Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

With eyes that resembled two white solar suns, Yan Zaizen inspected the rift before him. It was three hundred thousand li in size. This alone caused his heart to tremble, but what really caused him to feel apprehension was the rift itself.

When it was created, it was seamlessly done. There was no indication or lag between creation on one side and the other. Earlier, Yan Baili had halted the spatial rift of a cultivator with his heavenly might. They ripped a spatial rift from one side, entered the spatial void, tunnels through it, and creates a second rift as their exit point.

This was the fundamental of how heavenly cultivators travel through the spatial void with simply their heavenly might. Even when he fought Guan Yin, entering her rift, this was the case. There are even cultivators who can hide in the spatial void, observing others closely, and remaining hidden.

Yu Shi used this method.

However, this rift was completely and thoroughly sudden. However, no one exited immediately. This meant they were traveling from their creation point.

"This is a rift created by a Heavenly Commander. Their heavenly might undergoes a qualitative change at the seventh-floor. Be careful." Pinaka warned, her voice was calm but there was a tinge of worry within.

Initially, Yan Zaize was about to depart into chaotic space, but he felt his instincts whispering slightly. It was very faint, but it eluded to the possibility of benefits. When he recalled Lang Xue, he decided to stay. He understood that his sixth sense, his instinctual sense, was far greater than normal due to his Non-Entity characteristics.

His senses weren't tainted by the reincarnation cycle or mortal dust, being as clear as 20/20 vision while others had eyes filled with dust and oil. This attributed to his comprehension into the heavens via his eighth sense. Furthermore, he was curious. However, he wasn't completely stupid.

When the sub-realm collapsed, Yan Zaizen had forgotten about the spatial compass. The trans-spatial divine compass could transport someone to anywhere beneath the heavens. Pinaka had once warned him that it could lead to his death, thus he kept it at the back of his mind.

Only after the event did he recall the compass. With this, even if a Heavenly Commander desired him to stay, they'll have to return home in defeat. That being said, he still felt unsure about this compass. He got a very, very odd feeling that using this compass will lead him to ninety-nine paths of death and one point of life. If there was any other situation, he would rather not use it.

From the gigantic spatial rift, a middle-aged man appeared. This man was handsome, having defined features that gave him near perfect masculine features, a well-sculpted physique with sleek and supple muscles, a set of violet eyes that seemed to contain a profound law, and a robe with wide sleeves.

He had his arms folded behind his back, his expression was calm with a faint smile of warmth on his face. However...there was one feature that could not be overlooked.

He was nearly three hundred thousand meters tall!

Besides his height, he had an ordinary bodily proportion. His aura was concealed, but Yan Zaizen could feel his soul, vital energy, and true-essence tremble in his presence.

In comparison, Yan Zaizen was like an ant to a human, likely even smaller. He floated at his midsection, looking with his eyes of white suns, and readied with a clenched fist. For some odd reason, Yan Zaizen felt his body become excited, as if it had found something important or familiar.

Whoosh!

The moving of his violet eyes caused a sound that made Yan Zaizen startled. It was as if a storm of wind formulated and disappeared in an instant. Those warm violet eyes looked down, focusing on Yan Zaizen's body.

Then, he smiled.

"?" With furrowed brows, Yan Zaizen didn't do anything in response. Instead, he continued appraising this tower of a man. However, he couldn't gather any other information. "Pinaka?"

"...this man is a Heavenly Commander and a Royal Fiendgod," Pinaka stated, her voice sounded oddly cowed. She had a greater perceptive ability than Yan Zaizen when it came to analyzing or measuring laws or cultivation bases.

"Royal Fiendgod?"

"A Royal Fiendgod is an existence at the bodily path that has reached the seventh-rank or higher. Their vital energy undergoes a qualitative evolution, awakening a unique bloodline belonging solely to them, outside of their race. This bloodline can be passed along to their descendants, until the ninth generation, unless another Royal Fiendgod is born," Pinaka explained thoroughly.

