The Legend of the Great Desolation: I Am the Fortress

"Shattered stars, annihilation, a thousand worlds, reincarnation..."

Standing high in the air, looking down, the vast canyon below was still filled with howling winds and drifting snow, and remained completely silent.

"The Way of Time and Space".

Lei Zhan's gaze was deep and thoughtful. "These four styles that I have created during my years of cultivation can be considered to encompass four different directions in the Dao of Time and Space."

"These four paths cannot yet encompass everything in time and space; they are merely a part of the path of time and space. But in the future, I will have the opportunity to continuously explore new directions and gradually integrate into it."

In Lei Zhan's understanding, the most perfect spacetime path encompasses countless directions, and among the four styles he comprehended, Heart Shattering, Annihilation, and Thousand Realms can be considered as offensive methods.

The newly realized 'reincarnation' is the way of defense, but like a jigsaw puzzle, Lei Zhan has only collected a portion of the pieces so far.

To fully collect all the fragments, or even to piece them together into a perfect whole, there is still a long way to go for Lei Zhan.

“There are many paths in the path of time and space, and although my path is weak for the time being, it has already formed a basic system. As long as I keep going, with the help of the black bead, there is a great chance that I will be able to embark on that path in the future…” Lei Zhan thought to himself.

Knowing the path ahead and following it is actually much easier than blindly walking it.

Of course, to embark on this final path, one needs opportunity, luck, and talent—all three are indispensable.

Within the space of the Golden Core of the True Body, there is a black bead that remains unseen to this day.

The enlightenment that occurs only once every five years or once every thousand years has already greatly benefited those who are at peace. If even more energy were accumulated during this period, what kind of changes would occur...?

In fact, even Lei Zhan himself still needs to slowly explore those unknowns.

“However, even though this spacetime technique I created is only in its rudimentary form, it still needs a name.” Lei Zhan pondered in his heart, “Then… let’s call it the Holy Scripture of Unity.”

The concept of "returning to oneness" is complex in a way: one can give rise to two, two can give rise to three, and three can give rise to all things.

It's simple in a way: all things return to one, all paths return to one. But this return to oneness represents the ambition to expand one's own power.

In the vast world of all laws, the Daoist name that Lei Zhan left for himself was also 'Return to One'.

"As I envisioned, the strongest path of time and space, regardless of its direction, will ultimately merge into one within my Unity Scripture, helping me reach the ultimate goal of the path of time and space!"

Of course, the ultimate path is still too far away for the current team development.

Without the guidance of numerous time-space secret techniques, he has already done remarkably well by deducing these four paths using only a few techniques he obtained by chance.

After all, spacetime is different from other techniques; other single techniques have extremely high barriers to entry.

It is extremely difficult to create a method that encompasses all directions of space and time based on one's own understanding.

"Wow~~~"

suddenly.

Lei Zhan felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and then time and space shifted, and he returned to the Demon Subduing Hall.

"Junior Brother." Hou Yi stood in the main hall and immediately looked over.

"Senior brother." Lei Zhan turned to look at Hou Yi and nodded slightly.

Immediately, his gaze turned toward the Ancestral God and Ancestral Immortal Ranking not far away.

He wanted to verify something.

"Hmm? As expected, the evaluation was 'First Class A'." A smile appeared on Lei Zhan's face.

On the palace walls, amidst a dense array of chaotic characters, Lei Zhan's name was prominently displayed.

After killing all the ice demons in the trial, when Lei Zhan encountered the Ice Demon Lord, that highly intelligent Ice Demon Lord also said that if he could kill him, he would get 120,000 merits and barely get the 'First Class A' rating.

It should be noted that after the eldest brother Hou Yi killed the Ice Demon Lord, that Ice Demon Lord was only worth 81,000 merit points.

Most importantly, as the rating improves, the variety of treasures that can be exchanged also increases, and some rare techniques and magical treasures that even ordinary ancestral gods and immortals would never have the chance to see.

"I wonder what kind of techniques and secret arts I'll be qualified to exchange for with the first-class evaluation of Ancestral God and Ancestral Immortal. I don't lack anything else now, what I need are the techniques of time and space and the techniques of mental power."

"I must absorb all the mysteries of time and space and integrate them into my own path of time and space."

"As for the mental power method, relying solely on mental power bewitching is too simplistic. If I encounter someone with a strong Dao heart, or another mental power practitioner, my limited methods will put me at a great disadvantage."

As for the remaining supernatural powers, magic weapons, and treasures, once Lei Zhan comprehended the nine layers of chaotic restrictions on the Heavenly Star Golden Pearl, the blue-and-white mist's enhancement to his strength completely surpassed 99% of the supernatural powers.

Although the Blue Flower Mist cannot leave the body and can only be used for close combat, its enhancement to strength is immense.

Lei Zhan only needs to continue cultivating the Golden Statue Divine Power and the Escape Technique Divine Power, and focus on improving his understanding of the Dao, to solve most of his troubles.

As for magical artifacts, they are generally sufficient for the time being.

Magical treasures that require few merits are generally of lower quality, which Lei Zhan himself doesn't find appealing. Magical treasures that require many merits require Lei Zhan to exchange for secret techniques, which is already a bit tight for him, and he probably won't be able to afford them for a long time to come.

Well, I'll just wait until I'm stronger before making a decision. "Hmm? This..."

