"Hello there, my friend," Krune said as he smiled, greeting the person that landed 10 meters before him.

historical

"Friend..?" The man with a crown was perplexed for a bit before waving back with a light chuckle, responding with, "Nice to meet you, pal."

Krune smiled after that, feeling that there was no threat emanating from the other party. After all, the one that probably caused numerous coincidences to occur, which led him to chase after Krune, was Little Cally. Now that Little Cally had disappeared, the feeling of threat had also vanished.

Krune realized that the other party was purely interested in him, or to be more exact, his abilities. That was what he was able to sense until an ethereal lady charged towards him out of nowhere, brandishing a pair of knives as she closed in on him.

Krune readily took out his shields as he defended against the pair of knives, manipulating the shields with his Godly Energy. When compared to before, his Godly Energy now flowed smoothly, as if he was back in the lower realms.

Before, when he used Godly Energy, he had to will it to function. But now, the Godly Energy flowed through him and acted against all threats naturally. Krune didn't even have to exert a ton of effort. Everything was automatic.

Energies Cooperation Sub-law!

Back then, he had to activate this sub-law while using his Balance Laws. It came with a lot of restrictions, which meant he had to concentrate on it a lot. It was more or less why he was unable to use the Balance Laws' sub-laws for more than a couple of seconds. First of all, his comprehension of it was lacking, and second, he had to consume a lot of brainpower to activate it.

After all, the Balance Laws was an agglomeration of all laws. Activating it meant that he had to think of all the laws that function in it. He didn't have to actively think about them, but activating the Balance Laws' sub-laws meant that all the related information flowed through his mind. This put a bit of strain in his mind, preventing him from doing anything much other than this.

But now, Krune didn't have to do anything. After all, the Energies Cooperation Sub-law had now become a part of him. It was like one of his organs, similar to the heart that thumped by itself voluntarily without rest.

Every law that formed his Spiritual Incarnation had become something akin to an organ to him. Among them were multiple laws similar to the Energies Cooperation Sub-law, Elements Cooperation Sub-law, and most importantly, the Law Cooperation Sub-law.

They all worked together as a cohesive unit, forming a body, in other words, him, that functioned based on their work. Therefore, Krune didn't even have to actively control Godly Energy to use the shields. Godly Energy flowed naturally through him, manipulating the shields without much effort. All he had to do was think about where he had to move them next.

It was like he had automated most of the things he used to do manually. This wasn't the case for a normal cultivator with a Spiritual Incarnation since their bodies were a result of the laws they had comprehended. On top of that, it could only result in changes brought about by their respective collection of laws.

As for Krune, since he had only comprehended the Balance Law's first sub-law on a superficial level, that meant he had comprehended all the sub-laws in it at a superficial level as well. Therefore, all of them became a part of him while forming his Spiritual Incarnation.

In the future, when he comprehended each sub-law to a deeper degree, his power would just become greater.

Moreover, it wasn't just Godly Energy flowing through his body without worries. Even his Mental Energy saw no problems moving around. His Universe Foundation had changed, becoming a law that occupied a part of his body. It synchronized with the rest of the laws forming his body.

Therefore, any attacks he did were made using both Godly Energy and Mental Energy. Back then, he was fusing them to increase the power of the attacks he could unleash. Right now, though, that wasn't the case anymore.

Depending on the situation, his Mental Energy and Godly Energy would fuse at various ratios, giving rise to various energy types that could unleash a numerous amount of properties. When Krune wished to defend using the shields, the resulting energy flowing in his body changed its property to one that boosted the shields' defense to the maximum.

Krune didn't even need to think or change the inherent structure of his Godly Energy, Mental Energy, how they melded, or anything for that matter. Everything happened naturally, as if it was just him breathing.

Krune stared in shock as the lady with the knives attacked him nonstop but failed to even make a dent on his shields. It was shocking because the shockwaves from each attack caused dust to fly. Nevertheless, his current defense felt like tiny mountains covering every angle one could attack from.

Each of his shields seemed like they weighed hundreds of tons, not budging or even trembling under the powerful attacks of the lady. This was why he was confident that no one in and under the God Core Realm had the ability to inflict harm to him. His confidence wasn't baseless.

'Everything is all thanks to the Balance Laws. If I didn't think of them or allocated some time for them, my strength wouldn't have become this cohesive,' Krune thought to himself. Cohesive. This was the word he focused on. The laws in his body acted as one as it unleashed effects using the two forms of energy, giving rise to effects he never knew were possible.

