You are perfect, my son. You were perfectly made !"
Po Ming looked up. His mother—as breathtakingly beautiful as he remembered—smiled down at him,
cradling him tenderly on her lap. At that time,
he was still so young, a mere boy of six years.Staring
up into her eyes, he squeezed her hand tightly, before gently letting his grip soften. He had not expected her to rebel against his choice.
She suddenly pulled him into an embrace so fierce, so suffocatingly tight, that the warmth felt like it was crushing the air from his lungs.
"Mam… Mama… what do you mean?" Po Ming stammered, his voice muffled against her. "
Even if you fail to break fate, does that mean it can never be broken?"
His mother only offered a smile. Yet, behind that gentle expression hid a false reality—a cruel truth that Po Ming, even across his hundreds of lifetimes bound to the heavens, could never truly comprehend.
At that exact moment, he felt something fracture.
A powerful crack echoed in his mind. It was the weight of a harsh, inescapable truth he was finally forced to face
bull floated suspended in the mid-air. It possessed two wicked, towering horns, and as it snorted, the sheer pressure of its breath gouged a massive crater into the earth below.Standing before the beast was Pai Hui. He stared up at the creature with an expression worn by ancient exhaustion.
The handsome features of his youth were long gone; he had grown old, his face weathered and lined like a man in his late sixties.Clutching his chest tightly, Pai Hui sank to his knees.
His breath came in heavy, ragged gasps. When he looked up, he could barely believe his eyes, as if his deepest, most impossible wish had suddenly manifested into reality.He had finally found a way to descend to the mortal world.
For millions, even trillions of years, entities from the otherworldly realms had been barred from reaching the Nine Heavens. It was a fatal boundary.
Any who dared to cross into the Nine Heavens would unravel the timeline and perish the moment they arrived, exploding into a shower of stray sparks.
Previously, Pai Hui could only access a restricted, ancient realm—the very place where he had once met Sun Tzu.
It was a sanctuary meant solely for the denizens of the Nine Heavens to reside, yet it was practically useless. One could manifest upon its mountains, but flying away from it
was impossible.But this was that exact place. The very site where he had met Sun Tzu and learned the dark truth of what had befallen the mortal ruler.
If he dared to escape past its borders, death was certain.No one truly understood why living souls were forbidden from entering the mortal world.
Many claimed it was the decree of Fate—an everlasting, terrifyingly absolute law. But now, Pai Hui would be the first to shatter his destiny, and perhaps clear a path for millions of others.
In this moment, he began the reformation ritual.He summoned the Bull of Heaven.
It was a mythical beast capable of bestowing its own lifespan upon its summoner, granting Pai Hui the vitality needed to survive a prolonged stay in the mortal plane. But it came with a terrifying price
the moment that borrowed lifespan expired, he would instantly crumble to dust.Had he not chosen to reform the
[Bull of Heaven],
he wouldn't have survived down there for even a single second
, Pai Hui held two distinct artifacts of in the same time .
One was a sharp, crystalline dipyramid; the other was a delicate, small leaf encased in a fragile web of glass. With an expression of manic excitement, he tossed the glass-bound leaf toward the floating bull.
The leaf hovered directly above the beast's head. Mystical, grotesque smiles began to split open across the bull's pores, its ears, its mouth, and its nose. Suddenly, the creature's skin began to liquefy, swelling and bubbling violently.
Without losing a beat, Pai Hui hurled the dipyramid forward.The artifact expanded into a colossal, shimmering hologram, stretching outward until it completely encapsulated the thrashing bull within its geometric walls.
Inside the holographic seal, the transformation turned horrific. The beast's flesh dissolved rapidly, melting away until its liquefying remains scattered across the floor of the projection.Soon, only the exposed skeleton remained, clinging to a few stray tatters of meat.
But in the next heartbeat, vibrant, unnatural flowers began to bloom in rapid succession across the exoskeleton, overtaking the ribs, the skull, and the spine.As the bones became entirely blanketed by the flora, Pai Hui roared, channeling a massive surge of soul force into the array.
The skeletal flowers violently detonated. They dissolved into a raging whirlwind of petals, sending shockwaves crashing hard against the boundaries of the hologram.
The entire projection began to tremble violently.A look of pure shock crossed Pai Hui's face.If it breaks, I fail!"
Please don't break... please don't break!" he prayed frantically, panic gripping his chest.
What is wrong with me? Why am I relying on fate?!
Miracles are nothing but a trap engineered by destiny itself! I will never betray my purpose—I will defy the heavens!
