The shattered realm groaned beneath the strain of rising powers. From a thousand broken sky-shards, cosmic rivers bled light into the void. Zhen stood alone atop the ancient Obsidian Pillar, his cloak flaring with the breath of spatial winds. The Celestial Fragment in his hand pulsed wildly — not with threat, but with awakening.
His soul stirred.
> [System Prompt: Celestial Fragment recognized. Initiating compatibility synchronization...]
[Warning: Detected sealed inheritance — "Twelve-Sealed Path of the Origin Monarch."]
[Would you like to initiate the First Seal Unlock? Y/N]
Zhen didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
In an instant, time bled.
Reality folded.
His consciousness was dragged into an ancient ruin — not one of stone or starlight, but of memory and soul. Before him floated twelve gates, each wreathed in runes older than any language, their surfaces bearing scars from celestial wars.
A voice echoed through the soulscape, not from the system, not from the world — but from the Path itself.
> "To claim the power of Origin... you must face your true self."
The First Gate opened.
---
The Trial of the First Seal: Mirror of Blood
A battlefield materialized, soaked in crimson mist. Across it stood a figure — identical to Zhen in every way, except his eyes. They were not sharp with clarity, but clouded by pride and ruthlessness. The mirror-Zhen smirked.
"Without sacrifice, you'll never become the Monarch. You still hesitate. You still protect."
Zhen summoned his blade — Astral Fang — and flames of soulforce burst along its edge. The clash shook the dream-realm. Every strike from mirror-Zhen wasn't just a blade, but a judgment, revealing flaws, regrets, hesitations.
But Zhen's growth wasn't one of arrogance — it was the acceptance of change.
He parried the final strike and plunged his weapon into the ground.
"I don't need to kill myself to surpass myself."
Light tore through the field.
> [First Seal Unlocked: Origin Vein Activated.] [+5,000 Base Soulforce] [New Ability Gained: Temporal Soul Guard]
---
Zhen awoke with a gasp atop the Obsidian Pillar. His body trembled, not from pain — but the surge. Twelve ancient lines now glowed faintly on his right arm, the first shimmering brighter than the others.
He looked up — and the world changed again.
---
The Invasion of the Sky-Hallowed Beasts
A crack tore through the horizon. Not a mere rift — but a howl, a cosmic scream that bent planets.
The Sky-Hallowed Beasts, creatures birthed from the primordial core of the multiverse itself, descended. Titans of bone, flame, shadow, and memory. Ten of them.
Each capable of devouring realms.
Zhen stepped off the pillar as the coalition forces scrambled into formation — hundreds of world-walkers, chosen ones, and divine beings, all under the temporary banners of the Unity Pact.
General Xiara, her silver spear stained with divine ichor, called to him. "Zhen! You unlocked it, didn't you? You felt the seal!"
Zhen nodded grimly. "Only the first."
She smirked. "Then buy us time to die better."
"No," Zhen replied, raising his sword. "Time to win."
---
The Twelve-Marked Formation
Zhen summoned the ancient tattoo seals — and for the first time, used them not for himself, but as a conduit for others.
Twelve golden arcs shot from his body, forming a radiant formation across the battlefield. Allies who stepped into the formation had their strength multiplied, wounds sealed, spirits revitalized.
Even gods bowed at the edge of the aura.
"Formation of Origin Empowerment," Zhen whispered. "One minute. Give me one minute."
The Sky-Hallowed Beasts descended like meteorites, screaming hymns of oblivion. One — a black centipede of galaxies — crashed into the frontline.
But Zhen was already moving.
His Astral Fang cleaved the monster's leg. Flames of soul-origin wrapped around his form like dragons.
A new power had awakened.
---
The Turning of the Celestial Scoreboard
[System Broadcast to all Multiverse Rankers:]
> Update Detected: A New Contender Rises
#1 — Zhen | "Bearer of the Origin Veins" | Realm Level: Transcendent Sovereign Combat Power: ∞ (Relative) Unlock Status: First Seal Awakened
Shockwaves tore through the multiverse.
In the Divine Observatory of the Law Gods, alarms sounded.
In the Forgotten Dream Court, the sleeping queens stirred.
In the Forbidden Vault, an ancient being opened one eye. "It begins again... The Origin Monarch is rising."
---
The Aftermath: Whisper of the Eleventh Heaven
The Sky-Hallowed Beasts, temporarily repelled, left the battlefield scorched but standing. Casualties were immense. Silence fell across the broken land.
Zhen stood at the center of a crater, breathing hard. His robes were torn, his chest marked with glowing runes still too hot to touch. But he had done more than survive.
He had awakened something ancient.
Xiara limped toward him, dragging two blades behind her. "You insane bastard," she muttered. "They'll never let you stay on the battlefield now."
"I'm not staying," Zhen replied, eyes gazing toward the sky. "I'm ascending."
A beam of light — not from the system, but from the realm itself — pierced the heavens. A staircase of shattered stars descended.
A message floated before Zhen.
> [You have qualified to step into the Eleventh Heaven — the Realm of Forbidden Ascension.]
[Do you accept?]
Zhen turned once to look at those who followed him.
Then he stepped forward.
"Yes."
