...
A Quiet Farewell
Even though nearly three years has passed in the chaos bead, in the outside world only a week has passed. After returning to the outside world, his law sense is extending infinitely past into the unknown. It already covered a local group of galaxies.
It doesn't have any substantial use other than sensing bio signatures or elements. His spirit sense is only 1500 miles and active law domain is only within that range, rest only extends to 1 parsec. The growth was due to increased mastery over law upto 59 layers. He closed off his enhanced senses and tried to be as grounded as a human.
The final months had been spent tying loose ends - part of the assets discreetly relocated to their relatives, fortunes quietly secured except for what they considered enough in their names. Han Chen also pulled much of their news records from public domain, but it always would be there in someplace or the other.
Then in the middle of seemingly hastening time, an unexpected visit: a mother and daughter from a distant branch of the Han family came to thank him.
Years ago, Han Chen had killed the girl's father in retribution for his parents' near-murder. Yet instead of vengeance, they brought gratitude. He had financed the daughter's education and her mother's survival, a quiet act of pity. Now, the girl had graduated and, by coincidence, got accepted into his parents' company.
He accepted their thanks with grace but spared them the truth - some wounds were better left unstitched. Let them keep their peace.
***
He is approaching 45 years, in this reality. But his actual age is higher due to cultivation in temporal chamber.
Once he reviewed his own life. The ripples of changes he has caused. The people who he came upon at points of time in this short life. His old neighbor had retired to the countryside. Classmates had grown thick around the middle, their social media filled with children and even grandchildren's photos.
Tang Xuemei, quite talented young martial artist who now has deep ties in the military and higher echelons of nation.
Li Mei returned in a senior position of the agents.
Xue Qing's divorce made tabloid headlines, though her acting career flourished more than her marriages ever had.
Zhao Lin, ever the predator, now sat atop a corporate empire just as in his previous life. Some had entered politics, their idealism hardened into pragmatism.
Dr. Sophia published groundbreaking papers. Noble Laureate. His former professors had passed the torch to new generations. The dead in his hands... well, the dead stayed dead. Their stories ended where he'd left them.
A chuckle escaped his lips as he studied his reflection. The face staring back wasn't the broken man who'd crawled from that mud lifetimes ago nor is the one with seemingly endless strength with a blade pierced on his chest. This Han Chen stood straighter, his eyes alight with nothing of anger or grief - a smile and anticipation.
Two wives hands to hold. No allies at his back. Just the infinite void singing its siren call to a man who'd already died twice. Let the others enjoy their happy endings in this world; his story waited among the stars.
The Weight of Ascension
His ladies grew somber when they realized how soon the ascension would come. Seeing their sorrow, Han Chen communicated internally and explained:
<"This universe will mend itself. The past and future will realign, seamless as a healed scar. To those left behind, it will be as if nothing changed."> He explained the concept of self correction and potential consequence of their last interactions.
Yet, that didn't ease the finality of goodbye.
The Last Goodbyes
To Their Families:
The ladies returned from their relatives after few months. They met, not with tears, but with practiced smiles. "We're entering deep seclusion," they said, weaving the lie smoothly. "A long adventure followed by martial training retreat - years, perhaps." It was a necessary fiction, one that would allow their future variants to slip into place without suspicion. The asset transfer notice would come later.
Before leaving, they secretly infused their mothers with life force, ensuring vitality would linger long after they were gone.
To His Parents:
Han Chen trained with them one last time ~ laughing, correcting stances, sharing stories. When he hugged them, there was no sadness, only contentment. They had lived well. They would live on.
His last gift came in careful revisions ~ he dismantled the original array that had depended on his own energy or spirit stones, replacing it with something simpler, sustainable. A design this world's variant could replicate for generations: an array that drew essence energy from the stars itself, needing neither rare materials nor forbidden knowledge. (His sister had received the same blueprint in their last vacation — though hers included modifications for more... and knowledge about the flexible applications.)
