The skies over the Eastern Wraith Region darkened as crimson clouds rolled above like omen-bearing tides. Within the depths of the Karma Pavilion, veiled behind endless arrays and illusion formations, Li Xuan sat cross-legged in absolute silence. A single breath left his lips—then vanished into void.
He had changed.
The karmic threads woven through the Lower Realms now fluttered at his fingertips. He could see them, twist them, pull them—and in some cases, sever them. Every whisper of life echoed in the great tapestry of karma, and he had begun plucking its strings with cold, calculated fingers.
The mind cultivation technique he practiced—the Voidheart Enlightenment Sutra—was unrelenting. It did not offer stages, levels, or comforts. It was endless pain—chaotic, searing, and absolute. Every advancement in understanding carved his soul, refined his mind, and distanced him further from mortal notions of empathy.
Yet through that torment, he became more.
"Another insight," he murmured, his voice layered with ancient stillness.
Golden runes etched into the bones of his skull shimmered faintly as another karmic principle was absorbed. For weeks, he had not moved from that place. Around him, seven generals and forty-nine elites had operated the auction house and enforced his will, expanding the reach of his influence through the one million supporting realms.
But they never saw his full power. No one did.
He trusted none.
And though they remained fanatically loyal, even their devotion was a temporary tool to Li Xuan.
---
In the shadows of the Wraith Auction House, blood had spilled again. Two rival sects had bid against each other for a Soul-Nurturing Flame, an ancient item fabled to strengthen divine consciousness. But Li Xuan had orchestrated the entire conflict.
The treasure was a fake—yet the karma it stirred, the chaos it birthed, fed the roots of his mysterious cultivation.
He didn't need the item. He needed the karmic cause and effect that followed its revelation. When the sects began to slaughter each other and blamed their downfall on fate or each other, the karma linked to Li Xuan bloomed silently beneath it all.
"Cause... effect," Li Xuan whispered, eyes glowing with violet threads. "Belief is a blade, and deception is the handle."
---
A thousand miles away, in the Emberlight Realm, one of the 49 elites—General Hei Lan—stood at the head of a mobile auction delegation. The crowd of cultivators, nobles, and tyrants beneath him argued with fevered greed as he opened the veil on a new treasure: the Ninefold Resurrection Seed.
"Only 10 exist across the Lower Realms," he proclaimed. "Bid with your fate, if you must—but miss this chance and you may never see it again."
In truth, Li Xuan had replicated a false version. Its power was negligible—but the karmic resonance of belief, the violent ambition that surged in the room, was very real.
From afar, Li Xuan absorbed it all.
He cultivated on belief, deception, chaos, and consequence. The stronger their reactions, the more profound his insights became.
And as the crowd began to riot once again, another karmic law opened before him.
"Authority is karma projected. Obedience is karma received," he noted, etching the insight into his mental palace with a silent grimace.
Blood dripped from his nose. The pain had worsened. But the growth was undeniable.
---
One week later, the entire Lower Realms trembled.
The Skyfire Dominion, a coalition of powerful high-tier sects, declared war on the Crimson Sun Syndicate—another major faction who had dared to oppose the Wraith Auction's new trade regulations.
Neither side knew that the conflict had been orchestrated by Li Xuan himself through subtle transactions, fake documents, false messengers, and twisted auctions.
But their belief in the truth gave it weight.
And belief was the seed of karma.
As the two sides annihilated hundreds of cities and small clans under the false premise of justice, Li Xuan meditated beneath the Pavilion once more, gritting his teeth as a new wave of karmic understanding etched his spirit.
This time, a black lotus appeared behind him—a phenomenon none could see, blooming from his soul.
Its petals were ink-black and devoured light.
Each petal symbolized a completed karmic law, fully digested into his being.
Five petals had bloomed.
Once the seventh bloomed, his understanding would exceed the comprehension of all cultivators in the Lower Realms. He would not simply use karma—he would become karma.
---
But he wasn't done.
A special message arrived via one of his elite messengers: "The Spirit Monarchs of the Emberlight Alliance seek private trade with our Pavilion. They offer five Divine Essence Crystals... in return for an audience."
Li Xuan's eyes narrowed.
"Divine Essence Crystals... from the Upper Realms."
This was his first confirmed evidence of Upper Realm entities interfering in the Lower Realms. They hadn't shown themselves directly, but their shadows now touched the surface.
Perfect.
He would not trust them. He would not deal directly.
Instead, he sent his third general—Lan Yao, a cultivator whose body had been reforged with karmic steel.
She would speak for him. But only as a puppet.
If the Spirit Monarchs thought they could manipulate him, they would only find themselves tangled in karmic chains they could not sever.
---
That night, Li Xuan sat alone upon the karmic dais. His soul felt raw. His bones hummed with suffering. Every insight cost pain—pain that stripped his humanity away piece by piece.
"I will never trust them," he said, not even to himself. "Not the generals. Not the elites. Not the gods above."
He looked at the millions of karma threads spreading from his soul, feeding into the entire network of the Lower Realms.
"I will control everything. From below, to the heavens."
The sixth lotus petal began to bloom.
---
Cultivation Realms:
1. Qi Condensation
2. Foundation Establishment
3. Core Formation
4. Nascent Soul
5. Soul Transformation
6. Void Ascension
7. Karmic Lord
8. Heavenly Saint
9. Eternal Monarch
World Realms:
Low Realms
Upper Realms
God Realms
Ancient Realms
Forbidden Realms
Li Xuan now stood at the Void Ascension Realm, yet already grasped laws that even Eternal Monarchs would fear.
The next chapters would bear the weight of extinction.
But for now, the shadows had thickened.
And he was the one who cast them.
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