As Jiang Chen, Bai Muchen, and Xiao Dong stepped onto the Twelfth Floor, the world around them shifted.
Gone were the massive war-torn landscapes and oppressive gravity from the previous floors. Instead, they found themselves standing in an endless void, a vast, horizonless plane of deep black and swirling silver mist.
The air was eerily still.
Too still.
Jiang Chen's golden-amber eyes flickered. "I don't like this."
Xiao Dong cracked his knuckles. "Where's the welcome committee? Usually, something tries to kill us the moment we step in."
Bai Muchen narrowed his eyes. "No enemies… means the trial itself is something far worse."
And then—
The shadows moved.
The silver mist parted, and figures emerged.
Three figures.
Each one was an exact copy of Jiang Chen, Bai Muchen, and Xiao Dong.
Not just in form—but in aura. In presence. In power.
Jiang Chen's eyes darkened.
His doppelgänger smirked back at him, golden-amber eyes gleaming with the same sharp light. His stance, his breathing, even the way his fingers curled into fists—identical.
Xiao Dong paled. "Oh, hell no."
Bai Muchen's voice was grim. "A battle against the self… This is a true test of mastery."
The copies stepped forward, radiating the exact same power as their originals.
Xiao Dong groaned. "So what, we just have to beat the shit out of ourselves?"
Jiang Chen's smirk widened. "Sounds like fun."
BOOOOOOOM!
Their clones attacked.
Jiang Chen barely had a second to react before his own Starshadow Burst flickered through the void—aimed directly at his chest.
BOOM!
He twisted at the last second, his body blurring into the void. His clone did the same.
The two of them vanished.
The battlefield fell into silence.
Then—
BOOOOM!
They reappeared midair, clashing at supersonic speed.
Palm met palm, Chaos Qi surged, and the very space around them rippled and cracked.
Jiang Chen's smirk faded slightly. His clone fought exactly like him—his strikes were perfect, his movement flawless. This was no mere imitation.
It was him.
The worst possible opponent.
His doppelgänger grinned. "You're predictable."
Jiang Chen's fist shot forward—his clone dodged.
His Chaos-infused Heaven Sundering Palm struck—his clone countered with his own.
BOOOOM!
A cataclysmic shockwave erupted as their palms met, disintegrating the stone below.
Jiang Chen flickered into the void.
His clone followed.
Jiang Chen reappeared above, striking down with his spear—only for his double to mirror his move exactly.
CLAAAAANG!
The two spears clashed, sending sparks of distorted void energy flying.
Jiang Chen's mind raced.
"This bastard is countering everything perfectly. If I don't change something, this fight will go on forever."
His clone grinned. "You can't outfight yourself."
Jiang Chen's eyes sharpened.
"Then I won't fight myself."
BOOOOM!
Instead of attacking, he twisted his body unnaturally, allowing the attack to pass through him.
His Voidwalker ability didn't just let him move through space—
It let him exist outside of it.
The clone's spear passed straight through his intangible form.
Jiang Chen grinned. "Checkmate."
BOOOOOOOM!
His Chaos-infused Heaven Sundering Palm slammed into the clone's chest, sending it hurtling backward.
The doppelgänger skidded across the stone, coughing up dark energy.
It looked up, smirking. "Now that's more like it."
Jiang Chen grinned.
"You said I was predictable, right?"
He vanished into the void.
His clone's eyes widened.
And then—
Jiang Chen reappeared behind him.
BOOOOOOM!
Xiao Dong was not having fun.
"FUCK—STOP DODGING, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
He swung his fists wildly, his clone effortlessly dodging every attack.
His doppelgänger smirked. "You're too reckless."
Xiao Dong's vein popped. "YEAH, AND IT WORKS!"
His Stormbreaking War Gauntlets crackled with power, unleashing a devastating blow.
BOOOOM!
His clone caught his fist with one hand.
Xiao Dong's eyes widened. "Oh, FUCK YOU."
His clone's grin widened. "Predictable."
Then it punched him in the gut.
BOOOOOOM!
Xiao Dong went flying.
Bai Muchen wasn't panicking.
He wasn't Xiao Dong.
