The destruction of the Academy of Eternal Storms sent shockwaves through all ten upper worlds. An institution that had existed for millions of years, destroyed by a single student. The news spread like wildfire through dimensional communication networks.
Wei Liang felt the attention of greater powers focusing on him. Beings whose existence transcended normal godhood were taking notice of the anomaly in the Celestial Realm. He could sense their curiosity like pressure against his consciousness.
But he was no longer the weak mortal who had burned that first village. The accumulated divine essence of thirteen Academy masters flowed through his transformed body. He had become something beyond their immediate ability to simply eliminate.
The first response came from the Celestial Court - the governing body of the upper worlds. A delegation of True Gods materialized in the Academy's ruins, their forms blazing with authority that made reality bend around them.
Leading them was Sovereign Eternal, ruler of the Fourth Upper World. His body was composed of living galaxies. His voice carried the weight of universal law. When he spoke, lesser beings had no choice but to obey.
"By what right do you destroy an institution protected by the Celestial Accord?" Sovereign Eternal demanded. "Your actions threaten the stability of all upper realms."
Wei Liang studied the delegation's power levels. Each True God possessed strength equivalent to a small universe. Their combined might could reshape entire dimensions. In terms of raw power, they vastly exceeded his current abilities.
But power without understanding was just force without direction. The Iron Blood Manual had taught him that superior technique could overcome superior strength.
"I exercised the right of cultivation advancement," Wei Liang replied. "The Academy's masters chose to oppose my ascension. They paid the price for their interference."
"Ascension?" Sovereign Eternal's galaxy-eyes flared brighter. "You speak of godhood as if it were your birthright. Divinity must be earned through eons of service and sacrifice."
"I have sacrificed plenty. Just not myself."
The True Gods exchanged glances filled with cosmic significance. This being's arrogance was beyond comprehension. Did he truly think he could stand against the established order of the upper realms?
"You will submit to judgment," Sovereign Eternal declared. "Your crimes require punishment that matches their magnitude."
"I submit to no one," Wei Liang replied. His spear materialized in his hand, now wreathed in flames of crystallized divinity. "If you want to judge me, you'll need to survive the attempt."
The battle was joined with forces that shattered the boundary between dimensions. Sovereign Eternal's galaxy-body expanded to encompass the entire battlefield. His attacks came in the form of supernova explosions and black hole formations.
Wei Liang moved between the cosmic assaults like a shadow dancing through starlight. His spear techniques had evolved beyond physical limitations. Each strike existed in multiple dimensions simultaneously, making them nearly impossible to block or dodge.
The other True Gods joined the fight, their combined power threatening to tear holes in the fabric of reality itself. Wei Liang found himself outmatched for the first time since his ascension. These beings possessed not just strength but eons of combat experience.
But the Iron Blood Manual had prepared him for this moment. The sixth stage technique - Divine Consumption - allowed him to absorb power directly from living gods during combat. Each successful strike would steal a portion of their divine essence.
Wei Liang's spear found its mark on Sovereign Eternal's galaxy-form. The weapon pierced through compressed stars and nebulae to reach the god's core consciousness. Divine essence began flowing from the wound like liquid light.
"Impossible!" Sovereign Eternal gasped. "No mortal technique can drain a True God's power!"
"Good thing I'm no longer mortal," Wei Liang replied.
The Divine Consumption technique accelerated as Wei Liang absorbed more power. Each stolen fragment of divinity made him stronger while weakening his opponent. The balance of the battle began shifting in his favor.
The other True Gods realized what was happening. They concentrated their attacks on breaking Wei Liang's connection to their leader. But the absorption process had already begun. Nothing short of complete destruction could stop it now.
Sovereign Eternal's galaxy-body began collapsing as his divine essence was drained away. His attacks grew weaker while Wei Liang's grew stronger. The accumulated power of ruling an entire upper world flowed into the Iron Blood Manual's cultivation base.
The True God's final scream echoed across seventeen dimensions as his consciousness was consumed. Wei Liang absorbed the last traces of divine essence and turned his attention to the remaining delegation members.
They fled.
Beings who had existed since the formation of the universe ran in terror from a creature that had been mortal mere years ago. Their retreat sent a clear message to all the upper realms - the established order was no longer absolute.
