1 Start of Ascending

Nine Realms.

81 worlds.

3000 Dimensions.

The universe of Gaia was truly an astonishing creation of God.

The road to becoming an immortal was long and harsh to everyone. There was no long-term shortcut which would help you become a sovereign.

The Sun and Moon Sovereign was the first one to see the effects of Gaia's Ancient Laws. He was stripped of his powers, title, and even memories. His soul was thrown into the depths of the Realm of Tartarus.

The experts at the 'peak' proclaimed that their fate would be far different from the fate of the Sun Moon Sovereign. Unfortunately, every time they tried to cheat the Ancient Laws, Gaia did the same to them.

Sometimes the punishment varied but the ending was the same, the expert who called himself a supreme being was slaughtered. However, that was not always the case. One day… There was someone who even Gaia's will could not punish.

The reason?

He was too strong…

~~

The sun shone brightly on this part of the forest. A youth, probably around sixteen years old was taking shelter under the shadow of a random tree. The appearance of the youth could not be seen properly.

The reason for that was because he was wearing a hat made out of straw and a black mask which hid his lower face entirely. Upon having his entire body enter the shadows of the forest, he took off the hat.

He sat next to the river which ran across the forest's trees and looked at his own reflection. The water showed his spiky and short white hair, which covered his right eye while his left eye was left naked.

Together with his hair, you could also make out a pair of ruby red eyes which was attractive to the people who looked at them. They were very beautiful. The youth was named Zephyr and was one of the most eccentric experts of the universe.

Although he looked to be only sixteen years old, and what some would call a teenager; his real age was above a million years. Even in the Heaven and Earth Circle, he was one of the oldest individuals still alive.

Despite that, he refused to accept a role as an elder as that would restrict his freedom. That was not something he wished for, especially when his mission in life had yet to be achieved.

The Heaven and Earth Circle existed to protect the Three Realms, 26 Worlds and nine hundred and fifty dimensions of the human race. They would sacrifice even their lives to prolong the existence of the human race.

The other part was controlled by the Demon and Beast Races. Both of them had a clear advantage over humans. Mainly due to the issue of the land they owned being very barren.

He drank some water from the nearby river and relaxed. Closing his eyes, he entered a state of tranquility. Qi seeped out from the ground, taking the shape of Heavenly Qi.

He had to recover his Heavenly Qi Reserves rather quickly. His Core Formed from Heavenly Qi had been damaged after fighting one of the Sovereigns of the Demon Race who was barely any weaker than him.

He had miserably escaped after defeating the Sovereign, he was then forced to abandon the human forces to make the Demon Race's troops push forward for him.

Right now he wanted to rest, although the Demon Race would most likely send a few assassins now that he was at his weakest, there was no need for him to rush since if they knew where he was they'd have already appeared in front of him.

The reason why he fought one of the Sovereigns of the Demon Race was to protect one of the few worlds of the Human Race. His current Heavenly Qi Reserves weren't even equal to ten percent of his full reserves.

Despite that, one could not underestimate Zephyr. He was someone who with a single push could progress to the next realm, the realm of ascending, the Deity Realm.

With his current foundation that was merely an out-stretched dream, however. Zephyr knew it the best. It had taken him a million years to reach the current combat prowess he possessed. A cultivator of his realm… Usually lived to only two million years.

Most people from the Heaven and Earth Circle who were his age had already ascended, only those with a low potential had been left behind.

Zephyr had never given up, ever since he had reached his current strength at the age of a hundred thousand years, he had journey the nine realms in search of a heaven-defying treasure to raise his Soul potential.

Innate Potential and Soul Potential differed. His Innate talent was extraordinary, he could understand techniques in a mere look, but Soul Potential meant the level he could reach in cultivation realms.

Soul Potential was something extremely insanely hard to increase. He had found some treasures which increased his Soul Potential, but the difference they made at his power level was basically equal to a number very close to 0.

Due to lack of resources, while his foundation was something he was extremely proud of, it was still extremely low leveled. His core was merely a Human Grade Low Tier core. Even the weakest disciples of the Heaven and Earth Circle's factions had a better Core in their bodies.

