The sky of the First Heaven was no longer blue. It was a bruised purple, flickering with the static of the Obsidian Palace's power. From the bridge of his flagship, Shen Yuan looked up at the barrier separating the realms—the Firmament of Gold.
"The Star-Gate is heavily guarded, Master," Frost-Weaver said, her white eyes glowing as she calculated the trajectory of the enemy's defensive platforms. "Twelve 'God-Slaying Cannons' are currently aimed at our coordinates. If we move within a thousand miles, they will vaporize this entire fleet."
"They expect a siege," Shen Yuan said, his hands resting on the hilt of a black blade that didn't exist a moment ago. "They expect us to knock on their door. They forget that I built the house."
Beside him, Iron-Eye chuckled, a sound like grinding tectonic plates. "Are we going through the wall, Sovereign?"
"No," Shen Yuan replied. "We are pulling the wall down."
The Star-Gate – Border of the Second Heaven
The Heavenly Inquisitors stood at their posts, their golden armor shining under the artificial suns of the Second Heaven. General Kael, a Soul Transformation peak-stage expert, watched his monitors.
"The Void-fleet has stopped," Kael noted. "They are... hovering? What are they doing?"
On the screen, Shen Yuan's flagship wasn't moving forward. Instead, four massive obsidian pillars—the Void-Anchors—were ejected from the ship's hull. They didn't fall toward the ground; they shot upward, embedding themselves into the very fabric of the golden barrier.
"He's trying to anchor himself to the Gate?" Kael laughed. "Does he think he can pull the Heavens? The mass of the Second Heaven is infinite!"
"General..." a junior officer stammered, pointing at the energy readings. "The pillars aren't pulling the Gate. They are... [Spatial Collapsing]."
The Void-Ship Bridge
Shen Yuan closed his eyes. He reached out with his soul, connecting to the four anchors.
"[Ninth Gate: The Gate of the Celestial Tether]"
Black chains, thick as mountains and glowing with violet runes, erupted from the anchors. They didn't just hook onto the Gate; they hooked into the World-Core of the Second Heaven itself.
"Master!" Tian Yu's voice echoed in his mind. "The strain! Your Star-Forged Flesh is only at fifty percent! The recoil of a world-pull will shatter your spine!"
"Then let it shatter," Shen Yuan hissed, his teeth gritted. "I have more lives than they have heavens!"
"DRAG. THEM. DOWN!"
Shen Yuan roared, and he stepped back, pulling his arms toward his chest.
In the sky above, the impossible happened. The golden barrier didn't just break; it stretched. The stars of the Second Heaven began to move, visibly descending toward the First Heaven. The "God-Slaying Cannons" fired, but the beams of light were bent by the gravitational distortion of the chains, missing their targets and striking their own defensive moons.
CRA-AAACK.
The sound of reality tearing apart echoed across both realms. The Golden Palace in the Second Heaven shook so violently that the Sun-Emperor was nearly thrown from his throne.
"He's... he's reeling us in like a fish!" the Sun-Emperor screamed, his plasma-body flickering with rage and fear. "Launch the [Celestial Executioners]! Send the Third General!"
The Battlefield of the Clouds
As the two worlds collided, the space between them became a chaotic storm of debris and Qi. Out of the golden light of the Second Heaven, a single figure descended.
He didn't have an army. He didn't have a ship. He walked on the air, carrying a flute made of human bone.
"Luo Feng's pet?" Hecate sneered, her shadows rising to meet the newcomer.
"No," Frost-Weaver whispered, her crystalline bow trembling. "That's not an Inquisitor. That's The Silent Flute... the Third General of the Void."
The figure stopped a hundred meters from the ship. He looked at Shen Yuan, who was still holding the chains of the world, blood leaking from his Aegis-armor.
"Master," the Third General spoke, his voice melodious and terrifyingly calm. "You look tired. Why pull the Heavens down when I have already built a grave for you in the stars?"
He raised the bone flute to his lips.
"[Void Art: The Requiem of the Betrayed]"
The first note played, and the black chains holding the worlds together suddenly turned into serpents of white fire, biting into Shen Yuan's arms.