Merin lies buried beneath shattered stone and frozen debris.
His body remains broken.
The traces of Ice and Thunder law still disrupt the circulation of his energy.
Yet his mind stays clear.
Calm.
Focused.
He begins thinking about something far beyond the battlefield.
If his cultivation path is to succeed in the future, it must possess uniqueness.
Something capable of attracting believers.
Something that will make cultivators choose his path above others.
What exactly is the uniqueness of his Virtual Space Law?
Merin searches his own memories.
He asks himself a simple question.
What attracted him to this law in the first place?
If he can answer that, then he can understand what will attract others.
Slowly, the answer forms.
What drew him toward the Virtual Space Law was the transformation.
The evolution of the spirit space.
First, the spirit space becomes a virtual space.
Then the virtual space grows into a virtual world.
And finally, the ultimate transformation.
The virtual world becomes a real world.
The ability to create a real world.
That possibility alone holds enormous attraction.
Countless cultivators would desire such power.
The uniqueness of his cultivation path lies in that final transformation.
Yet a problem immediately appears.
Most people will never be able to cultivate this technique.
Opening the spirit space itself is not difficult.
Some people are born with it already open.
Others open it naturally as their cultivation progresses.
Even if a cultivation technique does not focus on spirit cultivation, the spirit space can still open once the cultivator's spirit becomes strong enough.
Merin thinks of it numerically.
An ordinary human spirit equals one.
To open the spirit space, the spirit must reach ten.
That threshold is achievable.
Many cultivators reach it without difficulty.
So the spirit space is not the problem.
The real obstacle lies in the next step.
Opening the virtual space.
That step would stop most people who attempt to follow his path.
In his previous life, the virtual space formed during his cultivation when he reached the Third Stage of Extraordinary.
That was the moment he determined the direction of his law.
But the idea of the virtual space itself came from something else.
The Dream Space.
He never opened the Dream Space himself.
It was opened by a Law Treasure.
The Dream Mirror.
The physical body of the Dream Mirror remains with his main body in another place.
Even if it were here, he could not rely on it to help every cultivator who follows his path.
It is impossible to use the Dream Mirror to open the dream space of every believer.
So in this world, he took a different approach.
Instead of opening the dream space, he directly transformed the spirit space into a virtual space.
But even that was only possible because of his experience.
In his previous life, he already possessed the Virtual Space Law.
Even though that law is now sealed, the memory remains.
He remembers how the virtual space formed.
He remembers the structure.
The process.
The principles behind it.
With that knowledge, he recreated the virtual space in this life.
But ordinary cultivators will not have such knowledge.
Even if he explains it to them, they will not understand.
The information itself is too complex.
Too profound.
Their minds would collapse under the weight of the knowledge.
Some might go insane.
Others might have their spirits shattered.
Merin understands the reason.
Comprehending laws is not something ordinary cultivators can do early in their path.
Normally, laws become accessible only when a cultivator reaches the Second Stage of Extraordinary.
A few rare geniuses can comprehend laws in the First Stage of Extraordinary.
But those are extremely rare.
Most cultivators comprehend their first law much later.
He recalls the statistics he once studied.
Ninety per cent of cultivators comprehend their first law at the Third Stage of Extraordinary.
Nine per cent comprehend it at the Second Stage.
Zero point nine per cent comprehend it at the First Stage.
Zero point zero nine per cent comprehend a law during the apprentice stage.
And only zero point zero one per cent comprehend a law before they even begin cultivation.
That final group is almost mythical.
They are either born with a law naturally embedded within them.
Or they descend from powerful bloodlines where laws flow within their heritage.
Such people are exceptionally rare.
Yet Merin understands something crucial.
Those rare individuals are not the ones he needs.
If his path depends on them, his influence will never spread.
He must attract the ninety per cent.
The ordinary majority.
But even that comes with another problem.
If those cultivators only begin following him after reaching the Third Stage of Extraordinary, their minds will already be mature.
Their beliefs will be unstable.
Even if they believe in him, their faith will remain shallow.
They will become pan-believers.
Believers who follow many paths at once.
That kind of faith is weak.
Merin needs something different.
He needs cultivators to begin following his path while they are still ordinary people.