You could even say it was already amazing and astonishing that Zephyr had reached such a high achievement. Zephyr did not have any sort of decent background which differed him from others.

To reach the peak of the Mystic Realm was nothing short of a miracle for someone like him. In fact, Zephyr was very sure someone would definitely take a chance to write a book about him after he had died.

Zephyr was very bitter about the fact that even after nine hundred thousand years, he had yet no luck on finding a heaven-defying item which could increase his Soul Potential to a level capable of helping his breakthrough to the Deity Realm.

Over the passing of nine hundred thousand years, many Demons, Beasts, and even Humans had created a grudge with Zephyr, who was shameless and even went as far as to steal their Spatial Rings in hopes of finding such an item. That was a rare occurrence since most of the time he'd only take the Spatial Rings of those who attacked him first.

Of course, this had only started a few hundred thousand years after he tried his best to find such a treasure. After he had carefully checked the content of the Spatial Rings he usually returned them. Unless they had a grudge with each other which was rather common.

He drank some water from the gourd next to his waist and wiped the leftovers around his mouth. The water he was drinking was precious and could not be compared to the one flowing in the river before him.

It had a regenerative effect on Heavenly Qi, meaning he could recover it faster than usual even if it was less than a percent.

Originally he wanted to use Pills, but after using most of it fighting the Sovereigns of the Demon Race, he had none to use for current recovery.

He breathed in and out. He truly was very exhausted, a feeling he had not experienced in thousands of years emerging.

His ruby red eyes shivered and blinked. His body was truly in a position where he was unsure if he could survive for the next day.

For a short moment, his sight had deteriorated to the point he could barely even make out his surroundings. Everything was blurry but he could still sense his surroundings with the depleted amount of Heavenly Qi he had.

His special eye bloodline had unfortunately disappointed him as well. Even after hundreds of thousands of looking for a treasure which could increase his Soul Potential, to the point he had completely exhausted the potential of his eyes, he failed.

~~

A few days had passed since that cursed day. Zephyr had recovered nearly half of his total Heavenly Qi Reserves. This would easily allow him to return to the Human Race's Headquarters to recover in deep seclusion.

He panicked as he sensed the auras of two Sovereigns of the Demon Race near him. They were not as weak as the ones he had defeated. The ones he defeated were Pinnacle Mystic Realm experts, the two heading towards him were Deity Realm experts.

Let alone his current state, even if he was at his utmost peak of power and vigor he would be unable to even be able to do any significant damage without using forbidden techniques.

'I guess this is where it all ends for me; this is the point of no return.' A bitter smile emerged on his face as he slightly shook from the pressure he was facing straight on.

His ruby red eyes flickered with a flame of bravery. If he was going to die, at the very least he was going to inflict heavy wounds to them if not kill both.

Well, it looks like a million years of cultivation were all going to go down the drain. A grin appeared in his face.

Zephyr scratched his head for a bit before looking at the two figures. He was doomed. The two figures in front of him were both Deities, existences which fed themselves through the Divine Qi they found and the prayer of people which was their main source of said Qi.

Even if somehow he managed to heavily exhaust both of them at the cost of his own exhaustion, they could simply recharge themselves quicker than him through the energy they gained from the prayers of their kind.

Zephyr's robe fluttered in the air while a gust of wind went past him. He leaped into the air to face the two figures. Both belonged to the Demon Race, but their 'Demon' Race differed.

The first one was of the Ethereal Night Devil Race, while the second was of the Infernal Sun Demon. Both related to opposite elements somehow were a couple. Their races were extremely connected allies so that was also a reason.

The reason for that was because Zephyr had stolen the Spatial Rings of the Sovereigns he had fought earlier, both contained Deity-Grade Artifacts they had borrowed from the two.

The only reason they had agreed on letting their descendants borrow the artifacts was the fact that even among Mystic Realm experts they were at the very top pinnacle, with the Deity-Grade Artifacts even the strongest of the realm would be unable to hurt them in the slightest. Deity Realm experts never appeared at the border unless a war was ongoing.

