Isolationist Homeland

Yaan had cleared up the Ghu Clan, removing them as the province's ruler and replacing the lord of these lands with the Heavenly Path Sect. News spread fast when something so major happened in every corner of the province, not to mention the rumours of the silver-haired demon, a mysterious monster who left the province's cultivators shivering in terror.

This worked out just fine for Yaan, since this fear would keep the people in check whilst he sorted out the remaining details. However, apparently, Elia wasn't happy with ruling the province using tyranny and fear, and she wanted to reassure the people that the Heavenly Path Sect would bring about bountiful order and prosperity to the new Heavenly Path Province. Her dream was to create a truly righteous land that the Ghu Clan had prevented from sprouting for so long, a land where all people could have the chance to cultivate in peace, should they wish to do so.

Yaan, really not caring how these small things were managed, left her to it. Since he had terrified the life out of the province's cultivators, nobody would dare to target Elia, whom was known to be supported by the 'Silver Demon'. And besides, she was strong enough to look out for herself - she had done so for hundreds of years after all, Yaan didn't need to babysit her.

As he hovered above the Greenwood Mountain Range, Yaan couldn't help but mumble to himself.

"How come people always give me such simple nicknames? On the Blood Plane I was the Red Demon, and here I'm the Silver Demon…Old Thief was right, it really isn't fair when others get to choose your title like this."

With a sigh, Yaan shook his head. The only reason people came up with nicknames for him, was because he rarely ever provided the public with his actual name, or a proper title that they could address him by. He only made public appearances and speeches when necessary, otherwise, he preferred to keep to himself and those close to him.

"I wonder what people will call me once I become an immortal…" Yaan trailed off slightly. He wondered, would he and the main body adopt separate names and identities, or perhaps, would they…

He shook his head again, not wanting to dwell on this. With a resolute expression, he steeled his gaze and repeated his resolve to himself.

"I will protect my home, no matter what. That's why I need to do this…something so extreme that nobody, not even the strongest immortals on Planet Yushu, could ever imagine…"

Yaan had actually already improved the formation protecting Heavenly Path Mountain. He had decided that he would later do the same thing for the Zue Clan. Of course, since he hadn't spent too much time building these formations, the improvements weren't the best that he could achieve, but it was still more than sufficient to prevent any cultivators below the Immortal Step from intruding into his home with malicious intent.

And as for Immortal Step powerhouses…if they arrived at Heavenly Path Mountain, then it would already be too late. He needed to implement far more drastic measures; a formation the likes of which would leave even the planet's immortals feeling shocked.

"I can improve upon my formations further once I reach the Immortal Step, but I won't wait until then to lay down the foundations. And besides…I don't need to wait, now that my dao of formations has attained immortal stage comprehension."

Yaan had vast experience with formations, but in the past, he had never tried to understand the fundamental intuitive mysteries behind formations, he had only learned to study them intellectually. The Dao Clone of Mind had retained this intellectual understanding, but because Yaan retained his memories of hundreds of years of many different formations, without his intelligence blocking his way, and with the Dao Clone of Qi's monstrous innate dao comprehension, he reached immortal stage comprehension in this dao far too quickly.

Illusions, life and death, slaughter, and now, formations. These were the four daos that Yaan had achieve immortal stage comprehension in - and he had actually achieved comprehension into two of the fragments of illusions, truth and concealment. This was basically unheard of for a cultivator below the Immortal Step.

And it wasn't like he had comprehended simple daos, either. His dao of illusions concealment fragment and his dao of slaughter comprehension were more normals, but his comprehension into the truth fragment of the dao of illusions was what allowed him to turn illusion into reality. And as for his comprehension into the dao of life and death, wherein he had comprehended the complete fragment of rebirth…

This was one of the most shocking fragments of dao that could be comprehended in this world. Yaan was yet to put this dao to good use, but his complete understanding of the Heavenly Dao's concept of rebirth was beyond abnormal, and was something that eluded even divinities….

However, Yaan's dao comprehension ability had always been monstrous, and now, it had grown further after he absorbed the Fragment of Qi's own talent. It should also be remembered that in Yaan's Immortal Ascension Tribulation, he bore witness to the true form of the Heavenly Dao itself, causing all of his dao comprehensions to shoot up to shocking levels. After that, upon reincarnating onto the Spirit Plane, he experienced the pure comprehensive ability of a dao soul that was directly exposed to the world, further enhancing his dao comprehensions and providing him with a unique insight into the nature of dao itself.

With all these things considered it was no surprise that Yaan's dao comprehension was rapidly growing stronger with each passing day.

Yaan stood above Yuso Mountain, central of the nine mountains, and closed his eyes. He stayed like this, unmoving, for 99 days straight.

Suddenly, Yaan's eyes shot open. Without warning, he raised the wooden sword above his head, and the image that he had been manifesting within his mind's eye, transformed into an illusion of epic proportions in the sky above.

In an instant, the entire region above the Greenwood Mountain Range – meaning the entire 'Northern' border of the Heavenly Path Province, was illuminate with a blinding bright light.

"A sword is indeed a tool designed to kill…but I want my sword, to become a sword that also knows how to protect. Life and death are two sides of the same coin…linked together by the connection of slaughter."

After saying these words, Yaan's eyes shone with a white light so bright that his existence was like a star in the night sky. The white sky that had previously enveloped the entire mountain range, suddenly expanded rapidly. Before anyone either inside or outside of the province could process what was going on, the white sky had now covered the entire border of the Heavenly Path Province!

