Author's Note: (Heaven tried to crush the anomaly, but the Void Dragon simply opened its jaws. In this second part, the firmament's wrath is transformed into the most sacred banquet the continent has ever witnessed. Witness how the Morningstar Empire not only survives but evolves, devouring divinity drop by drop).
Chapter 37: The Judgment of Heaven and the Birth of the Primordial Era (Part 2)
The giant ash lotus, conjured by the sheer willpower of Grand Elder Lilith, spun over Skull Rock like a whirlpool of gray and black fire. Above, the pillar of celestial energy—what remained of the Thunder Dragon and the Divine Phoenix after being crushed by Samael—fell relentlessly.
It was a torrent of punishment designed to pulverize mountains, infused with the "Wrath of the World."
But the fire of the Ash Phoenix understood nothing of wrath or gods; it only understood hunger.
Lilith screamed, a sound that mixed the voice of an old woman hardened by pain with the deafening screech of a mythical beast. Her veins bulged beneath her pale skin, looking like cracks of cold lava. The ash incinerated the destructive will of the divine pillar. Layer after layer of celestial hostility was burned away, reduced to harmless smoke that scattered in the desert winds.
And what passed through Lilith's filter, what finally rained down upon the Morningstar Empire, was no longer a calamity.
It was a rain of liquid light. Pure gold, thick and brimming with the primordial vitality of the beginning of time.
"Heirs..." Samael's command reverberated in the Soul Nexus, echoing in the marrow of his generals. "Open your cores. Eat heaven."
Below, in the main courtyard of the obsidian fortress, the six generals did not hesitate. They dropped their weapons, which fell with a metallic clatter onto the stone, and sat in a lotus position. Their chests glowed with the marks of the Blood Oath. The Soul Nexus activated not as a communication network, but as a colossal engine of karmic assimilation, designed to channel and distribute the ocean of energy that Samael and Lilith had just purified.
The banquet of the gods began.
The golden rain touched Kael's skin. The clan's Vanguard, who was at Stage 9 (Peak) of the Transcendent Realm, felt the primordial Qi flood his Sword Heart. There was no pain, only a brutal and euphoric expansion. The celestial energy washed his meridians, widening them to withstand a superior force. The glass bottle limiting his cultivation shattered with a crystalline sound that only he heard.
A column of silver light erupted from his body, cutting through the residual clouds. The Whisper of the North vibrated in its sheath, howling with joy. Kael crossed the mortal abyss. His aura stabilized, heavy and absolute.
Origin Realm, Stage 1!
To his right, Violeta and Eris received the golden torrent. The twins, who shared perfect synchrony, used the Nexus to stabilize their opposing natures.
The primordial Qi was absorbed by Violeta's Absolute Ice, rendering it so dense that the very temperature around her ceased to exist, freezing the concept of movement itself. Eris, on the other hand, fed her Flame of Ruin; the black fire devoured the golden rain, becoming so dark it looked like a hole in the fabric of reality.
Both, who had been brushing the peak of Transcendence, broke their chains simultaneously. Their auras erupted in a whirlwind of spatial frost and annihilating fire, merging into a two-colored pillar.
Origin Realm, Stage 1!
Cedric did not close his eyes. His mind, forged in the memories of a Great Array Emperor, calculated the trajectory of every drop of golden Qi falling upon him. Instead of absorbing it with brute force, Cedric guided the energy to carve new, complex Saint-level matrices directly onto the surface of his own Dantian. His Qi sea lit up like a perfect constellation, structured and flawless.
Beside him, Xylia raised her face to the rain. As the Thunder Empress, the purified energy of the celestial dragon Samael had shattered resonated deeply with her bloodline. Her illusory crown shone with a blinding white, and sparks of dark lightning danced on her eyelashes.
The strategist and the empress exhaled in unison, an electromagnetic and metallic shockwave sweeping the courtyard.
Origin Realm, Stage 1!
Finally, Elowen received the blessing of the purified earth and heaven. Her Wood Dragon Bloodline flourished. The vines wrapped around her body not only strengthened but mutated, taking on a metallic and golden sheen. Around her, the hard obsidian stone of the fortress cracked to make way for green crystal lotuses that sprouted instantly, fed by the overflowing vitality she could not contain. The master alchemist smiled, feeling life pulse in her veins with the force of a millennial forest.
Origin Realm, Stage 1!
