At the portal to the Yellow Mausoleum, numerous forces set up camp. Tai Wuling and the newly arrived true immortals immediately flew toward the camp formed by Monarch Dong.
"Elder," Tai Wuling and the others greeted.
Monarch Dong waved his hands. "No need for courtesy. All of you have to be careful when you enter the pocket dimension. Although all forces present have a truce outside, don't expect them to keep it inside."
The Eight Pillar Sect's true immortals, including Tai Wuling, thanked the immortal monarch for his advice. He noticed that Monarch Dong wasn't really paying attention to them. Instead, his gaze would periodically drift to another camp.
Tai Wuling followed his gaze and saw a lavish palace. Even from the current distance, he could feel the spiritual qi gathering toward the palace. Rather than a temporary camp, someone had formed a formation to increase the density of spiritual qi.
Just as he wondered who would do such a wasteful act, Tai Wuling read the plaque above the entrance, Xi Palace. 'Figures that the wastrel would be the one to set up such a lavish camp. Just how many cultivators would wish to have access to the same resources, yet he's using it for such a meaningless activity.'
Tai Wuling ignored Xi Tianyi's camp. Thinking about it logically, it would be weirder if the foreign monarch joined the Eight Pillar Sect's camp. Aside from Jiang Daoyi, they must have dispatched their other true immortals into the Yellow Mausoleum.
His eyes chilled as he debated how he should act if he met one of them. Killing them might strain the alliance, but that was only if the Buzhou Immortal Sect found out. The two hegemonic sects would come to blows eventually. What's the harm in culling the opponent's immortals ahead of time, especially with such a convenient excuse?
Tai Wuling waited outside for a few days, adjusting his condition. While he waited, he saw a group from the Heaven Continent arrive. They weren't from the Buzhou Immortal Sects or their vassal sects but the Anti-Heaven Alliance. Leading the group of true immortals was the saintess of the Cloud Goddess Cult. Unlike the rest of the forces, the Cloud Goddess Cult sent an abnormally large number of true immortals.
In the Heaven Continent, the Cloud Goddess Cult had always been mocked for being weak. The believers of the Cloud Goddess didn't need suitable spiritual roots or talent, they just needed to fervently offer everything to the Cloud Goddess.
In return, the Cloud Goddess would raise their cultivation. As such, most of the immortals in the Cloud Goddess Cult were below average in strength, but because of the ease of cultivation, their numbers practically dwarfed other forces except the Buzhou Immortal Sect. Once quantity reached a certain point, it became its own kind of quality.
Because the Cloud Goddess only needed to use faith to raise their cultivation, the Cloud Goddess Cult would only focus most of their resources on the true geniuses. As such, the disparity in strength between the average members and the elites was as wide as heaven and earth.
The members of the Cloud Goddess Cult directly led their members into the Yellow Mausoleum without waiting. Although the saintess of the Cloud Goddess Cult exuded a holy aura, Tai Wuling didn't think he would lose.
After adjusting his state, Tai Wuling entered the Yellow Mausoleum with the rest of his Eight Pillar Sect immortals. Upon entering, he saw a world of yellow.
Literally.
The sky was covered in a light golden hue, one that turned the already yellow world even more yellow. The dirt resembled a yellow-brown, but most of it was covered by grass with the color of wheat. But all that seemed to pale in comparison to the law that governed the pocket dimension.
In the Huang Realm, all the myriad laws formed an ironclad balance. This did not mean all laws were equal, just that they were perfect for the world to evolve, but that Yellow Mausoleum was different.
Tai Wuling could still feel the Law of Fire, Law of Water, Law of Wood, and Law of Metal, but they all became extremely weak like someone had wrapped hundreds of layers of blankets over them to muffle their effect on the pocket dimension. Conversely, the intensity of the Law of Earth and related laws increased by a hundred times.
In short, those who comprehended the Law of Earth would have their power increased while those who practiced any other law would weaken. The Law of Space was not an exception due to the Law of Earth that formed the foundational law reaching the divine level, meaning that it could replace and replicate the Law of Space to a certain extent.
Upon learning this, Tai Wuling almost wished the Yellow Mausoleum didn't prevent immortal monarchs from entering. Although he couldn't use the Law of Fire, Xi Tianyi couldn't use his primary law either.
Tai Wuling frowned. Speaking of which, what was Xi Tianyi's law? From the information he collected and his instincts, Xi Tianyi should have used one of the five elemental laws as his foundation. 'Maybe he had the same idea as me?'
As soon as the thought occurred to him, Tai Wuling couldn't get the idea out of his head. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. He had no proof but more of an instinct. Soon, he smiled. 'He was too impatient for power. He should have mastered all five elemental laws before entering the Seamless Immortal Realm. Soon, I'll show you the difference between us.'
Tai Wuling didn't stay at the entrance for long and was separated from the rest of the immortals from the Eight Pillar Sect. They didn't try to convince him to stay. Strictly speaking, he joined the Eight Pillar Sect for less than a hundred years and hadn't had much time to build camaraderie with his fellow immortals.
