Chapter 37

Chapter 37: The Abyss Stares Back

The world held its breath.

Tian Yu's fingers hovered over the swirling tendrils of Void energy, their touch whispering forbidden secrets against his skin. The abyss pulsed, waiting, wanting.

Behind him, Lan Yue's voice was sharp with urgency. "Tian Yu, step away from it!"

To his side, Grandmaster Yao simply watched, a knowing glint in his golden eyes. "You feel it, don't you? The Void does not reject you—it welcomes you."

The disciples behind Tian Yu shifted uneasily. Some still held their weapons ready, but their resolve wavered. How could they fight something they barely understood?

Then the Void moved.

The tendrils curled inward, spiraling into a single, twisting shape. A gate.

No, not a gate. A mouth.

And from within, something stared back.

The Thing Beyond the Rift

A monstrous eye, deep and endless, opened within the darkness.

It was not human. It was not even alive in the way they understood life. It was something older, something that had waited long before mortals had ever walked the Nine Divine Heavens.

And now, it had awakened.

"He has heard our call." Grandmaster Yao spread his arms in reverence. "The First One."

Tian Yu's breath caught. The First One?

In the oldest records, hidden even from most cultivators, there were whispers of a being—an entity that had ruled during the Void Era, before the rise of sects, before the Heavens were divided. A being whose name had been erased from history.

And now, it was looking at him.

"You... are... not... ready..." The voice was like a storm collapsing upon itself, layered with echoes from countless forgotten voices.

A wave of raw power exploded outward.

Tian Yu staggered as his Void Physique resonated violently, his very existence being tested by the entity beyond the gate. The weaker disciples collapsed instantly, blood pouring from their eyes and ears. Even Lan Yue, despite her formidable cultivation, gritted her teeth as she fell to one knee.

Grandmaster Yao alone remained unmoved, his expression unreadable. "Then let us make him ready."

The tendrils lunged.

Baptism in the Void

Tian Yu barely had time to react before the shadows wrapped around him.

Pain. Absolute, consuming pain.

The Void did not simply invade his body—it rewrote it. It tore apart the limits of his meridians, carved into his bones, wove itself into the very core of his cultivation.

For a moment, Tian Yu was nothing.

A soul without form.

A consciousness adrift in an infinite abyss.

"You seek knowledge… but knowledge has a price."

The voice of the First One surrounded him, vast and unrelenting.

"Will you pay it?"

Tian Yu's mind burned. He could feel his memories unraveling, his identity slipping into the tide. This was not just about power—this was about becoming something else.

He was losing himself.

And then—

A flash of silver light.

A voice—his own—cutting through the abyss.

"No. I will not be consumed."

The Void shuddered.

Tian Yu's soul snapped back into place, his body reforming from the nothingness. But it was changed.

The Void Physique had evolved.

His meridians no longer followed the natural flow of Qi—they bent through space itself. His perception had expanded beyond the physical world, allowing him to see the fabric of reality.

And within his chest, where his core should have been, something new pulsed.

A Void Heart.

Return from the Abyss

The world rushed back.

Tian Yu stood once more in the Obsidian Hall, but the energy around him had shifted.

The tendrils no longer tried to consume him. They obeyed him.

Gasps filled the chamber as the surviving disciples stepped back in awe and fear. Even Lan Yue's expression darkened. "What… are you now?"

Grandmaster Yao exhaled, smiling. "A success."

Tian Yu looked at his hands, his fingertips flickering with strands of Void Essence. He could feel it—the power to step beyond normal cultivation, to manipulate the very threads of existence.

And yet, deep inside him, the voice of the First One remained.

Waiting.

Watching.

He had escaped total assimilation… but for how long?

Tian Yu lifted his gaze, staring at Grandmaster Yao. "You wanted me to become this."

The Grandmaster gave a slow nod. "The heavens fear the Void, Tian Yu. They locked it away, erased its history. But you—" he gestured at him, "—you are proof that the Void was never meant to be forgotten."

Lan Yue stepped forward, her expression hard. "And what now? Do you expect him to follow you blindly?"

Tian Yu remained silent.

He had come seeking knowledge.

He had found power.

But at what cost?

The road ahead was no longer just about cultivation. It was about a truth the heavens wanted buried.

And the question remained—

Would he embrace it?

Or would he defy it?

End of Chapter 37: The Abyss Stares Back

Preview of Chapter 38:

Tian Yu's new powers—what does it mean to wield a Void Heart?

The true nature of the First One—what was erased from history?

Lan Yue's ultimatum—will she stand with Tian Yu or against him?

The Sect's reaction—can Tian Yu still be part of the Azure Sky Sect?

A new threat arises—the Forbidden Grounds tremble as an ancient force awakens.