Solanky steadied his mind, bracing for what was to come as they descended nearly a hundred meters. Before the participants, a whirlpool churned to life, spinning wider with every passing second. It swallowed them whole. Space and time twisted around them as they fell, and the spiritual energy pressing in grew denser than anything they'd felt in the world above.
The whirlpool opened above a fog-choked forest and vanished behind them, scattering the disciples across the sky. Even mid-fall, Solanky stayed alert — and that instinct paid off. He spotted a massive winged creature bearing down on them at a bone-chilling 1,800 meters per second.
"Watch out! Something's coming!" he shouted. The other participants turned toward the horizon, watching the silhouette swell larger with each passing breath.
Cilia's voice cut through the wind. "That's a Sky-Fog Blade Winged Vulture — born with the strength of an elementary god or devil. One of the ten vicious flying beasts of the god realm. Why is it alone?"
A ripple of shock passed through the group. Everyone knew the vulture's reputation. These creatures typically flew in wakes numbering in the high hundreds — resembling ordinary bald vultures from Earth, but standing 2.43 meters tall with a six-meter wingspan. Their most striking feature wasn't their size, though. It was their wings — feathers replaced entirely by blades, honed to slice through the air at devastating speed.
Solanky tucked his arms and legs tight and dove headfirst toward the fog below, his descent accelerating sharply. Somewhere behind him, a disciple from the Sword Heart sect muttered, "Is this guy trying to die—" before the words caught in his throat. A screeching cry rose behind the lead vulture, and more than three hundred birds came into view, closing fast.
Cilia mirrored Solanky's dive without hesitation. The Sky Hybrid Sect disciples followed suit, and after a beat of hesitation, the rest of the participants did the same. Not everyone moved quickly enough. Some fumbled, too slow to crush their jade slips, and the lead blade-winged vulture reached them first — wings flared wide, slashing through the stragglers at 3,200 meters per second.
Solanky sliced downward through the fog, the blade's raw energy carving a clear path beneath the haze. Bare ground came into view below. He relayed the coordinates of his flight path to Cilia and the rest of the Sky Hybrid disciples.
The moment he landed, he activated his observing eye technique to scan the surroundings. Thirty meters out, a river wound through the terrain — and beneath its surface, countless monsters lay in wait, motionless, watching for the water to stir. He sent an urgent warning to his sect's disciples: stay away from the river.
One disciple, too arrogant to listen, told Solanky he had no right to give orders and landed right at the riverbank anyway.
"See? Nothing happened," he said.
The words had barely left his mouth when a giant crab burst from the sand and closed its razor claws around him, slicing him clean in two. It dragged the remains back beneath the sand without a sound. The disciples who'd followed his lead panicked but chose the river anyway — and the instant they landed, massive tentacles yanked them beneath the surface, blood billowing up from the riverbed in dark clouds.
Solanky shook his head, grabbed Cilia's hand, and pulled her from where she stood, carrying her in one motion as he leapt onto a nearby tree branch. At that exact moment, the body of a disciple from another sect dropped from the sky above them — limbs severed, his body a mess of open wounds.
Cilia stared at Solanky. "How... how did you know?"
"You have to pay attention, or you'll end up like him," Solanky said, a teasing edge in his voice.
He turned to the Sky Hybrid Sect disciples and told them to pair off, two to a group, to search more efficiently for spiritual stones and hunt beasts for their life cores. He chose Cilia as his partner and took off with her into the distance. The rest of the sect agreed without argument, paired up, and scattered.
Carrying Cilia on his back, Solanky activated the bloodline of the dragon ape and swung through the forest canopy branch by branch. Eventually, they arrived at a cave belonging to a pack of red-haired wolves — beasts with the strength of half-step high-level gods, their alpha rivaling a half-step god emperor.
They crept inside on quiet feet and were met with a staggering sight: over two thousand red-haired wolves slumbering in the dark, and behind them, a hundred spirit stones the pack seemed to be guarding. Cilia tapped Solanky's shoulder and pointed toward a raised stone platform, where a massive alpha female wolf lay sleeping, twelve spiritual life cores arranged before her.
