In the shadowed silence of his dorm, Xun Wei contemplated the Dual Path of Eternity, a heretical method forged in his past life as a D-grade cultivator, 300 years hence. The righteous Light of Serenity bathed his meridians in golden warmth, anchoring his god-level soul, while the demonic Crimson Fang Technique slithered like a blood-red serpent, siphoning life essence. Their synergy defied the Celestial Mandate's divine laws, promising ascension beyond mortal limits. The Dual Path comprised four stages, each with three sub-stages, paralleled by body strengthening stages to wield his suppressed divine power, stolen in a past life to fuel his eternal ambition.
Initiation Stage (Foundation Realm equivalent): Basic synergy, doubling power output, risked qi deviation without his god-level soul. Sub-stages: Early (1.5x power, unstable qi, Chapter 1); Middle (1.75x power, basic techniques like Phantom Wisp, Chapter 2); Late (2x power, reduced deviation, Chapter 2). Body strengthening: Mortal Forging Stage—Early (hardened bones, 1.5x resilience); Middle (reinforced muscles, 1.75x durability); Late (widened meridians, 2x endurance).
Fusion Stage (Core Formation equivalent): Enhanced synergy, tripling power, enabling advanced techniques like Soulfang Bind. Sub-stages: Early (2.5x power, soul arts, Chapter 3); Middle (2.75x power, deception refined, Chapter 4); Late (3x power, complex skills like Memory Extraction, Chapter 5). Body strengthening: Spirit Tempering Stage—Early (fortified meridians, 2.5x resilience); Middle (reinforced dantian, 2.75x durability); Late (soul-body link, 3x endurance).
Harmony Stage (Heavenstage equivalent): Perfect unity, quadrupling power, mastering soul arts. Sub-stages: Early (3.5x power, soul manipulation, Chapter 6 goal); Middle (3.75x power, new skills, future); Late (4x power, Immortal potential, future). Body strengthening: Immortal Shaping Stage—Early (Core Formation body, 3.5x resilience); Middle (Heavenstage meridians, 3.75x durability); Late (near-Immortal physique, 4x endurance, current).
Transcendence Stage (Immortal Realms equivalent): Sky Immortal power, bridging mortal-Immortal realms. Sub-stages: Early (4.5x power); Middle (4.75x power); Late (5x power). Body strengthening: Celestial Ascension Stage—Early (Sky Immortal body begins); Middle (full Sky Immortal); Late (Celestial-level).
At Core Formation Late, Xun Wei's body, at Immortal Shaping Late, endured his divine soul's strain, his second foundation—a deceptive righteous qi reservoir—cloaking his demonic nature. His focus was reaching Celestial Ascension Early, a Sky Immortal body to wield his full power against the Mandate, negating traditional cultivation through the Dual Path's relentless synergy.
Ironbloom Valley's night sky bled crimson, its fractured stars casting a sickly glow over jagged cliffs. In the shadows of the Hall of Shattered Oaths, Xun Wei, cloaked in his Phantom Wisp Technique, stood, his black robes blending with darkness. His serene face masked his Void Dantian, a vortex of crimson and golden qi, wielding Blood Thorn Technique, Void Pulse Technique, Soulfang Bind, Mindveil Clarity, Soulreap Grasp, and Memory Extraction. His calculative mind had woven a lethal trap: Zhao Fen, Foundation Middle, enslaved by Soulfang Bind, had spread rumors of Elder Yan's demonic treachery. As the granddaughter of the First Elder, Heavenstage Middle, her words ignited discord, stoking Yan's fury. Xun Wei predicted Yan's retaliation, knowing the First Elder's Skyclad Vigil Technique—a Heavenstage art sensing qi disturbances—monitored Zhao Fen's every breath.
Under the blood-red moon, Elder Yan, Core Formation Peak, his crimson robes billowing like spilled blood, stalked toward Zhao Fen's quarters. His Blood Thorn Technique pulsed, summoning crimson vines that slithered through shadows, their thorns dripping with demonic qi. The rumors branded him a heretic, threatening his standing among the elders. "Insolent girl," he snarled, his yellowed teeth glinting in the moonlight. "Your tongue ends tonight."
Inside her quarters, Zhao Fen sat in meditation, her Frostwind Technique flickering like a dying ember, her qi destabilized from Xun Wei's Abyssal Hollow trap. Her public defiance masked her enslavement, but her soul trembled under the crimson tendrils of Soulfang Bind. Yan's vines breached her wards, coiling around her limbs, thorns piercing her meridians. She screamed, her qi erupting in a feeble gust, blood seeping from her wounds as the vines tightened, siphoning her vitality. Her skin paled, eyes sinking into hollow sockets, her breath a ragged gasp.
In the Pavilion of Iron Will, the First Elder's qi surged, his Skyclad Vigil flaring with alarm. His Heavenstage Middle aura roared, a storm of silver qi tearing through the night as he sped toward Zhao Fen's quarters. "Demon!" he bellowed, sensing the forbidden taint of Yan's technique. The air crackled with his wrath, the ground trembling beneath his steps.
Yan, engrossed in his vengeance, didn't notice the elder's approach. Zhao Fen's screams faded, her body withering into a husk, her qi extinguished like a snuffed candle. The First Elder arrived, his silver qi lancing through the vines, severing them like brittle twigs. Yan turned, eyes wide with panic, but the elder's fist, wreathed in celestial light, smashed through his chest, shattering his dantian in a spray of blood and bone. Yan collapsed, his crimson robes pooling with blood, his demonic qi dissipating like ash. "Heretic," the First Elder spat, his voice thunder, his eyes burning with grief and rage.
