Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies Chapter 21 Siphoning Shadow of Death

Yan Zaizen didn't truly grasp the significance of a world law in the cultivation world, especially the significance of the life laws. So when he witnessed the reactions of everyone around him, he felt out of place and uncomfortable, but also a little bit of pride welled up in him.
"A world law?!" Xing Xuehan shouted. Her gaze towards Yan Zaizen that previously held shallow affection turned incredibly deep almost instantly. At this moment, from her eyes, Yan Zaizen felt that if he wanted to ask her to have his babies, she'd volunteer and kill all other up-and-comers. It wasn't just Xing Xuehan, but Su Fengyan's eyes were also not too far off, as if she was looking at a treasure from the heavens.
Clearing his throat, he got up and calmly brushed himself off. He took on a heroic expression, this time a little less awkward, and nodded slightly in acknowledgment. His actions had a casual feel to it as if using a world law was nothing special. Just another Tuesday morning.
Ying Sumian tried to calm the raging waves in her heart. Yan Zaizen may not recognize the importance of a World Law, especially the life law, but she did. They all did.
In this world, there were the three laws: Mortal, World, and Imperial. Each with their own significance, but what people don't realize is that out of the entire population of Presba, which ranges in the ten billion in number, the percentage of cultivators numbering about ninety-percent of that, and yet less than one-percent comprehend a Mortal Law. That was less than ninety million out of nine billion cultivators!
Even then, Mortal Laws were divided even further into their own grades and level of difficulty in terms of perception, from weak ones to strong. Additionally, the majority of that number comprehend weak Mortal Laws. The amount that comprehend World-grade laws?
Less than 0.1% of the individuals who comprehend laws.
A grand total of about ninety thousand.
Ninety Thousand Cultivators out of Nine Billion!
Going further, the amount that would comprehend the strong laws such as life, space, or yin would amount to less than a hundred in the entire country. As for Imperial Laws? Don't even think of it, none since Presba's establishment as a country.
Clearing his throat, Yan Zaizen looked at Bai Dongzhe's healthy expression and gave himself a mental job well done. "Do you know the direction of the nearest place with people?" He asked, ignoring their shocked expressions. After much thought, he realized that walking without focus wasn't smart and should simply ask for directions. That way, he'd avoid getting lost as well.
"..."
"?"
"..."
"...You don't know?" He asked, seeing no one respond.
Xing Xuehan was the first one to speak, "Y-yes! We know. We're going there after we rest. Considering we currently have enough materials. Right, Ying Sumian?" Her voice was a little hurried.
"Ahem, yes. After daybreak, we'll take our leave. We can accompany you there if you wish." She gathered her bearings and calmly said.
Hearing this, Yan Zaizen's eyes lit up in excitement. He never even considered having a guide. Since they were experienced hunters, they should know all of the safe locations and ways to exit this forest. He also needed to find someway to unload these beast cores, and they should be experienced in that as well. His Qi cultivation was just a little too low at the moment, and he needed to seize his hand on some resources for his cultivation. The only thing he had in his bag was beast cores. All the essence liquid he received from Lin Feilin had long since been depleted.
"Okay." He agreed, walking over to where he was thinking, sat back down, and started to ruminate over that feeling he had with the white flame earlier. It seems that when his comprehension on the driving force of the unyielding white flame reached a certain point, it would evolve. Thinking up to here, he couldn't help but wonder about the inky black wood. It wasn't only the lifeforce the wood had, but something remarkably similar to death.
The rest just gazed at him silently with a hint of solemnness. Each with their own thoughts.
Yan Zaizen sent his spiritual sense into the ring. Since he comprehended the white flame's life laws perhaps he could comprehend the inky black wood's death laws as well. After some thought, he approached the inky black wood. Unfortunately, the death laws were currently in the cycle phase where it was incredibly weak. The small white flame dazzled brilliantly while consuming the essence of the wood.
"The flame is at its highest. When life reaches an extreme, it plunges to death. When death reaches its extreme, it gives birth to life." He thought. The wood never disappears, but the white flame does, or perhaps the white flame goes into a state of hibernation in which he couldn't sense it. Regardless, there are times where he can't sense a hint of life on the inky black wood, such as when he first saw it.
He waited patiently. It didn't take long before the white flame's cycle reached its zenith. The inky black wood seemed to have been waiting for its moment, as it started to get stronger, siphoning off the strength from the white flame. The flame consumes the aura of death to produce life, but the wood siphons off the flame's life to produce death.
He kept on gaining further and further insights into the essence of their interaction. Unlike before, he didn't enter a state of enlightenment. Instead, he felt abnormally aware. It was as if he had already comprehended the inky black wood's death laws, but simply incapable of grabbing it. What he didn't realize, was that life and death laws naturally conflicted. Normally, they wouldn't be able to exist together but only are created when the other is at its end. Therefore, when he had grabbed a hold of the life law from before, the death law was right next to it, but gradually faded due to his choice.
His connection to the death law was exceptionally faint, to the point where he could only feel an inkling of its existence.
However, ignorance and persistent curiosity can sometimes lead to extraordinary things. The first fire lit. The first wheel rolled. The first fish taking its first steps on the shore.
He didn't give up, in fact, he tried even harder. The cycle of life and death of the inky black wood and unyielding white flame continued for one hundred and eight times. A flash of golden light revealed itself in his soul, slightly reminiscent of the heavens.
Yan Zaizen's eyes turned misty.
His aura fluctuated as he once more entered a state of rare enlightenment.
"The white flame is persistent and unyielding, only when it reaches its end, does it perish. The wood is all present and looming, it can not be fully burned by the flame, and reclaims what's been taken by the flame." The words he once spoke during his comprehension of the unyielding white flame before was repeated. This time, however, more was added. "Death siphons life. Death can only exist where life is, it feeds off, it grows from, and it stays immortal because...as long as life exists, so does it."
A flash of deep black color surged into his originally amber pupils. The others were resting and therefore didn't detect the brilliance of his state. Even Xing Xuehan who slept right next to him, with a blanket over her body, didn't sense a single thing as it was beyond her comprehension.
A slight grin appeared on his face as he returned back to that space where he felt all the laws were near, yet incredibly far. He saw the vibrant white flame that refused to yield to any and all, and a black wooden orb slowly rotating around it, as if waiting for it an opportunity to strike. Always present and always looming about.
"The Siphoning Shadow of Death." He opened his left hand, revealing a perfectly circular black orb. He opened his right hand, revealing an unyielding white flame.
I'm Yan Zaizen, one World Law? Pssh. I can comprehend two.
Yan Zaizen had no idea that what he just did, balancing two opposing world laws in one soul, was unprecedented in the entire realm.