In the place beyond mortality—where thoughts shape galaxies and divinity flows like rivers of molten concept—Li Fan stood alone beneath a fractured sky, facing the seven orbs that shimmered with the primal Laws of Existence.

  Each orb pulsated with more than power. They held identity. Domain. Truth.

  To claim the Genuine Celestial King Realm, Li Fan could not simply endure them.

  He had to conquer them.

  One by one.

  First Orb: Law of Time

  The moment his fingers touched it, Li Fan was flung backward through his own lifeline. He stood as a child again in the cold, ruined temple where the cultists had left his parents to die. The flames crackled. The air reeked of blood.

  A voice whispered, “Change it.”

  A temptation.

  He could save them now.

  But he clenched his fists. “I would not be here… if I rewrote that pain.”

  The moment he rejected the illusion, the orb turned to ash, and time acknowledged his defiance.

  Second Orb: Law of Fate

  This trial was colder. A silver thread wound itself around his soul, tying him to every possible future.

  He saw himself crowned as emperor of mortals.

  Saw himself kneeling before gods.

  Saw himself dying in obscurity.

  “You cannot choose your fate,” said the voice.

  But Li Fan snarled, “Then I’ll cut the thread.”

  With a swing of the Godslayer Flame, he burned the line—scorching fate itself.

  The second orb shattered.

  Third Orb: Law of War

  The world dissolved into a battlefield.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  A million armies clashed. And in each one, he saw a version of himself—some righteous, some cruel, some hollowed by endless victory.

  They turned on him.

  One thousand Li Fans, one thousand weapons.

  He bled. He burned.

  But he never knelt.

  And when he stood atop the mountain of his own selves, the orb of war shattered in submission.

  Fourth Orb: Law of Chaos

  A void with no rules.

  Up was down. Fire was water. Thought screamed and silence spoke.

  Here, Li Fan nearly broke.

  His soul twisted under the weight of unmaking. His Flame flickered.

  But then, a voice—not divine, not his own—echoed through the chaos.

  It was Yue Xian.

  A memory? A whisper of reality? He didn’t know.

  But it steadied him.

  “Anchor yourself. You are Crownless—but not alone.”

  His flame surged, reshaped by will.

  The chaos bowed.

  Fifth Orb: Law of Life

  A garden. Every flower a soul.

  He walked paths of compassion and cruelty, love and loss.

  He met those he had saved.

  And those he had killed.

  “You cannot bear the weight of life,” the voice said.

  But Li Fan wept without shame.

  And carried them all.

  The orb turned to light and joined him.

  Sixth Orb: Law of Death

  An endless desert. A single scythe.

  Here, he saw his own end—not once, but many times.

  Old. Betrayed. Alone. Forgotten.

  The shadows whispered, “Will you flee death again?”

  He smiled. “I don’t flee.”

  He walked calmly into the center, embracing the end.

  And there, he found beginning.

  The sixth orb dissolved.

  Seventh Orb: Law of Truth

  Here, there was only a mirror.

  And in it?

  Not a hero.

  Not a savior.

  Not even a god.

  Just a boy. Scarred. Angry. Alone.

  Afraid.

  “Are you worthy?” the mirror asked.

  Li Fan breathed deeply. Looked at the mirror. And said,

  “No. But I’m still walking.”

  The mirror cracked.

  And the orb of truth, the final one, burst into flame—and joined the others within him.

  Beyond the Trial

  Li Fan knelt, trembling.

  Seven orbs had become seven brands across his soul. He was no longer an immortal.

  He was a Genuine Celestial King—a divine existence that bore no origin, no script, no divine bloodline.

  Just a flame.

  Crownless.

  In the Divine Thrones

  The gods fell silent.

  One ancient being leaned forward, whispering into the void:

  “He’s not one of us… but perhaps… he will be something greater.”