The wind howled like a wounded beast as Vạn Thiên Phong stood upon the ancient stone platform, suspended high above the abyss of the Divine Trial Grounds. Jagged cliffs jutted from the sides like the fangs of a dragon, and golden chains that pulsed with sacred energy crisscrossed the skies. Above him, divine eyes opened in the firmament—watchers of this celestial test.
Thirty chosen cultivators surrounded him, all prodigies of the six great sects, each radiating monstrous auras of power. Yet none dared to step forward.
They had seen it.
The way Phong crushed the Thunder Blade Saint's avatar with a single flick of his finger.
The way he absorbed divine qi as if it were nothing but morning dew.
The way his eyes—black as the void—seemed to whisper death to anyone who met them.
It was no longer arrogance. It was terror.
Yet Phong's expression remained calm, even bored.
"Is this all the so-called heavens have to offer?" he murmured, voice soft, yet it echoed like a divine decree.
The heavenly tribunal stirred.
From the skies, a voice boomed: "Vạn Thiên Phong, descendant of no known bloodline, cultivator of unknown art. You desecrate the Divine Trial with your mere existence!"
Phong looked up. "Unknown?" He chuckled, low and dangerous. "Perhaps you simply do not remember."
The golden clouds trembled.
And then it happened.
The sky cracked.
From the rift descended a figure cloaked in white divinity. Radiant, angelic wings spread from her back, and her presence alone forced every cultivator to kneel—except Phong.
"Divine Envoy of Providence," someone whispered.
She floated before Phong, eyes glowing with celestial light. "You are a mistake that never should have existed."
"Funny," Phong replied, taking a single step forward. "That's exactly what I think of you."
The Divine Envoy's brows twitched. "You defy divine authority?"
"I defy falsehoods dressed as authority."
"You seek the wrath of the heavens?"
"I am the wrath," Phong declared.
Suddenly, the divine aura around the envoy erupted, attempting to crush him. Yet as the pressure descended, a strange thing occurred—
The divine qi twisted.
Warped.
And was devoured.
By Phong.
Gasps erupted all around. The Divine Envoy's face turned pale.
"It's... it's not possible. Divine qi cannot be consumed by—"
"By mortals?" Phong interrupted. "Then I suppose I'm no longer one."
With a flick of his sleeve, a spiral of black and gold energy shot forth, clashing against the envoy's barrier with a sound like worlds colliding. The impact shattered the sky into shards of light.
"RETREAT!" she screamed, vanishing in a blink of divine light.
Silence.
No one moved.
And then—one of the cultivators stepped forward. A youth with a jade crown and phoenix robes.
"This one is Long Jiutian," he said solemnly. "I came to challenge the heavens. But I now realize... you are the heavens' bane."
Phong turned to him, eyes narrowing.
Long Jiutian knelt. "From this moment, I follow you."
One by one, others followed. Kneeling not from fear—but recognition.
They didn't understand him. But they knew power when they saw it. And in that moment, Vạn Thiên Phong was no longer a challenger of fate.
He was fate.
Suddenly, a bell tolled across the realm. A colossal monument rose from the abyss, inscribed with divine runes and ancient names. It was the Heavenly Path Monument—a record of those who transcended mortality.
A new name began to etch itself into the stone.
But halfway through, the runes cracked.
The heavens resisted.
Reality twisted.
And a voice—ancient and furious—thundered through the planes:
"Erase him. ERASE VẠN THIÊN PHONG!"
The divine world shuddered.
But Phong just smiled.
"Let them try."
---
[Extended Scene Begins Here]
Suddenly, the skies darkened again.
A second rift tore open.
This time, from it descended not light, but shadow. A being clad in obsidian armor, with six crimson wings and a crown of bones. His presence devoured light itself. Even the Divine Envoy paled in comparison.
"Divine Executioner," someone gasped. "The heavens sent him?!"
"Vạn Thiên Phong," the executioner's voice was deep, guttural, ancient. "Your existence threatens the balance. You shall be annihilated."
Phong raised a brow. "So they sent a dog after the envoy failed?"
Without warning, the Executioner struck.
The sky vanished into blackness as a blade of pure annihilation descended upon Phong.
But Phong didn't move.
Instead, a lotus of void bloomed beneath his feet—black petals unfurling in perfect silence. The blade struck it... and vanished.
Not deflected.
Not blocked.
Erased.
"You wield annihilation?" Phong said softly. "Let me show you what true nothingness looks like."
He raised his hand. The air warped.
Behind him, a massive silhouette formed—a shadowy, draconic figure with ten thousand eyes, each whispering secrets of existence and extinction. Its roar echoed through dimensions.
The Executioner staggered.
"What... what kind of Dao is that?!"
Phong stepped forward. "The Dao you abandoned when you became a puppet."
The battle erupted.
Each clash shattered laws of reality. Suns formed and died in an instant. Oceans boiled in mid-air. Time bled.
Onlookers wept blood from mere proximity.
Finally, the Executioner fell—his body torn by paradox and consumed by the dragon-shaped void.
A death unrecorded.
A death unallowed.
Because the heavens refused to admit defeat.
But it was done.
Phong stood alone in the crater, untouched.
And the dragon bowed to him.
[End Extended Scene]
Above, the Heavenly Path Monument cracked again.
This time, a new inscription forced itself through:
"Vạn Thiên Phong — Heaven's End."
And from the depths of space, beyond even the divine realms, ancient entities stirred.
Because a truth had been whispered into existence—
The heavens were no longer supreme.
And their reckoning had a name.
Vạn Thiên Phong.
[End of chapter 30]