Instead, he watched his massive doppelgänger approach him, its Titanblood Physique radiating raw, untamed strength.
The air trembled under its sheer presence.
Bai Muchen rolled his shoulders. "Alright. Let's see who hits harder."
BOOOOOM!
They collided.
Fist met fist, shaking the entire battlefield.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Their blows sent shockwaves rippling through space, the very floor beneath them cracking apart.
Neither moved.
Neither backed down.
Bai Muchen grinned. "I like this fight."
His clone smirked. "So do I."
BOOOOOOM!
Jiang Chen, Bai Muchen, and Xiao Dong were all pushed to their limits.
Their clones weren't just fighting them.
They were forcing them to evolve.
Jiang Chen had to learn to become unpredictable.
Bai Muchen had to push his physique beyond its limits.
Xiao Dong had to stop relying on raw strength and fight smarter.
And slowly—
They adapted.
They Improved.
Their doppelgangers did not.
Jiang Chen's movements became fluid, his use of Voidwalker perfecting itself in real-time. His clone struggled to keep up.
Bai Muchen forced his body to grow mid-battle, enlarging himself beyond his limits, overpowering his double.
Xiao Dong stopped swinging recklessly, instead countering his clone's moves perfectly, flipping the fight in his favor.
The battle turned.
The copies faltered.
Jiang Chen's Chaos-infused strike obliterated his clone.
Bai Muchen crushed his counterpart into the ground.
Xiao Dong sent his doppelgänger flying with a perfectly timed counter-blow.
BOOOOOOOM!
Silence.
The copies dissolved into silver mist.
Jiang Chen exhaled. "That was… brutal."
Bai Muchen nodded. "But worth it."
Xiao Dong collapsed. "I FUCKING HATE THIS PLACE."
A deep rumbling echoed through the floor.
A stone archway appeared before them.
The path forward.
Jiang Chen grinned. "Onto the next one."
Xiao Dong groaned.
Bai Muchen smirked.
They kept on climbing.
The Twelfth Floor had tested their limits—forcing them to evolve beyond their old selves. But as Jiang Chen, Bai Muchen, and Xiao Dong stepped through the stone archway leading to the Thirteenth Floor, they all knew one thing.
The Temple of Heaven and Earth was only getting started.
Each trial had been a crucible, designed to break them or shape them into something greater. But these next seven floors?
They would forge them into something unrecognizable.
The instant they set foot on the next floor, the world vanished.
Jiang Chen blinked.
He was alone.
No Bai Muchen. No Xiao Dong.
The ground beneath him was an endless black void, stretching in all directions. There was no sky, no walls—only darkness. And in that darkness, whispers.
Faint, sorrowful voices murmured at the edges of his consciousness, carrying weight beyond mere sound.
"Why have you come here?"
"You do not belong."
"Turn back… or be forgotten."
Jiang Chen's golden-amber eyes flickered as he stepped forward, only to feel nothing.
His foot did not touch the ground. His presence itself began to fade.
His existence was being erased.
TCH.
His Chaos Qi surged, pushing back against the overwhelming void. His Starshadow Body flared, stabilizing his form within the nothingness.
Then, suddenly—
A thousand figures rose from the abyss.
They had no faces. No identities.
Just hollow shadows of warriors who had once stood where he stood now… and failed.
The realization hit him.
This was a trial not of strength, but of willpower.
The Path of the Forgotten did not test your ability to fight.
It tested your ability to exist.
Jiang Chen clenched his fists.
"Then I will carve my existence into this place."
BOOOOM!
His Chaos-infused Heaven Sundering Palm erupted outward, shattering the darkness itself.
The shadows howled—but they could not erase him.
2 days later, floor 14
Xiao Dong groaned as he slammed into a wall.
"FUCKING—!" He caught himself, fists raised.
The Crimson Labyrinth was an ever-changing maze of shifting walls, filled with spectral traps, moving doorways, and unseen forces that attacked from nowhere.
One moment, a path would open. The next, it would seal behind them, cutting off all escape.
Bai Muchen growled. "This isn't a battle—it's a mind game."
