The Sovereign's Hall was a monument to destruction, a massive heap of shattered jade and powdered stone built atop the now-exposed Immortal Cloud Continent foundation. Lin Tian, stable at Grand Unity Immortal Stage 9 (Peak), sat on the largest remaining shard of the central dais. He had achieved the ultimate Tier 2 power, and now he was waiting.
He did not have to wait long. The devastation he caused—the annihilation of five Grand Unity Enforcers and the immediate collapse of the Hall—had acted as a massive, irresistible spiritual beacon.
A terrifying spiritual pressure, cold and absolute, descended from the heavens. Venerable Qiao, the Grand Unity Peak expert who had been paralyzed by Lin Tian's initial arrival, arrived, his gaunt face etched with the rage of a predator finally cornering its prey. He was not alone; he had mobilized his final, most powerful allies: Elder Xing and Mistress Cui, two formidable Grand Unity Immortals from the northern neutral territories.
"The Divine Thief!" Qiao roared, his voice laced with the devastating authority of his cultivation peak. "You have destroyed the foundation of the Cloud Heavens! Your arrogance ends here!"
The three Immortals—two at Stage 7 and Qiao at Peak Stage 9—moved instantly, forming the Trilateral Annihilation Array. This was their ultimate siege formation, designed to lock down the space and simultaneously crush the opponent's core and soul.
Lin Tian merely observed. He activated his Observer's Eye, focusing it not on their power, but on their flaws—the specific ideological weaknesses that led to their decades of stagnation.
[Observer's Eye Activated. Target: Trilateral Annihilation Array. Flaw: Ideological Contradiction. Array requires perfect harmony of three distinct, flawed Daos. Vulnerability: Purity Paradox Overload (PPO).]
Lin Tian smiled. Qiao's formation was politically sound but spiritually bankrupt. He did not engage their attack. Instead, he channeled his Divine Nascent Soul, fusing his Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind essences into a single, overwhelming expression of Divine Purity.
He aimed his attack at the central convergence point of their array—a point where the three Daos of the Immortals merged.
The attack was not a blast of energy; it was a single, perfect concept of absolute spiritual purity, injected directly into the heart of their contradictory formation.
The three Immortals screamed. Their combined power did not shatter; it went into a catastrophic internal feedback loop. Qiao's Dao of Rigidity clashed with Cui's Dao of Flow, and Xing's Dao of Balance was destroyed by the impossible purity of Lin Tian's interference.
The Trilateral Annihilation Array turned inward, violently consuming the Immortals who wielded it. The collapse was absolute and irreversible.
Lin Tian stood untouched in the eye of the resulting spiritual storm. He had eliminated the final organized martial opposition in the Cloud Heavens with a single, surgical strike that leveraged their own structural flaws.
Lin Tian did not pause. He channeled his Grand Unity Peak power, seizing the collapsing spiritual essences of the three fallen Immortals.
[RESOURCE ACQUISITION: Grand Unity Essence (x3) secured. Soul Integration Initiated.]
The massive influx of power had an immediate, profound effect. Lin Tian's Divine Nascent Soul swelled, instantly preparing for the next major leap in the cosmic hierarchy.
Lin Tian knew his work in Tier 2 was now finished. He had annihilated the martial apex and secured the political landscape through his puppet, Mei Lan. His continued presence was no longer necessary, and any further delay risked attracting Tier 3 (Nine Heavens) attention.
He performed the final ritual: channeling the remaining energy from the battlefield and the shattered ruins of the Hall into a concentrated, shimmering beacon. He was not signaling his defeat; he was asserting his dominance.
He looked up toward the cosmic veil, already synthesizing the ultimate technique for Tier 3 ascension from the secrets he had stolen from the Sovereign's Archive.
[Synthesis Complete: Nine Heavens Dimensional Severance Technique. Required Purity: 100%. Efficacy: Guaranteed Tier 3 Breach.]
Lin Tian used his new Grand Unity Peak power, directing a massive, deliberate force toward the final barrier. He channeled the combined strength of his conquests into a single, focused point.
CRAAAAACK!
The Cloud Heavens tore open, revealing the cold, star-dusted chaotic void between the Tiers. Lin Tian stepped through the golden rift, abandoning his last footprint in Tier 2.
[Tier 3 (Nine Heavens) Transition Complete. Host has reached Golden Immortal Stage 1. New Challenges: Great Daos.]
Lin Tian was ascending. The Cloud Heavens were now officially secured under the governance of the Blade of Purity, Mei Lan, ready to serve as the Lin Dynasty's massive, secure resource base. The journey into the Nine Heavens had begun.