Divine Destruction
In the depths of the Eternal Prison, Shi was tied up, alone, in a large empty hall.
There were thousands of captives in the Eternal Prison, each with their own cell spanning across an entire floor of the tower. The Eternal Prison was used by the Divine Court to imprison, interrogate, and publicly humiliate the demons whom they captured.
In the Eternal Prison, even the weakest of prisoners was a Dao Immortal. Only those who had overcome their lifespan tribulations had the right to be captured and imprisoned here, but even then, only the most heinous of villains would be subjected to the cruel torments like those found within the Eternal Prison.
The Eternal Prison was a renowned place, feared by countless demons across the Qi Plane, because it was used by the Divine Court to dissuade others from standing against them. The Eternal Prison orbited a giant star which completely lacked any planets. This star, like all others in this star system, was itself held in a slow orbit around the centre of the Divine Star System – Divine Heaven.
Divine Heaven was the Divine Court's base of operations. It was a separate micro-realm supported by the world-renowned treasure, Infinite Gold Cloud.
Infinite Gold Cloud was originally a Primordial Treasure, a naturally occurring treasure that had existed for as long as the 2nd Origin Era itself. However, it was no ordinary Primordial Treasure, because it had been refined by Law Empyrean into a Divine Treasure!
Divine Treasures were each unique, they were treasures that stood at the peak of this world. There was a vast difference between the weakest and strongest Divine Treasures; Infinite Gold Cloud was definitely amongst the strongest. This cloud sat within Divine Heaven, maintaining the existence of this pocket-realm. Infinite Gold Cloud was so incredible, that it exerted an effect upon the entire Divine Star System, holding every single star throughout the star system in its grand orbit, despite possessing no gravitational effect.
Law Empyrean stepped out from Divine Heaven, then with another step, he entered the Eternal Prison. He did not seek out any of the powerful demonic Transcendents in this place, nor did he visit the three divinities whom had been imprisoned in this place for many, many years.
He appeared within Shi's cell, which was in fact an entire floor of the vast Eternal Prison, and he stared at the woman before him in silence.
"Uncle…let me kill you…why won't you let me destroy you…why won't you let me…uncle…I don't understand…why are you still so far away…why can't I catch you…even now, I'm still living in your shadow…uncle…"
Shi muttered under her breath, ignoring Law Empyrean entirely. Her head was slumped down, her matted hair fell over her head. Her four limbs were tied up and stretched out by golden chains, each of which left a bloody imprint on her limbs. The chains channelled an eery golden power through her body, causing waves of golden light to flash across her flesh every few seconds.
She had clearly been tortured severely – or rather, she was being tortured by the prison itself with each and every passing second, just like every other prisoner in this hellish place.
"Despite your lack of a sound mind, I must commend your resilience." Law Empyrean spoke plainly as he slowly walked towards her.
Shi showed no sign that she had heard him, continuing to mutter under her breath.
"Your have completely lost your mind, and yet, your will is not even close to breaking. On average, Dao Immortal demons break within several days, but even after multiple years, your will remains unshaken. It is admirable – and completely futile."
Law Empyrean stopped, now standing just a couple of feet in front of her.
"Uncle…I will…definitely reach you…I will…definitely destroy you…"
Law Empyrean watched her in silence expressionlessly for some time, before shaking his head and speaking once again.
"Little girl, you will never reach your uncle. The World Demon is a monster of the highest order, he has been placed on Divine Court's List of Evil. He has been acknowledged by the world as one of the most evil and dangerous demons of this Era. How could an insignificant immortal like you possibly compare?"
"Shut up!" Shi suddenly looked up, her eyes burning with killing intent and the desire to destroy. Her pupils rapidly dilated and constricted as she ground her teeth so hard that her gums bled. Her eyes were also filled with blood, and as she growled at Law Empyrean, tears of blood flowed down her cheeks.
"What do you know about uncle?! What do any of you truly know about uncle?! You know nothing, you're all clueless, you should just shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! Shut your god damn mouth you self-righteous hypocrite! You're all fools, you know nothing, I am the only one who understands uncle!"
Shi shook violently as she tried to break free from her golden chains. The more she struggled, the brighter the chains glowed, inflicting serious torment upon her body, mind and soul.
Law Empyrean stared at her expressionlessly as she struggled, until finally, a few minutes later, she lost consciousness due to the accumulated injuries, exhaustion and strain.
"Truly a mad woman…just why did the Primordial Sage bring this girl to watch the World Demon's rise? She seems to know the World Demon personally, only…she's completely insane, reading her mess of a mind is pointless, and even torture has no effect on her and only drives her madness deeper…"
In the end, Law Empyrean shook his head and left. He would come back later to try speaking with her again.
Half a day later, Shi slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was tired, but behind that tiredness, there was a burning will that refused to be extinguished.
"Uncle…I'm sorry, uncle…"
In this dark gloomy cell, Shi quietly sobbed. Tears flowed from her eyes, until her tears ran dry and were replaced by blood.
"Why am I so useless? Why can I not reach him, even with all my resolve? Is my resolve still not strong enough? Am I…really so weak?!"
Shi gritted her teeth and scrunched her eyes shut in pain.
The pain of this torture meant nothing to her. The pain in her body, soul and mind was easily ignored…but the pain in her heart was tearing her to pieces, bit by bit. Her mind had long since fallen, she had become so one-track minded that she no longer understood anything other than her desire to see her uncle fall.
