Myth Beyond Heaven

Yun Lintian’s gaze sharpened as he made his decision. “We’ll start with the God of Light.”

Hei Xuan nodded approvingly. “A logical choice. Li Qinglan hasn’t fallen to Nian Shi’s influence yet. There’s still a chance to reason with her.”

Hei Yue wiped her tears and stepped forward. “I’m going with you.” Her voice left no room for argument.

Yun Lintian studied her determined expression before nodding. “Very well. But first…” He placed a hand over his chest where Hei Xuan’s Divine Core pulsed with newly absorbed power. “I need seven days to fully consolidate this darkness.”

***

The training grounds of the Eternal Darkness Realm became Yun Lintian’s temporary sanctuary.

He sat cross-legged at the center, his body wreathed in swirling shadows. The primordial darkness churned within him, resisting complete assimilation. Each breath he took drew the chaotic energy deeper into his meridians, binding it to his Divine Core.

Qingqing and Linlin hovered nearby, their tiny faces pinched with concern.

“Big Brother Yun’s energy keeps fluctuating,” Linlin whispered.

Qingqing nodded. “The God of Darkness’s power is too wild. It’s fighting him.”

Not far away, Hei Yue trained with renewed vigor. Her twin swords—one radiant with light, the other shrouded in darkness—moved in perfect harmony. Each strike carried the weight of her recent revelations about her father’s sacrifices.

Hei Xuan observed from a distance, his rejuvenated form leaning against a stone pillar. “She’s improving quickly,” he remarked to Mu Ren.

The golden-eyed attendant nodded. “Now that Young Miss’s power is truly balanced, her potential is limitless.”

A proud smile touched Hei Xuan’s lips. “She’ll surpass her mother soon enough.”

Buzz—

All of a sudden, Yun Lintian’s aura erupted like a collapsing star, and the surrounding darkness responded as if it were alive. The void itself trembled, shadows twisting into serpentine tendrils that coiled around him like loyal servants.

Hei Xuan’s eyes narrowed. “His control over dark energy… has already surpassed mine.”

Mu Ren, standing nearby, frowned. “Strange. He absorbed the power, yet he hasn’t broken through to the Primordial God Realm.”

Hei Xuan let out a low chuckle. “Fool. You cannot judge him by common sense.” His gaze lingered on Yun Lintian, as if seeing something beyond mortal comprehension. “His veins are several times wider than any cultivator’s—wider than even a Primordial God’s. His breakthrough isn’t a matter of power. It’s a matter of conditions.”

Yun Lintian exhaled sharply as the last traces of Hei Xuan’s divine power finally submitted to his will. The swirling darkness around him condensed into perfect rings before being absorbed into his pores. His eyes snapped open — twin pools of absolute void that made even Mu Ren take an involuntary step back.

Hei Xuan stepped forward, arms crossed. “Tell me, did you inherit any techniques from the God of Darkness in your timeline?”

Yun Lintian blinked. The question caught him off guard. After a moment’s thought, he shook his head. “I normally don’t use Primordial Gods’ techniques. I… didn’t study it.”

A vein pulsed on Hei Xuan’s forehead. “You absorbed a Primordial God’s power and didn’t even bother learning their techniques?” His voice rose with each word. “What kind of idiot—”

Hei Yue quickly stepped between them. “Father!”

Hei Xuan took a deep breath before tossing a black jade slip at Yun Lintian. “This is ‘Void Shattering Steps’ — one of the three supreme darkness techniques gifted by the Creator himself.”

Yun Lintian caught the slip, his spiritual sense immediately scanning its contents. His eyebrows rose slightly. “This…”

“Not what you expected?” Hei Xuan smirked. “The Creator didn’t make simple techniques. This isn’t some flashy divine ability — it’s the essence of darkness itself.”

The technique was deceptively simple in concept yet infinitely profound in execution. Rather than manipulating existing darkness, it taught how to become the absence between spaces — to move through the cracks in reality itself.

Yun Lintian closed his eyes, his body flickering strangely as he began practicing. At first nothing happened. Then—

His figure blurred without any spatial fluctuations. One moment he stood before them, the next he was behind Mu Ren without having crossed the intervening space.

Mu Ren’s golden eyes widened. “He grasped it already?”

“Not quite,” Hei Xuan observed. “Look at his shadow.”

Indeed, Yun Lintian’s shadow remained where he originally stood, disconnected from his body. He frowned, examining his own hands. “The synchronization is off.”

“Because you’re thinking wrong,” Hei Xuan said, walking forward. “You’re still trying to move through space. This technique doesn’t move through anything — it moves around existence itself.”

To demonstrate, Hei Xuan took a single step — and appeared simultaneously in five different locations before coalescing back into one. Not an afterimage, but genuine spatial superposition.

Yun Lintian’s eyes gleamed with understanding. He closed his eyes again, and this time when he moved—

He didn’t.

At least not in any conventional sense. His body simply ceased to be in one place and appeared in another without any transitional movement. His shadow followed perfectly this time.

“Monster,” Mu Ren muttered.

What Mu Ren didn’t know was that the technique was similar to the Shadow Step Yun Lintian often used. So, it was normal for Yun Lintian to master it quickly.

Hei Xuan however looked pleased. “Good. Now try this.” He snapped his fingers, creating a complex array of darkness barriers in the training ground — each capable of blocking spatial teleportation.

Yun Lintian’s form dissolved into the void, passing through the barriers like smoke through a sieve. Not breaking them, not going around them, but slipping through the infinitesimal gaps in reality’s fabric.

Hei Yue watched with mixed awe and frustration. “How is he learning this so fast? It took me years to master basic shadow steps!”

“Because he’s not learning,” Hei Xuan explained. “He’s remembering. That technique was meant for someone with his level of darkness affinity.”

As Yun Lintian continued practicing, his movements became increasingly unnatural to observe. He would be in multiple places at once, then none at all, then suddenly everywhere within a certain area. The very concept of location seemed to bend around him.

After what could have been minutes or hours, Yun Lintian finally stopped, his form stabilizing. “I understand now. This isn’t a movement technique at all.”

Hei Xuan grinned. “Finally clicked, did it? What is it then?”

“A state of being,” Yun Lintian said, looking at his hand as it momentarily phased in and out of existence. “To exist in the spaces between spaces.”

“Exactly.” Hei Xuan nodded approvingly. “Now you’re ready for the second stage.” He produced another jade slip. “This one’s called ‘Eternal Night’.”