Inside the Nine Heavens Universe, above Ninth Heaven, a vortex formed. At the center of the vortex was the fragment of the Heaven Measuring Ruler.
At first, the vortex only consisted of spacetime energy, but yang essence shot into it. Then, a strand of yin qi from Eighth to First Heaven appeared and merged into yin essence. It also shot into the vortex.
Next, fire qi, water qi, earth qi, metal qi, and wood qi shot out from the later five heavens towards Ninth Heaven. After a period of refinement, the five elemental qi transformed into essence and merged with the vortex, but the light emitting from Ninth Heaven dimmed.
In the Honored Lotus Palace's main hall, Tianyi sat there with his hands in a seal and his eyes closed. His face had no expression, as if he was a statue sculpted out of stone, but his mouth was continuously moving.
"All things are born from the universe. Heaven and Earth is the furnace. Spacetime is the flame. All things are the ingredients."
Tianyi's three eyes opened and shot out a divine light that pierced the sky, causing all the beings in the Heaven Continent's Central Region to focus their attention.
"Nine Heavens Refinement, Chaos Measuring Ruler form!"
The vortex spinning above Ninth Heaven slowly stopped, and an invisible light illuminated the Nine Heavens Universe. No matter where, the Nine Heavens Universe's Law of Spacetime became incredibly clear. Anyone who saw it would be able to comprehend ten times as much with a tenth of the effort.
Unfortunately, the only inhabitants of the Sixth Heaven were weak to realize anything except Daoyi. She opened her eyes and tried to imprint as much of the law as possible. An hour later, she spat out a mouthful of blood, but her eyes were unprecedently bright.
The light illuminated the Nine Heavens Universe for a total of nine hours before it disappeared, revealing a black ruler with countless motes of light glittering, measuring about a meter long.
A hand emerged out of nowhere and grabbed the gray handle. Tianyi used his other hand to caress the dull blade of the ruler. "I may have gone a bit overboard."
Tianyi waved it a bit, and the spacetime of the Nine Heavens Universe also shifted. When he refined this immortal artifact, Tianyi merged his mastery of the Law of Spacetime, so anyone who could resonate with the Law of Spacetime within could dramatically increase their powers. The other reason was that he included part of the Nine Heavens Universe's spacetime quintessence within. So, whoever controlled this had the divine right to control the spacetime laws of the Nine Heavens Universe.
"I'm never giving this to anyone else," Tianyi swore to himself. He allowed Daoyi's avatar to control the Law of Death in his universe, but that was it. He wouldn't even give the ruler to Mengfei.
It was not a question of trust, but the sheer risk was too much. As one of the core foundations of his Nine Heavens Universe, giving the Chaos Measuring Ruler to someone else was like entrusting his lung to another person.
Tianyi stored the Chaos Measuring Ruler within the layers of space in the Nine Heavens Universe and dissipated into nothingness. Outside, Tianyi closed all three eyes and began to comprehend what he had learned.
Alchemy, refining, and formation. The three paths did not relate to combat, but they were indispensable. Of the three, Tianyi had the greatest mastery in formations, followed by refining. However, he only dabbled once in alchemy, but at this moment, his mastery of alchemy and refinement were reaching the same height as his formation.
His understanding of formation did not sit still either and also rose. If before, Tianyi needed to use treasures and qi to set up formations; now, everything could be used for formation, even the very environment, the trees, the tiniest sand, and even the rays of light.
Tianyi's cultivation lasted ten years. When he opened his eyes, his formation technique, refinement, and alchemy all reached the same height and merged. To him, all three methods had no distinction and were the same.
"Alchemy, refinement, and formations, all three involve transformation and creation. They are not exclusive and can merge all things, all laws. That is because they are part of the Law of Creation," Once Tianyi finished speaking, nothing seemed to have changed, but everything also seemed to have changed too.
Inside the Nine Heavens Universe, Tianyi's mastery dramatically increased by ten times. The fog hiding his universe from his eyes lifted slightly, and he detected numerous stars, planets, and rogue planets. Simultaneously, Eighth Heaven no longer produced qi but essence.
Tianyi moved his neck and stood up to stretch. At this current level, his body no longer became stiff or sore, but since he felt like it, he stretched. Afterward, he waved his hand, and the Chaos Measure Ruler appeared in his hand.
However, before he had time to appreciate it, he glanced upward. His eyes pierced through the Honored Lotus Palace's roof and into the sky where tribulation clouds gathered.
Tianyi clicked his tongue and disappeared. When he reappeared, he was standing in the sky outside. He tossed the Chaos Measuring Ruler over a hundred meters away, where it floated.
After three hours, the tribulation cloud finished condensing and unleashed the first strike. Golden lightning coated the Chaos Measuring Ruler, but it only gave the artifact a shiny new sheen. Soon, the lightning disappeared, not because it used up all its energy but because the Chaos Measuring Ruler absorbed it.
This act totally infuriated the Heavenly Dao, and the tribulation clouds increased. Tianyi felt his lips twitch upon seeing this. 'I didn't expect the Chaos Measuring Ruler to absorb the tribulation lightning without me doing anything. As expected of my artifact. I wonder if I can make it absorb the Three Thousand Immortal Realms' spacetime essence?'
As soon as the thought occurred to him, Tianyi closed his eyes and focused on his link with the Chaos Measuring Ruler. Moments later, the heavenly tribulation's power increased again. If it had been a raging fire previously, now, it was an erupting volcano.
