The moment William stepped beyond the invisible barrier...
The outside world vanished.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
The mountain behind him...
The countless cultivators waiting outside...
The sky...
Even the flow of time itself...
Everything disappeared.
For a brief instant...
Only darkness remained.
Then...
A tremendous pressure descended upon his body.
It did not seek to crush him.
It sought...
To refine him.
William instinctively circulated every strand of power within him.
His Infinite Body absorbed the pressure without resistance.
His soul trembled.
His blood surged.
The countless stars he had absorbed over the past years seemed to awaken simultaneously.
The bottleneck that had restrained him for so long...
Collapse.
Without warning...
His aura exploded outward.
The surrounding void shook violently.
A vast current of stellar energy descended from above, pouring endlessly into his body.
Every bone.
Every muscle.
Every fragment of his existence...
Underwent another transformation.
Several moments later...
The violent fluctuations gradually subsided.
William slowly opened his eyes.
A faint light shimmered beneath his skin.
He had finally crossed the boundary.
The Stellar Body...
Had become the Stellar Domain.
He had entered...
The Stellar Domain.
William clenched his fist.
He could clearly feel the difference.
His power had not merely increased.
It had become deeper.
More complete.
Yet before he could fully comprehend the change...
The world around him shifted once again.
...
When his vision returned...
He found himself standing upon an enormous island.
No...
Calling it an island hardly did it justice.
Its size...
Exceeded galaxies.
Mountains stretched farther than sight itself.
Forests rivaled entire star systems.
Rivers flowed like shining celestial currents across the land.
Everything here existed on a scale beyond imagination.
William quietly surveyed his surroundings.
There was no one.
No buildings.
No guidance.
Only silence.
A silence that lasted...
For less than a heartbeat.
A deafening roar erupted from the distant horizon.
The earth trembled.
The sky shook.
One...
Then another...
Then hundreds.
Towering beasts emerged from every direction.
Some resembled wolves large enough to swallow planets.
Others possessed wings that eclipsed the heavens.
Several carried horns capable of tearing space apart merely by moving.
Each creature radiated an overwhelming aura.
Every one of them...
Belonged to the Galactic Domain.
William's pupils narrowed slightly.
He did not retreat.
Nor did he attack recklessly.
He quietly analyzed everything before him.
"Their cultivation..."
"...surpasses mine."
The beasts noticed him.
Countless pairs of eyes...
Locked onto their prey.
Without warning...
The hunt began.
The following week...
Became one uninterrupted battle.
William was chased across endless mountains.
Driven through forests that stretched beyond horizons.
Forced into oceans whose waves could crush ordinary cultivators.
He fought.
Retreated.
Adapted.
Again...
And again.
There were no opportunities to rest.
Whenever one beast fell behind...
Another appeared.
Whenever he found shelter...
Something stronger destroyed it.
Little by little...
William abandoned relying solely on overwhelming power.
Every movement became more precise.
Every decision carried purpose.
Every battle sharpened his instincts.
Without realizing it...
He was polishing himself.
Not his cultivation.
But his combat ability.
His understanding.
His control.
Every flaw was mercilessly exposed.
Every weakness was forced into the open.
Until...
Seven days later...
The world froze.
Every beast disappeared simultaneously.
The endless island dissolved into countless fragments of light.
William stood alone.
Breathing steadily.
His clothes bore countless traces of battle.
Several wounds remained upon his body.
Yet his eyes...
Had become calmer than before.
More focused.
Before he could understand what had happened...
Space twisted once more.
The island vanished.
A new world unfolded before him.
An endless plain stretched beyond the horizon.
Above it...
Two colossal spheres floated silently.
One radiated countless invisible threads.
The other continuously manipulated objects across the empty sky without touching them.
William instinctively looked toward them.
The moment he did...
A profound realization emerged within his mind.
This place...
Was demanding something from him.
Not victory.
Not survival.
But evolution.
Here...
His first ability...
And his second ability...
Had to become one.
Only by refining both to their absolute limits...
Could he forge...
His own Galactic Domain.
Unaware that every step he had taken since entering the mountain...
Had been part of a trial prepared specifically for him...
William calmly took his first step into the second stage.