Zephyr glanced at the two with a sigh. His Spatial Ring shone with a light as two treasures appeared in the naked air. The Phaseless Star Harpin which looked like your average harpin and the Ethereal Axe which was pure gray.

They looked like weapon toys kids bought, but they emanated their unique Divine Auras from their cores. This gave them the title of a Deity-Grade Artifact.

"Do you really have to make such a big problem out of nothing?" Zephyr decided to take advantage of the small brain most apex experts had to stall for time to get enough Heavenly Qi for his final attack.

The Infernal Sun Demon coughed, she was a beauty whose appearance was nearly peerless. If not for the fact that Zephyr was used to such beautiful women, he'd be attracted to her too.

She pointed her finger at him and shouted:

"You stole the Phaseless Star Harpin from my descendant and even murdered him in cold blood, I had to use the Sun God's Blood to revive him! Besides, the Phaseless Star Harpin originates from the Sun God's Tomb, it took me a lot of effort to find it."

The Ethereal Night Devil nodded as he put his complaint forward, they could just kill him and get over with it, but they were bored recently so this was a way for them to reduce that boredom.

Similarly to the Infernal Sun Demon, the Ethereal Night Devil had obtained the Ethereal Axe in the Moon God's Tomb. The two tombs were known as some of the most terrifying areas in the Demon Territory.

Zephyr was left with no words to say, he was speechless, was there a need for them to talk so much to him, were they truly that bored?

These people in front of him were just bored and wanted someone to toy with. Zephyr who was merely a pinnacle Mystic Realm existence was the perfect person for them to take their anger on.

He let out a hopeless sigh and covered his face with a hand. He immediately after this started to calculate the chances he had to escape once more and started to check what treasure in his possession could help him.

A few seconds and a few more complaints later, he now realized there was practically no hope that he could get out of this battle without dying. The two demons released their pressure, blowing away his straw hat which he had acquired years ago.

Despite managing to hold on for the first few minutes, his Heavenly Qi he had gathered was still not enough for him to distract the two so he could escape through the use of a Forbidden Technique.

He grunted and coated his body with Heavenly Qi so at least he wouldn't get as injured. The mere pressure was overwhelming to him.

"You two are being very overbearing…" Zephyr stated with a wide smile, blood pouring out like a waterfall from the various body orifices of his body ruthlessly.

"Be glad we allowed an ant of the human race to stay alive for several minutes in our presence." The Infernal Sun Demon snorted, moving her silky silver hair away from her face.

Zephyr was not bewildered in the slightest. Instead unlike before, his gaze was cold. " Do you truly think that I am not aware of your so-called tricks to make my death more amusing to you all? I am no coward!"

He bit his tongue and spewed blood out of his mouth. The ground rumbled as Heavenly Qi spread out from his core, he had exhausted all his Heavenly Qi reserves in one go; his core showed signs of cracking.

Since he had not reached the minimum amount of Heavenly Qi required for this technique, he was going to sacrifice the True Energy of his Soul, meaning his soul would be incapable of reincarnating if he died once again.

The two demons were not that amused by this, but they were curious as to what he was up to. There was no chance of a detonation of his core managing to kill them. The difference between a Deity and a Mystic Realm existence was simply too enormous to be ignored.

Despite all of this, they chose to simply observe what Zephyr was up to, after all, all of this was happening due to their boredom in the first place.

Zephyr's ruthlessness was astonishing, even the Demons from their race were not as ruthless as he was currently. To detonate one's True Energy was equivalent to a deep grudge, but it would not affect them.

He took a breath extended both his arms, he was going to do something which would earn him the title of being tenacious to himself… Not like anyone would know what had happened in this world anyway.

Blood splattered everywhere as one of his arms was chopped from his main body cleanly.

This earned a bewildered look from both demons. "Why are you self-mutilating, you foolish human?"

The Deity Realm Demons waved their hands and their respective Deity-Grade Artifacts broke free from Zephyr's energy and flew toward them.

The situation was thrown into disarray as Heavenly Qi exploded everywhere, space started to distort and chaotic. Only now were they fully aware of what was happening around them.

