The sun had barely broken over the horizon when Li Yi's group emerged from the twisted canopy of the Ruined Root Forest. They stepped into a wide valley bordered by mist-covered peaks, where golden grass swayed in the early breeze, and the sky bore streaks of crimson from the lingering night. The air was cleaner here—almost sacred—thick with spiritual essence that shimmered like faint motes of light across the landscape.
Li Yi glanced back once at the ancient forest. Though its secrets still called to him, he had extracted what was necessary for now—a piece of the Pillars of Remembrance, a connection to a deeper purpose, and a glimpse into the truth behind the Abyssal King's intentions.
As they crossed into the valley, a low hum passed beneath their feet. The spiritual energy here was unnaturally dense, and Xue Lian's eyes narrowed in concentration.
"This land… it's no ordinary place. I can feel the leylines converging just beneath the surface. This entire valley must be an ancient array."
Mo Ruyan unsheathed her curved blade and pierced the ground lightly. A faint ripple of Qi responded—a resonance with her sword, a whisper of long-lost power.
"We're standing on a battlefield," she said flatly. "A very old one."
Lan Qing'er had already begun mapping the Qi currents in her notebook, lines of ink forming the sketch of a massive sigil hidden in the shape of the hills and streams.
Li Yi said nothing at first. He walked to the edge of a raised hill and gazed beyond. A few miles ahead, a massive cliff jutted up like a blade stabbing the heavens. Carved into the cliff's edge were ancient steps that disappeared into the clouds—half-shattered, faded with time, and pulsing faintly with barrier energy.
He recognized the place. The Skyward Path.
"It's a trial ground," he finally said. "One of the last ones left from the age before the realms were separated. Back then, these steps connected to a temple—Heaven's Edge Hall—where chosen cultivators would train before ascending."
Xue Lian raised an eyebrow. "Ascend to what?"
"To the Upper Realm," he answered.
Mo Ruyan frowned. "But the path to the Upper Realm has been blocked for thousands of years."
"Physically, yes," Li Yi said. "But some pathways still exist in the form of intent and law. This place is one of the few where those remnants remain… enough for a chosen cultivator to break through a limit."
Lan Qing'er's eyes lit with understanding. "You want to challenge the steps."
He nodded.
The others exchanged glances. They had seen Li Yi fight. They had seen him survive Abyssal remnants, outwit divine sect cultivators, and command powers far beyond his realm. But this was different. The Skyward Path wasn't a mere climb—it was a spiritual crucible. Each step tested not only physical strength but the soul, the heart, the very foundations of a cultivator's Dao.
Without a word, they followed him toward the base.
—
The stone steps loomed like a jagged scar on the mountain face. There were exactly one hundred steps, each etched with celestial runes that shimmered as Li Yi approached. A barrier surrounded the stairway—an ancient formation fueled by the ambient Qi of the valley and the celestial alignment of the stars overhead.
A stone tablet stood at the base.
"Only those who defy fate shall pass."
Li Yi stepped forward. The runes flared. His aura surged. The first step accepted him, and a gong-like sound echoed through the valley.
BOOM.
The first trial began.
On the first ten steps, his body was subjected to intense gravitational pressure, growing tenfold with each step. Normal Foundation Establishment cultivators would be crushed by the third. But Li Yi bore the weight in silence, sweat forming on his brow by the fifth, his bones creaking by the ninth, and his Qi circulation strained to its limit on the tenth.
When he stepped onto the eleventh, the scenery shifted.
He was no longer on the staircase. Instead, he stood in a burning city.
Flames consumed wooden houses. Screams pierced the air. Cultivators in blood-red robes slaughtered civilians with cold precision. Above them hovered a massive abyssal eye, casting its gaze over the city like a god choosing who would live or die.
This was an illusion. But not just any illusion—it was a vision of a possible future.
A future where Li Yi failed.
Where the Abyssal King had descended and humanity was crushed.
A whisper came from behind him. His own voice, distorted and mocking.
"You're too weak to stop it. Your parents abandoned you. Your bloodlines make you a target. Even if you reach the peak, what can one man do against gods and monsters?"
