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Gu Li’s spiritual body faded alongside a gentle breeze.

The gathered experts’ gazes landed on Kui Lin. Just now, Gu Li had been perfectly clear: whether he cooperated with them was all up to Kui Lin.

That wasn’t all, either: based on their conversation now, they knew that Kui Lin had been hiding far, far too much from them.

They were allies in an alliance for survival. They’d trusted each other, but that trust now had a few newfound cracks.

Pretty much everyone here was the selfish type. Otherwise, they would never have betrayed their respective realms and resorted to conspiracies for their own benefit. 

Kui Lin’s deceit left them with newfound concerns, but this wasn’t the time to take him to task. If they wanted to survive into the next era, they needed that youth’s support. Whether they got it or not was entirely up to Kui Lin.

“Demon Emperor!” After a lengthy pause, a coarse-looking, bearded man with jade green pupils broke the silence. “We won’t ask too many questions. We can even pretend we didn’t hear all that just now. All we care about is transcending the end of our era. If you want our alliance to continue, I advise you…. Give that An Lu girl to that youth.”

“That’s right! Didn’t we all gather together for the sake of transcendence? Demon Emperor, all you have to do is give up that An Lu girl….” The others clutched to this last shred of hope. It really was their last hope, too.

It was difficult for anyone to escape the calamity of the end of their era. Now the Master of the Stars had reached out to work with them. Did they have any reason to refuse? Furthermore, the Master of the Stars didn’t seem like the charitable type. They didn’t think the youth would agree to help them purely out of the goodness of his heart.

All he wanted was a single person. What harm was there in agreeing to such a simple condition?

“All of you, shut up!” To their surprise, the Demon Emperor roared, and a vicious, bestial aura exploded around him. This stunned the rest of the alliance into silence, but it also used up their last reserves of patience. 

Their gazes instantly changed.

They glowered coldly at Kui Lin, who sensed their gazes. He suddenly understood: these people were the leaders of their respective territories, the top elites of their realms. They weren’t his subordinates, and they certainly weren’t people he could just yell into submission.

“We can maintain our alliance for the near future,” said the bearded man. “But after that, what happens next is up to you. Choose wisely, Demon Emperor.” 

With one final glance at Kui Lin, the man left the cave.

All of them were leaders of top-ranked clans and factions. They’d lowered themselves slightly out of respect for the Demon Emperor, who was, after all, one of the three emperors.

But their respect had made the Demon Emperor forget their positions. In truth, they were all comparably powerful, influential figures.

Some of the alliance members left, while others stayed behind.

The Demon Emperor sat beside the campfire, his expression dark. He stared into the flames, lost in thought.

If Gu Li had asked for anyone else, he might very well have agreed on the spot. Why did Gu Li have to ask for An Lu of all people?

An Lu was a girl of the demon race. She was born with a heavenly demon soul.

A hundred million years could pass between the births of such individuals. The Demon Emperor had gone to great lengths to obtain her. He’d even secretly framed, then executed her entire family.

So long as he obtained Zhou Wu’s celestial fate, then devoured An Lu’s Heavenly Demon Soul Body, he could take yet another step forward.

It was even possible that, after taking just one more step, he could transcend.

Why did Gu Li insist on her? Why couldn’t it have been anything else?

Even now, Kui Lin didn’t want to let go over. He didn’t care at all about the alliance members who’d left. So long as he could transcend, other people meant nothing to him.

“Oh right, I almost forgot.” Gu Li’s soul body suddenly reformed in the cave.

The major powers who’d yet to leave said nothing. Gu Li looked around the room and laughed, “It seems there’s been a conflict in your ranks? But that’s fine. I’m here to help resolve it. Kui Lin, are you perhaps thinking that even without me, you can go find the other Master of the Stars? Let me tell you, he hates nothing more than demons.”

Suddenly, Gu Li’s expression shifted. He turned toward a sinister looking man and said, “He hates your Flying Serpent Race too.”

Next, he turned to Xiao Ting. “And your Xiao Family.”

After addressing those three individually, he crossed his arms and snorted. “As for the rest of you, you’ve all betrayed your respective realms. Based on my understanding of that guy, he’ll hate the lot of you. If you want to transcend, I’m your only hope. Help me usurp his hate and help pave my way ahead. That is your only possible path to survival.”

“As for whether you can seize this opportunity or not, well, that’s up to him.” Gu Li shot Kui Lin yet another look. “I’ll give you three days to think things over. Will you release An Lu or not? Release her, and we have something to discuss. If you don’t, you’d best not give me the chance to transcend.”

He stared at the silent Kui Lin, turned to leave, then laughed once more.  “Right, there’s something you might not know. Transcendence isn’t the realm above rulers. True transcendence can be achieved at any cultivation, and it takes just a single step…..”

…..

Any cultivation could transcend?

Ye Zichen met Han Nan’s eyes and replayed the mayor’s words in his head. He felt like his brain couldn’t quite keep up.

What did that mean?

Transcendence didn’t require becoming a ruler first? Any cultivation could transcend? Didn’t that mean even a spiritual body cultivator could become a peerless expert in a single step?

“Uncle Han, what did you just say….?”

“That’s what you misunderstand about transcendence. You think that transcending is a higher cultivation realm and that you can cultivate your way up for it. In truth, transcendence means escaping the bounds of the laws.” Han Han’s words opened up a brand new door for Ye Zichen, who listened with all his might for fear of missing even a single word. 

“Cultivators go from supreme to diviner, and from diviner to ruler, but always within that set framework and always within the bounds of the Laws. Transcendence is leaving those bounds entirely. Cultivation is like climbing up a ladder, moving higher one step at a time, while transcendence is like jumping off the ladder completely!” 

As he spoke, Han Yan drew an accompanying diagram. The explanation and accompanying image allowed Ye Zichen to fully understand the meaning of transcendence.

Cultivating within the Laws was like moving forward or backward. That was all the laws would permit.

Transcendence meant meaning to move to the left or right as well, escaping the bounds of the Laws.

This… was transcendence!