Pitch-black demonic qi churned like an enraged sea. Wutian sat cross-legged, suspended above the stone seat of the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus, while the black breakthrough radiance surrounding him had persisted for a full month.
At his brow, the Dao patterns of the Star Lord Realm flickered in and out of view, yet they could never condense into a complete Star Core—this was his forty-ninth attempt to break through, and also his closest to success.
But just as the Dao patterns were about to close, a bone-piercing chill suddenly surged from the depths of his sea of consciousness, instantly freezing the vital energy circulating through his body.
Wutian abruptly opened his eyes. Reflected in his pupils were two utterly different figures: one wore immaculate white Buddhist robes, his face gentle and jade-like; the other was clad in black battle armor, his skin dark as if stained with ink.
The black figure's features were unmistakably identical to his own.
"Your obsession runs too deep and your Dao heart is unstable. In the end, you still cannot escape it."
The white figure's voice carried a trace of mockery as it slowly faded from his sea of consciousness.
The next moment, Wutian's consciousness was dragged away by a tremendous force, and the scene before him shifted abruptly—it was no longer the mist-shrouded place of his breakthrough, but a desolate, deathly silent Guixu of the universe.
Deep within Guixu stood a mountain range wrapped in seven-colored spiritual qi. The spiritual qi was so dense that it condensed into tangible droplets, sliding down the mountainsides and gathering into winding spiritual rivers on the ground.
At the summit rose a colossal tree that pierced the heavens. Its trunk was so thick that more than a thousand people would be needed to encircle it, while its branches