Another bolt of tribulation lightning descended, but it wasn't aimed at the Chaos Measuring Ruler but Tianyi. He didn't move and allowed the tribulation lightning to strike him.
Unlike the Chaos Measuring Ruler, the tribulation lightning directly disappeared after entering Tianyi. Hey, the Heavenly Dao was giving him free energy, so why not?
The heavenly tribulation released a thunderous roar as it sent more lightning towards Tianyi. Instead of his artifact transcending the tribulation, it turned to the heavenly tribulation punishing Tianyi, ineffectively.
Finally, after the heavenly tribulation lost steam, it gave one last thunderous crack before receding. Tianyi rolled his eye upon seeing how slowly the tribulation clouds dissipated. 'Lingering any longer won't do you any good. Unless you throw realms at me, I doubt you can harm me.'
Tianyi waved his hand, and the Chaos Measuring Ruler returned to his hand. A moment later, he returned to the main hall of the Honored Lotus Palace. There, he brushed his fingers across the rectangular 'blade.'
Using his fingers, Tianyi began to write numerous characters from one end to the other. Then, he formed a one-handed seal and numerous glowing runes corresponding to characters Tianyi wrote.
"Seal!"
With one last flash, the runes disappeared.
Tianyi observed the ruler again. Unlike its previous appearance, it was pitch-black, like a gaping hole in reality. 'With this, no one should be able to sense that this is an artifact of spacetime, only space.'
Even now, Tianyi didn't want to reveal his mastery of the Law of Spacetime. Otherwise, he would have named it the Spacetime Measuring Ruler and not Chaos Measuring Ruler. In all situations, never reveal all your trump cards. Besides, suddenly revealing that he wasn't using all his strength and shocking his opponent sounded quite fun.
He waved a few times and nodded with satisfaction. 'Although I couldn't absorb any spacetime essence, the heavenly tribulation still strengthened the artifact, not bad.'
Then he stored it away. The Chaos Measuring Ruler floated above Ninth Heaven and slowly absorbed the residual essence from the star. Although Tianyi had just refined it, it was still classified as an immortal artifact and not a divine artifact, so it still benefited from essence.
In the next few days, numerous elders from the Buzhou Immortal Sect visited him. They were curious as to why a heavenly tribulation had appeared above Rites Peak. They sighed in jealousy after Tianyi showed them the Chaos Measuring Ruler, but they showed more envy towards Tianyi's strength.
The Chaos Measuring Ruler exuded the aura of a peak seamless immortal artifact, just one step away from the extremity immortal artifact rank. Since Tianyi could refine such an artifact, it displayed his immense prowess in refining and mastery of space.
After taking in those jealous, envious, and hate-filled gazes, Tianyi store the Chaos Measuring Ruler again in a good mood, 'That's right, be jealous. Hahaha.'
Tianyi took this chance to discuss the worldly laws with the immortal monarchs that came to visit him. He discovered that although many of them had comprehended complete laws, in terms of width, none could compare.
Although he didn't master any new law, it was still beneficial for him. If they had any skills in alchemy, refinement, or formation, Tianyi also discussed with them in order to increase his foundation and knowledge.
Once they left, Tianyi sealed the gates and prevented anyone from bothering him.
"I have already mastered the Law of Spacetime, the foundation of the universe. In order to advance, I'll need to master the Law of Creation, but unlike most other laws, I have to master numerous other laws and not concepts," Tianyi solemnly said. He furrowed his brows. "But, the Law of Creation is too vast. I don't know when I'll be able to master it. Ten thousand years? A hundred thousand years? One million years? Or perhaps more?"
Tianyi shook his head. "Forget it. I need to take one step at a time. Besides, I have eternal life now. As long as the Nine Heavens Universe isn't destroyed, I am immortal."
"I wonder if I'll step into the Divinity Realm if I master the Law of Creation?" Tianyi asked with a hint of anticipation.
He shook his head and cultivated for another ten years. When he opened his eyes, he made a wry smile. "Geez, I'm beginning to spend more and more time cultivating. Even though ten years passed, it only felt like an instant to me."
Shaking his head once more, Tianyi waved his hand, and three objects appeared before him.
The first was a pill exuding a heavy pill fragrance and immortal qi. It was a pill refined using the Nine Heavens Universe and injected with Tianyi's will. Anyone who took it would directly be promoted to the true immortal realm. Of course, if they did it in the Nine Heavens Universe, no heavenly tribulation would appear since it was created by the master of the Nine Heavens Universe. But if they took in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System...
The next was an orb the size of a fist, the Solesky Grotto. It was a spacetime artifact that contained a world within, but it was not a realm. It would unconsciously absorb the spiritual qi in the air to operate. With it, the user would have practically endless qi and could draw in their foe and suppress them like a realmlord. The most terrifying part was that anyone could refine it, even a mortal. Of course, mortals couldn't control it, so it was practically useless for them.
As for the third, it was a speck the size of a mustard seed. Despite its seemingly tiny size, the speck held a planet that was around the size of Earth, created using formations.
The last two objects were a bit similar, but Tianyi still nodded his head in satisfaction. Suddenly, his eyes glazed over for a second. When they regained clarity, he waved his hand, and Daoyi appeared in front of him.
"Are you sure?"
Daoyi nodded. "I haven't fully mastered the Law of Death, but it should be no problem to transcend my Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation."