"You… This is a Forbidden-Class Martial Technique, how the hell did you find one of this level?! Even our Demon Race has a total of only two of them, not to mention neither can cause a destruction of this level without a Deity Realm expert using it."

The Infernal Sun Demon growled as she jumped backward. Clearly, she was not in a mood to deal with a technique which while wouldn't kill her, would and could easily cleave her cultivation efforts!

The Ethereal Night Devil was far more arrogant, despite his dozens of hundreds of thousands of years of experience, he decided to face this technique head on. He swung the Ethereal Axe forward.

Zephyr revealed a smile on his face, one filled with madness as he detonated his core, his skin started to literally dance, just a moment away from exploding and separating itself from Zephyr.

The light which emitted itself from Zephyr blinded everyone present here. It was a very tyrannical scene to behold. Soon the True Energy from his soul started to pour out. It stopped after only a small amount remained.

The Ethereal Night Devil and the Infernal Sun Demon regretted even coming here. They should have chosen a weaker foe to bully instead one of the top experts of the human race, one who had lived for over a million years and was famous inside the Heaven and Earth Circle.

~~

For what seemed to be days if not weeks, Zephyr did not open his eyes. He remained in an unconscious state.

His core was fully destroyed, not even a small amount of Heavenly Qi remained in his non-existent core. His road of cultivation was finished.

There were treasures which could heal your core. But to Zephyr, he knew that was an impossible mission. He did not regret doing what he had done.

Not to mention that his true lose was his True Energy, something which was not something one could heal. Even the Elder Gods of Gaia were incapable of affecting True Energy.

What kind of power did the Elder Gods possess? Even the weakest Elder God was easily capable of rebuilding a world to his wishes they could mess with the power of Time and Space to their likings!

A million years of living was more than enough for him to know he was merely an expendable soldier of the Heaven and Earth Circle. He might be a High-Ranking member but that did not change that fact.

Trying to find a heaven-defying item which could restore his core?

Zephyr's luck was terrible. He had spent nine hundred thousand years looking for one, he was not going to bother with searching once again, when this time he didn't even have the power to protect himself.

Unless Gaia itself decided to spare him out of his misery, Zephyr was truly dead once his last ounces of energy left his body.

It was as if the Laws of Gaia itself did not want to see him succeed. After a while, he finally woke up. Although he found it weird he was inside a deep dark cave, he was not really in a mood to show it.

He emotionlessly stared at the top of the dark cave, remembering the memories from when he had been a kid.

'Father… Can you teach me to be a cultivator just like you! I want to become someone just like you! I want to be able to face the villains with my sword and cut them in half.'

An image formed inside his mind, one of a younger him and his father, someone who resembled him.

'You are still young my boy. Maybe when you grow up a little bit more, focus on studying now, become a scholar and make us proud.' His father chuckled, but his younger form could see a sad emotion inside his father.

The scene shifted to one where his father was drinking alcohol. His mother had died when he had been very young, his father was a mercenary. He worked for a local group and they went and hunted beasts together for a living.

While his father's talent was decent, his cultivation prowess really disappointed the sect he was part of, so he thrown out, exiled from ashaming them.

At that time, Zephyr had been very young, probably six or seven. He had failed to qualify for the local Scholar Exam, to join a prestigious school. His father had been furious and abused him that day.

He chuckled. Was that the day he started to become more quiet, emotionless and calmer?

He did not like the feeling of the hard rock surface, so he intertwined both of his hands behind his head.

A year later, at the age of eight, he had escaped that hell… Which he had called a house several years previously. His father had been broken by alcohol to the point even he did not recognize him anymore. That was not his father.

That person was not his father. He was a monster. He let out a laugh, "Speaking of that… He probably was being influenced by a cult he occasionally visited back then…"

Back then, at the tender age of eight, he had learned the world was harsh to the weaker ones and the stronger ones alike.

He had heard that a sect was recruiting youngsters like him into their sect. He remembered being heartbroken upon learning which level his Soul Potential belonged to. The only reason he was accepted was because his Inner Potential was incredible.

