Prologue: Ascension Part 2

After living for nearly 100,000 years, it would be surprising if Dante didn't know anything about physiques. After all, he's probably killed thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people that had physiques ranging from regular Mortal Physiques all the way up to Peak-Divine-Tier Physiques.

In preparation for this day, Dante has saved the corpses of every person he's killed that had a physique.

Dante was incredibly excited for this day as this is the last step he needs before reaching perfection.

There was just one hiccup though and that's because Physiques are by far the most obscure things in the cultivation world.

Some Physiques are hereditary and can be passed down to one's descendants. Some Physiques are similar to Heaven handing out a blessing. Other Physiques have been artificially created by various means. Some people acquired one in an inheritance of some kind while others were just born with one.

From what Dante has gathered, Physiques are one of the only things in this Immortal Realm that could be considered extremely unfair. Not only that, but the concept behind a Physique is incredibly abstract. Rather than affecting one's Qi, bones, constitution, soul, affinity, or whatever else it may be, Physiques seem to affect one's existence.

Another thing that Dante has found weird about Physiques is that a Physique, no matter what Tier, is always at 100% potential.

Even if someone has a Divine-Tier Physique, but has only unlocked it until the Earth-Tier even though it may only be 10% as strong as the completed Divine-Tier version, it is able to use that 10% to the absolute limit.

With this information, Dante knows that all he has to do is figure out a way to link his physique to his existence.

But this isn't really too difficult for Dante, as someone who has gone through the cycle of reincarnation and kept his memories. If he's unable to sense his existence after being reincarnated and living for another 100,000 years, then he would truly be an idiot!

The location of the core of his existence is somewhere deep within his soul. It's the part of his soul that was formed at the moment of his inception into existence.

Once Dante found that he started to create a web of Artificial Meridians that would link the core of his existence to his soul, body, Qi, bloodline, and even his comprehensions.

After he finished, all that's left is for him to cultivate his new Physique and Dante knows exactly what to do.

"Hehe, my good friend Heaven… I'm coming for you!! Hahaha!" Dante started laughing like a maniac before launching himself into the space outside of the Immortal Realm.

He started searching all over the Immortal Realm for what he needed to cultivate his Physique. What he was searching for was people that were undergoing a Heavenly Tribulation! Whether it be due to their advancement in cultivation, a creation that has been blessed by Heaven itself, or something that Heaven wants to destroy. It didn't matter!

Dante kept laughing like a crazy person before diving back into the Realm and going through his Tribulation stealing spree!

That's right! His Physique will be created with the use of Heavenly Tribulations! He'll call it 'Heaven's Wrath Physique' because he's 100% sure that Heaven will do everything in its power to stop him! Hahaha!

If he were to succeed, he'd essentially be stealing from Heaven itself! Heaven!

An entity that is seen as Omniscient, Omnipresent, All-Knowing, Immortal! Something that has been in existence since the dawn of time!

Dante wants to steal from such an entity!

This is because the Lightning that Heaven uses in its Tribulations is the purest form of energy in all the Realm. And even though Heaven likes to use Lightning for some reason, in reality, it could use this Essence for any of the other elements as well, including Space and Time.

And no, it's not like Dante's Chaos Qi. It's a bit hard to explain, but the best example would be that this energy was most likely what kickstarted the creation of the Universe. It's a form of energy that can both create and destroy.

That's why Dante wants it so bad! What's more perfect than the energy that created the Universe and life itself?

That's why Dante couldn't stop maniacally laughing! Because once he finishes collecting enough Essence from these Tribulations, he'll be able to ascend to Immortality and essentially become a God!

Dante kept running around the Immortal Realm stealing others' Tribulations, running the Tribulation Lightning through his Artificial Meridians and absorbing it into every fiber of his being!

His strength was constantly rising the more Tribulations he stole and the Tier of Physique kept rising from Mortal.

Earth-Tier!

Sky-Tier!

Heaven-Tier!

Saint-Tier!

Lower-Divine-Tier!

Middle-Divine-Tier!

Peak-Divine-Tier!

Once the 'Heaven's Wrath Physique' reached this point, Dante could tell that he was at the absolute peak of this Realm and if he were to go any further, he would ascend to Immortality!

At this point, it's literally impossible for someone to kill him even if they are in the same Cultivation Realm as him in all 3 cultivation systems. They could even have a Peak-Divine-Tier Bloodline and Physique, but still wouldn't be able to put a scratch on his body. That's just how powerful Dante's current state is.

Dante smirked for a bit before sitting down and pushing himself to break through the restrictions of the Realm and ascend!

Everything was going to ascend with him at the same time! Essence Gathering, Soul, Body, Bloodline, Physique, even his comprehensions were about to break through with him into the next Realm.

Heaven, seeing that Dante was finally trying to break the barrier that it set, seemed to become angry as over half of the entire Immortal Realm darkened! The skies were filled with clouds raging with Red Annihilatory Lightning!

Every living being was frozen in fear, whether it be Mortals or someone at the 18th Realm, everyone just froze.

Time seemed to stop for the people of the Immortal Realm, but the Red Lightning kept flashing through the sky as it all started to congregate into one area.

"HAHAHAHA!! YES! WHAT A NICE PRESENT, HEAVEN! I WILL BE SURE TO USE IT WELL! HAHAHAHA!!"

People all over the Immortal Realm could hear some fucking crazy person laughing at Heaven!

What the fuck!?

Who is bold as to laugh at the Heaven's as it's about rain down hell upon the land?!

And what the hell did that guy do to make the Heaven's so angry with him?!

After several hours, the Lightning finally struck the Earth, but the only thing the people could see was a flash of red that covered over half of the Immortal Realm!