In less than sixty seconds, the six main heirs of the Morningstar Empire had crossed the threshold that took the geniuses of the hundred sects decades of meditation and incalculable resources. They had stepped into the Origin Realm, becoming monsters capable of walking through the sky and mastering the minor laws of the world.
Floating above them, Lilith did not advance a realm. She was already at Origin Stage 1. But the feat of filtering a divine punishment granted her something much more valuable. The primordial Qi, purged of celestial wrath, flooded her withered core, rebuilding decades of spiritual damage. Her Ash and Judgment Phoenix consolidated, becoming a permanent and unbreakable part of her soul. Her realm stabilized perfectly, erasing any past weakness.
But the epicenter of the absorption was not in the courtyard. It was falling from the sky.
The sixty seconds of Conceptual Immunity granted by the Divine Favor ran out. The karmic armor protecting Samael dissipated like smoke in the wind.
The instant the rules of the world applied to his mortal body once again, the backlash of having held a black hole inside him and having torn apart two tribulation deities bare-handed hit him like a moving mountain.
Samael spat a mouthful of black blood. His vision blurred. His dragon bones, unbreakable until now, creaked dangerously, covering in micro-fractures. Defying the universe had a price, and his Origin Stage 9 body was paying the physical toll of having channeled the power of heaven.
Unable to maintain the Law of Space to fly, Patriarch Morningstar plummeted from the heights, diving toward the main balcony of the obsidian palace.
But Samael didn't hit the stone.
A figure dressed in white silk moved with a grace and speed that defied the eye. Seraphina leapt from the edge of the balcony, intercepting her husband's fall in mid-air. Her delicate but incredibly strong arms wrapped around Samael's chest and shoulders, absorbing the kinetic impact as they landed softly on the black marble of the palace.
Samael panted, leaning his weight against her. His skin was burning at lethal temperatures, the result of the energetic friction from having chewed up the Tribulation.
"I've got you," Seraphina whispered, her voice firm and laden with fierce devotion.
The Reincarnated Empress did not hesitate. She invoked the absolute purity of her Supreme Yin Lotus Physique. An aura of silver frost and lunar mist enveloped her and Samael. The extreme cold did not hurt the Patriarch; on the contrary, it acted as the perfect balm, cooling his overheated meridians and preventing his body from collapsing due to Qi saturation.
By being in direct physical contact with Samael at the exact moment he absorbed the core of the celestial rain, Seraphina was enveloped in the torrent of primordial Qi.
She did not cultivate the energy to try to break her own seals. She knew that forcing the awakening of her memories before reaching the Saint Realm could shatter her mind. Instead, Seraphina allowed the purified golden rain to passively bathe her body, using the celestial miracle to nourish her Yin Lotus Physique. Her skin acquired a pearlescent glow, and her spiritual foundations became as vast and deep as an unexplored ocean, preparing her for the day her true heritage claimed the world.
Leaning on the shoulder of his Empress, Samael felt the last, densest fragment of the tribulation energy settle into his own Dantian.
The inside of his body sounded like continuous thunder. His Qi Sea, which had already been monstrously expanded after devouring the destiny of the Valois genius, roared as it assimilated the purified essence of the lightning deity and celestial fire.
The barrier separating Origin Stage 9 from the mythical Semi-Saint Realm appeared before Samael's consciousness. It was a thick membrane, forged by natural laws, requiring years of comprehension to cross.
The immense tide of primordial Qi crashed against the membrane. It struck it one, two, three times, pushing it to its absolute elastic limit.
Samael clenched his teeth, swallowing the blood filling his mouth. With the stabilizing help of Seraphina's Yin Lotus, he pushed the energy to the very pinnacle of his mortal capacity.
The membrane did not break, but it bowed to the point of near transparency.
Samael did not advance to the Semi-Saint Realm. To make that leap, he needed to comprehend and solidify a Major Law, and forcing it in the middle of a battlefield would shatter his foundations. However, his core assimilated so much celestial energy that his power rose above any Origin cultivator in history.
He had reached the Half-Step to Semi-Saint. The absolute abyss of his realm. A state where his body's brute force and the immensity of his Qi rivaled minor Saints, awaiting only the spark of a Law to formally ascend.
The firmament above the Morningstar Empire finally cleared. The black and red clouds of the tribulation completely dissolved, leaving a sky of a blue so pure and unnatural it looked like freshly polished glass. The Will of the World, unable to exterminate the anomaly, simply retreated, licking its wounds in silence.
