48: Chapter 48 Fusion of Ancient God Fragments: Civilization Advancement

"Before you attempt to break through to Gold Rank, you must first merge the ancient god fragment I gave you."

Old Baitou's voice was exceptionally solemn, echoing throughout the empty Divine Kingdom.

Jiang Xun's gaze shifted from the mountain of brilliant Faith Crystals to the black fragment that had been floating in the sea of his divine consciousness.

He had long known this fragment was extraordinary, but he hadn't expected its importance to surpass even the breakthrough to Gold Rank itself.

"Why?"

Jiang Xun voiced the doubt in his heart.

The expression in Old Baitou's eyes was complex, filled with reminiscence as well as awe and worry.

"Because for true geniuses, the transition from Silver to Gold is not just an accumulation of energy, but a leap in civilization! It is a process of 'Defining the Path'!"

"You have plundered so many civilizations—Undead, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs... they are like a pile of powerful parts that you have forcibly cobbled together. You are strong now, but your civilization has no 'Soul'!"

Old Baitou's voice was full of power.

"If you use massive resources to force a breakthrough now, you might reach Gold Rank. But what would be born is nothing more than a stronger stitched-together monster with a predetermined ceiling. Merging the ancient god fragment is about injecting a supreme 'Soul' into this powerful body of yours! A 'Soul' that can command all laws and truly walk its own path!"

Jiang Xun understood instantly.

This was about establishing the core and foundation for his civilization.

"I understand."

He took a deep breath, his gaze becoming increasingly determined.

"However, this process is fraught with extreme danger," Old Baitou warned again. "The power of an ancient god is incredibly overbearing. If your will wavers even slightly, your Divine Kingdom and all your civilizations will be completely assimilated or even collapsed by that tyrannical power. Everything you own will turn to nothing."

"Rest assured, Senior, I understand."

Jiang Xun sat cross-legged in the center of the Divine Kingdom, with the mountain of Faith Crystals behind him.

Old Baitou nodded, his figure flashing as he appeared outside the Divine Kingdom. His hands formed seals, setting up a barrier to block all prying eyes, personally acting as a protector for Jiang Xun.

Inside the Divine Kingdom, Jiang Xun closed his eyes and gave the most critical command of his life.

"In my name, mobilize all resources and begin the fusion!"

Boom!

A roar that seemed to come from ancient times exploded throughout the Divine Kingdom.

The small mountain formed by six hundred million Faith Crystals instantly transformed into a brilliant river of energy, surging and roaring toward the core of the Divine Kingdom.

The piles of various rare ores and magical plants also decomposed simultaneously, turning into the purest source of laws and merging into that river of energy.

The massive amount of energy was precisely poured into the black fragment within Jiang Xun's sea of consciousness.

Buzz...!

The black fragment vibrated violently, and an ancient and overbearing aura, far beyond Jiang Xun's imagination, suddenly erupted from it!

If the civilizations Jiang Xun had plundered were a cluster of stars, then this aura was the eternal night that shrouded the entire starry sky!

Under the pressure of this aura, all the civilizations within the Divine Kingdom simultaneously emitted wails of resistance. A thick gray mist of death rose up; it was the laws of the Undead Civilization resisting.

On the ground, countless golden runes lit up, forming a solid array; that was the laws of the Dwarf civilization protecting themselves. The phantom of the Tree of Life emerged, shedding emerald light; that was the laws of the Elven civilization repelling the force.

...

At this moment, the different laws of civilization were no longer weapons in Jiang Xun's hands. Instead, they became self-important warlords within the Divine Kingdom, uniting against the external pressure from the ancient god.

Jiang Xun felt his Divine Kingdom was like a balloon stretched to its limit, liable to explode at any moment under the immense internal and external pressure!

His divine soul felt as if it were thrown into a millstone, crushed over and over again, only to be forcibly reconstructed by a brutal force. That deep pain reaching the very source of his soul was enough to make any god collapse.

"Merge... for me!"

Jiang Xun gritted his teeth until they nearly broke, his eyes bloodshot. His powerful willpower transformed into chains, forcibly suppressing the riot of laws within the Divine Kingdom while simultaneously guiding the ancient god's power to penetrate bit by bit.

But he soon discovered that this simply wouldn't work. The power of the ancient god was too overbearing and was as incompatible as fire and water with these acquired civilization laws.

If this continued, the only outcome would be the disintegration of the Divine Kingdom and eternal damnation. What should he do?!

Just as Jiang Xun's consciousness was about to be swallowed by pain and despair, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind. He remembered a sentence he had seen in the archives of his past life.

"The One produces the Two, the Two produces the Three, the Three produces all things, and all things return to One."

Right!

Why was he trying to forcibly suppress them? He possessed an SSS-level talent, [Civilization Plunder and Fusion]!

The focus wasn't on plundering, it was on fusion!

It wasn't about making them submit to each other, but about finding their common root!

Jiang Xun gave up on resistance and instead immersed his entire mind into the comprehension of the various civilization law sources. He saw the silence and death of the Undead, and he also saw the rebirth of the Elves. Death and rebirth were originally two sides of the same coin.

He saw the creation of the Dwarves and the destruction of the Orcs. Creation and destruction were part of a repeating cycle. Death, life, order, chaos, creation, destruction...

When tracing these seemingly opposite forces back to their origin, they all ultimately pointed to a common, chaotic starting point that contained all possibilities.

That starting point was the Dao!

Boom!

As if the world were being created anew, four ancient and vast characters boomed into existence within Jiang Xun's mind.

...Ten Thousand Laws Converge into One!

The moment he comprehended these four words, the overbearing aura within the ancient god fragment suddenly became gentle.

Inside the Divine Kingdom, those civilization laws that were still in violent conflict seemed to have found their monarch. They stopped resisting and began to rotate and blend around that ancient god power in a mysterious way.

A hint of golden order appeared within the gray power of death, emerald vitality entwined around the golden runes, and Elven magic carried the wildness of the Orcs.

They were no longer simply cobbled together but had truly begun an organic integration. One was within the other, and the other was within the one. A chaotic pillar of light woven from countless colors shot up from the top of Jiang Xun's head, violently slamming into the invisible Silver Rank peak barrier of the Divine Kingdom!

Crack...

A crisp sound of shattering rang out, and the barrier of the Divine Kingdom collapsed!

Outside, Old Baitou, who had been looking tense, suddenly looked up. An unbelievable joy surged in his eyes as he saw Jiang Xun's Divine Kingdom begin to expand frantically—doubling, tripling, tenfold!

The barriers of the Divine Kingdom were being reshaped, becoming thick and solid. Ancient chaotic-colored patterns, like those from the beginning of the universe, even appeared on the surface. The entire space of the Divine Kingdom exuded a unique aura of Ten Thousand Laws Converging into One.

"He succeeded... he actually succeeded!"

Old Baitou trembled with excitement.

"This is no ordinary Gold Rank! This is... this is the legendary Supreme Divine Foundation promoted through the 'Dao'!"

Inside the Divine Kingdom, the light dissipated.

Jiang Xun slowly opened his eyes, a chaotic divine light flashing through them. He felt the power within his body that seemed capable of commanding ten thousand laws, realizing he was far stronger than before.

He had succeeded, officially stepping into the Gold Rank—and a unique one at that, with the ancient god's laws as the core. Just then, the fragment in his sea of consciousness, which had completely merged with him, trembled slightly, transmitting one last piece of information.

It was a fragmented, vast star map. The end of the map pointed to a shimmering star cluster. Two blurry and ancient words echoed in his mind before falling completely silent.

"Taichu..."