The mortal world must be destroyed!"
Three million years passed like a single instant, spanning across now and forever."We will destroy the mortal world!
The land of glorious rebels!"
At the heart of a massive valley covered by giant trees with red, vine-like leaves, the terrain stretched endlessly. Each tree loomed as tall as a mountain.
Every single leaf seemed to represent something inherently, necessarily cruel. One leaf, though deep red, shone as brightly as polished glass.
There, in the sixth heaven—inside the central hub of the realm—voices clashed in a panic."
Are you crazy? You want to let him live? This guy was able to destroy the Fate Territory, and he is already on his way to the eighth heaven!"In a vast, beautiful, and unknown expanse, a cracked black wall loomed.
Water rushed from its summit like a cascading waterfall, pouring down the stone surface and emptying into a small, pristine pond.In the middle of this sanctuary sat a colossal being.
He had one functional eye and one blind eye. He wore a beautiful tunic with long sleeves striped in vibrant colours. In his hand, he gripped a long spear, while a serpent floated in the air beside him, hissing aggressively.
Below him, a newborn pup crawled across the ground, its eyes still tightly closed.A crowd surrounded him. Strangely, not a single one of them was human; they were all inhuman, otherworldly entities. One possessed a face carved of exquisite stone, a beauty so devastating that entire nations would go to war over it.
Many of the beings surrounding him were ethereal, clad in armor made of alabaster pebbles. Others were creatures with angelic wings, hovering in the air like predatory eagles.They floated aloft, looking down proudly.Compared to the vastness of time, the person standing before them looked like a mere toddler. Yet, at this exact moment, he wore an expression of deep concern.
Nearby, a massive, flame-wreathed sword was buried in the ground, leaking thick bubbles of molten lava.The only true human in the assembly walked forward.He spoke up, reassuring them, "Don't worry.
We were able to capture Mingyin. He is trapped in the sky where the ninth heaven resides. He cannot escape; he isn't even a Nine Ruler yet."The towering entities smiled. Then, the human continued to speak."
Anguished has gone back in time, trying to stop Mingyin from ever stepping onto this fallen path. He has frozen time itself! If he captures Mingyin and brings him back to our corrected timeline, the current Mingyin will dissolve from existence. He will be cast into the Realm of No Return—the realm of non-existence, where even the Nine Rulers dare not step a single foot near the borders!"The towering beings grinned greedily.
They asked, "Once Mingyin realizes who controls him and understands the situation, he will have to follow our lead. Then, each of us can ascend to the ninth heaven. Perhaps we can even claim the lower ranks of the Nine Rulers for the next two million years! Hehehehe... Odin Shin, you are brilliant!"
Odin Shin smiled, turning around as he gripped his spear."We can only hope for the best," Odin Shin replied. "Once he captures Mingyin, he will create a ripple across time for us to enter the mortal world. If we went there normally, we would die—only the Nine Rulers are permitted to enter that place.
Only the Bull of Heaven can help us elevate our lifespans.
Po Ming was able to achieve it, helping Mingyin and ascending to the ninth heaven, leaving behind the mortal world where it was creepily swallowed by—"He cut himself off abruptly. "No, I should not say that. It is forbidden to speak of it!""Ahahaha, we are doing so well!" another cheered."Huh?"
Suddenly, every entity in the room froze
.
BAM!
In the sky below, right where Mingyin was being held captive, a strange presence stirred.Inside the eighth heaven, a colossal hole ripped open in the wall right above Odin Shin.
The breach was staggering, reaching millions of feet into the sky. Odin and the others whipped around, a sudden spike of terror piercing their hearts.
"Kill! I want to end every single one of you! Kill! Come here, let me tear your flesh, drain your blood, and offer it to the Renewal! Let me take your skull, smash it seventy-five times, and crush it seventy times more until it turns to fine powder!"
A roaring voice echoed through the void."
Killing you is the only thing I need to do right now! I will make sure you are squeezed so brutally that you will cry tears of blood! This is not your dictated fate, but a sentence I am deciding right now!"
Suddenly, a massive figure appeared through the portal, though it was still too far away to see clearly.
