Chapter 264: Reigning Over the World (33) - The Upper Realm

Intense pain, followed by a dizzying vertigo and a hazy blur.

These were the first sensations to surface in Jiuyou's mind after he was sucked into the spatial rift.

The moment the violent spatial turbulence swallowed him, he dared not hesitate. He pushed his cultivation to its absolute limit, casting every defensive spell in his arsenal and activating several protective ancient treasures to wrap himself in layer upon layer of shields.

The rampaging spatial turbulence lashed at him from all sides like countless sharp blades, endlessly hacking and crashing against his defensive barriers. Even with his Deity Transformation cultivation, he could barely withstand this primal power. Everything around him was a chaotic blur. If his Divine Sense slipped even an inch beyond his shields to touch the outside currents, it was instantly shredded, threatening a violent backlash against his very soul.

Refusing to take any chances, Jiuyou immediately drew his Divine Sense back, locking it entirely within his protective barriers. Endless darkness swallowed his body. He could clearly feel a colossal force sweeping him up and hurtling him forward. His magic power drained at a terrifying rate, burning through more than half his reserves. Yet his will to survive remained unextinguished; he gritted his teeth and held on, refusing to relax for even a moment.

He drifted through the turbulent void for an unknown length of time before a faint glimmer of light finally pierced the darkness ahead.

Trapped in this desperate plight, that faint sliver of light was Jiuyou's only lifeline. He squeezed out the last dregs of his magic power and threw himself toward it. The glow grew blindingly bright. The instant he plunged into the light, the crushing pressure on his body vanished, and a hazy sensation of weightlessness quietly washed over him.

Once his mind settled slightly, Jiuyou focused his gaze and scanned his surroundings, utterly stunned.

He was floating in the middle of a vast, boundless starry sky. Far below him hung a sphere like a glazed jewel. He could clearly see the sprawling continents, vast oceans, and winding mountain ranges stretching across its surface. His body was slowly drifting away from that vibrant world.

A brilliant pillar of light cascaded from above, catching his body and pulling him ever higher. In the blink of an eye, the jewel-like planet vanished entirely from sight, and the surrounding scenery began to blur.

'Where is this place? Could that sphere just now have been the world I came from?'

Countless questions churned in Jiuyou's mind, but he had no time to ponder them. Looking up, an endless world barrier stretched across his vision.

Jiuyou came to a halt just outside the barrier. He reached out, gently pressing his palm against the translucent screen. Through the barrier, he could faintly glimpse the scene within. However, that world was simply too vast; all that met his eyes was an expanse of hazy, primordial chaos. He couldn't make out any further details.

'Could this... be the Upper Realm?'

Just the small corner revealed before his eyes was dozens of times larger than the world he had left behind.

Thump, thump.

Jiuyou's heart pounded rapidly. It had been a long time since he last felt such intense emotion. An indescribable restlessness surged within him. Pressing his entire body against the world barrier, he slammed his palms against the screen again and again, desperate to break through and step inside. Yet, no matter how much magic power he channeled, he couldn't shake the barrier in the slightest.

'It's the Upper Realm! This has to be the Upper Realm!'

Jiuyou's breathing quickened. His eyes burned with fervor as he stared fixedly at the world beyond the barrier.

Since stepping onto the path of cultivation as a mere mortal, he had advanced through Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul, all the way to his current state of Deity Transformation. But even after reaching the absolute peak of cultivation in his world, his lifespan still had a limit. True eternal life remained forever out of reach. In his original world, Deity Transformation was the end of the line. The path forward had been entirely severed.

If he could break free from the shackles of the old world and step into this legendary Upper Realm, that severed path of cultivation might finally continue.

A bottomless yearning swelled in his chest.

What exactly was the Upper Realm like? What did the cultivators and demonic beasts there look like? How did its landscapes and rivers differ from those in the Lower Realm? Were its skies and oceans just as blue? What realms existed above Deity Transformation? Beyond the familiar myriad arts of immortal cultivation, were there even more unheard-of secret techniques waiting to be discovered?

Thousands of thoughts raced through his mind. His focus, his gaze, and his every shred of attention were utterly captivated by the sight beyond the barrier. He completely failed to notice that the hazy sensation lingering around his body had never faded.

Jiuyou stared at the misty world barrier before him, his eyes shining with longing. Even though he couldn't see through the hazy expanse beyond, he was certain of one thing: this true world was bound to be vast and breathtakingly beautiful, far beyond the mortal dust of the Lower Realm.

Just as his mind slipped deeper into its trance, a phantom whisper suddenly drifted out from the void beside him. Its tone was ethereal and feather-light, carrying an eerie, bewitching rhythm.

"The scenery of the Upper Realm is surely breathtaking."

Jiuyou's body stiffened slightly, though he seemed entirely oblivious to the voice. His eyes remained locked on the illusion ahead, his mind apparently consumed by boundless yearning. "Indeed, it is breathtaking," he replied in a dull, mechanical mutter.

The eerie voice pressed closer, its formless source creeping right beside him as it continued its slow, coaxing seduction. "You cultivated for a thousand years and reached the peak of Deity Transformation, only to remain trapped in an incomplete world. You have never seen the vast immensity of the Returning Spirit Domain. You have spent your entire life trapped in a cage, viewing the sky from the bottom of a well, reduced to nothing more than a shackled prisoner of this realm. Are you truly resigned to this?"

"I am not..."

Jiuyou's response was low and wooden. His mind seemed to have been completely ensnared, drawing out every last shred of his deepest obsessions and bitter resentments.

The eerie voice drew even closer until it was practically murmuring right into his ear. Every word was a poisoned barb, relentlessly prying at the deepest obsessions of his Dao heart. "Your talent, your fortune, and your disposition are all first-rate. It is only the narrow confines of this Lower Realm that have locked away your path forward. If you stop here, standing guard over a broken sky, wasting away your remaining lifespan until you wither into dust... a thousand years of cultivation will amount to nothing but an empty dream. Is that truly what you want?"

Those words struck directly at the greatest flaw in Jiuyou's Dao heart.

In the next instant, his eyes snapped into sudden clarity. A suffocating, violent aura erupted from his body.

"I will never accept it!"

His furious roar shook the void. Jiuyou's deeply buried consciousness instantly tore free from the illusion's shackles. A brilliant golden light flared around him, shattering the layers of the bewitching fog. The Ember Moon Sword hidden within his sleeve shot out in a flash. Its sword light was chilling and fierce, carrying a power meant to shatter illusions and eradicate evil as it instantly ripped through the blood-red mist coiling around him.

Deep within that mist, a blood-red figure had long been lurking in wait. It had just extended its sharp claws, seeking to launch a fatal ambush and snatch his soul while his mind was submerged in the illusion. Instead, the blinding sword light drove cleanly through its body.

The blood-red figure froze slightly, a flicker of surprise flashing through its eyes. A moment later, its lips curled into a cold, wicked smile. Its voice rasped with gloomy malice. "As expected of someone who reached Deity Transformation in this broken world. You truly aren't that easy to drag under."

As its words fell, the blood-red body turned ethereal inch by inch, fading away into the void like scattered ash in the wind.

With the destruction of this lurking phantom, the mind-bewitching illusion all around him peeled away layer by layer. The vast, breathtaking, and endlessly alluring vision of the Upper Realm before his eyes slowly faded into nothingness, completely dissipating.

The vast paradise and the glorious opportunity for ascension had been, from the very beginning, nothing more than a lethal, highly targeted psychological trap.