Solanky checked his quantum wristband. It displayed the energy readings of every wolf in the cave, including the alpha. He shared the data with Cilia:
Location from Sky Hybrid Sect: 2.88 light-yearsWorld: separate dimensional spaceLocation in world: first-dimensional space trial groundsBeasts nearby (200m): Red-Haired WolfNumber of beasts: 2,023Energy levels: half-step god emperor (2 beast alphas), amplification 25,000Half-step high-level god (2,021 beasts), amplification 5,000
Cilia's eyes widened as she read it. "Two half-step god emperor beasts? I only see one. Where's the other?"
Danger prickled at the back of Solanky's neck before he'd even finished processing the question.
"Right behind us," he said quietly.
A low growl rumbled from the darkness at their backs. Solanky drew his dagger, pushed his body's amplification to 24,000 times its base strength, and charged the alpha wolf head-on.
Cilia moved just as decisively. Her whip spun to life, whirling into a cyclone around her as she launched herself toward the sleeping horde. "These sleeping dogs won't stay undisturbed," she said. The cyclone tore through the pack, killing 350 wolves instantly, their spiritual life cores swept into the air and drawn straight into her storage ring and jade slip.
The commotion woke the rest of the pack — and the massive wolf on the stone platform stirred, throwing back its head in a piercing howl. Every wolf's hackles rose at once, their fur igniting with a brilliant red glow.
"Not good," Cilia muttered, watching the wolves close ranks around her cyclone. The alpha howled again, and five hundred wolves hurled themselves into the spinning storm. Half of them died instantly — but the cyclone's momentum bled out fast under the sheer weight of numbers.
Glancing across the cave, Cilia spotted Solanky locked in combat with the second alpha, holding his own against a beast at the half-step god emperor level. "How is he this strong?" she murmured. "He must be going all out. Sigh — guess it's time I get serious too."
She stopped spinning the whip and dropped to the ground. The remaining 1,421 wolves surged toward her. A dangerous smile crossed her face as she tightened her grip and shot forward at 45,000 meters per second, activating a technique called the Void Shadow Steps. With every stride, afterimages trailed behind her, illusions splitting off in every direction. She lashed her whip in a style that made Solanky's breath catch when he caught sight of it — the Distorting Tail Whip, a technique born from the ancient dragons themselves.
The whip cracked through the air, and 730 red-haired wolves fell in an instant, their life cores shattered. The surviving 693 wolves scattered backward, clearing a path for their alpha female to strike.
The alpha female snarled and charged. Cilia knew she was no match for a half-step god emperor in raw power, so she leaned on speed and precision instead — dodging the sweep of massive claws while landing whip strikes wherever she found an opening.
The alpha female's fur ignited with a deeper, bloodier red as she slipped into a savage frenzy. Solanky caught sight of it and grimaced. "Need to end this fast." He pushed his strength to match the alpha male's own power, closed the distance in a blink, and drove his fist forward — a black-silver layer wrapping his hand — punching straight through the wolf's skull and crushing its brain in a single blow.
The alpha female froze mid-motion, sensing her mate's life force vanish. Solanky's dagger hand shifted, the same black-silver sheen spreading up his entire right arm. He hurled the blade. She never had time to react before it punched through her skull and ended her.
The black-silver layer receded back into his skin. Both alphas lay dead, and the remaining wolves dissolved into chaos. Solanky rushed to check on Cilia, then leapt onto the stone platform to gather the spiritual stones into his storage ring and jade slip.
They sat together on the platform afterward, catching their breath and splitting the spoils. The surviving wolves gave them a wide berth, leaving them undisturbed. Solanky set aside two hundred spirit cores for his jade slip and kept the remaining 101 to send back to the sect. Cilia did the same.
A message chimed through their quantum wristbands: Congratulations. You have received 200 points and are now eligible to enter the second-dimensional space, indicated on your wristbands. They checked the display, found the new coordinates, and rose from the platform to head toward it.
At the marked location, a portal shimmered before them. Cilia took hold of Solanky's arm, and together they stepped through.
They emerged into an open field crowded with disciples from other sects. More trickled in over time until their numbers reached a hundred, at which point they were teleported together to a temple.
