The day after the tower test.
Hengsheng sat in the lotus position, eyes closed, deep in meditation.
After a while, a voice rang in his head.
"Master, it's done," Blue said.
Hengsheng's eyes snapped open.
"Give it to me," he said, asking for the Trial Tower blueprint.
Without a word, Blue sent the information directly into her master's mind.
Hengsheng reviewed the blueprint details of the tower for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction.
"Thank you. You've done a great job," Hengsheng praised.
"It's my duty, Master…" Blue replied softly.
"Is Prim out of the test yet?" he asked.
"MASTER! I'M HERE! YOU LEFT ME BEHIND AGAIN!" a little girl's voice suddenly yelled.
"Sorry… Anyway, since you're ready, shall we begin?" Hengsheng asked.
"YES! …But Master… I'm scared… Will the cruel heaven reject me again?" Prim whispered.
"Nah, this time we have merit. Things should be fine… maybe?" Hengsheng said. He was confident—but not entirely sure.
How could he predict how the Heavenly Dao would act?
In the System World, Prim puffed her cheeks.
"MASTER! You're always bullying me!" She yelled.
"I didn't mean to! Alright, I'm sorry… I was just being honest," Hengsheng said.
"Master, you should be more considerate of little sister…" Hunter said.
"I agree…" Blue added.
"SEE!" Prim raised her voice in joy as her brother and sister sided with her!
Hengsheng, cornered by all three system races, could do nothing but admit his wrongdoing.
"I'm so sorry… I will make up for it, forgive me…" Hengsheng said.
The chitchat between the System Maker and his System Races went on for a while before settling with some mature understanding.
When everything was ready, Hengsheng immediately proceeded with his plan.
"I will start now," Hengsheng said.
The other three watched in silence in the System World, praying to any god they knew—including themselves—hoping the plan would succeed.
Hengsheng closed his eyes and activated his unique ability—the System Maker.
A massive surge of Spiritual Qi coursed through his spirit veins, and a deep crimson aura erupted from his body.
The wind stirred violently, and the air around him grew heavy, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Due to the title of System Maker, granted by the Heavenly Dao, the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth responded to his will, surging inward to aid him.
A massive stream of Spiritual Qi gathered above Endless Wealth Peak, drawing the attention of the employees below. They paused their work, confused by the sudden phenomenon.
Meanwhile, Yunsu, standing atop the White Tiger Beast King's head, turned her gaze toward the disturbance. She instantly knew her human was about to cause another mess. Her tail flicked against the tiger's head, making the beast flinch nervously—he had no idea what his new master was planning.
Ding!
[500,000,000 System Points Deducted]
[Tier 7 System Node Creation Initiated...]
The Spiritual Qi swirling around Hengsheng surged violently toward him, fusing into a brilliant, glowing, cylinder-shaped Qi artifact that hovered and formed before his eyes.
The process took longer than usual since it was a Tier 7 creation, beyond his current cultivation realm. It required considerable time for the Qi artifact to complete.
The brilliant light grew more intense as time passed, and finally…
The glowing Qi construct shone with a stable light and stopped absorbing the surrounding Qi, hovering silently before him.
DING!
[The Trial Tower System, Tier 7 System Node — Creation Completed]
Hengsheng observed it with satisfaction; it looked much better than all the other Trial Towers he had created.
"Prim… how's the connection?" Hengsheng asked.
"Connected," Prim replied.
"Good…" He murmured.
Hengsheng continued, stimulating his connection with the heaven through the System Maker title, summoning the Heavenly Dao upon this place!
The bright sky turned dark instantly.
RUMMMMBLLLE...
The dark swirling cloud formed above the Endless Wealth Peak.
Then, the gigantic Heavenly Dao's eye opened, its presence emitting an immense pressure throughout the whole mountain, and the commotion during the creation of the system node was nothing compared to this.
The Heavenly Dao's eye gazed down toward the System Maker who summoned it. Without a word needed, heaven knew the maker's intention; it immediately evaluated the creation before the maker.
A simulated future had been created within Heaven's eye, showing the benefits this creation would bring to the Heavenly Dao World.
In the next trillion years, it saw a world where the average strength of the new generation grew much stronger, defying geniuses emerged from every realm, and the Heavenly Immortal Realm became more accessible.
A promising future, but…
It was not enough for Heaven to invest in.
Although the world's increased strength was a significant achievement, it was not necessary for this world.
