Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"That voice!" Yan Zaizen gnashed his teeth in vicious anger. This voice was quite familiar to him; it was the one that presided over Sky Shatter's trial! He felt a distinctive sensation on the left side of his body. It was an uncontrollable, irritating, and squirming itch that seemed the slither from his brain to his big toe.

During the Sky Shatter trial, the entire left side of his body experienced a physical collapse from a sudden strike that he could not prepare for. If it wasn't for his Herculean physique, death would've been his only option. Therefore, he carried quite a grudge over this voice.

"Wait! Does that mean the voice belongs to…" As he pondered over how to get his revenge, he came to the realization that the voice belonged to the trial overseer. It's probable that the trial overseer was the artificial spirit meant to handle certain trials or even all the trials on Grand Sirius. If that was the case, the chance of him obtaining his revenge would be unlikely.

This possibility left him feeling helpless and dispirited.

Ever since Yan Zaizen stepped into this trial grounds, he felt isolated. It was a very distinctive feeling as he looked around. Despite his achievements of dominating Yun Xuli, beating back the myriad of younger generations, or being associated with Zhou Xiuhei or Shi Yan, none of them even looked his way.

In stories, he imagined that he would be gaining enemies or friends during these trials, be subjected to humiliation and overcoming this humiliation by displaying how truly awesome he was. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to care about his past, present, or even future.

He pouted slightly. Shouldn't there be beautiful women trying to gain his hand in marriage?

While he lamented his current unpopular status, a young male walked up to one of the monoliths. Yan Zaizen recalled the information funneled into his mind earlier. The Trial of Source Potential had three monoliths that were determiners of talent. The first monolith was pure white, twenty meters high, about a person's length thick, and shaped like a long rectangular cube. It had smooth edges, sharp ends, and blank surface.

As Yan Zaizen stared at it, it felt like his cells were tumbling about in excitement. "The Monolith of Physique," he softly muttered. In the cultivation world, one's physique was undeniably important and incredibly difficult to enhance due to the heavenly laws. Typically, a person's talent can be deduced by their physique and their path.

For the Essence Path, those who could absorb and refine essence into qi with a high efficiency with barely any loss would be classified as having good talent. When Yan Zaizen was young, during his early years, he had the worst bodily talent imaginable. After taking the path of the Herculean, he was sure that the Essence Path, Heavenly Path, and various other paths that use essence or energy was far easier for him with his talent being remarkable.

He turned towards the monolith in the middle. It was golden that shimmered with a faint glowing shroud. As he observed this monolith, he felt his soul resonate slightly and his eighth sense picked up some form of interference. This interference caused his connections with his heavenly law avatars to destabilize slightly.

Taking his eyes away, he muttered, "The Monolith of the Heavens." This monolith would test one's eighth sense, the external sense one has towards the heavenly laws. The purer it was, the easier it was to connect and advance in laws. This wasn't always a definitive determiner, as different laws also had different complexities and intricacies that made them hard or easy for individuals.

There were some who could, despite their eighth sense being rather frail, pick up a sword one day and reach the sovereign-level in a thousand years. There was also some who were simply unable to gain a single hint of insight despite having a pure heavenly sense. It was all a matter of compatibility, intelligence, and insight as well as fortuitous occurrences.

A perfect example of this was Yan Zaizen. Despite being a Non-Entity, he didn't comprehend a single law until he met the meteor that fell from the sky. A large reason for this was simple, exposure, knowledge, and pursuit. During his early years, he knew about the idea of laws, but never did he attempt to comprehend them.

In the Yan Clan, there was also no Origin Core cultivators, so even the most innate law-based bloodlines were something he had never seen. As for seeing Origin Core cultivators, he didn't have the status or reason to do so, let alone seeing them fight. It was only when he came across the Regalia of the Heavens that contained life and death laws that he glimpsed into the heavenly laws.

The last monolith was more intriguing. It was purely black. "The Monolith of Arts," his eyes narrowed. The first two monoliths, he had zero issues with. However, the Monolith of Arts delivered a random art according to your preferred path, regardless if it's the Bodily, Soul Source, Essence, or Heavenly Paths. It even mentioned the Bestial Path was available. The monolith time limit was one month. You'll cultivate the art until a month has passed, demonstrate your success, and receive a rating based on this.

"It's been years since I've was regarded as having no skill in the myriad arts. Now, I have an Astral Soul Realm cultivation base, a refined brain, and high-level arts I'm skilled in or mastered. I can do this," psyching himself up, he realized that the young male from earlier had arrived at the white monolith - the Monolith of Physique.

Raising his hand, he placed it on the monolith. A glow of pure white shrouded his body for a minute and then rescinded back into the monolith. The young man had a slight smile on his face but there was nervousness within the depths of his eyes. When Yan Zaizen inspected him, he could see his fist clenched and trembling slightly.

The others only watched, their eyes suffused with solemnity or deep inspection. Yan Zaizen found this a little funny, "even if he does well, that doesn't affect your own results, does it?!" Just as he was thinking this, a dazzling light flared at the top of the tall, cube monolith. This light projected a few characters that caused even his heart to drop.

"Physique Grade - Third, Physique POTENTIAL - Four, Energy Compatibility - BELOW AVERAGE, Essence Compatibility - AVERAGE. Projected MAXIMUM Potential in Energy & Essence Path: General-Class!"

When that line of characters was brought out, there were some who grimaced slightly. Yan Zaizen squinted in pity.

In terms of Physique Grade, there were a total of nine grades. Potential denoted the maximum grade one could reach in their physique with enhancements, such as using vital energy to enhance the energy within the physique. Energy Compatibility suggested how your body can integrate, defuse, and produce through conversion of materials which contain energy relating to laws, such as turning non-attributed qi into attributed qi. Essence Compatibility was similar, suggesting how the body handles the essence beneath the heavens.

The last bit truly was demoralizing. Maximum Potential indicated not a comprehension into laws, but the potential to convert a specific type of energy into something else. For Fiendgods or Heavenly Cultivators, each dividing path from the early to upper stages was significant. Comprehending laws was only a single prerequisite.

For heavenly cultivators, when they ascend into the heavenly path, their true-essence infuses with a heavenly aura. When they reach the fourth-floor, or middle stages of the Heavenly Genesis Realm, they convert that true-essence into heavenly might. No longer who they possess true-essence, but heavenly energy produced from true-essence. As they ascend to the seventh-floor, or the upper-stages of the Heavenly Genesis Realm, they convert their heavenly might into heavenly essence which is integrated into their might. Only when one ascends to the Heavenly Creation Realm does their energy become purely heavenly essence.

Essentially, according to this rating, without a fortuitous encounter or heaven-defying material, he would never be able to produce heavenly essence because his physical body could not handle such conversion.

As those words were displayed, Yan Zaizen could see a deep, heart-wrenching aura of despair overtake his body. It was as if he was told by God himself that he would never amount to more. There wasn't an ounce of struggle in his eyes, only bleak desolation, as if he accepted this wholeheartedly.

"Haaa…" Yan Zaizen sighed.