“If that promise is a water bubble, then let this water bubble contain the entire sea of stars,” Zhi Xuan countered, his voice remaining flat, but with a layer of steel beneath it. He turned slowly, maintaining his gaze level with the Ancient Fox.

  “I am not asking you to believe my words, Great Saint. I am asking you to believe the weight of the impossibility I just carved. In five breaths, I embraced total destruction. In one breath afterward, I leaped to the Peak Consciousness Transformation with a foundation that even Heaven rejected. Isn't that a demonstration of my Dao?”

  He stepped forward, the Devil Tree of Life behind him resonating with his step, as if the Tree were a scepter of authority.

  “You desire Majesty,” Zhi Xuan continued, his tone shifting into cold, calculating persuasion. “I desire Eternity. Your promise of eternity in the past was severed by the Immortals of the Forbidden Plains. They sealed you inside the Nine Heavens Bead. I, holding that Bead, now hold your destiny. I do not promise to restore a failed 'past.' I promise to create a 'future' that has never existed: the Eternal Devil-Heavenly Dao.”

  Ruo Xianxue’s twin Sun and Moon pupils flickered rapidly. Her majestic face showed a rare internal conflict. Her pure Saint side was drawn to the promise of Eternity that transcended time, but her Ancient Devil side was humiliated by the forced control.

  “The Eternal Devil-Heavenly Dao… boundless arrogance,” Ruo Xianxue hissed, her voice now sounding like a deadly whisper, circling Zhi Xuan like a cosmic snake. “To carve such a Dao, you must have Supreme Laws as capital. Not just my fragmented elemental understanding. You need Laws that bind heaven and hell, that penetrate dimensions.”

  She raised her graceful hand, and her Robe of Eternal Black Embers radiated a charming darkness aura.

  “Very well, Monkey. I will accept this Contract of humiliation. I will be your Devil-Heavenly Dao Master. I will instill the lost Knowledge into your vessel. But, I will not work without payment.”

  Ruo Xianxue moved closer until her majestic face was a hair's breadth away from Zhi Xuan's face. Her twin Sun and Moon pupils stared straight into his sapphire eyes, which were now encircled by a blood-red ring. Her Great Saint aura, shrouded in cruelty, flooded Zhi Xuan.

  “You have awakened me, and you have paid with the Nine Dragon Chains. That gives me completeness of memory, but I remain a shattered soul. To stabilize this majestic form and for me to be able to give you Laws that transcend Heaven, I need Precious Life Essence,” Ruo Xianxue whispered, her voice the deadliest temptation.

  Zhi Xuan did not flinch. He had predicted this. A Great Saint bound to a mortal vessel would always need fuel that transcended the mundane.

  “What do you need, Red Stone?” Zhi Xuan countered, without breaking his gaze. Ruo Xianxue smiled cruelly. A smile that made the Consciousness Realm ripple.

  “Not Jade Essence. Not Spiritual Essence. Instead,” Ruo Xianxue suddenly cut off, pulling her face away from Zhi Xuan and letting out a soft sigh. A faint click, shaking her head as if the Great Saint was tired of Zhi Xuan's foolish thinking. "Instead, you must be self-aware and put your stupidity away."

  “I do not need anything from an earthworm like you, for now,” Ruo Xianxue hissed, her tone returning to cold mockery, a defense mechanism to sheath her humiliated majesty. She turned her back to Zhi Xuan, her Robe of Eternal Black Embers dragging on the Consciousness Realm surface again.

  “Your mind, which just leaped from Organ Transformation to Peak Consciousness Transformation, is too filled with the arrogance of mortal victory. You are not stable yet. Your towering Devil Tree of Life is still fragile, like a baby’s skin. I have gained complete memory; this is enough to stabilize myself in this majestic Consciousness Realm.”

  She turned, her twin Sun and Moon pupils staring sharply.

  “Listen carefully, Monkey. I will teach you the path to the true Ancient Yin-Yang Supreme Law—the Law that transcends the Five Elements. That Law is the doorway to your Eternal Devil-Heavenly Dao. But, your current body is only a newly forged vessel. Your physique will not be able to contain that comprehension. You must reach the Soul Transformation realm. In that realm, your soul becomes strong and capable of withstanding the burden of higher Laws.”

