Having passed the Way Ancestor Tribulation, Ian was now standing in the Void, sensing the changes in his body. Numerically, there wasn't a huge difference, as he was already frighteningly strong before Cultivation. However, after being refined by the Tribulation of Way Attainment, the Immortal Qi inside him had converted into an even more miraculous state; it seemed to have developed its own consciousness. Ian named it 'Immortal Power.' (Ian was terrible at naming things.)
Ian was now surrounded by a mysterious energy. Every gesture seemed to contain infinite profoundness, as if the Great Way itself were manifesting.
But if any other Cultivator were to try and comprehend the laws swirling around Ian at this moment, they would certainly go mad, because the laws surrounding Ian would completely overturn all their previous knowledge—Minecraft has its own set of rules.
Meanwhile, in the Super Seminary conference room, the sight of the energy mass disappearing caused an outburst of cheers.
But silence quickly followed, because even though the crisis had currently vanished, it didn't mean it was gone forever. It hung over them like a ticking bomb.
Ducao then quickly mobilized the detectors he brought from the Deno Civilization to begin scanning the area where the energy had erupted.
The immense energy of the thunder tribulation had vaporized everything in the surrounding area, making Ian, who was surrounded by special effects, extremely conspicuous.
Before long, the detectors arrived near Ian, captured his photograph, and transmitted it back to the command center.
Everyone looked at the blurry, pixelated photo in silence, but then they noticed the Three-Pointed, Double-Edged Halberd he was holding—it was clearly captured.
"N-no, I... I was just talking nonsense earlier!" Liu scratched his head awkwardly. "It really was someone transcending a tribulation! Wait! That weapon looks so familiar. Was the True Monarch just transcending a tribulation?"
"No need to ask. The weapon is a dead giveaway, it must be him. So powerful! As expected of the handsome God my Goddess favors, he is a great and true God."
Ducao fell silent, then directly transmitted the observed image and detection data to the conference room. The small faction who had been skeptical of the Pangu Civilization's existence also fell silent.
However, Ian currently had no time to pay attention to them. He had a vague feeling, one that urged him to immediately return to Minecraft.
Ian obeyed his inner feeling and returned to Minecraft.
The moment he arrived back in Minecraft, Ian felt that the world was different. Every plant and blade of grass around him had changed.
He felt as if he possessed two sets of senses. One saw the world as it was normally, while the other only saw a world interwoven with countless lines.
As the two senses slowly merged, Ian finally realized that threads were running through all the original MC items. The threads were of various colors and infinite shapes; some flowed like clear water, others burned like raging flames.
"This... this is the 'Way' of Minecraft, or perhaps the 'Rules'," Ian vaguely understood.
These threads were the most fundamental, original rules of the MC world! And he could choose one type of Way to merge with.
Just as he was struggling over which 'Way' to choose, the Transmutation Tablet inside him sent a message, seemingly strongly recommending that he approach the threads in the lake before him.
The long-standing reliability of the Ultimate Transmutation Tablet made Ian not hesitate in the slightest. Following the Tablet's guidance, he looked at the island lake in front of him. Through the water's surface, he could see numerous threads constantly rising and falling, flowing endlessly.
Ian walked to the edge of the lake and gently touched the threads. In an instant, he felt as if he saw the world submerged by a great flood, and then saw a single bucket of water destroy an entire continent. Following this, he felt the life force of water, as countless lives spontaneously appeared from the water, and plants grew rapidly nurtured by the water.
"This is the Lesser Way of Infinite Water, a subordinate of the Great Way of Fluids in Minecraft?" Ian achieved enlightenment.
Immediately, the Immortal Power filling his Dantian began to slowly convert into two square shapes. Then, the two squares touched at their corners, and Immortal Power continuously surged out, slowly merging to form a complete square. With this, Ian obtained Infinite Immortal Power.
At the same time, Ian also gained the Vitality of Water.
When Ian opened his eyes again, he found that the other threads had slowly faded or even disappeared. Only a few stream-like threads became clearer. Ian followed the guidance of the threads and found a bucket of Milk.
These were a few buckets of Milk he had placed as decoration for the farm; after all, items in Minecraft have no expiration date.
Ian did not dwell on why it was Milk, he simply slowly dipped his hand into the bucket, touching the milky-white fluid threads within. The moment he touched the threads, he saw an ordinary cow. Although ordinary, it could produce infinite, miraculous Milk. No matter how powerful a buff, drinking the Milk would remove it completely.
Ian achieved enlightenment again, comprehending the Lesser Way of Milk, a subordinate of the Great Way of Fluids in Minecraft, from the Milk.
Now, he could freely control the on/off switch and duration of any effect on himself or others.
Having comprehended another Way, Ian felt as if he had reached a boundary. Comprehending two Ways was the most perfect state; going further would be overdoing it.
After Ian comprehended the two Ways, all the threads completely vanished.
With his Way Attainment complete and his aura contained, Ian examined his current appearance in a light mirror. His aura was more ethereal, more natural, as if he had fully merged with the heaven and earth.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Ian realized his demeanor still had room for improvement.
He then pulled out a large pile of Merit from the Transmutation Tablet and began to merge it.
As a massive amount of Merit fused into Ian's body, a halo slowly appeared behind him and began to rise. This was the Merit Golden Wheel. As countless Merit fused, three halos slowly rose behind Ian; this was the Triple Merit Golden Light.
The Triple Merit Golden Wheel slowly floated and rotated behind Ian, with golden light flowing within it, giving off an extremely profound and mysterious feeling. Now, his entire demeanor had become both majestic and compassionate, like a Celestial God who had descended to the world to save all beings.
Ian felt the warm Golden Wheels of Merit behind him, extremely satisfied. He then waved his hand, dyeing his original silver-black armor and the Three-Pointed, Double-Edged Halberd a brilliant gold.
Despite his dramatic transformation, he still fit the image of the God of Erlang. After all, he had another honorific title: "Heavenly Venerable Wayist Helper of Hongjun."
"Holy crap! Brother Ian, you became an Immortal? Those three big light bulbs on your back are so cool!" Zeke flew in from a distance and stood beside Ian.
Ian noticed Zeke's envy and pulled out several cultivation techniques and a large pile of Spirit Crystals from the Transmutation Tablet, handing them to Zeke. "Here, try them and see if you can cultivate."
He had previously flipped through the techniques and found that they actually contained text written in plain, common language. He figured that although others couldn't instantly master them like he could, they should be able to cultivate once they understood the text.
Zeke took the techniques and Spirit Crystals, chuckled, and said, "Thank you, Godfather! Please accept a bow from your child!"