Inside the wooden cabin, Zhu Ziyang sat cross-legged on his bed, his consciousness immersed deep within his spiritual sea.
"Teacher, I should be able to withstand the pressure of planar travel now, right?"
he asked Electrolux.
"You should be fine," Electrolux replied with a gentle smile. "Begin—I'll protect you."
"Yes!"
Ziyang's heart raced with excitement as he began following the method Electrolux had previously taught him to formally accept ownership of the Undead Demiplane.
Within his spiritual sea, the gray-white ring—the gateway to the half-plane—slowly rose. It lifted upward, past the confines of the spiritual sea and into the domain known as the Soul Firmament.
Ziyang's Soul Firmament had become increasingly fragile over the years, thanks to his growing power and mastery of Sovereign's Reign. The boundary separating his soul and body had thinned to the point of being as fragile as paper. As soon as his spiritual power reached a more tangible and refined state, that final wall would completely dissolve.
The gray-white ring, representing the Undead Demiplane, emerged in the Soul Firmament. With a focused thought, Ziyang summoned a portal before him—glowing faintly with light energy.
It was the Gate to the Undead Demiplane.
He could clearly feel the surrounding space shifting. His left eye flickered slightly, but he ignored it, concentrating solely on the portal in front of him.
A translucent figure appeared beside him—none other than Electrolux. His soul had become so stable that he could now exit Ziyang's spiritual sea and appear in the real world without being assimilated by the plane's laws.
"Go on," Electrolux said warmly, looking toward the glowing portal.
Ziyang nodded, stepping through without hesitation.
His entire body passed into the portal, and his figure vanished from the wooden cabin. The spatial gate shrank rapidly into a speck the size of a soybean and hovered in midair.
Inside the demiplane, Ziyang immediately felt his body under twice its usual pressure, but aside from that, nothing unusual happened. After a moment, the pressure lifted—and he knew he had arrived.
Beneath his feet was solid ground. His heart stirred.
This… is the Undead Demiplane?
With his physical body now present, he could truly sense the realm's properties: low temperatures, dry air, thick death energy. The dominant elemental attributes were darkness, water, fire, and earth—light was nearly nonexistent.
"Here," Electrolux said, walking over with a crescent-shaped white crystal, "drop your blood onto this demiplane core."
Ziyang turned to the object. The gem was pure white, with a faint image of a skull at its center. It radiated a mysterious blend of light and death energy.
Without hesitation, he bit the tip of his tongue and let a drop of blood fall onto the crystal.
The blood was instantly absorbed. A soft glow emerged from within, enveloping the entire core. Slowly, the floating gem rose from Electrolux's hands and hovered before Ziyang's forehead.
Then it began to spin.
Faster and faster, the crystal shrank from palm-sized to sesame-sized. In a flash, it shot into his brow.
Ziyang's body trembled—and then he felt something strange.
He felt as though he had become the master of this world.
And he wasn't wrong.
From the moment the core fused with him, the Undead Demiplane recognized Zhu Ziyang as its new ruler.
Immediately, the demiplane began to change:
Its size was halved—from half the area of Douluo Continent to the scale of the Heaven Soul Empire.
The black sun in the sky gained a golden point of light at its center.
Patches of moss appeared on the barren land—vegetation seen only in Douluo's northernmost regions.
Ziyang's eyes lit up with joy.
With a single thought, he shifted his position a hundred meters away—then instantly returned.
Spatial shifting.
His first granted authority as master of the realm.
As he grew more familiar with the demiplane, his powers over it would only increase.
"Excellent!" Electrolux said with visible joy.
"It seems the plane has accepted you. I can rest easy now."
"Yes. Thank you, Teacher," Ziyang replied gratefully.
"Hahaha, no need to thank me," Electrolux said heartily.
"With this demiplane, you now have a guaranteed escape route—even if you encounter an enemy you can't defeat."
Ziyang nodded.
But he knew the true value of the Undead Demiplane wasn't just as a safe haven.
It was the army of undead creatures that dwelled within.
With the fusion now complete, Ziyang could freely summon beings like the Hell Knight at will. Five Title Douluo-level undead, accessible at any time. Only Zhu Ziyang could wield such power.
With joy in his heart, he left the demiplane and returned to his wooden cabin. He lay down to begin meditating once more.
Yet as he entered his usual cultivation state, something felt wrong.
Someone… was watching him.
He opened his eyes sharply.
"Who's there?! Show yourself!" he barked.
But to his shock, there was no response. No elders arrived, Xingcai remained silent, and even Electrolux didn't react.
It was as though time itself had frozen.
An eerie silence filled the world.
Suddenly, the surroundings shifted. The room dissolved into an endless gray mist—colorless, featureless. Ziyang couldn't even feel his own body. His spiritual power couldn't pierce the fog.
For the first time in a long while, Zhu Ziyang felt powerless.
Then—
"You're special," a voice echoed.
It was emotionless, genderless—coming from everywhere and nowhere, as if from the very depths of his soul.
"Who's there?!" Ziyang shouted, both angry and afraid.
"You're afraid?" the voice asked calmly. "Don't be. I only came to see you."
Ziyang's fear didn't fade, but confusion began to rise within him.
"I've been watching you for a long time," the voice continued. "I chose to appear now… because you've finally reached my standard."
"Your standard?" Ziyang growled. "What do you mean?"
"Do you know what a god is?" the voice asked plainly.
"…Are you a god?" Ziyang whispered, stunned.
"Something like that," the voice replied cryptically.
"Then why are you looking for me?"
Ziyang's heart pounded.
Somehow, he found himself hoping—though he didn't yet know what for.
"For the inheritance of a God Position," the voice said.
Ziyang's mind went blank.
"Don't doubt it," the voice went on. "When you reach six soul rings, the divine trial will begin. You'll understand everything then."
And with that, the voice vanished.
The gray mist dispersed instantly. Ziyang was back in his room—face pale, heart racing.
A God Position… That unreachable dream… had just come to him?
Was that really… a god?
Is this how Tang San became the Sea God ten thousand years ago?
What kind of god was this one?
How does a divine inheritance even work?
Ziyang's thoughts spiraled.
He wanted to tell Electrolux—but just as he opened his mouth, a warning rang in his mind:
"Do not speak of this. Not even to the foreign soul within your sea."
Ziyang froze.
Then slowly, he shut his mouth—his eyes filled with both unease and fear.
"Until you officially qualify for the divine trial, you must tell no one about the God Position. Not even him."
Though the voice was calm, it carried an aura that chilled Ziyang to the core.