There was no up, no down. No sky. No ground. Only colorless flame—a dimension woven from lost truths and unspoken regrets.
Yue Xian appeared beside him, though her form flickered as if she were held together by memory alone. Her voice reached him like a song drifting on a wind that no longer existed.
“Where… are we?”
“The space between all things,” Li Fan murmured.“The Realm Where the Gods Lied.”
Before them floated a shattered city. Its towers were carved from bone and meteoric jade, drifting in silence, linked by bridges of flowing light. Suspended above it all was a throne made of broken swords, and seated upon it—
A corpse that breathed.
The body was colossal, wrapped in golden chains. Hair like a storm cloud. Skin cracked like cooled magma. From his chest protruded a blade—the very blade Li Fan now wielded in his soul.
The First Godslayer had fallen here. Not in battle—but in betrayal.
As Li Fan stepped closer, the corpse opened its eyes.
“You carry my flame,” the voice thundered in his bones, not his ears.“But flame is not enough. Flame must become will.”
The godslayer’s gaze pierced Li Fan’s soul, dragging him through visions:
The First Godslayer fighting heaven, not to destroy—but to rebuild.
The moment the divine tribunals betrayed him, branding him the first heretic.
The forging of the Deep Gate, to seal truth itself away.
“The gods fear what you are,” the godslayer whispered.“Not a destroyer. A rebuilder.”
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“What you rebuild… is up to you.”
The corpse dissolved into ash and light—flowing into Li Fan’s chest. His cultivation surged, crossing the final threshold of Spirit Transformation—and igniting the first flicker of the Void Refining Stage.
His fire turned black-gold, pulsing with paradox.
Suddenly, a ripple ran through the air.
Seven beams of light descended around them—robed figures in divine armor, their eyes veiled, their auras vast and cold.
The Celestial Tribunal had arrived.
“You were warned,” said the first, voice hollow.“Step back through the Gate and erase what you saw.”
“Or be judged. Here. Now.”
Li Fan stood between them and Yue Xian, whose soul was unraveling at the edges.
“She’s mortal. Let her go.”
“No one who enters the Gate remains untouched,” said another.“If she bears witness—she dies with you.”
The flame around Li Fan roared.
“Then I’ll burn all seven of you first.”
He drew upon the inheritance of the Godslayer. Not just power—but memory, intent, rage carved into destiny.
The seven moved in unison—divine light lashing down like stars falling from heaven.
And Li Fan—
—became the fire.
The battle lit the skyless void with impossible light. Every strike he parried tore through dimensions. Every blast he returned shattered divine laws.
The Tribunal was strong.
But Li Fan was unchained.
He reached beyond mere cultivation. Beyond stages. Beyond fate.
His flame burned not from realm, but from refusal.
“You gods lie,” he said, catching a sword of pure judgment.“And I will burn your lies until the truth walks free.”
He severed the judgment blade. His soul flared. He struck, and the first god fell screaming into unbeing.
The remaining six trembled—for they had felt it too:
This was no longer the mortal they tried to kill.
This… was the next Godslayer.
The Deep Gate pulsed.
With the Tribunal shattered and the inheritance claimed, the wound in the world began to seal.
Li Fan turned to Yue Xian—who now knelt, gasping, the world blurring around her.
“You can’t hold this place,” he said.
She nodded weakly.
“Then take me with you.”
He lifted her gently, fire coiling around them.
And with one final blaze of impossible light—they stepped back into the world, the Deep Gate vanishing behind them as if it had never been.