Every person present fell to their knees.
A six-hundred-foot monstrosity came into view. Its entire bird-like body was pitch black, covered in white, blossom-like leaves and blooming flowers.On the left side of its face stood three eyes stacked vertically on top of each other. They looked like small, spinning black dots, with hundreds of pupils bursting from the abyss of its giant sockets, all framed by flowers.
It possessed four arms ending in razor-sharp claws. From its left side, a broken, bone-like wing protruded, blood pouring heavily from its back.
Dozens—if not hundreds—of skeletons could be seen crawling across its skin, dancing erratically. Suddenly, they all snapped their heads forward, a fierce red glow igniting in their hollow eyes.The creature lunged forward. The wind around it began to take physical form, hovering violently around its massive frame.
BAM!
It crashed through the portal and launched its hand forward.
CREAK
Violent lightning tore through the gateway. Odin Shin and the rest of the immortals stood utterly stupefied.Suddenly, reality itself began to crack.
BAM!
They were all caught in a blinding white explosion. Odin Shin and his allies were tossed violently through the air as the blast trapped everything in its radius.Then, everything faded until only the face of Mingyin remained.BAM!...Suddenly, Odin Shin bolted upright. He woke up floating in the vacuum of deep space, freezing instantly.Floating all around him were the corpses of his comrades.
The towering giants hovered over him, their faces frozen in expressions of absolute shock.
Many had lost limbs; others were missing half their faces.As Odin turned around, he saw the same future version of Mingyin launching his hand downward.At this exact moment, I saw half of my own men vanish in an instant. In a single, fucking incomprehensible surge of energy, they were gone.
It didn't make any sense."If this destiny is fate, then I curse you!" Odin roared.Odin spun around. He spotted Anguished not too far away, gripping the shoulder of Po Ming, who looked absolutely terrified as he turned with wide, shocked eyes.Odin screamed out, "Anguished!"
Anguished froze mid-motion. The air around him cracked with arcs of lightning as he met eyes face-to-face with Mingyin—no, the version of Mingyin he had always feared.Suddenly, the terrifying entity lunged forward at blinding speed. Beams of light erupted from his form. He caught Odin, switching positions as he spun around, desperately trying to escape the monstrous being.Odin clenched his fist tightly, looking back. "How was he able to teleport us here?!"
Anguished gulped, a look of profound regret washing over his face. He spoke rapidly, "This Mingyin has the ability to teleport. I asked him how I could go to the past to stop him. He told me, but it came under one condition..."Odin froze, his blood running cold. "
What the fuck do you mean?"Odin wasn't ready to process the terrifying information, but Anguished pressed on regardless. "
To go back in time, I had to use his Life and Death Artifact! But it comes at the cost of his full power returning to him in three days—"SLAP!
Odin struck him across the face, shoving him aside. Anguished didn't react with anger; he merely turned his head away in shame.Odin Shin screamed at the top of his lungs, "The fuck?!
No wonder he can tear us apart like this! Give me the fucking Life and Death Artifact!"
Anguished nodded submissively. From his palm, a round bead rose into the air. It was etched with beautiful, intricate patterns and featured a single, angelic bone-wing. The wing flapped eagerly, circling Anguished before diving straight into Odin's hands."
Now, today, I will become the hero of this insane era!" Odin declared.The future Mingyin gave him nothing but a cold, murderous stare as he lunged forward at blinding speed. Po Ming froze in terror.
But at that exact moment!Anguished's entire body shuddered violently. His torso twisted completely against his will. Suddenly, his chest shot forward, launching three pitch-black arrows straight toward the Life and Death Artifact.The round bead flashed with a brilliant, blinding light.Suddenly, all the broken beings who had been crushed by the future Mingyin turned around, visibly shaken. At the center of the artifact, the energies of life and death began to churn, and hollow, spectral eyes began to manifest in the void...Meanwhile, Mingyin was incredibly close to awakening his soul realm, finally prepared to begin the journey that would set him free.
