Perched atop a mountain soaring 40 kilometers above sea level, a serene landscape was shattered by a pulsating mass of energy. It swelled abruptly, birthing an enneagon-shaped portal.
From this gateway emerged a figure, leisurely stepping forth with a diminutive feline perched upon his shoulder. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, his eyes dark and deep as the cosmos itself, his hair a cascade from jet black to silvery grey, ending in a milky white. His pale blue skin was adorned with a robe of purple-gold, and his hands were sheathed in gloves woven from the silk of the elusive Nightcrawler spider.
"Where are we, Ren?" he inquired, just as the portal snapped shut, leaving them isolated on the desolate mountaintop, which, against all odds, was devoid of cold.
The Little Black Feline, too indolent to even glance up, responded with a drowsy indifference, "Spare me your pointless queries, the ones you already know the answers to. It's a poor attempt at conversation, revealing not charm but insecurity and desperation, stripping a man of all allure."
"Ah, but your sagely words and detachment don't make you wise, my dear mascot," he retorted with a hint of sarcasm, prompting her to unveil her emerald eyes and bare her tiny fangs, poised to strike.
The earth trembled, the winds ceased, and a formidable pressure descended, instilling fear in all living beings nearby.
"Alright, alright... cool it, Ren. No need for wrath; you might frighten the Protector of this World," Tian soothed, hoping to quell her aura before it ravaged this fragile realm.
"Hmph! As if I care," Ren huffed, closing her eyes once more, nestling snugly on his shoulder.
As the oppressive force lifted, the world's denizens exhaled in relief, though the dread lingered. They sought the source of the disturbance but found naught.
Tian's lips curled into a knowing smile, his gaze shifting forward, his eyes alight with mischief.
"You can't even wait a minute, can you?" Ren, aware of his thoughts, remained silent.
"You know me too well, then why ask?" Without a rebuttal, Tian began his descent, his pace leisurely, as if wandering through his own garden.
Before long, he encountered a cave, its entrance guarded by two female cultivators. Motionless, they radiated a formidable qi, clearly no ordinary sentinels.
"Two peak Divine Transformation Realm cultivators as mere guards? And this Yin Qi... whatever lies within must be of great significance," Tian mused, approaching the entrance as Ren chose to stay behind.
The guards wore golden masks, etched with formations to thwart prying senses and conceal their power. Yet, to Tian, these defenses were as transparent as air.
He was taken aback by their identical features, heterochromic eyes—one black, one white—and their strikingly similar figures, clad in tight black attire, each brandishing a sword.
"Yin-Yang eyes in the Lower Heavens? Fascinating," he remarked, passing by unnoticed.
Venturing deeper, the Yin Qi intensified. He arrived at a vast chamber, where the Qi was so potent that only those above the Soul Fusion Realm could withstand its freeze.
Unlike the mere Ice element, Yin Qi not only freezes the physical but also the spiritual, halting qi flow and risking total cultivation collapse.
Unperturbed, Tian approached a lake filled with blood, emanating Yin and Evil Qi so dense that even Divine Transformation Realm cultivators dared not linger.
He observed the lake's five tiers, each steeped in increasingly dense Yin Qi. At the bottom, a Three-Star Silver Formation refined the Qi into a purer essence.
Such a formation, the work of a rare Three-Star Silver Formation Master, could accelerate cultivation exponentially, especially for those attuned to Yin techniques.
Yet, with each tier, the challenge grew. The first two were for Divine Transformation practitioners, the next two for Tribulation Transcendence, and the final tier reserved for Mahayana Realm cultivators.
Tian's gaze settled on the third tier, where a figure meditated, bare to the elements. But before he could observe further, a presence loomed behind him—a colossal spider, its six white eyes glaring, its green-striped body pulsating with menace.