Kaelan’s attack tore through the Void.
His eight tentacles thrust forward like divine spears, piercing through layers of Void Energy as they shot toward the cultivator.
Before the attack could reach him, a silver sword with a multicoloured hilt appeared in the cultivator’s hand.
At the same time, a phantom mountain manifested above his head.
The mountain seemed both real and illusory.
An immense pressure descended upon the surrounding Void.
Kaelan immediately felt his tentacles slow.
It was as though countless invisible chains had wrapped around them.
The cultivator’s eyes flashed coldly.
He swung his sword.
A sea of crimson fire erupted from the blade.
The flames spread across the Void like an endless ocean, carrying terrifying heat capable of incinerating worlds.
Kaelan reacted instantly.
The Void Monster Way circulated through his body.
Black holes appeared around his tentacles.
One after another.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
The sea of fire rushed into them and vanished.
The terrifying flames disappeared as though they had never existed.
At that moment, information suddenly appeared within Kaelan’s mind.
His body trembled slightly.
The Law of Fire.
The Law of Wind.
Fragments of understanding flowed directly into his consciousness.
Kaelan’s eye widened.
He had never known he possessed such an ability.
The moment the black holes devoured the cultivator’s attack, they also devoured traces of the Laws contained within it.
Not complete comprehension.
Not enough to advance his understanding.
But enough for him to perceive the structure of the cultivator’s Way.
As that understanding entered his mind, another realisation followed.
The cultivator’s Laws were weaker than his.
Far weaker.
Not in quantity.
Not in cultivation.
But in foundation.
Kaelan carefully observed the Fire Law and Wind Law connected to the cultivator.
The two Laws existed separately.
They merely resonated with one another.
They had been connected through the cultivator’s subjective understanding.
Through his Way.
The connection was shallow.
Crude.
Fragile.
By comparison, Kaelan’s Void Monster Way felt completely different.
According to his inherited memories, the Void Monster Way consisted of three supreme Laws.
Void.
Destruction.
Devouring.
Yet Kaelan could not distinguish where one ended, and another began.
They had fused together so completely that they formed a singular whole.
He could not separate them.
Nor could he identify their individual boundaries.
They existed as one.
A complete Way.
As more information surfaced from his inherited memories, Kaelan finally began understanding the difference between Law and Way.
Law was objective.
Way was subjective.
The Law of Fire existed regardless of who comprehended it.
Yet every cultivator would understand Fire differently.
One cultivator might see fire as destruction.
Another as purification.
A third as life and rebirth.
The Law remained the same.
The Way differed.
Way was a cultivator’s personal interpretation of a Law.
The embodiment of their understanding.
The path they walked.
The inherited memories continued unfolding.
The first step was Intent.
A cultivator sensed a Law.
The second step was Manifestation.
The Exterior Echo.
At this stage, a cultivator touched the edges of a Law and projected it into reality.
Abstract concepts became tangible phenomena.
Fire became a field of heat.
Wind became a storm.
Water became a tide.
The third step was Materialisation.
The formation of a field.
The cultivator chose between breadth and depth.
One path focused on comprehending multiple Laws simultaneously.
The other focused on refining a single Law to greater purity.
The fourth step was the Origin Seed.
The Genesis.
The cultivator condensed their comprehension into a seed within their soul.
The birth of the seed naturally created a personal Demiplane.
A pocket world reflecting the nature of the Laws used to form it.
The fifth step was Spatial Materialisation.
The cultivator projected their Demiplane into reality.
Their own Laws temporarily replaced the natural Laws of the surrounding universe.
The sixth step was the Conceptual Heart.
The Law transcended physical limitations.
Fire no longer required fuel.
Water no longer required liquid form.
The cultivator controlled the concept itself.
The seventh step was the Small Heavenly Way.
The cultivator’s will became a Law of reality.
A personal Heavenly Way.
A sovereign authority equivalent to the Heavenly Way of a Small World.
Only after reaching this stage could a cultivator ascend into the Fifth Tier.
As Kaelan analysed the cultivator before him, confusion appeared in his eye.
According to his inherited knowledge, a Fifth Tier cultivator should possess a Way that had reached the seventh step.
A Small Heavenly Way.
Yet the cultivator standing before him clearly had not.
The Fire Law and Wind Law remained separate.
Connected.
But not merged.
There was no Conceptual Heart.
No sovereign authority.
No complete fusion.
The Laws merely supported one another.
As though they had been tied together with ropes.
Not forged into one existence.
The realisation stunned him.
The cultivator was a Fifth Tier Transcendent.
Yet his Way remained at the fifth step.
Spatial Materialisation.
The phantom mountain above his head was proof of that.
His understanding had not reached the sixth step.
Nor the seventh.
For a brief moment, Kaelan wondered if the cultivation system in this region of the Void was incomplete.
Or perhaps the cultivator had used some alternative method to reach the Fifth Tier.
Regardless of the reason, one thing became clear.
This opponent was weaker than he had initially feared.
The cultivator suddenly frowned.
His instincts warned him that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The Void Monster before him was not behaving as expected.
Most Void Monsters attacked with instinct.
This one was observing.
Learning.
Analyzing.
Even more disturbing, his Sea of Fire had vanished completely.
Not blocked.
Not resisted.
