When his eyes focused again, Gu Fan found that the soft warmth was gone, and the smell of Bai Bing’s body was replaced by the nauseating, metallic stench of rotting flesh and blood.

The Sanctum had vanished and he was suddenly standing in a battlefield.

The roof above his head was gone, replaced by a sickly red sky. The ground beneath him was seeping with blood, and all around him, to the horizons his eyes could see, there were literal mountains of mutilated corpses.

And in the distance, a horrific battle was raging.

Thousands of heavily armoured warriors were locked in a gruesome slaughter against massive, nightmarish beasts.

Gu Fan watched as in front of hi very eyes, a man’s head was cleanly bitten off by a three-headed wolf, and the blood fountained out of his neck painting the ground.

Another warrior ripped the guts out of a giant, scaled serpent with his bare hands, and its bloodcurdling screams echoed in the red sky.

Gu fan had no idea where he had transformed into. His brain was saying it was all an illusion, but if it was, it was too surreal.

Suddenly a dry, wheezing laugh vibrated directly inside his skull. It was the voice of a very amused, very ancient man.

"Oh, look at the little bug!" the ancient voice cackled, sounding thoroughly entertained. "You actually saw through the Labyrinth of Desire!"

"Most men die on that cold floor, drained to a husk with a smile on their face."

"Old man! Isn’t it too naive on your part to actually use such cheap illusions?" Gu Fan taunted, looking up at the red sky, "You don’t think I can’t see through your petty tricks, do you?"

"Hahahaha! Can you?" the voice chuckled, carrying the tone of an eccentric cultivator who had long ago ascended past this lower realm, leaving behind only this playful remnant soul.

"just because you smashed my stone toys out there and do you think you can just grab the Blue Ghost Fire like a candied apple? Do you even know what you are trying to touch?"

The voice shifted, taking on a slightly more instructional, yet still arrogant tone.

"That little blue spark is a marvel of the Netherworld," the old man spoke.

"Assimilate it, and your Alchemy will rival grandmasters."

"It naturally repels and incinerates thousands of mortal and spirit-grade toxins."

"In battle, it will freeze your enemies’ meridians before burning their flesh."

"It is absolute offense and absolute defence wrapped in a pretty blue ribbon."

"It is my precio..."

"Wait! wait! Wait! Old man," Gu fan interrupted him, "We have already been over this how awesome this fire of yours is."

"Now can you shut that stuck gramophone of yours and get to the point?"

"You...?!" The old man almost choked on his spit. If the Old man’s soul had eyes, they would have punctured holes in his body by now.

"You impudent brat. Escaping Desire is only the first step. To inherit my embers, you must prove your soul isn’t as brittle as glass."

"You can reject pleasure? Then I will break you with despair!"

And as soon as the old man said that, the ground beneath Gu Fan’s feet began to tremble violently.

A massive pile of corpses ten metres ahead of him suddenly exploded outward. Showering the area in severed limbs and dried blood.

And from the gore emerged a colossal nightmare.

It was a tiger, but not any beast Gu Fan had ever seen. It was five metres tall at the shoulder. Its fur was pitch black, burning with literal infernal fire.

It had four massive, heavily muscled arms ending in razor-sharp, scythe-like claws, and its eyes were burning like twin suns filled with pure hatred.

’System? You there?’

’What is this thing?’

[This is a 4-Armed Infernal Tiger, master.]

[And just a word of caution, you wouldn’t want to piss it.]

The massive beast locked its burning eyes on Gu Fan.

"Look at this scrawny little appetizer," the Tiger taunted, its voice dripping with amusement.

It crossed its upper arms while its lower arms flexed their scythe-like claws.

"You think you are tough? I will make you squeal like a stuck pig before I chew on your bones!"

Gu Fan cracked his knuckles, "Bring it on, oversized kitty."

He bent his knees, preparing to activate the Sovereign Strike of Infinite Freedom..

But the next moment as the tiger moved, it crossed the distance between them in a blink of an eye.

Gu Fan tried to dodge, but before his body could even move, or before he could even think about blocking the attack from the massive kitty, a massive, fiery claw smashed directly into his chest.

Ghk...!

Gu Fan was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a pile of rotting corpses.

The sheer force of the blow shattered his ribs instantly, and an agonising pain flooded his nervous system.

"Ghkk!" Gu fan spit out a mouthful of blood, as he stared at the tiger with his eyes barely open.

Damn! this was supposed to be an illusion, but the pain... why does the pain feels so real?!

But the tiger didn’t gave Gu fan the chance to contemplate. It leaped into the air, landing directly on top of Gu Fan and pinning him to the rusted iron ground.

"Is that all you have got, weakling?!" the Tiger spat, its hot saliva sizzling against Gu Fan’s neck. "Pathetic! You are nothing but a chew toy!"

The beast raised its four massive arms and began a relentless, brutal beatdown.

SLASH!

SLASH!

CRUNCH!

The razor-sharp claws shredded the flesh on Gu Fan’s chest like cheap tissue paper. Thick, hot blood sprayed directly into his own face, but the ruthless beast did not stop.

"I’m going to enjoy cracking your skull open!" the beast cursed, as the tiger opened its massive, fiery jaws, revealing rows of teeth the size of daggers.

It lowered its head, preparing to bite Gu Fan’s head clean off his shoulders.

"Give up," the Sovereign’s voice whispered directly into Gu Fan’s bleeding ear. It sounded almost soothing now. "Surrender your soul to the fire. And the pain will end."

Gu Fan lay in a pool of his own blood. His chest was a mangled mess of exposed bone and shredded meat. His consciousness was slipping into the dark abyss.

[Ding! Host is being subjected to soul-level suppression.]

[Creator Authority detected. Willpower is the only currency in this mental realm.]

The blue system text hovered right in front of Gu Fan’s dying eyes.

Willpower?!

Gu Fan’s bleeding, mangled lips curled into a manic, bloodstained smile.

"Surrender?" Gu Fan laughed weakly, spitting blood directly into the tiger’s burning face.

His green eyes suddenly snapped wide open, glowing with a terrifying, unhinged light.

"I wrote you, you miserable old fuck!" Gu Fan roared, his voice completely drowning out the tiger’s snarl.

"I created this world! I created that fire! I refuse to be a secondary character in my own masterpiece!"

A surge of absolute, uncompromising willpower erupted from Gu Fan’s soul. It wasn’t Qi. It was the raw, undeniable authority of the Creator. It was the Void. Nothingness.

The sluggish, heavy feeling in his limbs vanished instantly.

As the colossal tiger brought its jaws down to snap his neck, Gu Fan moved. He reached up with both of his bare, blood-soaked hands and grabbed the beast directly by its massive upper and lower jaws.

The tiger froze, its burning eyes widening in sudden, impossible terror.

"Die," Gu Fan stated coldly.

With a primal, ear-shattering roar, Gu Fan physically ripped his hands apart. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

RIIIIIIIP!

He literally tore the massive tiger’s head completely in half, right down the middle of its skull. A massive geyser of infernal blood and fire erupted into the red sky, showering Gu Fan in the beast’s remains.

The headless corpse of the 4-Armed Infernal Tiger slumped over, dead.

The moment the beast died, the bruised red sky cracked. The rusted iron ground shattered like cheap glass. The entire Oracle’s Labyrinth collapsed under the sheer, dominant weight of Gu Fan’s Creator Willpower.

[Ding! Trial Broken!]

[10x Multiplier applied to "Oracle Insight".]

[Acquired High-Tier Soul Art: ’Eye of the Void-Shatter’.]