if you can no longer use it?"
"Aside from using it to comprehend the Law of Death, I never brought it out of the sect since attaining it. Why?"
"So it won't affect your combat prowess at all. Good," Tianyi said with a smile. "I said there were two methods to reach the Divinity Realm, but there is actually a third."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but it's practically impossible," Tianyi said. "That method is to be born as a Divinity."
"Is that possible?"
Tianyi nodded. "It's not a big secret, but the Three Pure Ones were born at the Divinity Realm. Not just them, but I suspect a lot of divinities were born in the primordial universe but most likely perished in one way or another. The three thousand Chaosgods Pangu slew to create the Primordial World were likely divinities born out of chaos."
"What does this have to do with creating a divine avatar?" Daoyi asked.
Tianyi revealed a toothy grin. "I'm the master of the Nine Heavens Universe, so shouldn't creating a god be simple? Well, not really. My mastery of the worldly law isn't enough, so I have to use some loopholes."
Daoyi glanced at the Spectral Rising Jewel in her hand that Tianyi stared at. "You want to use this?"
"Indeed," Tianyi said with a nod. "Since it had been shattered, the Spectral Rising Jewel no longer had an artifact spirit, if it even had one in the first place. Using your split soul and the divine artifact at the core, I will create a new god in the Nine Heavens Universe. After all, the Law of Death inside the artifact should be enough for one to become a god. That's why it's a divine artifact."
After an artifact reached the Immortal Realm, its masters would carve their comprehension of the worldly laws into the artifact, greatly increasing its power. Of course, only those at the Seamless Immortal Realm could accomplish this feat. If immortals could do it, so could divinities.
"Why are you suddenly giving off mad scientist vibes?" Daoyi asked.
"Well, maybe because I don't know if it would work. I mean, it should work... in theory," Tianyi said.
Daoyi sighed. "Well, it doesn't seem like there are any downsides for me, aside from the possible destruction of my split soul, but I have the feeling that you aren't telling me everything. So, what are you hiding?"
"...haha," Tianyi nervously laughed. "It's not really something harmful. You should know that my Nine Heavens Universe is incomplete. The more laws I master, the more perfect it would become. So far, I have only mastered the Law of Spacetime, the Law of Mass, the Law of Lightning, and a few more. But it's far from enough."
Daoyi felt her lips twitch. 'If it were others, they'd be so happy that they would be jumping in joy for mastering so many, but Tianyi here is disdaining how little he knows. Forget it, he's always been like this.'
"If you create a divine avatar here, then the Spectral Rising Jewel would be incorporated into the Nine Heavens Universe, creating the Law of Death into it and allowing me to gain insight into it. I'd practically have no bottleneck when comprehending it," Tianyi explained.
"That's it?" Daoyi asked. "No method of controlling my divine avatar or anything like that?"
"I can't even control the mortals from the Demon Cage Realm. What makes you think I can control a divinity?" Tianyi asked.
"Then, you are allowing the creation of a powerful force inside your universe that could potentially threaten you. Do you have no wariness?" Daoyi asked.
"I know, but it's you. If I can't trust you, there are not many I could trust," Tianyi said with a shrug.
Seeing his lackadaisical attitude, Daoyi couldn't help but give a helpless laugh. "You really should be warier to others, even those closest to you. The Nine Heavens Universe is practically an untapped resource that many would kill for."
"In the future, you should be more careful," Daoyi advised.
"Don't worry. Besides, even if you do create a divine avatar, it doesn't mean that you will have full mastery of the Law of Death. Like me, you probably won't have any hindrance in mastering the Law of Death, but it remains to be seen if you can overcome me, the universe creator," Tianyi said.
"Careful, I might just become the universe destroyer if you get careless," Daoyi joked.
Tianyi laughed. "Well, you're certainly beautiful to be one."
Stillness followed as if someone had pressed the pause button as Tianyi realized what he had just said. "I mean! Well... I ...ummm, let's just focus on creating the avatar method, okay?"
Daoyi watched as Tianyi suddenly disappeared before she could even process what had happened. Afterward, she covered the lower half of her face with her sleeve and laughed. She was sure Tianyi could hear it too.
A few years passed inside the Nine Heavens Universe for Tianyi and Daoyi. As the master of the universe, time slowing down or speeding up had no effect on the speed of his cultivation since it was linked to the universe, but Daoyi was different. However, as she was mortal, the strain was minimal for Tianyi.
The majority of the time was spent deducting the divine avatar creation method. However, another portion was preparing the necessary amount of essence. Even with Tianyi's massive generation of energy, it still took some time.
On the day everything was ready, Tianyi moved Daoyi towards Ninth Heaven, where the essence was most concentrated.
The surface of Ninth Heaven was constantly changing, like molten gold, befitting the surface of a star. It was so bright that Daoyi had to use her spiritual sense to see, but her spiritual sense would burn up not long after due to the intensity of the heat.