The reason that bodily bloodlines were so rare had to do with this limitation. For example, Lycahs didn't have a racial bloodline, and there were quite a lot of humanoid races with the same fate. However, this didn't mean a Lycah couldn't be born with a physical bloodline.

If their ancestor reached the rank-seven Fiendgod, they could develop a unique bloodline dubbed as a "Royal" Bloodline.

As for heavenly bloodlines, they simply required a manifestation-level conceptual law with a true-essence cultivation base.

Soul bloodlines were unique developments, typically rare mutations of the soul unconnected to race. However, after being birthed, they can be passed down to descendants, but the chances weren't certain.

"I see." Yan Zaizen's eyes squinted.

"Greetings, young one." The middle-aged man conversed via soul transmission.

Yan Zaizen could feel an impressive soul energy fluctuation from this. "Advanced Astral Soul Realm? This guy's cultivation bases are…"

Seeing Yan Zaizen's lack of response, the middle-aged giant only smiled a little more, "I am the Xiuhei Sovereign, Lord of Xiuhei Earthly Moon, Zhou Xiuhei."

"This!" This time, Yan Zaizen truly felt shocked in heart and mind. In accordance with Lang Xue words, the three major forces in the Sirius Titan Realm, one of them was the Xiuhei Earthly Moon. An eighth-level heavenly-tier force!

He recovered, his mind filled with questions, "My name's Yan Zaizen. Wanderer." As he didn't belong to any specific force, he didn't have any fancy titles or domains, so he was simply a wanderer.

"Perfect. As you know the token, the one which you defended, it belongs to the Xiuhei force." He stated, but there didn't seem to be any forcefulness or dominance in his voice.

"I see." Despite that, even if this man wanted the token, Yan Zaizen wasn't going to give it up.

"No worries, the token is officially yours." Throwing a curveball, he didn't seem to desire the token; instead, he seemed to want something else. "I'll be direct, young one, I wish to offer you a position as a Guest Elder of the Xiuhei Earthly Moon."

"What?" Skeptical, Yan Zaizen didn't immediately answer. He was leaning towards refusing, mostly because he didn't wish to accept any commitments. After all, his promise with Tao to travel the world was still in effect. Well, considering this, he may as well make some things clear.

"I still plan to travel the myriad realms."

"As long as you check in using a transmission relay every ten thousand years, you can travel to anywhere beneath this heaven." Zhou Xiuhei, the Xiuhei Sovereign, answered smoothly.

"I don't really like restrictions."

"As long as you don't cripple or kill without justifiable reason, you have no other restriction."

"I'm quite lazy."

"There's no mission obligation or requirement to have a personal force. As long as you wish, you can stay independent."

"...I'm not cheap."

"The per-millennia stipend for a Guest Elder is one hundred thousand heavenly drops, initiation pay is five hundred thousand heavenly drops."

"What the-" his first thought was to curse. Wasn't this too great? Holy shit. "How many Guest Elders do you have?" He couldn't help but ask. No way this was sustainable if they had several thousand as most sects of a grand size.

"One, you'll be our second."

"...Authority?"

"You'll have all authority of a Lower-tier Elder. The ability to use a realmship for appropriate travels, move a portion of forces of the Xiuhei Earthly Moon, and…"

As he continued to detail the benefits, Yan Zaizen was startled. Was this any different than being an Elder? Why the need for the 'guest'?

Despite this exchange seemingly taking a long time to describe, all of this happened in the time it takes for a breath of time.

"Haaa...with all that, how could I say no? But I do have a question...why me?" If there was only one other Guest Elder, why did this major power personally arrive to give him an offer to join? Any high-ranking member could do so in his place.

"Because you and I travel the same path, the Herculean Path." His words flowed with a smoothness that left Yan Zaizen processing it for a bit.

"WHAT?!"