3,000th Formation

With the Transcendent Realm Divine Court subordinate defeated, and the true Divine Court members restrained by the Spirit Plane Lord, the large golden palace was now empty aside from Yaan, the mad elephant, and the Primordial Sage. Yaan briefly checked for any signs of others and found that the remaining Divine Court subordinates had been transported to an underground shelter beneath the golden palace, but they had no way to return on their own, so Yaan simply left them be.

He sat on the mad elephant's back and meditated, ignoring the mad elephant as it ran around the golden palace hall in excitement. It seemed to be even more excited than it had been in the outside world, and eventually, it settled contently on a particular half mile wide region near to the centre of the palace hall, constantly running in circles around this space whilst roaring out happily every now and again.

The Primordial Sage watched it as she pondered over its actions. She had seen it acting this way, though to a lesser extent, 2,999 times across the 6th Layer of Heaven. She also didn't forget that before coming to this 6th Heaven Hall of Rebirth, Yaan had promised the mad elephant that it would like this place…

She had long since realised that the previous 2,999 formations were all positioned in places chosen not by Yaan, but by the mad elephant itself. Now, the position of this 3,000th formation was chosen by Yaan, in the same place as one of the previous cornerstones of the cycle of rebirth. Interestingly, the mad elephant was acting like it had just discovered the most incredible thing that it had ever seen…

The Primordial Sage's gaze shifted towards Yaan himself. Her eyes continued to glimmer with emerald light, but it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Yaan could somewhat discern others' hidden thoughts since he could se through their concealed emotions, but the Primordial Sage lacked all emotion, making her the only person in this world that he couldn't understand at all.

Yaan knew that he was being watched, he knew that the Primordial Sage was trying to determine exactly what he was doing, and perhaps she had already ascertained part of the truth, he couldn't be sure. But even if this was the case, he couldn't do anything about it, so like always, he ignored the Sage and focussed on his own path.

The dao-infused attacks from the Transcendent Realm soul cultivator were able to injure his illusory body, leaving countless cuts across him. However, when Yaan focussed on these wounds, they gradually transformed from cuts to deep black cracks, eventually joining the rest of the abyssal black cracks that tormented his Dao Soul. He stopped shedding illusory blood at this point, but his figure was now extremely jarring to look at, releasing a deep aura of pain.

Not many beings in this world could remain completely unphased when faced with this aura, but the Primordial Sage was one such unaffected being, and the mad elephant was another. That said, both of these individuals were now accustomed to the oddities surrounding Yaan's existence.

The mad elephant continued to trample around the golden palace, never seeming to tire of its excitement. It was fortunate that this place was built from sturdy materials and reinforced with powerful formations, because otherwise, the elephant's wanton aura of destruction would certainly destroy everything around it, just like during his rampage across the 6th Layer of Heaven.

Three months later, Yaan finally opened his eyes and exhaled deeply. There was a look of tiredness within his gaze, but he quickly concealed this, and before long, he jumped down from the mad elephant's back.

In these three months, Yaan came to understand his current state of being on a much deeper level and managed to suppress the injuries across his illusory body. He was now certain that his 'body' really was just an illusory representation of his Dao Soul, and in reality, the dao-infused attacks which struck his illusory body inflicted injuries upon his Dao Soul. These injuries were then reflected back to his illusory body.

Whilst the injuries hadn't completely healed, they had been suppressed and recovered enough that he was able to once again hide the abyssal black cracks from appearing on his illusory body. Yaan determined that so long as he was able to maintain this state, then he was in good enough condition to utilise his full strength.

The idea of completely removing all traces of those abyssal cracks from his Dao Soul was still just a dream for Yaan, unattainable in his current state. He was born with a damaged dao heart and Dao Soul, this was simply the nature of his existence as a heart demon given physical form. Until he overcame the karma that bound him to his painful origins, it would be impossible to reach a complete state.

In fact, even if he did manage to sever all of his karma with the Primordial Devil, Yaan still felt uncertain about whether or not he would be able to heal.

Regardless, this was the path with the greatest chance of success.

Yaan ignored the mad elephant, who continued to run in circles excitedly even after Yaan jumped down from his back. He ignored the Primordial Sage, who would no doubt gain further insight into his plan after he finished this 3,000th formation.

