The ultimate chaos God

The phantom of seven hell

The heavy iron doors of the Green Willow Market pavilion closed behind him. Li Tian stepped into the chaotic street, expression calm and unreadable. Beneath that stillness, his newly repaired meridians gave a faint, uneasy twitch.

Three distinct signatures of spiritual pressure brushed against his senses. Someone was following him.

"I can't afford trouble right now," he muttered, gaze drifting toward the shifting figures at the edge of the crowd. A fight here would draw the attention of the Li Celestial Clan, and his qi had yet to recover from the Ashen Veil Forest.

Without breaking stride, he disappeared into the densest part of the market, slipping through the sea of armored cultivators, shouting vendors, and haggling mercenaries like a shadow. Three turns. Two narrow alleys. One incense-choked passage. By the time he emerged, the hostile spiritual pressure had dissolved into the chaos behind him.

Even so, he remained vigilant.

Leaving the market behind, he headed toward the elevated outskirts of the clan's territory. The terrain grew steeper, colder, and eerily quiet until he arrived at a jagged cliff overlooking a mist-filled ravine where not even the wind dared intrude.

"This will do."

He sat cross-legged upon the frozen stone and retrieved the glowing vial of High-Grade Spirit Elixir from his bloodstained robes. Beside it rested the battered jade slip. His fingers lingered over it for a brief moment.

"With the Chaos Heart, another breakthrough shouldn't take long."

He uncorked the vial and swallowed the elixir in one motion. The empty bottle slipped from his fingers and disappeared into the abyss below. He closed his eyes, breathing slowed, and the world became perfectly still.

Then it shattered.

When he opened his eyes again, he stood upon a cracked black stone beneath an endless grey sky swirling with chaotic currents.

"Again," he said quietly, a cold edge beneath the calm.

Without wasting another second, he activated Heaven-Earth Qi Alignment and the elixir erupted inside him.

BOOM.

Violent spiritual energy exploded through every meridian in his body and Li Tian crashed to one knee, his entire frame convulsing as though countless needles were ripping through every channel simultaneously.

"It's too powerful."

Golden qi surged wildly through his meridians, refusing to be controlled. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"A High-Grade Elixir exceeds what this body can endure." His eyes hardened. "I can't suppress it. Then I'll devour it."

Instead of resisting, he forcefully redirected the torrent, dragging it toward the core within his dantian. The violent storm spiraled inward and condensed into a single point.

BOOOOM.

The inner domain trembled as an immense shockwave swept across the black wasteland, causing even the grey sky to ripple. Then silence.

Li Tian remained on one knee, drenched in sweat. The unbearable pain had vanished, replaced by an overwhelming surge of vitality. He rose slowly.

"Soul Awakening. Grade Five." His voice was quiet, almost disbelieving. "The Chaos Heart truly defies reason."

He clenched his fist and power answered instantly, dense and stable and far stronger than before. But his expression soon darkened.

"This body's limits are still holding me back."

A black-gold flame bloomed above his fingertips, purer and denser than anything he had produced before, but only for a moment. It flickered out.

"The power has increased, but the consumption remains excessive."

Then a strange weight settled against his chest and he frowned, reaching inside his robes. The battered jade slip was still there. His pupils contracted.

That shouldn't have been possible. The inner domain was a manifestation of the soul and physical objects had no place inside it, yet the slip rested in his hand, cold and solid and unmistakably real.

"There is still far too much I don't understand."

He slowly infused his Grade Five qi into the surface and the moment it entered, the blank jade dissolved into darkness as crimson-black characters emerged one after another, flowing like fresh blood across the stone.

"The Phantom Path of the Seven Hells."

His heartbeat quickened as he read on.

"First Hell: Ghost Flicker. Second Hell: Cursed Momentum. Third Hell: Echo of the Damned. Fourth Hell: Void Submergence. Fifth Hell: Horizon Fracture. Sixth Hell: World Severing Stride. Seventh Hell: Sovereign of the Seven Hells."

"This level of inheritance shouldn't exist inside a soul realm." His grip tightened. "Master Luo never saw this I think I am the one that can see it ."

HISS

Without warning the slip ignited and black energy poured from it like living darkness, cold and ancient and hungry. It wrapped around his fingers and slithered up his arm with unmistakable purpose.

Li Tian jerked backward but it did not let go. An icy burning sensation spread through his hand as dark cracks crawled beneath his skin like shattered obsidian, climbing steadily toward his wrist.

His breathing slowed. His eyes narrowed.

"What are you?"