  Zhi Xuan clenched his jaw. Frustration stung him. He had just escaped death and leaped realms, only to be faced with a forced pause by the Ancient Devil. However, the calculation in his mind immediately took over. Ruo Xianxue was right. This new foundation required time to take root.

  Zhi Xuan sighed, a cold and sharp breath from his Cleaving Metal Lungs. He acknowledged the absolute truth contained in Ruo Xianxue's every word. He had won the battle of carving a foundation, but the war to achieve Eternity was still long, and he was bound to his Devil Master's advice.

  “Very well, Great Saint,” Zhi Xuan replied, his voice carrying a cold note of acceptance. “I will stabilize my vessel in this earthworm realm. Then, I will step into the Soul Transformation realm, and at that time, you must instill the Ancient Yin-Yang Supreme Law into my vessel.”

  In the middle of the Consciousness Realm, Ruo Xianxue merely snorted. Her Robe of Eternal Black Embers fluttered briefly, and she turned her back to Zhi Xuan. She sat cross-legged on the Devil Tree of Life Island, her majestic and oppressive posture defying grace. She closed her twin Sun and Moon eyes, allowing her Great Saint aura to blend with the vitality energy of the Devil Tree of Life. Her body, now no longer fading, but radiating a stable aura, proving that she had become a Living Anchor in Zhi Xuan’s Consciousness Realm.

  "You look like a little girl who is lost, at least for now." Zhi Xuan continued, tilting his head slightly, his forehead furrowing and nodding slowly as he saw Ruo Xianxue's soul condense and appear clearer and more stable.

  The statement, though sounding like a random observation from a cultivator who had just escaped death, carried a weight of unimaginable insult. Zhi Xuan did not say it with emotion, but with the clarity of cold calculation, as if he were analyzing an artifact.

  Ruo Xianxue’s closed twin Sun and Moon pupils suddenly opened a fraction of a millimeter. Instantly, a flash of pure anger driven by the weight of the Great Saint of the Era of the Nine Heavens' Fall shot out. Cosmic wind roared in the Consciousness Realm. Her body wrapped in the Robe of Eternal Black Embers trembled violently.

  “Impudent!” Ruo Xianxue hissed, her voice now a mixture of the scream of a humiliated Saint and the howl of an imprisoned Ancient Devil. She did not rise; she did not need to rise. By merely releasing a slight aura, she was able to suppress all the air around Zhi Xuan, forcing him to kneel.

  The pressure surpassed the weight of a thousand mountains, pressing Zhi Xuan to the bone. However, just before his knee touched the surface of the Consciousness Realm, the Devil Tree of Life behind Ruo Xianxue pulsed. A pure life aura mixed with Ancient Devil runes surged, clashing with Ruo Xianxue's oppressive aura, stabilizing Zhi Xuan's position. Zhi Xuan staggered slightly, but he remained standing upright. The red circle around his sapphire pupils shone brightly, a manifestation of the Devil Will that refused to submit.

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  "Just a word of welcome," Zhi Xuan said calmly and holding back a slight laugh. "Why are you so sensitive?"

  Ruo Xianxue no longer responded with words. She only released a wave of pure spiritual pressure—a wave without emotion, only the Absolute Suppression Law of a Great Saint that seized all mortal will. The pressure struck Zhi Xuan like a cosmic tsunami.

  The Devil Tree of Life roared, sending tremors through the Consciousness Realm to withstand the attack. Zhi Xuan staggered back one step, but he did not fall. He smiled faintly, a cold and slightly arrogant smile, a sign that he had found the limit of his new prison's tolerance.

  "I understand," Zhi Xuan murmured. "The last touch of lingering arrogance. Save your energy, Great Saint. Our path is still long."

  Zhi Xuan turned away, no longer glancing at the majestic figure sitting cross-legged on his Tree of Life. He had reached a conclusion. Ruo Xianxue had successfully regained the completeness of her memory, manifested her majestic form, and accepted his Contract.

