The golden light of ascension did not fade so much as it was absorbed. It settled into Li Yao's being, not as a new power, but as a form of cosmic permission. The laws of the world, which had once pressed against his mortal vessel, now recognized him as a permanent part of their structure. He was no longer a guest in the universe; he was a resident with foundational rights.
He stood on Heaven's Anvil, the scorched rock now cool and smooth beneath his feet. The air of the Verdant Mountain Sect, once thick with earnest, striving Earth energy, now felt thin, almost quaint. His perception had expanded to encompass the layers of reality. He could now feel the vast, swirling energies above—the Immortal Realm, a painting of far grander scale and more vibrant colors laid over the mortal one.
Elder Guo and Liu Mei approached, their steps hesitant. The gulf between them was now ontological. He was Immortal. They were not.
"Senior... Immortal Li," Elder Guo began, correcting himself with a bow so deep it was almost a prostation.
Li Yao shook his head, a gentle motion that seemed to calm the very air. "Elder Guo. Sister Liu. The titles do not matter. The understanding does. You have been my guides and my anchors in this world. That debt does not vanish with a change of realm."
He looked at Liu Mei. "The path of the valley is now more important than ever. The sect is in your hands. Teach them that strength is not always about being the mountain."
She bowed, her eyes shining with a mixture of sorrow and fierce determination. "I will, Senior Brother."
He then looked upwards, through the veil of the sky. "My path leads elsewhere now. The balance I seek must be applied to a larger canvas."
He did not summon a cloud or perform a flashy technique. He simply took a step. And then he was walking upwards, as if on an invisible staircase. Each step took him further from the mortal world, the familiar peaks of the Verdant Mountain shrinking into mere textures on a vast landscape below.
He passed through the barrier between realms. It was not a wall, but a gradient—a thickening of spiritual pressure and a brightening of light. The "noise" of the Immortal Realm washed over him, a symphony an order of magnitude more complex and powerful than the mortal one. Here, the laws weren't just principles to be used; they were the very substance of the world.
He emerged into the Immortal Realm of Tai Xuan.
The sight was breathtaking. Floating continents hung in a sky of liquid azure, wreathed in waterfalls that flowed upwards into misty clouds. Rivers of liquid light meandered between islands of crystalline rock and forests of singing trees. The air hummed with the palpable force of active, conscious laws. This was a world built not on dirt and stone, but on intention and power.
He stood on the edge of a floating isle, a relatively minor piece of land compared to the colossal continents in the distance. According to the world-building he had inferred, this was likely a borderland of the Central Continent — Chaos & Multi-Law Domain, the territory of the Primordial Nexus Sect.
Almost immediately, his presence was noted.
A squad of three figures descended on discs of compressed wind. They wore robes of shifting, iridescent grey, marking them as disciples of the Primordial Nexus Sect. Their auras were complex, each a blend of two or three laws, a signature of their sect's philosophy. The leader, a woman with sharp eyes that held a flicker of lightning and frost, looked him over. Her perception swept across him and found... nothing. A perfect blank.
"State your name and origin, newly ascended," she commanded, her voice echoing with the authority of someone used to dealing with fresh immortals. "All who ascend within the Nexus Sector are to be registered."
"I am Li Yao. I ascended from the Verdant Mountain Sect in the mortal realm below," he replied, his tone calm.
"Verdant Mountain? An Earth Law sect," one of the other disciples muttered, scrutinizing him. "But you... you have no Earth Law resonance. You have no resonance at all. What is your affinity?"
Li Yao considered the question. In the mortal realm, his "Voidless Talent" was a curse. Here, it was merely a data point.
"I have an affinity for balance," he said.
The lead disciple's eyes narrowed. "Balance is not a law. It is a concept. Your mortal sect techniques are obsolete here. To survive, you must connect with a true law and begin constructing your Domain. Without a Domain, you are nothing in the Immortal Realm." She gestured to the magnificent, law-saturated world around them. "This is not a place for philosophers. It is a place for powers."
Li Yao smiled slightly. "I understand."
His placid acceptance seemed to frustrate her. "You will come with us to the Nexus Outpost for assessment. Your... unusual nature will be of interest to the Law-Seeking Elders."
They expected him to be nervous, perhaps even resistant. Instead, he simply nodded. "Lead the way."
As they flew over the stunning, impossible landscape, Li Yao observed. He saw a disciple of the Blazing Heaven Sect practicing on a distant flame-berg, manifesting a ring of eternal fire that scorched the sky—a rudimentary Domain Manifestation. He saw an Eternal River Sect adept calming a storm with a wave of her hand, creating a temporary Aqua Sanctuary.
These were the skills of this new world. Not just using laws, but creating personal territories where one's own law was absolute. It was the next level of "something."
And he was the master of "nothing."
He knew what his first goal in the Immortal Realm had to be. He could not manifest a Domain of Fire or Water. But he could manifest a Domain of Uncreation. A territory where the Uncreating Balance held sway, where the laws of the something-world were held in perfect, silent equilibrium.
The disciples brought him to a floating platform of white jade, covered in intricate formation arrays that scanned and categorized the laws of all who entered. As Li Yao set foot on it, the arrays flared, then sputtered. The runes meant to identify law affinity flickered erratically and then went dark.
The lead disciple stared at the dead array, then back at Li Yao, her earlier frustration replaced by a dawning, profound wariness.
"What are you?" she whispered.
Li Yao looked at the dead runes, then at the vast, vibrant, and noisy Immortal Realm stretching out before him.
"I," he said, "am the counterweight."