Not just her spiritual sense but the sheer inhospitable environment of Ninth Heaven would have incinerated Daoyi as well had it not been for Tianyi's protection.
After adjusting the area around Daoyi so that she wouldn't be harmed, Tianyi asked. "Are you ready?"
Daoyi nodded.
"Then let's begin."
The Spectral Rising Jewel drifted from Daoyi's hand onto an alter Tianyi had specially created for the avatar creation. Next, Daoyi sent her split soul towards the altar as well. The silver soul merged with the divine artifact and covered it in silver light.
Daoyi sensed that her sense of time had begun to drift from her split soul on the altar. She knew that Tianyi had sped up time to quicken the merging process. After all, even if the divine artifact had no consciousness, her split soul was still that of a mortal's.
As time passed, the silver light started to dim until it completely disappeared. Then, rays of light shot out from the magatama. Tianyi clenched his hand, and the rays of light bent and returned to the jewel.
Tianyi waved his hand, and an orb of nine-colored water emerged. It shot forward and covered the Spectral Rising Jewel. Since the Spectral Rising Jewel contained the Laws of Death, Tianyi used the Nine Springs water from the Nether Realm to aid in the avatar creation.
"Daoyi, how is it?" Tianyi asked.
Although Tianyi took control of most of the process, the most crucial aspect was still Daoyi's split soul.
"I can still hold on," Daoyi said with sweat gliding down her brows. Her hands had formed a seal in order to strengthen the connection between her soul and split soul.
If she lost the connection or suffered a lapse of concentration, then it would be all over. Even while she was maintaining and strengthening her split soul, numerous insights into the Law of Death poured into her. However, Daoyi ignored them since she didn't want to pick up the sesame seed but lose sight of the watermelon.
Once her divine avatar formed, wouldn't she still gain insights into the Laws of Death?
With Daoyi's persistence, Tianyi nodded and continued adding materials onto the altar. Now, the Spectral Rising Jewel could no longer be seen. In its place was a gray, amorphous blob of ever-changing shape.
At one moment, the gray blob resembled a gray stone, and Tianyi couldn't help but think, 'Daoyi's avatar wouldn't become a monkey that popped out of stone like Su Wukong, right?'
Just imaging Daoyi as a monkey almost made Tianyi screw up and botch the process. Luckily, he steeled himself and prevented the worse outcome, but his mind couldn't help but continue the thought process.
According to legend, Sun Wukong was born out of stone, but how could the stone be ordinary? The stone the Monkey King had been born out of was part of the Five-Colored Stone Empress Nuwa used to repair the heavens.
'Five-Colored Stone, five elements. To create the perfect body, all five elements must be present and perfectly merged.'
Acting on instinct, Tianyi made a grabbing motion, and five rays of lights shot out from First Heaven, Second Heaven, Third Heaven, Fourth Heaven, and Fifth Heaven. Each color represented one of the five elements.
When they appeared in Tianyi's hand, they turned into spheres of immortal qi. 'Immortal qi? Not enough. It has to be essence.'
Tianyi flipped his hands over, and the five elemental orbs of immortal qi dropped towards the surface of Ninth Heaven. The fiery surface didn't burn the immortal; instead, they sunk deep into the center where the core of the universe was located at.
The third eye on Tianyi's forehead opened as he furrowed his brows. He paused Daoyi's avatar creation method as he focused on converting the immortal qi of five elements into essence of five elements.
"Daoyi, get ready!" Tianyi shouted as he clapped his hand together. Five rays of light, each with a different color, shot up from the surface of Ninth Heaven and into the amorphous blob. The moment they entered, the blob shifted into an egg shape. It no longer had its previous gray color but exuded a five-colored light.
Daoyi's gaze sharpened as her hands formed several more seals. The moment she completed her final one, her face dramatically pale. Her once alabaster skin took on a sickly sheen.
As time passed, the seriousness of her expression increased. Finally, she uncorked the Liquiorlight Gourd on her waist and sent her second split soul into the five-colored egg. Only then could Daoyi attain a brief reprieve, but she still couldn't loosen her guard.
Tianyi nodded from the side and continued to add more materials into the five-colored egg. 'Ah, I'm really going all out from this. When I created my clones, I didn't spend even half the effort I'm doing now.'
As the divine clone neared its completion, the five-colored shone even brighter. When it finally reached the point that the rays of Ninth Heaven could no longer hide it, Tianyi stopped.
"The most difficult part is over," Daoyi said as she sighed in relief and released her hand seals.
"Now, we just have to wait for it to continue to absorb essence and hatch," Tianyi said. "How is it? Are you continuously receiving insights into the Laws of Death?''
Daoyi nodded. "Since I am, you must be too, right?"
Tianyi smiled but didn't say anything. Without saying anything, both of them returned to Sixth Heaven and started to comprehend the Laws of Death.
Five years later, Daoyi sought out Tianyi. "There's a problem with the Laws of Death in the Spectral Rising Jewel."
