There was no ground.
No sky.
No up or down.
Dao Xuan Tian walked through the void.
Each step landed on nothing, yet space itself accepted his presence, folding gently beneath his feet as though acknowledging something it could not deny. Behind him, the remnants of the Heavenly Rejection faded—fractured reality knitting itself closed, erased lands collapsing into nonexistence.
Ahead of him, there was only endless black.
Not darkness.
Absence.
Dao did not hurry. Time had little meaning here. His Infinity Eyes remained open, not peering into the future, but scanning existence itself. Threads of possibility drifted like dust motes, faint and distant. Some led to worlds already crowded with cultivators. Others led to places abandoned, broken, or consumed by beings that even Heaven no longer watched.
Dao ignored them all.
"I don't need a sect," he said quietly.
"I don't need witnesses."
His voice carried no echo.
As he walked, the void responded subtly. Ripples spread outward from his steps, invisible waves of causality bending around his Void Core. This place—if it could be called a place—was not hostile, but it was not welcoming either. It simply was.
Dao walked for what might have been hours.
Or days.
At some point, his Infinity Eyes caught something different.
A fluctuation.
Not energy.
Presence.
Dao stopped.
Far ahead, the void thinned, as though stretched over something solid beneath. Space warped faintly, hinting at mass, gravity, and persistence. The future around that region was… stable. No collapse. No annihilation. No inevitable destruction.
A rare thing.
Dao stepped forward, and the void peeled back.
A landmass emerged.
It floated alone in the emptiness, vast beyond measure—an island of stone and crystal suspended in nothingness. Rivers of condensed qi flowed openly across its surface like luminous veins, cascading into the void without diminishing.
Above it, there was no sun.
Yet light existed.
Soft. Even. Eternal.
Dao hovered at the edge of this place, observing.
"This will do," he said.
The moment his will settled, the land acknowledged him.
Gravity asserted itself.
Dao descended.
The moment his feet touched solid ground, a tremor rippled across the floating land. Qi surged violently, reacting to his presence like prey sensing an apex predator.
Then—
A roar shook the skyless expanse.
From the distant crystal forests, massive forms stirred.
Beasts.
Not ordinary spirit beasts.
Nascent Soul beasts.
They emerged one by one—colossal serpents with translucent scales, horned wolves whose eyes glowed with condensed soul-light, avian monstrosities whose wings distorted space with every flap.
Any one of them would have caused calamity in the lower realms.
Here, they were merely inhabitants.
Their gazes locked onto Dao.
Not curiosity.
Fear.
Then instinct overrode reason.
The first beast attacked.
A crystal-scaled serpent lunged forward, its body spanning hundreds of meters, jaws opening wide enough to swallow mountains. Nascent Soul pressure crashed outward, soul force attempting to crush Dao's consciousness before physical contact.
Dao did not move.
The pressure reached him—
And vanished.
Immunity to all techniques.
The serpent froze mid-lunge, its pupils dilating in confusion.
Dao raised his hand.
No technique.
No qi projection.
He closed his fingers.
The serpent collapsed inward, its massive body compressing into a singularity of flesh and crystal before blinking out of existence entirely.
The void swallowed the remains.
Silence returned.
Then the others attacked.
The sky filled with distorted howls, soul flames, spatial rifts, and collapsing domains. Dao stepped forward calmly, his movements precise, minimal, absolute.
A horned wolf attempted to phase through space behind him—
Dao turned before it completed the motion.
Future Insight.
One hour.
He stepped aside before the attack existed.
His palm brushed the beast's skull.
The wolf disintegrated into soul particles that never reached the ground.
An avian beast screamed, unleashing a soul-piercing cry that shattered space—
Dao looked at it.
Just looked.
The Void Core pulsed once.
The scream reversed.
The beast's soul collapsed under its own power, its body falling lifelessly from the air before dissolving into nothing.
One by one, the Nascent Soul beasts died.
Not in battle.
In inevitability.
Within minutes, the land was silent again.
Dao stood alone amid crystal trees and flowing qi rivers, surrounded by emptiness where powerful existences had once ruled.
He surveyed the land.
"Too many," he murmured.
He lifted his foot and stomped gently.
The land responded.
A vast portion of the floating island reshaped itself, terrain folding inward, compressing, stabilizing. Mountains lowered. Forests thinned. Qi flow equalized.
The remaining beasts—those far beyond the area—fled instinctively, retreating deeper into regions Dao did not care to occupy.
He turned toward a quiet plateau near the island's center.
"This is enough."
Dao knelt and placed his palm against the ground.
No formation.
No inscription.
Just will.
Stone rose from the earth, shaping itself cleanly and efficiently. Walls formed, simple and sturdy. A roof followed, slanted and unadorned. Windows opened where light naturally flowed. A doorway aligned with the qi currents.
A house.
Small.
Unassuming.
Perfect.
Dao stepped inside.
The interior was sparse—wooden floors, a stone hearth, space enough for meditation and cooking. No excess. No decoration.
He placed the Foundation Establishment manual on a simple table.
Then he sat.
Outside, the void stretched endlessly, the floating land drifting without destination. No stars. No heavens. No sects. No eyes watching.
For the first time since his arrival in this world—
Dao Xuan Tian was truly alone.
He closed his eyes.
The Infinity Eyes dimmed, folding inward obediently.
The Void Core stabilized further, harmonizing with the land beneath him.
"This will be home," Dao said softly.
Not forever.
But long enough.
Beyond the floating island, the universe continued its endless motion—realms rising and falling, cultivators struggling upward, heavens enforcing their rules.
Here, none of that mattered.
Dao Xuan Tian sat in silence, breathing evenly, preparing for the long road ahead.
The mountains were gone.
The world lay waiting.
And somewhere, far beyond reach, destiny hesitated—uncertain what to do with something that walked calmly through the void and called it home.