Caroline’s hands sank down—the heavy crate swayed about and nearly slipped out of her grasp. Her expression was solemn, and several arcs of lightning jumped about on her body as she stabilized herself. Having to take care of the heavy crate under this pressure was quite taxing even for a divine champion.

The initial feeling was that they weren’t far from the peak, but the shower of grey made it seem exceptionally distant.

Gazing at the drifting wisps of grey rain, Caroline unleashed a low roar and shot out hundreds of lightning bolts from her whip. The arcs of electricity looked chaotic, but they were actually split into several orderly waves—one surge was followed by the next to form a constant barrage. This single attack showed just how much control Caroline had over her lightning powers.

The tangible grey rain was incomparably tough. A bolt of lightning could only wear down a small part of each wisp, taking half a dozen strikes to completely destroy one. Following the sweeping storm of lightning, the grey rain had only thinned out slightly and was soon replaced by more condensation from behind.

This result elicited a serious expression from Caroline; she hadn’t expected the grey rain to be that powerful. Her notion of blasting through the rain with lightning was thus snubbed. From a different perspective, this was her lightning powers being inferior to the Earth Dragon’s pressure. It was not an embarrassment to lose to such an opponent—it was just that the road forward was destined to become harder.

Just as Caroline was struggling arduously, Elder Wei sent a sheet of paper flying onto the crate. The ten thousand kilogram load lightened significantly and this, in turn, allowed Caroline to catch her breath. After using this page, Elder Wei’s complexion grew ashen and his creases grew even deeper.

Caroline glanced upward, hoping to see Qianye crawling on the ground somewhere, or at least struggling to move. The latter had indeed halted his steps, but quite unexpectedly, he was standing as straight as a rod and gazing up at the summit as though he were contemplating something.

The Earth Dragon’s pressure had condensed into wisps of grey rain. The power bore down on him without mercy and pierced right through his skin, causing him to tremble slightly.

Caroline was both surprised and disappointed. Qianye had far exceeded her expectations by reaching this point when even that Vampire Keimor had fallen somewhere along the way.

But judging from Qianye’s current state, it would seem that he was at his limits. There was no way he would reach the peak even if he could go on.

Whether he was short ten circles or just one lap, it was the same as long as he couldn’t reach the peak. His only fate was to become a skeleton on the mountain path.

This was a key step. Passing this threshold would open up a new world, but those who couldn’t would lose everything. The so-called one step to heaven and one step to hell was just that.

It was such a pity that such a talented person wasn’t afforded the time to mature. In the end, he was destined to fall before the break of day.

For a short moment, Caroline had the sudden urge to forget their enmity and let him be. Such a person shouldn’t wither in the cruelty of this world.

But she woke up from her reverie in the end, knowing that her thoughts were merely thoughts. Even if she could let go, there was no way she could help Qianye. The two looked like they were at arm's length but were actually worlds apart—the only one who could help him now was himself.

Caroline and Elder Wei did not stop walking, while Qianye remained rooted to the ground.

Caroline was suddenly curious. What was Qianye thinking at this moment?

She gradually approached her target, going from over a dozen meters away to standing right beside him. The mountain path was narrow, and she would bump into Qianye’s back after taking the next step. Caroline wanted to stop out of reflex but quickly recalled that they were in two different worlds. There would never be any contact even if they were to brush past one another.

Emotions were always as quick as lightning, while time would always roll forward at a steady pace. Still lost in thought, she passed through Qianye and stepped onto the path beyond.

The moment they crossed each other, Qianye’s figure phased between reality and illusory, much like a bubble in water.

Elder Wei also passed through Qianye. He never looked back and merely kept on climbing with his head lowered. If this really was a path that sought one’s heart, then his road was one filled with loneliness and withering. All of his energy and vitality had vanished along the distant years.

Qianye stood there gazing at the sky, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Caroline suddenly turned back. She had no idea why, but she was overcome by a powerful urge to glance behind. It felt as though she would be missing something if she didn’t do so.

Qianye’s aura transformed the moment their eyes came into contact—he was ancient, desolate, cold, and lonesome. That inexplicable sense of loneliness almost stifled her!

What Qianye was seeing at this moment was neither land nor sky. His vision was filled with scenes from the dead world and the man standing at its center. His presence there almost filled the entire heaven and earth.

Such an imposing spirit!

When the man let loose his voice, Qianye instantly realized his mood—it was emptiness. His entire world was empty.

In his daze, Qianye couldn’t quite differentiate between himself and that man.

