A hundred years slipped quietly by in day after day of study.
After closing the last law manuscript, Jie Ming did not rise at once. Instead he sank his consciousness into his spiritual sea and carefully checked what this final round of study had yielded.
In the spiritual sea, now entirely golden, a new golden law thread was pulsing at a steady frequency, echoing the other golden law threads from afar.
Soon, this golden thread merged into the Ring of Truth and formed new connections with the other threads.
Having seen this clearly, Jie Ming opened his eyes. “Finally finished.”
His voice was not loud, but the words lifted a weight off Jie Ming’s mind.
To complete this step, Jie Ming really had made preparations beyond counting.
Now, the last piece of the puzzle for his advancement had finally been filled in.
He had completed the most basic study and mastery of every fundamental law that had been incorporated into the wizard civilization’s theoretical system.
Although the vast majority of those laws were still far from profound, let alone anywhere near complete mastery, at least on the basis of understanding and application, he no longer had any obvious gaps.
That meant he had truly achieved the mastery of all the laws.
By the wizard civilization’s standards, this was only mastery of the foundational part of every law; it did not mean he had become an omnipotent wizard able to command every law at will.
But for Jie Ming, this step meant far more than that.
Because at the very instant the last golden law thread stabilized, he could sense that the other power system within his body had changed as well.
Jie Ming gathered his focus and turned his attention to his true body.
The next moment, a clarity he had never felt before welled up in his mind.
In the past, to understand the myriad things of the world, he had usually needed to start from phenomena, searching step by step for the connections between things through observation, analysis and deduction.
Even with a vast store of knowledge already mastered, there were always parts he had yet to understand, which could only be gradually clarified with the help of experiment and verification.
But now, that mode of cognition was changing.
When he looked once more at the experimental equipment around him, the rules that had once needed to be understood one at a time now linked up in his consciousness of their own accord.
The reactions between all things were no longer isolated problems; the connections behind them had become far more intuitive.
That did not mean Jie Ming suddenly knew everything unknown. It was only that many problems that had once required elaborate deduction to think through could now be grasped at their key point with just a little thought.
It was as though knowledge that had been scattered across different regions had finally been placed into a single complete structural diagram.
He could see the connections between the various parts, and judge more clearly what result a given change would set off.
And nature cultivation in the cultivation system was all about illuminating the mind to see one’s true nature.
Its core was not the mere accumulation of knowledge, but letting the mind gradually shake off confusion and ignorance, and truly understand the relationship between oneself and the outside world.
Now, the completion of the mastery of all the laws served as just such an opportunity.
When he could understand the connections among all things from a more complete perspective, many principles that had once required repeated reflection naturally became clear as well.
He no longer had to deliberately suppress stray thoughts; his mind returned swiftly to stability on its own.
Nor did he have to check every detail of his power’s circulation again and again to accurately judge the problems that might arise in it.
The understanding that had once had to be built up bit by bit through experience was now gradually settling into a more stable instinct.
Jie Ming could clearly feel his mind growing more resolute.
That was because his understanding of himself, of his power and of the laws of the outside world had deepened, and his judgment was no longer so easily swayed by unknown appearances as before.
This was precisely the change that nature cultivation pursued.
“So that’s how it is.”
As his understanding of the world’s laws grew complete, his mind would naturally be affected too.
And that influence had, at this moment, finally accumulated to a degree sufficient to drive a breakthrough.
“I understand now.”
The instant he opened his eyes, the aura within Jie Ming’s body changed.
The Spiritual Qi Law, which had been running stably all along, formed a far closer connection with his mind. The power system that had previously been sustained mainly by law structures and the circulation of energy seemed to have suddenly gained another, deeper mode of coordination.
Unlike the enormous commotion of his previous breakthroughs, his consciousness suffered no shock, and his body showed no discomfort at all.
On the contrary, every change seemed natural and smooth.
It was as though he had long been standing before this threshold, lacking only the final step.
Now, that step had finally been taken.
The Dao Integration Realm, broken through.
The Great Ascension Realm, achieved!
His aura did not spread outward in any dramatic way, but in his own perception, his whole being was utterly different from before the breakthrough.
After carefully taking stock of the changes in himself, a faint smile rose at the corners of Jie Ming’s mouth.
It had succeeded.
After completing this breakthrough, Jie Ming did not test his power as he had in the past.
For cultivators at other realms, breaking through a realm usually meant having to confirm the change in one’s strength by various means, and readjusting to the effects of the growth in power.
But advancement to the Great Ascension Realm had no such need.
The improvement in his nature cultivation had raised his control over himself to a new level.
In the past, even though he had already been able to control the Spiritual Qi Law precisely, he had still needed repeated testing to judge how far a given power could be brought to bear.
Now, he could clearly grasp the boundaries of his own power.
That meant his understanding of himself had deepened to another level.
Such an ability was certainly of enormous value in combat, but in Jie Ming’s view, it was even better suited to research.
Many questions that had once needed multiple experiments to confirm could now be settled with preliminary deduction alone: he could identify the key variables and avoid wasting great amounts of time on directions that obviously would not work.
More importantly, this control was not limited to the Spiritual Qi Law.
As his nature cultivation improved, he also gained a clearer perception of the other laws he had mastered.
Although his mastery of those laws was still shallow, he could already grasp more accurately the rules by which they operated and the roles they might play within his own system.
Jie Ming slowly let out a breath. “So this is the Great Ascension Realm?”
Compared with a simple increase in power, what this breakthrough impressed on him most was instead the way his own coordination was tending gradually toward perfection.
Jie Ming gathered his focus and felt it out carefully for a moment, then turned his attention to the Great Dao Book Pavilion.
Now that he had broken through, the next thing, naturally, was to confirm what the next step in the cultivation system was.