When Ethan opened his eyes, he found himself standing on a soft white cloud.
Around him stretched a boundless sea of mist and light. Towering palaces floated in the distance like jewels hanging in the sky. Golden bridges crossed the clouds. Music drifted through the air. Laughter echoed everywhere. The whole place looked perfect, bright, and unreal, like a dream built only for pleasure.
But Ethan did not relax.
He stood still and looked around with sharp, cautious eyes. After everything he had suffered, he no longer trusted beauty. He no longer trusted peace. He no longer trusted anything that came too easily.
Among the Six Paths of Reincarnation, he had already passed through the Animal Realm, the Hell Realm, the Hungry Ghost Path, and the Asura Path. Only the Heavenly Path and the Human Path remained.
So this place had to be the Heavenly Path.
He took a slow step forward.
The moment he moved, the world responded.
A feast appeared before him. Dishes from every land covered long silver tables. Roasted meat glistened with rich juices. Fruits shone like gems. Fresh bread, warm soups, sweet cakes, and rare foods he had never even imagined gave off a smell so tempting it almost dragged him forward. One reach was all it would take. One taste was enough to begin.
Then the scene changed.
Friendly faces appeared all around him. Men and women smiled at him with honest warmth. Their eyes were full of approval. Their voices praised him. No matter what he did, they admired him. No matter what he said, they agreed. There was no jealousy, no suspicion, no rejection. Only acceptance.
A few more steps, and another scene opened.
Broad roads stretched ahead, each one shining with its own promise. One was the road of fame. Another was the road of political power. Another was the road of genius, scholarship, glory, discovery. If he stepped onto any one of them, he could become known by the whole world. A single choice would make him a legend.
Then came strength.
His body could become whatever he wanted. Taller, faster, stronger, more handsome, more perfect. He would not need training. He would not need pain. He would not need effort. A single thought would reshape him into something beyond human limits.
Then came wealth.
Mountains of gold lay at his feet. Jewelry, land, treasure, luxury, power bought with money—everything was there. Here, nothing was out of reach. If he wanted it, it was already his.
Then came desire in its most dangerous form.
Beautiful women appeared at his side, each one graceful, soft, smiling, eager to please. Their eyes promised affection, comfort, and endless warmth. Their voices were low and sweet. Their touch nearly erased the distance between thought and surrender.
Then came power.
If he wished for it, a word from him could decide life and death. A sentence from him could destroy kingdoms. He could stand above all others, untouchable, absolute.
It was all so perfect that it felt obscene.
Yet Ethan only tightened his jaw.
The horrors of the Hell Realm had carved a deep wound into his mind. He had learned there that pain could wear many masks. Since then, even the slightest strangeness made every nerve in his body tense. This place was gentle, yes, but that gentleness was exactly what made it dangerous.
Seeing that he did not choose anything, the Heavenly Path made its move.
A ring of beautiful attendants slowly gathered around him. Their clothes flowed like water. Their faces were flawless. Their smiles carried a softness that could melt a weak heart.
Ethan pulled out his Alloy Battle Blade.
His eyes turned cold.
One of the women looked at him and smiled even more gently.
"Do not be afraid," she said. "The Heavenly Path is a reward. After suffering, you deserve comfort. After pain, you deserve rest."
Another stepped closer. "Everything here belongs to you. This is the embrace prepared for those who have endured enough. You do not need to struggle anymore."
More figures appeared. More pleasures. More comfort. More temptation.
This time, Ethan did not fight it.
He let the blade lower.
Then he sat down.
A couch appeared beneath him, soft and warm. A drink appeared in his hand. Music played in the distance. Laughter returned. The women leaned close. The weight in his chest slowly softened.
Maybe… just for a while.
Maybe he could rest first and think later.
Maybe this stage would pass on its own.
So Ethan gave in.
And once he gave in, the Heavenly Path welcomed him completely.
Anything he wanted appeared instantly. If he wished for food, it came. If he wished for praise, it came. If he wished for pleasure, it came. There was no waiting, no suffering, no effort. Dreams became reality the moment they formed in his mind.
For the first time in what felt like forever, he stopped struggling.
He told himself it was only temporary.
But in the Heavenly Path, temporary things passed very quickly.
A year slipped by like a breath.
His body slowly weakened, aged, and died in that beautiful dream.
Then darkness came.
And then he woke again.
Before his eyes, the same paradise returned.
The same clouds.
The same palaces.
The same joy.
A faint line of text appeared in his vision.
[Six Paths of Reincarnation]
[Heavenly Path]
[Progress 1%]
Ethan stared at it in silence.
Only then did he realize what had happened.