Devoured.
The cultivator tightened his grip on the sword.
The phantom mountain above him expanded.
At the same time, Fire Law and Wind Law surged together.
The sea of flames transformed into a blazing hurricane.
The surrounding Void trembled.
Kaelan watched silently.
Then, for the first time since the battle began, anticipation appeared in his eye.
The cultivator had become his first true teacher.
And every attack revealed more of the Laws hidden within the enemy’s Way.
Kaelan’s confidence steadily increased.
His tentacles collided with the blazing hurricane.
Countless black holes appeared and disappeared.
The flames vanished.
The winds vanished.
And more fragments of understanding poured into his mind.
The Law of Fire.
The Law of Wind.
The Law of Mountain.
The Law of Water.
The Law of Lake.
The Law of Earth.
The Law of Thunder.
The Law of Creation.
The Law of Spirit.
The cultivator clearly walked a broad path.
He had comprehended numerous Laws and woven them together into a single system.
Every attack exposed another fragment.
Every clash revealed another piece of knowledge.
The information continuously entered Kaelan’s consciousness.
At first, he welcomed it.
Then pain erupted.
His body suddenly froze.
A sharp agony stabbed into his True Spirit.
The pain was so intense that even his massive body trembled.
The fragments of Law were not damaging his body.
They were damaging his already injured True Spirit.
His damaged soul struggled to process such an enormous amount of information.
Yet Kaelan endured.
He refused to stop devouring.
Knowledge was precious.
Knowledge was power.
This opportunity might never come again.
The cultivator suddenly stepped forward.
The silver sword flashed.
A phantom sword energy emerged from the blade.
The attack appeared unreal.
Almost transparent.
Like a reflection that existed between illusion and reality.
Kaelan immediately activated the Void Monster Way.
Dozens of black holes appeared.
Yet this time, nothing happened.
The phantom sword energy passed through them.
It ignored Devouring.
Ignored Destruction.
Ignored the Void itself.
Then it struck Kaelan.
His body remained completely unharmed.
No wounds appeared.
No flesh was torn.
No blood flowed.
Yet Kaelan immediately felt his True Spirit shake violently.
The sword energy had bypassed his body entirely.
It had struck his soul.
Pain exploded through his consciousness.
The already damaged True Spirit suffered another injury.
For the first time since the battle began, genuine caution returned to Kaelan’s mind.
The cultivator could kill him.
Not his body.
His soul.
The silver sword energy represented a threat his Void Monster Way could not currently devour.
The cultivator noticed the reaction.
His eyes brightened.
At last.
He had found a method capable of harming the monster.
Without hesitation, he unleashed another strike.
Then another.
Phantom sword energies filled the Void.
Kaelan dodged.
Twisted.
Retreated.
His massive body flowed between attacks like liquid.
Whenever a sword energy approached, he avoided it rather than attempting to devour it.
Meanwhile, the battle grew increasingly violent.
The cultivator’s mountain expanded until it resembled a world.
Kaelan’s tentacles smashed into it repeatedly.
Each collision created massive shockwaves.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The Void Ocean erupted.
Invisible waves spread across the surrounding region.
The normally calm Void Energy became chaotic.
Gigantic tides of Void Energy rolled outward in every direction.
The drifting rocks nearby shattered.
Fragments were swallowed by the storms.
Even the small world behind Kaelan was affected.
The world’s crystal barrier trembled.
Ripples spread across its surface.
Vast quantities of Void Energy crashed against it.
The World Will instinctively strengthened its defences.
Deep inside the world, countless beings unknowingly witnessed strange celestial phenomena.
Storms formed.
Winds howled.
The world’s natural energy became unusually active.
Yet neither combatant paid attention.
Their focus remained entirely upon one another.
As another collision erupted, Kaelan suddenly sensed something.
A fluctuation.
Hidden.
Subtle.
Almost impossible to notice amidst the chaos.
His eye narrowed.
Someone else was there.
Watching.
Waiting.
The fluctuation came from behind the cultivator.
Before Kaelan could investigate further, danger exploded within his instincts.
A beam of energy suddenly erupted from the Void.
It shot forward without warning.
The attack bypassed the cultivator entirely.
Its target was Kaelan.
The beam moved so quickly that it appeared to cross space itself.
Kaelan’s eye widened.
Without hesitation, his body dissolved into Void Energy.
The beam passed through the location where he had been moments earlier.
The surrounding Void shattered.
A massive region of Void Energy vanished completely.
The terrifying power made even Kaelan feel alarmed.
There was another enemy.
And this one had been hiding throughout the entire battle.
The cultivator also turned in shock.
Clearly, he had not expected the attack either.
Kaelan did not hesitate.
His body flowed backwards through the Void Ocean.
The hidden enemy had changed everything.
One Fifth Tier opponent was dangerous.
Two were potentially fatal.
The information he had gained today was already immense.
There was no reason to continue risking his life.
His body transformed into a stream of Void Energy and slipped away from the battlefield.
The cultivator did not pursue immediately.
Neither did the hidden attacker reveal themselves.
For a brief moment, all three parties remained still.
Watching.
Waiting.
Measuring one another.
And for the first time since the battle began, Kaelan realised that the approaching cultivator had never been the greatest threat hidden within the Void.