The divine being did not destroy the Spirit Stream Sect. It did something worse: it took an interest.

'This world,' the being said, its mountain-sized hand withdrawing through the rift, 'is approaching the Storm of Realms — a periodic convergence when all cultivation dimensions intersect. The weak will be consumed. The strong will survive. This sect has potential. But potential means nothing without power.'

The rift sealed, but the pressure remained. The being had left behind something — a fragment of its own divine essence, suspended in the air above the sect like a miniature sun.

'A trial,' the Sect Leader said, his voice shaking. 'The divine being has offered us a trial. Cultivators who approach the essence and survive will be granted a blessing. Those who fail... will not survive.'

The fragment burned with such intensity that standing within a hundred feet of it required a cultivator to constantly expend spiritual energy just to resist being vaporized. The elders calculated that only someone at Core Formation or above could safely approach it — and even then, the survival rate would be low.

The sect couldn't ignore the trial. A divine blessing was priceless, and the Storm of Realms was coming. Without the power to defend themselves, the Spirit Stream Sect and everyone in it would be consumed.

Bai Xiaochun, who was still recovering from being pinned to the ground by divine pressure, looked at the burning fragment and felt his survival instincts screaming at maximum volume.

And then he started walking toward it.

He didn't know why. He didn't want to. Every fiber of his being was screaming to run. But the Undying Live Forever Technique was... resonating. The fragment was calling to something inside him, something the technique had been building toward for years without him realizing it.