Jiang Chen remained silent, his golden-amber eyes flickering as he studied the pattern of the moving walls.
Then, he vanished.
BOOOOM!
Reappearing on the other side of the labyrinth.
Xiao Dong gawked. "Oh, FUCK YOU!"
Jiang Chen smirked. "Figure it out."
The three of them fought through the maze, dodging illusory enemies that forced them into dead ends, avoiding traps that sent them spiraling into void loops, and navigating the constantly changing landscape.
After what felt like days, they found the center of the maze—where an ancient guardian beast lay waiting.
A massive stone cobra, its eyes glowing with predatory intelligence.
Jiang Chen grinned.
"Now we're talking."
1 week later, floor 15.
A river of silver mist stretched before them.
There was no bridge. No boat.
Only the spectral forms of fallen warriors, forever drifting in the ethereal currents.
"The test is obvious," Bai Muchen said. "We have to cross."
Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes. "And we cannot touch the river."
The mist itself carried death. A single misstep, and one's soul would be pulled into the current, lost for eternity.
Xiao Dong gritted his teeth. "Then how the hell do we do this?"
Jiang Chen smirked.
"I have an idea."
BOOOOM!
Using Voidwalker, he stepped onto nothingness itself, traversing the air above the river.
Bai Muchen scoffed. "Show-off."
Xiao Dong growled. "If you fucking leave us here, I'm killing you."
Jiang Chen sighed and extended a hand, using Chaos Qi manipulation to stabilize the space around them.
With carefully timed leaps, they crossed the River of Souls.
The wails of the damned whispered behind them.
4 days later, floor 16.
A mountain of corpses.
No, not corpses. Weapons.
Spears, swords, axes, halberds, and shields—all stacked atop one another, creating a colossal battlefield.
At the top sat an armored titan, its body a fusion of weapons and war itself.
"THE STRONG MAY PASS," it thundered. "THE WEAK SHALL BE TORN APART."
Jiang Chen's grin widened. "You had me at 'strong.'"
BOOOOOOM!
They clashed with the Titan, their attacks breaking the very weapons that composed its form.
The fight raged for hours, each of them pushing their limits against a foe that never stopped adapting.
Bai Muchen's Titan Ascension clashed with the giant's raw strength.
Xiao Dong's Stormbreaking Gauntlets shattered entire sections of the titan's body.
Jiang Chen flickered through the void, striking at its core.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The Titan collapsed, its weapons falling silent.
They moved forward.
1 day later, floor 17.
A sky divided.
One half bathed in darkness, the other blazing with light.
Jiang Chen felt it immediately.
A test of balance.
His Starshadow Body pulsed with recognition.
Two paths lay ahead—one through the light, one through the darkness.
But the true path?
Was to walk both.
Bai Muchen and Xiao Dong struggled against the forces, each one pushed to extremes by the opposing energies.
Jiang Chen, however, moved seamlessly.
BOOOOM!
Light and darkness merged around him.
His Starshadow Body resonated—his mastery over void and chaos intertwining with balance itself.
When he reached the end, something clicked.
"...I understand now."
Another day later, floor 18.
A towering creature, its body wrapped in thousands of unbreakable chains.
Its roar shattered the sky.
"YOU WILL NOT PASS."
Jiang Chen smirked. "We'll see about that."
BOOOOOOOM!
The three of them attacked in unison, unleashing everything they had.
But the beast… refused to die.
Every time it fell, the chains regenerated it.
Jiang Chen's golden-amber eyes flickered. "Then we don't kill it."
Xiao Dong gawked. "THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!"
Bai Muchen's eyes widened. "...The chains."
Jiang Chen vanished.
His Voidwalker ability took him to the core of the chains.
BOOOOOOM!
With one final strike, the bindings shattered.
The beast let out a final, relieved sigh—before fading into dust.
3 days later, entrance to floor 19.
A long, empty road.
No enemies.
No traps.
Just a path leading to the final gate.
Jiang Chen, Bai Muchen, and Xiao Dong walked forward.
Battered. Bloodied.
Stronger.
Ahead, the 19th Floor awaited.
And with it—
The true trial of the Temple of Heaven and Earth.