That, along with the crazy laughter of the guy that Heaven seemed to be pissed off at!

"HAHAHA! MORE! MORE! MORE!"

More and more lightning bolts rained down upon Dante as he was constantly using this energy to fuel his Ascension!

Every part of his existence was undergoing a qualitative change at this moment! It also seemed like he was undergoing a Race change as well.

Although he was a human, his bloodline was far superior to regular human blood! Well, it was superior to every other bloodline ever created since the dawn of time!

And while the Human Race is definitely the most adaptive race with some of the highest potentials, Dante's body has too much potential for the Human Race. He has reached the limit of what a human can do and in order to breach that limit, his Race needs to evolve as well.

Except this wouldn't be some 'High Human' bullshit like in the novels he read back on Earth. No, it needs to be a race that literally holds infinite potential! Something that can keep growing without a peak!

"HAHA! KEEP IT COMING!"

Dante laughed, feeling the changes in himself!

Soon, he sprouted wings on his back. The wings were made up of Pure White feathers without any spec of impurity on them. His eyes turned golden, his body was being refined to utmost perfection.

A halo was also taking place above his head which soon turned into a crown. His current robe was removed and a beautiful white robe with gold and purple embroidery took its place.

His hair also started to turn white, but Dante didn't want to end up with white hair so he changed it to black. So black that it was like looking into a black hole. That contrasting with his otherwise pure and white appearance only further increased his looks.

Lightning kept falling on him all this while, but after Dante's transformation he had already ascended and the rest of the Lightning was only increasing his strength.

Seemingly knowing that no matter what it did, it couldn't kill Dante, the Lightning and clouds started to recede until slowly there was nothing left.

The people heaved a sigh of relief until they heard that same familiar voice again.

"HAHAHA!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR COOPERATION!"

…

…

…

The world went silent hearing that and without wasting any time, everybody scattered like rats! No matter if they were in the middle of a battle, cultivating, having sex, or whatever it may be, everyone ran into hiding.

Everyone knew that if someone could survive that, then that means they are on par if not stronger than the Heaven's.

If that person wanted to rule the entire Immortal Realm, then they could only obey!

Fucking hell! They could only obey the will of the Heaven's much less some freak that could take its hits head-on and seem excited about it!

***

Dante couldn't be happier after he completed his Ascension! He could feel on an instinctual level that the sands of time could no longer affect him. His body was indestructible, his Qi was damn near limitless, and his soul would never extinguish. Even if he lost his body and his soul entered reincarnation, he wouldn't lose any of his progress.

His Bloodline and Physique have evolved and could be said to have reached perfection. Even the Heaven's wouldn't be as perfect as his current self.

He wasn't sure what to call his new Bloodline, so he just used his incredible naming skills and decided to call it:

'Heaven's Ruler Immortal Bloodline'!

What a perfect name!

It took him a while to calm down, but Dante eventually absorbed his wings and crown back into his body along with his aura. He liked the white robe so he decided he'd stick with that.

Not only does it look good on him, but it'll never get dirty, wet, old, smelly, or anything like that. The robe is literally a part of him and could be said to be his only Immortal item.

After calming down, Dante decided that the first thing he'll do is bring all of his 'Heaven's Ruler Arts' up to the Immortal-Tier. He also might as well throw in the rest of the weapons that he hasn't done before as well.

After Ascending, Dante's comprehension abilities have reached a terrifying degree. Basically, anything under the Immortal Realm could be comprehended in a few thoughts, and even bringing it up to the Immortal Realm wouldn't take much effort on his part.

Though to bring every technique he has including the new ones he'll be making will probably take a few years, a decade tops to bring them all to the Immortal-Tier.

So that's what he did for the next 10 years. He studied every weapon ever created and made 'Heaven's Ruler Arts' for them all the way up to the Immortal-Tier.

He also collected every herb, metal, plant, tree, and anything else he could find.

Naturally, with his current strength, the entire Immortal Realm is within his grasp so if he wants something all he has to do is think of it and it'll appear within his palms.

He also collected things that have gone extinct. As long as it was an herb, plant, metal, tree, etc.

Well, it couldn't be said that he collected them, but more like he studied these things from ancient records and created them himself.

That's the benefit of reaching perfection. Everything is within your grasp!

He then created an Independent Space to put all of these things so he can cultivate them and expand his collection.

With that done, Dante also started to research new herbs, metals, and plants that have never been seen or created before.

For someone as great as himself, naturally, his garden can't only be full of things that have already come into existence. He needs new things that have never existed before as well! Not only that, but he needs every possible metal, herb, plant, etc.!

Dante also spent his time researching Immortal metals, Immortal herbs, Immortal plants, Immortal Trees, even Immortal Water so he can create a nice lake in his garden!

Dante has never seen anything like these before so doing this actually took quite a while! Immortal-Tier herbs and materials don't actually exist in the Immortal Realm, which Dante found quite odd.

After spending an exceedingly long amount of time researching these things, Dante began using them to produce Immortal items.

He made Immortal-Tier Swords, Spears, Daggers, Hammers, and every other weapon. He also made Immortal-Tier Armor of various designs to satisfy his inner child.

He used the wood from his Immortal Trees to make an Immortal House for himself.

He also used herbs to create different types of tea, pills, wine, and even just incense.

Now that time no longer has any effect on him, Dante stopped keeping track of the time. He just kept researching and bringing all of his knowledge to the peak of what is possible.

Dante also wasn't in a rush to do things anymore now that he had reached his goal.

Like this time flowed by and thousands of years passed by in a flash, but for Dante, this might as well be just a small nap.

After Dante finished everything he wanted to do, that's when a certain thought that hasn't crossed his mind ever since he discovered Wuxia novels:

"What now?"