Back in the human world.When Sunny and his friends were still in the trial,The human world had begun like any other ordinary day.
Transmitter stations across sprawling cities and hidden outposts hummed steadily, relaying vital information between distant kingdoms, powerful sects, and secretive organizations. Cultivators trained in quiet courtyards, their movements precise and disciplined. Merchants haggled in crowded marketplaces, their voices blending with the clamor of daily life. The strong remained concealed among the masses, while the weak continued their lives in blissful ignorance.
Nothing suggested that everything was about to change forever.
Until the sky stopped behaving like a sky.
At first, it was silence.
A profound, unnatural stillness that pressed down on the entire human world at once.
The wind halted mid-motion, leaving banners and leaves frozen in place. Birds suspended in flight suddenly hung motionless in the air like statues. Even the rivers seemed to hesitate, their currents pausing as if uncertain whether to continue flowing.
Then the pressure arrived.
Heavy.
Invisible.
Absolute.
It descended upon the human world like an enormous hand slowly covering the entire planet, crushing everything beneath its weight.
In a bustling coastal city on the Eastern Continent, a seasoned city guard frowned sharply, his hand instinctively gripping the hilt of his sword.
"…Something's wrong."
High in the secluded peaks of the Whispering Mountains, an elder of the Azure Lotus Sect suddenly opened his eyes, his wrinkled face tightening.
"…This pressure…"
On a vast battlefield training ground in the Southern Wastes, a battle-hardened commander gritted his teeth and roared out an order.
"…Everyone, brace yourselves!"
Then the sky cracked.
It did not crack like thunder or storm clouds breaking apart.
Reality itself fractured.
Golden lines spiderwebbed across the heavens, splitting the sky into countless jagged pieces like shattered glass. Entire regions of the world reflected within those cracks — distorted, shifting, and eerily unreal, as if alternate versions of the human world were bleeding through.
Transmitter stations across every continent immediately overloaded. Signals spiked wildly. Communication networks screamed with static before collapsing into complete silence.
Yet the sky remained active.
Alive.
And then a voice descended.
It was not carried by air or sound waves.
It was not transmitted through any device.
The voice entered directly into the minds of every living being in the human world.
"Hear me."
Instantly, weaker beings across the globe collapsed.
On crowded streets, in dense forests, inside grand sect halls — countless people fell to their knees or crumpled entirely, unable to withstand the overwhelming mental pressure.
But not all succumbed.
Atop the highest tower of a grand citadel in the Eastern Capital, a revered sword elder narrowed his sharp eyes, his grip tightening on his ancient blade.
"…So it has begun."
Deep within a fortified desert stronghold, a scarred veteran cultivator gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead as he fought to remain standing.
"…I can resist it… barely."
In a majestic floating sect suspended above the clouds in the Northern Realm, an elderly matriarch placed a steady hand on her crystalline staff, her voice calm yet grave.
"…This voice… it belongs to the Hybrid God."
The voice continued, calm and resonant, echoing endlessly within every mind.
"The era of limitation has ended."
The words reverberated across the entire human world.
Some weaker minds shattered instantly under the sheer weight of the proclamation, leaving their owners unconscious or worse.
"From this moment forward… humanity shall no longer remain bound to mortality."
Shock rippled through the population like wildfire.
Even those strong enough to resist felt their hearts tighten with unease.
In the grand capital of a hidden empire, a high-ranking general whispered hoarsely to himself:
"…Mortality… ended?"
"A new law has been established."
The sky fractured even deeper.
Golden inscriptions now burned themselves into the very fabric of reality, appearing across the heavens in glowing, ancient script that every cultivator, every awakened being, and every hidden monster could see and instantly understand.
Initiated.
Exalted.
Sanctified.
Sovereign.
Divine.
Empyrean.
Omnireign.
Supremacy.
A terrifying silence followed.
Because everyone realized the same horrifying truth at once —
The human world had just been given a new system.
And they had not been asked for consent.
Then the voice returned, deeper and more commanding.
"The path to the Divine is now open."
Somewhere inside a heavily guarded fortress in the Central Plains, a young genius cultivator whispered in disbelief, his voice trembling:
"…Divine…"
But the tremor in his tone was not born from excitement.
It was born from raw fear.
Then the sky tore open.
Across every corner of the human world, unnatural black rifts began forming — spinning voids that defied natural laws.
Transmitter towers on every continent overloaded instantly, sparks flying as they failed to record or transmit the cataclysmic event.
Even those who had managed to resist the voice now felt something far more dangerous —
A powerful, irresistible pull.
Not everyone was affected immediately.
The strongest cultivators anchored themselves firmly into the ground with their techniques.
Swordsmen drove their blades deep into stone to hold position.
Cultivators rapidly circulated their essence to stabilize their bodies and minds.
Barrier masters desperately activated their strongest defensive formations.
But the weaker beings across the human world —
They started sliding backward.
Slowly at first.
Then violently.
"NO—!"
"HELP ME!"
"STOP THIS!"
A desperate soldier clung tightly to a shaking transmitter tower as it rattled violently in the ground.
A young sect disciple drove his sword into the earth with all his strength, resisting the invisible force dragging him toward a nearby spinning rift.
"…I won't… be taken…"
But many were not so fortunate.
They vanished into the black portals without even physically crossing the threshold.
They were simply pulled through space itself, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Then the voice returned once more.
Calm.
Final.
Absolute.
"The Realm of Sorcery has been opened."
The entire human world seemed to freeze again.
Even the strongest individuals felt an icy chill run down their spines.
"Entry shall not require consent."
Panic erupted across continents.
Even those still resisting the initial pressure now felt the new law settle into the very fabric of reality like an unbreakable decree.
It was not a warning.
It was a fundamental law.
And finally —
"Only those who survive… shall ascend."
The pull intensified across the entire human world.
Some powerful sects activated their full defensive arrays in a desperate attempt to shield their members.
Some empires hurriedly sealed their grand cities behind ancient barriers.
Some elite cultivators prepared themselves to fight against an unseen, omnipresent force.
And a few —
Simply stood still amid the chaos.
Waiting.
Observing.
Because they understood one thing with crystal clarity now:
This was not an invasion.
Not a natural disaster.
Not even a random cataclysm.
It was a selection.
And the human world… had just been forcibly entered into a trial it never agreed to.
A trial announced by the Hybrid God.