Elevate the Kingdom of Heaven, step into Heaven, and attain six wings!
Since ancient times, becoming a Six-Winged God-Leader had been the ultimate dream of countless sorcerers—the pinnacle of sorcery, the end of the path. Before the Prime Angel fell, Vichy’s dream had been to become a Six-Winged God-Leader, looking down upon Heaven and commanding eternity, with no existence in the world above her. The God-Leader’s command was destiny, and the God-Leader’s will was law.
Even with the birth of the seventh level of the Void Realm, where the vacant Throne of Heaven had welcomed the Supreme of Sorcery, the six-winged rank remained that of undisputed absolute powerhouses.
There were two widely known prerequisites for ascending to God-Leader: a Temple of Sorcery and a world secret realm.
At present, they had a total of three world secret realms: Wind Flower Snow Moon, the Garden, and the Ancient Battlefield. If divided one to each person, that was enough for three God-Leaders to ascend!
Yet the problem arose: they possessed both Temples of Sorcery and world secret realms, but how were they supposed to elevate the Kingdom of Heaven?
When it came to the key to ascending to God-Leader, not even the Gospel God possessed any intel. Yaxiu and the others had assumed they would need to study the world secret realms slowly, perhaps spending decades or centuries before potentially uncovering the secrets within, triggering some mechanism of the Void Realm, and then undergoing an ascension ceremony or something similar.
Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that ascending to God-Leader was not an automated process at all, but required someone to come in person to deliver the notice.
"Actually, strictly speaking, ascending to God-Leader requires three conditions." The Dramatic Poet held up three fingers. "First, possessing a celestial temple of at least one thousand halls. Without that, it definitely cannot accommodate a world secret realm. Second, commanding a world secret realm. Third, erecting an eternal wonder within the world secret realm."
Vichy was somewhat puzzled. "Does it have to be an eternal wonder?"
"The effect of the eternal wonder isn't the point. The point is that the eternal wonder itself represents a sorcerer condensing the 'authority' over the world secret realm inside the wonder. By mastering the eternal wonder as a key, the sorcerer can mobilize all the resources of the world secret realm, truly making it their own in the genuine sense," the Dramatic Poet explained. "To make an analogy: because all world secret realms belong to the Void Realm, a sorcerer seizing a world secret realm is like abducting an imperial consort from the emperor's harem. Even though you've abducted her, her heart does not belong to you. Only once you hold the key to the consort's heart will she willingly surrender to you body and soul."
"Then you actually had no chance in the past." Yaxiu looked toward Vichy. "Before your rebirth, you only had a high temple, failing the condition of having a celestial temple."
"Not necessarily," the Dramatic Poet said. "There are actually quite a few ways to expand a Temple of Sorcery—for instance, undergoing a tribulation in Hell each year can expand it a bit, it just takes slightly longer. Generally speaking, though, sorcerers capable of stepping into Heaven are basically able to obtain a celestial temple during their demigod promotion ceremony.
"Spectre Prophet, you might attribute your past frustration to the curse of fate brought by the Second Cycle God, but in truth, from the moment you took shortcuts to bypass the demigod ceremony and relied on your soul to shoulder Hell, you were doomed to accomplish nothing." The Dramatic Poet spoke without pulling punches. "You relied too heavily on your experience from living an extra life, staying in your comfort zone and refusing to face challenges. That was why the curse could so easily destroy all the fruits of your labor.
"Rebirth isn't impossible in itself. The fact that the Glaze Time-Leader could rely on time rebirth to become a glorious Six-Winged God-Leader of the ancient era proves this path is indeed viable. Yet after obtaining the Glaze legacy, you focused only on the 'Second Cycle God' and never took the Glaze Time-Leader's dying words to heart. That is the root cause of why your second life ended in ever-greater failure."
Vichy fell silent for a moment, then whispered softly, "'I fought with everything I had to prepare, not to scrape by and survive, but to be reborn.'"
"The Second Cycle God's curse on you didn't weaken just because you came back from the dead, yet now you are barely affected by it at all." The Dramatic Poet looked toward Yaxiu. "That is because you have encountered the greatest challenge across all three of your lifetimes."
