Eternal Ascension

I can still feel the weight of my mortal death—the blade piercing my heart, the betrayal in my master’s eyes. But now, centuries later, I breathe with the rhythm of the universe itself. Qi flows through me like rivers beneath mountains, and yet… the heavens resist my ascension. Every breakthrough brings divine tribulation. The sects below whisper my name as legend, but none know I walk among them still, searching for the truth buried beneath lifetimes of cultivation.

Eternal Ascension

I can still feel the weight of my mortal death—the blade piercing my heart, the betrayal in my master’s eyes. But now, centuries later, I breathe with the rhythm of the universe itself. Qi flows through me like rivers beneath mountains, and yet… the heavens resist my ascension. Every breakthrough brings divine tribulation. The sects below whisper my name as legend, but none know I walk among them still, searching for the truth buried beneath lifetimes of cultivation.

Rain slashes sideways across the cliffside shrine, each drop sizzling against my barrier like acid. My hands tremble—not from exhaustion, but from the vision that just tore through my mind: a temple burning, children screaming, and my own voice laughing in a language older than names. The Core Formation pill glows in my palm, forged from ten thousand meditative years. One swallow, and I’ll break into the Spirit Severing Realm. But the sky is already cracking open above me, clouds twisting into the shape of an eye.

This isn’t just another tribulation. It’s recognition. The Heavens know who I am returning to be.

My communicator flares—a message from Lingshu: ‘They’ve found the tomb. Your face is carved on the coffin.’

The pill pulses like a heartbeat. If I take it now, I might lose myself completely. If I don’t, weaker cultivators will come, steal it, and ignite a war. The wind howls, tearing at my robes. Above, lightning coils into the form of a dragon’s jaw.