He had spent an entire year indulging in desire, and that had only moved the trial forward by one percent.
The second time was worse.
When he woke again, his mind was sluggish. He had not needed to think for so long that thinking itself felt strange. The softness of the place pressed against his will like warm water, slowly washing away resistance. Before long, he gave in again.
Another year passed.
This time the Heavenly Path gave him something even more dangerous than pleasure.
It gave him home.
In a blink, the sea of clouds vanished.
Ethan found himself back in high school.
He looked down at his body and saw the frame of his younger self. He was wearing home clothes. His school uniform hung nearby. He sat at a dining table he knew by heart. The room smelled of cooked food and old familiar warmth.
Then he heard a voice.
"Dinner's ready!"
His sister rushed out from the kitchen, helping their mother carry the dishes. His father wiped his hands and came to the table with the same calm expression Ethan remembered from long ago. His mother turned and scolded him in that gentle, tired way only a mother could manage.
"Why are you still sitting there? Wash your hands and eat."
Ethan froze.
The room was ordinary. Simple. Warm. Nothing here was grand. Nothing here was divine.
Yet it struck him harder than all the golden palaces in the sky.
This was the life he had lost. This was the peace he could never truly return to. This was the memory hidden deepest in his heart.
He knew it was fake.
He knew the Heavenly Path had created it just to trap him.
He knew all of it.
But when he looked at the lines near his mother's eyes, the tiredness in his father's face, the bright energy of his sister, tears still gathered in his eyes.
Even if it was false, he wanted it.
Just once more.
Just for a little longer.
His father looked at him. "What's wrong? Come eat."
Ethan lowered his head, hid his trembling, and obeyed.
He washed his hands.
He sat down.
He ate with them.
And then one peaceful day became another.
Then another.
Then another.
In that false home, every regret vanished. Every wound was healed. Anything he wanted, he could give to them. A better house. Better health. More money. More smiles. More warmth. The family became a perfect version of the life he once wanted to protect.
A year passed in that happiness.
Then he died again.
[Six Paths of Reincarnation]
[Heavenly Path]
[Progress 2%]
When Ethan woke again, joy filled his face before caution did.
By then, he had begun to accept the Heavenly Path.
No pain.
No fear.
No grief.
No struggle.
Only comfort.
Only happiness.
Only the world giving him exactly what he wanted.
What was wrong with that?
Why fight it?
So he stopped questioning.
He lived through pleasure after pleasure, dream after dream, family after family, comfort after comfort. The years passed so smoothly that he almost forgot he was inside a trial at all.
Then, after what felt like countless reincarnations, something finally pierced that softness.
A thought.
A wrongness.
He had already gone through the Heavenly Path so many times that he had lost count. Surely it should have ended by now. All the other paths had clear limits. All the other torments had eventually reached completion.
So why was this still going on?
This time, just before he died, Ethan forced himself to look at the progress bar.
[Six Paths of Reincarnation]
[Heavenly Path]
[Progress 10%]
Ten percent.
Only ten percent.
The number hit him like a hammer.
When he woke the next time, rage exploded in his chest.
He rose to his feet, strode through the cloud palace, and seized one of the attendants by the collar. His Alloy Battle Blade flashed into his hand, and he pressed its edge against her throat.
"Speak," he said, his voice shaking with fury. "Why is my progress stuck at ten percent?"
The woman did not tremble.
She did not beg.
Instead, she smiled.
A strange, mocking smile.
Then the others laughed with her.
"You really are dull," one of them said.
Another sneered. "It took you this long to notice?"
The woman under Ethan's blade tilted her head and said, "The Heavenly Path is not meant to torture the body. It is meant to bury the soul. It clouds the mind, stains the senses, and binds people with desire. The more you indulge, the deeper you sink."
Another voice joined in, light and cruel. "If you keep drowning in pleasure, how can you ever rise above reincarnation?"
A third laughed openly. "You will never escape. Not at this rate."
Ethan's face twisted.
In that instant, he understood.
The Heavenly Path was not rewarding him.
It was eating him.
All the comfort, all the dreams, all the warmth—it was a cage built from everything he loved.
Without a word, Ethan swung his blade.
Blood sprayed across the white clouds.
The attendant's head rolled away.
The others did not scream. They did not run. They only watched with empty, puppet-like faces as Ethan cut them down one after another. Their bodies dropped into spreading pools of blood, like dolls losing support.
When the last one fell, text flashed before his eyes.
[Six Paths of Reincarnation]
[Heavenly Path]
[Progress 11%]
Ethan looked at the number and finally understood the rule.
Just like the other paths.
Break it.
Destroy it.
Kill what binds you.