The sect awoke to chaos, disciples gathering in the courtyard, their whispers a venomous tide. Hua Ling, Foundation Early, her Jade Blossom Technique trembling with unease, clutched Kai Ren, Foundation Middle, his Thundercoil Technique crackling with bravado. "Elder Yan… a demon?" Hua Ling gasped, her voice barely audible. Kai Ren sneered, his eyes glinting. "Zhao Fen's blood brought ruin to them both." The First Elder, his face etched with sorrow, stood before the elders' pavilion, declaring Yan a demonic heretic, his corpse to be burned at dawn to purge the sect's shame.
Xun Wei, hidden in the shadows, seized his opportunity. Using his Phantom Wisp Technique, he infiltrated the sect's morgue, where Yan's corpse lay, its chest caved in, eyes frozen in rage. With precise movements, he carved demonic runes into the stone floor, mimicking a forbidden ritual, and doused the body with the blood of a slain spirit beast, staging the scene as a demon's theft. Dragging the corpse to a hidden grotto beneath the Withering Cliff, he activated his Memory Extraction technique. Crimson-gold sigils pulsed, his Mindveil Clarity and Soulreap Grasp weaving into Yan's shattered soul, ripping forth a torrent of memories. Images flooded Xun Wei's mind: Yan's secret pact with a demon lord sealed in blood, hidden caches of demonic artifacts buried beneath the sect, and the Abyssal Leech technique, a forbidden art that drained qi through mere touch. Xun Wei extracted the Abyssal Leech, its crimson qi surging into his Crimson Fang Technique, amplifying the Dual Path's hunger.
His meridians screamed under the influx, blood seeping from his pores, but his Immortal Shaping Stage Late body, forged to withstand quadruple power, endured the strain. His second foundation cloaked the demonic surge in righteous qi, a flawless deception against the Mandate's gaze. The integration of Abyssal Leech pushed his cultivation from Core Formation Late to Heavenstage Early, solidifying the Harmony Stage Early, quadrupling his power output. His body edged closer to the Celestial Ascension Stage Early, a Sky Immortal physique within reach, where he could unleash his god-level soul's divine power to challenge the Mandate itself. Xun Wei's cold mind calculated: Yan's death eliminated a rival, his secrets now tools to shatter the sect's unity.
At dawn, Ironbloom Valley mourned Zhao Fen's death, her husk displayed in the Hall of Shattered Oaths as a warning against heresy. The First Elder, his Heavenstage Middle qi heavy with grief, addressed the assembled elders and disciples in the Hall of Eternal Roots. "Yan's demonic taint stole my granddaughter," he rumbled, his voice a storm held at bay. "We purge such filth from our ranks." Xun Wei, standing among the Inner Disciples, bowed low, his serene facade perfect, his Light of Serenity radiating an aura of purity that masked his orchestration of the tragedy. Elder Cang, Core Formation Late, his Starflow Technique casting constellations across his robes, fixed Xun Wei with a piercing gaze, sensing a shadow beneath his serenity. "Inner Disciple," Cang said, his voice sharp, "Zhao Fen's death stains your guidance. Redeem yourself with the Celestial Harmony Technique, a forbidden righteous art that aligns qi with the heavens. Master it by the next moon, or face demotion."
Xun Wei accepted the jade scroll with a deferential bow, his mind as cold as the void. The Celestial Harmony Technique would enhance his Void Pulse Technique, a perfect addition to his Dual Path's righteous facade. Combined with the Abyssal Leech, it could yield a new skill, perhaps one to manipulate qi flows in combat, further concealing his demonic nature. Zhao Fen's death had fractured the sect's unity, the First Elder's grief a lever to sway him into Xun Wei's grasp. His schemes deepened, his eyes glinting with the promise of an eternal throne built on the bones of his enemies.
In his secluded dorm, Xun Wei meditated, his Void Dantian a roaring vortex of crimson and golden qi. The Dual Path's body strengthening stages—Mortal Forging, Spirit Tempering, Immortal Shaping, Celestial Ascension—guided his physical ascent toward a Sky Immortal body. At Immortal Shaping Late, his physique rivaled Heavenstage cultivators, enduring quadruple power, but only the *Celestial Ascension Stage would allow his god-level soul to shine unhindered. As he channeled the Abyssal Leech into his Dual Path, his meridians cracked under the strain, blood pooling on the stone floor, a crimson mirror reflecting his serene face. The second foundation stabilized the demonic surge, its righteous qi a flawless mask. A memory of Zhao Lin surfaced—her withered husk in Abyssal Hollow, her qi fueling his past life's rise to Mid Sky Immortal. Zhao Fen's death, though not by his hand, served the same purpose: sacrifice was power, and he spared no one, his heart an unyielding void.
In the Void Realm's heart, within the Celestial Mandate's temple of silence, divine waters rippled violently, reflecting a crimson ouroboros coiling tighter. A golden-robed being stirred, its voice a venomous hiss that echoed through the chamber. "The heretic defies the sacred laws… his soul is an abomination."
An ancient, mechanical voice responded, cold as forged iron, its words heavy with cosmic weight. "The laws of creation cannot be broken; direct intervention is forbidden. We shall send hosts to shatter him for his transgressions. Should they fail, the laws themselves will descend to rend his soul asunder."
"Prepare the hosts," the golden-robed being intoned, its eyes glowing with divine wrath. "His defiance will be his undoing."