He tried to fly but discovered that he couldn't. It seemed that the Yellow Mausoleum placed a restriction on flight. He couldn’t even use a flying sword to travel, so he could only travel the old fashion way, walking.
Tai Wuling could feel the ground pulse with each step he took. With each footstep, the ripples spread through the land. Like roots, he could feel his sensory range increase as if he had become one with the land.
His pace didn't slow down, and he continued his steady gait. Tai Wuling lost his sense of self as he immersed himself in the sensation. There was no longer Tai Wuling or the Yellow Mausoleum, only the vast earth.
If anyone were to see Tai Wuling, they would see his figure suddenly disappear, only to reappear meters away as if he had just teleported. The time of his disappearance increased. Correlatingly, the distance he would appear became farther and farther apart.
It took over a month for Tai Wuling to break out of his epiphany. Once he did so, he stared at the earthen yellow sun in the sky and laughed.
With a smile, Tai Wuling looked at a location over a thousand meters ahead. He disappeared and reappeared at that location instantly. He looked at the location where he once stood.
Then he laughed. It was a joyful laugh, free of any worries. "I mastered the Concept of Earthwalk. I'm one step closer to mastering the Law of Earth.” If he had been at ninety percent, this boosted him to ninety-two or ninety-three percent.
However, that was not the sole reason for his celebration. Thanks to mastering the Concept of Earthwalk, Tai Wuling also gained insight into the Concept of Distance. The Concept of Distance only had partial relation to the Law of Earth. It was the other law that it related to that Tai Wuling cared about, the Law of Space.
The hardest part of comprehending a law was grasping the initial enlightenment and fully comprehending the whole law. Tai Wuling didn't attempt to deepen his understanding of space since he knew he would receive half the results with twice the effort inside the Yellow Mausoleum. Instead, he started to explore the yellow dimension.
One thing Tai Wuling noticed right away was that no life existed in the Yellow Mausoleum. Sure, there were grass and trees, but they weren't really alive. Any vegetation he came across were replicas formed from the Law of Earth that governed the pocket dimension.
Tai Wuling followed his senses deeper into the core of the Yellow Mausoleum. How did he know it was the core? Because the closer he got, the clearer the Law of Earth became to him. In addition, he could feel the black sphere in his sea of consciousness buzz as if attracted to something. It had been quite some time since the black sphere showed a reaction to anything.
He would have continued toward the core area if the sound of fighting had not attracted his attention. He used his newly mastered concept and technique to disappear from his spot and reappear near the conflict.
He saw a group of over ten immortals from different forces fighting a four-armed beast that resembled a bear. The monster wasn't alive, kept functioning only by the Law of Earth that held it together. Furthermore, the monster exuded the brute strength of an immortal monarch.
Logically speaking, the true immortals should have run away, yet they persevered and continued to duke it out with the earth beast. Tai Wuling hid his presence by synchronizing his aura with the pocket dimension's and observed the battle.
It took a week, but the group of immortals finally defeated the monster, but at a high cost, one life and almost half of them heavily injured. Still, none of them seemed to care as they stared at the monster, which started to crumble as if its body had turned into sand.
Once the torso scattered, an orb of yellow gas floated out. All the true immortals immediately flew towards it. Their previous camaraderie was all but forgotten. At least those from the same forces grouped together.
Tai Wuling knew why. When the orb of yellow gas appeared, he knew exactly what it was. The yellow orb was a law fragment. Anyone who absorbed it would have their comprehension directly increased.
He had to force himself not to leap out and join the fray. Tai Wuling had the confidence to slaughter all the true immortals currently fighting, but that didn't mean he needed to waste his energy. Let the cicadas and mantis fight amongst themselves, unaware of him, the oriole.
The battle between the immortals was much quicker than when they fought the earth beast. A few third parties intervened, but Tai Wuling still didn't take action. He was grateful that none of his fellow sect members showed up. Otherwise, he might have had to fight them for the final prize.
The final winner was an immortal from the Sea Pearl Sect, a member of the Anti-Earth Alliance. The moment the Sea Pearl Sect immortal grasped the law fragment in his hand and delight started to appear on his face, Tai Wuling struck.
He appeared behind the unsuspecting immortal and placed his hand on the immortal's shoulder. The immortal only had time to turn around with dawning horror on his face as his body started to petrify into stone.
Tai Wuling smiled as the immortal-turned-statue fell onto the ground and collapsed into fragments. He reached forward to grasp the law fragment. Suddenly, his ears twitched as he heard something flying toward him.
Acting on nothing but survival instincts, Tai Wuling used Earthwalk to disappear from his previous location and reappear ten meters away. Where he had once stood, a sword with a cloud-shaped hilt had embedded itself into the ground, but he wasn't looking there.
Instead, Tai Wuling looked up.
Standing above the white cloud was a young woman of peerless beauty, if a bit androgynous. She wore white cloud robes with cloud-shaped jade pins inserted into her hair. Her eyes lacked any emotion as she looked down at Tai Wuling, akin to a goddess from the heavens looking at an ant.
Tai Wuling recognized her. "Holy Cloud Saintess Yun Xialan."