In addition, this creation still lacked in the Dao or Spiritual development aspect for the people and world, which was an essential factor that the Heavenly Dao desired and valued.
It concluded that this creation wasn't worth it.
The Heavenly Dao's eye slowly closed as it left.
Hengsheng's brow frowned; he couldn't believe even this Trial Tower still couldn't get the Heavenly Dao involved. He wanted to try his chance, but it seemed it still would not succeed.
He had no choice but to rely on the greatest treasure.
The Merit Qi.
A mass of golden-purple Qi cloud surged from Hengsheng's palm and shot toward the sky above.
The Merit Qi cloud transformed into a golden-purple, nine-clawed heavenly dragon as it soared toward Heaven, letting out a thundering roar before it sank into the dark cloud.
At the sank point, the dark cloud trembled as the Merit Qi sent off a resonance tidal wave throughout the sky, causing the Heavenly Dao's eye to pause its retreat.
The Heavenly Eye reopened, and it intently gazed at the System Maker. Considering the merit it had received, a golden, shiny light showered upon the Maker and his creation, granting it a seal of permission, before the Heavenly eye closed.
'Ten thousand years…'
The voice of Heaven—the voice that couldn't be distinguished as either a man's or a woman's—was so profound it almost enlightened Hengsheng, echoing and resonating within his mind.
"So, ten thousand years…" Hengsheng murmured.
The result of the Merit Qi was a success, but not entirely, since the Heavenly Dao didn't make his Trial Tower into the universal mechanism of the Heavenly Dao World. Instead, it permitted him to act like one for 10,000 years.
"It's a shame, yet this was good enough…" Hengsheng said.
"MASTER! I can feel it… the ultimate power!" Prim shouted as she felt she had connected with the great energy source, which she assumed to be a Heavenly Dao. Its power was so great that the Origin Source in the System World was infinitely insignificant, unable to compare.
Hengsheng heard what Prim said and immediately inspected her system.
Ding!
[The Primordial Tower System Panel]
Host: Lan Hengsheng
System Tier: Tier 7 [Upgrade requires 1,050,000,000 SP]
System Concept: Primordial, God, World, Trial, Record, ???
Core Ability: Existence???
System Functions:
Energy Source Connection: System World [Origin Energy, Tier 10], Heavenly Dao World [Heavenly Origin Qi, Tier ??, Permission Seal: 10,000-Year] [New!]
The Keeper of the System Record: System World [Origin World, Divine World, Marble Uniniverse, Tower World], The Endless Wealth Company.
Tower World: All Systems Connected [Online, Developing]
Trial Tower: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th — Beta Test [Terminated in 20 days]
Heavenly Trial Tower: Control Panel, Ready to employ [New!]
System Record Generation Rate: ~750,000 System Points / Day
…
"Wow…" Hengsheng was astounded.
The Heavenly Dao was really rending its power to him!
This was huge!
Instantly, the thought of abusing this power ran through his head.
'No, don't be too excited…' Hengsheng thought, reminding himself to be calm.
"MASTER!!! I am God now!" Prim yelled in joy!
Hearing this, Hengsheng couldn't contain his excitement anymore.
"Let's test what you can do now!" Hengsheng said.
…
"Brother Chen! Those rats from the Imperium are roaming about your territory again; they're trying to kidnap your sister!" the girl, who seemed to be in her prime, said.
Chen Yuan heard what Feng Su said and immediately became angry; his eyes turned blood red.
'How dare they try to lay their hands on my dear sister!'
"Bring me to her," Chen Yuan said in a low voice.
Feng Su nodded and brought Chen Yuan to the hospital where Chen Lu was.
At the hospital.
"Brother Yuan…" Chen Lu avoided eye contact with guilt.
"Did they hurt you?" Chen Yuan asked as he saw the wound on his sister's knee.
"Yes… But there was no problem since Sister Feng Su was with me. I only fell when I tried to run away… Sorry… I should have listened to you… Sob," Chen Lu said, her eyes watering; she was scared, the scene of an Imperium soldier chasing after her still running through her mind.
Seeing his sister crying, Chen Yuan's heart immediately softened, and he gently embraced her.
"I'm sorry, I should have been there…" Chen Yuan said.
"I should have listened to you… so sorry, sob," Chen Lu cried.
Witnessing her pitiful state, Chen Yuan's wrath surged within his heart.
'The Burning Cloud Imperium! I will end you!'