'Just..how strong have I become?' Krune wondered, not even bothering to concentrate on his fight. Yulian, on the other hand, was left with his mouth agape in shock as he saw the exchange.

'He..no longer needs my protection.' Yulian sighed as he muttered, realizing that Krune had already surpassed him in strength. Now, he didn't even know why he accompanied Krune anymore. After all, he was incapable of guarding Krune against anyone capable of bringing him harm.

This was the first time he had experienced this feeling. Yulian was at the Ninth Stage of the God Core Realm. Moreover, he was stronger than the average cultivator and was even able to defeat some cultivators in the Nascent God Realm.

But now, he felt that Krune was on his level. Moreover, it didn't seem like he had reached his full potential yet. Yulian wondered just how strong Krune would become when he utilized his full potential.

He then gazed at the face of the man with the crown, noticing that the other side didn't show any hint of hostility. He then looked at Krune, who no longer showed any sense of urgency. By now, he understood that it was the man in the crown that they were trying to escape from earlier.

Yulian recalled the words the Primal God had told him before, sighing as he thought to himself, 'Only with a Spiritual Incarnation can one become a powerhouse. Without that, even if I follow all his words, I would still fail to kill a cultivator with a Spiritual Incarnation. Only if I follow his words after obtaining a Spiritual Incarnation would I become truly strong.'

Yulian could sense from the changes that Krune had managed to condense his Spiritual Incarnation. He knew that Krune hadn't even prepared for the task. Though, thanks to the coincidences that happened in the situation while trying to save that demon beast baby, he ended up condensing a Spiritual Incarnation.

'I too know the method to condense one, thanks to the Primal God.' Yulian gazed in the direction they had traversed, feeling conflicted as he looked at Krune, alternating between the two as he could not make up his mind.

Having noticed it, Krune stared at Yulian's facial expressions for a while, eventually saying after he had gotten an idea of what was going on, "It's fine, Yulian."

"Thank you." Yulian bowed deeply to show his gratitude. He then pulled out a parchment from his storage ring before infusing his Godly Energy in it, creating a detailed map. He then rolled it and threw it towards Krune as he said, "This contains all the routes I know from Sunkan City to Hworn City. Farewell."

"Thank you for accompanying me till now." Krune expressed his gratitude as he saw Yulian turn around and walk in the direction that led him towards the Immortal Severance Zone. He immediately realized Yulian's plan.

Yulian was giving up on his cultivation. Though, it wasn't for the reason of wasting his life. Rather, it was to grow stronger in the future. Having seen Whack and Zuna, he knew that as long as a cultivator spent enough time in the Immortal Severance Zone comprehending the Suppression Law, they were able to loosen the suppression on them.

This was what Yulian was aiming for. After all, he was already at the Ninth Stage of the God Core Realm. He had already gone past the stage of condensing a Spiritual Incarnation. Only at the God Foundation Realm was a cultivator able to condense their Spiritual Incarnation.

With that, he planned to return to the Immortal Severance Zone and suppress his cultivation to the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. From there, he planned to work his way up the stages until he reached the First Stage of the God Foundation Realm once more before condensing his Spiritual Incarnation.

Once he achieved that, he would leave the zone and commit suicide. He would then revive shortly after as a newborn and properly cultivate from the start. That way, he would become a true powerhouse in the future thanks to his Spiritual Incarnation.

Yulian soon disappeared from view as Krune noticed how the attacks against him had stopped. The lady with the pair of knives harrumphed as her body dissolved into Godly Energy before disappearing.

The man with the crown smiled as he said, "Congratulations on condensing your Spiritual Incarnation. Welcome to the world of the strong."

"Thank you." Krune smiled in response as he retracted his shields, asking after a moment of thought, "What was the reason you were pursuing me?"

"Two reasons." The man with the crown smiled nonchalantly as he answered, "First, I came to know about your one percent success rate in awakening an equipment spirit. Second, I'm quite curious of that sword in your possession."

"That sword isn't mine, though." Krune could not help but frown as he said, "If you wish to buy it, you will have to approach the City Lord of Sunkan City."

"Well, let me tell you something interesting I found out about that sword." The man with the crown pulled out the ring worn on his finger and placed it within the pouch on his hip. The equipment spirit he used to ride on vanished as he said, "Contained in its hilt is a Law in its purest form. Do you know what that means?"