The realization of his dream felt incredibly sudden and terrifying. He had a mountain of questions he wanted answered, but he knew nothing in this universe came free.BAM!Suddenly, he froze in place as the soul realm began to take shape inside his spirit, expanding into an entirely new dimension. He froze because the shouting old man had suddenly stopped moving. No, more interestingly, the old man didn't—
He froze. The old man's shouting cut off mid-breath. Movement across the landscape died instantly. Not a single thing stirred. Even the rushing river turned to solid glass. In this dead, suspended reality, the only one left moving was Mingyin.
He spun around slowly, completely blindsided by the sudden quiet. Before he could fully process the shock, the entire atmosphere shifted, turning a deep, pitch black.The valley was gone. Standing in its place, Mingyin saw stars burning across unfathomable distances, light-years away. He froze.
Looking upward, he witnessed a bizarre cosmic sight.Floating in the vacuum above him stood Anguished, his face pale with shock. Next to him, Odin Shin was staring down intensely at the Life and Death Artifact.Mingyin stood paralyzed by the sheer impossibility of it.
He turned his head and saw a countless horde of beings, each towering over seventy feet tall. They were made of living stone, boasting an unnatural, devastating beauty. The most striking among them was an immortal creature with a broken wing.
It flew downward, its eyes wide with terror as it locked onto him."Mingyin?!" the creature gasped.Odin Shin froze, his grip tightening on his weapon. "Isn't this the past Mingyin? How did he enter this domain?"Mingyin was utterly stunned. His mind raced. Where was he? What had just happened?
But before anyone could demand answers, the voice of the artifact itself provided them.
The Life and Death Artifact was able to draw out my original path. It used me to drag Mingyin out of his own timeline and completely out of the mortal world. He has escaped his era—but how is he surviving the raw pressure of space?
Mingyin turned around, completely overwhelmed. Huh? Are these the heavenly beings of the nine heavens?
Why can't I feel a single spark of their soul energy?Suddenly, his breath hitched. He turned toward a colossal presence.
Emerging from the cosmic dark was a six-hundred-foot towering entity. It was his own future self, and the monstrous creature was looking directly down at him."
Hello, Mingyin," the future self rumbled, a dark smile playing on its lips. "You are the piece of shit that I used to be. The past me."
Mingyin froze. "My... future self?"
Mingyin stared back, visibly shaken. He had never expected to gaze upon something so strangely disguised—monstrous and ugly, yet terrifyingly beautiful all at once.The massive creature extended its giant hand, gently lowering its palm to catch Mingyin
. As Mingyin stepped onto it, brilliant sparks of light erupted from the creature's pitch-black skin. The energy rose in waves, completely surrounding Mingyin's body.Up until this moment, Mingyin's soul realm hadn't truly finished forming. If it had been complete, he would have felt the dangerous instability of this temporal fusion.
But strangely, the cosmic sparks began to mix directly into his developing spiritual domain.Instantly, Mingyin burst with a brilliant, blinding light.
When the light faded, Mingyin looked completely different. His hair had grown long and messy, styled in wild, uneven black spikes.
The right side blended seamlessly into a striking, bright white, creating a dramatic contrast. Ethereal blue fragments, looking like supernatural paint chips, drifted lazily from his strands.His features had sharpened beautifully. His gray-blue eyes were piercing, but his right eye now glowed with an icy blue light. The intense luminescence gave the impression of immense, concentrated power. He looked completely calm,
yet fiercely focused. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed, his lips parted just enough to signal absolute concentration.
He looked like a hunter who had locked onto his target and would never let anything distract him again.His face had become slim and youthful, with exceptionally fine features. Intricate, cracked glass-like patterns spread across his skin, creating a dramatic, symbolic effect—as if his very body was breaking through its mortal limits.He stood confidently on the giant palm, holding one hand beside his face with his index and middle fingers extended.
Combined with his unwavering stare, the calculated pose radiated absolute certainty rather than empty flashiness.His peasant rags dissolved. In their place appeared a white tunic accented with deep blue highlights, bound at the waist by a sharp, silk-ash sash.
