"Wooo—"
Before Yang Hong could even utter a single "Damn!", the blood-red Karmic Fire Lotus had already descended upon his head.
Instantly, black flames erupted all over Yang Hong's body.
That was Karmic Fire!
Yang Hong had committed too many significant deeds over the years; the karmic debts he carried were certainly no less than those of a Buddhist Bodhisattva.
"..."
The Karmic Fire seared his soul directly. Yang Hong couldn't even let out a scream!
He could only contort his expression and endure the excruciating agony of this ultimate tempering.
Just as Yang Hong thought he was about to perish, the black flames suddenly receded, condensing into a crystal resembling black obsidian. Then, it bypassed his physical body and appeared directly within his sea of consciousness.
*Boom!*
With a muffled thud, the blood-red Karmic Fire Lotus also contracted and, ignoring space, materialized at the center of the black crystal!
*Crackle~ Crackle~ Crackle~*
Continuous cracking sounds echoed in Yang Hong's mind. In the center of his sea of consciousness, a silver screen flowing with green data slowly emerged above the black crystal.
The moment the screen appeared, he had an immediate intuition: "This is the System, the Cultivation Infusion and Return System!"
The black Karmic Fire crystal emitted an extremely cold, all-freezing low temperature. Yang Hong's thoughts seemed to freeze instantly, and he fell into a state of unconsciousness.
Under the burning of the Karmic Fire crystal, the green data on the silver screen flowed slower and slower.
*Snap!*
Yang Hong felt a heaven-shattering roar, and the black Karmic Fire crystal shattered, scattering throughout his entire sea of consciousness.
Suddenly, a warm golden light appeared from all around the sea of consciousness. That was the golden light of merit!
The golden light of merit quickly ignited, transforming into golden flames that burned from all directions, and finally, the entire sea of consciousness ignited.
Seeing the golden flames burning, Yang Hong's frozen thoughts gradually became active again.
[I'm saved!]
But before he could rejoice, the golden fire of merit and the black fire of karma suddenly retracted, while the red crystal formed by the Karmic Fire Lotus swelled.
The silver screen, formed by the system, surged, trying to break free from the blockade of the Karmic Fire Lotus. However, it was intercepted by the simultaneous surge of the Karmic Fire Lotus.
Under Yang Hong's despairing gaze, the fire of merit and the fire of karma were absorbed into the red crystal, becoming fuel for the Karmic Fire Lotus and burning fiercely.
[No~~]
Fueled by the fire of merit and karma, the red crystal began to spin slowly like a red vortex, continuously compressing the silver screen.
*Crackle~ Crackle~*
The silver screen began to shatter in the Karmic Fire Lotus.
[I knew the Karmic Fire Lotus was untouchable. This flame is called one of the supreme flames, and it's indeed no joke. It can even burn a system that transcends the Heavenly Dao!]
Yang Hong called out to the system several times, trying to hide like he did when the True Demon possessed him, but he couldn't summon the attribute panel.
He was now completely desperate.
*Boom!*
After a muffled sound, the silver screen exploded into specks of silver light. Encased in a green data stream, they still struggled and dashed within the red crystal.
Unfortunately, the power of the Karmic Fire Lotus, fueled by merit and karma, was unimaginable. The system, transformed into silver light, not only failed to escape but was also constantly refined by the Karmic Fire Lotus.
Just as Yang Hong was in despair, a trace of Dao Rhyme suddenly emanated from the Karmic Fire Lotus and directly entered his sea of consciousness, quickly integrating into it.
"The Rule of Creation!"
"Huh~ I can speak?"
As he exclaimed in surprise, he realized that his Nascent Soul had already condensed in his sea of consciousness.
"What's going on?"
Yang Hong was also stunned. His greatest trump card, the [Cultivation Infusion and Return System], was being burned and refined by the Karmic Fire Lotus, but he himself seemed fine?
"The rule levels of this world are divided into: Spiritual Rhyme, Dao Rhyme, Law, Rule, and Dao Principle.
The Rule of Creation I previously comprehended, though called a 'rule,' was actually only at the Law level. What the Karmic Fire Lotus refined from the System this time seems to be at the 'Rule' level?"
Despite his doubts, Yang Hong sat cross-legged in his sea of consciousness and began to absorb and comprehend this Rule of Creation.
Strands of rules, far more profound than the [Laws of Creation] he had comprehended while cultivating his Wine Making and Spirit Plant techniques, were continuously absorbed into his Nascent Soul and further imprinted into his soul.
If he were to wake up now, Yang Hong was confident that he could achieve the same planting effect as an infusion, solely through his Spirit Plant technique, without any infusion.
However, such planting using the Spirit Plant technique would not bring him cultivation returns; it would be purely for planting, benefiting only the spirit plants.
But this was just the beginning.
After an unknown period, Yang Hong felt that the knowledge refined by the Karmic Fire Lotus had become much more profound. It was no longer just the Rule of Creation.
The knowledge contained was no longer limited to spirit plant cultivation; it also included knowledge of spirit beast husbandry and breeding, followed by the spiritual energy nurturing of mountains and rivers, and finally, the construction and gestation of secret realms and dimensions.
"Dao Principle! This is Dao Principle! The highest level of rule, Dao Principle!"
Upon receiving this information, Yang Hong's Nascent Soul leaped for joy in his sea of consciousness.
Dao Principle!
This was a level of rule that would not and could not appear in the cultivation world. It was a level of rule that only Immortals in the Immortal Realm were qualified to touch and learn!
At this moment, the green screen surrounding the silver screen in the Karmic Fire Lotus had disappeared. The silver light spots had re-aggregated, and something Yang Hong was very familiar with appeared in the center of the Karmic Fire Lotus.
"A laptop? My system is a laptop?"
Seeing a Shenzhou Super I laptop appear in the Karmic Fire Lotus, Yang Hong exclaimed again.
"This looks like my work computer from my previous life. I bought it specifically to process documents. Could it be that I was brought here by this computer?"
Yang Hong finally recalled the cause of his death in his previous life.
It was a normal 996 work night. He had worked overtime until quite late that day and then suddenly died.
Everything was no different from that of an ordinary 996 office worker. Yang Hong was also playing a farming game on his computer in the background, which was also running normally.
As Yang Hong was reminiscing, the silver Shenzhou Super I laptop began to melt under the refinement of the Karmic Fire Lotus.
New memories appeared in Yang Hong's mind.
An immortal being, billions of feet tall, with eighteen pairs of pure white wings on its back, chose to self-detonate under the siege of countless beings of various shapes, sizes, and races.
The immense power of the explosion directly annihilated a world that was once brilliantly bright. A jade ruyi artifact within it was also used by the immortal in his self-detonation to enhance the explosion's power.
After this artifact self-destructed, its true spirit unexpectedly fell into a crack opened by the explosion of the world's destruction.
The true spirit, after a period of boundless, uncountable time traversing spatial turbulence, and just as it was about to be completely worn away, broke out of the spatial turbulence, arrived on a blue planet, and fell into a computer.
On a stormy night, the computer's owner suddenly died. The computer, activated by the power of the soul, rushed into this Taiyuan Continent through an accidentally opened world rift.
"Is this the origin of the system? A product of the fusion between an unknown powerful true spirit, Dao Principles, and Earth technology?"
"Then where did my cultivation return come from? Is that powerful true spirit still within my sea of consciousness?"
Thinking of all the possibilities, Yang Hong's face turned pale.
"Little friend, it's been a while?"
Just then, a deep and kind voice echoed in Yang Hong's mind.