Chapter 99 The Corridors Of Time

Immediately after passing through the gate, Xuan realized something was amiss.

He was alone.

Despite having stepped through here with Fu Mei at the exact same time, he found himself completely on his own, with no sign of anyone else here. Instead, he appeared to be in a vast, empty rift in spacetime, with fragments of broken staircases drifting across the air.

Unbound by gravity, unbound by the chains of reality.

"What is this…"

All around him in this beautiful celestial space, the vast dark blue skies surrounded his body, as small as a grain of salt in comparison. It was limitless and endless; a paracausal plane of existence that served purposes far beyond mortal comprehension. Even in all the years of Xuan's previous life, he'd never seen something as grand as this—a place that made even him feel excited, with everything he'd been through.

'Such powerful and rich World Qi… this place is no normal small world,' he noted to himself, grasping at the air with his hand and evaluating the energy levels here. 'This… it feels like a pocket dimension—a realm outside Asphodel, Tartarus, and Elysium. A separate world beyond the scopes of its three precedents, a place of true nirvana… hm?'

If Xuan had to guess, this place probably had some sort of connection with Pan Gu, the senior who'd created the three realms. If not, at least someone on the same caliber as her in terms of strength. But what led him to believe that this world was tied with Pan Gu somehow was the faint feeling he had in the back of his mind. A voice, speaking out to him. Telling him what to do.

'…'

He could hear it, loud and clear. It was a calling—a calling born from the veins in this body forged anew.

'The Chaos Devouring Body… it's reacting to this place?'

Xuan's eyes widened briefly at the realization, but they quickly turned to a look of determination as he shut them tight. There was no time to waste—who knew how long he'd be able to stay here for? It was best to make the most out of this opportunity right away while he still could.

Gently, he sat down on the platform he stood upon, and crossed his legs in a lotus position. Immediately, he felt his mind calm down, and the silence around him set in. The Qi flowing through his veins began to accelerate in speed as he absorbed the World energy around him, and his fists tightened.

'Ngh… this amount of energy is still a bit troublesome to take in for my current strength, but… I can brute force it…'

Sweating from the forehead, Xuan grit his teeth and beared through it. The energy rushing in was like an intake of hot, boiling blood, but there was something more. It was slowly releasing the shackles that had been put on Xuan—no, more accurately speaking, the chains that had been put on the Chaos Devouring Body by someone.

Whoever did it was an expert. In fact, they were so skilled that Xuan hadn't even noticed that he was actually being limited until stepping into this unknown space. Now, though, he could feel that there was a hidden burst of power locked away in his body somewhere, accumulated over the past few weeks. Power that, once unlocked, would provide a surging boost to Xuan's cultivation.

'Even with the Divine Dragon Body, this still feels like it's scorching me… but this level of pain is nothing. I've long forgotten what it means… to hurt.'

The energy finished channeling, and the chains of Qi inside Xuan's body shattered. His eyes snapped open, shining dangerously red, and a blast of energy erupted all around his body. The debris flying in the air were blown away in an instant, and the man who emerged was incomparable to the weakling that once stood in his place.

<Breakthrough Complete!>

<Breakthrough Complete!>

<Breakthrough Complete!>

<Congratulations! You have reached the Origin Transformation stage.>

<You now have the ability to cultivate Laws.>

<All stats +12,000>

<Current Qi Capacity: 180,000/180,000 (Tier IX)>

"… At last."

Xuan let out a breath. His body felt a lot lighter now for some reason, and a strange feeling washed over him. The feeling that the power he deserved finally returned to him.

Thrice. Three breakthroughs back to back, one after the other. Xuan had completely skipped the Nascent Soul and Qi Transformation stages, arriving directly in the Origin Comprehension phase. Such was the amount of power that had been locked away inside him by these chains. Now that the seal had been broken, all that energy suddenly rushed through Xuan's body, leading to this triple breakthrough.

Such cases were not unheard of—however, they were extremely rare, rightfully so. The amount of Qi required for major breakthroughs consecutively like so was incredibly large, and could only be achieved by special situations like Xuan's. Of course, because of this skip in cultivation, the game system did not trigger any quests or quest rewards, but that was a small loss compared to the new power Xuan now had.

A smile crept onto his face. Prior to this was just the introductory stage in this new journey—but now, he'd stepped out of the training grounds.

"… Now, the game has truly begun."

The broken staircase fragments drifting across in space now converged together at the arrival of Xuan, who took a step forward. At the top of the staircase lay yet another door. It was like this area was just the prologue, a little tutorial and preparation stage for what's to come. Narrowing his gaze, Xuan examined the door with his Divine Asura Eye, and his smile widened.

[The Corridors of Time]

This content upload first at

[Unfurl your true power. Only the ones able to make it to the end shall reach true salvation. The Corridors await.]

"True salvation, huh…? How ominous," Xuan remarked, making his way up the staircase. Once there, the doors opened automatically, revealing a bright white shimmering portal leading to the next area.

"… Just the way I like."