Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

BOOM!!

A sky-shattering, earth-rending, and heart-twisted sound thundered forth into existence! Yan Zaizen’s roar, suffused with his Dao, suffused with the power drawn from his Regalia, and his own sheer will smashed against the golden sky!

Chaotic space, despite its immense stability, started to tremble fiercely as rumbling sounds echoed outwards from all over. These sounds originated from chaotic space’s attempt to stabilize itself amidst the tyrannical force!

The golden sky lasted no longer than a blink of an eye before it turned into dust. It did not shatter, it did not dissipate, but it had turned into literal golden flakes of dust that littered the world above! It was as if the sky of light and clouds had turned into a sky of specks, almost like a painting made from a thin brush.

This unnatural event caused Yan Zaizen’s brows to knit and his eyes to inspect the fascinating, unknown development.

Shruuu~

The golden dust started to cycle from a central point. At this central point, there was a swirling rotational force. This rotational force, by the second, continued to increase in velocity until it turned into a golden twister of dust.

As it continued to rotate, the dust seemed to be merging until a golden twister seemed to contain heaven-rending winds. Yan Zaizen’s eyes narrowed, a faint sensation of danger erupted from his instincts, but he didn’t retreat. Instead, he took a step forward!

This step made have been lone one, but it carried him directly in front of this golden twister that seemed to increase as time elapsed. As he inspected this twister, he felt more and more uncertain. "This scene...the method doesn’t describe anything like it..."

In the method, the sky shatters but transforms into a mass of light, and this light would then enter the point within his body and shatter his skin. Afterward, the residual energy would remake his skin, merging it as the new template to his physical existence. As such, even if he was only a mere drop of blood, he could reconstitute this new skin from nothing!

However, this twister defied the progression of events described. Not only that, this twister gave him a faint sensation of danger.

"...Is it because of my regalias?" As he thought of it more, he realized that...the power of his regalia’s flowed deeply through the entirety of his body, even his skin. Regardless of which, they all affected his skin or every part of his body somewhat...

There was also the fact that, in the method, there’s nothing that describes being in possession of more than one regalia. It was deemed an impossibility by the method, but Yan Zaizen had somehow achieved a unified cohabitation of four regalias.

"The sky didn’t shatter...but turned into dust. Isn’t that the requirement for the third gate? But...there’s nothing but a twister..." At this point, he realized that, regardless of the reason, his path was slightly different than previous described. Despite his confused thoughts, the twister continued to rotate as an increased velocity. It became so intense that Yan Zaizen had to retreat slightly, his eyes suffused with caution.

"...What do you think you should do?" Pinaka asked. This was as unknown territory to her as it was to Yan Zaizen, she was even more clueless regarding the sequence of events that had taken place.

Yan Zaizen pondered, "Grandpa Xiu once said that the methods were similar for Herculeans up to the third level. After which, a deviation would occur towards their own specialty. Is it possible that...the phenomenon for breaking through was different for herculeans as well?" As he answered this question, he realized that even Zhou Xiuhei, the Xiuhei Sovereign, would be unable to know this question.

However, if it was different, then the outcome would be the same regardless!

"Then this brings up the question...if I’m cultivating under a different set of circumstances, then am I still cultivating the Immortal Herculean Method or something else?" He could only sigh as this question would be impossible to answer at his current cultivation, and thus...he could only wait and speculate.

"My instincts are screaming danger, but within danger lies fortune!" As he shouted this, his eyes grew determined. He fearlessly jumped into the golden twister.

Entering the twister, he felt the fierce speeds rip apart his body. His skin was under so much pressure that even his healing factor started to become unable to keep up! Even Ezekiel couldn’t exceed his healing factor in high-speed combat, yet this twister was moving at such a high speed, producing such a powerful force, that it actually couldn’t rival it!

He felt an immense pain that reached his soul but didn’t shout or scream. Instead, he closed his eyes and calmed his breathing.

Shuu~

Shuu~

Shuu~

A brief period later, Yan Zaizen’s skin no longer existed. However, the golden twister only continued to rotate at a faster speed. It continued to rotate and shrink. It wasn’t long before it turned into an outline of Yan Zaizen, continually spinning and ripping apart any skin that wished to heal.

Slowly, the twister stopped.

"My skin is gone..." Yan Zaizen noted, his eyes could no longer remain closed as his eyelids had disappeared. He was nothing but flesh and blood without any skin covering him, looking particularly nasty and horrific. It wasn’t as horrible as his half-collapsed state in the Grand Sirius Titan Realm’s Sky Shatter Trial, but it was fairly close. Even if he urged his healing factor and lifeforce energy, his skin would not regenerate!

"Shred the residual, shed the mortal..." These words started to be slowly understood. His skin was sundered apart, no longer being apart of his base physical state.

The golden twister started to condense around Yan Zaizen’s body until it became a thin layer. This additional layer seemed to be refining Yan Zaizen’s body, becoming thinner and thinner as it slowly replaced his skin. The golden light started to change colors, regaining Yan Zaizen’s original skin color. After a few minutes, the golden light vanished, leaving only his new skin.

"Haaa!" Exhaling out all his pent-up frustration, he looked at his new skin. There was virtually no outward difference, but it was fundamentally different from henceforth. He clenched his fist and felt that his skin was now like a muscle, exhibiting extraordinary force!

"The Gate of Sky Skin! Even the name makes sense..." When he recalled the golden sky that had turned to dust and now transformed into his newfound skin, he couldn’t help but wonder how miraculous the laws were. What’s more, his skin wasn’t the only thing that had changed!

The shattered sky refined his muscles, bones, blood, and more! Before, his physical body could barely rival a fourth-floor Heavenly Genesis expert, but now...he felt like his physical body could match a Heavenly Commander!

"How come the strength increase is so intense?" Yan Zaizen felt baffled as he pounded his fist into his palms. A sound reminiscent to two planets colliding resounded!

"Is it?" Pinaka questioned, but then added, "Perhaps it has to do with the gates themselves or your own unique circumstances?"

"..." The Eight Celestial Gates were divided into three related to the physical body, skin, flesh, and bone, and three related to other things, such as yin & yang, mind, and source, and two from the first gate of opening and the eighth gate of ascension. "You’re probably right," feeling that she was correct, if only partly.

With the unusual phenomenon, his four regalias, and the gates relating to the physical body were limited to three. It only made sense. He would have to ask Ezekiel and Grandpa Xiu for more information on the subject before deciding.

"Regardless of the circumstance, my body hasn’t adjusted to the new skin. I can’t even sense my other five points any longer...It seems I have to wait a bit more before it truly becomes one with my physical existence." As he pondered over the circumstance, he discovered his inability to sense his other gates. It was odd, but he had felt this once before—when he opened the Gate of Sky Opening.

"I feel a sense of urgency...it’s increasing in intensity..." He felt further bothered by this urgent feeling! He could guess it originated from Ezekiel, but he didn’t know why it continued to increase.

"Let’s focus on the Law of Samsara, my third Imperial Law!" His eyes lit up in excitement, throwing the urgent feeling at the deepest part of his heart.

With the Law of Samsara, he may have a chance to revive his parents!

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