Book 13: Part 11 – Successive Breakthroughs

Over the next 24 hours, the Yulan Plane seemed to be in a frenzy. Whether it was the most powerful experts or the most talented geniuses, as long as one had begun comprehending a law or edict, they were allowed to witness the creation of the new set of Divine Planes.

There were a few thousand who had been there to bear witness to the last time a similar event had taken place, but they were barely a fraction of the total who would be present this time, and unlike last time, this time, a Divine Plane was to be created for each of the seven laws and four edicts.

The various Sovereigns had already come together to create an incredibly large, circular viewing platform spanning billions of kilometres in chaotic space. It was large enough to not only house the tens of millions of spectators invited but also surround the space where all 11 planes would be created.

As one could imagine, everyone wanted to be as close to the front as possible to get as clear a view as possible. But unlike what one would imagine, there was no fighting or shoving – including those stationed to the rear. It had nothing to do with their lack of power and everything to do with the fact that there were over a dozen genuine Sovereigns in the void in front of them who had warned them of the lethal consequences of trying to fight for a better seat. Even if you gave them ten times as much courage, none would dare to disobey the words of a Sovereign.

And even without the warning of the various Sovereigns, there were still over a dozen paragon-level experts sitting near the front of the viewing platforms. None were stupid enough to risk disrupting those supreme experts for a slightly better seat, especially when their position at the back still gave them a clear view of what was to come.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Aiden gave a nod to the 11+ Sovereigns to begin, and so they did.

Just like that, under the excited eyes of the millions of mortals, saints, and deities present, the various Sovereigns began creating the Divine Planes.

The creation of a Divine Plane wasn't an overnight process on the best of days, but this time, it was even slower than usual – not only for the benefit of the viewers but more importantly because Aiden and Orloff, the two Overgods of their group, would be simultaneously creating a point of fusion for all 11 Divine Planes. Similar to the Stellar River of the Planar Battlefield, but in a much smaller but more complex form.

Although the size of the 11 Divine Planes together wouldn't amount to even half of one side of the Planar Battlefield, the Planar Battlefield was formed of the four edicts, whereas this would be formed of all four Edicts and all Seven Laws.

Still, whilst this would make the job of the Sovereigns and Overgods more difficult, it would only serve to benefit those viewing, who would be able to take in what was happening with even greater clarity.

Over the first 100 years, the Sovereigns did nothing but gather their various Sovereign Power in the void in front of them in preparation to turn that power into a miniature divine realm; as such, for most, there wasn't actually much to comprehend. Even so, there were still a few amongst the viewers who did manage to gleam enough to make breakthroughs.

But after that 100-year grace period, as soon as those giant blobs of Sovereign Power started getting infused with the laws of the respective laws and edicts, hundreds, if not thousands, of viewers started getting overwhelmed by insights.

That was especially true for the mortals and saints amongst the groups whose levels of comprehension were only in their embryonic stages at best.

And as time went on, those numbers only started to grow. Each year, thousands of people would experience breakthroughs of their own, both big and small, but the first truly monumental breakthrough happened after 200 years, and it wasn't by Ace, Linley, or any of the more well-known geniuses. Instead, it was Gisalson Redding, the current head of the Azure Dragon Branch of the Four Divine Beast Clans and the eldest son of the Ancestral Azure Dragon.

After Garot returned from his prison in the Celestial Realm and got rid of the crisis the Four Divine Beast Clan had been facing over the last million years or so, Gisalson felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the bottleneck he had faced for the last hundred plus thousand years seemed to go with it.

In the last thousand-plus years since then, Gisalson had made more progress than he had in the last 500 thousand years prior to that, allowing him to bring his six-way fusion of the laws of water to the pinnacle. Only half a step – if that – away from becoming a paragon. And now, witnessing the creation of a miniature Water Plane in front of him allowed him to take that final step which had eluded him for so long, making him the fourth paragon of his Four Divine Beasts Clan, after Garot, Linley, and Alyssa.

Gisalson was only the first of many to become a breakthrough that ever-elusive barrier. Over the next few centuries, the natural laws descended countless times, and whilst it was mainly for those breaking through to the Demi-God, Full God, and High God realms, respectively, there were more than individuals who managed a breakthrough to become paragons, including Ace's mother, Gol D. Millianna and Stepfather, Lance Gol.

Even so, the breakthroughs that captured the most attention were those of Ace's group. Aside from Ace himself, the natural laws descended at least once for every single member of the Golden Sun Pirates.

Of those, the breakthrough that came as the biggest surprise for everyone, Sovereigns and Overgods included, was Kannal's.

It had to be remembered that Kannal had already become a paragon in both the law and concept of wind. The only way for him to make another breakthrough would be for him to comprehend the complete Law, Edict, or Concept for one of the other ten elements, but for reasons that no one could understand, instead of choosing the viewing platform for one of the other ten elements, he stayed in front of the viewing platform for the new Divine Wind Plane.

It was for that very reason that everyone was so shocked, aside from Aiden that is. As the Overgod of Wind and the creator of the path of Concepts, Aiden could clearly see the truth. Still, that did nothing to take away from the shock he felt; in fact, it was because he could see the truth that he was so surprised.

The truth was, after becoming a paragon in both the laws and concept of wind, Kannal was at a crossroads. He knew that if he wanted to improve, theoretically, he had to focus his attention on one of the other elements, but the truth was, as talented as he was, his genius started and stopped with his affinity to the Wind. His affinity to each of the other elements was mediocre at best.

Although he knew that, as long as he persisted with it, he would inevitably see success eventually, but he wasn't happy with slowing down his former rate of progression, as such he decided to continue focusing on his comprehension of the wind, in particular the concept of the wind.

He started by comparing the differences between the Laws and Concepts of the Wind, which was when he realised that although one could come up with different techniques based on their comprehension of the Laws of Wind, ultimately, the Laws of Wind were based solely on its six profound mysteries, and those six mysteries were impossible to change.

But the Concept of the Wind, on the other hand, was different. His [Zephyr's Sword Art], for example, was all about the free-flowing and ever-changing flexibility of the wind, whereas Alyssa's [Void Ripper Blade Art] was focused on taking the speed and sharpness of the wind to its peak.

They were both based on the wind but completely different, and yet they were both weapon arts that allowed their users to become paragons.

After coming to that realisation, although he didn't know if it was possible, Kannal was determined to see if it was possible to comprehend two separate Concepts of the same element, and sure enough, it was.

By focusing purely on the speed of the wind, Kannal was able to comprehend his second Concept of the Wind.

Aside from Kannal, there was another person whose breakthrough came as a shock to everyone, and that was Ace's maternal grandfather, Bluefire.

It wasn't simply because he had become a paragon in the Concept of Fire after all; there had been too many paragon-level breakthroughs beforehand; instead, it was what his breakthrough signified.

It had to be remembered that it was already decided that the first person to comprehend both the laws and a Concept of Fire would be eligible to become the next Overgod of Fire, so when Bluefire made his breakthrough, after the natural laws dispersed, in a truly imposing and awe-inspiring manner, the spirit of fire descended, along with its Overgod Spark, allowing Bluefire to begin his breakthrough to the Overgod Realm.

Still, the person everyone was most surprised by was Ace. As the person who was supposed to be the greatest genius the universe has ever seen, it was shocking that he was the only one of his generation who hadn't made another breakthrough. Even Linley and all of his group had become paragons in at least one of their respective elements.

As for Ace, he had no idea what was going through the heads of his spectators, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. Others may have felt disappointed in his seeming lack of progress, but only he understood how far he'd come.

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