The skies above Blackflame Abyss calmed, but within Li Tianming, a storm brewed.
His body pulsed with newfound power—he had stepped into the True Immortal Realm, a stage few had touched since the fall of the ancient sects. He could see spirit threads in the air, manipulate qi with a mere thought, and walk through spatial folds. Yet, as he looked up toward the endless heavens, a feeling of incompletion gnawed at his soul.
> "Is this… all?"
The Forsaken Blade trembled faintly at his waist. A whisper—like a voice from eternity—echoed in his mind.
> "To step beyond immortality, you must first hear the Echo of Heaven."
Suddenly, the world twisted.
Tianming's surroundings dissolved into a swirl of light and shadow. He stood now in a strange domain, suspended between stars and silence. Before him, a vast golden gate floated in the void, etched with celestial runes that pulsed like heartbeats. On its surface, three glowing glyphs burned with intensity:
> Trial of Heaven's Echo.
A voice—not a person's, but a will—boomed:
> "True Immortality is not the end. Only those who understand the Heavenly Dao's whisper may ascend to the skies above the skies."
---
Phase I: Trial of Insight
A thousand illusions flooded his mind.
He saw versions of himself: some tyrants, some saviors, some lost and broken. Each illusion tested him with choices—would he save his enemy to protect a child? Would he destroy a kingdom to spare his love?
Every choice reflected who he truly was—not who he pretended to be.
He resisted. He endured.
---
Phase II: Trial of Resonance
He stood atop a void-bound platform. Around him, cosmic threads danced—representations of Time, Space, Destiny, Death, and Chaos.
He reached out—instinctively—to Destiny, and it bit back.
Pain lashed through his soul. His flesh cracked like broken porcelain. Blood dripped into the void.
The Heavenly Dao would not yield so easily.
Only after stilling his thoughts, breathing in rhythm with the stars, and emptying his heart of ambition… did one thread finally hum in tune.
A golden light—subtle, but undeniable—lit in his chest.
---
Phase III: Trial of Submission or Defiance
A vision rose before him—an unchangeable fate.
He saw himself dying on a distant battlefield, Forsaken Blade shattered, forgotten.
The voice asked:
> "Will you submit to destiny? Or defy the heavens themselves?"
Tianming's eyes glowed.
> "I will burn the scroll of fate, if it dares write my end."
The golden gate cracked—but did not open.
> "Not yet," the voice said. "You have glimpsed the Echo. But the path is long. To ascend, you must truly embody it."
---
Tianming fell to his knees, panting, drenched in sweat though no body remained.
He returned to the physical world.
The Forsaken Blade glowed faintly, its edge now humming with something deeper—an echo, not yet fully understood, but awakening.
And so began the long path between realms—the impossible distance fr
om True Immortal to Heavenly Immortal.
A gap not just of power… but of cosmic understanding.