Meski tak terhitung jumlah kapal yang sudah mengunci target ke arahnya, Lex tidak merasa terancam sama sekali. Senjata biasa yang dampaknya cukup signifikan untuk melukai Heaven Immortal itu sangat langka. Itulah mengapa Pelvailin mengoleksi rudal seperti itu, dan bahkan di dalam koleksinya, barang-barang itu sangat berharga.
Bukan pula ratusan aura Heaven Immortal yang terdeteksi dari dalam kapal-kapal itu yang dirasakan berbahaya. Yang memberi tekanan pada Lex justru beberapa Celestial Immortal yang bersembunyi di antara mereka. Tapi... itu saja — cuma tekanan belaka.
Secara umum, Celestial Immortal berada di tingkatan hirarki di atas Heaven Immortal, mampu memengaruhi delapan hukum penguasa. Lex mempelajari hukum-hukum itu di sela-sela waktu, dan meski tidak pernah mencoba menyentuhnya sendiri, dia punya pemahaman dasar.
Yang pertama adalah Ember, mewakili panas atau api. Lalu Firmament, yang bermakna banyak hal, tapi Lex mengartikannya sebagai ruang. Kemudian Tether, konsep abstrak yang pada dasarnya mencakup semua gaya yang menjaga agar hal-hal tetap bersatu. Setidaknya itulah pemahaman Lex.
Mungkin orang akan mengira Karma juga termasuk delapan hukum penguasa, tapi bukan. Faktanya, Karma masuk kategori Tether.
Saat mengetahui ini, Lex cukup terkejut. Karma kekuatan begitu kuat, bahkan Dao Lord belum sepenuhnya menguasainya, lalu bagaimana mungkin ia hanya bagian dari hukum lain yang lebih besar? Sayangnya, tidak ada jawaban untuk pertanyaan seperti itu. Dia harus menemukannya sendiri.
Seperti yang bisa ditebak, Time juga bagian dari delapan hukum penguasa — tapi bukan seperti yang dibayangkan! Hukum penguasa yang berkaitan dengan waktu disebut Chronos, dan sebenarnya itu konsep waktu linear — artinya salah satu delapan hukum penguasa bukan konsep waktu secara utuh, melainkan versi terpisah dari waktu itu sendiri. Ini lagi-lagi di luar pemahaman Lex.
Empat hukum penguasa sisanya adalah Anchor, Echo, Hollow, dan Pulse. Sama seperti hukum sebelumnya, ini longgar terkait dengan stabilitas, pengulangan atau पुनरावृत्ति, konsep ketiadaan atau nol, dan kehidupan atau siklus kehidupan, secara berurutan. Tapi ini baru penjelasan longgar, karena sebenarnya... tidak, bahkan Celestial Immortal pun kemungkinan besar tidak memahaminya sepenuhnya.
Semakin lama, Lex menyadari di level tinggi, pemahaman tentang hukum dan cara kerjanya berbeda di antara kultivator. Terlepas dari itu, yang penting: Celestial Immortal bisa mengendalikan delapan hukum itu, yang memberinya keunggulan atas Heaven Immortal — pada umumnya.
Lex, di sisi lain, punya pandangan berbeda. Meski tidak pernah mencoba memanipulasi Tether, atau menyentuh Firmament, dia sangat familiar dengan hukum Karma dan Ruang. Bahkan dia yakin kalau menghadapi Celestial, dia bisa mengendalikan Karma dan Ruang lebih baik dari mereka yang pakai Tether dan Firmament.
Dia benar-benar tertarik pada hukum penguasa ini, dan apa artinya sebenarnya. Lex curiga, penguasaan tertentu atas hukum penguasa itu prasyarat jadi Dao Lord.
Karena sekarang dia sedang membangun Dao Body, dan pasti terpapar hal-hal berkaitan Dao, mau tidak mau, dia memutuskan mulai merenungkan Dao.
Delapan hukum penguasa? Dia tidak mau terlalu peduli pada langkah alami selanjutnya di jalur kultivasinya. Dia rasa itu sesuatu yang akan ditemukan sendiri, dipikirkan atau tidak. Jadi... saatnya merenungkan Dao.