At the age of ten, he had started his cultivation journey. What others took weeks to achieve in terms of breaking through, took him months if not years. Apparently, his father had seen that and wanted him to become a Scholar solely for that reason.

He didn't really blame him that much for that. People with no talent in cultivating were seen as peasants, becoming a scholar was the furthest he could go in life.

The only thing keeping him ahead of the turn was his Inner Potential. He absorbed Martial Techniques like a sponge. There was a time when even the elders of the sect were afraid to spar with him.

Every good moment would eventually finish, however. He was banished from that sect at the age of fourteen with the pretext that he had killed the son of an elder. He had merely been acting in self-defense. The one who killed the son of the elder wasn't even him.

It was another disciple, but his background was too deep so they blamed his death on him. Alas, Zephyr at that time was too weak to be accepted as part of a sect anymore.

So he became a mercenary just like his father. He explored the world he was inside together with his mercenary group, who were all stronger than him.

When he finally turned eighteen, he had earned a decent amount of power and money. He decided to return to his hometown and check on his father… who was a Monster to be precise?

He found out he had died from drinking too much alcohol. He did not know what to feel that day. Relief?Sadness?Anger?

Years flashed in his face. He no longer was the young and rash, Zephyr. His name resonated in the entire world. Even kids of various ages admired him. Well, this world was not going to exist for a much longer time anyway.

Zephyr was not satisfied with his achievements. He had just learned that his cultivation road was going to stop moving forward soon. He had hit a bottleneck.

A bottleneck which he was not supposed to even ever reach in his lifetime. His Soul Potential had let him down.

He spent tens of thousands of years in a single place, in hope of finding just a single trail… Yet he found none. After nine hundred thousand years, he had now given up.

He smiled bitterly. "What is the point of suffering if there is no happy ending for me in this world." He raised one of his hands but noticed that he could barely even see.

"Great now I'm also blind." Looking down, he noticed that he had lost both of his legs as well. "I'm also disabled now." He started to laugh madly. He was not even affected by this at this point.

"I curse you, the Elder Gods above all of us! You played with my feelings, made me experience despair and in the end… You won. Hahahahha!" He grinned like a madman as he bled from his eyes.

"I hope you were properly entertained! After all, it did last a million years, and for that amount of time you never stopped making my life hard." He was not even getting bothered by the pain. His hands started to crumble to dust, yet he extended them as far as he could.

"If only I knew just what kind of monsters you actually are since the beginning… This is all your doing! My life has been miserable and you are the cause of it!" Despite his continuous shouting, there was no response.

His body started to turn brown and then gray. It was obvious that the effects of detonating his core had 'purposely' lasted longer than usual.

"You want me to suffer more and more… More and MORE AND MORE AND MORE AND MORE! YOU WANT ME TO KEEP LIVING JUST TO SEE ME SUFFER LIKE A DUMB KID!" Zephyr laughed loudly once again.

This all felt like a joke to him. A million years, he had lived for a time period which others could only imagine, even if someone was as old as him, they usually had already ascended to the Divine Realm or would soon do so.

Zephyr's body had nearly finished decomposing. He was only left with his chest and head. He once again entered a state of tranquility.

"At least… At the very least… I wish I lived a normal life, where I didn't have to suffer from such weak Spiritual Roots...That was my only wish since I was a fucking kid you goddamn gods!"

"Who am I kidding too, a cultivator like me who has created havoc, killed innocents and done any evil deed possible to increase his cultivation does not deserve anything." Zephyr's state of tranquility transformed his surroundings.

His body stopped decaying for a short time.

An image appeared in his mind. One of his protecting his world from the invading horde of demons and beasts. Images of him fighting against an entire army alone were deeply imprinted into his mind.

Another image of him saving a group from a horde of random beasts at the tender age of fourteen emerged. Tears started to flow down his face.

Although Zephyr had committed many evil deeds, at the same time he had also done many great and good deeds which helped his community.

"RISE!"

"RISE!"

"RISE!"

He heard voices inside his mind. Whenever these were his mind's creation or actual voices, he had no idea whatsoever.

He let out a cry of resolve and pain out as his body started to shake violently. His limbs started to regenerate.

