Apotheosis

Under the Other Shore creatures' gaze, Zen rushed right into the innermost circle.

There, the Void Sand was dark purple, having stronger corrosivity than that in outer circles. As though it had its own intelligence, the sand flew all over the sky, swarming toward Zen like a cloud of bloodthirsty mosquitoes.

Buzz!

The once solid protective light then began swaying violently like candlelight flickering in strong gusts of wind. Now, it could be extinguished at any given moment.

If it weren't for the fox girl's special requirement, Zen might have already chosen to stop at this point. A bloodline in the innermost circle had met his initial expectations, after all.

To the left nearby Zen lay a hexagram array. Once he entered it, he'd be able to arrive safely at the room behind it, where a strange, flat pattern would be awaiting him — it likely had something to do with obtaining a bloodline.

But the fox girl's warning lingered in Zen's ears. He had no choice but to obey her — if he wanted to pass through the innermost circle smoothly, he had to speed up.

"I just have to charge without stopping!"

While he attempted to quicken his pace, the Void Sand reacted even more intensely, preventing him from advancing altogether.

Numerous clouds of Void Sand seemed to have materialized, forming a great monster that enveloped Zen, leaving no space for him to escape.

Countless grains of this unique sand counteracted Zen's protective light, corroding it in the field. Zen's protective light merely continued to shrink and dim.

"I can't hold on for much longer…" Zen muttered with a frown.

As he watched the sand dance along the surface of the painting, a thought suddenly sparked in his head — he then tried to lift his entire presence out of the Eternal Scroll Painting, leaving behind only his feet.

"Eh?"

"What happened?"

"Did he just leave his feet behind? Is it possible that..."

"Maybe the sand already eroded the rest of his body!"

The Other Shore creatures observing him speculated and bemoaned regretfully.

The members of the Three Eyes race glanced at the Oneness Sky Palace's people pitifully.

"What a shame. He should have chosen to integrate with a bloodline the moment he reached the innermost circle."

"Alas, maybe the boy was just far too greedy for a good rank

the wave of sand was just about to swallow him whole. His body sank downward as he once again returned to the painting.

A deafening cheer erupted from the Grand Plain Stage the moment he returned. Pearce, Auden, and the rest could feel all their worries fade away at the sight of his arrival.

Just as Libby had surmised, Zen wasn't damaged at all. The Eternal Realm masters' reaction told them that Zen had obtained an extraordinary ability to separate from the painting at will.

The minute Zen returned to it, though, the Void Sand followed suit and continued swarming toward him.

But the interval it provided when the Void Sand shifted between forms gave Zen a break.

Without any hesitation, Zen lifted himself out of the painting once again before the Void Sand followed him out.

And so Zen continued moving in and out of the painting continuously. The motion was somewhat like swimming — it was as though he was repeatedly diving into the water and bobbing up. The Void Sand was still on his tail. But with this strange means of movement, he managed to avoid getting eroded and getting his protective light broken down.

Soon enough, Zen had already passed by the many hexagram arrays along the way that his predecessors had entered.

Once Zen surpassed the record of the spider spirit from the Star Spider Civilization, the Element Spirit race's Eye Spirit was the only one left who held a higher rank. For countless years, the Eye Spirit was in first place — he was known as one of the most powerful beings on the Other Shore.