The empire, his brothers, friends, and comrades were all in the distant past. Now that she was also gone, there was really nothing left in his empty world. There was no heaven, there was no earth, and there was no light, nor was there any darkness—he didn’t even know whether he was alive.

All of a sudden, Caroline saw a vast, empty world. Actually, it couldn’t be considered a world because it was merely an expanse of nothingness.

She returned to reality all of a sudden, trembling and filled with bewilderment. She had no idea what had just happened, but her intuition told her that it was the world in Qianye’s heart.

Elder Wei glanced toward Caroline with eyes as sharp as blades but didn’t get the time to figure anything out. Sensing something, he quickly glanced over in the same direction.

Qianye’s eyes had regained their clarity at this point. He tried to take a step forward, attracting a shower of grey rain that caused his entire body to tremble.

Caroline broke into a frown. She knew that Qianye’s body was at its limits and couldn’t hold out any longer. Truth be told, Qianye’s current physical strength wasn’t below hers; it might even be superior. However, she was a divine champion who could use origin power to protect her body while Qianye could only rely on his physical tenacity.

Perhaps he would collapse at the next step.

Qianye looked up once more, allowing the grey rain to land softly on his face. It was somewhat painful but also cool to the touch.

All of a sudden, he raised his head and let out a long howl! The cry pierced through the clouds and echoed throughout the realm. In his indifference, Qianye was completely oblivious to the fact that he was now one with that boundless emptiness.

Qianye took the next step as the roar trailed off. This step drew in even more wisps of grey rain, adding tens of thousands of kilograms to his weight and making the next step even more arduous. His constitution was that of an ancient count—no weaker than a human divine champion—but it would seem he had reached the limits of his body at this point.

The summit was a fair distance away. If Qianye were a marquis, perhaps he would be able to reach the summit with his physical strength alone.

But he still had daybreak origin power in addition to blood energy!

As his origin vortices activated one after the other, streaks of gold and scarlet origin power circulated around his body, forming a brilliant river of stars!

The stars went out in the blink of an eye, but so did a large swathe of the grey rain—only a small amount of it reached Qianye’s body. His steps were now firm and his body was no longer trembling.

Caroline was shocked. Elder Wei became pale in the face, and his murky eyes were filled with a spirited glow as he stared at Qianye’s brilliant galaxy.

The small specks of starlight were actually tiny crystalline granules. No matter how small they were, it didn’t change the fact that they had condensed into tangible bodies, and they were even of a higher level than the grey rain. A single granule would flush away two to three wisps of rain before vanishing.

In terms of origin power quality, Qianye wasn’t just above Caroline—it even seemed like he would surpass the Earth Dragon a little bit.

This conclusion shook Elder Wei deeply. The true favorites of heaven and earth weren’t the demonkin or their powerful bloodlines, but instead the void colossi. They stood at the apex of the entire world since birth, capable of utilizing pure and highly advanced void origin power. Most experts would never reach their inherent heights after a lifetime of cultivation.

Caroline was at a clear disadvantage in her fight against the grey rain. It took several waves of her lightning to wear out one wisp of the condensation. Meanwhile, Qianye had the upper hand against it, his crystalline granules wiping out the rain with relative ease.

His origin power stood shoulder to shoulder with the void colossus. Elder Wei understood what this meant. Qianye would probably encounter no obstructions before the heavenly monarch realm. Back in the empire, a high-ranking divine champion could support a major clan, albeit barely like Duchess An.

If only he hadn’t left the Zhao clan, there might be a third divine champion after a decade to prop the family up like a cauldron. With their clan’s strength, it wouldn’t be difficult to be spoken of on the same level as Prince Greensun’s Zhang clan.

This Qianye’s strength far exceeded the reports on paper. This meant that all of the empire’s assassination teams would meet the same fate if they were to encounter him. Elder Wei’s expression sank at the thought of this.

Qianye paid no heed to Elder Wei and Caroline’s thoughts. At this moment, his heart was filled with dismay and desolation as his mood overlapped with the Pointer Monarch’s. It was just that Qianye had abandoned his family and hometown before his lover left him. What did the Pointer Monarch go through?

Judging from his methods in leaving behind those words, he was already a heavenly monarch at that time. What could frustrate a heavenly monarch so much?

Unknowingly, Qianye had passed Caroline and Elder Wei on his ascent. The grey rain became even denser, but the starlight around him was also boundless. They danced around him, shuttling through the rain and destroying all that it came into contact with.

…