The winds in the Great Sky Province carried the scent of blood and iron, as if the heavens themselves recognized that a devastating storm was about to strike the roots of the ancient order that had endured for ages.
Hundreds of miles away from Cloud Heaven City, the jewels of the Great Sky Province rose majestically toward the clouds, specifically atop the grand summit of the towering Dragon Mountains, where the “Great Heaven Gate” resided—the most authoritative and tyrannical power in this region of the world.
The vast halls of the sect were carved from pristine white spirit stone, scattered around immortal peach trees emitting dense spiritual energy that made anyone breathing nearby feel an immediate revitalization of their energy.
Yet this majestic tranquility was abruptly shattered when the sound of the four great war drums boomed from the primary tower of the Great Heaven Gate.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The echoes reverberated through the deep valleys, driving thousands of outer, inner, and elite disciples out of their training chambers to raise their eyes in terror toward the sky, wondering about the cause of this emergency alert—one sounded only when the sect faced mortal, existential peril.
Inside the grand hall, adorned with golden engravings and statues of ancient deities, the Master of the Great Heaven Gate, Long Zhang, sat upon a throne of black jade, his face congested with blind fury and overwhelming shock.
Long Zhang was no ordinary practitioner; he possessed a terrifying cultivation at the [Soul Formation Stage – Second Level], a tier granting the ability to overturn rivers and seas with a single wave of the hand.
Before him on the ground, a scouting and intelligence elder knelt trembling, tears streaming down his face as he delivered the latest intelligence report just arrived from Cloud Heaven City.
“Sect Master…
this…
this is absolute truth!” the elder cried in a shaky, terror-pierced voice.
“The venerable Zhao family has been wiped completely from existence!
Not only was their palace destroyed and their treasuries plundered, but Patriarch Zhao Tianxiong, with his Core Formation Stage Level 8 cultivation, was obliterated alongside five hundred elite fighters and elders by a single strike from that strange white-haired youth!”
A deathly silence hung inside the grand hall.
The three great elders standing on either side—all at advanced stages of Core Formation and early Soul Formation—exchanged looks of shock and dismay.
The First Elder, an elderly man with a white beard and sharp, falcon-like eyes named Bai Hai, spoke up: “Impossible!
How could someone at the Foundation Establishment stage, regardless of his talent, destroy an entire family and wipe out Core Formation experts as if they were insects?
Could this youth be a representative of some hidden major sect from the Imperial Royal Province?”
Long Zhang slowly rose from the black jade throne, and the entire throne hall shook under the weight of the terrifying Soul Formation aura he continuously unleashed.
He spoke in a voice dripping with coldness and cruelty: “His identity and the sect he belongs to do not matter.
Whether he is a demon descended from the heavens or a fleeing genius, his insolence toward the Great Sky Province and destruction of our allies constitutes an explicit declaration of war against the Great Heaven Gate!
If we let him get away with this, our sect will lose its prestige before all other sects and families.”
Long Zhang raised his hand and issued his strict command: “Issue the Red Sect Order!
Gather an elite army of one thousand practitioners at the Core Formation and early Soul Formation stages!
Prepare the three great Spirit Void Ships!
We shall set forth to Cloud Heaven City ourselves, and I will not merely sever this white-haired youth’s head; I will extract his soul and hang it upon the sect gates for a thousand years to come!”
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Dark stood upon the peak of a high hill overlooking the borders of the Great Sky Province, while Qing’er stood quietly and steadily behind him.
Thanks to the continuous connection and multiplication network (100x), Qing’er’s energy had completely stabilized, transcending the limits of the Foundation Establishment stage to reach the threshold of the [Early Core Formation Stage].
As for Dark, deep within the sea of consciousness, he felt the continuous data flow of the system.
The luxurious gold-arched screen clearly displayed the latest updates on the Divine Elephant Technique cells and the linkage network:
========================================
[ System Status and Absolute Sovereignty Report ]
• User: Dark
• Standard Cultivation Level: [Core Formation Stage – Fifth Level]
• Awakened Divine Elephant Technique Cells: [ 145 / 840,000,000 cells ]
• Integrated Abilities and Skills:
* [Chaotic Destructive Dragon Fist] (Max Level)
* [Chaotic Divine Tiger Fist] (Max Level)
* [Sovereign Immunity and Control Aura] (Evolved to absorb 40% of opponent attacks and convert them into energy for the elephant cells)
• New Alerts: A massive army of Spirit Void Ships belonging to the “Great Heaven Gate” has been detected moving toward your current location at extreme speed.
========================================
Dark smiled coldly, closing the system window with his pearl-crimson eyes, which burned with a unique cosmic glow.
He spoke in a deep, calm voice echoing through the void: “It seems the Great Heaven Gate could not be bothered to wait for us in their province; they decided to spare us the travel trouble and deliver their hospitality themselves.”
Qing’er looked toward the distant horizon where three colossal ships engraved with golden symbols, moving through the spiritual currents in the sky and blocking out the sunlight, came into view.
