Ahh... ahhh... ahhhh... ahhjh...
That was a close call. Hopefully, the next round won't be that hard!"
Po Ming stumbled to the ground, exhaling a heavy sigh of relief. He stared up at the vast, open white sky before him, his eyes flickering with profound gratitude and a newfound sense of hope.
The eleventh round had been an absolute nightmare. He had almost been slaughtered by the bull, but somehow—through some flashy, miraculous twist of fate—he survived alongside Future Mingyin. Both of them were utterly exhausted, though Future Mingyin's face wore a hardened, deeply weathered expression."
Po Ming... once I transcend the Transgressor Realm, I will ascend to the rank of... Sacred Sage!"Po Ming, who had been minding his own business reflecting on his life, snapped his head around.
His eyes widened, his pupils shrinking to the size of needles as if he had just heard a laughable fairy tale.He turned completely toward Mingyin, his expression turning deathly serious, laced with a faint, haunting hint of familiarity."
Sir, are you absolutely sure you want to face that tribulation? Don't you know that the success rate after surpassing the Peak Apex Rank is a mere sixty thousand out of ninety-nine hundred trillion—and that is only in the First Heaven!"Po Ming pressed forward, his voice tight with worry. "
If you attempt to break through to [Sacred Sage], even if you succeed, you risk losing one of your absolute human abilities, leaving your cultivation crippled for years!
The grand masters of the First Heaven advise ascending only at Sealing Mountain, supported by a professional formation of ten Sacred Sages... and even then, the survival rate is still below sixty-six percent!"Future Mingyin did not reject the warning.
He didn't argue, nor did he silence Po Ming. Instead, he simply redirected his gaze toward the sky, his eyes turning brutally cold, radiating a chilling, absolute bloodlust."
Hey, Po Ming... have you ever heard of the Artifact of Destruction? The one that should be called the Artificer of Peace?"Staring up in deep concern, Po Ming asked, "I've never heard of it. What is it?"Future Mingyin looked up, letting out a weary sigh."
That artifact holds multiple creations within its grasp. No... it holds the very life of creation itself. But if it falls into the wrong hands, it will ultimately consume everything.
Fate...""Fate... fate... fate... fate..."Po Ming's ears rang in disbelief. He stared into Mingyin's eyes, his own expression muffled and strained."Reality, heaven, the Nine Heavens, and countless other realms!
" Future Mingyin whispered. "And even... regression itself!"Po Ming froze solid at that last word."You are bluffing, for sure!""No, I am completely serious. In fact, I have found definitive proof that it exists.""
Ahaahaha! Then show me!""I can show you right here. But heed my warning: this is merely a tiny piece of debris from the artifact. If I were to bring the true artifact forth, its mere presence would kill us the moment we looked at it."
Po Ming's eyes filled with utter bewilderment, but he nodded.With a sudden wave of his hand, Future Mingyin summoned a small chunk of stone with a crystal-like surface. Embedded deep within the translucent rock was a tiny, pulsing emerald fragment.He held it out to Po Ming.
The moment Po Ming's eyes locked onto it, he froze. The entire world transformed instantly. A monstrous black hole tore through the fabric of the air, completely obliterating and swallowing reality itself.
Pitch-black tentacles erupted from the void.Po Ming suddenly found his consciousness pulled right in front of it. Desperate, he thrust his hands forward. "
Wait, wait, wait!"Instantly, the black hole began to violently violently shake. Po Ming began to melt alive.
His skin and flesh disintegrated into absolute nothingness, erased by the void's gravity until only a stark white skeleton remained. The skeleton collapsed, tumbling directly into the black hole where the crushing pressure pulverized the bones into dust. Finally, the powder dissolved entirely into conceptual notions.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Po Ming snapped back to reality, collapsing to the floor and tightly clutching his knees. His breathing was ragged and violent.
He stared down, his eyes wide open, completely terrified to close them. He began to shake uncontrollably, sobbing like a frightened child.If anyone had witnessed this scene, their heart would have broken, for Po Ming's face had turned completely red from the absolute horror of the vision."
Ahhh... ahhhh... ahhhh... What was that?!""
Didn't I just tell you?" Future Mingyin replied quietly into the dead silence.The space remained completely still. Po Ming could not shake the vision from his mind; the sheer scale of terror had shocked him to his very core.
He would never underestimate the debris again. Fear took root within him, shattering his composure.Just as the ancient cultivation texts declared: fear is the most dangerous emotion, one that must be controlled at all costs or avoided entirely.
When fear takes hold, everything collapses—your life, your mentality, your whole existence. The only choice left is to rebuild your shattered soul from the wreckage.Po Ming's eyes did not soften. Instead, he stood up, his gaze emitting a dark, dangerous glare.
Looking like the embodiment of visceral, fluid malice, Po Ming looked directly into Mingyin's eyes as the energy of the debris finally settled."You have witnessed a fraction of the power at the pinnacle of existence. Now, I will truly explain what I am trying to make you understand!""
This is not going to work like this! Are you stupid?!"
.......
Vast and terrifying stood a massive, circular building aligned with the Seven Stars. It looked as if seven celestial bodies had rolled across the sky, leading directly down to a structure built from massive pebble slabs and stone sheets.The figure resting there was none other than Loki Thorn, who let out a heavy, melodic sigh, chanting a weary tune:"
Oh, a great phenomenon has become a plague of destruction, cursed to remain forever in the silent valley of a single mind!""You look remarkably confident today, Master," a voice called out."And you are certainly sure of yourself, Athen!" Loki countered.A vast, terrifying hall spread out for miles, submerged in crystal-clear water.
Great bubbles erupted continuously from the floor, causing massive, sweeping waves to ripple across the grand chamber.The hall was a architectural masterpiece, carved with seven magnificent styles of pillars.
Thick, unadorned stone shafts rose directly from the bare floor without decorative bases, their heavy frames gouged with deep, sharp vertical channels.
These massive pillars tapered tightly as they ascended, ending in flat, blocky crowns that bore the crushing weight of the ceiling like broad, unyielding shoulders.Nearby, slender marble columns of Ionic design rested neatly upon stacked, rounded stone rings, featuring narrow, shadow-filled grooves running the length of the shafts.
At the summit, the white stone curled symmetrically outward into two perfect, sweeping scrolls that mimicked frozen parchment rolls, lending the architecture an air of effortless weightlessness.Further in, soaring pillars of Corinthian design shot toward the ceiling like slender stone trees, bursting into opulent bloom at their highest points.
Intricately carved, multi-layered acanthus leaves erupted from the capitals, twisting and overlapping in a dense masterpiece of craftsmanship that projected immense wealth and imperial grandeur.
Then came the Caryatid design—the female figures. Sculpted stone maidens stood in place of traditional pillars, eternally balancing the heavy roof upon their heads.
Carved linen gowns cascaded down to their feet in thick, vertical folds resembling column fluting, while a single bent knee beneath the marble fabric betrayed the immense structural pressure of their silent vigil.Finally, the Atlantes design—the male figures
. Massive, muscular giants of dark stone were forced into the architecture, their spines bent double beneath the weight of the ceiling. Sculpted veins bulged from straining thighs, and their marble faces were contorted into permanent screams of agony, their raised arms locking the entire structure into place.
This was a place of absolute, unparalleled glory
!Suddenly, every single pillar—alongside the sculpted human figures—flashed and turned into solid, shimmering gold.Loki smiled, his voice echoing like thunder through the grand hall."Arise, Mingyin's Army!"
Instantly, the golden figures detached themselves from the pillars, stepping down into the water one by one. They turned, lowered their heads, and knelt slowly before their lord."
Yes, Master!"