Chapter 969: The Mark Arrives Ahead of Time
Just as Ethan’s consciousness returned to his physical form, right when he was at his most frustrated...
"Hey, dumbass. Where’d you go?"
A voice exploded in his mind. It was incredibly familiar.
Ethan’s eyes lit up. The voice echoing inside his mind belonged to his Trifurcate Spirit, his Second Avatar.
Ethan had never placed restrictions on that version of himself. The Avatar moved freely, came and went as he pleased, and Ethan had never regarded him as a disposable duplicate. In a strange way, the Avatar felt closer to a brother than a clone. After helping defeat Yurix and escape the Divine Sea Temple, they had returned to Earth together, and the Avatar had immediately disappeared to enjoy modern life, chasing distractions Ethan himself rarely allowed.
The moment the Avatar spoke again, Ethan instinctively extended his senses. To his surprise, he could clearly feel the Avatar’s location. The connection was sharp, unmistakable. If he followed that direction, he could return home.
The realization filled him with relief so sudden it almost felt unreal.
Even if the Avatar had recently grown a little unruly, picking up Earth slang and an increasingly casual attitude, Ethan found he could not bring himself to care. Compared to being stranded, personality quirks were a small price to pay.
"I’m out here enjoying myself. You just stay wherever you are," the Avatar said lazily.
Ethan ignored the comment. Words were meaningless right now. What mattered was the direction. The path home.
"Screw that," the Avatar continued, irritation rising in his voice. "Some old guy showed up. Couldn’t find you, so he grabbed me instead. I kept my mouth shut, obviously. Had to maintain some dignity. Then he beat the hell out of me and told me to pass along a message. Said you need to get back immediately. Things are starting earlier than expected. Way earlier."
The frustration in his tone sounded genuine, like someone who had been bullied yet powerless to retaliate.
"An old man?" Ethan asked. "Was his name Morzan?"
"How would I know? He left right after. I waited before contacting you because I thought he might be your enemy. Didn’t want him tracking you through me."
Ethan almost laughed despite himself. The Avatar had actually been cautious, worried that reaching out too soon might expose Ethan’s position.
Under normal circumstances, Ethan would have appreciated that level of awareness. Right now, however, he almost wished Morzan had stayed long enough to drag him back personally.
Still, the intention had been good. Ethan sighed.
"Something came up on my end. I’ll return as fast as I can."
Even as he spoke, his body had already accelerated through the gray void like a meteor, tearing forward at maximum speed toward the direction his senses guided him.
He had arrived here through teleportation, a journey that had taken more than ten minutes even with spatial compression.
Flying back with only physical movement would take far longer.
If Shatterstar were still with him, the problem would not exist.
Anxiety tightened in his chest. He understood perfectly what Morzan meant by events beginning earlier than predicted. The preparations, the training, the relentless pressure of the past all pointed toward something inevitable approaching.
What Ethan did not know was whether he was truly ready.
A faint unease lingered in his thoughts. Something about the situation felt incomplete, as if an important piece had slipped beyond his awareness.
Morzan had not pushed him to train for a long time now. Once, the old man had driven him relentlessly, correcting every mistake, forcing improvement without mercy. Then gradually, the pressure faded. Fewer lessons. Longer silences.
Had Morzan finally decided Ethan was strong enough?
The thought did not comfort him.
He used to feel like a fragile plant under constant care. Now he felt more like a stubborn weed growing unattended through cracked stone, surviving on instinct rather than guidance.
Unable to reach an answer, Ethan simply kept flying.
---
Back on Earth, the bar Ethan had recently visited received another unexpected guest.
A small monk walked calmly through the entrance.
Vasuki. There was no mistaking him.
He moved straight toward the basement, ignoring the stares around him. Anyone who attempted to block his path froze instantly under a single glance. No force touched them, yet their bodies refused to move, as if an invisible weight pressed down on their souls.
When Vasuki reached the basement, he found exactly what Ethan had seen earlier. Arcane symbols flowed endlessly across the walls, shifting like living script carved into reality itself.
A faint light flickered across his eyes. He let out a quiet sigh.
"I told you to wait for me."
There was no anger in his voice, only mild disappointment. He turned and walked away without touching anything.
Only after he left did the occupants of the basement feel control return to their bodies. The fallen angel pair, along with the gathered vampires and werewolves, breathed again as though released from execution.
Cold sweat soaked their backs.
That single look had carried absolute certainty. One wrong movement would not have meant death alone, but complete erasure.
A werewolf dropped the bone he had been chewing, his voice trembling.
"Who was that little monk? Every time someone from that place shows up, they’re worse than the last."
No one answered. Several simply shook their heads, unwilling to even discuss what they had just witnessed.
Outside the bar, Vasuki paused and glanced toward Vatican City.
"I’ll wait for him to return," he murmured. "This is his matter to settle."
For a brief moment, the carefree absurdity that usually surrounded him disappeared. He stood quietly, robes stirring in the wind, resembling a true master monk untouched by worldly concerns.
The moment passed quickly. He tilted his head toward the sky.
"Hm? That’s for me?"
A streak of purple lightning tore across the heavens.
