The silence on the other side of the portal was suffocating. 100,000 souls stood in a foreign land, their eyes locked onto the shimmering blue rift that remained open. They had crossed, but their King, their God, was missing.

Suddenly, a frantic, distorted voice erupted from the command beacon. It was Ethan, but he sounded like a man drowning in his own adrenaline.

"Jason! Destroy the portal! NOW!"

The soldiers froze. Jason Carter looked at the rift, his hand trembling on the trigger of an implosion device. "I can’t... Boss, you’re still there!"

"SHIT, JASON! THAT’S A FUCKING ORDER! DESTROY IT NOW!" Ethan’s roar was accompanied by the sound of clashing steel and agonizing screams. "Take care of my women... I’ll find a way to you when I can! DO IT!"

A massive explosion echoed through the portal from the other side. The blue light flickered violently, and for a terrifying second, a crimson shadow began to emerge from the rift—an invader trying to bridge the gap.

Jason didn’t wait any longer. With tears streaming down his face, he primed the spiritual grenade—a runic device packed with thousands of high-grade spirit stones designed for a localized collapse. He hurled it into the center of the rift.

**BOOM.**

The portal imploded into a singular black point before vanishing entirely, leaving the 100,000 survivors stranded in a vast, silent wilderness. They were safe, but they were alone.

---

Three Minutes Earlier: The Bloody Threshold

Ethan sprinted toward the portal node, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He was less than fifty meters away when ten shadows blurred into existence between him and his escape.

These weren’t the disorganized soldiers he had fought before. These were Crimson Sect disciples—warriors who had breathed spiritual energy since birth. They formed a semi-circle, their eyes cold and hungry.

"The killer," one hissed, unsheathing a curved saber. "Elder Xuan Ni will reward us well for your head."

Ethan didn’t speak. He reached into his belt and drew his blackened daggers. He had no Void energy left for flashy moves, but his muscles still remembered the thousands of hours of life-or-death combat.

He lunged.

The clash was a blur of steel and sparks. Ethan ducked under a horizontal swing from a broadsword and buried his dagger in the thigh of a spearman, twisting the blade to shred the muscle. But as he went for the kill, a heavy mace whistled toward his ribs. He twisted mid-air, taking a glancing blow that cracked two ribs and sent him rolling across the dirt.

He sprang back up, spitting blood. Two disciples rushed him simultaneously. Ethan parried the first, a rapier, and used the momentum to headbutt the second, breaking the man’s nose. He was a whirlwind of violence, but he was bleeding from a dozen shallow cuts.

Thrum.

An archer at the back of the group released a feathered shaft. Ethan, pinned between two swordsmen, couldn’t dodge. The arrow whistled toward his throat.

"Fine," Ethan growled. "You want a piece of me?"

He forced his exhausted mind to tap into the absolute bottom of his reservoir. His Amethyst Eyes flared with a dying light.

[Spacial Control]

The world slowed to a crawl. The arrow froze inches from his neck. The swordsmen were suspended in mid-strike. It was a god-like power, but Ethan felt his brain burning as if someone had poured molten lead into his skull.

He lunged forward, grabbing the arrow out of the air and stabbing it through the archer’s eye, then spun, his dagger decapitating the closest swordsman.

The domain shattered instantly. Ethan collapsed to one knee, the amethyst glow fading into a dull, lifeless grey. He had nothing left. No energy, no void, only the iron in his will.

Five disciples remained, and they were no longer smiling. They saw the monster before them was drained, and they closed in for the kill.

That was when Ethan realized he wouldn’t make it. He reached for his comms.

"Jason! Destroy the portal! NOW!"

Ethan knelt in the dirt, his lungs burning and his vision blurring into a haze of red. The five remaining Crimson Sect disciples stepped forward, their weapons raised, sensing the kill. But as the tip of a spear brushed against Ethan’s chest, the air behind him didn’t just ripple—it fractured.

The Void Nightmare didn’t manifest as a giant this time. Instead, a miniature black hole, no larger than a fist, opened at Ethan’s back.

The corpses of the five disciples he had just slain were suddenly jerked toward the rift. Their flesh, their blood, and—most importantly—their refined spiritual energy were unceremoniously stripped from their bones and swallowed by the darkness.

[Devour Sequence Initiated] Crul’s voice echoed, no longer sounding like a machine, but a hungry god. [Refilling Void Reservoir... 20%... 50%... 85%...]

Ethan felt a jolt of cold, violent electricity shoot through his spine. The charred skin on his arms began to flake away, replaced by fresh, amethyst-tinted tissue. His eyes snapped open, the violet glow so intense it cast shadows against the afternoon sun.

He rose slowly, the dirt beneath his boots turning to glass from the sheer pressure of his aura.

"My turn," Ethan whispered.

The five disciples barely had time to scream. Ethan became a phantom. He moved through them not like a man, but like a tear in reality. A single horizontal sweep of his arm sent a blade of pure vacuum energy through three of them, bifurcating their waists instantly. He caught the fourth by the throat, the Void energy at his fingertips liquefying the man’s neck before he could even gurgle. The fifth tried to run, but Ethan reached out, and the gravity around the disciple inverted, slamming him into the ground with the force of a falling building.

Ethan stood alone in a circle of gore, his chest heaving as he stabilized the sudden influx of stolen power.

But the silence was short-lived.

From the wreckage of the nearby hills, a sea of crimson appeared. At least a hundred more soldiers emerged, their armor clanking in unison. They didn’t charge blindly like the others. They stopped, forming a disciplined phalanx, their eyes fixed on the man who had just turned ten of their brothers into pulp. There was a newfound respect in their gaze—the kind of respect one gives to a lethal predator—but there was no fear.

The line parted, and a man walked through. He was taller than the others, wearing ornate jade-inlaid plate armor. He carried a heavy halberd that seemed to drink the light around it.

This was Captain Xuan Li, the second-in-command of the expedition. A warrior at the absolute Peak of the Spiritual Core Realm.

Xuan Li looked at the bodies, then at Ethan. He didn’t sneer or shout. He simply adjusted his grip on his halberd.

"Impressive," Xuan Li said, his voice deep and resonant. "A native of a dying world holding the power of the Void. You are a rare treasure, assassin. It is almost a pity that I must deliver your head to the Elder in pieces."

Ethan wiped a streak of blood from his cheek and bared his teeth in a savage grin. "A lot of people have tried to take my head today, Captain. They’re all currently feeding my appetite. You want to be next on the menu?"

Xuan Li didn’t respond with words. He stepped forward, and the ground for ten meters around him shattered under the weight of his Spiritual Core. The real battle was just beginning.

--------------------

From this moment forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.

Note: These are only the ranks mentioned so far to avoid spoilers.

Body Refinement Realm 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Skin Refinement / Bone Refinement / Organ Refinement

Spiritual Gathering Realm

Spiritual Perception / Spiritual Mist / Spiritual Condensation

Spiritual Core Realm

Core Solidification / Core Awakening / Spiritual Collapse (Half-step Spiritual Core)

Spiritual Soul Realm

Spiritual Soul Awakening / Soul Nourishing / Soul-Core Fusion

Golden Core Realm

Prime Fusion / Core Perfection / Core Destruction

Spiritual Sea Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Dao Manifestation Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Spiritual Transcendence

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??