Chapter 634: Heavenly Cycle of Creation and Ruin

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[Upgraded {Divine Cycle of Creation and Ruin [SS]} -> {Heavenly Cycle of Creation and Ruin [SSS]}]

The moment the system message appeared, Ashlock felt his vision forcefully expand beyond his Soul Cosmos and into the open. Red Vine Peak vanished below him, becoming a mere dot on the surface of the World Tree's canopy as he was pulled into the rift leading to the 8th Layer of Creation. From the ground, the rift had looked thin, like a hole punched through paper. But as he entered, he realized it was a far deeper cosmic tunnel than anticipated.

"Is this a wormhole?" Ashlock wondered. It certainly looked like the ones he had seen in science fiction movies back on Earth. "Huh, now that I think about it, I used to watch movies and play games all the time after work—yet, such activities never once crossed my mind since arriving in this world. I guess fighting every day for survival leaves little room for consuming entertainment—"

His wandering thoughts were cut off as he was abruptly dragged off to the side and plunged through the swirling wall of the rift. He felt its raging power wash over him like a cosmic storm, and he appeared out the other side into a silent void.

He zoomed out further until the immense cosmic storm of the rift appeared insignificant compared to the immnese Layers of Creation stacked upon one another and shrouded in celestial fog.

"So these are the layers of creation?" Ashlock mused as he finally saw what Mars had shown Elaine before her soul was remade and she gained the illusion affinity. "The 8th layer really is larger than the ninth."

He glanced up and saw the other layers of creation as massive discs shrouded in celestial fog, each one larger than the last. The sheer scale of creation before him was hard to grasp, filling him with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it made him feel small and insignificant. Who was he to think he could grow through the nine realms and one day topple the heavens? On the other hand, though, it showed him there was so much more to conquer.

The Celestial Empire had once felt like an impossible enemy to face, yet it was now under his rule.

"One day, all of this will be mine," Ashlock said, uncaring of the hubris behind such a statement. "I just have to take it one layer at a time and remember what I'm doing this all for."

His friends, family, and the empire he had built. That is what he endlessly pursued power for.

Ashlock looked down to find where he came from.

The ninth layer sat at the very bottom of the stack, the smallest disc of them all, and beneath it there was one more thing he hadn't expected to see: a dark, churning mass clinging to its underside.

"That must be Hell."

The birthplace of demons and a graveyard of tainted Qi.

Unlike the other nine layers of creation, Hell didn't have any celestial fog shrouding it.

Curious, Ashlock traced the celestial fog between the discs and realized something. The fog was falling.

It was so slow that he had almost mistaken it for stillness. But once he saw it, he couldn't unsee it—a constant, patient descent from the first layer down through the second, the third, the fourth, thinning as it went because every layer it passed absorbed all it could. By the time it reached the ninth, it was barely a haze. The tainted Qi that the ninth layer rejected sank right through and dissipated into Hell.

"Wait, what is that?" Ashlock asked, noticing many strange markings through the celestial fog on the underside of the 8th layer of creation. They looked like massive burn marks, and it was only after closer inspection of the current open rift that he realized the markings had been left behind by previous Eras of Ascensions, as the current rift was doing the same.

"There has to be a hundred of them," Ashlock muttered in disbelief. He swiveled his view and managed to check the underside of the 7th layer and could only count a dozen similar markings. "Does that mean only one in ten Eras of Ascension managed to surpass the 8th layer and reach the 7th? I wonder why?"

He tried to force his view higher, but the weight of the heavens' spiritual pressure kept him where he belonged.

"Why did you even bring me here then?" Ashlock grumbled and got his answer as golden words appeared hanging in the void before him. His new skills' description.

[{Heavenly Cycle of Creation and Ruin [SSS]} Qi drawn through your roots can be driven upward, and Qi drawn through your canopy can be dragged downward, allowing you to move Qi against the descent of creation. Any offspring rooted upon a higher layer of creation becomes an intake for your cycle, and any ruin you inflict upon a higher layer will bring prosperity to your own. So long as your cycle flows through an open rift, the heavens cannot seal it]

Ashlock re-read the skill description a few times and then looked back at the cosmic rift linking the layers of creation and the markings of previous failed rifts.

