Enlightenment

Throughout the entire valley, anyone could feel it. The Spiritual QI in the air fluttered and moved as it converged on the frontlines. Waves of qi swept the battlefield as it moved toward the beacon it coveted.

In the sky, the clouds gathered, white and gold mixed into a grand web of boiling light, ready to strike down on the earth.

"So it's a breakthrough to the Enlightenment stage? Nothing will change, I'm so close to Fusion, nothing will stop these demons from dying." A young man's cold eyes locked onto the point where the Spiritual Qi converged.

He had white hair that oddly didn't move with the wind, he wore a black and yellow robe and had brown eyes that refracted light.

It was none other than the Sect Leader of the Demon Suppressing Sect, the Demon Slaughtering Celestial. The second strongest man in the world. Someone who killed one of the three Grand Demons of the Demonic Sect and harnessed its soul, the Demon of Desire, a Tier 9 Demon.

The last two Grand Demons had a hard time keeping the sect in order, suppressing all information about the Desire Demon's disappearance.

The Demon of Desire was the one who first created the Demonic Sect, its domain was what was keeping the Demons united. Alas, the Demon Slaughtering Celestial ruined it all.

This was one of the many reasons for the wars the Demons would hold yearly, external enemies kept the internal ones at bay.

"Let's see if he survives, if he does then I'll play with him." The white-haired youth laughed and watched the show.

...

Cain stood still. He felt streams push in through his pores, running rampant throughout his body.

Luckily, his Dantian absorbed much of the energy, rapidly condensing into a golden-sized sphere.

This hardening of the entire Dantian was strange, but it was what happened at the Enlightenment stage, the cultivator's Dantian would turn into a gold core that held an immense amount of Spiritual Qi.

Without high-level Mystical creatures to bear the pressure and support the process, this change would be impossible, the Dantian would collapse and the Spiritual Qi wouldn't condense and harden. This is why high-level souls were coveted.

'Even with so many high-level souls that fit the requirements, the pain is still so strong. Is it because of me or does the process still cause pain even if it goes smoothly?' Cain analyzed his body while undergoing advancement.

He wasn't fazed by the pain, he's been through far worse. Glowing, his red eyes glared at the sky, the clouds that had gathered sparkled with golden lights.

"So the heavens dislike me so much? Golden Lighting isn't too bad."

Depending on the color, lighting set by the heavens could be strong or weak. Golden Lighting was close to the top and only geniuses saw them when advancing.

Stretching his arms out, Cain began to laugh loudly. He was already in the center of the battlefield, both his defenders and the reinforcements from the Demon Sealing Sect saw this act.

A foreboding emotion pressed down on all as the madman's laughter grew.

"Hahahahaha! Let's see what Enlightenment has to offer!"

A spark flashed near Cain's stomach and a golden light beamed into the sky. As it grew higher it turned from gold to white, this was the power of a core diluted in heavenly energy, but Cain didn't like that.

"I am anyone but someone who bows before another! I may have used Heaven's power to grow, but it's my power now, not yours!"

The white crashed with the clouds and began to fuse. The nature of the technique Cain practiced allowed for an easier transition to the Enlightenment Stage.

Cain didn't want this. He was a man who liked to make grand entrances after all.

From the white, a flash of red bled through. At first, the red was little, only causing the clouds and white some discomfort. However, the red spread like a disease, moving through the white like lightning of its own.

In less than a minute the entire cloud was a hue of red, it was sporadically trembling as the golden lighting inside it wasn't spared either.

"The heavens will fall and I will step on its remains! This Territory is a stepping stone for me, a mere stop on my journey! Be thankful!"

The red in Cain's eyes grew deeper, his eyes looked like portals of blood with traces of black hidden beneath.

In the sky, the cloud of heavenly power collapsed as red shards fell from the sky, containing raging lighting within of the same color.

Trickling down like shards from a broken mirror, Cain grabbed a few larger fragments and crushed them. The lighting inside escaped and rushed through his body, causing pain and internal damage. Even so, he continued until the last fragment.

Crushing the shards of crimson, the lighting bore through his body like a drill, but when it died out, Cain felt his soul rise out of his body, he continued to rise until he neared the limits of the sky.

Typically, someone advancing to the Enlightenment stage was to bear the lighting from heaven and lose in the process, only then with heavenly power in their body could heaven pull them up and grant them enlightenment while the lighting leaves remnant power inside the body for the harnessed souls to gain enlightenment.

Cain did something drastically different, converting the lightning into his own, removing the heavens consciousness. He then manually used the heavenly energy he gathered in his body to rise to gain enlightenment.

The remaining heavenly energy in his body would be activated and allow the harnessed souls to gain enlightenment over time.

Cain already had lots of heavenly energy etched into his body so this was no big deal. He gained lots from the shards as well. 

Floating up, he suddenly stopped. Above him, a massive wall appeared. The wall was foggy but Cain could make out a small figure on the other side, and although it looked small, Cain felt a near-infinite amount of Spiritual qi radiating from it.

The creature beyond the wall didn't speak, but its mere aura relayed how it felt.

"Haha! So even the Heavens have to follow the rules! What a good thing to know, how sad!" Cain mocked the thing beyond the wall of fog. He mocked heaven.

Heaven was the amalgamation of rules of the territory as well as its ruler. It was the personification of the Heavenly Spirit who controlled everything. Undoubtedly it noticed who Cain was, but even so, it couldn't do anything to him unless he revealed his power blatantly.

Without evidence, The Heavenly Spirit could only twiddle its thumbs, a pitiful entity, it had vast power but could only use it when the rules were broken.

Cain faced this figure of godhood with confidence, waiting for it to give him it's blessing after disabling its traps that would infect his body and soul.