  Now, the Ancient Devil was his Bound Devil-Heavenly Dao Master, a walking library forced to serve the ambition of its vessel. Ruo Xianxue would not be able to harm him as long as she was bound to the Devil Tree of Life, and would not let Zhi Xuan die because that would be the same as destroying her only anchor of life.

  He took a final breath in that majestic Consciousness Realm, allowing the stable energy from the Devil Tree of Life to seep into his soul, condensing every Rune in the sky of his Consciousness Realm.

  WHOOSH!

  In the silent bamboo forest, among the dry river rocks, Zhi Xuan opened his eyes. His sapphire eyes were now calm, cold, and radiated the weight of stable Peak Consciousness Transformation. He had completed his internal cultivation. The debate with the newly awakened Great Saint had stabilized his Tree of Life faster than quiet meditation.

  On his shoulder, Xiao Die fluttered her soft rainbow wings, as if welcoming her master's recovery. The moth's head sniffed and lightly rubbed Zhi Xuan's neck.

  "It is time for us to return," Zhi Xuan murmured. He stood up, brushing the dust from his black robe. He took a breath. The air in the bamboo forest felt cool and peaceful, a contrast to the whirlpool of anger and shame he had just experienced.

  He tried to place his divine sense, his sapphire blue eyes sharpened, and he felt a higher sensitivity. As if his divine sense had increased to an unimaginable stage. Where, when every cultivator steps into Consciousness Transformation, their divine sense not only evolves, but can see and unravel something that was previously invisible to ordinary divine sense.

  Zhi Xuan channeled essence into his divine sense. For a moment, the entire bamboo forest changed. He no longer saw trees and rocks; he saw fine nets of spiritual essence enveloping the mountains. Every bamboo leaf, every particle of dust, and every faint water channel now appeared to be made of complex Runes. He could see the stable Law of Earth beneath the rocks, the vigorous Law of Wood inside the bamboo trunks, and the gentle Law of Water in the dry river.

  The Consciousness Transformation realm allowed him to use the Devil Tree of Life as an anchor to project his Consciousness. His divine sense, now tainted by Devil cruelty and purified by Heavenly Law, transcended the limits of mortal sight.

  He could see the Great Formation installed by the Grand Ancestor on the floating peaks; the Formation now looked like an intricate robe of light, every thread of energy feeling clear to Zhi Xuan's eyes. He could even feel the pulsation of the aura from the Organ Transformation cultivators on the Main Peak who were still recovering from the Heavenly Thunder pressure.

  “An incredible improvement,” Zhi Xuan murmured, the voice filled with cold acknowledgment. The power of his new divine sense gave him the confidence to return immediately and take care of the problems he had left behind. "Tonight, the Jade Immortal Garden."

  Zhi Xuan sighed, this was not like his intention to meet Zhu Qinglan and accept the request to meet at the Jade Immortal Garden. Moreover, the Annual Disciple Celebration was ten days away. All this felt so sudden, he had only been at the Thousand Heavens Sect for one day.

  "I still can't believe it," Zhi Xuan continued to himself, he stared far ahead. "Why did that girl have to enter this sect? If I had known, I would never have joined that Heavenly Selection."

  Zhi Xuan let out a rough breath, channeled by his Cleaving Metal Lungs purifying the air. He knew his murmur was just nonsense. Without the Thousand Heavens Sect's Heavenly Selection, he would never have gained the Heavenly Thunder Blessing, and he would never have traversed this foul Perfect Divine Organ Cycle. Destiny always has a way of binding karmic threads, and Zhu Qinglan's karmic thread was the most tangled and thickest he had ever encountered.

  He turned, ignoring the creases in his robe and his slightly wet hair. He stepped out of the bamboo clump, his newborn Devil-Heavenly Will projecting a sharp, cold aura, far more terrifying than an ordinary Consciousness Transformation aura. He no longer cared about gazes; he was a newly forged Devil, and the shame of being bare-chested in front of Zhu Qinglan was now just a seasoning in his Dao story.

  Zhi Xuan patted his waist, and the Heart-Nurturing Jade appeared in his hand. He grabbed his loose hair, tying it neatly, leaving a split strand of hair on his forehead. He sighed and felt the restlessness in his Divine Wheel fade, becoming a certain calm.