She spoke with a mix of excitement and anticipation: “Master, the Spirit Void Ships of the Great Heaven Gate are approaching with their full force.
Reports state that Long Zhang himself, the Sect Master who is at the Soul Formation stage, is leading this army.”
“Soul Formation?” Dark’s words echoed with mild sarcasm.
“In this world, the Soul Formation stage is considered an insurmountable wall for ordinary practitioners.
Yet they fail to realize that boundaries and level constraints exist only to be shattered beneath the feet of sovereign entities.”
Before long, the three Spirit Void Ships arrived and abruptly halted in mid-air above the hill where the two stood.
The grand gates of the ships opened, pouring out a thousand practitioners clad in gleaming silver armor, surrounded by terrifying spiritual auras sufficient to freeze the blood of any passerby.
At the forefront stood Sect Master Long Zhang, flanked by ten late Core Formation and Soul Formation elders, riding a legendary beast of the “Crimson Phoenix” species that let out deafening cries piercing the heavens.
Long Zhang fixed his sharp, murderous gaze upon Dark, who stood firmly atop an elevated rock, and bellowed with a thunderous voice that shook the surrounding void: “Are you the bastard Dark who dares tamper with the security of the Great Sky Province and destroy our allies in Cloud Heaven City?!
You look far younger than expected, but your arrogance will lead you today into an eternal, inescapable hell!”
Dark regarded him with absolute calm, not even bothering to offer an immediate reply.
He slowly raised his hand, coinciding with the massive release of Divine Elephant Technique cells—now numbering 145 awakened cells—making the space around him bend under the weight of absolute sovereign gravitational aura.
“Long Zhang…” Dark spoke in a deep voice carrying a magical resonance: “I thought the Master of the Great Heaven Gate possessed a presence worthy of notice, yet you look like just another frog screaming at the bottom of a well.
You have all come asking for death, and I will not refuse your request.”
“You arrogant upstart!
Turn him into dust and atoms!” Long Zhang roared madly, ordering an immediate attack.
At that instant, a thousand practitioners charged forward simultaneously as a storm of swords, flames, and destructive spiritual spells directed toward Dark and Qing’er.
But Dark merely raised his palm to the horizon and unleashed a full wave of the [Sovereign Immunity and Control Aura], synchronizing with the use of the [Chaotic Destructive Dragon Fist].
BOOM!
The entire cosmos exploded in that instant.
A silver and red shockwave swept across heaven and earth, shattering thousands of swords and spiritual spells in fractions of a second.
Hundreds of soldiers from the Great Heaven Gate vomited blood and plummeted from the ships like burning autumn leaves, while the great elders were flung through the air with shattered bones, entirely helpless against a power they had never witnessed in their lives.
Long Zhang stood atop the Crimson Phoenix, his eyes bulging with sheer terror.
Before he could even comprehend what had happened, Dark appeared before him in the blink of an eye without leaving a trace of motion in the void, reaching out to grasp the Sect Master’s wrist with merciless, steel-like strength.
CRACK!
Long Zhang’s wrist snapped, and a deafening scream of pain echoed across the entire province, while the luxurious system screen materialized to announce the completion of the ultimate linkage:
========================================
[ Sovereign Link & Plunder Report – Sect Master ]
• Target Linked: Long Zhang (Master of the Great Heaven Gate) successfully.
• Target Standard Cultivation Level: [Soul Formation Stage – Second Level] -> Fully drained and integrated.
• Plundered Techniques and Resources:
* [Heavenly Soul Formation Arts] -> Adapted and integrated into the user’s pathways.
* 20,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones, and the treasures of the three Spirit Void Ships.
• Awakened Divine Elephant Technique Cells: [ 210 / 840,000,000 cells ]
• User Standard Training Level: [Core Formation Stage – Final Level (Soul Formation Threshold)]
========================================
Dark felt a mighty torrent of Soul Formation energy course through his veins, pushing his power to entirely new horizons.
In the background, Qing’er witnessed the fall of the major sect’s master with a single touch, feeling her own energy multiply at an astonishing rate that pushed her directly toward the deepest stages of Core Formation.
Dark did not stop at crushing the army and the sect master; he completely dismantled the three Spirit Void Ships and absorbed all treasures and resources of the Great Heaven Gate into his sovereign network reserves.
On that day, everyone in the Great Sky Province realized that a new era had begun—an era where no one held the right to object before Dark’s absolute sovereignty, as he and Qing’er stepped forward toward the greater and grander unknown of the martial arts world.
”Thank you for reading Chapter 9!
As the mighty Great Heaven Gate falls and the sovereign’s power reaches the Soul Formation stage, what other terrifying secrets and supreme inheritances await Dark in the higher realms?
Add it to your library so you never miss a new update!
If you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a vote to support the novel.
Writing is a journey, but your support is my ultimate motivation to keep creating!
Share your thoughts, theories, or ideas for the story in the comments below!”