Hou Yi strolled over slowly, his gaze following the direction Lei Zhan had been looking. His eyes immediately fell on the line of text that had just appeared on the list, and his gaze sharpened instantly:
"A, first class?"

Lei Zhan explained with a smile, "The first time I went in after breaking through to the Ancestral Immortal realm, I encountered an Ice Demon Lord whose strength was terrifying. After fighting desperately to kill him, I guess that's why my final evaluation was much higher."

"The Ice Demon Lord, whose strength is terrifying?" Hou Yi was taken aback, then nodded slightly. "While you were in to participate in the trial, I had already changed my treasures. Junior brother, let's see how many merits you've earned this time!"

"Okay." Lei Zhan's eyes also showed a hint of anticipation. Three chances to reach the True God/True Immortal level.

He used up almost all the merits he gained from the first trial by exchanging them for the first part of "The Golden Statue" and the first volume of "Time Annihilation".

The second time, he directly exchanged for the Myriad Tribulations Heavenly Heart Stone, which can enhance mental strength, and had about 3,500 points left.

After exchanging for the treasures to cultivate the "Eighteen Gods and Demons of Tao Wu" for the third time, he still had about 16,000 points left. Now, adding them all up, he has about 20,000 merit points left.

And adding up today's gains...

Lei Zhan raised his hand, and right in front of him stood a magnificent stone pillar, with a transparent crystal ball suspended at the top of the pillar.

Lei Zhan placed his palm directly on the crystal ball, and immediately a large amount of information was transmitted from the crystal ball.

The vast majority of these memories were directly and completely integrated with the thick, book-like mass of memories in my mind.

"Killed 1,173,200 Ice Demons at the Ancestral God level, gaining 117,320 merits. Killed the Ice Demon Lord at the Ancestral God level, gaining 120,000 merits."

Lei Zhan flipped through the information in his memory, "This harvest totals more than 237,000, and with what was left before, the total merit is more than 257,000."

Two hundred and fifty thousand...

Lei Zhan clicked his tongue inwardly. A bottle of Chaos Spirit Liquid required two thousand merit points, which seemed to be enough to exchange for about one hundred and twenty bottles of Chaos Spirit Liquid.

However, in reality, things are not measured in this way in the inner world, and among all these treasures, exchanging them for Chaos Elixir is the least worthwhile.

On the contrary, acquiring those top-tier supernatural powers and techniques is the most valuable thing.

For example, the first part of the divine power "Golden Statue" that Lei Zhan had previously exchanged only cost a little over 10,000 merit points, roughly equivalent to five or six bottles of Chaos Spirit Liquid. However, if he were to purchase the first part of this divine power in the Endless Chaos, it would cost at least several hundred bottles.

"Junior brother?"

"Junior brother?!"

Hou Yi's voice came from beside him. He looked at Lei Zhan with a faint look of curiosity on his face.

"I gained about 230,000 merits this time," Lei Zhan said with a smile. "With so many merits at once, my junior brother, I've been eyeing this technique for a long time, and I can finally get some of it."

"The method?" Hou Yi smiled helplessly.
"There are indeed many methods here, and I've seen quite a few that I'm incredibly envious of. Unfortunately... those methods require at least a million merit points to start with, so I can only take it one step at a time."

The magical arts and supernatural powers within the Demon Subduing Palace are vast and boundless, and it's no wonder that Lei Zhan was utterly shocked when he first saw them.

“In this Demon Subduing Palace, what we lack most is merit.” Lei Zhan also laughed, he had a deep understanding of this feeling. “So many good things, we can see them but can’t eat them, we can only stare at them and do nothing.”

"Alright, I need to go back and cultivate now. The stronger I get, the easier it will be to accumulate merits." Hou Yi shook his head and smiled. "Junior Brother, take your time looking and choosing. Don't get overwhelmed by all the choices!"

With that, Hou Yi nodded to Lei Zhan and walked directly out of the hall.

His cave dwelling was very close to those of Lei Zhan, Fuxi, and Tathagata, and it was very convenient for them to travel to each other.

"Senior Brother has indeed changed a bit." Lei Zhan watched the departing figure, his gaze distant.

a long time.

"Let's see if there are any new spacetime techniques or mental energy secrets. The previous ones are either too expensive or too limited, and I don't see anything that's suitable for me." Lei Zhan muttered to himself, then placed his palm on the crystal ball again.

Within the sea of ​​consciousness, memories were constantly being searched, and all this information was actually stored and expanded within the sea of ​​consciousness.

Although it is vast, the divine souls of the ancestral gods and immortals are incredibly powerful. If they want to find something, they can do so in an instant.

"The Time-Space Techniques... there are actually eleven more, and almost all of them are techniques left behind by the Dao Lord. The same goes for the Mind Power Techniques, there are a total of fifteen more."

"The time-space inheritance of a Heaven-defying Dao Lord... actually requires 3 billion merits, which is comparable to that inheritance that requires more than 2 billion mental strengths."

"However, compared to the space-time method, the mental power method is not in such a hurry."

Lei Zhan felt a hint of surprise and doubt, because the large number of new spacetime techniques that had recently appeared filled him with questions.

Because in these newly added spacetime techniques, he saw a familiar name.

"Here, there is actually a legacy left behind by that Daoist Ruosang. The Dao of Time and Space... That terrifying being who was said to be able to kill dozens of Eternal Emperors, besides his mental power, actually also practiced the Dao of Time and Space?"

...(End of chapter)