"Bloody hell is happening! Automaton!" I howled as I barely controlled my footing. The mont awareness snapped back fully into place, it ca with violence.
The entire space around lurched as though sothing massive had just struck reality itself. The white room shuddered, not subtly but with deep, bone-rattling tremors that traveled through the floor and up my legs.
My balance nearly gave out imdiately. Muscles that had barely recovered protested the sudden demand for control, and for a mont I had to widen my stance just to avoid collapsing again.
The air itself felt unstable, humming faintly with pressure that shouldn’t exist in a place like this. Another distant rumble rolled through everything, low and vast, like thunder echoing across a hollow sky.
Instantly, a portal opened and the Automaton showed up. The space parted cleanly, as if a curtain had been drawn aside, and the familiar figure stepped through with that sa composed presence he always carried. Unlike , he did not even sway as the tremors passed through the room
. He stood upright, perfectly balanced, as though the shaking world simply refused to inconvenience him.
"My Lord, you woke up earlier than expected." He said.
His tone remained steady, but that only sharpened my irritation. Earlier than expected, as if the world breaking apart outside was sothing one could schedule around.
"Who the hell can sleep with all this noise? What’s going on?" I asked. My voice ca out harsher than intended, still rough from strain and disuse.
I could feel the remnants of exhaustion clinging to , like weight tied to every movent, but adrenaline and confusion were quickly burning through that fog.
"Ah, yes, you were unconscious. The Suns... they’re... cultivating." He said.
The pause before the last word did not go unnoticed. It carried just enough hesitation to make narrow my eyes.
"Cultivating?" another rumble echoed again and the whole pagoda shuddered. This one was stronger. The walls themselves seed to groan faintly, and for a fraction of a second I wondered if the structure could actually fail.
That thought alone was ridiculous. The pagoda had endured far worse, or at least I hoped it had. Still, hope wasn’t exactly reassuring when reality kept shaking like it wanted to co apart.
"When did cultivating turn worlds upside down, the pagoda’s gonna break at this rate." I said. There was no exaggeration in it. Cultivation causing tremors of this magnitude felt less like advancent and more like a controlled disaster.
"Oh, we’re a few million miles away, we should be safe... probably."
The more the automaton spoke the more irritated I got. What do you an probably?
Safe and probably did not belong in the sa sentence when planets were involved.
"Let see what’s happening." I said. If the world was going to collapse, I preferred seeing it happen rather than guessing from vibrations like so blind fool.
"As you command," suddenly sections of the white room transford revealing the outside world.
The change was imdiate and seamless. Walls peeled away into transparency, not fading but shifting, like reality had been reconfigured rather than opened. The sterile white gave way to a vast emptiness that stretched far beyond anything grounded.
Or basically a vast space.
We weren’t that far away from Solarous, but we weren’t too far away either. The planet hung in the distance, enormous and dominant, yet distant enough to see its full form. It should have been a familiar sight by now, but sothing was wrong imdiately.
The whole planet was covered in red clouds. Too many damned clouds.
They churned violently, layered thick across the entire surface like a storm that had swallowed the world whole. The color was wrong too. Not natural storm clouds, but deep crimson streaked with darker veins, pulsing faintly with energy.
Even from this distance, I could feel the pressure they carried. It pressed outward, into space itself, like the planet was trying to expel sothing far too large for it.
"What’s that? That’s a tribulation?" I asked. My voice dropped without intending it to. Even after everything I had seen, that scale still forced caution into my tone.
"Yes, that’s the last one..."
"Last? There were more of these?" I asked. The idea that I had sohow missed multiple events of this magnitude while unconscious did not sit well.
It felt like waking up after a war only to be told several more had already been fought without you.
"Yes, you slept through most of them. This one is the Blue Sun’s. She seems to be doing a good job at sustaining it, and will probably achieve the Yin stage. Unlike the others, she’s far sturdier."
I focused harder on the planet, trying to pick out movent through the storms. Lightning flickered within the clouds, but it wasn’t natural lightning. It was denser, more violent, streaks of red and gold tearing through the atmosphere. Sowhere beneath that chaos, Blue Sun was enduring it. Not resisting, not avoiding. Enduring.
"Did anyone... die?" I asked. The question ca slower than the others. There was weight behind it. Too many battles ended with that answer leaning one way.
"No, the Tribulation was not that powerful, probably because the Heavenly Dao is still weak."
I frowned at that, the implications settling in. Weak tribulations were a double-edged blade. They allowed advancent with less imdiate risk, but they also denied refinent through hardship. Strength built without resistance always ca with hidden cracks.
"The Wisest Sun had given a ssage to you once you wake."
"What is it?" I asked, shifting my gaze briefly away from the storm-covered planet.
"That you should not worry about the trials they’ll be facing, even if the tribulation is weak, they have learned a great deal during their sun stage. It won’t harm their cultivation base nor make it weaker. Also, the Dusking Sun has asked to et with you regarding so matters."
"Fine then, I’ll head out." I said, already preparing to move, though my body still felt heavier than it should.
