Against The True Gods

Caine fell from the stars and into the skies, his bloodied body catching fire as he hurtled downward, twisting and rolling in the air as he desperately tried to regain balance.

The void above seemed endless, a dark canvas punctuated only by faint glimmers of distant light, but his descent was unrelenting.

Below stretched a vast forest, ominous in its design. The soil of this land was ashen grey, devoid of life's vibrancy.

The countless trees were pitch black, their towering trunks splintered and gnarled, crowned with sharp and deadly branches.

These branches bore emerald flames instead of leaves, flickering ominously, casting eerie shadows that danced across the forest floor.

Roaming through the vast expanse of this deathly land were skeletal creatures, their gaunt forms radiating an aura of death and carnage.

Though Caine couldn't see any of this, he didn't need to. His intent allowed him to read the nature of his surroundings instantly, the very air whispering its truths to him.

BOOOOM!

A crater formed in the heart of the forest as his body crashed into the ground with the force of a meteor. Dirt and debris exploded outward, mingling with emerald sparks from the fiery foliage above.

The world around him shuddered. A wave of emerald qi surged through the air, thick and oppressive. It spread outward like an ocean, consuming everything in its path.

The once-visible forest became an endless expanse of emerald mist, suffused with a single unmistakable energy.

Death Qi.

Caine's Blood Qi stirred violently, sensing the danger. Warning signs blared through his being, but he was already too late to react.

WHOOOSH!

The thick waves of death qi condensed, spiraling toward him and flooding his body with their eerie, malevolent essence. It moved with precision, as if alive, targeting every fiber of his being.

His body began to expand unnaturally, and the strain caused it to crack apart in places.

Glowing emerald veins spread across these cracks, pulsing with energy. His skin turned entirely black, and his pupils transformed into voids of pure darkness, swallowing all light.

Caine's already mutated Blood Qi began to shatter, throwing his body into complete disarray. Black and emerald runes snaked along his form, their luminous glow marking the areas where corrosion was deepest. The death qi was relentless, slowly corroding him from the inside out.

Yet Caine remained calm. The immense pain wracking his body wasn't enough to break his focus.

BOOOM!

His hair ignited, transforming into a mane of burning white flames. A chitinous armor formed over his bare body, glistening in the emerald light. Waves of chaotic power oozed from him, and within, life and death qi clashed violently, threatening to tear him apart.

Caine slowly sat up, crossing his legs in a meditative posture. His Dao Heart radiated serenity, shining brilliantly amidst the chaos brewing within him.

The situation was dire. If he didn't act, the death qi would completely corrode his life qi.

Once that happened, his Blood Qi would mutate into something grotesque and corrosive, a force that would kill him in seconds.

But Caine remained unshaken.

If he had truly wanted to stop this, he could have done so already.

His True Will alone was enough to command all qi to obey him. Beyond that, he was protected by the countless safeguards he had painstakingly cultivated. His body, refined through the power of his Death Star, was resistant to such assaults.

His rings could control atmospheric qi and offset the effects of even potent death qi. And above all, his Qi Pillar stood as his foundation.

Though Caine hadn't used it up to now, it still stood at the immeasurable grade. Its mere existence shielded him from such attacks.

The reason he had allowed his body to endure this torment was twofold. The first reason lay in his Blood Qi.

'I see. The additional cursed and blessed natures of my Blood Qi are the root causes of all this.'

His thoughts were calm and methodical.

'My five fundamental senses reflect my five aspects. An evolution in one is mirrored by a change in the other.'

'The World Will Eye of the real world had been suppressing the completion of my aspects. Entering this fractured reality allowed them to fully complete, which in turn mutated my senses.'

'They weren't just mutated—they were turned into templates for me to use. I can't see, hear, smell, feel, or taste because I now need to reforge these senses.'

Caine nodded to himself as clarity washed over him, unbothered by the flames of death qi burning his body.

'This completion made my Blood Qi malleable, causing my senses to vanish. Conversely, it is through my Blood Qi that I can regain them.'

For most cultivators, reforging their senses entirely would be an impossible task—especially when those senses reflected Immeasurable Cursed and Blessed aspects.

But for Caine, this task was almost trivial. His gift, [Sense], was the perfect tool for such a task. As an extension of his True Will, all he needed to do was allow it to function.

The second reason for enduring this agony was simple yet profound—Balance.

He sought to strike equilibrium between his Life Qi and the invading Death Qi, allowing them to mutate and harmonize. By doing so, his Life Qi would ascend to match the potency of Lilith's, granting him regeneration abilities that bordered on godlike. The resulting balance would also synchronize perfectly with the functions of his flesh and bones.

WHOOOSH!

Caine's True Will Star glowed as one of the five dragons coiled around it opened its eyes. As it stirred, the manifestation of a dragon materialized, coiling tightly around him.

BOOOM!

His Will surged, and his Life Qi erupted with terrifying momentum. It countered the Death Qi with equal force, initiating a violent dance within his body that pushed him closer to destruction.

Two shades of emerald—light and dark—clashed around him, filling the air with chaotic energy. Flowers sprouted amidst the dead forest, their fragile blooms flickering with vitality, only to wither and rot moments later under the relentless clash of qi.

Caine's body peeled away layer by layer, alternating between a state of perfect regeneration and grotesque decay. It was a brutal cycle, but it created the ideal environment for his senses to reforge.

RUMBLE!

With a faint roar from the dragon coiled around him, complex runes began to materialize in the air. They shimmered as they slowly reconstructed each of his senses, restoring balance to his fragmented being.

'I suppose I'll take a deep dive into the complexities of Death Qi as well.'

As this thought formed, the skies above darkened. Ominous clouds gathered, thick with the promise of lightning. They crackled with volatile energy, the sound reverberating like a harbinger of judgment.

Caine sighed, shaking his head as his blind eyes met the brewing storm above.

"What have I done this time? I'm only healing my body."

A deafening clap of thunder drowned his words as the first bolt of lightning struck, searing his body.

The pain was immense, but Caine remained indifferent. He sighed once more, his tone one of mild exasperation.

"I suppose I should be happy it's just a simple tribulation this time."
Stay tuned to My Virtual Library Empire

The second bolt of lightning fell.