In the depths where even the heavens dared not peer, Li Tianming knelt alone.
The Temple Echoes, once silent, now pulsed with ancient rhythm — a resonance that echoed not just in the air but in the very fabric of existence.
Time stood still.
Sound, motion, and even space held their breath, as if the cosmos itself watched with reverence... or fear.
A cold, omniscient voice shattered the silence.
"The heavens reject you."
It was the Watcher. Distant. Absolute. As if fate itself had spoken.
But Tianming's gaze rose with defiance — his eyes no longer mortal, shimmering with voidlight and violet flame. The Forsaken Blade trembled in his grip, humming with power not bound by any known realm.
"Must I be chosen by the heavens to exist?" he murmured.
"No. I choose myself."
---
[Void Pulse Awakens]
The Temple beneath him cracked, ancient runes bleeding violet as a dormant seal broke.
From the blade emerged a flickering sigil — the Mark of the Void.
And with it, a voice unlike any before:
"You have awakened me, child. Now I grant you the power to break heaven's chains."
The voice came not from without, but from within — as if his very soul had been waiting all along.
A violent surge erupted.
Qi. Soul. Will — all exploded into a single crescendo of force.
---
[Breakthrough: True Immortal — Stage 9]
Behind him, a glowing ring formed — orbiting with nine stellar lights.
Each star represented a Realm he had passed. And in the center of that celestial ring, there was… a void.
The heavens reject him! the Watchers cried.
But the void did not consume him.
It crowned him.
He opened his eyes. For the first time, his gaze commanded — not pleaded.
"If Heaven bars my ascent... then I shall drag Heaven down to me."
---
[Heaven's Retaliation]
The skies cracked open.
Ten thousand divine bolts of golden lightning fell, divine judgment made manifest.
But then — the Forsaken Blade rose of its own will.
And from it emerged a shadow.
The silhouette of the Void Emperor.
It was not a full apparition, only a flicker — but it was enough.
The lightning bent. The air knelt.
Heaven hesitated.
---
Where He Now Stands:
Cultivation Stage: True Immortal (Stage 9)
State: Rejected by Heaven, but protected by the Void Pulse
Next Path: Not the ordinary Heavenly Immortal — but the path of the Dao Sovereign, walking outside the rules
---
Closing Lines:
> "I ask no more."
"From this point on… I command."
And for the first time in eons —
Heaven gave no answer.