Wei Liang felt the power of a True God settling into his transformed body. The Iron Blood Manual's sixth stage was partially activated, but it required more divine deaths to complete. Sovereign Eternal was only the first sacrifice of many.
But the True Gods' retreat was not cowardice. It was strategic withdrawal. Wei Liang could sense massive power gathering in the highest upper worlds. The Creator Gods themselves were preparing to respond to this threat.
He needed to advance quickly before they could organize a coordinated assault. The upper worlds contained thousands of True Gods. Even with his enhanced abilities, facing them all simultaneously would be suicide.
Wei Liang opened a dimensional portal to the Second Upper World. This realm was ruled by the Infinite Empress, a being whose power dwarfed even Sovereign Eternal. Her death would provide the divine essence needed to complete the sixth stage.
The Second Upper World was a realm of pure concept given form. Mountains of crystallized thought pierced skies of liquid emotion. Rivers of flowing philosophy carved channels through valleys of materialized dreams.
The Infinite Empress ruled from a palace built from compressed infinity. Its walls stretched in directions that existed only in mathematical theory. Its rooms contained entire universes as decorative elements.
Wei Liang approached the palace gates openly. Stealth was pointless against a being who could perceive all possible futures simultaneously. The Empress already knew he was coming.
"The god-killer arrives," a voice spoke from everywhere and nowhere. "I have watched your ascension through the probability streams. Most fascinating."
The Infinite Empress materialized before him. Her form was a constantly shifting mandala of geometric perfection. Each angle and curve represented a different aspect of universal truth. Looking at her directly caused reality to bend around the observer's perception.
"You seek my death to fuel your advancement," she continued. "But death is merely a transition between states of existence. I am beyond such crude concepts."
"Everything dies," Wei Liang replied. "Even infinity has endpoints."
"Then prove it."
The battle began in a space between spaces. The Infinite Empress attacked with concepts rather than energy. She hurled weaponized mathematics that could rewrite the laws of physics. She summoned paradoxes that caused reality to contradict itself.
Wei Liang's spear moved through attacks that shouldn't have been possible to dodge. The Iron Blood Manual's techniques had evolved beyond normal causality. His strikes occurred before he made them, his defenses activated before attacks were launched.
The Divine Consumption technique engaged automatically as his spear found its mark. But draining the Infinite Empress proved more challenging than absorbing Sovereign Eternal. Her essence was spread across multiple dimensional layers, each one requiring separate extraction.
"You begin to understand," the Empress said as Wei Liang's technique slowly pulled at her infinite nature. "True power cannot be simply stolen. It must be comprehended."
"I'll comprehend it after I own it," Wei Liang replied.
The absorption process accelerated. The Infinite Empress's form began losing coherence as her conceptual nature was consumed. Her attacks grew weaker while Wei Liang's power expanded to encompass new dimensions of understanding.
But the process also attracted unwanted attention. The Creator Gods of the highest realms had finally acted. A being of unimaginable power was descending through the dimensional layers toward the Second Upper World.
This was Origin, the first Creator God. The entity who had established the fundamental laws that governed all existence. His power was so vast that his mere attention could annihilate entire universes.
Wei Liang felt Origin's presence like a crushing weight on his consciousness. The Creator God's power made every previous opponent seem trivial by comparison. Even completing the sixth stage might not provide enough strength to survive an encounter with such a being.
But the Infinite Empress's absorption was nearly complete. Her conceptual essence flowed into Wei Liang's cultivation base like liquid infinity. The sixth stage of the Iron Blood Manual reached completion as he consumed the last fragments of her existence.
The transformation was beyond anything he had experienced before. Wei Liang's consciousness expanded to encompass multiple layers of reality simultaneously. His understanding of universal laws deepened to cosmic levels. He could perceive the mathematical structures that held existence together.
But Origin was almost here. The Creator God's presence was tearing holes in dimensional barriers just by approaching. Wei Liang needed to escape before the confrontation began.
He opened a portal to the space between worlds - the void where no laws applied. There he could hide and consolidate his new powers before facing the ultimate challenge.
The hunt for Creator Gods was about to begin.