Then, with precise strokes of qi, he carved a protection rune not onto parchment, but into the very fiber of their being. They didn't need to know. It would endure for years, a silent guardian long after he was gone. He didn't care how the reality would adjust it, at-least he done his part.
Finally, he ensured nothing from his inner world bead remained behind. No traces, no loose threads.
Before he left, he looked at them for one last time ~ not as a warrior or a god, but simply as their son.
"Once, I saved your lives," he murmured inwardly. "And I gave you the life you would have had. But not the one I could give you… Still, I only feel fulfillment. This was my heart's desire. And now, my role in this world ~ it's nearly complete."
Then he turned away imprinting that moment in his memory forever before zooming past into the clouds.
To His Sister:
Ruo Xi stepped onto the front porch of the overseas private estate, the sudden sonic boom still ringing in her ears. Her brother approached casually, offering a half-hearted wave as if he hadn't just ruined the pristine lawn, where he landed.
"You're paying for the sod," she called out.
" ... "
They talked — mundane things, university life, the usual sibling banter. Then, with a simple "Goodbye, see you again," he turned to leave. He had done it before, but this time;
She felt it — some more depth to the words.
She sensed the unspoken farewell beneath his casual words. She remembered his old promise—"We'll see each other again, in one way or another." With a fierce hug, she repeated it back to him.
He gave her the same rune invisibly, but honestly unless she stood directly under a nuke, she probably won't need it considering her strength and biological field.
No tears, no dramatics. Just a silent understanding, as steady as the turning of worlds. She didn't understand him fully but she knows he cares for her. And that's enough.
He left and to her surprise, the lawn was back to however it was magically.
...
Alone
Time passed.
"We are alone now." Hye Won's voice carried a tranquility that Han Chen felt like ripples across still water. She had returned first from meeting with her mother and stepfather.
"No," Han Chen pulled her closer, "we're together. Some burdens... well, they're not ours to carry. We came here for ourselves, not to save everyone else."
Yue Lan might need another day before returning, but time was slipping away from him like sand. He spend the last night with Hye Won, both of them momentarily relaxing from the uncertainties ahead.
Since he can't indulge in law comprehension nor cultivation, he cast his awareness inward to the universe nestled within his Dantian.
***
Quantum Coherence
The cosmos Han Chen had birthed was a restless thing in its infancy. Multiple collapses and expansions had wracked its fragile spacetime ~ the limited energy he'd poured into its creation wasn't enough for stable existence initially. The universe convulsed between equilibrium and chaos, drinking void energy from outer reality ...
Over the year, as Han Chen's understanding of higher Dao laws deepened, steady power flowed into his microcosm. The wild energy fluctuations gradually settled. Chaotic inflation slowed to a rhythm.
Time, once surging at millions of times normal speed, accelerated further ~ by year's end for Han Chen, it raced at a billion times faster in quantum state. Thus approximately 150 million years had passed within. With stability finally achieved, he synchronized the inner time flow with his own experience.
The universe had reached its Quantum Soup state ~ all possibilities existing simultaneously. Mass both was and wasn't present. Form remained undecided. Causality hung in suspension. The metaphysical paradox forced Han Chen to seal the void fold within his golden core; the distorting energy fields threatened his own stability.
This state of infinite probability would persist until one crucial moment: the birth of consciousness. The first spark of awareness, however dim, would become the Cosmic Observer. Its perception would collapse the universal wavefunction in one irreversible transition ~ from infinite quantum histories to a single concrete timeline.
Consciousness binds reality. That first observation would prune all alternate timelines. Future conscious beings might create new divergences, but these would spawn parallel timelines rather than overwrite the original reality.
Naturally, it would take nearly 500 million years for a conscious observer to arise in maximum favorable possibility under natural causes ~ and even then, just a simple organism with no ability to merge as the will of universe.
