Chương 343: World Awakens (II)

Fire roared in vermillion colors, raging in sixteen concentric circles on top of an ashen-cast platform. At its highest, it rose up to nearly forty feet, like a towering blanket of death, yet it never seemed to leave the rather strict confinement of the broad shape. At the very center of it all, within the smallest circle that was just barely large enough to fit a person within, was a young, wholly naked man, sweat trickling down his quite muscular body.

His expression was one of slight discomfort, though not much else. With each breath he took--as infrequent as they were--a bundle of flames would separate from the circles and get sucked up his nostrils. For a moment, his chest would blare in deep glow before settling down, whereupon his expression of discomfort would lessen ever so slightly. Hours ticked on by; with each one, the roaring flames lessened slightly in intensity while his discomfort all but disappeared.

By the sixth hour, he exhaled, visible patters of smoke scattering, and slowly stood up, opening his eyes. They were deeply ablaze, as though someone had taken burning garnets and put them in his sockets. A flutter of Qi flew out from every inch of him, drying the coalesced sweat. A flash of light later, he donned rather flamboyant phoenix-adorned robes and slowly tied up his dark hair into a ponytail, just in time for all fire to cease billowing.

He looked to his left, where an old man was waiting patiently, his eyes covered with horrific scars.

"Young Master, congratulations on achieving the Sixth Rebirth," he said as the young man stepped down from the platform, gracefully landing on the ground below it.

"Hm," he nodded dismissively, taking the parchment the man was holding; it was mostly just a list of 'notable events' that transpired the last year he had spent on the platform.

"Hmm? What is this Moon Lake City?"

"Young Master may not know, as it's not that important of a place. It's a small city on the southern outskirts of the Moon Lake. The reason we've included it is that, upon investigation, we discovered traces of the True God Qi."

"The city was destroyed by a True God?" the young man arched his brows in surprise.

"Unlikely. It was probably merely a collateral of a True God's training."

"Hm," he read through the rest of the events. None of them really caught his eye--no, perhaps just one did.

"Quite a few Elders of the Holy Lands... died?"

"Were killed, to be precise," the old man explained.

"Nine in the past year alone." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"And this is odd why...?" Cultivators died by the thousands every year. Even if they were Elders, the position of an Elder wasn't all that, especially in the lesser Holy Lands.

"Because, based on our research, they were all killed by the same person--an unknown swordsman."

"... hooh. Somebody is targeting the Holy Lands?"

"It is possible."

"Ha ha," the young man laughed gingerly for a moment before setting the parchment on fire.

"Good thing I'm not an Elder, then." His grin revealed the depths of his sarcasm.

"Take me to Master. I might finally be able to sever that Song bastard in half." Zhan Qiu had finally reached the peak of the Void Transformation Realm after years of bitter struggle. In the Phoenix Realm, he was determined to sweep it, bringing to their knees his entire generation of cultivators and ascending as their head. ** Tan Hai felt the rumble of Void Qi rampage through his meridians; if he were any lesser, the sheer quantity of Qi would have ruptured not just his meridians but also his dantian.

Even for him, however, it was a dance between life and death, but one he had to endure if he had any hope of catching up to those two monsters at the top. Though he was ranked third among the Holy Lands' prodigies, there truly were two lists; on one were those first two monsters, standing alone at the summit. Then there was the second list, a list of 'geniuses' that he topped, but it felt more like a pity list.

As though the world were saying, 'None of you will ever amount to much, especially compared to those two; have this pity list'. But... he didn't want pity. There was nothing wrong with his cultivation method--it was no worse than that bastard Zhan's--and there was nothing wrong with his talent, either. He didn't believe for a second that his was any worse than those two's. He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes; twilight hues of the nearby torches lit up the somber walls of the Void Hall.

It was cold, more so than in the winter, yet the air was so dry it was barely possible to breathe. He stood up, the array beneath him disintegrating into the marble floor; he just spent 100, 000 high-grade Spirit Stones, but... it wasn't enough. He was still at the peak of the Revolving Core Realm. Though he'd achieved 6 cycles and it was roaring without his input, the cornerstone of the next realm eluded him still: the Law of Space.

Though he was frustrated, there was nothing to be done; this was likely as good as he was going to become for the next few years. What was left was to optimize his state and gather as many tools and artifacts he could before the Realm's opening. No matter what, he had to find the Divine Void Fruit in that place, which would allow him to immediately break into the Void Transformation Realm. He'd be nobody's second--that was a promise he could not break.

** A figure encased in white sat atop a boulder looming over a massive cliff. Before it, a grand canyon stretched, the abyss below dark and rumbling, with the colors of sunset washing over the slightly hazy landscape. The figure held a wooden lyre gently in their hands, fingers strumming the strings in a perfect symphony. The sound was gentle yet wild, contained yet unruly; with each note, Qi seemed to stir around them, as though woken from slumber.

The song ended a few moments later, the last of the notes vanishing into the silence of the fading sun.

"Grand Envoy, may I approach?" a voice spoke from the back as a cloaked figure emerged from the shadows.

"You may." The voice that replied was vague--neither masculine nor feminine, yet also both.

"Why are you here?"

"An invitation token arrived for you this morning," the figure cloaked in black said, summoning a strange token from seemingly nowhere and floating it toward the figure sitting atop the boulder. The latter extended their arm and caught the token lithely, giving it a once-over before tossing it back.

"Will you not be attending?"

"I will," the figure said.

"Do you not hear it?"

"Hear... what?"

"Dao. It is singing."

"... Dao... is singing?"

"Tell them I will be there," the figure said as their edges began to flicker and fade.

"For I must see who wrote the notes of such a beautiful song. Amitābha, the light's brilliance is measureless."