Dark clouds coiled like serpents above the newly conquered domain, veiling the skies in an oppressive shroud. At the heart of the karmic storm, within the floating citadel known as the Skybound Hall, Li Xuan sat cross-legged beneath a suspended obsidian relic—an ancient artifact retrieved from the ruins of the Eternal Desert.
This was the Black Mirror of Karma, a forbidden treasure said to reflect not one's appearance, but the weight of their karmic entanglements. No cultivator dared to look into it without losing themselves—unless they had walked the path of karma itself.
Li Xuan stared into its shifting surface. Countless faces screamed silently within the depths of the mirror—some twisted by hatred, others frozen in despair. Each one was a thread of karma he had absorbed, manipulated, or severed.
He showed no reaction.
> "More than a million supporting realms have been silenced. The karmic energy is flooding into me," he muttered.
His voice was calm, devoid of feeling, like a sovereign reading a ledger of souls extinguished.
Behind him, General Yan, one of his seven absolute loyalists, knelt in silence. "My Lord," she said cautiously, "the auctions in the Seven Pillar Domain have ended. The elites you assigned brought back over thirty-eight soul-forged treasures and a fragment of a World Scripture."
"Place the Scripture in the Enlightenment Vault. Let the Soul Treasures be distributed to the karmic pool. All that matters now is the mirror."
"Yes, my Lord." Yan hesitated, but she dared not question the strange flickering light within Li Xuan's eyes—burning with detached ambition.
As the general left, Li Xuan activated a hidden command in the auction system interface only he could access. An ethereal screen materialized, projecting ancient karmic scripts in flowing crimson.
> [Karmic Foundation Recalibration: 73% Complete]
[Voidheart Enlightenment Sutra – Pain Resonance Threshold Reached]
[Warning: Mind Collapse Likely. Proceed?]
> "Proceed," Li Xuan replied without hesitation.
Agony exploded in his consciousness.
His body convulsed violently as his mind was flooded with the memories and sins of the countless lives he had absorbed. Screams. Betrayals. Despair. Triumphs. He felt every moment in perfect detail. The pain was not physical, but spiritual—like a billion needles stabbing at the soul.
> "This pain... this is the truth of karma."
Blood streamed from his eyes, ears, and mouth, but his aura only intensified. The black mirror glowed brighter now, its light piercing into his core. The more pain he endured, the deeper his understanding of karmic cause and effect became.
> "I will not falter. I will become the sovereign of fate."
Somewhere in the depths of his mind, a gate opened. A presence—ancient, cold, unfathomable—stirred. It was not the system. It was not the mirror. It was something older.
A voice echoed without sound.
> "You devour karma without reverence. You forge fate with blood. Do you not fear the consequences?"
Li Xuan laughed quietly.
> "Fear? The only thing I fear... is stagnation."
In the Lower Realms, sects crumbled. Kingdoms dissolved. Cities fell silent. All across the million supporting realms, Li Xuan's will reshaped the laws of balance. Through the auctions, through death, through dominion—he rewrote the order of power itself.
At the summit of the Skybound Hall, the seven generals gathered silently as the heavens dimmed.
General Wu, the coldest among them, whispered, "He's changing again. Stronger, colder. Like the heavens themselves no longer matter."
Yan's lips trembled. "He's becoming something else. Not mortal. Not god. Something beyond…"
Below them, a karmic lotus bloomed beneath Li Xuan's bleeding form, formed of countless strands of red and black fate. It spun slowly, binding the lower realms in chains of invisible cause and effect. Anyone who resisted would face catastrophic backlash—death, insanity, or worse.
A system notification appeared before his eyes.
> [Karmic Domain Expansion: Full Control Achieved Over Lower Realms]
[Initiate Realm Ascension?]
Li Xuan smiled faintly.
> "Not yet."
He wasn't done. Not until every last thread of power, resource, and karmic energy was refined.
He stood slowly, the pain ebbing into strength, clarity gleaming in his once-shadowed gaze. The mirror dimmed, satisfied. The karmic threads that had once resisted him now wrapped around his soul willingly.
> "Tell the elites to prepare," he ordered. "A shadow auction will be held in three days. Only the forbidden sects may attend. I want every remnant of karmic knowledge pulled from the rot beneath these realms."
"And if they resist?" Wu asked.
Li Xuan didn't blink.
> "Then they will vanish. Cause must meet effect."
He turned toward the sky, his black robe fluttering like the wings of a divine executioner. A blood-red sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the realm he now fully ruled. Below him, life moved on, unaware that a god cloaked in mortal flesh had already rewritten their future.
And soon, he would reach upward.
> To the Upper Realms.
To the Ancients.
To the Forbidden.
But first… he would auction off the Lower Realms one last time.
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