In the darkness, sothing moved.
At first, it was only a re presence, a faint awareness that slowly gathered itself like a consciousness rising from a long, endless sleep, and then, without warning, it burst into life with a sound that echoed through the void.
Laughter.
It started as a dry, hoarse chuckle, like a voice that had not been used in a long ti. Then it grew and deepened until it beca wild and unrestrained. In the darkness, it filled the air with a sound that felt both mad and joyful.
"Hahahaha... hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!"
The voice rolled again and again, louder each ti, until it felt like the entire space trembled under it.
A figure slowly erged.
A middle-aged man, robes torn and stained, long hair hanging loosely, eyes burning with a strange, sharp red light too alive for how long he’d waited.
Xue Minghun.
The Blood Soul Sovereign.
His laughter did not stop.
It only grew stronger.
"At last... at last... after all this ti... after waiting through ages that even I have lost count of... after enduring silence that would have driven lesser minds into nothingness... it has finally happened!"
His voice carried both relief and excitent, each word filled with a kind of hunger that had been building for far too long.
"Do you know how long I have waited for this mont?"
He spread his arms wide, his figure trembling slightly as if even now, after everything, he could barely contain himself.
"A million years... perhaps more... ti lost its aning long ago... the rise and fall of countless sects... the birth and death of generations... all of it passed while I remained here, bound to that ring, watching, waiting, searching..."
His breathing grew heavier, but his smile only widened.
"Searching for soone worthy... soone with talent... soone strong enough to carry my inheritance..."
His eyes narrowed.
"And more importantly... soone suitable."
He licked his lips slowly, the motion filled with a kind of hunger that could not be hidden.
"A body... a vessel... a chance to live again..."
His voice softened, but the madness within it only deepened.
"The cultivation thod I left behind... it was never ant to be a gift... it was bait... a perfect lure... sothing that would draw in the right person... soone who would not question... soone who would reach out... soone who would accept it..."
His laughter returned, lower this ti, but far more dangerous.
"And once they did... once they took it... once they allowed it to connect..."
His fingers curled slowly.
"I would take everything."
His gaze lifted.
"And now... you are here."
He stared forward, his eyes locking onto sothing in the darkness.
"Yes... yes... I can feel it... your soul... your potential... your presence..."
His breathing beca uneven, excitent building within him like a storm ready to break.
"Such power... such overwhelming existence... this is beyond anything I had hoped for..."
His voice trembled.
"If I take your body... if I devour your soul... then not only will I return... I will surpass everything I once was... I will break through... I will reach the Ascendant Realm... no... beyond it!"
He leaned forward slightly, his grin stretching wider.
"Co now... do not resist... do not struggle... simply allow to refine your soul and take what is mine..."
He raised his hand.
"Little fel—"
His voice stopped.
His expression imdiately froze, smile disappeared. And slowly... very slowly... his face changed. His mouth fell open wide and eyes widened to a degree he couldn’t control.
Next, his entire body trembled as if sothing far beyond his understanding had just revealed itself.
"...What..."
His voice cracked.
"What is this...?"
He stared ahead, his gaze fixed on sothing he had never seen before back when he was alive.
Sothing that made everything he knew feel small.
In front of him... was a soul.
But it was not a soul he could understand.
It was not condensed.
It was not refined.
It did not carry the structure of a cultivator.
It was... Massive, Colossal and Seemingly endless!
It stretched beyond his sight, its presence pressing down on him like a mountain, like an ocean, like the weight of sothing that had no limit, no boundary, no restraint.
Compared to it...
He was nothing.
That’s what his entire instinct was telling him.
"...Is this... the one who opened the spatial ring...?"
His voice ca out as a whisper, filled with disbelief.
"No... no... this cannot be..."
His breathing grew rapid.
His thoughts began to race.
He, Xue Minghun, had once stood at the peak of the Transformation Realm.
He had walked a path that few could even imagine.
He had found a thod that could take him beyond the transformation..
He had prepared everything.
The ring, the trap and the plan.
Everything had been perfect.
Supposed to be perfect.
And yet...
In front of him...
Was sothing that shattered all of it.
"What kind of being are you!?"
He shouted, his voice filled with both fear and desperation.
But even as the question left his mouth, sothing inside him snapped.
"No matter!"
His expression twisted.
"No matter what you are... I cannot let this chance slip away!"
His hands moved.
His soul surged.
A violent force exploded outward from him, waves of energy crashing into the vast presence before him.