" I STILL HAVEN'T STILL FUCKING REACHED THE APEX! I AM NOT GOING TO DIE BEFORE I DO SO!"

The cave started to rumble. It felt as if the Nine Heavens were going to fall on him… Or rather the Earth.

He roared, his body shaking violently more than it ever had done before. He shone like a bright star just before exploding into a Supernova. His body heat was about the same as a star at the moment.

Finally, he stood up. He had done the impossible, something no one had done before. Managing to survive his core being detonated. Logically that was still possible, but the higher one's cultivation prowess rose, the harder it would be.

His sight started to return to him, he was no longer blind. The sight of the dark cave revealed itself in front of him.

Without Heavenly Qi, he didn't even know just how deep underground he had ended up. He stared at the hole he had created to end up here endlessly. He smiled.

"You still are playing with me aren't you, Laws of Gaia?"

This was all a joke, he had tried his best, regained sight and control of his limbs… Practically something which should be impossible since he did not have any Heavenly Qi. His Spiritual Sense did not work anymore.

With his sight, he could make out that the depth he was inside was at least twenty kilometers underground. His chances of escaping this hell of a cave he was in were close to 0. His temperature which previously was normal started to grow.

He let out a bitter shout. Tears started to flow down his face once again. His Spatial Ring had been completely blown to smithereens the moment he had detonated his core. He was not even wearing clothes, he was virtually naked.

He did not look like an extremely old person at all right now, despite him using his Blood Essence and True Energy to aid his Forbidden Class Martial Technique.

Since immemorial times, people like Zephyr had always been eccentric, but he himself was a different person. Although he was eccentric, he rarely expressed himself in such a way.

Just as he started to lose hope once again, the space around him started to rumble. The moment he blinked his eyes once, he was now in a white dimension, nothing could be really seen besides limitless white.

"Great, I lost my sight and regained it; lost my limbs but recovered them, but now I have to face with hallucinations?" Zephyr grunted as he sat down, crossing his legs with each other.

He was tired of struggling for no apparent reason. He was nearing the end of his lifespan anyway. He might just sleep in this unknown land and die while cultivating.

For what appeared to be an eternity, Zephyr slept and slept. In fact, there were times when he woke up but went to sleep once again. There was a difference each time however.

Each time he woke up from his slumber, he had more information in his head. He could not really arrange the new memories so he just slept. More and more…

Zephyr took a deep breath as he opened his eyes. He felt very heavy, a weird feeling overcame his body,something he had not felt in an extremely long time. He widened his eyes and looked around in wary.

"Who are you?!" He shouted pointing at the figure in front of him in disbelief. He could not describe his appearance. It was not that it wasn't noticeable or ugly. It was because he could not remember how the figure looked no matter how much he looked at it.

"Zephyr, Reached the Early-Stage of the Deity Rank before being crushed to death by the Dark Devil Steel under the cave he was previous to his death. Accumulated Karma exceeds that of most people, even when you take a lot of it due to the evil deeds you did during your lifetime." The human-like person stated emotionlessly.

A throne appeared behind the youth-like human in which he sat on. He stared at Zephyr just like one would look at an ant.

If there was one thing Zephyr was incapable of forgetting it was his piercing silver eyes unlike his ruby red eyes. He felt inferior to the figure in front of him… and not by a small amount either.

The youth closed his eyes and savored the empty feeling of the space they were in. The next moment when he opened his eyes, Zephyr felt a foreign pressure crush him onto the floor, he was completely unable to respond.

"Unfortunately for you, I am not like the others at the same position as me. My father would have forgiven your sins and merely sent you to reincarnate, after all, you are the one they chose to sit in the same table as us." The youth said with a fierce tone.

To Zephyr it was like the world had crashed on him, he simply couldn't believe how he had gone from one of the strongest existences in his realm to… A mere ant.

"You said I reached the Early-Stage of the Deity Rank, but… How exactly?! My core was the lowest it could've ever been!" Zephyr said with bewilderment visible on his face.

He then was blasted away as the youth furrowed his eyebrows.