With blood still dripping from his blade, he walked deeper into the Heavenly Path.
He would cut down every false joy.
Every false face.
Every false comfort.
He would leave nothing standing.
Then he pushed open the doors of another palace.
And froze.
Inside was not a palace.
It was home.
The same table.
The same warm lights.
The same careful furniture.
His father. His mother. His sister.
All sitting together, waiting for him.
His mother looked up and smiled. "What's wrong, son? Did something happen?"
His sister blinked at him with concern. "Big brother, are you upset?"
His father's voice was calm and steady. "Whatever it is, sit down. We'll talk while we eat."
The blade in Ethan's hand trembled.
He had already decided to kill everything in the Heavenly Path.
But this… this was not the same as killing attendants in a palace.
This was cutting down the shape of his deepest love.
This was ending the last warm illusion he still wanted to keep.
For a long time, Ethan said nothing.
Then, with a dry throat and a shaking voice, he forced out the words.
"Our school needs a family photo. Right away. Dad, Mom… you too. Let's take one together."
His mother frowned. "Now? Can't it wait until after dinner?"
His father nodded. "The food will get cold."
Ethan closed his eyes for a second and shook his head.
"It has to be now."
There was silence.
Then his mother sighed and smiled. "All right. We'll do it first."
His sister clapped happily and rushed over to arrange everyone. Soon they were all standing together, gathered around Ethan in the middle.
"One, two, three…"
The camera flashed.
At that exact moment, Ethan closed his eyes.
Tears slipped down both cheeks.
"Dad. Mom. I'll always remember you," he whispered.
Then his voice broke.
"And I promise… I'll protect my sister."
His parents smiled at him with quiet pride.
"That's good," they said. "You are a good brother."
The blade flashed.
In one stroke, Ethan cut them down.
Blood splashed across his face.
The room turned red.
The warmth shattered.
The dream ended.
[Six Paths of Reincarnation]
[Heavenly Path]
[Progress 14%]
Ethan stood there in silence, covered in blood.
His face had gone empty.
Whatever softness remained in his heart had just been torn apart by his own hand.
Then he turned and walked out.
From that moment on, he never hesitated again.
With the Alloy Battle Blade in one hand and the Crusher in the other, Ethan carved a road of slaughter through the Heavenly Path. He cut down every attendant, every figure, every illusion, every smiling trap that tried to hold him in place. He destroyed palaces. He destroyed comfort. He destroyed false heavens built from desire and memory.
Time no longer mattered.
Only the blade mattered.
Only the path forward mattered.
At last, after endless killing, the final line appeared.
[Six Paths of Reincarnation]
[Heavenly Path]
[Progress 100%]
At the same moment, another completed line rose beside it.
[Six Paths of Reincarnation]
[Human Path]
[Progress 100%]
The last barrier broke.
A white light swallowed everything.
When Ethan opened his eyes again, he was standing in a void.
There was no sky.
No ground.
No direction.
No familiar world.
Only endless black emptiness—and around him, vast waterfalls crashing down from nowhere into an abyss without end.
But what flowed in those falls was not water.
It was souls.
Countless pale, translucent souls, pouring downward like rivers of the dead.
They came from some unknown place and vanished into another still deeper mystery.
Yet Ethan alone remained still.
The currents did not pull him. The abyss did not claim him. He stood there as if nailed to the center of existence itself.
Then, in front of him, a blue gate appeared.
A space door.
No voice explained it, but he understood at once.
If he passed through that gate, he would return.
He would go back to the real world.
All the pain. All the deaths. All the slaughter. All the memories from the Six Paths crashed back into him at once.
And with them came another memory.
The monks of Nine Lotus Temple.
Their kind faces.
Their holy words.
Their lies.
They had claimed they wanted to help him. Claimed they wanted to guide him. Claimed they wanted to save him.
But in truth, they had been trying to strip away his will, cleanse him into an empty puppet, and take his talent for themselves.
He was not the only victim.
Adrian Cross, who had entered with him, had also been affected. Even the people living below the mountain had been fooled by those smiling frauds.
Worst of all, they had nearly taken away the part of Ethan he valued most.
The part that would protect his family.
Cold fury rose from the deepest part of him.
Not the wild fury of panic.
Not the burning fury of pain.
This was colder.
Sharper.
More deadly.
His expression turned hard as iron.
His heart became a frozen blade.
The killing intent that poured from him seemed enough to split the void.
"Master Rowan," Ethan said quietly, each word filled with murder, "I crawled back from hell."
His voice rose.
"No traitor will be spared."
"All of you will die."
Without looking back, Ethan stepped forward, shoved open the blue gate, and returned to the temple.
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