Milky Way, Solar System, Earth.
About thirty kilometers above the surface, within Earth's stratosphere, an invisible gleam swiftly drifted through the air, sketching the outline of a door.
A slender, fair hand gently pushed open the door, and a figure in white stepped through.
He was a tall, handsome young man with a pair of unusual ruby-red eyes.
"Let's break through to Level 20 here."
The red-eyed young man, Bai Xiaowen, slowly closed his eyes. Surging currents of vast energy gathered into his body as the surrounding spiritual energy rushed toward him.
In a single breath, after one complete circulation, Bai Xiaowen's aura directly shattered the shackles of Level 20. He completed a leap in the level of life as easily as breaking a glass cup.
A Transcender, a Demigod-level existence with a lifespan of a thousand years.
"By the calculations of ancient Chinese cultivation, I should be... at the Mahayana Stage?"
Bai Xiaowen smiled. He could sense the faint rejection of this universe against him. As time passed, that repulsive force would steadily grow stronger.
Yet layers upon layers of lines appeared in Bai Xiaowen's eyes, forming patterns that resembled doorways.
At that moment, his aura became somewhat ethereal, as though he did not belong to this world. The universe's repulsive force immediately vanished without a trace.
Ordinary Transcenders could not evade the rejection of the real universe and could only "ascend" to the Astral Plane.
Bai Xiaowen was different. He had already gained partial authority over the Origin Slate, so opening a back door for himself was no problem.
However, that brief breakthrough into Transcendence had already caused considerable changes to Earth's spiritual energy environment.
Jinghai Base City, Chihuo District.
Li Beihai looked up at the sky. Dense black clouds had gathered into a gigantic vortex. At its