Before their minds become fixed.
Before they choose other paths.
His breathing grows faint.
His body remains trapped beneath the rubble.
He knows he may only have a few hours left before death arrives.
Yet he pays no attention to it.
Whether he survives this moment no longer matters.
If he can solve this problem…
If he can discover a way for ordinary people to open their virtual space by comprehending even the smallest fragment of law…
Then the reward will far outweigh the loss of this life.
His thoughts return to the beginning.
To ordinary humans.
How does cultivation begin for them?
In this world, cultivation usually begins in three directions.
The first path focuses on the physical body.
Strengthening flesh and bone.
The second path focuses on energy.
Cultivating qi.
The third path focuses on the mind and spirit.
Developing consciousness.
Expanding perception.
These three directions form the foundation of all cultivation systems.
Merin's Virtual Space Law clearly belongs to the third path.
The path of the mind and spirit.
Because the virtual space itself is only a variation of the spirit space.
A deeper transformation of the mind.
Which means the key to solving his problem must lie within that same direction.
The path of the mind and spirit.
Merin's thoughts sharpen.
If ordinary cultivators cannot comprehend laws early, then the process must be simplified.
They must be guided.
The only solution he can think of is runes.
Runes can carry meaning.
Runes can guide transformation.
Runes can allow even those who do not fully understand a law to still touch its structure.
Merin begins constructing the idea inside his mind.
Runes that reshape the spirit space.
Runes that guide it toward becoming a virtual space.
A framework.
A method that ordinary cultivators can follow without understanding the deeper law itself.
The moment the thought forms, his Virtual Space Law begins reacting.
Even while buried beneath the rubble, Merin's mind starts designing the first sequence of runes.
Outside, several hours have passed.
The storm of frost and thunder has long faded.
Only the shattered mountain remains.
Merin's soldiers gather near the ruins.
Rows of warriors stand silently.
Many of them want to step forward.
They want to dig through the rubble.
They want to search for their lord.
But none of them moves.
Because high above the battlefield, the burly man still floats in the air.
Zefre stands with his arms crossed.
His cold eyes remain fixed on the collapsed mountain.
The soldiers feel his pressure even from a distance.
If anyone moves recklessly, they know the man will strike.
So they wait.
Their eyes remain locked on the ruins.
They can still sense Merin's aura.
But every hour it grows weaker.
Like a lamp running out of oil.
Flickering.
Fading.
The soldiers remain silent.
Yet inside their hearts, they pray.
They pray their lord survives.
Their fate is now tied to his.
If Merin lives, they will live.
If he dies…
Their future will be worse than death.
Above them, Zefre sighs quietly.
His senses remain focused on the rubble.
Merin's aura is extremely weak now.
Barely holding together.
A sneer slowly appears on his lips.
Job done.
He believes the outcome is decided.
Once Merin dies, the leader will have no choice but to select Basel for the mission.
That mission lies a decade in the future.
Only those younger than fifty years old and already in the Soul Awakening Realm can participate.
The leader had originally intended to recruit Merin for it.
But Zefre belongs to another faction.
One that supports Basel.
Basel is the son of the Great Elder.
The Great Elder wants his son chosen.
Yet the leader disagrees.
In his eyes, Basel lacks sufficient talent.
So the Great Elder gave Zefre a quiet instruction.
If the opportunity appears…
Kill Merin.
And today that opportunity arrived.
When the leader sent Zefre to warn the Marquis, Zefre followed the instructions perfectly.
He offered Merin three chances.
Merin accepted the challenge himself.
Everything happened naturally.
No one can accuse Zefre of breaking orders.
Who could have predicted the Marquis would be so weak?
Zefre almost laughs at the thought.
When he returns, the Great Elder will reward him.
The Thunderfire Essence promised to him will finally become his.
And the leader will find no fault with him.
Because Zefre obeyed every instruction.
He even gave Merin three chances to survive.
Now the battle is over.
Zefre prepares to leave.
Merin's aura is about to extinguish completely.
Yet just as he turns away, something changes.
Zefre pauses.
His eyes narrow.
The faint aura inside the rubble…
Instead of disappearing…
It stabilises.
And slowly…
It begins to grow.