The moment Zhen's blade cleaved through the illusion of the Heavenly Devourer, the entire sky trembled—not from the force of his strike alone, but from what had been awakened within him.
A pulse echoed across the battlefield, slow and deep, as if a giant heart had awakened in the void.
The mark on his hand—once a mere fragment of the Celestial Core—began to glow with impossible clarity. Ancient runes spiraled outward in fractal patterns, rotating in the air like living constellations.
A voice surged from the core, distant yet thunderous.
"He who holds the Celestial Fragment shall not merely challenge the ranks, but ascend beyond them. Claim your realm, bearer of the Starbrand."
The sky split.
Above, a staircase of cosmic light descended. Each step held a weight so dense it distorted time, and atop it floated a throne not of gold or iron, but made of memory, sacrifice, and destiny.
Gasps echoed from all directions—those watching from other realms, ancient sovereigns sealed in deep time, and even fragments of broken worlds began to stir.
The system voice chimed again.
> [Multiversal Ascension Node Detected]
[Celestial Pathway Unlocked]
[New Rank: Initiate of the Ascendant Realm]
[All stats x10 for 30 minutes. Limited Reality Control granted.]
Zhen didn't ascend the staircase.
He stepped forward, placed a single foot on it—and the staircase collapsed beneath him.
The throne above shattered.
And in its place, the stars knelt.
A new throne erupted behind Zhen, forged from his refusal to follow a preordained path. This one was raw, incomplete, forged from broken runes and bound by lightning.
"This is the difference," Zhen said, voice quiet but absolute. "I'm not a puppet of fate."
He turned to the other sovereigns on the battlefield—some shocked, others enraged.
"You all clamor for fragments. But I am the storm that binds them."
A dark-haired woman stepped out from the folds of space, wearing armor shaped like flowered silver and bearing a lance dripping starlight.
It was her—Xiuyin, the Sovereign of the Forgotten Bloom.
"You've truly awakened the First Pathless Crown," she said softly. "Then you are beyond what the Council feared."
"Let them fear me," Zhen said. "Their time is ending."
She smiled faintly, her eyes deep with memory. "So be it. Then I will no longer hide behind sealed gates."
She lifted her hand, and an entire celestial fragment—one of the largest remaining pieces of the Primordial Realm—descended behind her.
A continent-sized arena carved from floating stone and divine marble, dripping with molten energy and populated with ranked warriors from ten thousand worlds, appeared.
The announcement rang:
> [Global Multiverse Rank Challenge Unlocked]
[The Tournament of Celestial Sovereigns Begins in 3 Days]
[Participants: Rank 10,000 to Rank 1]
[Current Rank: Zhen — 114]
[Reward: Access to Origin Vaults. Ascension Token. Creation Slot.]
A roar of voices filled the mindspace of every cultivator in the multiverse.
Zhen's image, standing alone before the broken staircase, throne behind him, became etched in their minds.
---
Meanwhile, in the Abyssal Depths of Realm 9…
A massive, blindfolded entity stirred beneath chains made of extinct laws. His voice was like rusted metal grinding through the void.
"Zhen… awakens. Then the true war begins."
Beside him, a figure stepped into the gloom—clad in a black robe embroidered with dying stars. His face was masked, but his aura screamed of sealed apocalypses.
"Should we unseal the Ninth Reversal?" the robed figure asked.
"Not yet," the entity said. "But prepare the Seventh Fang. Let the boy taste true extinction… and see if he is worthy to be the Endbringer."
---
Back on the surface of the Celestial Arena…
Zhen looked up at the board of rankings. His name glowed in red:
> [Rank 114: Zhen – Reality Breaker Title Acquired]
"Let them come," he whispered, placing his hand on the hilt of his weapon.
A hum answered him—the blade had changed.
Where once it was obsidian and void-slick, it was now white-hot with runes, burning with the truth of a thousand worlds. Its name changed before his eyes.
> [Weapon Evolution Complete: Blade of Sovereign Rejection → World-Scripted Fang]
[Function: Can Rewrite One Rule Per Day]
[Today's Rewrite: Gravity: OFF]
Zhen floated upward.
"I need to find her," he murmured.
Xiuyin? No.
The girl in the vision—the one crying beneath a dying sun.
"System," he called. "Query: Identity of the girl with the obsidian tears."
> [Searching… Match Found: Classification: ERROR. Identity: Concealed by Origin Lock.]
[Hint: Find the Eye of the Silent Star.]
And just like that, the sky changed again.
The Eye of the Silent Star began to blink—an ancient, forbidden location sealed at the edge of the Multiverse Spiral.
Only one being had returned from there… and he no longer remembered who he was.
Zhen clenched his fist.
"Then I'll go."
"Even if it means breaking through the Spiral's Edge," he whispered.
---
Elsewhere… in a forgotten sanctuary
Lian'er looked up, her hands trembling.
She could feel him across realms now.
Their connection—once severed by the Elders of the Sacred Moon Sect—had reignited.
"Zhen…" she whispered, lips trembling.
Behind her, an ancient mirror shattered—revealing a hidden rune that pulsed in tandem with Zhen's heartbeat.
A prophecy once deemed false ignited again.
> "When the Starbrand rises from no-name dust, and the throne shatters to birth the Pathless Crown, the chains of destiny shall break—unless the Sealed Queen stops him."