Heavenly Trial Arc (Final)
The lotus gate pulsed with boundless brilliance, its light folding the heavens and earth into a single moment of eternity. For the first two trials, he had faced illusions and battles, yet this third… it was unlike anything else.
The instant his foot crossed the threshold, reality fell away.
No land. No sky. No sect.
Only the cosmic void—endless, star-choked darkness stretching beyond sight, stitched with rivers of immortal radiance. In the center, a stairway of nine luminous jade steps rose upward, piercing the heart of the firmament itself.
The first step pulsed, words of heavenly decree echoing in thunder:
"The Path of Ascension: To rise is to defy. Each step is a severance from weakness, a vow against surrender. To climb is to shoulder eternity."
The First Step
The youth inhaled sharply and stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched the jade light, an invisible force struck him like a collapsing star. His spine bent, his knees quaked—ten thousand mountains seemed to crash down upon him. Yet before he buckled, a soft glow unfurled.
From his heart, the Lotus of Dawn bloomed, its petals spreading across his meridians, shimmering like a fragile but eternal light.
The trial whispered:
"What do you rise for?"
Through trembling breath, he answered:
> "For those who trust me… for those who cannot rise themselves."
The pressure eased, just barely. He straightened and stepped higher.
The Middle Steps
The second. The third. Each ascent doubled the burden. His bones groaned, blood surged, lotus petals cracked and reformed as though tested by heaven's hammer.
On the fifth step, visions flooded him.
—A master's cold eyes.
—Senior brothers mocking him.
—The laughter of rivals calling him a fool for believing in his childish dream.
He gritted his teeth until they nearly shattered.
> "I will answer… with proof."
The weight recoiled, as though the very stair acknowledged his conviction.
By the seventh step, new illusions struck: an image of himself vanishing into obscurity, his name forgotten by history, his struggle amounting to nothing.
His body swayed, blood dripping from his lips. His legs screamed with pain. But still, step by agonizing step, he climbed.
> "Even if the cosmos forgets me… my heart shall not."
The lotus aura erupted, blazing brighter than ever before.
The Final Step
At the ninth step, the stair burned with a radiance so intense it seemed determined to erase him entirely. The void itself thundered with a single question:
"Ascend, and you sever all ties with mediocrity. Fail, and you shall be annihilated. Do you dare?"
For a moment, silence.
He closed his eyes—and saw himself once more as he had once been:
An ordinary boy, staring at the sky from a quiet courtyard, marveling at the immortals who soared above. A child who had no great power, only a heart that refused to stop dreaming.
That simple, innocent wonder sparked again within him, pure as starlight.
He smiled.
> "I do not merely dare… I choose."
With blood streaking his lips, body nearly broken, yet spirit unbending, he placed his foot upon the final step.
The void exploded.
Heaven's Recognition
The stairway disintegrated into endless lotus blossoms, each petal spanning constellations. They drifted across the void, showering him in sacred brilliance. A resonant heavenly chime rang out—not just here, but across realms, echoing into the mortal and immortal heavens alike.
Within the Ethereal Heaven Palace, the Heavenly Stele in the central plaza erupted with light. Thousands of disciples gasped, shielding their eyes.
> "This glow… it's brighter than anything recorded in the last thousand years!"
"Whose name… whose name is being carved!?"
The golden inscription seared itself into the stone. Letters etched in divine radiance spelled the Protagonist's name.
Disciples trembled in disbelief. Elders widened their eyes, unable to maintain their composure. Even the Sect Master, sitting in meditation within the Hall of Radiance, opened his gaze. His serene expression wavered, if only for a moment.
> "To stir the Heavenly Stele so violently… this child's fate is one with the stars themselves."
The entire sect bowed in silence, overwhelmed by the majesty of what they witnessed.
The Protagonist's Heart
Back in the void, the blossoms wrapped around him, soaking into his skin, his bones, his spirit. His cultivation surged, breaking through barriers with the inevitability of a river crashing through a dam.
Yet, amidst the storm of power, he only stood quietly, gazing at the endless void that stretched before him.
His heart whispered not of arrogance, but of awe.
> "This path… it is truly endless. How wondrous, how vast… how beautiful."
The child-like wonder had never left him.
The Heavenly Trial dissolved. His body returned to the lotus gate, yet he was no longer the same. His aura radiated like dawn rising over the world, and the sect's disciples instinctively stepped back, eyes filled with reverence and fear.
The Trial had ended.
The Ascension had begun.