Apa itu Dao sebenarnya? Dao di Dao Lord tidak harus sama dengan Dao saat menyebut sumber daya level Dao... jadi artinya apa? Lex tidak tahu, tapi bertarung melawan Celestial Immortal cara bagus untuk menguji teori dia.
Pertama, dia butuh tahu apakah kedalaman kendali murni atas Karma dan Ruang bisa mengatasi pengaruh Firmament dan Tether. Kalau iya, bukankah dia bisa mulai mengendalikan delapan hukum penguasa lewat turunan dari apa yang dilambangkan hukum-hukum itu?
Kalau Lex berhasil, bedanya dia dengan Celestial Immortal apa? Dia tidak butuh realm kultivasi untuk memberi kendali atau kekuatan — dia bisa memanfaatkannya langsung sendiri!
Lex merasa pemahamannya tentang tenet Supremacy-nya meningkat mengikuti alur pikiran itu, dan dengan itu kekuatannya naik.
"Ayolah, pertarungan panjang lebar lebih membosankan dari monolog musuh," kata Lex saat aura perlahan keluar.
Adil bagi musuh, ragu mereka wajar. Orang gila apa yang memasang barrier di sekitar diri sendiri dan musuh saat dikepung? Saat dia lakukan itu, mereka curiga informasi yang diterima salah, dan mereka yang terjebak. Secara teknis benar — cuma bukan seperti yang mereka pikir.
Tidak ada backup kuat yang datang menolong Lex. Dia sendiri yang akan melakukannya.
Karena musuh tidak mau bergerak dulu, Lex yang mulai! Dia cepat menyusun strategi, memutuskan menyerang musuh lemah dulu, melumpuhkan mereka supaya tidak ikut campur.
Domination menyeluruh area, langsung menghancurkan banyak komponen kapal di sekitar Lex, dan menghantam musuh seperti guncangan konkussif. Semua Heaven Immortal tercengang oleh kekuatan aura itu, sementara yang di bawahnya either langsung dimusnahkan, dilumpuhkan, atau paling tidak sementara dinonaktifkan. Beberapa puluh Earth Immortal masih tahan, tapi campuran aura Primordial dan Dao yang mulai menyatu ke Domination-nya terlalu berat. Yang terbaik hanya bisa mencegah diri runtuh.
Lex tersenyum. Serangan aura-nya... mulai hidup sesuai namanya. Lebih jauh, sekarang dia sudah menanam karma lemah ke semua orang dengan menyerang pakai Domination, dia bisa mulai serangan sebenarnya.
Naraka menderu di kehampaan angkasa saat Lex melancarkan serangannya, menyalurkannya lewat karma, menembak langsung ke jiwa mereka. Lebih dalam, di dalam niat pedangnya ada sedikit kutukan karmik juga. Siapa yang selamat dari tegakan pedang pertamanya... akan jadi korban pertama kutukan yang dia uji coba.
Meski ini percobaan pertama, pemahaman Lex tentang kutukan karmik sebenarnya cukup tinggi. Lagipula, Jack menghabiskan setiap detik keberadaannya hidup dengan salah satunya, memaksa dia memahami mau tidak mau. Sekarang saatnya memanfaatkan pemahaman itu.
Although countless ships had locked onto him, Lex felt no threat from them. Ordinary weapons which could have an impact significant enough to harm a Heaven Immortal were beyond rare. That was why Pelvailin had taken to collecting such missiles, and even in his horde, they were especially valuable.
It was not even the hundreds of Heaven Immortal aura he could detect from within which he felt were dangerous. No, it was the several Celestial Immortals hidden within their ranks who gave Lex some pressure. But... that’s all it was - some pressure .
Ordinarily speaking, Celestial Immortals were higher on the hierarchy than Heaven Immortals, able to influence the eight ruling laws. Lex had studied these laws in his spare time, and although he had never tried to touch upon them himself, he had a basic understanding of them.
The first was Ember, and it represented heat or fire. Then came Firmament, which was many things, but Lex took it as space. Then came Tether, an abstract concept that basically comprised all forces that held things together. At least, that’s what Lex understood of it.
One might expect that even Karma would be one of the eight ruling laws, but that was not true. In fact, Karma fell under the category of Tether.