However, for now, this was only an illusion; an illusion of the formation that Yaan had designed using his heart as the source of inspiration.

"This formation will protect all that I hold dear; it is my implementation of life and death, inspired by my Agile Illusion Art's 3rd step - the step of death." Yaan spoke quietly, but his voice echoed out across the entire Heavenly Path Province, sending the minds of countless living beings into turmoil. They could feel the terrific will contained within these words, and yet, they had the feeling…that this was far from over.

"From today forth, I declare the Heavenly Path Province as a land under my protection - and a land separate to the rest of Yushu Planet. There is only one fate for those who dare to stand against me - death. I do not care if you are a mortal, a cultivator, or an immortal. If you threaten my home, I will extinguish your existence from this world."

Each of Yaan's words fused into the white illusion in the sky, but after he stopped speaking, it looked like the white light surrounding the province might dissipate. However, just as the light was about to start fading away, Yaan stabbed down with his wooden sword, piercing through the peak of Yuso Mountain, and splitting the entire mountain in half!

His sword strike continued to sink into the depths of the mountain, until…

His sword strike fused with the mountain's Spirit Heart.

Yaan could not create a formation that lived up to his own expectations with his current power, but by borrowing the immense and near-endless Spiritual Energy of the Spirit Heart, which connected countless spirit veins throughout the province, he could do it!

BOOM!

An explosive clap of thunder echoed through the sky, and in an instant, the illusory white sky turned into reality! As it manifested out from its illusory state and became 'real', the people watched on with slack jaws…as a single sword strike created an enormous wall of light, rapidly soaring in both directions around the entire Heavenly Path Province, until both sides of the sword strike, imbued with countless complex formation runes born from Yaan's will, finally reconnected with the Spirit Heart, which he had transformed into the formation's core!

Yaan exhaled deeply and exhaustion filled his eyes as he drifted down to the ground.

As he descended slowly to the ground and the formation linked to the Spirit Heart, to the provinces, and to himself, many of his dao comprehension which had been on the verge of reaching immortal stage comprehension, explosively crossed that boundary.

He comprehended another immortal stage fragment of the slaughter dao - the opposite to the original fragment of pure massacre that he had originally comprehended back then. Now, Yaan had comprehended the slaughter…which turned death back into life. This was only possible thanks to his comprehension of rebirth, which was essentially part of this cycle of life, death and slaughter to begin with.

Simultaneously, he finally comprehended the dao of life and the dao of death to the immortal stage. He was infinitesimally close to reaching this point before now, and creating this formation…this formation that was so shocking that it surpassed all belief…allowed him to reach this stage.

Naturally, his comprehension of the dao of death was over the fragment of converting life to death via slaughter. Likewise, his comprehension over the dao of life was over the fragment of converting death back to life, via the opposite side of slaughter that he had just comprehended to the immortal stage.

This development in Yaan's dao comprehension was shocking on the surface, but it was actually to be expected, since he had already comprehended the dao of life and death's rebirth fragment, which strongly tied together with these daos.

He stood atop the Spirit Heart, which glowed with every colour of the rainbow and emanated tremendous amounts of Spiritual Energy into the formation.

When Yaan landed on the ground, the wooden sword transformed back into a young woman. With a concerned look, June grabbed hold of Yaan's arm and looked into his tired eyes.

"Yaan, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, June." Yaan pacified his concerned sister sword as he looked up at the overbearing white wall ahead of him. Whenever anyone, either inside or outside of the province, gazed upon this thousands of miles long formation wall, Yaan's bold declaration and threat would echo through their minds, as if a ghost was reminding him of what this formation represented.

"But you really overexerted yourself Yaan…that formation isn't something that you should have been able to create with your cultivation base…" June followed his gaze and looked at the formation, which she had helped to create, wearing a dazed expression.

"I know…but I did it anyway. Why should I limit myself to that which is possible? I will never be able to defend my home if my resolve is so weak. After all, eventually…he will also come here, and he will not leave my people in peace…"

Like the other two Dao Clones, the Dao Clone of Qi had been informed by the Primordial Sage that she would provide him with assistance a single time, so long as it did not harm the main body. Naturally, she also wouldn't act against the Primordial Devil personally.

Like the other two, he also realised that he would need to use this 'assistance' to bring the other two over to the Qi Plane, where the battle against the Primordial Devil would inevitably take place.

When Yaan looked up at his formation, which glowed with a splendid white glow so magnificent that it would leave all who saw it, even in immortals, in awe and respect, Yaan couldn't help but smile.

He had separated the Heavenly Path Province from the rest of the world. He did this by surrounding the entire province with a formation so immense that even immortals would be left feeling stunned.

As for the function of this formation?

It did not prevent any living being from entering or leaving the Heavenly Path Province in anyway. It had only one function, but this function was why Yaan boldly claimed that he had isolated the Heavenly Path Province from the world, and why he declared that all who who dared to intrude into his homeland would die.

The formation was formed by his sword strike, but the sword strike was only his way of creating the boundary, and turning illusion into reality. The effect of the formation was actually very simple…

All who passed through this formation wall, would die. Then, upon reaching the other side, they would be reborn anew as a mortal. Perhaps, it was his accidental destruction of the four planes' cycle of samsara that had allowed him to achieve something so extreme.

Yaan imbued his entire comprehension of dao, and the will to protect his home in his heart, to create this formation. This formation - The Heavenly Rebirth Formation - was a passage of rebirth for any being brave enough to step through.

He had done just as he said - Yaan had truly separated his homeland from the world.