Nilan slowly raised his head.
His entire body felt heavy.
Every movement sent pain through his muscles.
The paralysis caused by the previous attack had not completely faded, yet his eyes remained fixed on the scene before him.
Three ancient paths.
Three different directions.
And above each path—
Ancient words carved into the stone walls.
Heaven.
Earth.
Hell.
The dim corridor suddenly began to glow.
One by one—
Ancient murals lit up across the walls.
Nilan narrowed his eyes.
The first mural appeared.
A battlefield beyond imagination.
Ancient Dragons filled the sky.
Phoenixes spread blazing wings across the heavens.
Gigantic primordial beasts roared between collapsing stars.
Countless Devils surged forward like an endless black tide.
And standing against them—
Three incomparably majestic Gods.
Their faces had long been erased by time.
Their names had vanished from history.
Yet even the mural itself seemed unable to conceal their overwhelming presence.
The heavens shattered.
Stars exploded.
Worlds collapsed.
Ancient Dragons fell.
Primordial beasts roared their final cries.
Even Devils and Gods disappeared beneath the endless destruction.
Even time itself seemed to
crumble beneath that war.
For a brief moment—
Nilan felt as if he could hear the echoes of that ancient war.
A war so old that even history had forgotten it.
Then—
The first mural faded.
A second mural slowly illuminated.
This battlefield was different.
No Dragons.
No Gods.
Only—
Immortals.
And Devils.
The sky was covered by dark clouds.
Blood flowed like rivers.
Countless corpses covered the land.
The entire world seemed trapped in endless despair.
At the center of the battlefield stood ten figures.
The Ten Immortals.
One wielded a sword.
One carried a spear.
One held a battle axe.
One controlled blazing flames.
One wielded a spiritual whip.
One carried twin curved blades.
One held a giant hammer.
One stood with an ancient staff.
The remaining Immortals wielded mysterious weapons that even Nilan couldn't recognize.
Their faces were unclear.
Their names were lost.
Yet their presence remained terrifying.
Across from them—
Ten Devil Lords.
Each matching an Immortal.
Each radiating overwhelming power.
The battle continued.
Immortals fell.
Devils died.
Worlds burned.
Ages passed.
Until eventually—
Only two figures remained.
A Sword Immortal.
And an Axe Devil.
They stood facing one another.
Neither advancing.
Neither retreating.
The mural suddenly froze.
As if the final outcome had been deliberately hidden.
Nilan frowned.
"Why hide the ending...?"
A strange feeling appeared in his heart.
As though the wall itself was trying to tell him something.
Yet before he could understand—
The murals disappeared.
Silence returned once again.
Nilan slowly looked toward the three paths.
The Heaven Path radiated a golden glow.
Holy.
Beautiful.
Tempting.
Yet after witnessing the murals—
Nilan no longer trusted appearances.
"The more attractive something looks..."
"The more dangerous it might be."
His gaze shifted.
The Hell Path was completely different.
Dark.
Violent.
Oppressive.
Even from a distance, he could feel a terrifying pressure leaking from within.
With his current condition—
Choosing Hell would be suicide.
Finally—
His eyes landed on the middle path.
The Earth Path.
No dazzling light.
No terrifying aura.
No extraordinary phenomenon.
Just silence.
Simple.
Ordinary.
Almost forgotten.
Yet somehow—
That ordinary feeling made Nilan pause.
Among the three paths—
Only this one felt natural.
"I can't choose Heaven."
"I can't survive Hell."
"Then..."
His eyes sharpened.
"This is my only choice."
Using both hands—
Nilan slowly dragged his body forward.
One step.
Then another.
His legs still refused to move.
His arms trembled.
His breathing became rough.
But he continued.
Because stopping meant death.
And Nilan had never been someone who gave up.
The moment he crossed into the Earth Path—
The pressure vanished.
The paralysis disappeared.
The strange energy suppressing his body scattered completely.
Nilan froze.
Then quickly stood up.
His eyes widened.
A completely different world appeared before him.
Everything around him was pure white.
No sky.
No ground.
No walls.
No end.
Only endless whiteness.
It felt as though he had stepped outside the world itself.
And floating in the center—
Three ancient scrolls.
They revolved slowly around a massive formation.
The formation itself covered hundreds of meters.
Countless mysterious symbols moved across its surface.
Ancient runes flickered endlessly.
At the very center of the formation—
A jade token floated quietly.
Its surface was covered with strange golden markings.
Around it danced streams of multicolored flames.
Red.
Blue.
Gold.
Silver.
Purple.
Each flame radiated an ancient aura.
Yet strangely—
They didn't burn the formation.
Instead, they seemed to protect it.
Nilan instinctively stepped forward.
But the moment he approached—
A transparent barrier blocked his path.
Buzz—
The entire formation released a faint ripple.
Nilan immediately stopped.
His expression became serious.
"A formation..."
"And a very powerful one at that."
Just as he was observing—
The three scrolls suddenly stopped rotating.
Then—
A cold ancient voice echoed throughout the white space.
"Successor Candidate Detected."
"Beginning Inheritance Assessment."
Nilan's pupils contracted.
The voice continued.
"Within this inheritance realm exist three supreme paths."
"Formation Dao."
"Puppet Creation Dao."
"Artifact Forging Dao."
The three scrolls released different lights.
One emitted countless formation symbols.
One released images of powerful puppets.
One revealed endless weapons and treasures.
The ancient voice continued.
"All three inheritances may be learned."
"However..."
"Only two inheritances may be chosen as Core Paths."
"Only the chosen Core Paths may receive the complete Grandmaster inheritance."
Nilan listened silently.
The voice continued.
"Time within this realm differs from the outside world."
"One hundred thousand years exist within this space."
"Outside, only a short period shall pass."
Nilan's breathing stopped for a moment.
One hundred thousand years.
An absurd amount of time.
Enough for countless generations to rise and fall.
Yet before he could react—
The ancient voice spoke once more.
"Remember."
"Learning is not mastery."
"Mastery is not Grandmastery."
"Many have entered."
"Few have succeeded."
The surrounding space suddenly changed.
Countless figures appeared.
Ancient cultivators.
Formation Masters.
Puppet Masters.
Artifact Forgers.
Some spent tens of thousands of years studying.
Some spent their entire lives pursuing a single path.
Yet most still failed to reach the Grandmaster Realm.
The scene disappeared.
The message was clear.
Grandmaster wasn't something that could be achieved through time alone.
Talent.
Comprehension.
Willpower.
Opportunity.
All were necessary.
Nilan slowly clenched his fists.
Then—
His eyes landed on the three ancient scrolls once again.
Formation Dao.
Puppet Creation Dao.
Artifact Forging Dao.
Three supreme inheritances.
Three ancient paths.
And before him—
One hundred thousand years of opportunity.
A faint light appeared in Nilan's eyes.
For the first time since entering the Illusion Realm—
He felt that his fate was beginning to change.
And this time—
The opportunity before him belonged to no one else.
The path ahead was not written by destiny.
It would be written by his own choices.
To Be Continued... 🔥📖