But his universe had already progressed 150 million years in most probabilities. But with the limited energy inside within to barely create a planetary mass, nothing much happened. Now that he could control the time flow, he can delay the process until he reached nascent soul.
The energy cost to become one conscious observer from current state is exponentially higher now than after his Nascent Soul breakthrough. After releasing the inner universe to develop at outside time's slower pace, Han Chen returned his focus to cultivation.
Nascent Soul Breakthrough
For an entire year, Han Chen remained at the peak realm's threshold. His cultivation refused to budge, but he never stopped refining energy, channeling law essence into his inner universe with relentless patience.
When Yue Lan returned, her footsteps echoed through their sanctuary. They spent precious hours together, but eventually Han Chen's expression darkened with gravity.
"My law domain is approaching this universe's reality threshold," he said, fingers intertwined with hers. "My comprehension could transcend ascension criteria soon, even with my cultivation lagging behind. I need to advance realms for safety ~ can't risk it in the real world without proper spiritual energy."
His grip tightened. "When I emerge from this breakthrough... the dissociation process, I don't know how it'll affect us. Come with me to my inner world."
Space twisted. The real world vanished.
Within the world bead, Han Chen ensured both wives' comfort before approaching the cultivation array. He spent a full day polishing his spiritual energy, refining every thread until it hummed with perfect resonance.
The celestial array awakened under his touch, ancient runes blazing to life ~ each symbol designed to stabilize tribulation punishment. Han Chen swallowed the Snow Soul Pill and Spirit Tempering Pill, their essence flowing through his meridians like liquid starlight. He sealed their effects within his spiritual pathways, waiting for heaven's thunder to strike his core.
Silence.
His breath faded to nothing. His presence melted into the array's rhythm, synchronized with the Dao's silent pulse. The route to nascent soul realm opened before him ~ the boundary offered no resistance as golden essence surged forth.
Above, thunderclouds gathered. Not conjured by mortal spells, but summoned by heaven's will itself. The tribulation had sensed him, yet the thunder merely swirled, waiting for the Trinity Sutra to begin.
The Golden Core ~ vessel of life and power ~ must shatter to birth the Nascent Soul, immortality's eternal embryo. Forged through tribulation and law, it stood ready to rupture under divine pressure and give birth to something greater.
Guided by the Dao and Trinity Sutra, spiritual energy began weaving consciousness into the core, transforming rather than destroying.
His whisper carried both invocation and scripture:
Break through the veil, abrade the shell,
Golden petal shattered, nascent root unveiled~
Let spirit sever the cage of form,
Let consciousness be reborn as seed of eternity.
Thunder tribulation churned. Five trials emerged.
These weren't simple bolts or punishments, but precise instruments testing the soul itself. The thunderbolts carried soul law, not electrical energy. They appeared to strike Han Chen, but actually fell into the astral plane, hammering his jade soul directly.
Each flash carved his spiritual and soul bodies, weaving clarity and will, separating light from shadow, confronting the void's embrace. Five classic Heart Demon tribulations of Nascent refinement descended:
Purifying Will ~ severing doubt, unmaking hesitation.
The choice he would make to leave his relatives to fend for themselves in near future, manifested as accusing shadows. Each face questioned him, voices overlapping in condemnation and as ungrateful. His mind conveyed its reasoning clearly, and the shadows dissolved one by one.
Refining Clarity ~ gaining pure perception, removing delusion.
Multiple versions of himself materialized, each one hurling accusations. They showed him watching mortals die around him, his refusal to help. They displayed his merciless torture and killing of regular martial artists, the blood thirst he'd gained from it. Even his occasional acts of saving others were twisted ~ painted as hypocrisy born from a God Complex.
"Fuck off," echoed through his mind-space as annoyance flared. These accusations held no resonance with his true will. The false selves simply faded away. This wasn't his first encounter with such trials.
Embracing Light and Shadow ~ unifying extremes, balancing duality.