"Oh..." he muttered. The skill description sounded nice. He could now draw Qi from his offspring on higher layers of creation, including the one planted in front of Stella's house in the Tessellate Citadel. If he spread his desolation on higher layers, it would benefit the lower layers.

However, if one were to read the fine print...

"You're making me the enemy of everyone."

Whoever had closed the previous hundred failed Eras of Ascension, whether it be the cultivators or the heavens themselves, would now be forced to target him if they wanted the Era of Ascension to be stopped. And they had been given a valid reason to, as Ashlock got the most benefit from this cultivation technique if he spread desolation on higher layers of creation to benefit himself and his own layer of creation.

[Initiating cycle...]

Ashlock watched in horrified awe as he saw an uncountable number of ethereal roots grow up the side of the Era of Ascension rift and burrow into the underbelly of the 8th Layer of Creation. Almost instantly, he felt a notable increase in the amount of Qi pouring into his Soul Cosmos as his new SSS-grade cultivation technique drank deeply from the 8th Layer. He then noticed a single ethereal root from above snaking down the side of the layers of creation.

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"Nine, eight, seven, six... is that coming from the Tessellate Citadel?"

It was the only offspring he knew of planted beyond the Ninth Layer. It didn't take long for the ethereal root to cover such a vast distance and fuse with the roots that had formed a wall around the Era of Ascension rift.

"As expected of an SSS-grade skill upgrade," Ashlock muttered in awe as he felt Qi pouring down the root from the Citadel. "Hold on, if Stella's cultivating there, I probably shouldn't draw on it too much. Actually, couldn't I check on her quickly?"

Focusing on the offspring in the Tessellate Citadel, he used Progeny Dominion. He watched as a fragment of his Soul Cosmos rocketed up the ethereal root like an ominous orb of desolation. The moment it vanished into the celestial fog shrouding the Sixth Layer, he felt his vision abruptly change from the abstract view in the void to being rooted in place to his offspring in Stella's front yard.

The place was busy.

People in oddly oversized robes that made their heads look hilariously small floated around the garden with purpose. All of them were Monarchs, and some were beyond that. Yet, they were all taking orders from a single person.

Stella stood upon a grand balcony jutting out from her house, wearing a black trenchcoat with masterful silver threading and tasteful red maple leaf cuffs. It also seemed lined with raven feathers that looked suspiciously similar to the feathers on Diana's wings.

"No, don't put it there!" Stella yelled to a cultivator from the ruling Tessellate family. The Elder, who was likely in the Sovereign of Realities Realm, flinched. "Kael, can you go and show this fool how it's done correctly?" she asked the young man in tasteful brown robes standing attentively behind her on the balcony. Kael looked much older than Ashlock remembered, and now that he looked a little closer, so did Stella.

"Leave it to me, Princess," Kael said, and vaulted over the balcony, landing before the Tessellate Elder.

While Kael explained something about the array formation they were trying to build to the Elder, the fragment of Ashlock's Soul Cosmos fully integrated with his offspring, and his Monarch Realm soul pressure washed out over the clearing.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, their gazes snapping in his direction. Kael was the first to drop to one knee in respect, with many others following his example.

Stella teleported down from the balcony and appeared in a flash of white aether before the offspring inhabiting a fragment of Ashlock's soul.

"Father!" She yelled like a kid, uncaring of everyone watching. "You survived your ascension and came to visit me?!"

At her words, many from the Tessellate family exchanged glances.

Ashlock quickly channeled his desolation into a bubble around them for some privacy. The moment it was complete, Stella launched herself at his offspring to hug him.

"Stella! I've missed you!" Ashlock said as he was brought to spiritual tears. She soon followed and began sobbing. "Why are you crying?" Ashlock asked after a long moment of them enjoying each other's presence.

"Because you started it," Stella said, pulling away and giggling as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I don't think I've ever felt you cry before." She looked up at him with a smile. "But why are you crying, Dad?"

Ashlock inspected her face closely, and while it was hidden well due to all the truffles she took and her high cultivation, there was no doubt about it. Stella had grown up and now carried herself less like a teenager and more like a young woman.

