Jiang Zihan opened his eyes. His head was pounding and the very air felt heavy. It was hard to breath, the air scrapped at his lungs. The gravity is heavier. Where is he? Yes, he recalled now. The passage could not bear so many of their presences at the end, and it collapsed, spilling them all out into the void.
Just as Fang Beihua feared. Looks like he made it into the Upper realms though. Alone.
He stood up. Rather he tried to. His Qi is depleted, his golden core dimming. The 4th step of his Divine Bridge is already collapsing, unable to bear the weight of this new world. The Qi is heavier, his golden core unable to process it efficiently. He, a 4 step Divine Bridge cultivator, has run out of Qi. His golden core revolving lazily like a half baked cultivator it. He smiled at the irony. He lost consciousness again.
When he came to again, he was still at the same place. He recalled he has been dreaming about thier assault on Myriad Dao Sect, 9 years ago. That was the last time he truly fought and risked it all. Even then, after fighting Shi Jie, Heaven's Equal, his condition was not this bad. But he's recovering. His condition is Better than before at least.
He stood up. Successfully this time. He looked around. It appears he's in a mighty hall. To his left, a row of weapons, of all kinds. Swords, Spears, Halberds, Sabers, Bows, and more weapons of different designs and shapes. They were all emitting powerful aura, he's being strangulated and choked..
One even felt like it was looking at him. It was pitch black and it seemed to swallow light itself. Sometimes it looks blood red, as if it has been soaked in blood for a long time. Just looking at it, he felt his entire being exposed. He turned away sharply.
To his right was a massive painting of a mountain. It was exactly square inch in size from his estimation. Looking at it, he felt his entire being and soul being drawn into the painting. The mountain loomed larger and larger before him. He cannot comprehend it. It's going to crush him! He suffocating and choking again.
He manage to tear his gaze away. He's bleeding from all seven orifices. There is writing below the painting, but he dare not look at the painting again.
Beneath the painting, there was a poem. The letters stabbed into his eye, into his brain like a million swords. He found himself on his knees. His blood pooling around him. "Everywhere I look, death" He muttered. "But look I must, I have to get out of here".
He looked ahead. Directly in front of him was a massive Dais. More like a throne. He doesn't know what it's made of, but it felt like it was made of a thousand Dragons and Tigers, and other beasts he doesn't know. Again, he can't comprehend. Where in the heavens am I, he thought. Like a Grandmaster cave.
He doesn't know how to describe it. One of the dragons on the throne turned it's head and opened an eye, regarding him insolently. He fell back to his knees.
On the throne was a man. His hair was long and black, his beard still black with some sprinkling of white here and there, yet he somehow looks old despite all this. The man wore a flowing green robe, simple with no markings, not emblemished with any images or divine beast. But on his head was a jade coronet crown, with a beautiful jade hair pin carved in the form of a phoenix holding his hair in place. These were the only piece of accoutrements on the man.
The man looks like he's there and not. Jiang Zihan eyes and nose are now raining blood. He's breathing heavily.
The man opened his eyes.
Krr-shhhhhh.. kkrr tling!
Jiang Zihan entire Divine Bridge, the entire 4 steps he has walked in the abyss, his steps on the way to immortal cultivation crumbled and shattered. His Golden core, still rotating lazily shattered. Hot energy and Qi flowed into all his 9 meridians. He spurted out steaming blood and completely lost consciousness.