In that instant of cosmic stillness, the Patriarch System erupted in a symphony of golden notifications in Samael's retina, illuminating his blurred vision.
[SYSTEM ALERT: APOCALYPTIC TRIBULATION SUPPRESSED!]
[The Host has successfully devoured the manifestations of the Will of the World.]
[Analyzing energetic remnants...]
[Mythic rarity Loot Extracted! Item: 'Primordial Law Fragment' - Stored securely in the Soul Inventory. Recommended use: Domain Evolution in the Great Saint Realm or forging of Divine Armament.]
Samael smiled weakly, blood staining his lips. Heaven tried to kill him, and he had stolen a piece of its source code. The Primordial Law Fragment was a treasure for which the true Emperors of the higher world would start genocidal wars. And now it was safe in his inventory, awaiting the day he decided to use it.
But the System wasn't done. The rewards for surviving the Wrath of the Heavens were to be poured over his lands.
[Activating Dynasty Survival Bonus.]
[Rain of Celestial Blessing completed. The veins of Skull Rock have absorbed the purification of the Ash Phoenix.]
[Imperial Bonus Applied: The speed of Qi assimilation, healing of spiritual wounds, and comprehension of martial arts for every disciple bearing the Morningstar Mark is increased by 500% for the next 7 days.]
[Clan Status: Ascension to Continental Power level confirmed.]
Kilometers away, in the temporary camps built on the edges of the capital, the Patriarchs of the Black Mist Sect and the Eternal Lion Clan had witnessed everything.
They had seen the sky open up to punish the arrogance of the Void Sovereign. They had secretly prayed for the lightning to erase Samael and free them from his tyrannical yoke. And then, in sepulchral silence, they had watched as the desert monster opened a dark abyss, devoured the lightning, tore the Phoenix apart, and turned the gods' punishment into a rain of gold that advanced all his generals to the Origin Realm right in front of their noses.
The old vassal Patriarchs fell to their knees in the sand, trembling with a religious fervor tinged with absolute panic. Betrayal was no longer an option.
The man who ruled Skull Rock was no mere cultivator. He was an entity that the universe itself could not subdue. From that day on, fearful worship of the Crown of the Void took irrevocable root in the South.
On the obsidian balcony, the desert wind began to blow softly, caressing the black and crimson flags of the Empire.
Samael straightened up, though he didn't move away from Seraphina's arm supporting him by the waist. Breathing was an agony, and every muscle of his Dragon Physique demanded months of sleep to repair the cellular damage from defying Causal Law. He had drained his physical reserves to the last drop.
Below, in the courtyard, the six generals newly ascended to the Origin Realm looked up. Their auras were a terrifying spectacle of Ice, Fire, Sword, Thunder, Arrays, and Wood. Kael, with his sword still unsheathed, and Cedric, with his two-colored eyes shining with tactical intelligence, awaited their monarch's orders.
Samael leaned slightly over the obsidian railing. His voice, though hoarse and tired, rumbled through the Soul Nexus, sealing the directive into his subordinates' spirits.
"Heaven has already paid its tribute to us, and we are drowning in gold..." Samael transmitted, his violet eyes gleaming with the cold light of a satisfied predator. "Cedric. Raise the citadel's defensive matrices to their maximum capacity. Seal the obsidian gates. Kael, patrol the internal borders with the senior disciples."
The generals nodded silently, their expressions turning to steel.
"From this moment on..." Samael continued, coughing slightly before regaining his composure, "the entire Morningstar Empire enters closed-door cultivation for seven days. I want every disciple, every captain, and every heir to devour every last drop of this celestial assimilation bonus. Squeeze the earth dry."
Samael looked toward the Northern horizon, where the mountains hid the Winter Palace of the Valois, and his smile turned lethal.
"I will enter my chambers to digest the will of heaven. If in these seven days, Duke Alaric is stupid enough to send his dogs to knock on our walls while I sleep... ask no questions, take no prisoners."
Samael turned on his heel, leaning on the Ice Empress to enter the deep darkness of the palace, leaving a final command echoing in the minds of the legion.
"Just kill them all."
The doors of the Palace of the Void closed with a definitive boom. The Morningstar Clan, victorious over mortals and triumphant over gods, plunged into a silence of absolute assimilation.
The continent held its breath. When the seven days ended, and the Dragon and his monsters awoke from their lethargy with their newly assimilated power, true hell would be unleashed upon the earth.
END OF CHAPTER 37