The countdown to the opening of the Tomb of the Gods quietly ticked away, and undercurrents stirred among the continent's powers. Deep within the imperial palace of the Klan Empire, however, in a tranquil cultivation chamber sealed against all outside disturbances by God-level restrictions Shiheng had personally laid down, he sat cross-legged in seclusion, remaining there for twenty full years.
The scenes of his past fight to the death with Emperor Star, a Lowgod who wielded the Destruction Laws, had long been engraved deep within his divine soul. The Aura of Destruction that had surged around Emperor Star during that climactic confrontation, the essence of the Destruction Laws contained in every move, and the domineering resonance of a path that annihilated all things constantly echoed and swirled within his divine soul, never fading. Shiheng cleared his mind of all distractions and immersed himself completely in the insights gained from that battle. Day and night, he revisited every detail of the entire fight, overlooking not the slightest fluctuation of the laws as he devoted himself to comprehending the supreme mysteries of the Destruction Laws. He continually compared, reconciled, and refined his original Saint-level Laws of Destruction against Emperor Star's God-level resonance of destruction, honing the foundation of his laws day after day.
After three full years of focused contemplation, his accumulated insights bore fruit, and everything fell naturally into place. The power of the Destruction Laws within Shiheng suddenly surged, breaking through the shackles of the Saint level and bringing him straight into the Lowgod realm. The embryonic form of a destruction Divine Core slowly condensed outside his body.
This time, he once again chose External Godhood without wavering.
He did not hesitate in the slightest. As the ritual of External Godhood began, that soul-rending pain, familiar enough to be etched