Yaxiu pointed at himself, his eyes widening in astonishment. "Aren't I a blessing to her?"
The Dramatic Poet clicked his tongue. "Exactly. That's the spirit—keep it up! Sooner or later, your infuriating presence will cure her curse completely." Vichy's lip twitched. Pressing on, she asked, "Now that we have a celestial temple, a world secret realm, and an eternal wonder, how exactly do we elevate the Kingdom of Heaven?"
"I cannot tell you directly," the Dramatic Poet said. "You must complete a trial. Once you do, the Void Realm will naturally give you the hint."
"A trial?"
"Though it's called a trial, you could also call it a reward," the Dramatic Poet said. "When you command a world secret realm and master an eternal wonder, you are effectively carving a piece of flesh clean off the Void Realm. But because of that, the Void Realm takes notice of you. You know full well that the Void Realm has never been particularly friendly toward thieves like you. And since all your power originates from the Void Realm—even if you can wield your void-wing source power with one hundred percent mastery—the Void Realm has long since permeated you inside and out, from soul body to soul, from mind to knowledge, like symbiotic bacteria that are impossible to avoid and impossible to detect.
"Once it detects that you have the potential to elevate the Kingdom of Heaven, the Void Realm will activate those symbiotic bacteria inside you in an attempt to destroy you from within. If you fail to survive this trial, there is nothing more to say. But if you can survive it, you will completely break free from the Void Realm's influence and truly master your own destiny.
"Only then will the world secret realm genuinely belong to you, and you will naturally receive the hint to elevate the Kingdom of Heaven from the world secret realm. It is equivalent to taking the consort and fleeing beyond the emperor's reach—only then will she be willing to settle down and build a home with you."
The two sorcerers quietly digested this intelligence concerning the secrets of six wings. Yaxiu asked the most critical question: "What are the specific contents of the trial?"
At this moment, the Dramatic Poet, who had been completely forthcoming until now, suddenly put on airs. "Observer of the End, you don't seem to be qualified to hear the upcoming intel, do you? After all, you don't have a world secret realm."
Indeed, of the three world secret realms, Yaxiu did not possess a single one.
There was no particular reason for it; it was just that after the battle in Senluo, Yaxiu had passed out directly. To avoid complications, they had needed to relocate immediately, so the Sword Princess, the Witch, and Vichy had each taken command of one world secret realm.
After Yaxiu woke up, although the Sword Princess and the others immediately offered to hand a world secret realm over to him, Yaxiu had repeatedly declined, telling them to tame and tune the realms first before he took over. As a result, the matter had been delayed until now.
Vichy spoke up at once. "Then I'll give the Garden to—"
"Say whatever you want to say directly." Yaxiu placed a finger over the maid's lips, looking at the Dramatic Poet. "If you really didn't want to tell me, you wouldn't have appeared before me in the first place."
The Dramatic Poet smiled. "I see it now. Only when it involves them does your neck actually sprout a brain. Before discussing the contents of the trial, I can offer you three trial formats to choose from.
"The first format: the three of them each undergo their own trial. They can only endure the tribulation alone; no outsider can help or even know about it.
"The second format: although you, Observer of the End, do not possess a world secret realm, your Soul Kingdom of Heaven and your unique wonder are more than enough to make the Void Realm view you as a thorn in its side. I can allow you to participate in their trials. That way, not only can you help them complete the trial, but once they finish, you will also complete the trial along with them and break free from the Void Realm. Three people's trial, four people reaping the reward—an extraordinary bargain.
"However, if you do this, their trials will be basically impossible to complete alone; they will require your help.
"The third format is an optional variation of the second. You can designate whose trial you wish to participate in. The fewer people, the lower your difficulty naturally becomes. Anyone you do not choose will undergo their trial alone."
Vichy's eyes flickered, but Yaxiu glanced at her, pulled her straight into his arms, and clamped his hand over her mouth, giving the maid no opportunity to speak.
"I choose the fourth option," Yaxiu said calmly. "We won't participate in the trial. Ascending to God-Leader is not an urgent task for us."
Yaxiu was not lying. Even if they could ascend to God-Leader right this second, they would never go through with it.
