The sky burned crimson.
Atop a forgotten plateau swept by the winds of a time long buried, stood two colossal monoliths—The Gates of the Forbidden Heavens. Their surfaces, obsidian black, were veined with glowing crimson runes that pulsed like dying stars. A haunting aura hung heavy in the air. This was no mere portal; it was a wound in the fabric of reality.
Lin Feng, cloaked in silence, stood alone before them.
Behind him, the void whispered. Lan Xue approached hesitantly, her robes fluttering in the pressureless wind. Her eyes were wide with awe—and fear.
"I can feel it," she murmured. "The voices of those who tried before... They're still screaming."
Lin Feng did not flinch. The Eye of the Void floated above his hand, spinning slowly. Its energies reached out like vines toward the runes, resonating in a forgotten tongue.
"This place was sealed for a reason," she insisted. "It's more than a door. It's a test. A curse."
He turned slightly, his eyes calm yet absolute. "And I intend to pass it."
She stepped closer. "If you go through, Yun Tian—the you I know—might never return."
Lin Feng's voice was steady. "That version of me died long ago. The world doesn't need Yun Tian. It needs the heir it betrayed."
A gust of dark wind blew through the plateau, causing the runes to flare.
From within the Archives, Lin Feng had unearthed the final verses of an ancient prophecy:
"When blood of rebirth meets the Eye of the Void,
The Gates shall open—at the price of identity.
Humanity lost, divinity tested, destiny reclaimed through sacrifice."
Now, as his blood dripped onto the seal below the gate, the ground trembled.
The monoliths groaned. A rift began to form, tearing sideways through space, revealing a realm where the sky hung beneath the earth and stars fell like raindrops.
But just before he stepped in, a voice older than time echoed from the void:
"Have you renounced your name?"
"Have you surrendered your form?"
"Are you prepared to exist beyond death, beyond life?"
"I am not Lin Feng. I am not Yun Tian," he answered. "I am the Heir of the Forbidden Heavens."
A blinding light consumed him.
He awoke in a realm beyond comprehension.
No ground. No sky. Only floating ruins, infinite mirrors of time and memory, and a coldness that reached into his bones. Before him stood three floating pillars:
Suffering.
Renunciation.
Transcendence.
Each bore his name.
A deep chime rang out. The trials had begun.
Trial One: Suffering
He was hurled into a memory loop—his death, played endlessly.
Xuan Mo's betrayal. Zhi Lan's kiss laced with poison. Shen Lie's blade stabbing him from behind.
Every sound, every cry, every heartbeat slowed, intensified. He couldn't look away. He couldn't scream. He had to feel.
But rather than recoil, he absorbed it. Wrapped his soul in the pain. Owned it.
And when the vision faded, his aura had changed—darker, but unbreakable.
Trial Two: Renunciation
He stood now before a vision of Lan Xue, smiling, radiant.
"You can still come back," she said softly. "A life of peace. No war. No vengeance. You've earned it."
Behind her stood his clan, his loved ones, the comforts of humanity.
Temptation.
His lips quivered. But then, a single phrase pierced through his hesitation:
"The past is a mirage for those too weak to shape the future."
He extended his hand—and shattered the illusion into shards of starlight.
Trial Three: Transcendence
He now faced... himself.
Lin Feng at his peak—robed in celestial armor, divine energy flowing from every pore.
"You want to change the heavens?" his mirror asked. "You wish to right wrongs? To destroy the traitors? Then show me you deserve it."
They clashed.
Reality itself warped with every blow. Time shattered. Thoughts bled.
But in the end, Lin Feng—the broken, the reborn—drove the Eye of the Void into the heart of his divine image.
It vanished into ash.
He had transcended himself.
The realm fell silent. The three pillars vanished. Before him, a single gate materialized in the air.
And guarding it, curled around it like an eclipse in motion, was a black dragon with stars embedded in its scales.
Hei Long.
"I've awaited you for eons," the dragon rumbled. "You have passed the trials. But to inherit the Forbidden Heavens, you must become something... else."
"I'm ready," Lin Feng said.
"You say that," Hei Long hissed, "but to wield what lies beyond, you must die once more—not in body, but in soul. We must fuse."
Energy exploded as their wills collided.
It was not a battle of fists—but of meaning, of essence. The Eye of the Void spun out of control, and the skies above the Forbidden Realm cracked like glass.
At last, the dragon's roar melded with Lin Feng's voice.
And the fusion was complete.
Back in the mortal world, Lan Xue watched as the Gates closed with a cosmic thud.
Silence.
She fell to her knees, lips trembling. "Please… don't be gone."
Then she heard his voice—in her mind, across dimensions.
"I will return. Not as mortal. Not as god. But as what the heavens fear most—truth incarnate."
A gust of wind swept across the plateau.
And in the celestial realms above, seven false gods—Lin Feng's former disciples—shivered.
Though none of them knew why.
End of Chapter 9 – Cliffhanger:
The Gates are sealed. Lin Feng has vanished into myth. But when he returns… what will he be?
A hero? A harbinger? Or the final storm?
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