"I did not give you permission to speak did I? Who are you to speak at the same level as me? Do not refer to me as 'you'. In your current position, I can be considered your creator!" The youth calmly responded despite his words containing a hint of fury.

Zephyr wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth and was silent. The words of the youth rang inside his eardrums repeatedly.

Should he apologize to him?

He gripped his fists to the point they bleed and showed a resolute light on his eyes. No, he was not going to become like his father who… Begged the elders of his sect to be accepted once again into the sect. He was a great expert of the Heaven and Earth Circle, he had his own pride.

The youth noticed the glare Zephyr was throwing him and started to laugh loudly. It was not one filled with amusement but rather with a cold hint.

"You know, it has been a very long time since someone has dared to act like this in front of me. You are too brave… Or are you perhaps just a fool?" The youth stared at Zephyr with a cold expression.

Zephyr refused to stand down to this injustice. " I am neither brave or a fool. I just see no reason to bow down to you."

The youth's face calmed down as he stared down at Zephyr. "Boy let me remind you that no matter how much Willpower you have, without power you are nothing but trash."

Zephyr revealed a pure smile. "I suppose you are not here to just talk to me for pretty much useless subjects, are you?" Yet again, despite showing respect to the youth, his words contained no reverence.

The youth stood up from his throne and started to walk towards Zephyr. There was no height difference between the two, so they both stared directly into their eyes.

"Put your hand forward." He demanded, without any power to refuse the youth, Zephyr's right arm moved forward without his own will.

"Your True Energy has been throughtfully exhausted. Unless you face one of the Ancestral Deities, you will be unable to recover your lost True Energy. I could recover it in one go for you, but what is the point of that?"

The youth put his hand on top of Zephyr's hand. A howl left the mouth of the cultivator. Despite getting used to enormous amounts of pain, this simple burning feeling left him with a desire to suicide.

"You only have one chance boy. If you manage to reach the apex of cultivation in one life, you will reach the same level of power as them… But if you fail?"

There was no need to answer that.. Failure obviously meant Eternal Death, he would never be able to experience the fresh feeling of air another time.

"So you are going to revive me once again according to your words?" Zephyr asked as his eyes shone with various emotions. His face was covered in sweat from the previous experience of pain.

"Revive you? No, you misunderstood me. I won't revive you… You will reincarnate."

The youth emotionlessly stated as Zephyr's vision turned dark.

"But first, you have to pass through the challenge my father chose for you. Foolish human." His figure faded slowly.

~~

"1…. If you don't wake up… you motherfucker I'll blow up your mouth."

A wild and uncouth voice sounded off in Zephyr's eardrums.

"2… Seems you want to have your head blown apart it seems."

The voice grew in annoyance. Zephyr opened his eyes instantly as his hand pushed upwards. An instinct made him use his 'Qi' to attack the person who had came so close to him.

"For a brat whose Ancestry is younger than this badass I am here, your punches are not that light."

Only now did Zephyr notice the fact that he had assaulted the voice which was threatening him.

"This can be considered as self-defense then…"

Before Zephyr could even properly make out his surroundings, he was slammed into the ground creating an enormous crater.

"This old man is itching for a battle, maybe you will be able to satisfy me for a small amount of time?"

The voice rang out with a laugh as the strength applied to Zephyr's skull increased.

'I am incapable of even fighting back… What kind of monster is this person?!' Zephyr thought hopelessly as he struggled. Heavenly Qi coated his body, his legs slamming the back of the person who attacked him.

"Listen carefully brat, the person you attacked is the Elder God of Destruction, Alkador!"

Alkador grinned as he increased the grip he had on Zephyr's head.

'An Elder God? How the fuck am I supposed to defeat an existence who most likely can destroy me with a single sweep of his sleeve?' He gawked as he struggled even more.

His Heavenly Qi exploded with power as it changed to Divine Qi. For a moment Zephyr had forgotten that he was a Deity according to the mysterious youth now. For some odd reason, his body was back to peak condition as well.

"Impressive for a Low-Rank Deity like you, but do you truly think this is enough to even scratch me?!" Alkador frowned as he threw Zephyr away who collided with a massive tree.