He pushed his hands forward, straining against the backlash as sweat poured down his face. Controlling the volatile energy of this place was tearing him apart.
What is happening?!
Suddenly, a violent spasm racked his body. He hacked up a thick mouthful of blood, his gaze dropping to the floor. Yet,
as he looked back up, a wave of profound relief washed over his features. The hologram was shrinking, and the chaotic storm of flowers was finally condensing into a stable form.In that quiet, agonizing moment of success, an ancient poem echoed clearly in his mind
:
Simplicity, passion, and patience are your greatest traits as a human. Whether your thoughts reflect on fate, the heavens, or reality, it all returns to where the heart belongs. Once you grasp these true concepts, you return to the choice of being truly alive, and everything will gradually become clear…...I am Po Ming.
He recited the words silently in his heart. He wanted to feel joy for what he had achieved.
If he couldn't find happiness in this choice, he would never be able to live with himself. He had escaped the massive shuttle where millions upon millions of souls stayed huddled beneath their blankets,
content with their safe, stagnant lives. But Pai Hui had wanted out. He had driven himself to go outside the shuttle, to uncover what lay beneath the freezing air and the cruel realities of the wider world. And today,
he would finally know.But in the next instant, a cold voice shattered the silence with five words:"
You won't find that enlightenment."
Pai Hui spun around instantly.A brilliant, blinding beam of energy tore through the sky.
It was none other than Nezha.Nezha sat crossed-legged inside a massive, roaring cocoon of crimson flames. He wore a stark red shirt that exposed a sculpted, powerful physique.
His hair burned like an unholy bonfire. He possessed no mouth and no ears—only two piercing, luminous eyes set into a face composed entirely of living fire.
He was devastatingly handsome, possessing a beauty that transcended mortal limits.With terrifying speed,
Nezha shot forward like a meteor.
Pai Hui froze, his blood running cold.
Damn it! He's already here! If he attacks me now, I'll lose my only chance to reach the mortal world! No, no, no! Go somewhere else, you princ !"
Fine then! I will use my strongest attack!"
Pai Hui roared, desperation pushing him to the brink. "
Even if I must burn twenty percent of my soul force meant for the mortal world, I stand above anything you can conceive!"Shifting his left foot forward, Pai Hui spun on his heel.
He instantly summoned five glowing, ethereal orbs that hovered ominously around his form. His eyes rolled back, turning completely, starkly white.Bringing his hands together, he locked his fingers and barked out the incantations:"
[Spite of Faze]! [Everlasting Fire]! [Wave of Sound]!"
"[Complete Harmony]! [Eight Hours of Light]! [Flawless Spiral]!"
Pai Hui unleashed the full power of his Chaos Destruction Soul Core Formation.He threw his hands wide, fingers extended. A brilliant, blinding starlight erupted from the ten openings of his fingertips.
The chaotic energy condensed into a massive, rainbow-coloured arrowhead that burned with the fury of a cosmic flame.With a deafening roar, the devastating arrow launch forward.
Simultaneously, the manifestation of Nezha conjured a massive, heavy chain directly from the void, whipping it forward with world-ending force.
The two catastrophic attacks collided
.A titanic explosion ripped through the airspace, tearing the clouds apart.
The blast caught Nezha dead-centre, engulfing him in the shockwave. Yet, looking through the smoke, Nezha seemed entirely unbothered.
His voice echoed calmly through the detonation:"
Is this truly the best your strongest attack can do?"A
towering wall of celestial flame erupted in front of Nezha, forcefully redirecting the remaining blast wave miles away into the distance.
But by the time the smoke cleared, Pai Hui had already fled.
Nezha did not hesitate, turning into a streak of blinding light as he pursued him through the sky.A few miles away, Pai Hui flew in a state of sheer, numbing shock.
His mind went entirely blank. He stopped my ultimate killer move... and he escaped it without a single scratch? Has he already surpassed the mortal state to reach the absolute peak?
He couldn't afford to dwell on the thought. A thunderous, earth-shaking detonation boomed right beside him.Twisting around,
he saw a mile-wide pillar of thick black smoke rising rapidly from the shattered ground.Boom!
A streak of fire flew straight toward him. The very earth beneath them tore themselves to pieces just from being near the wake of Nezha's blinding speed.
Nezha thrust his fiery hand forward.Boom!
He shouted out five devastating attack .
A huge palm made of flame erupt from his body and smash The ground beneathe him but with that push He was able to tossed himself forward at blinding speeds !
Pai hui turn around and for the first time it seem that the whole timeline seem to stoped ! For him
As one questing stuck in his head
Was this the right choice ?