The pain that consumed Aethros Vorthen transcended anything physical as the spirit sealing dagger continued its work of unraveling ten thousand years of cultivation in mere seconds.
The Grand Hall of the Celestial Phoenix Palace swam in and out of focus while the Twelve Pillars of Heaven watched with expressions ranging from satisfaction to carefully masked guilt, and Aethros could feel his consciousness beginning to fragment as his soul prepared to disperse into the void where all failed immortals eventually vanished.
Malveris Draal twisted the blade with deliberate cruelty, his silver robes now stained with phoenix blood that glowed with dying light, and the smile on his face told Aethros everything he needed to know about how long this betrayal had been planned and how thoroughly he had been deceived by those he trusted most.
Velara stood beside Malveris with her hand resting possessively on his arm, and the sight of them together sent a spike of agony through Aethros's heart that hurt worse than the dagger destroying his cultivation core.
Her beauty remained flawless despite the lies that had poured from her lips during the trial, her jade green eyes showing no remorse as she watched the man she had shared a bed with for three centuries dying at her lover's hand, and Aethros realized with bitter clarity that she had never loved him at all but only the power and status that came from being the Supreme Lord's empress.
The poison she had slipped into his evening wine continued its insidious work through his meridians, preventing him from gathering even a fraction of the strength he would need to fight back or escape, and he understood now why she had always insisted on personally preparing his meals and why she had been so attentive to his comfort in the months leading up to this moment.
Elder Thaddeus Ironheart stepped forward with an expression of disappointment that might have been genuine or might have been the performance of a master manipulator who had spent millennia perfecting the appearance of righteousness.
The old man who had trained Aethros from childhood, who had guided his first steps on the cultivation path and celebrated every breakthrough as if it were his own achievement, now looked upon his greatest student as if he were examining a particularly disgusting insect that needed to be crushed beneath his boot.
Thaddeus held the jade slip containing the fabricated evidence with hands that trembled slightly, and Aethros wanted to believe that trembling came from guilt rather than age, but he no longer trusted his ability to judge anyone's true intentions after being so thoroughly deceived by everyone he had ever trusted.
"You were like a son to me," Thaddeus said with a voice heavy with sorrow that rang false to Aethros's ears now that he understood the depth of this conspiracy. "I raised you from a nameless orphan to the pinnacle of the cultivation world, and this is how you repay the trust I placed in you by practicing forbidden arts that consume innocent souls and violate the very foundations of the Heavenly Dao."
The accusation hung in the air like a death sentence, and murmurs rippled through the assembled disciples and elders who packed the Grand Hall to witness the fall of their Supreme Lord. "The evidence is irrefutable, and the judgment of the Twelve Pillars is unanimous, so you will be cast into the Void of Eternal Punishment where your soul will suffer for ten thousand cycles before finally dispersing into nothingness."
Aethros wanted to speak, to defend himself against these lies, to expose the conspiracy that had brought him to this moment, but the poison had paralyzed his throat and the spirit sealing dagger had shattered his ability to channel qi into his voice.
He could only watch as guards in ceremonial armor approached to drag him away, their faces carefully blank as they avoided meeting his eyes, and he wondered how many of them truly believed in his guilt and how many simply feared what would happen to them if they questioned the judgment of the Twelve Pillars.
The marble floor scraped against his knees as they hauled him toward the Void Portal that shimmered at the far end of the hall, its swirling darkness promising an eternity of agony for those condemned to its depths, and Aethros felt the last remnants of his Supreme Lord authority slipping away like water through his fingers.
But Aethros Vorthen had not survived ten thousand years and countless tribulations by accepting defeat easily, and even as his body failed him and his cultivation crumbled, his mind remained sharp and focused on the single option that remained available to him.
Three thousand years ago, during his exploration of the Primordial Ruins beneath the Dragon Spine Mountains, he had discovered a technique so dangerous and forbidden that he had sealed away the jade slip containing its secrets and vowed never to use it under any circumstances.
The Cycle of Phoenix Rebirth promised reincarnation with full memories intact, allowing a dying cultivator to be reborn in a new body and time, but the price it demanded was so terrible that even desperate immortals facing permanent death usually rejected it as too extreme to contemplate seriously.
The technique required the complete destruction of the cultivator's current body and soul, grinding them down into pure essence that would be scattered across the river of time itself like seeds planted in soil that might never sprout.
Success was not guaranteed, and even if the reincarnation succeeded, there was no way to control when or where or in what circumstances the cultivator would be reborn, making it possible to awaken as a cripple or a slave or in the body of someone so weak and disadvantaged that survival would be nearly impossible.
Worse still, the technique consumed not just the cultivator's own life force but drew upon the ambient spiritual energy of the surrounding area, potentially killing everyone within a hundred miles if performed in a densely populated region, making it a weapon of mass destruction as much as an escape route.
Aethros had hoped never to use the Cycle of Phoenix Rebirth, had believed that his power and position made him untouchable, but his arrogance and trust had brought him to this moment where forbidden techniques were his only remaining option.
As the guards dragged him closer to the Void Portal, he reached deep within himself to the hidden compartment in his soul where he had stored the technique's knowledge, breaking the seals he had placed with his own hand and allowing the forbidden wisdom to flood through his consciousness.
The technique's complexity would have overwhelmed a lesser cultivator, but Aethros had studied it obsessively during those long ago days when curiosity outweighed caution, and his Supreme Lord level comprehension allowed him to grasp its full scope in the heartbeat between one moment and the next.
The activation sequence required no hand seals or spoken incantations but only perfect control over one's own soul and the willingness to embrace total annihilation for the chance at rebirth.
Aethros gathered what remained of his shattered cultivation, pulling together fragments of power that Malveris's dagger had scattered throughout his body, and he wove them into the pattern that the Cycle of Phoenix Rebirth demanded with the precision of someone who had spent ten thousand years perfecting his control over spiritual energy.
The technique began to take hold, and Aethros felt his soul starting to burn with a heat that transcended physical fire, consuming him from the inside out while simultaneously preparing the essence of his being for its journey through time.
Malveris noticed the change first, his eyes widening with alarm as he recognized the spiritual fluctuations that signaled something catastrophic was about to occur.
"Stop him," Malveris shouted while yanking the spirit sealing dagger free and preparing to strike again, but the motion came too late to interrupt a technique that had already passed the point of no return. "He is attempting a forbidden soul escape, and if we do not suppress him immediately, he may find a way to return and seek revenge against us."
The words carried genuine fear beneath the attempt at commanding authority, and Aethros savored that fear even as agony beyond description tore through every fiber of his being.