"Alright," Elder Cael said as he stood high above the square, his voice carrying clearly across the silent crowd. "I will now send your souls into the Soul Sealing Painting."

The moment his words fell, both of his hands began moving rapidly, forming one hand seal after another with astonishing precision. Streams of divine energy gathered around him, causing the air itself to tremble faintly.

Then—

Golden light descended from the sky.

The light spread across the entire square like a divine curtain, enveloping every disciple standing before the Soul Sealing Painting. It was warm at first, almost gentle, but within moments, everyone felt a strange pulling sensation coming from deep within themselves.

It was not their bodies being dragged.

It was their souls.

Max immediately felt an invisible force latch onto his consciousness. Before he could fully examine it, the world around him blurred violently. The square, the disciples, the elders, and even the enormous painting in the sky all twisted into streaks of light.

Then everything went dark for a brief moment.

When Max opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in the middle of a forest.

Tall ancient trees stretched endlessly in every direction, their thick trunks covered in dark moss while massive branches blocked most of the light above. The air carried a damp earthy smell, and faint mist drifted between the trees, giving the forest an eerily realistic atmosphere.

Max slowly looked around, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Are we truly inside a painted world?" he muttered softly.

He crouched slightly and touched the ground beneath him. The soil felt real. The rough bark of the nearby tree felt real. Even the cold moisture lingering on the leaves brushing against his hand felt no different from an actual world.

There was no sense of illusion at all.

For a moment, Max could not help but admire the absurdity of such a treasure. A painting capable of sealing souls and creating a world realistic enough to deceive all five senses was far beyond ordinary imagination.

As that thought crossed his mind, another realization followed closely behind.

If even this Soul Sealing Painting could create such a massive environment for only hundreds of participants, then what kind of method did the true Cosmic Ascension Conference use to contain trillions of geniuses at once?

The scale alone was terrifying to imagine.

"I wonder how the Conference itself handles something on that level," Max murmured quietly as he straightened up. "A battlefield for trillions of participants... something like a painting should not even be enough."

The more he thought about it, the more he realized how terrifying the foundations of the Cosmic Ascension Conference truly were.

However, Max did not remain standing there for long. Since the trial had already begun, wasting time was meaningless.

He began moving through the forest calmly, his senses spread outward while his Dimensional Sovereign Body silently scanned the surroundings.

The forest was unusually quiet.

Too quiet.

Then suddenly—

Max stopped.

The atmosphere around him changed.

Rustling sounds echoed from every direction as large shadows emerged from between the trees one after another. Heavy footsteps shook the ground faintly, and low growls filled the air.

In just a few breaths, Max found himself completely surrounded.

However, they were not disciples.

They were monsters.

Max’s eyes swept across them calmly while his Dimensional Sovereign Body instantly analyzed every single creature present.

"There are twenty seven of them," he thought.

The creatures surrounding him looked savage and grotesque. Some resembled enormous black wolves with crimson eyes and razor sharp fangs dripping with corrosive saliva.

Others were humanoid beasts covered in dark scales with long clawed arms powerful enough to tear apart steel. There were even massive spider-like monsters clinging to the trees above, their countless eyes glowing coldly within the shadows.

What shocked Max the most was not their appearance.

It was their strength.

Every single one of them possessed cultivation at the peak of the Law Refinement Realm.

A normal disciple at the same realm would instantly panic after being surrounded by twenty seven peak Law Refinement monsters simultaneously.

Yet Max merely stood there quietly.

The monsters growled as they slowly closed in around him, their killing intent spreading heavily through the forest.

Then—

One of the wolf-like beasts suddenly lunged toward him.

The instant it moved, the others followed.

The forest erupted into chaos as twenty seven monsters charged at Max from every direction at terrifying speed. Some leapt from the ground while others attacked from above, sealing nearly every possible path of escape.

However, Max did not retreat.

His expression remained calm as he slowly took his sword out.

A faint sword hum echoed softly through the forest.

In the next moment, Max moved.

There was no explosion of energy.

No flashy wave of power.

He simply stepped forward and swung his sword once.

Saint Origin Sword Art.

For a brief instant, nothing seemed to happen.

The monsters continued charging forward as if Max’s attack had completely failed.

Then—

Thin silver lines suddenly appeared across the bodies of every monster surrounding him.

The world became silent.

A second later, blood erupted into the air.

The enormous wolf beasts split cleanly into pieces. The scaled humanoid monsters were sliced apart so smoothly that their upper bodies slid from their waists before crashing to the ground. Even the giant spiders hanging from the trees were severed in half before they could release a single screech.

Twenty seven monsters.

All dead.

And Max had only used a single strike.

The terrifying part was that the surrounding forest remained almost untouched. The trees still stood tall, and the ground barely showed signs of battle. It was as though the sword strike had selectively erased only the lives of the monsters themselves.

Max slowly lowered his sword, his gaze calm as he looked at the corpses littering the forest floor.

Even now, the Saint Origin Sword Art still amazed him.

The attack had been so refined and concentrated that the monsters had not even realized they were already dead. Only after the sword intent completely passed through their bodies did the destruction reveal itself.

A faint smile appeared on Max’s face.

"This sword art..." he muttered softly. "The more I use it, the more terrifying it becomes."