Prelude: Temple of Doom 6

Long Wei shut his eyes and churned the Qi in his Mindscape to lessen the pain. He hissed looking in the general direction of the temple, not daring to use his Heaven Shrouding Eyes on it again. Some things were above him on a conceptual level. Trying to peer through the secrets of everything would kill him one day.

Most of all he never expected his Heaven Shrouding Eyes to have such a blaring weakness. Wait. A weakness? Wait. Something wasn't correct there. His Heaven Shrouding Eyes had a weakness? How was that possible? No being was supposed to be able to know that he had those pairs of eyes in the first place. It was the Main reason why they were named the Heaven Shrouding Eyes. A passive function of his eyes was concealing its own presence from the Heavens. Why? He did not know. If even the Heavens did not know that he had the Heaven Shrouding Eyes, nor could it detect who exactly had them, how was that thing able to notice?

Long Wei didn't know what to think anymore. First, it was Frankenstein, a being he never came across that could somehow hide secrets from his eyes and now this? A creature capable of detecting his Heaven Shrouding Eyes? What was going on?

His back step went unnoticed by both Jinwu Xiaodan and Feng Li, their eyes were focused on the burst of red light in the distance, and their bodies were frozen by the aura.

Long Wei growled, weakening the ancient aura in his surroundings by a fair bit. Both Jinwu Xiaodan and Feng Li woke up from their stupor.

"I'll deal with you later. Something interesting just popped up. For the meantime follow me," Long Wei cast a layer of purple qi over Feng Li, "Quite a few people will be at that temple. So we can get you a few healing pills from the Alchemists."

Long Wei told Feng Li. And those were the last words he spoke for the rest of the journey. Long Wei flew at cruising speeds, trying his best to enjoy the beautiful tapestry of green foliage mixed with purple, pink and red leaves and plants. The forests wove into the mountains, creating elaborate patterns he couldn't believe arose naturally.

Jinwu flew behind them in a burst of golden flame. His mind was occupied with the various and different ways he could gain Long Wei's favour without worsening the situation he was already in. The smiling man wasn't simple. A cultivator of Long Wei's status wasn't kind. Their world encompassed schemes and brutal unexplainable deaths, kindness wasn't a concept that existed in the higher echelons. And if kindness didn't exist, then hate didn't either. What people like him, people like Long Wei wanted most was benefits. If he. Could find something that benefits Long Wei at a minimal cost, then this slight against him could and would be forgiven.

Long Wei's mind was clear of all thoughts. He breezed through the skies with a gentle smile on his face. His thick Saint Aura mixed with the scent of various Vicious beast's made certain not a single beast came close to them.

Feng Li finally calmed down and just watched the motions. Still, he couldn't understand why the man saved him. Wasn't this a competition, one less person meant a greater chance of winning the Cosmic Bead?

"Why?" he asked.

"I felt like it," Long Wei answered.

"Hm… I don't believe it," said Feng Li.

"You do you."

"That's it?" Feng Li asked.

"I saved you because I can and I want to. Are you happy now?"

"I know that's not the reason. Nobody does things just because they want to."

"I just did," Long Wei scoffed.

"You and I both know that's a lie," Feng Li sighed.

"Suit yourself. We are almost there."

Jinwu Xiaodan tried finding pockets in their short conversation to chime in but failed miserably. He just chose to remain quiet and fly behind them.

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Temple Of Doom Grounds

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Cultivator after cultivator arrived at the temple grounds within twenty four hours. Most that arrived were in the Heavenly Door Realm and below, each belonging to various Immortal Factions within the Myriad Realms.

At first some of them rushed towards the temple at blinding speeds, invoking their various movement techniques. But all of them came to an abrupt stop once they felt fifteen Saint Realm Auras waiting patiently in the skies. The Heavenly Door cultivators that arrived numbered in the ten thousands. Colours pulled straight from the rainbow washed away the green of the surrounding forests.

Liang Heng was amongst the influx of Heavenly Door Ream cultivators that flooded in from all directions hoping to try his luck in the trials. Like most, he knew that gunning for top spot was a waste of time. He simply needed to get within the top ten thousand spots and he'd have a chance to start his life anew. Gone would be struggling at the bottom of the barrel and fighting for resources with more than a trillion fellow students.

Blood stained his entire body. He replaced the clothes he came in with after a rabid monster nearly tore him to shreds.more than twenty disciples of a nameless Immortal faction ambushed him. He fought his way through the encirclement, using large amounts of qi. The battle shredded the last of his clothes, but he triumphed over them. One of the guys wore a black protective robe that survived the onslaught of the battle. He took it.

Fifteen powerful auras in the skies stopped him in his tracks. He gazed up and saw the faces of the top talents within the Imperial Expanse. Each one is more famous than the last. Bai Yunru's impeccable figure drew his eyes.

Bai Yunru. A certified sword genius that hailed from the ancient Bai Clan, one of the few human clans that existed at the top of the food chain within the Imperial Expanse. The Bai Clan had a stake in the Spectral Haven Sect, meaning, Bai Yunru didn't have to go through the normal trials that occurred every hundred years. Many assumed the world would shun him for entering through the backdoor into the sect, but none of that happened. His sheer talents made certain not an ounce of criticism befell him.

On the first day in the sect, he deciphered the renowned Spectral Sword Monolith in under twenty-four hours, cementing his status as a Sword God in the making. For the past few years he has done nothing more than prove himself. His most recent feat was battling two Early Stage and One Mid Stage Human Immortals to a draw with nothing more than his sword.