024 : The birth of a new Era.

The battlefield was eerily silent.

The once-mighty warriors of the Great Sect Alliance—thousands of the strongest cultivators in existence—lay as nothing more than hollowed corpses, their qi drained, their spirits shattered. The grand formations that had once filled the sky with divine radiance were now nothing but fading embers, their power extinguished. The sect banners, symbols of authority that had ruled the cultivation world for ten thousand years, lay tattered and broken upon the bloodstained ground.

At the center of it all, Lin Tian stood alone.

His long black robes, once torn from battle, were now pristine, woven anew from the swirling energy that radiated from his very being. The golden-black light that surrounded him no longer flickered wildly but instead pulsed with absolute control, as if the world itself had recognized him as its master. He did not need to absorb the lingering qi from the battlefield—it came to him naturally, surrendering without resistance.

The heavens had watched. The heavens had tried to strike him down.

But in the end—the heavens had lost.

Lin Tian lifted his hand.

The air stilled. The remnants of divine energy, once belonging to those who had fought against him, condensed in the sky, forming a vast celestial storm of lingering qi. This was power that had once belonged to the most powerful cultivators in existence.

But now—

It belonged to him.

With a simple gesture, he devoured it all.

The sky dimmed. The land quaked.

And in that moment—

The entire cultivation world felt it.

Lin Tian was no longer just a cultivator.

He was the singularity of power itself.

Far beyond the battlefield, in the distant lands untouched by war, the greatest sects that had not participated in the Great Sect Alliance felt the disturbance.

In the grand floating citadels of the Eternal Flame Clan, where the strongest fire cultivators resided, their supreme elder—a being who had lived for eight thousand years—awoke from his meditation, his eyes filled with something he had not felt in millennia.

Dread.

In the icy palaces of the Frozen Moon Sect, where the grand priestesses who controlled the balance of yin and yang resided, their leader, a woman who had once foreseen countless fates, suddenly collapsed onto her knees, her vision overwhelmed by a singular prophecy.

"The world has changed."

And deep within the Abyssal Realms, where the most ancient beings slumbered, an old voice whispered into the void.

"He has arrived."

Lin Tian's existence was no longer a mere disturbance.

He had become a calamity.

News of the Great Sect Alliance's annihilation spread like wildfire. Cultivators who had once sworn loyalty to their sects—who had once mocked Lin Tian as a nobody—now trembled at the mention of his name.

Countless sects and clans, realizing that resistance was meaningless, bowed before him.

Some tried to flee. Some tried to hide.

None succeeded.

Lin Tian did not need to hunt them down.

His power had grown to the point where his mere presence was enough to break their wills.

One by one, sect masters, elders, and grand patriarchs knelt before him, pledging allegiance.

But Lin Tian did not care for their loyalty.

He did not need them.

He needed only power.

And so, one by one—

He devoured them.

He did not allow them to serve. He did not allow them to beg for mercy.

He simply consumed everything they had to offer.

By the time he was done, the world that had once stood against him no longer existed.

Only Lin Tian remained.

But not everyone had accepted this fate.

Far beyond the mortal world, beyond the highest sects, beyond even the reach of heaven's laws—there was one final place left untouched.

The Celestial Void.

A realm where true immortals resided.

Unlike the cultivators of the lower realms, these beings had long since abandoned their mortal shells. They did not rely on qi, did not wield weapons, did not adhere to the same principles of strength.

They were gods in all but name.

And when Lin Tian's power broke through the boundaries of the world—

They finally took notice.

In the Divine Council of Immortals, beings of unimaginable power gathered, their faces unreadable, their forms shifting like celestial illusions. Some had ascended beyond form itself, existing only as pure will. Others were remnants of forgotten gods, their divinity fractured but still vast beyond mortal comprehension.

For countless millennia, they had watched over the lower realms, observing the struggles of the cultivators, the rise and fall of sects, the endless wars over power.

But never had they interfered.

Because never had there been a true threat.

Until now.

One of them, a figure wreathed in golden flames, finally spoke.

"This cannot continue."

Another, whose form was nothing but a shifting void, nodded.

"He must be erased."

And so, for the first time since the dawn of existence—

The Immortal Council decreed the death of a mortal.

Lin Tian had become something even they could not ignore.

But Lin Tian did not wait for them.

He felt their presence.

He felt their decision.

And he smiled.

Standing at the peak of the highest mountain, overlooking the ruins of the world he had conquered, Lin Tian gazed toward the sky—toward the barrier separating the mortal world from the Celestial Void.

"So even the immortals have noticed me."

His golden-black eyes burned.

"Good."

If they wanted a war—

He would bring them destruction.

With a single step, he rose into the heavens.

The boundary of the world, the final wall between mortality and godhood, cracked before his presence.

And as he ascended, his voice echoed across all of existence.

"I am coming."

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