The flawless beauty sat calmly atop a hovering jade lotus, her serene gaze fixed on the distant sky. A soft breeze carried the faint scent of cosmos flowers, but Aurora was too agitated to notice.
"Master," she asked, "are you sending away just because I failed?"
The woman did not answer imdiately. Instead, she reached out and plucked a falling petal from the air. "No, child. I am sending you there because sothing deeper is stirring."
Aurora blinked. "Deeper?"
The master’s voice beca as soft as silk brushing glass. "Do not worry. It will not endanger you. In the long run, it will benefit you."
Aurora’s brows furrowed, but her master slowly rose to her feet, her hair flowing behind her like rivers of moonlight.
"Carry Nandem and go." After saying this, the master no longer acknowledged her.
Aurora was startled for a mont, but she did not argue.
...
anwhile, in a warm, cozy room, a middle-aged woman glanced at her husband, who was studying a few jade slips. After a while, she asked,
"Is he going to the Collapsing World?"
Raphael turned to his wife. "Yes. Do not worry. Nana is watching over him. Nothing will endanger him in this Immortal World."
"I hope you keep your word. If not..."
"Hah, you have nothing to be concerned about, Anna. Co, let us enjoy ourselves for a while."
...
News of the event spread to all corners of the Immortal Worlds. Most geniuses had received the ssage and, using the academy’s ship, were already en route. The sa was happening within the Scarlet Moon Organization and in other academies.
...
On Kranos’s starship, several weeks had passed, and now he could feel the vessel slowing to a crawl. We must be arriving, he thought silently.
He turned to look at Kathryn, whose rosy complexion made her appear fully healed. Feeling Kranos’s gaze, she looked back at him and said softly, "It is ti."
She then activated the starship’s movent. Ahead, they could see a small ball of light slowly expanding in their vision.
The ball of light grew rapidly until it beca vast enough to engulf the entire ship. The atmosphere shifted imdiately.
Kevin opened his eyes from ditation, and Kranos, who sat nearby, could no longer calm his thoughts. Staring at the sky, now riddled with cracks, he was slightly startled.
A voice rang out suddenly. Kranos turned and saw that it was Kathryn speaking.
"That place once belonged to the one they called the Calamity King, a Divine Realm cultivator who went mad and broke every law beneath the heavens. He was sealed in death not because he was evil, but because he existed."
She waved her hand, and a phantom map materialized in midair.
"The place is called the Divine Grave. It is a test of essence."
Kranos shivered slightly. "What do you an by test of essence?" he asked with curiosity.
Kathryn remained silent as though contemplating sothing. After a mont, she smiled faintly and replied, "You will see."
Just those two words.
Upon entering the solvent Immortal World, Kathryn glanced at the fractured sky and whispered into the void in a voice neither Kranos nor Kevin could hear, "Let the grave open again. Let the heavens tremble."
...
Her voice seed to vanish into the void. Then, a deafening roar shattered the sky’s tranquility. Cultivators across multiple Immortal Worlds halted mid-flight, eyes turning to the east.
The sky was tearing apart in a literal sense. Eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
A jagged wound opened in the fabric of space, revealing a swirling black vortex pulsing with golden light. Cracks spread outward, racing across the heavens like divine lightning.
From within that wound ca a sound like ten thousand chains breaking at once.
Then, a colossal sarcophagus, at least three miles long, fell from the vortex. It hovered above the ruined landscape, suspended by invisible laws.
Its surface was engraved with divine runes, so glowing faintly, others bleeding a deep crimson. Faint screams echoed from within, as though countless souls were trapped inside.
At its center burned a blazing sigil.
...
Kranos, still aboard the starship, jolted from his thoughts. His breath caught in his throat as instinct scread at him to flee.
But there was no ti.
Every cultivator aboard, including Kathryn, Kevin, and Kranos himself, was pulled forward by an invisible force. Space distorted, and the ship was violently teleported toward the grave’s entrance.
Outside, dozens of teleportation arrays across the Immortal Worlds activated. Countless geniuses descended from the skies like falling stars.
Within monts, a vast crowd had gathered atop the desolate plains surrounding the grave.
...
Kranos opened his eyes after being thrown outside the warped wreckage of the starship. Lightning crashed around them. The ground was blackened and scarred, strewn with remnants of ancient battles.
Above the sarcophagus floated a radiant crystal gate, surrounded by rotating runic formations.
Kathryn staggered to her feet, brushing dust from her robes. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at the sky. "It has already begun, huh?"
Kranos said nothing. His gaze was fixed on the gate, his heart pounding. This place felt ancient and malevolent.
Cultivators arrived in waves. Sect prodigies, wandering emperors in training, and starborn beasts in human form joined the crowd.
Though many wore expressions of surprise, their eyes glead with pride and intrigue. The inheritance of a divine cultivator was worth any risk.
Then, a voice bood across the plains.
"Those who enter the Divine Grave of Ten Thousand Tribulations do so of their own will. Step through the Celestial Soul Gate, and your fate shall no longer be your own."
"Any who fear death may leave now."
The entire world seed to fall silent. No one dared to move. From the grandeur of the place alone, they could tell the treasures inside were beyond imagination. Yet none knew what awaited them.
No one wanted to be the first to die.
Just then, a man stepped forward from the crowd. He had dark green hair, pale blue eyes, and carried a long spear. Without hesitation, he walked calmly into the towering gate.
At once, the crowd stirred. Hundreds of cultivators surged forward without another thought.
Kranos remained still. He turned toward Kathryn. Since she had said the soul treasure was inside, she would likely know what needed to be done.
Kathryn t his gaze, her expression unreadable. "You will need to enter with . The treasure will dissolve if I leave the secret realm alone."
Kranos hesitated for a long mont. He studied the remaining crowd, gauging their strength against his own.
After confirming that he had the power to survive, he nodded at Kathryn.
Kathryn responded with a faint nod and signaled Kevin to follow silently.
The three of them walked toward the glowing gate, alongside hundreds of the finest geniuses from every Immortal World.
As Kranos stepped beneath the arch etched with divine symbols, the sky above shifted.
All stars vanished.
The world grew dim.
The gate slamd shut behind them with a sound that felt like destiny being sealed.
Sowhere deep in the darkness, a voice whispered from the tomb.
"Let the first tribulation begin."
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