Chapter 644 - 427: Reincarnation Trial

Intermediate oaths, on the other hand, were more complex and naturally more binding, such as completing a difficult task within a certain time or abstaining from a strong desire.

Then there were the most powerful oaths.

These involved things like lifelong celibacy, vowing never to kill, or completing some nearly impossible task.

Though the oaths differed,

they all had one thing in common: the stronger the oath an Ascetic made, the greater the benefits received upon its completion.

Additionally,

once an oath was made, it had a powerful binding force.

Ascetics had to strictly abide by the contents of their oaths, otherwise they would face severe punishment.

The form of punishment varied depending on the magnitude of the oath sworn.

For low-level oaths, the punishment might simply be experiencing pain or fainting.

For more severe ones, however, it could be immediate death.

In Hu Qi’s eyes, this Extraordinary path of the Ascetics was bizarre, yet powerful.

If he had to describe it, it was like a form of equivalent exchange.

This was because with this Extraordinary System, one could make an oath to almost anything and receive a reward.

Oaths could be made to anything, from another living being to the entire Spirit Realm itself.

Furthermore, during the process of oath-based cultivation, the consent of the oath’s target was not required.

It was a completely one-sided process.

For instance, say an Ascetic wanted to acquire a gecko’s ability to regenerate its limbs.

They wouldn’t need its consent.

They would only need to find a gecko, make an oath to it, and by completing that oath, they could seize its regenerative ability.

Of course, the oaths involved could not be made casually; there were certain restrictions.

The difficulty of the oath an Ascetic had to complete was directly proportional to the reward they would receive.

For example, if an Ascetic at the level of an ordinary person made a terrifying oath to become a True God,

the price they would have to pay might be something like slaying a True God with a Mortal Body.

Such an oath would be impossible to fulfill.

Once sworn, if the oath was not completed,

the backlash would kill them!

Still, the Oath Dao was undeniably powerful.

Most Extraordinary Systems involved bottlenecks during advancement and breakthroughs.

But the process of advancing through oaths had no such bottlenecks.

Even someone with poor aptitude could use it.

As long as they proceeded carefully and methodically, they could steadily increase their power.

And after Black Erosion reached the True God Realm,

his Oath Dao obtained a certain Dao Rhyme,

which caused his Ability to change.

He could make an oath, receive the reward in advance, and then fulfill the oath’s conditions afterward.

It was somewhat akin to taking out a loan.

Enjoy the rewards of the oath first, then complete its requirements within a set period.

After being killed by that world, Black Erosion used this method to forcibly cheat death and extend his life.

He made an oath to resurrect himself, with the price being the sacrifice of an entire world.

However, this method also had its flaws.

Only one oath could be made at a time, and it had to be completed within a certain timeframe.

This was why Black Erosion had been in such a hurry to suppress the world’s consciousness.

Otherwise,

Hu Qi might not have been able to kill him so easily.

He could have easily saved his own life by using this "loan" type of oath.

It just goes to show, no one who reaches the True God Level is simple.

Additionally,

what surprised Hu Qi was that

he also sensed the auras of two instances of Dao Rhyme within this Oath Dao.

If he wasn’t mistaken,

these must be the two Dao Rhymes that Black Erosion had obtained.

However, it seemed impossible to wear down the surface-level Oath Dao to get to the Dao Rhymes within anytime soon.

Seeing this,

Hu Qi directly summoned his panel.

His gaze fell upon it.

...

[Divine Limit Heart Technique: (True God Chapter - Fourth Layer)]

...

[Modification Point: 137,170 (17%)]

The option to modify and upgrade did not appear after the Divine Limit Heart Technique entry.

Apparently, it wasn’t like when he had obtained the Sun Core Stone.

To obtain the Dao Rhymes within, he would first need to refine this Oath Dao.

According to the Divine Limit Heart Technique,

to fully form his Dao Seed, he would likely need to advance the Divine Limit Heart Technique to the Fifth Layer.

However, the Fifth Layer required two Dao Rhymes.

If he refined this Oath Dao from Black Erosion, he could obtain the two Dao Rhymes within and meet the requirement for advancement.

But this was only the Fifth Layer of the Divine Limit Heart Technique.

The True God Chapter of the Divine Limit Heart Technique consisted of nine layers in total.

After that, the Sixth Layer required three Dao Rhymes, the Seventh Layer four, the Eighth Layer five, and the Ninth Layer six.

In other words, to reach the peak of a True God, he would need another eighteen Dao Rhymes in total.

Within the worlds of the Bottomless Realm, a single world would normally only nurture one Dao Rhyme.

Under normal circumstances,

Hu Qi would need to traverse at least eighteen more worlds.

And that didn’t even account for the possibility that some of those worlds might be missing their Dao Rhyme.

While rare, it wasn’t impossible.

For example, it might have already been taken by another True God.

If he followed the conventional path,

the amount of time required would be immense.

At this thought,

an idea sparked in Hu Qi’s mind.

’Before, I hadn’t obtained a Dao Rhyme, so I didn’t understand this power very well.’

’I was stuck in a certain mindset.’

’I thought that for a True God to acquire Dao Rhyme, their only option was to go to the worlds within the Bottomless Realm.’

Although this was indeed the case.

True Gods might have an endless Lifespan,

never facing the end of their days.

But collecting, refining, and absorbing Dao Rhyme to grow stronger—every single step forward—required a vast amount of time.