"You've grown up since I last saw you," Ashlock said.

"Well," Stella put her hands on her hips, "I have been in here for five years, so that's to be expected—"

"Five years?!" Ashlock was in disbelief.

Stella nodded. "I'm almost twenty-four now."

"Twenty-four!?" Ashlock had no idea how to take this news. Stella had grown up so much in his absence that it made him feel a little sad. "Wait, if you've been in here for five years, then what is your cultivation level now?"

Stella sighed with annoyance. "I've only managed to reach the peak of the Monarch Realm. Ascending to the Sovereign of Realities Realm inside the Citadel is proving far trickier than expected. So I've been stuck at this step for a year now."

"You really reached the peak of the Monarch Realm? But why are you stuck?"

Stella shrugged. "The Citadel is better suited for spatial cultivators than Aether ones like myself, and they aren't sure the Citadel will survive the tribulation after what happened last time." She frowned. "I've had to spend quite a lot to get them on my side and agreeable to the plan."

"Yeah, I saw you on the balcony commanding them so sternly. You looked cool."

"I looked... cool?" Stella gave him a strange look. "What does that mean?"

Ashlock chuckled. "I don't know, I'm just a proud dad. There were some challenges in raising you, and I was possibly a little too lenient at times, but now that you're grown up, I think you've turned out to be a fine young lady—"

"What are you talking about?" Stella waved him off and looked away. But her ears were turning red with embarrassment.

"Sorry..." Ashlock said, but quite enjoyed inflicting embarrassment. Was this a dad's power? Maybe he would learn a dao related to this one day. Either way, he needed to switch topics. "Ahem, anyway... the Era of Ascension has begun, and I completed my own ascension. Do you want to return home now? I'm sure Diana would appreciate it."

Stella glanced his way. "I can return home? But I'm not at the Sovereign of Realities Realm yet."

"Of course it's fine. You could come back for a few days, and then return here to complete your ascension."

Stella blinked as if the idea had never occurred to her. "Huh, I guess I could do that. But aren't we in a rush to have someone in the Sovereign of Realities Realm?"

"Yes, but you've been away for five years already. Come home for a few days, and I'll send in Magnus or someone else to make use of the Eternal Realm while you're outside. Besides, even if you have a nice house, it's still a prison. A change of scene might be nice."

Stella clenched her fists in excitement. "You have no idea how sick I am of this place, and I've felt so lonely with it just being me, Kael, and the people from the Tessellate family. There is also Lady Solari, but she has been driving me insane recently with all the marriage proposals."

"Marriage proposals? Is she trying to marry you?"

"Huh?" Stella blinked. "No, it's her brother. They are a powerful family on the 6th layer of creation, but I have no interest in him. But Lady Solari sold me her house for cheap so I could expand my own, and it's a whole mess... Anyway, it would be nice to have a break from all of them," she vaguely gestured beyond the bubble of desolation, "and from cultivating, as doing it for five years straight is driving me insane." She paused and scowled. "I do have a few things I need to quickly take care of before I leave, though."

"Take your time. Oh, I also have a way to connect my offspring between layers of creation now. If you could give some of my seeds to the Tessellate or Solari family, I'd have a way to expand my reach into the mainland."

"What?!" Stella's mouth hung open.

"I know, it's quite shocking. But I made myself the enemy of all of creation in the process, though," Ashlock sighed.

Stella snorted. "When have we not? But this is huge news! I could also try visiting one of the pocket realms belonging to the Tessellate family on a higher layer of creation, and if you link them up, we can get the divine fragment from their Patriarch!"

"Oh, right..."

"You totally forgot about that, didn't you?" Stella narrowed her eyes.

"I'll admit, with everything going on, it may have slipped my mind—"

"Ash, it's the entire reason I keep my relationship with the Tessellate family and hold myself back from strangling them out of frustration!"

"They would also beat you to death if you did that," Ashlock pointed out. "I saw many of them were in the... you know what, never mind. Is there any chance you could get that sorted out? I'd quite like to get my hands on that divine fragment."

A devious smile etched on Stella's lips. "Why don't we arrange it together? The Tessellate family has been quite curious about my mysterious father, you see, and I'd be happy to introduce you..."