Li Yi closed his eyes.
Then he spoke three words:
"I refuse fate."
The illusion shattered like glass.
He stood again on the staircase, now on the twentieth step.
From there, each level grew more savage.
On the thirty-fifth step, he faced a spiritual storm. Lightning surged through his veins. On the fortieth, his cultivation base began to unravel—his own meridians rejecting him as if testing his commitment to the path. He responded not with resistance but with flow, guiding the rebellious Qi back into harmony.
At the fiftieth step, his past was revealed.
He relived the moment of abandonment—his infant self crying as his mother left, his father fading into the mists of memory. He felt the cold wind of the Xuan Realm against his skin as an orphan. The ache of growing up under scrutiny, mockery, and suspicion.
This time, he didn't fight it.
He embraced it.
"I am who I am because of these moments," he whispered.
And the steps accepted him.
Meanwhile, below, his companions watched.
Lan Qing'er was pale. "He's passed fifty. Even some Heaven's Chosen from the Central Continent failed before forty."
Xue Lian whispered, "His soul is… enormous. Almost like…"
"Like a reincarnated Divine Lord," Mo Ruyan finished.
Lan Qing'er turned sharply toward her. "You've suspected?"
Mo Ruyan nodded. "Since the Void Mirror trial."
Up on the sixtieth step, Li Yi began to burn.
His entire being was tested by celestial fire—meant to purge impurities, both physical and spiritual. Flames consumed his flesh, peeling it away layer by layer, until only his core remained—his soul, raw and naked before the judgment of Heaven.
In that state, a voice called to him.
"You hold the Chaos Flame. Do you understand its purpose?"
"No," he admitted.
"Will you forge your own meaning?"
"Yes."
The fire withdrew.
On the seventieth step, his cultivation base surged—Foundation Establishment – Late Stage solidified, but something else cracked open within him: a second core forming inside his dantian. One that did not obey the laws of this realm.
It was a Chaos Core, pulsing with energy that blurred the boundaries between space and time.
Below, the valley trembled. The clouds darkened. Lightning coiled through the sky.
The spiritual pressure emanating from Li Yi's body was no longer that of a mortal realm cultivator.
On the eightieth step, he faced the future.
A realm where he stood alone atop a mountain of corpses. His allies gone. The sky broken. His hands soaked in blood—some of it his own. In that vision, even he had begun to change… to become something closer to the Abyss than to the light.
"Will you become a monster to slay one?" the trial asked.
Li Yi answered:
"If I must. But I will never forget who I am."
And the vision faded.
On the ninetieth step, the heavens cracked.
An ancient will descended—one that had not been felt in this realm for eons.
Above him, ghostly silhouettes appeared—Divine Lords from the God Realm watching, curious, confused, and unsettled.
"He walks the path of chaos… and harmony," one of them whispered. "He is neither us nor them."
The final ten steps became a blur of motion and trial, the stone beneath him breaking, reforming, and resisting every movement of his soul.
And then, he reached the top.
The hundredth step.
A blinding light enveloped him.
A bell rang across the heavens.
And the barrier shattered.
A sealed gate—no longer physical but formed of law and Dao—opened for a moment. Not enough to ascend. But enough for him to glimpse the realm beyond.
The Upper Realm.
Floating mountains. Rivers of starlight. Cities shaped like lotus flowers suspended in the void. And far beyond that, a dark wound in the sky—the sealed gate to the God Realm, still bleeding shadows.
Li Yi breathed deeply.
Then the vision vanished.
He descended the steps calmly.
The moment he touched the ground, the entire valley bowed with resonance. The spiritual leylines shifted, aligning with his presence. The Chaos Core in his body pulsed once, sending shockwaves across the land.
Foundation Establishment – Late Stage, stabilized.
Body Refinement – Peak Tier.
Astral Sight – Evolved into Stellar Perception.
And most importantly… his second core was now fully active.
The others looked at him with a mix of awe and uncertainty.
Mo Ruyan was the first to speak. "You're not just a prodigy."
"No," Li Yi said. "I'm a storm. And the sky is breaking."
---
End of Chapter 28