“It’s been a long time since I last practiced the Heart-Refining Secret Art. Now that I’ve established the Path of Slaughter, it’s time to train in it once more,” Dongbo Xueying mused to himself. The Heart-Refining Secret Art, ‘Trial of Ages,’ consumed several thousand years with each cultivation session and significantly influenced one’s state of mind. Thus, practitioners usually spaced out their sessions over long intervals. Yet, over the course of eight million years, he had undergone it countless times.
Now that the Path of Slaughter had been perfected, Dongbo Xueying brimmed with fighting spirit. Without hesitation, he sat cross-legged and began the trial once more.
Snowflakes settled upon his body, gradually freezing over him until he transformed into a motionless snowman.
**Trial of Ages.**
One life after another.
He had no choice but to embody each protagonist, living through their experiences.
These lives varied—some were steeped in darkness and madness, others in carefree freedom, some in cold malevolence, and still others in unyielding dominance. Despite his vast experiences, Dongbo Xueying had never encountered such bizarre and extreme circumstances before. Yet, within the Trial of Ages, he endured them all. Worse still, the protagonists’ personalities often clashed violently with his own nature, and this dissonance relentlessly gnawed at his psyche over the endless years.
Even for a Venerable, maintaining mental stability under the Trial of Ages was an immense challenge.
“Ninth protagonist.” This time, Dongbo Xueying had progressed to the ninth protagonist’s life—a feat he had never achieved in all his previous attempts.
The ninth protagonist was a simple man. Until the age of twenty-five, he lived as an ordinary mortal, scarcely even stepping foot into a major city. That year, however, he awakened the bloodline of a World God, instantly ascending to the status of a Transcendent Being. Naïve and inexperienced, he was swiftly ensnared by the temptations of various factions, drowning in the pleasures they offered. He mistook their manipulations for true love, only to be repeatedly exploited. Eventually, he was imprisoned, destined to become experimental fodder for a Demigod Transcendent Mage.
In the depths of his cell, he finally awoke to the truth—unable to believe that the three women he had loved most had all deceived him. Under the mage’s cruel experiments, he suffered unspeakable torment. Yet, amid his agony, he found solace in the words of another captive—a grotesquely disfigured woman locked in the adjacent cell. For reasons he couldn’t fathom, he grew attached to her.
To him, she was the only one who had ever been genuine.
Then, one day, she perished in an experiment.
He shattered.
Madness consumed him.
That day, thunder roared across the heavens, reducing the land for thousands of miles to ruins. The Demigod Mage perished on the spot.
From then on, a deranged man wandered the world—capricious, violent, and immensely powerful. Even as a Transcendent, his strength rivaled that of a Deity. His power only grew, ascending through the ranks of Deity, First Heaven World God, Second Heaven World God… He was a lunatic—sometimes obsessively devoted to a mortal woman, other times scheming against his enemies, toying with them before their demise, and often slaughtering his way through all opposition in fits of rage.
His personality was ever-shifting.
Upon reaching the Fourth Heaven World God realm and transcending into a Great Being, he resurrected the disfigured woman. They shared a brief period of peace—until she, merely a lowly Deity, reached the end of her lifespan and faded away. His instability worsened. He forged the ‘Path of Punishment Lightning,’ ascending to Venerable, and later, to Sovereign.
This life spanned over fifty billion years.
Throughout this existence, Dongbo Xueying’s psyche twisted and warped alongside the protagonist’s erratic temperament. At times, he felt as though he himself had become a madman. Yet, he endured. The final stretch—spanning fifty billion years, including eras as a Great Being, Venerable, and even Sovereign—subjected his mind to an even deeper tempering.
**Boom.**
The Trial of Ages concluded.
This time, it ended naturally—a full completion of the training.
The thick snow encasing the figure atop the mountain began to crack and fall away, revealing layers of frozen ice beneath. The ice shattered with sharp snaps, and within it, Dongbo Xueying—still seated in meditation—opened his eyes. His gaze carried a terrifying power, piercing through space itself and leaving two jagged rifts in the void.
“Is this a deeper level of mental cultivation?” he murmured softly, turning his focus inward to observe his True Divinity Heart.
Within his sea of consciousness, a child-sized Dongbo Xueying sat cross-legged, his form translucent like crystal. Yet, the eyes of this True Divinity Heart blazed with an unbearable radiance. Around it, sharp, blade-like auras swirled.
His former True Divinity Heart had been ordinary.
Now, it resembled a blade—a sword—where even his will manifested as tangible, cutting edges.
“So this is the result of mastering the Heart-Refining Secret Art?” Dongbo Xueying rose to his feet. “With all three secret arts complete, it’s time to visit the Heart-Refining Hall.”
**Whoosh!**
He shot into the sky, his body flickering between illusion and reality as he teleported in rapid succession.
—
With the Three Demon Halls’ token in hand, Dongbo Xueying arrived once more at the Heart-Refining Hall, stepping into the snow-covered chamber.
Within the ancient hall, the white-robed, white-haired, white-bearded elder reappeared. He lifted his head, squinting at Dongbo Xueying. “You’ve returned. Have you succeeded?”
“I have,” Dongbo Xueying confirmed.
“Show me the power of your will,” the elder commanded.
An invisible force erupted from Dongbo Xueying’s eyes, sweeping forward and crashing against the hall’s walls with a thunderous impact. The entire structure trembled faintly—a testament to its might, given that this was a hall left behind by the Demon Ancestor himself. Many Great Beings would struggle to achieve even this much with their full strength.
“Will as sharp as a blade. You truly have mastered it,” the elder mused, a hint of admiration in his voice. “A Fourth Heaven World God not only establishes his own Path but also completes the Heart-Refining Secret Art. And you’re a soldier of the Destruction Legion, no less.”
“Will as sharp as a blade?” Dongbo Xueying frowned.
“The cultivation of the heart is divided into three stages,” the elder explained plainly. “Heart like crystal, will like a blade, and the heart as the Heavenly Will.”
Dongbo Xueying committed the words to memory.
Heart like crystal. Will like a blade. The heart as the Heavenly Will?
“The third stage—the heart as the Heavenly Will?” he couldn’t help but ask.
“Tch. Don’t even think about it,” the elder scoffed. “Across countless cosmic epochs, not a single Sovereign has reached that realm. To my knowledge, only the master of the Heartsword Island and the Demon Ancestor ever attained it. At that level, one’s will alone is enough to slay Sovereigns effortlessly.” He eyed Dongbo Xueying. “But it’s near impossible. Over the ages, some have taken the final step from Sovereign to higher realms, yet only those two ever reached the third stage of mental cultivation. So, little soldier of the Destruction Legion, focus on becoming a Sovereign first. Don’t aim too high too soon.”
“Slaying Sovereigns with will alone?” Dongbo Xueying inhaled sharply.
This revelation only further emphasized the transcendent status of the Heartsword Island master and the Demon Ancestor across the cosmos.
“With all three secret arts mastered, you are now eligible for the opportunity left behind by the Demon Ancestor,” the elder declared. With a wave of his hand, a massive bubble materialized beside him. He stepped inside. “Follow me.”
Obediently, Dongbo Xueying entered the bubble.
**Whoosh.**
The bubble burst—and with it, their forms shattered, teleported through the void.
Space twisted.
Amidst a sea of chaos, a tiny landmass floated, bearing only a single structure—a tower.
Dongbo Xueying and the elder appeared before the tower’s entrance.
“Come,” the elder beckoned, striding inside. Dongbo Xueying followed without hesitation.
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