'So I am inside a forest… This could be important for strategies and tactics I'll use to evade his blows.'

"You should be grateful my strength has been restricted to only a quarter of a percent of my true power, and that I am only allowed to use my Physical Strength otherwise… Hmph." Alkador stated with a grin.

Zephyr breathed out as he launched himself at Alkador who snorted. "Please, if you think you can catch me by surprise like that… Then you are largely wrong!"

"Destruction Branch 32 - Wolf Claw!" Alkador threw his palm forward, which took the shape of claws. Purple-Dark Energy burst forward assaulting Zephyr.

He barely dodged it much to Alkador's anger.

Divine Qi gathered to form a sword purely made out of Qi. The sword flew forward and tied to pierce Alkador's body but failed.

'I'll have to find a way to hurt him, my Divine Qi won't do it. The most it can do is push his body around. I have no weapon on me, my capability to pierce his skin is null…'

~~

The battle continued for eons. Zephyr never bothered to count since a moment of hesitation or relax could ignite his death.

"Destruction Branch 934 - Harbinger of Destruction!"

Alkador threw a gigantic sphere of Destruction Energy at Zephyr who dodged it at the cost of his left arm.

'The only way I can possibly defeat him is…'

Zephyr launched himself forward with a dark expression.

Alkador snorted, "Trying to take advantage of the fact I used a Semi-Spiritual Attack to attack me? The cooldown is far too small for you to take advantage of that."

'To use his body itself!'

Zephyr's Divine Qi thrust itself forward aiming at Alkador's arm. Caught stunned at the revelation, Alkador's hand impaled his chest.

"You bastard…" Alkador growled as his body dissipated into mere dust.

Words appeared in the air.

[First Stage - Defeat the Elder God,Alkador accomplished]

[Reward Given - Root of Destruction]

[Second Stage…]

~~

[Second Stage - The Dark Soul's Demise - Accomplished]

[Reward Given - Root of Darkness]

`Closer…`

~~

[Third Stage - A thousand years of Death - Accomplished]

[Reward Given - Increase of Soul and Inner Potential Level]

~~

[Fourth Stage - Failure…]

[Warping Host outside the Arena]

[Reincarnation...Loading…]

Eons after eons… An uncountable amount of time had passed. Zephyr fought various enemies and even fought time itself.

"Eh? You actually managed to obtain three rewards and cleared three stages? Impressive indeed." He opened his eyes to reveal the very familiar white space and the youth staring at him.

There was no doubt, he was young-looking, about fifteen. How was he so sure of it?

He now could clearly see the face of the youth without any problem.

Piercing Silver Eyes, crimson red hair and a handsome face were present in the youth's appearance. "I guess you have earned the right to know my name."

"My name is… Feng Xiantian."

"It can't be that you actually went insane to the point of no return from that little trip you went into for a few quadrillions years right?!" Feng Xiantian started to laugh out loudly as Zephyr stared at him like a moron.

Zephyr blinked once.

"After going through such a long amount of pain and suffering, I will have a hard time going back to my original personality, in fact at times I'm struggling to understand who exactly I was before all of this started."

"I feel an urge to attack you and murder you, but at the same time I don't want to. The damage you have caused to me will take a lot of time to recover…"

His hand took the shape of a palm and he threw it forward, but it was stopped before it could even near Feng Xiantian who smiled slightly.

"You actually gained quite a lot of courage boy, do you think you can face me now just because you defeated some rubbish Elder Gods who had most of their strength sealed?"

"Since you dare to attack your creator, I will have to force a type of punishment on you…" Feng Xiantian said. One of his fingers twitched, the next moment Zephyr shot backward into the endless White Space.

Feng Xiantian rubbed his temples and frowned."Actually it looks like you are saved. My father wants you to be quickly reincarnated, and so be it."

"Zephyr, I have recovered your True Energy for you, now you have to go through all these questionings my father set up…"

Feng Xiantian said, but most of it was left ignored since Zephyr disappeared. A smile appeared on his face.

"Zephyr… Let's see what your future holds for us."