Cheated. As the system's words lingered in his mind, Harun realized that across his 165 years of life, he'd never felt more cheated. Even the unexpected downgrade he suffered upon ascension couldn't compare to the system's maliciousness. With no care for standpoints, scourge points would drop left and right, bringing the might of Harun's next tribulations to inconceivable heights. How sadistic could that so-called Ancestral One be that he came up with such a horrible device?
Worse, through what he gleaned from the stele, Harun could see that in each realm, his new cultivation path would have at least two tribulations. With the scourge foundation he was about to lay down, how could he breathe?
"The Art of the Decaying Flower and the Double Pupils aren't enough. For the physical tribulation, I must find a way to boost my fleshly body's resilience drastically. But for the mental one…" Knowing that worrying without alternatives never amounted to anything, Harun sealed those depressing thoughts at the back of his mind and left the system. Sitting on his cultivation mat, Harun set the Life and Death stele before him and browsed through the remembrance chants with his Divine Sense—hoping to find his dead father and brother. Alas, neither stood on the stele.
As it only contained the reincarnation cycles of 10,000 souls, that much was to be expected. Harun closed his eyes, and in his mind, the 10,000 cycles appeared, shaped like light dots that floated across the six joined bridges and the greater cycle they formed. In ancient times unknown to the 33 Heavens' denizens, a supreme expert named this road all souls subconsciously trod, the Six Incarnation Bridge. Moreover, he postulated that only those that crossed and transcended this bridge could achieve true freedom from Heaven's grasp.
After studying all those cycles had to show, Harun weaved silver threads through each dot, each soul, connecting those 10,000 reincarnation cycles in one constellation from which the mysteries of Life and Death, the mysteries of the Samsara, shone at their brightest.
Reaching out, Harun plucked one filament from the reincarnation constellation, fusing it with his Divine Sense to get insight into Life and Death. Exhaling a breath of black and white mist, Harun opened his eyes, and for an instant, they gave the misconception that a myriad of profound principles sparkled within.
Testing his new insight, Harun made a hand sign, and his teenaged appearance changed to that of a burly giant, then a human baby, a dying old man, a lanky youth. It was as if with a thought, he could assume all human shapes and shield all secrets his body contained from his enemies.
"First step complete. What a pity that I didn't have this skill before. But then again, if I did, none of this would have happened." For Harun, the reincarnation path wasn't merely an escape tool or a mean to boost his strength. Down the road, it'd enable him to verify certain things and clear the thorns rooted in his heart.
Pulling out the 80,000 Divine Jades he received as an award, Harun started the taxing process of filling them all with blood drops, restoring his losses with Blood Replenishing Pills and Divine Herbs in-between.
At first, Harun believed he'd have to leave many resources behind. But fortunately, behind the system's first door lay a top-grade cultivation room equipped with an Inner Space World. There, Harun stored plenty.
Within the Extreme Yin Prison, Harun's soul siphoned colossal quantities of Extreme Yin, hastening the Decaying Flower's petal withering. Within a day, the third petal withered, and Harun estimated that by the time he refined all the Extreme Yin trapping the monstrous divine beasts, the fourth would wither too—bringing his strength and speed to absurd heights. Still, while he didn't care for the lifespan drop, Harun wondered if the 100% resilience reduction wouldn't leave him vulnerable before future tribulations.
After completing his blood stones, Harun planted them in various corners of the room for a traditional Blood Convergence Formation—enabling him to further enhance his blood refinement speed. The day passed without hurdles, with Harun focusing on refining the Devouring Serpent elder's blood drops.
In the early stages of his reign, longing for the Mortal Realm, Agiri set up a day and night system in the Highest Heaven similar to what happened below—with a full moon occurring once a month.
This was the full moon's night, and as it rose in the Highest Heaven's nocturnal sky, 32 cloaked figures raced past the Imperial Dao Pavilion's pagodas. From their breathing style and the auras they concealed, an expert could see that they came from different sects and clans. But on this night, all aimed for the same thing, for Harun. Shut close, Harun's gold and purple eyes ignored the silent assailants, focusing on his cultivation while his appearance changed, going from a 14-year-old teenager to a nine-year-old boy.
Too loose for his new appearance, the edges of Harun's clothes dropped on the ground, his collar now covered his mouth, and when the 32 experts reached his pagoda's gates, Harun's lips curled into a smile.
All spies placed by various factions in the Imperial Dao Pavilion, among the assailants, the weakest was at the fourth-level of the Celestial Kin Realm while the strongest were at the ninth. Perhaps in their leaders' eyes, this was more than enough for an initial probe—a terrible mistake.
Before the spies-turned-assassins could break in, as if prepared beforehand, dark-orange flies emerged from the shadows and hurtled into twelve of the invaders.
"Aaargh!" Too fast for their reaction speed, the insects bit their targets necks, forcing groans of pain out of their lips. Having never experienced an insect's bite, to say nothing of that unique species, the twelve couldn't restrain their sounds, instantly alarming their peers—they wouldn't have it easier.
The pagoda's entrance door opened wide, unleashing a swarm of the same dark-orange flies that surrounded and bit all invaders while dumping microscopic fluids into their wounds.
Enraged by the silent flies' relentless aggression, the invaders let their cultivation bases explode, and with berserk swipes, hacked all the flies into pieces. Fearing that they'd alarmed the target, each pulled out a treasure and, on maximum alert rushed toward Harun's pagoda—almost.
A step away from the door, the 32 felt their body temperature increase at a frightening speed, reaching volcano tier within seconds. Their skin became a burning red, with smoke oozing out of their pores.
"Aaargh...argh...aaaaargh! Hot...why is it so...hooooot?!" Eyes bloodshot, all tumbled onto the ground, clutching at their chests as if an inextinguishable brazier was born within, and roasted them from inside out.
At that time, a ten-year-old in oversized clothes walked out of the door, dragging his sleeves on the ground while flashing an innocent smile.
"That, fellas, would be the Plague Overlord's infamous Noxious Flame Poison. Turns your lungs into a furnace and keeps increasing your core body temperature until your blood and internal organs are set ablaze—making you burn to death from inside out," Harun explained with a gentle smile and waved the guys goodbye.
Overwhelmed by the scalding heat, they convulsed on the ground, thrashing against the inevitable—all to no avail. Vapor poured out of the intruders eyes, mouths, noses and pores, stifling their shrill cries as they burned to death.
Satisfied, Harun crossed his arms behind his back, and spread his divine sense across the area.
"Now that the fodder is out of the way, why don't you show yourself?"