"Lord, your two wives, they have... left."
The words halted mid-motion. The tremors, the tribulation, all of it faded for a second as that single statent settled in.
"Left? Where?" I asked. There was a sharpness in my tone now, different from irritation. Focused.
"After a month of you being unconscious..." he didn’t allow the puppet to finish.
"A month?! What happened to the Rakshasas? To the Broodmother? The war?" The questions ca rapidly, stacking over one another. A month. An entire month gone. Too much could change in that ti. Too much could be lost.
"It ended the mont you rained Soulsteel upon the planet," the Automaton said.
I frowned. "That quickly?"
"Yes. You collapsed almost imdiately after. The remaining Suns handled the aftermath and stabilized the situation."
Well. That was mildly insulting.
I did all the hard work and passed out right before the victory lap.
"The Broodmother?" I asked.
"Destroyed completely."
That was a relief.
"And Tao Yang’s uncle?"
The Automaton paused, almost as if reconsidering whether this next part was worth saying.
"Retrieved."
"Alive?"
"Technically."
I blinked. "That sounds concerning."
"He remained conscious despite over half his body having lted away."
I stared at him for a mont. "I’m sorry, what?"
"Yes."
"What kind of abomination are these people?"
"The kind currently occupying this universe, my Lord."
Fair enough.
"What about the Rakshasas?"
"Eliminated."
"All of them?"
"To the best of our ability." The Automaton nodded. "I deployed forces across Solarous after the battle. Any surviving Rakshasa discovered was executed imdiately."
That was... thorough.
"But not perfect," I said.
"No." The Automaton folded his hands behind his back. "So may still be hiding."
That made tense slightly.
"Then what’s stopping them from rebuilding?"
"The rain."
I frowned. "The Soulsteel?"
"Yes. The rainfall contaminated Solarous entirely."
The outside display shifted slightly, showing lakes, rivers, and mountain streams glimring faintly under the red sky.
"The Soulsteel integrated with the planet’s ecosystem. Lakes, rivers, groundwater, wildlife, vegetation, even lesser lifeforms have all been affected."
I stared at the projection.
"You turned an entire world into a slow-acting poison."
"...That sounds a lot worse when you say it like that."
"It is an efficient solution."
I decided not to unpack that.
"With the Heavenly Dao restored, Rakshasas can no longer leave the planet," he continued. "And any that remain hidden, regardless of location, will eventually need sustenance."
"Food or water," I muttered, already understanding.
"Yes."
"And everything is poison to them now."
"Correct."
That was... absurdly effective.
A planet-wide extermination field.
Honestly? I hadn’t intended anything nearly that elaborate.
"And if one sohow survives without eating?"
The Automaton looked at .
"If they expose themselves beneath the heavens, the restored Heavenly Dao will identify and smite them."
I stared silently for a mont.
"So they’re trapped on a poisoned planet where the sky itself wants them dead."
"That is an accurate summary."
"...Damn I’m good." I smiled to myself.
"Still that’s a lot of information to process, give a second," I said as I thought over everything he said.
It was more than a lot. It was finality. The kind that reshaped an entire world. The rain hadn’t just won a battle. It had rewritten survival itself for those creatures. There was nowhere left to run. No safe corner. No hidden refuge. The entire planet had beco hostile to them at the most fundantal level.
This was... big news.
Incredibly big news, for the whole planet to be a slow acting poison that will eventually eradicate these creatures.
"What about the mortals?" I asked. My thoughts shifted quickly, searching for the next consequence.
"The confederation took care of them." The Automaton said.
"Them? I still rember them saying that they’re not worth saving." There was a hint of skepticism there. I hadn’t forgotten their earlier stance.
"That was until Tao Yang reached the Yin stage. She has fully solidified her soul, and returned to who she was.
And with that, she gained a foothold in the Confederation, and reclaid Solarous’s position in the council.
They cannot use the planet right now as it is impossible to inhabit due to lack of animals and beasts, so they’ll transport life form from other planets to help this one revive. And once the mortals are taught martial arts and Qi cultivation they’ll be relocated here."
"Well, that’s better than nothing, although it’s incomparable to the progress that Solarous once had, it’s a good start." I said. It wasn’t ideal. Not even close. But survival rarely ca with ideal outcos.
"What about the rest of the Suns."
"They have all achieved growth, at least Yin Stage."
"At least? You an soone reached higher?"
"Yes, The Lord of Lords has made it to the Yang stage. He had too much Qi... and almost broke Solarous due to how powerful his heavenly tribulation was. Still, that’s not the best news."
"Oh, there’s more? Tell ."
"It’s better if you see for yourself, check your Qi, my Lord."
"My Qi?" I frowned and tried, and imdiately felt a difference like never before.
The mont I turned inward, the change was undeniable. My energy moved with a smoothness that bordered on unnatural. There were no obstructions, no rough edges, no strain in circulation. It flowed like a perfected current, steady and refined, as though sothing fundantal had shifted while I was unconscious.
"Congratulations on reaching the Heaven Stage. While unconscious... sohow," the Automaton said.
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