Shockwaves spread in all directions, each one carrying the full power of his cultivation, each one capable of tearing apart lesser souls without resistance.
Again and again, he struck.
Again and again, the shockwaves burst forth.
The darkness trembled under the force.
The space itself seed to ripple.
But the massive soul before him did not even move.
It did not even react.
It did not even acknowledge him.
And still, Xue Minghun continued.
His attacks grew stronger.
Faster.
More desperate.
The shockwaves overlapped, collided, and surged forward in an endless barrage, each one stronger than the last, each one filled with everything he had left.
His laughter returned, but this ti, it was no longer filled with joy.
It was frantic.
Unstable.
"If I cannot devour you... then I will destroy you!"
On the other side, Clayne frowned.
He could feel sothing.
A strange sensation.
Like sothing was hitting him.
Again and again and again.
It felt like punches. But weak ones. No... Sothing annoyingly weak.
Like a small toddler hitting him over and over without knowing what they were doing.
"...What is this...?"
He muttered under his breath, the words catching in his throat before he could decide whether he was afraid or simply annoyed. Then, as if sothing had reached into the dark, he heard it.
It was loud, sharp, and a never stopping voice. It was irritating.
Clayne’s eyes slowly opened, and what he saw made him freeze.
In front of him hovered a tiny figure, smaller even than the girl. The man floated as if gravity had forgotten him, thrashing and shouting with frantic intensity. His body trembled as though he were being stretched between rage and panic. The shouting did not just fill the space around Clayne. It filled the space inside him.
"...Seriously?"
Clayne’s brows furrowed.
The noise annoyed him on instinct.
"Don’t be noisy," he whispered.
His voice was low, afraid to disturbed the undead outside. Yet the tiny figure did not stop. If anything, it beca even more frantic, its movents more chaotic, its shouting louder as his patience thinned to nothing.
Clayne’s expression hardened.
His patience finally ran out.
Without thinking too much, he raised his hand and slapped it sideward.
The impact hit right away. The little man froze in mid-shout, shaking as if sothing inside him had broken. His mouth opened, a strained, broken sound ca out.
"...I..."
"I will not let you have everything..."
Inside him, sothing burned. For a mont, he seed to gather himself, as if trying to find the strength to fight back.
Then Clayne moved again.
This ti, he didn’t hold back. His hand ca down with a final, firm strike.
The tiny figure vanished instantly, as if it had never been there.
Quiet returned right after.
For a mont, Clayne only listened.
Faintly, a voice echoed in his ears.
"The Ascendant cultivation thod. You will never complete it."
A laugh followed, but it was feeble. It wavered, stretching thin until it vanished entirely.
Then, the silence returned.
The darkness around him collapsed, not like an ending, but like a veil being pulled away. The noise vanished, and suddenly he was back.
He was sitting on the classroom floor. Breathing steady. His body still.
"...What was that?"
He frowned slightly.
The mory felt strange... not because it was unreal, but because it seed too close, as if it had just slipped into his mind like a fleeting thought. It was like a dream trying to fade away before he could grasp it.
"...Weird."
He shook his head lightly, then stopped.
Sothing else appeared inside his mind.
A clear and complete immortal cultivation thod.
He could see it. He could understand it. He could follow it, as if it had always been there, waiting beneath the surface of his awareness. His breathing slowed as his focus locked in.
Without thinking, he almost took a deep breath.
He stopped.
His eyes widened slightly.
"...This is real."
He could feel it. Every structure. Every flow. Every stage.
It was not complete. It only covered the path from the first stage of Qi Infusion through the peak stage of Infusion Realm. Beyond that, it was missing, torn away as if the thod itself had been cut short.
Even so, it was enough.
More than enough.
"...So I can cultivate it...?"
Clayne whispered it, testing the words to see whether they would vanish.
For a mont, he stayed still. Then he turned his head and looked at the miniature forest.
It was quiet. It was empty.
The girl was gone.
Clayne stared for a few seconds longer than necessary.
He didn’t say anything.
He just exhaled slowly and let his expression settle into a deep calm. It’s ti to test if it would truly work.
He reached up and removed his school uniform, carefully placing it aside. He straightened his posture, sat with his legs crossed, his back upright, and his hands resting on his knees.
The room was silent.
Outside, distant groans still echoed, but inside, there was only him and the cultivation thod now residing in his mind like a second heartbeat.
Clayne closed his eyes.
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