Skyscrapers towered before him, traffic surged, and neon lights shone over a world of revelry. He seemed to have been pulled back into his previous life.
Qin Tian murmured, "An illusion, or reality?"
Qin Tian had a feeling that this was his previous life.
Everything before him was real. All he had to do was take one step forward, and he could return to his previous life, to the peaceful existence he had once known.
He would no longer have to be hunted, no longer have to live licking blood from a blade's edge.
He could return to his old, normal, stable life, getting up at seven in the morning and even enjoying a good nap at noon. It might seem like a waste of life, but he did rather enjoy afternoon naps.
Qin Tian lowered his eyes. "But... if I really had to return to my previous life, I probably wouldn't want to."
"My previous life was too dull. A life whose end I could see at a glance gave me nothing to get excited about."
"The young man named Qin Tian yearns for battle, yearns for adventure, yearns to see more things and admire more beautiful scenery. I want to witness the universe fall into extinction. I want to endure in this world, untouched by the years."
"Everything I've experienced is merely a little wind and frost along my journey. Once the rain passes and the skies clear, the scars they leave will be medals too."
Translated: "After fighting all these years, can't I enjoy myself a little instead of heading straight back? No more music, no more dancing? I can't fucking accept that!"
His previous life might have been stable, but in Shrouding the Heavens, he could live forever without aging. That alone was enough to make Qin Tian stay.
Having made up his mind, Qin Tian said softly, "Where my heart lies is my home. Where my heart lies is the Other Shore!"
The next moment, a soundless note of the Dao rang out. The Great Dao was silent, and every scene before him dissolved.
Rumble!
The skyscrapers rapidly crumbled, heaven and earth reversed, and the world changed. In a single instant, he returned to his original location, completely abandoning his past and breaking through the obstacles in his heart. His spirit underwent a transformation.
His Temporal-Spatial Eyes, in particular, seemed to have received some baptism, becoming even more powerful than before. His left eye turned silver-white, his right azure-blue. Double pupils appeared in both eyes at once. Wherever his gaze converged, time and space intertwined in disorder. For a moment, time and space seemed to pause there, governed by a supreme power and endowed with a will of their own.
A mysterious radiance enveloped Qin Tian as he sat there, severing past from future like a great Heavenly Venerable who ruled over time and space.
This was no Calamity of Lostness, but another unknown "trial." Having passed it, he naturally received a reward. Baptized by its power, his spiritual sense surged out like a bolt of silk, its range growing ever broader. His body and mind felt as though they had been tempered.
"Interesting!" Recalling the sights he had just seen, Qin Tian chuckled.
It seemed his journey into another world was not as simple as he had imagined.
And that "god" was quite compassionate, giving him a chance to choose.
Qin Tian stretched. "I won't dwell on anything too complicated. An ant thinking too much accomplishes nothing and only makes God laugh. All I need to do is keep moving forward!"
"Great Emperor, Mortal World Immortal, Immortal King, Quasi-Immortal Emperor, Immortal Emperor, Sacrificial Dao, Above Sacrificial Dao. Only by transforming through each stage in turn can I knock upon the door of truth." Qin Tian's gaze sharpened. "One step at a time!"
"First, let's set a modest goal: attain Supreme-level combat strength before the Dark Turmoil."
He crossed the Bitter Sea and reached its end, where an immensely vast heavenly palace shimmered in and out of sight. Notes of the Dao sounded intermittently beside his ears.
This was a pure land, wreathed in drifting clouds and mist high in the heavens-the Dao Palace!
Before the Dao Palace, an ethereal voice rang out: "I am the Other Shore!"
After breaking through to the Other Shore, Qin Tian soon followed the same pattern and forged his fourth diagram.
Qin Tian steadied his state of mind. Before this, he had been hunted relentlessly, without even time for a sip of water. Now that he had escaped into the Fire Domain, he finally had the leisure to take stock of his gains.
Qin Tian took the Great Power's corpse, which the Sacred Formation had split in two, out of his Bitter Sea.
Using his spatial ability, Qin Tian had taken the Yaoguang Great Power's corpse while the mine owner and the others were fending off his final strike.
Even after so much time had passed, the Great Power's corpse remained dangerous. Its lingering resentment had yet to dissipate, and it hated Qin Tian, murderous intent spilling from it in all directions. The surrounding temperature plunged, and even the nearby flames swayed.
But with the wooden token held against his chest, Qin Tian was impervious to all arts. What could a mere lingering resentment do to him?
Unfazed by the resentment and murderous intent, Qin Tian stripped every valuable item from the Great Power's body.
There was a hairpin fashioned from mutton-fat white jade. Its power was considerable, though it had yet to weave together Dao and principle.
Still, nourished by a Great Power's magical power, it qualified as a fine magical implement.
Although rummaging through a corpse was rather disgusting, Qin Tian did not fuss over trivialities. A Great Power's legacy was a tremendous boon to someone with an ordinary physique like his.
Using a secret art, Qin Tian opened the Yaoguang Great Power's Bitter Sea and took out a weapon.
"(⊙o⊙) Wow! A Great Power's divine weapon, with traces of Dao and principle woven into it."
"The Phoenix-Winged Gilt Halberd!"
The crimson divine spear in Qin Tian's hand had a tip like a proud divine phoenix spreading its wings to take flight. Dao and principle intertwined within it, emanating a terrifying aura, that Phoenix-Winged Gilt Trident-
Rumble!
An incomparably sharp aura gushed out and poured across the ground, shaking everything around it. The earth collapsed as a keen blade-light surged like a vast ocean, sending enormous rocks and endless sand and soil thousands of meters into the air.
In the end, it left a fissure in the ground like an abyss.
Although Great Power weapons were thoroughly unremarkable in the original story, and Ye Fan could withstand them with his fists while in the Four Extremes Realm,
in reality, Great Power weapons were already top-tier treasures that everyone coveted.
Saint Weapons and Emperor Weapons were reserves of power that could not be deployed lightly. Great Power weapons were what saw widespread use.
Even the swaggering Golden-Winged Little Peng King in the original story had relied on nothing more than a Great Power weapon.
Qin Tian continued searching and soon felt out another item.
It was a suit of armor, though not armor in the conventional sense. It looked more like a silk garment, fashioned from the hide of some demonic beast.
Runes flickered across it, formed from interwoven Dao and principle. When infused with divine power, a layer of white light appeared, capable of warding off water and fire and providing exceptionally strong protection.
"A suit of treasure armor!"
Qin Tian stroked the treasure armor, valuing it even more highly than the Phoenix-Winged Gilt Halberd.
He imprinted his own mark upon it and changed into it on the spot.
This was a treasure that could save his life.
Ye Fan had not needed treasure armor in the original story, so such armor had rarely been described.
After all, his Desolate Ancient Sacred Body possessed an unsurpassed physique, hailed as an Indestructible Golden Body. His physique in the Four Extremes Realm already rivaled a Great Power's, whereas a Great Power's treasure armor required sufficient divine power to activate.
Compared that way, treasure armor simply cost more than it was worth.
But Qin Tian was different. He had only an ordinary physique and was terribly fragile. He needed a life-saving divine treasure like this.
Qin Tian continued, opening the Storage Bag the mine owner had given the Yaoguang Great Power. The moment he opened it, an immense quantity of vital essence spilled out, illuminating his surroundings. Qin Tian clicked his tongue in wonder. "Tsk, tsk. Even another world can't do without corruption!"
"There must be about three million jin of source in here."
Before you continue