Chapter 1 — Beyond the Fourth Step
Silence ruled the void.
Not the silence of peace, nor the stillness of meditation — but a silence where even time feared to flow.
Wang Lin stood alone in the endless darkness.
His white robes drifted without wind. His eyes contained countless stars, as if worlds were born and destroyed within a single glance.
He had already reached the Fourth Step.
A realm beyond the Dao.
Beyond karma.
Beyond life and death.
At this level, cultivators no longer followed laws — they defined them.
Millions of years passed like a breath to him.
Yet today…
The void felt unfamiliar.
A thin crack suddenly appeared in space before him.
It was smaller than a strand of hair.
But it should not exist.
Wang Lin raised his hand and touched it lightly.
Ripple.
The entire void trembled.
A strange aura spread outward — ancient, distant, and older than the heavens he once knew.
Then a whisper echoed:
"Renegade Immortal… your story is not finished."
Wang Lin frowned slightly.
His past flickered in his mind — Zhao Kingdom, endless slaughter, sorrow, karma, and the relentless pursuit of the Dao.
Those memories were sealed by time.
Yet something was disturbing them.
He waved his sleeve.
The power of the Fourth Step surged outward, enough to rewrite star domains.
But the power was swallowed.
Silently.
As if the void itself consumed it.
His gaze sharpened.
For the first time since reaching the Fourth Step…
His strength met resistance.
Darkness condensed ahead, forming a shadowy figure.
It had no face.
No body.
Only a shifting outline like living night.
It spoke calmly:
"You have reached the Fourth Step… yet you still walk within a story."
"A story?" Wang Lin repeated.
The figure lifted a hand.
Visions appeared around them.
Countless versions of Wang Lin.
Different lives.
Different fates.
Different endings.
In some, he died young.
In others, he ruled all realms.
In some… he never cultivated at all.
"You are one possibility," the shadow said.
"The Void is where all possibilities gather."
The void fell silent.
Wang Lin looked at the visions without emotion.
"My path was carved by my will," he said calmly.
"No possibility can control me."
A faint laugh echoed.
"Then step further… if you dare."
A colossal gray door appeared behind the shadow.
Ancient. Cracked. As if it existed before existence itself.
Four words were carved onto it:
The Fifth Step Begins Here
For the first time in countless years…
Wang Lin felt curiosity.
If the Fourth Step transcended the Dao…
What lay beyond it?
His cultivation surged, illuminating the darkness like a newborn universe.
"If there is a higher path," he said calmly,
"I will walk it."
He reached out and touched the door.
The void roared.
Reality shook.
And somewhere in a distant unknown…
A pair of ancient eyes slowly opened.
Watching.
Waiting.
The moment Wang Lin pushed the door—
The true void awakened.
He pushed.
The gray door did not open outward or inward.
Instead—
It dissolved into mist.
The mist wrapped around Wang Lin like flowing water, pulling his consciousness into a space without direction or form.
There was no up.
No down.
No time.
Only awareness.
For the first time since stepping into the Fourth Step, Wang Lin could not sense the Dao, karma, or the flow of cause and effect.
It was as if all systems of cultivation had vanished.
A voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere:
"The Fifth Step is not a realm of power… but a realm of truth."
Suddenly—
Memories surged toward him.
Not his own.
He saw ancient cultivators sitting beneath collapsing skies.
He saw beings who created universes with a thought.
He saw entities erase entire eras like wiping dust from a table.
And every one of them…
Had stopped at the Fourth Step.
None crossed further.
Wang Lin's eyes shone coldly.
"So the Fourth Step is a boundary," he murmured.
A response came immediately:
"No. It is a filter."
The mist condensed.
A massive mirror appeared before him.
Inside it was not his reflection—
But a mortal version of himself.
A young boy from Zhao Kingdom.
Ordinary.
Weak.
Unknown to the world.
The boy looked up and asked:
"If you had infinite power… why still seek more?"
Silence spread.
This question could shake the heart of any cultivator.
But Wang Lin simply looked calmly at the mirror.
"I do not seek more," he replied.
"I seek what lies ahead."
The mirror cracked.
Light burst from within it.
The voice spoke again, softer this time:
"Then you may step forward."
The mist began to clear.
In the distance, a new horizon appeared — not of stars or realms, but of endless white space.
A domain untouched by cultivation.
Untouched by the Dao.
Untouched by existence itself.
Wang Lin stepped toward it.
But just before entering—
A deep rumble echoed behind him.
The shadow from before reappeared, its tone no longer calm.
"Remember this, Renegade Immortal…"
"Beyond the Fifth Step… even you can be erased."
Wang Lin did not turn back.
His figure walked forward and faded into the white horizon.
And as he vanished—
A crack spread across the void.
As if reality itself feared what he was about to become.a