"If only…if you only you had died with aunty back then, uncle…if only you never woke up from your mortal dream…"
"Uncle, back then, what I saw in your eyes made me realise…that you need to be killed…"
"Later on, I learned that you had already died, and yet, you refused to stay dead. Death is not enough for you, uncle…you need to be completely destroyed…"
"My heart is filled with destruction, and I know that my mind has fallen to madness…but I don't care…"
"If it's to destroy you, then I will do whatever it takes, even if I need to destroy this entire world…"
Suddenly, Shi's eyes opened widely. She stared at the ground with a shocked expression, her heart trembling furiously.
"Wait…"
"That's it…I understand now!"
As Shi slowly looked up, the aura of madness around her body steadily grew stronger, as if it would never stop. Along with her madness, a powerful feeling of destruction started to arise on this floor of the Eternal Prison.
Rumble…
The entire floor of the Eternal Prison started shaking. Before long, cracks started to appear across every surface. Soon enough, the other adjacent floors started trembling also.
Before long, the entire Eternal Prisoner was trembling furiously!
The prisoners who felt this shaking were startled. This was the first time they had ever felt the Eternal Prison shake like this!
Shi's eyes were wide, and she stared into her own destruction with an expression of understanding. Countless cracks in space rapidly appeared around her, before spreading out and covering the Eternal Prison at such a rapid rate that it was like an explosion of broken space. The Eternal Prison trembled as its walls started to crumble, lingering on the verge of absolute collapse.
Shi's low growling voice quietened down. She spoke softly, finally having arrived at the realisation that she had been seeking for so long.
"At first, I pursued your death, uncle…"
"Then, I sought your complete destruction…"
"Finally, I understand now…it's not enough. Destroying you isn't enough, uncle, because it's not just you. This entire world is cursed. This world…should have never existed…"
"Now that I can see it, it feels so obvious…"
"I just need to destroy the world."
BANG!
The eruption of destruction was instant. With Shi at the centre, a wave of mighty destructive power exploded outwards at a speed that would leave even divinities aghast. The countless spatial cracks around the Eternal Prison all grew ten times wider in this instant, then in the next moment, everything crumbled to dust, the dust to ash, and the ash to destructive energy.
The entire Eternal Prison was completely torn apart. Thousands of demonic prisoners were eviscerated by this initial blast. Only the three imprisoned divinities were able to hold onto their lives, but even they were badly injured and forced to hastily retreat the moment they were freed from their shackles. They were caught up in the ripple of destruction as it continued to sweep outwards following the Eternal Prison's collapse, causing their injuries to rapidly worsen.
The golden chains binding Shi had been incinerated. She remained floating in the same place as her arm gradually lowered to her sides and she looked up with her madness-saturated gaze.
WAM!
Suddenly, right as the aura of destruction reached the nearby star, turning even this celestial body into the most fundamental form of broken down energy, the region became illuminated by a Heavenly golden light.
A giant stairway, ten stairs high, manifested before Shi, attempting to push back against the aura that was propelling her towards the Divine Step.
As Shi stared up this stairway, she recalled the events from several years ago. Looking up this mighty tribulation, she felt like she could see her uncle's shadow, turning its back on her and ascending beyond her reach.
"No…" Shi muttered softly, before her eyes narrowed.
"I can't live in uncle's shadow forever! I need to walk my own path, or else I will be forever chasing after his back…"
"The Divine Stairway is a Heavenly Tribulation. With each step, the Heavens release a strand of Divine Essence for the Transcendent to absorb into their Life Essence. Upon reaching the 10th stair, the 10th strand is absorbed, and the Immortal Life Essence transforms into Divine Life Essence…but this is not the Heaven's 'reward', but the Heaven's failure to continue restraining us! It is the power that we plunder from the world, the power that we should naturally absorb upon completing our dao heart! The Divine Stairway grants divinity to those without a completed dao heart, but to those who ascend via their dao heart, it is just an obstacle in our way! The Divine Stairway…I don't want to take this path!"
Blood flowed down from Shi's eyes, ears, mouth and nose, as she stared at the Divine Stairway without blinking.
Crack.
The first crack to appear was minute, it could hardly even be seen. Compared to the giant stairway, it was insignificant.
But it was a crack.
The crack spread out across the stairway, covering every stair and sucking in the golden Heavenly Aura. Shi's aura of destruction, which was being suppressed by the Divine Stairway, exploded out in full force, until the golden light could no longer be seen.
BOOM!
Golden dust spread out in every direction as countless spatial tears cut through the fabric of the Qi Plane, causing the entire World Plane to tremble!
The Divine Stairway had been destroyed!
Shi was hit with the full brunt of the destructive collapse. She found herself being pushed by an uncontrollable force. The rampant destruction within this force was beyond immense, but as Shi's heart ascended past its previous limits and she finally attained completion, suddenly, everything froze.
Shi vanished as her body fused into the ripple of destruction, before the entire wave reversed along its path. When the wave reached its point of origin, there was a flash of gold.
Shi was revealed standing alone in the midst of this now empty region of space. The destruction, the golden dust from the broken Divine Stairway, the spatial cracks which seemed like they might cause the World Plane to collapse in on itself…all of it disappeared.
She gradually opened her eyes, revealing a terrifying force of destruction within. This destruction had no beginning, nor did it possess an end, as if it would continue ripping apart everything in its wake, until there was nothing left to destroy.
"Uncle, whenever something major shakes this world, you are always there. I wonder, is destroying the Divine Stairway enough to attract your attention?"