Yaan walked to the centre of the mad elephant's circular run, then stretched out his hand. His hand turned into a blur, as if it both existed within this world, yet also didn't at the same time. He felt a strange sensation brush past his skin - he was very familiar with this sensation, as it was the feeling of his illusory body reaching into the fabric of the 6th Layer of Heaven itself.

'I can touch the fabric of the 6th Layer of Heaven, but I can't so much as perceive the fabric of the greater Spirit Plane as a whole. There are two reasons that I'm able to touch this spatial layer…firstly, because the Spirit Plane is split into so many different realms, the fabric of each minor realm is much more corporeal compared to the ethereal fabric of a complete World Plane. Secondly…I can sense the fabric of the Spirit Planes' core layers because I was responsible for the destruction of the cycle of rebirth.'

Yaan sighed in his mind as he thought about all that he had come to understand in silence, and all that he had tried his best to keep hidden from those around him.

'I didn't understand it at first, but after gaining divine stage comprehension in the dao of illusions, combined with my understanding of rebirth, the memory of my passage over to the Spirit Plane has become much more clear. I was unconscious at the time, but I still felt my journey through the cycle of rebirth; I came in contact with the cycle as it was dismantled. The cycle was originally intertwined with the fabric of the 13 core layers of the Spirit Plane…'

The Primordial Sage was correct when she guessed that Yaan's formation had some connection to the former cycle of rebirth. Yaan was without a doubt the only being below the Divine Step with the ability to sense the fabric of the individual core layers of the Spirit Plane, and he could only achieve this because he had passed through the cycle of rebirth, for some reason causing its destruction, and he now possessed vague memories of the sensation of the cycle's dismantling.

It was for this reason that he could use the world's spatial fabric to create his formation. It was also for this reason, that he planned to make use of the dormant skeleton of the former cycle of rebirth, transforming it into his own new formation, one that would replace the unfixable cycle of rebirth, thereby completely enveloping the core of the Spirit Plane.

He couldn't directly target the Spirit Plane itself, but the Spirit Plane was not as stable as it had been in the past. The Spirit Plane now consisted of 19 layers in total, but only 13 of those could be considered its 'core'. In the past, these 13 layers had been used to create the cycle of rebirth, which utilised the power of an entire world plane in order to create a miraculous effect.

However, Yaan's formation would not be considered 'miraculous' by any being in this world. If he managed to finish his formation, if he managed to activate it, and if it actually worked as planned, then it would go down in history as the most cataclysmic, catastrophic formation, that this world had ever seen. After all, this formation wasn't just made from the fabric of the Spirit Plane's core layers…it was also created using the mad elephant's destructive aura as a material.

In all honesty, Yaan did not know if he would be able to build this formation successfully.

In all honesty, he truly hoped that he would never be forced to use it. This formation was his insurance, in case the worst case scenario came to be. It would be preferable if he wasn't forced to this end…

Unfortunately, Yaan knew from experience that life never went as he hoped. That was why he was preparing for the worst case scenario…in his life, the worst case scenario very often came to be.

After spending three whole years on the 3,000th formation, Yaan was finally finished. For a long time, the Primordial Sage stared at the formation, which vanished from the world before her very eyes as soon as Yaan stepped away. However, since she had watched him build it, she was naturally able to see through its concealment…and she saw through the illusory karmic link which connected it to the other 2,999 formations, unbeknownst to anyone else.

When Yaan saw her focussed gaze, which he felt was even brighter than usual, he had a strong feeling that she had seen through another part of the truth.

The Sage had finally confirmed that Yaan truly did possessed divine stage dao of karma comprehension. Well, her discovering this so early on wasn't a total loss for Yaan - at the very least, he now had a much better understanding of the Primordial Sage's capabilities.

"Sage, you can continue examining my formation without me. If you want to see where I am heading with this, then open up a passageway to the 5th Layer of Heaven."

Yaan spoke calmly, but in his heart, he felt uncertain. If the Primordial Sage saw through what he was working towards, then there was a good chance that she would stop him here and now…

After a few moments, the Primordial Sage looked at Yaan and nodded.

"Very well. As you say, I wish to see if you can complete this formation."