Feeling his death approaching, Barlin was now completely at wit's end.He had focused his Reiki into a barrier around him, but it was not completely blocking the damage from Charlie's Thunder Order because he had almost no Reiki left.Thunder Order was nothing like it had been before.Charlie's cultivation had advanced significantly, and the Thunderstrike Wood from the kombuc tree had elevated Thunder Order's power to an entirely new level. Against an ordinary person, or even a lower realm cultivator, a single bolt of lightning would have been enough to reduce them to ashes on the spot.Yet Barlin, relying on his formidable cultivation and the Reiki exchanged from burning his essence, had endured several bolts of lightning and still managed to cling stubbornly to life.However, losing a limb was a huge drop in combat ability and in his ability to defend himself, leaving him completely at Charlie's mercy.His voice cracking even as he lost his sanity from sheer horror, he told Cha

The most decisive difference between Charlie and Barlin was that Charlie had no interest in the Flight of Transcendence at all.It sounded just like skipping preschool to attend a strange academy—one that ignored the education system entirely, treating every class from grade school through college as one and the same. So one could be the kindergarten bully one day, but then end up bullied by the most bullied kid in the academy the next. What was there to obsess over such a life?Charlie also didn't want immortality because it required far too many sacrifices. And would he really feel alive, spending his whole life cultivating repeatedly?Barlin understood Charlie's perspective just then, and sighed dejectedly. "I used to think that the Flight of Transcendence was a selection process, and the Trial of Transcendence was an examination, while the divine lightning of the Trial was the exam question… That it's all part of an opportunity given by superior beings when one hits the pass

It was only after Charlie vaulted into the icy pit that he realized in shock that it was a straight hole dug down with perfect precision.Barlin had really worked hard for this.As he started toward terminal velocity, he was forced to use Reiki to slow his descent and cushion his landing.Just as he felt through the Reiki, Barlin had blown the space outside the cave wide open into a circular space. There was ice on the walls and the ceiling, while the ground was all jet-black stone, outside the cave that was so dark it swallowed all light. Charlie was actually nervous just staring at the cave under the faint radiance of the aurora.If even Barlin couldn't get inside, what could he really do?Still, he was here anyway—almost got killed for it too, so he could afford to try a little.Still, he didn't understand something.Why would Barlin call it the Gate of Transcendence? If there really was a Flight of Transcendence, shouldn't they be heading up? And here it was, thousands o

However, Charlie himself found the answer even as the question came to mind.He had no idea when the Degenerate Age of Dharma had started, specifically, only that it had already begun when Marcius Stark attained enlightenment, judging from his experiences.That meant this place was built before the Tang Dynasty… if not before prehistory, so the tower here must have come before the one he saw during the height of the Tang Dynasty.According to what he saw in that lucid vision, the pagoda was built by Saint Jerome, countless cultivators, and the Tang court. Why did they imitate the appearance of the pagoda in this plaza? A replica, or perhaps a religious design?And if this pagoda was a totem that was cultivated before the Degenerate Age of Dharma, that explained why that other pagoda was built during the Tang Dynasty.With the Degenerate Age of Dharma, cultivators could be split into two—the ones who decided to move to Antarctica and built the Gate of Transcendence for one final

As Charlie tread alone through the unblemished ancient streets, he was all the more shocked.Over dozens of thousands could live here considering the scale of the city, and he couldn't imagine that many cultivators living here in the same place when you couldn't even gather hundreds of them these days.After walking around the city, Charlie was as shocked as he was disappointed—aside from the furnace that couldn't be moved, there was none of the infinite cultivation treasures Barlin had expected.There just wasn't a single mystic pill, mystic relic, or even cultivation manuals. Aside from the dense Reiki in the air, there wasn't anything that helped cultivation.And that left Charlie utterly confused. Considering the caliber of cultivators before the Degenerate Age of Dharma, why didn't they leave anything behind? Could they have taken everything with them when they left? That didn't make sense—with the amount of Reiki generated to keep this massive city running, personal prope