The cool blue tones matched the dangerous glow of his eye, reinforcing the freezing, determined atmosphere around him.He gave off the terrifying aura of someone awakening to their ultimate potential—cold, unwavering, and fiercely competitive. Between the glowing eye, the fracturing skin, and the floating blue fragments, he looked entirely superhuman.In that single instant, his internal perception of speed surpassed the speed of light. He turned around, his eyes turning hungry, almost insane with anticipation. He had expected this. He looked up at his future self.The giant version of him extended its hand again. "
This is you! I am you. I am your future! Ahahaha! You might wonder what this idiot is thinking, but I managed to rewrite time itself for the sake of a dear friend."
Hearing those words, Anguished looked away in pure fury, gritting his teeth till they nearly cracked. Odin Shin roared as a golden, primordial aura erupted from his body. Around them, the other seventy-foot entities lunged forward through the air, weapons raised, ready to tear everything in their path to shreds.
Mingyin looked directly at the giant monster. "So you're me, huh? The one who becomes... this?"His future self shook his massive head. "You're currently thinking, 'Why should I trust this monster?' Ahahaha!
If you hesitate that much, then let me ask you: do you remember Qing Shai?"Hearing that name, Mingyin's head snapped down. He bit his lip so hard it nearly bled, his eyes darkening as he spun back around.The future Mingyin smiled.As he grinned, the Life and Death Artifact rose into the air.
The round bead, its angelic bone-wing flapping eagerly, descended from the sky and landed perfectly in the young Mingyin's hand.The future Mingyin laughed as his six-hundred-foot body suddenly began to shrink. Within seconds, he compressed down until he was the exact same size as the young Mingyin
.Holding his own version of the round bead, the future self cheered, "Ahahahahah! Finally! With this, I can reform the Life and Death Artifact across the present, the future, and the past simultaneously! For the grand dance—"Suddenly, young Mingyin turned around, the light in his eyes shifting dangerously.
Nearby, Po Ming hung his head in deep silence.What truly was the will of a person?The will of some could be preserved until the very end, fiercely defying their superiors, their gods, and fate itself.The will of others was to do something incredibly foolish, genuinely believing they were doing good, completely blind to the fact that they were being manipulated by their own emotions rather than helping their friends.
The will of some was to ensure that those standing at the absolute peak of the world would have their powers heavily restricted, trying to forge a world peace where the strong could no longer bully the weak.
The will of another was to act arrogant, believing they had every single variable under control, constantly throwing blame on everyone else while failing to realize until it was too late that they were simply being selfish.
And the will of the rest was to blindly follow the strings of destiny, fighting one another under the delusion that they were superior, never realizing they were nothing but slaves to a higher design.
But the will of someone destined to become a true sovereign was built on the refusal to bow down early, choosing instead to observe the fallen path and rise above it."The will of Mingyin..." the young warrior whispered, his voice echoing across the void as the artifact pulsed in his grip. "...will always change."
The will of Mingyin... will always change!"Suddenly, half of his body shifted back toward his humble, peasant-like half-cloth.
The right side of his face lost its godlike, flawless beauty, reverting to its original form, and half of his hair shifted back to a rich, chestnut brown. A simple leather belt bound his waist once more.He stepped forward, exhaling a brief, quiet sigh before he spoke."
This world doesn't revolve around us minor, insignificant people. Fate, reality, and everything in existence has a cause and effect.
Good and evil are just subjective concepts to superficial minds! Whether you succeed in reaching your goals or not, if you are satisfied with just fulfilling a predicted role, you will never truly rise above your dreams!"
Mingyin's voice hardened, echoing across the cosmos."
For I am neither a pawn of heaven nor a righteous savior of this world. I am neither a traveller on the evil path, nor am I bound to a truly fallen path.
I will become a true cultivator!"Mingyin glared directly at the massive entity before him."Isn't this what you wanted, future me?!
You are my dream—the living proof of my goals fulfilled right in front of me! While I am just the 'piece of shit' past-and-present version of you... I will never dance with that kind of enlightenment!"
Mingyin turned away, exhaling a breathless sigh."This isn't who I want to be. I want to see what I can truly become!"The future Mingyin froze in utter shock.