When Lex learned this, he was actually quite stunned. Karma was such a powerful force, one that even Dao Lords had not completely mastered, so how could it merely be a part of another , greater law? Unfortunately, there was no answer to such a question available for him. It was something he would have to discover on his own.
Predictably, Time was a part of the eight ruling laws - but not in the way one would expect! The ruling law associated with time was called Chronos, and it was actually the concept of linear time - meaning that one of the eight ruling laws was not the entire concept of time itself, but a distinct version of it. This was, again, something beyond Lex’s comprehension.
The remaining four ruling laws were Anchor, Echo, Hollow and Pulse. Just like the previous laws, these were loosely related to stability, repetition or recurrence, the concept of absence or zero, and life or life-cycle, respectively. However, these were just loose explanations for what these laws could mean, for they actually were, it was unlikely even Celestial Immortals understood that entirely.
More and more, Lex started to realize that at higher levels, the understanding of laws, and how they worked, was different among cultivators. Regardless, what mattered was that Celestial immortals could control these eight laws, which gave them superiority over Heaven Immortals - generally speaking.
Lex, on the other hand, had different views. Although he had never tried manipulating Tether, nor had he tried to touch upon Firmament, he was extremely familiar with the laws of Karma and Space. In fact, he was willing to bet that even if he faced up against Celestials, he’d be able to control Karma and Space better than they could even if they used Tether and Firmament.
He was really interested in these ruling laws, and what they actually meant. Lex suspected that having a certain mastery of these ruling laws was a necessity for one to become a Dao Lord.
Since he was now in the process of building himself a Dao Body, and he was going to be exposed to matters related to the Dao, whether he wanted to or not, he had decided to start pondering upon the Dao.
Eight ruling laws? He couldn’t be bothered to pay too much attention to the next, natural step in the progression of his cultivation path. He felt like that was something he would discover on his own whether he pondered over it or not. So... it was now time to ponder upon the Dao.
What exactly was Dao? The Dao in Dao Lords was not necessarily the same Dao when mentioning resources on the Dao level... so what did that mean? Lex had no idea, but a fight against Celestial Immortals was a good way to start testing out his theories.
First, he needed to find out if sheer depth of control over Karma and Space could overcome influence over Firmament and Tether. If that was the case, couldn’t he start controlling the eight ruling laws through the derivations of what those laws stood for?
If Lex could manage that, what even was the difference between him and a Celestial Immortal? He would not need his cultivation realm to grant him control or power - he could directly harness it on his own!
Lex felt his understanding of his own tenet of Supremacy increasing as he went along that thought process, and thus he could feel his power increasing.
"Come on, a long, drawn out stand off is even more boring than an enemies monologue," said Lex as his aura slowly bubbled out.
In the defense of his enemies, their hesitation could be understood. What kind of maniac put up a barrier around himself and his enemies when surrounded? The moment he did that, they began to suspect that they had received faulty information, and that they were the ones who had walked into a trap. Technically, they were right - just not in the way they thought.
There was no powerful backup on the way to help Lex fight them off. He alone was going to do that.
Since the enemies weren’t willing to make the first move, then Lex would! He had quickly drawn up a battle strategy, and decided to attack the weaker enemies first, and disable them lest they interfered.
Domination covered the entire area, immediately crushing many components of the ships surrounding Lex, and striking his enemies like a concussive shock. The Heaven Immortals were all stunned by the strength of his aura, while those below were either directly eliminated, crippled, or at least temporarily disabled. A few dozen Earth Immortals managed to stay strong, but the mix of Primordial and Dao aura that was beginning to merge into his Domination was too much. The best they could do was keep themselves from collapsing.
Lex smiled. His aura attack... was beginning to live up to its name. Furthermore, now that he had established a somewhat weak karma with everyone by attacking them with Domination, he could begin his proper attack.
Naraka roared through the void of space as Lex unleashed his attack, channeling it through karma, aiming directly for their souls. Moreover, deep within his sword intent was a hint of a karmic curse as well. Those who would survive his first sword strike... would have the privilege of becoming the first victims of the curses he was experimenting with.
Despite this being his first attempt, Lex’s comprehension of karmic curses was actually quite advanced. After all, Jack spent every second of his existence living with one, forcing him to understand it whether he wanted to or not. Now, it was time for him to put that understanding to good use.
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