Setting aside the fact that stepping into Heaven meant never being able to return to the mortal realm, more importantly, Heaven currently held four God-Leaders and one Supreme! Yaxiu and his companions were not arrogant enough to believe that defeating the avatars of God-Leaders meant they could challenge the God-Leaders themselves—that had merely been the result of the God-Leaders descending to the mortal realm via angels and fighting them with only a single world secret realm. Each God-Leader possessed three or four world secret realms; when Yaxiu had demanded ten world secret realms as a ransom, they genuinely could have scraped them together!
Furthermore, the God-Leaders had operated in Heaven for thousands of years. Under their command were angels, various combat units, and armories; their Kingdoms of Heaven were true state machineries. For Yaxiu and the others to rashly set foot in Heaven would be equivalent to using a single year of accumulation to clash head-on against nations forged over millennia. Even if Yaxiu sold out his mind for a third time, he might not be able to withstand the torrent of divine retribution accumulated over thousands of years!
Not to mention, Yaxiu still needed to search the mortal realm for traces of Igola and Harvey. Factoring in all these considerations, elevating the Kingdom of Heaven was not an urgent matter at all, so there was naturally no need to undergo the trial.
"You seem to have misunderstood something." The Dramatic Poet scratched his cheek. "I'm not here to issue you a quest or bring down disaster. I am here to notify you: after you've commanded world secret realms for a certain period, you entered the Void Realm's line of sight. The Void Realm is already cursing you band of thieves who abducted its harem.
"Even if you threw the world secret realms away right now, it would be useless. Would an emperor let a thief off just because the thief touched his consort and ran?"
Yaxiu froze. "Then what is the use of you appearing before us?"
"I can negotiate with the Void Realm regarding the specific format of the trial. You can think of me as a middleman." The Dramatic Poet shrugged. "I appear before every sorcerer capable of elevating the Kingdom of Heaven, allowing them to choose the trial format that suits them best."
Yaxiu could not help but blurt out, "Then couldn't you have told us earlier? If you had shown up sooner, we could have found a way to delay the trial!"
It was the Dramatic Poet's turn to be stunned. "Are you serious? Sorry, but across all these years, you're the first sorcerer who wanted to delay the trial. Everyone else gets frantic the moment they see me, desperate to know how to ascend to God-Leader. This is truly the first time I've met someone like you... Fine, next cycle, I'll let you know ahead of time.
"But this time there's no way around it. You must choose a trial format. Of course, you can also contact them to discuss it. I'll give you fifteen minutes—I'll use the time to go inside and buy some instant noodles."
"No need to discuss. I—" Yaxiu paused, looking down at Vichy in his arms. "Did you bite me?"
Vichy blinked, sticking out her tongue to lick the flesh of his palm where she had just bitten it, before obediently letting his hand cover her mouth again.
Looking pensive, Yaxiu asked, "Let me ask first: after all, they are the primary subjects of the trial. If Vichy disagrees with my choice and mentally chooses another option, what happens?"
The Dramatic Poet smiled. "Naturally, their will takes precedence."
Yaxiu nodded and spoke into the maid's ear, "I command you to unconditionally agree with the trial format I choose. Understand?"
Vichy finally could not hold back any longer. "Do you think I'd actually be willing to sacrifice myself? I was hoping you'd only share my trial! But the world secret realms we command have different effects. If we can complete them individually—"
"I don't care what thoughts or schemes you have. The ultimate decision-maker of this team is me alone! And I've already made up my mind!"
Yaxiu lowered his voice. "You wouldn't want me to kiss you in front of the Dramatic Poet, would you?"
The Dramatic Poet immediately pulled an antique camera out of his satchel, staring at the two of them with an expectant look. Vichy curled her lip in utter displeasure and said, "...Fine, I get it. Whatever you say."
Ignoring her sullen pouting, Yaxiu said directly, "I choose the second trial format."
Under the watchful eyes of the two sorcerers, the Dramatic Poet pulled out a walkie-talkie, pressed a few buttons, brought it to his mouth, and called out, "Hello, hello? Is this the Void Realm? It's me, Drama! Ah, long time no see! Here's the thing—there's something I'd like to discuss with you..."
Chapter 1191