Illusion

Seeing the world before him change in an instant, Li Chen instinctively used his martial soul to try to connect with his surroundings, only to realize that this was an illusion.

This world had been created specifically for Li Chen. It was utterly devoid of life, perfectly suppressing his life attribute and helping him develop and study the Power of Death.

An old man sat cross-legged above the heavens, his bright, piercing eyes fixed unblinkingly on the young man before him.

Utter darkness and deathly silence were Li Chen's first impressions upon entering this illusion.

There was no light, no sound, no wind, not even any trace of time passing. This pitch-black, silent land was an illusory trial ground tailored for him by Han Tianyi.

As Illusion Brain Douluo, Han Tianyi's command of illusions was unmatched across the Douluo Continent. He could precisely construct scenes that tested one's temperament and control over power the most, and this silent illusion was meant to temper Li Chen's perception of an extremely rare power.

Li Chen sat cross-legged in the void, his Soul Power circulating slowly around him. Yet the moment it touched this space, it was swallowed by an aura of absolute coldness.

There was no vitality here, no plants, no living beings. Only an inescapably dense aura of deathly silence filled the air. Every wisp of air carried the meaning of decay and finality. If an ordinary soul master entered this place, his mind would likely be crushed by that aura in an instant, and his Soul Power would collapse.

"Focus. Sense the special energy drifting through this space. Do not resist it, and do not recklessly devour it. Try to touch it, understand it." Han Tianyi's voice pierced through the illusion.

Hearing this, Li Chen cast aside all distracting thoughts and spread his spiritual power without reservation. At first, he could feel only boundless coldness and desolation. For every fraction that his Soul Power extended outward, it was worn away by the deathly aura within the illusion. Waves of stabbing pain ran through his meridians, and it felt as though his soul itself would be frozen by the endless silence.

He did not give up. Through repeated attempts, he gradually caught hold of an exceedingly faint, almost transparent stream of black energy.

This current was unlike the gentleness of Soul Power, and unlike the violence of the darkness attribute. It carried the will to end all things. Wherever it passed, even space rippled with tiny wrinkles, as though existence itself could be ground away by it.

This is... the Power of Death? Li Chen's heart stirred, but he did not dare lose focus in the slightest. He immediately summoned his martial soul and merged with it, using the Power of Death he possessed to compare against it before attempting to comprehend, understand, and master it. (Time to activate the cheat~)

On the Douluo Continent, the Power of Death was a taboo power. It was vastly different from ordinary darkness and evil attributes. It concerned the end of life and the destination of souls, a forbidden power that stood above common attributes.

People only knew that Pluto Douluo Ha Luosa's Pluto Sword was tainted with a trace of deathly aura. They did not know that truly pure Power of Death originated from the Underworld, from the supreme Death God Position.

Moreover, Ha Luosa's Power of Death was steeped in slaughter and vengeful souls. One had to know that in the Douluo World's cosmology, the Asura God governed slaughter, while the Rakshasa God governed resentment.

Thus, in the eyes of the Death God Position, he was a complete aberration. The Death God Position did not take the initiative to eliminate him only because It was often asleep, and because killing him would be considered a pollution of Death Divine Power.

Li Chen once again tried to seize that strand of black energy with his spiritual power. In an instant, an extreme sense of withering desolation flooded his soul. He seemed to see all things withering away and life fading, while even his own Soul Power began to show signs of decay.

He abruptly withdrew his spiritual power, cold sweat soaking his clothes. In that instant just now, he had nearly suffered a backlash from the Power of Death and fallen completely into deathly silence.

"Do not fear it. Death is not merely destruction. It is one end of the cycle, the final chapter of life. Try to resonate with it and grasp its rhythm, rather than allowing it to control you." Han Tianyi's voice rang out again, awakening Li Chen from his predicament.

Li Chen took a deep breath and released his spiritual power once more. This time, he no longer tried to control it, but instead used a calm heart to sense the essence of the Power of Death. Immersed in this silent illusion, he forgot time and the outside world, touching and adjusting to the drifting Power of Death again and again.

His soul was continuously tempered amid the deathly silence, and his understanding of death grew ever deeper. Gradually, he could easily catch more streams of black death energy and guide them to circulate slowly around his fingertips, no longer affected by that will of destruction.

The Soul Power around him also quietly changed. At the edges of his originally clear Soul Power appeared an extremely faint black halo, a sign that the Power of Death had begun to merge with his own Soul Power.

Seeing this, Han Tianyi nodded in satisfaction. He then took the initiative to leave the Illusion Space, guarding him as he cultivated and leaving this place to Li Chen so no one could disturb him.

When Li Chen first took the initiative to condense a strand of pure Power of Death, causing a tiny black flame to appear at his fingertips, the entire silent illusion suddenly shook!

Though seemingly weak, this strand of Power of Death contained the most primordial aura of the Underworld. It instantly pierced through Illusion Brain Douluo's illusionary barrier, broke through the divide between planes, and reached the Underworld deep within endless nothingness.

The Underworld was shrouded in rolling black mist all year round, while Yellow Springs surged onward and countless dead souls lay silent within it. At the summit of the Underworld, an ultimate deathly-silent will that stretched across heaven and earth opened its bewildered eyes. It was the source will of the Death God Position, the will that wielded the supreme divine power governing life, death, and reincarnation within the Douluo Universe!

"Caw?"

With a trace of confusion, the ancient will discovered that its real estate had inexplicably twitched. It then cast a strand of its will toward the Douluo World. (Next to take the stage is the Underworld Will, after receiving ten billion in subsidies from the Dragon God. It will casually elbow Tang Hao at different times and places QWQ.)

At the same time, the pitch-black illusion surrounding Li Chen completely collapsed, replaced by boundless black mist. Within the mist appeared a dim ancient road leading into an unknown abyss. At the end of that road lay endless deathly silence and majesty—the aura of the Underworld.

Li Chen was shaken. He could clearly sense that the will from the depths of his soul carried incomparable pressure, yet held not the slightest malice. It possessed only a longing for the Power of Death within him.

"Smells so good... such clean power... just like me... I like it so much..."

An ancient yet somewhat childish ethereal voice slowly sounded deep within his soul. A warm and pure, yet irresistibly authoritative Death Divine Power descended at once, gently wrapping around Li Chen's entire body.

His flesh gradually glimmered with faint, translucent black light, and his form became increasingly illusory and ethereal. His pure soul was tightly drawn by that primordial divine power, flying uncontrollably toward the endless dim ancient road ahead.

The dense, deathly aura of the illusion retreated layer by layer. Fine black ripples spread across the spatial barriers along the way as Death Divine Power protected his soul, steadily tearing through the gaps between planes and carrying him smoothly into the vast Underworld, a realm belonging only to dead souls and the authority of the God of Death.