The heavens trembled.
From the highest peak of the shattered realm, Teng Xuwan stood beneath the storm-split skies. His gaze pierced the void above, eyes burning with divine fury. Every breath he drew shook the surrounding air, and every heartbeat seemed to echo with a thunderclap.
Then, with a roar that split clouds apart, Teng Xuwan raised his head and bellowed toward the heavens.
"If fate has written my end, I shall tear the page myself!"
The power of the Three-Petal Leaf surged within him. His body convulsed, but he did not falter. A third arm, ghostly and veined with golden light, burst forth from his shoulder—its presence unnatural, yet sovereign. From it grew a bone, thick and ancient, carved with primordial runes—one that hummed with untamed life.
Gripping the bone, Teng Xuwan began forging. The spiritual pressure intensified. The sky screamed. He poured the energy of the Three-Petal Leaf into it, layer by layer, until the bone transformed.
It was no longer bone.
It had become a Myth-Grade Sword, shaped not in fire, but through sheer defiance of heaven's order.
The moment the sword solidified, blood spurted from his mouth—his organs twisting, his veins boiling under the strain. Still, he raised the weapon skyward.
And the heavens responded.
A divine tribulation descended, not upon him, but upon the sword itself. Heaven saw it—a weapon capable of wounding it—and it judged. A blinding bolt of heavenly lightning slammed down upon the blade, shaking the world itself.
But Teng Xuwan did not step back.
He welcomed it.
With blood dripping from his lips and eyes glowing crimson, he pointed the sword toward the sky and laughed through the pain.
"Come then! I challenge you!"
The sword blazed with rebellious energy, a divine-red flame rising from its edge. But then—without hesitation—he turned it inward, plunging it into his own chest.
The technique he invoked was Soul-Shattering Nirvana—a forbidden cultivation path.
His soul cracked.
His consciousness blurred.
But his power exploded.
A ripple of energy swept across the entire Luminous Continent. Rivers trembled, mountains groaned, sects across the realm paused in stunned silence. From the highest temple to the deepest hell, cultivators turned toward the east, sensing a force that should not exist.
Even the Heavenly Dao paused.
His laughter echoed again—twisted, wild, victorious.
"I shall begin…"
Blood streamed from his mouth, shimmering with Nirvana Energy. Even his blood carried the power to refine or destroy. Every drop that touched the ground created a crater of sacred fire.
The sky above dimmed.
The clouds trembled in silence.
Heaven, for the first time, hesitated.
Teng Xuwan's presence had transcended the mortal realm. No longer man. Not quite god.
Something in between.
Untamed.