They reappeared before its towering structure. A voice echoed out from within: You may enter now. They stepped inside to find countless scrolls laid out before them, each detailing a different path of cultivation.
"At this level," the voice announced, "you must choose a cultivation path different from your original one."
Confusion rippled through the gathered disciples until an old man emerged from the空 space before them. "You are to select an alternate cultivation path and comprehend only its basics. The more you comprehend, the more points you earn. Grasping the basics alone grants fifty points."
The disciples bowed as one. "Greetings, senior."
The old man inclined his head. "I am Lord Zenom — a mysterious-level being, same as your sect masters." He paused, studying their faces. "You're likely wondering why someone of my standing is here. Don't worry — I won't interfere with your assessment. I'm only here to explain the cultivation paths and test you personally."
The disciples bowed again in gratitude. Lord Zenom smiled. "There are three primary paths of cultivation. The first is bloodline cultivation, which most of you already practice. The second is spiritual energy cultivation — necessary for manifesting your comprehension of the laws through your bloodline."
He continued, "A being's spiritual energy is measured by how many spiritual stones they can absorb, and how that energy manifests through their skills. Most of you elementary gods need fifty spiritual stones to reach the high god level — though some exceed that number. The highest I've personally witnessed belonged to the sect master of the Sword Heart sect, who absorbed eighty spiritual stones at your current stage."
A murmur of disbelief rippled through the group — they all knew exactly how much they could absorb themselves.
"Spiritual energy plays a crucial role in amplifying both bloodline power and magical spells or seals," Lord Zenom continued. The disciples listened intently. "The third path is magic and spellcraft. Those who practice it naturally carry deeper spiritual energy reserves than others of the same level."
Cilia smiled to herself — she already practiced magic alongside her bloodline cultivation.
"Let me outline the four tiers of magical cultivation," Lord Zenom said.
"The first is beginner, or illusion magic — comparable in strength to a high-level mortal.
"The second is elementary law magic, graded by stars. A one-star magician rivals an elementary god. A two-star magician rivals a god emperor. A three-star magician stands equal to a god of gods, or a devil of devils.
"The third is world-defying magic. Magicians at this level rival dimensional gods and devils of the bloodline path. Their magic can defy the laws of any dimension they enter — and unlike bloodline cultivators, who can be killed outright and barred from reincarnation, magicians at this tier face no such limit. Their magic and spells fuse with their very souls, allowing them to reincarnate with both cultivation and memory intact.
"The fourth and final tier is the supreme magus, divided into two ranks. A one-star supreme magus rivals a being at the mysterious or abstruse level. A two-star supreme magus rivals an early-stage god of creation, or devil of destruction."
With a clear understanding of the task ahead, the disciples began selecting their secondary cultivation paths. Solanky and Cilia both chose the path of the magician and settled in to study the scrolls.
Lord Zenom's brow lifted in surprise as he watched Cilia tear through two-thirds of her scroll in what felt like no time at all. "Well now — quite the promising seed for the Sky Hybrid Sect." His attention shifted to Solanky, and his surprise deepened further. Solanky had broken through to the high-level god stage, his amplification climbing to 18,000 times, and he'd already comprehended a third of his own scroll.
What truly stunned Lord Zenom was realizing Solanky was fusing the magical path directly with his bloodline cultivation. He rose to his feet. "Impossible. How is he merging both paths so effortlessly? Two-thirds of the scroll already—" He caught himself. "Where did the Sky Hybrid Sect find these two monsters? Well. I suppose he's earned a place in the forbidden space — the third-dimensional space — as a probe."
Lord Zenom's smile turned sharp, almost cruel. With a wave of his hand, a barrier snapped shut around Solanky, and a seal locked into place around him. In the next instant, Zenom stood beside the portal to the third forbidden dimensional space and cast Solanky through it.
The moment the barrier formed, Solanky felt space warp violently around him. But before it fully closed, and before he'd finished comprehending the scroll's basics, he managed to send one last warning to Cilia — crush her jade slip the second he reached two-thirds comprehension.
Cilia followed his instructions without hesitation, using the jade slip to withdraw from the trial the moment his signal came through.
Lord Zenom watched her vanish, and his expression darkened into a frown.