  "I must go to the Disciple Hall." Zhi Xuan murmured. "I do not know yet which Peak I will stay on to cultivate and live."

  Zhi Xuan spun his body, his steps now light and stable, like a blade drawn from its sheath. He channeled a little essence to manipulate space. His figure disappeared in a strand of dark light. Shooting towards the Main Peak which was the distribution area for the ten chosen Star King Ladder disciples.

  The flash of dark light was not entirely smooth; the leap of Consciousness Transformation divine sense allowed Zhi Xuan to make short spatial travel, but Zhu Qinglan's karmic slap had left a ripple of chaos in his meridians. In a thousandth of a second he appeared on the main jade terrace near the Registration Hall, the heart of the Thousand Heavens Sect. As soon as his foot landed, a sharp coldness enveloped him. Not natural cold, but thick spiritual pressure.

  "Where are the other disciples?" Zhi Xuan murmured, he glanced around to find faces like Su Baolian, Feng Yi or Fei Sheng with his fan. But there was only him and it was visible on the Immortal Peak Jade Board, only his name remained. "They have already taken a mountain peak for cultivation, only I remain."

  Zhi Xuan shifted his gaze to the Immortal Peak Jade Board, a crystal monolith that radiated a calm light and listed the names of the top ten disciples chosen through the Heavenly Selection. The nine names above his, including Fei Sheng, Feng Yi, and Han Jue, were now followed by the name of the Mountain Peak assigned to them. Only Zhi Xuan's name remained, below it, only an empty symbol awaited assignment.

  "So fast," Zhi Xuan hissed, his cold and sharp aura clashing with the Hall's spiritual pressure. "Or they deliberately left me because of the embarrassing Refinement Pool drama."

  He walked towards the Hall, his steps calm. Inside the Registration Hall, the atmosphere was quiet, there was only an Elder in a gray robe sitting at a jade table, busy carving Runes on several ancient bamboo scrolls. The Elder had an immeasurable realm, his aura perfectly integrated with the Sect's Formation, giving him a weight of extremely stable existence.

  The Elder raised his head as Zhi Xuan stepped in. His old and wise eyes narrowed, staring at Zhi Xuan with a gaze that seemed to penetrate the Robe of Eternal Black Embers now hidden in his Consciousness Realm.

  "Zhi Xuan," the Elder said, his voice calm, yet bearing the weight of a newly formed universe. "Your presence is unexpectedly fast. We thought you would need at least seven days to recover from... the foundation's destruction."

  Zhi Xuan cupped his hands politely, he did not dare to be arrogant in front of an entity whose aura was at least in the Soul Transformation realm or higher. "The foundation has been restored and strengthened, Senior. I have come to inquire about the assignment of the cultivation Peak."

  The Elder smiled faintly. "Destruction is refinement. You have reached the Peak Consciousness Transformation. A leap that made the entire Thousand Heavens Sect whisper. A disciple who carves a Dao like this is the rarest." He slid the Immortal Peak Jade Board towards Zhi Xuan, his finger pointing to Zhi Xuan's remaining name.

  "Heavenly Sword Peak," the Elder said in a calm and wise tone. "One thousand Divine Black Jade Stones and a Cultivation Cave Formation, your monthly quota is listed on that Jade Board."

  Zhi Xuan shifted his gaze to the Jade Board. Below his name, three words were now carved: Heavenly Sword Peak. He frowned. Heavenly Sword Peak? That was one of the nine main peaks of the Thousand Heavens Sect, known for its sharp cultivation energy and dominating Great Formation Law. That Peak should have been allocated to Han Jue, the disciple with the Golden Dragon foundation, or Fei Sheng, with the Fire Wind foundation.

  And furthermore, that peak was the closest peak to Zhu Qinglan's Immortal Jade Peak, who was the top Genius in the Thousand Heavens Sect. The Nine Main Peaks were usually only filled by Senior Disciples with Five Element cultivation. However, Zhi Xuan, who had just stepped into Consciousness Transformation, was given that ninth peak as if it were normal.

  “Senior,” Zhi Xuan asked, his voice slightly low. “Heavenly Sword Peak… isn't that the Peak closest to Holy Fairy Zhu's Immortal Jade Peak?”