It descended faster than thought itself. Even Vasuki’s reflexes could not evade it. The light struck directly between his brows.
Instantly, a lightning-shaped mark appeared on his forehead.
His body trembled. Slowly, he raised a hand and touched the mark, disbelief spreading across his face.
"The Heavenly Tribulation... I can undergo it now?"
The Heavenly Tribulation belonged to ancient eras. After the Mythic Age ended, the phenomenon had vanished entirely. Without tribulation, no practitioner could cross the final boundary.
Ascension.
Below ascension, all beings were merely ants. The saying had once been common knowledge, yet generations had passed without anyone witnessing it. Countless prodigies had risen, reached the limits of their lifespan, and died in frustration because the tribulation never came.
Now the mark had appeared.
Emotion surged through Vasuki. A while ago, discovering the Divine Shard had briefly rekindled his ambition, only for Ethan to take it and extinguish that hope again. The emotional upheaval had triggered a quiet awakening he initially ignored.
Later, upon returning to Earth and reaching the peak of the Ironvale Mountains, he had found the feather. In that instant he realized beings existed far beyond his own strength.
That realization awakened something ancient within him.
He returned to the nine-tiered demon tower beneath the lake, reclaiming possessions that had always belonged to him, and there he completed a transformation. His power surged, though it still leaked uncontrollably, which explained why his mere presence overwhelmed supernatural beings moments earlier.
Once stabilized, he would appear to the world as a genuine enlightened master, perhaps even resembling the celestial Buddhas depicted in legend, walking upon lotus clouds with halos of light.
But that was never his goal.
Even ascension itself was only the beginning.
Vasuki touched the lightning mark again, old resentment surfacing.
"You old bastard," he muttered softly. "You forced me onto the Buddhist path and ruined my life. Now the tribulation has come. Once I break free from this world’s shackles, I’ll find you and settle our account."
A pink-gold glow flickered deep within his eyes, identical to the Buddha-Demon Resonance Magnetic Light Ethan had once taken from him.
The light flashed once.
Vasuki vanished.
The mark meant he could summon the tribulation whenever he wished. All that remained was to perfect himself and prepare.
---
Far away, within the Serpent Isles, inside the headquarters of a powerful underworld faction, a massive man lounged across a chair with the relaxed arrogance of a predator that feared nothing.
In one hand he held a tiny creature no larger than an earthworm. The thin body split halfway down, forming three miniature snake heads.
He swung it casually by the tail like a toy.
Each head wore a different expression. Fear, confusion, and resignation. All shared the same overwhelming despair.
A flash of purple light tore through the ceiling. It struck the giant squarely between the eyes.
"What the hell?"
He sprang upright so abruptly that the tiny snake flew across the room, smashing through a wall before wriggling back moments later. As it returned, its body had already grown to nearly three feet in length.
The three heads stared at the lightning mark forming on the man’s forehead, then began shouting simultaneously in rough Dragonspire dialect.
"Boss... that’s the Heavenly Tribulation mark!"
"Impossible!"
"It vanished after the Mythic Age, how can this happen?"
Their overlapping voices turned into chaotic noise.
If Ethan had been present, he would have recognized the man immediately.
Aldric the First.
Once abandoned in the Serpent Isles, he had since risen to become the undisputed ruler of the region’s criminal underworld. The three-headed serpent, revered as the Isles’ national totem, now lived as his personal pet.
Aldric stared blankly ahead.
He had spent most of his life chasing immortality, enduring countless schemes and dangers. Now, during a period when he had done little beyond eating well and enjoying power, the Path of Ethereal had acknowledged him.
Survive the tribulation, and eternal life awaited.
The absurdity of it left him momentarily speechless. Everything was happening far too quickly.
---
Deep beneath Vatican City lay a vast underground metropolis, nearly rivaling the city above, illuminated by cold electric light.
At its deepest level stood a dark prison.
Without warning, purple radiance pierced the earth itself. Four beams descended simultaneously, each landing upon a prisoner’s forehead and illuminating the chamber with eerie brilliance.
All four captives were figures Ethan would recognize instantly.
Their shoulder blades were pierced by chains, heavy locks anchoring them to the walls.
Uncle Jed received the lightning mark first. Beside him hung Regis, the former city lord. Nearby was the frail Dragon Child.
And finally, the drunken wanderer Hank.
Their bodies appeared exhausted, weakened by captivity, yet as the marks formed, all four opened their eyes at the same moment.
Sharp brilliance flashed within each gaze, utterly contradicting their worn appearances.
---
Elsewhere within the underground city, inside an immense hall, a solitary feathered being sat motionless.
Eight wings rested behind it.
The creature suddenly opened its eyes and looked upward.
"The Heavenly Tribulation... how?"
Golden light flickered within its gaze. Its expression remained statue-like, unmoving, yet something profound stirred beneath that still surface.
---
Far across the Southern Seas, two streaks of purple lightning descended at once.
One shot directly toward the royal palace of the City of the Whale Fall, unmistakably belonging to the Merfolk King.
The second plunged into a massive black coffin floating at the city’s center.
Across the entire world, in places seen and unseen, the same phenomenon unfolded simultaneously.
