Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

Gathering his mental facilities, Yan Zaizen meditated silently amidst the silence of chaotic space. Floating in a cross-legged position, he calmed his breathing and allowed his mind to roam freely in thought.

The basis of comprehending a law had to do with two things, connections and concept. Firstly, connecting to the heavens, no matter how loosely. As a Non-Entity, his mind was untainted and unrestricted by heavenly limitations or weight, so this was as easy as a thought.

It was this degree, this phenomenal degree of connectivity that his understanding of the heavens were the highest and, despite his unwillingness, he would often undergo enlightenment.

Secondly, concept. This was vital and many fail in comprehending laws because of this. The concept must be inline with the predefined conceptual limitations of a law. This was heavenly limitation as well, with the Non Universe not being subjected to this.

Every concept Yan Zaizen had ever devised under heavenly law was previously mapped out and created. With his connection to the heavens, his mind being unrestrained by arbitrary limitations, he could easily gleam upon a pre-established path.

However, there are paths, ultimate paths, that include a multitude of concepts into a singular whole. The Imperial Law of Spacetime and Rebirth were excellent examples of this. They incorporated quite a lot of concepts, merged as a perfect whole. However, even these laws had concepts divided.

"Realm of Chaotic Space." Yan Zaizen recalled his experience in connecting and comprehending this imperial conceptual law. He had merged the essence of Space - Spatial Form of Infinite Stability - and Time - Temporal Wind of Eternal Change - to produce it.

Now, he had to do the same for the Law of Samsara.

"Huuuu! Haaaa..." He inhaled deeply and exhaled softly, his hands held in front of his chest.

"Unyielding Flame of Life embodies life’s everlasting persistence and tenacity, burning all to strive for all. In the face of death, at its near end, it’s will ignites all death!" As he pondered the profundity of the Unyielding Flame of Life, he recalled his first encounter with this law.

It was his first law he had ever comprehended. It was in Han Genji’s mountain base that had hundreds of doors. At the time, he was lost, confused, and helpless about the events beforehand.

It was also laughable in hindsight.

He couldn’t remove any materials from the Meteor Ring, leaving him vexed and wishing to cry, but with no one to cry to. At the time, he saw an inky, black piece of wood and atop this wood was a small, pale white flame.

It was the regalia of Life and Death, the odd two Regalia into one, but in a state of perfect balance. Two extremes existing together in a similar way as Yin and Yang.

He couldn’t help but feel nostalgia. The time at Han Genji’s place had been a defining moment in his life. It was here that he comprehended his first law, started his path as a Herculean, and the start of his journey home.

"Life is truly full of mysteries," Musing slightly, he redirected his thoughts towards the laws. A bright, white flame emerged between his palms. It lingered there quietly, existing peacefully with all things.

"Siphoning Shadow of Death embodies death’s everlasting persistence and tenacity, much akin to life, absorbing all into its embrace, strengthening itself so that it can assimilate all. It has no end, has no beginning, but it’s will is unrelenting in its pursuit and ambition!’ Yan Zaizen felt the profoundness of death and how it was quite similar to life, but wholefully different.

It was like the difference between selfless and selfish, protective and destructive, serene and chaotic, satisfied and ambitious! While one acts as a guardian, the other acts as a monster.

"Yet...why do I feel that...the roles can be perfectly swapped and still remain consistent?" If life can be considered serene, it can also be considered chaotic, as it is never known for its consistency. If death can be considered a chaotic, then it can also be considered serene, as it death is death, and you can never be more dead than dead.

If life can be considered selfless, then wouldn’t always wanting to exist regardless of what it consumes be selfish?

Yan Zaizen felt his thinking was a little too broad, but it was likely closer to the truth than anything else.

An orb of inky, black appeared next to the bright, white flame. The orb seemed to be thrummed with an intense desire to siphon all creation, bringing all things into death, while the flame seemed intent on allowing life to live peacefully!

They seemed to interact with each other, slowly increasing and reducing in size. It was like the scene displayed by the inky, black wood.

"Orb of Ever-Shifting Soul!" Yan Zaizen recalled this soul. It was, originally, his belief in changing Pinaka to a conventional soul. Unfortunately, the True Spirit Path was outlawed by the heavens, so soul laws had no affect on her.

This conceptual law was quite particular. It denoted the concept of shifting one soul form into another, such as transforming a conventional soul into a Phantasm.

His first contact with this law was the first-floor of the Asura Phantom Realm, where a beam attempted to morph his soul into a mindless phantom. This phantom would kill until it transformed into a Phantasm.

An orb of sky-blue appeared below his avatars of life and death. They established a perfect triangle, but the soul wasn’t intimately connected like life and death, but it was close.

Yan Zaizen’s eyes brightened, using his all to bring to three together in unison at the middle of the triangle! Rumbling sounds echoed as they became closer, a profound heavenly force started to fluctuate.

When Yan Zaizen had firstly fused two laws, a rippling force emanated that would’ve severely injured him, but now, there was none of that. As his mind heightened, so did his control.

The three concepts merged slowly. The force that rippled seemed to contain the essence of soul life, soul death, and soul stability. It seemed to lean towards the soul, unlike the Imperial Law of Rebirth.

He blinked.

He entered the heavenly domain. At this point, Yan Zaizen had been on all three levels of the heavenly domain over three hundred times, meaning that, just by living, he had comprehended more than a three hundred laws! Therefore, at this point, entering the heavenly domain was almost as easy as entering chaotic space.

As he appeared within this dark area that seemed to emanate the core of the heavens, he felt a familiar feeling. "The concept most attuned to my comprehensions," as he carelessly said this, he stepped towards the direction of that feeling. Like lightning, he zoomed through the heavenly domain. It was as if the domain itself was shuttling his body to that feeling.

As he arrived, he saw a spherical object. It was nearly transparent, its outer shell being a light-grey color. In truth, it wasn’t light grey, but more so dark-white. It was such an odd color that perhaps saying it was the lightest shade of grey imaginable would be accurate.

Within the sphere was an image of a planet. It was as if this planet contained all life and death in a perfect cycle. "Establishing your own cycle by merging physicality and spirituality. It’s not so different than creating your own sub-realm, with your own laws of time, space, and location." As he pondered this, he reached out towards this sphere.

The moment his hand touched it, for the first time, he saw a scene flash before his eyes. This scene was of a world, a world he had never seen before, but within this world was a lone gear that turned clockwise eternally. He had a faint feeling that as long as this gear turned, so did all the souls in the world.

However, in this world, the laws of the soul was trembling, as if it was attempting to escape. On the top of this gear was a small figure dressed in white, holding a black item that seemed like a blade and a staff. This figure turned around but the face was hazy.

"Hell?" As he tried to glimpse more at the scene, his consciousness was pushed out of the heavenly domain.

As he returned to his mind, he felt information pertaining to the Imperial Law of Samsara emerge in his mind. "Cycle of Hell?" His first instincts told him this was correct, but another name suddenly materialized within his thoughts, "Samsara..." Yan Zaizen was startled.

The name of the concept was just ’Samsara?!’