Around them, the immortal forces paralyzed in mid-air. Anguished stood completely rigid, never expecting such a declaration.
Even Odin Shin, looking entirely unamused, stared down with a cold, piercing calm.The watching entities were shocked to the point of collapsing.
The winged immortal hovered in place, completely stunned.
Who is this kid with such profound wisdom? How is Mingyin not amazed by his own future self? Every person wants to strike down their old version,
yet it seems this Mingyin holds his past self like something valuable!"
Who are you?!" the winged creature demanded."Mingyin!" the boy replied.The future Mingyin turned, his tone blunt and demanding. "
What? Don't you know who I am? I am your dream!"
Young Mingyin looked back at him and smiled. He fell for the bait.Suddenly,
the boy spun around completely.
"Don't you see what is happening to me, future me?"The future Mingyin's eyes widened as he finally took in his surroundings.
BOOM!
A massive meteorite hanging in the void suddenly exploded into dust. But then,
Odin Shin and the others whipped their heads upward.Millions of meteors were raining down from the abyss, rocketing straight toward them.The future Mingyin froze, yelling out in complete shock, "What the fuck is happening?!"
Po Ming smiled faintly from the shadows. What is your plan, Mingyin?
Odin Shin's expression twisted into pure rage. What is happening? The moment Mingyin spoke, we were all distracted!
The beautiful, stone-carved entity stood far in the distance, glaring at Mingyin with a deadly serious expression.
Did this kid plan all of this?
Every god and immortal looked worried, stressed, and desperate, trying to figure out how to escape the oncoming cataclysm. The only one who remained completely unbothered was young Mingyin.
Po Ming froze, watching the boy step forward. He manipulated the entire situation to his advantage.
He didn't even care about preserving his future self? What level of love, respect, and utter disrespect do you have for yourself, you damn monkey?
!Mingyin raised his left hand, clutching it gently at first, before slamming it shut into a tight fist.Go crazy for your own goals—the ones that exist far above your dreams.
Go crazy, eat dirt, do whatever it takes. Take a good bath, marry the woman of your dreams, have a child, and be happy with that. Make your family proud—your mother, your father, and your siblings.
Make everyone proud. But the thing that lies above your dreams?
You have to live through that entirely alone, Mingyin!"
For today, both the past and the future will vanish," Mingyin declared into the roaring cosmic wind.
"The only one who will remain is the one standing right here, right now. You Mingyin !""
.
For I am the Surface of Fate, only a step away from the heaven."
This was his answer it was very hard to imagine all of this into a human brain but his answer was simple !
I would always be Mingyin that change .
For my goal that lie above my dream !
For my Venture of peace would never acured once against in century . Only I would created that .
Suddenly many memory pope in his head
The moment where he was surrendering by enemy the moment where he have To hide in his mortal form being shameful of everthing .
The moment where he have to truly belived he was weak the moment he could not do anything.
As now his old pathetic form he hated was the same he respected !
As then a piece of mirrow appeared in the air covered by Soul essende could be seen in the air
As he saw his own self crying in the ground sobbing
What must death be the enlightened one in this world why must it be the final resting place .
Mingyin look focus as he spoke he look like he got the answer as his eyes furrowed as many spark rose from him
Then he spoke to that mirror directly
For dance macabre is not nirvana.
The end
[end of volume 1 surface of fate is a step away from the heaven ]
....
Author's Note:
This finale has completely shaken me. Everything that I believed about this story came together here. This volume was a beautiful ride, despite the mistakes, typos, and grammar errors that needed fixing. Many mysteries will be better explained when Volume 2 arrives—it will explain everything, and it is by far the volume I hope all of you are looking forward to.
Enjoy the ride, and thank you so much for 102k views! It might not be comparable to the massive, mainstream series out there yet, but as time goes on, I know it will surely rise to the top.Thank you all for your incredible support! See you soon.I will be taking a three-week break to take care of some personal matters and prepare the next volume and I am proud ?
[ Volume 2: The Surface of Fate Has Risen Above the Abyss Left Behind by the Light ]