Visions flowed: his everyday interactions as a simple soul contrasted with moments of absolute dominance. Those around him had been allowed small shares of his secrets ~ the miraculous encounters he'd orchestrated from behind the scenes, all without inherent arrogance. His soul's journey accepting Yue Lan from stranger to beloved. These didn't fade away but merged seamlessly with his essence.
Grounding Stability ~ rooting spirit in order, resisting chaos.
The most demanding phase. He'd been given a second chance, but had it truly been fulfilling? Was this the best course of action? The trial dissected everything: his initial deception of Hye Won to create attachment, claiming Yue Lan's soul under the guise of uncertain futures, the seemingly random actions taken to stay under government radar despite having power to flatten them absolutely.
His self-imposed underachievement. His growing complacency with power. The way he'd begun attaching lesser value to lower beings, losing interest in mortal affairs entirely. Had his new life been subconscious manipulation driven by selfish reasons he could barely perceive?
His intellect was unquestionably beyond human capacity ~ and with it came emotional underperformance until healing through his connection with Yue Lan during jade soul transformation. His true nature leaned toward chaos rather than order, yet his actions were attempts at maintaining balance, the order.
Dissecting each test with razor-sharp will, he finally earned the right to transform his soul, cleansing it of accumulated karma.
Void Soul ~ transcending astral plane into material plane, freely interchanging.
The Jade Soul began transforming under tribulation essence and his own power, glowing with inner light. Meeting slight resistance, it passed through an ethereal field, appearing visibly inside the golden core imprint and cycling back and forth several times.
It didn't go as smoothly as he'd imagined ~ especially the Grounding Stability phase. But it worked nonetheless.
For thirty-three days, tribulation struck in inexorable rhythm. Lightning infused with law energy, thunder carved by the Dao of Soul and Psyche. Han Chen sat motionless as storm-forged energy scoured his being and surroundings.
Then, when soul, spirit, and mind aligned like constellations, the Golden Core within his dantian fractured. The inner spacetime fold remained sealed within lokakshara runes, untouched and indifferent.
The core's shell split like a blooming lotus of arcane crystal. Radiant fragments danced in stillness, revealing something forming within ~ a figure of light, thought, and will.
The Nascent Soul doesn't birth ~ it awakens.
It isn't made ~ but remembered.
It isn't separate ~ but the soul's true self.
Unlike regular breakthroughs, no pure-born soul child emerged. The Trinity Sutra's imprint ~ Han Chen's avatar from his Golden Core entry ~ activated on an essence shard that opened like a lotus, fusing with the soul as it entered his material body.
Rest of those massive essence flowed back to his body pools and mainly circulating his essence as a fire being absorbed within.
The Nascent Soul merged with the spiritual avatar, transforming it into an immortal frame. Infinite potential unlocked on mortal body. Universal truths became visible. When body and soul united, mortal bounds shattered, divine brilliance blazing forth.
From the core, the soul is born.
Through tribulations, it is tempered.
When body and soul unite,
The path to eternity shines bright.
His extreme soul power and jade soul transformation created a newborn entity resembling the avatar ~ eyes open, glowing gold, perceiving itself. The Trinity Sutra guided the avatar's sudden shift from dantian to his Cognition pool, where it merged and devoured the essence hungrily, developing to match his full size.
Qi transport channels from his biological body imprinted into the soul, connecting every source pool. Nine points of light formed in the spirit body's qi veins ~ a constellation array. As soul tribulation went away, part of it struck his spirituality of his refined body shell, forming a seamless contract with the Nascent Soul before merging briefly with the spiritual body and returning.
His physical form underwent profound transformation, raw power skyrocketing.
Outside the array within the confines of the pavilion, his wives watched through spirit sense as formless thunders struck Han Chen. His eyes blazed with golden glow and tendrils forming flowing patterns at their edges ~ like a descended god.