The second golem lowered its weapon and looked at Solanky with unwavering eyes.
"It appears you have finally realized the truth."
"I cannot be defeated with borrowed techniques."
"You must create one of your own."
The guardian folded its massive arms behind its back.
"I will wait."
"You may cultivate without interruption."
"I give you my word that I will not attack while you are creating your technique."
It paused before continuing.
"But remember this."
"If you wish to obtain techniques superior to the scattered jade slips left throughout the trial grounds, then you must first prove yourself here."
"The jade slips outside this mountain range are merely the forsaken god's failed attempts during the period when he sought to break beyond the transcendent entity level."
"They are considered priceless by the transcendent beings of the forsaken realm because even his failed creations can greatly increase their combat prowess."
Having finished speaking, the golem stepped backward before sitting cross-legged.
The light within its eyes gradually dimmed until it vanished completely.
The guardian became motionless once more.
...
Rather than beginning his cultivation immediately, Solanky suddenly burst forward at his highest speed.
His objective was simple.
If the guardian would not attack, perhaps he could bypass it altogether and enter the cave leading to the next trial.
His body streaked through the air.
Ninety meters.
Ninety-five.
Just as he came within one hundred meters of the cave entrance...
The entire world suddenly darkened.
Every trace of light disappeared.
The heavens, the earth, and even space itself seemed to vanish.
For the first time in countless years, Solanky completely lost his perception of the outside world.
His spiritual sense became useless.
His observational techniques failed.
Before he could react...
A gigantic stone hand appeared from the darkness.
It seized him effortlessly before hurling him across the mountain.
Boom!
His body smashed through countless cliffs before finally coming to a halt.
Solanky slowly rose to his feet, genuine astonishment filling his eyes.
The darkness he had just experienced was unlike anything he had encountered before.
It was unmistakably a domain.
Not merely the domain of an ordinary transcendent entity...
But one belonging to an existence standing a level above both Elisa and the First Venerable.
The second golem calmly reappeared before him.
"Do not attempt to outsmart me again."
"You cannot pass."
"Not until you create a technique that belongs to you alone."
After speaking, everything returned to its original state.
The golem resumed its cross-legged posture.
The light within its eyes faded once again, leaving it as lifeless as an ordinary statue.
It was as though time itself had reversed.
Solanky took a slow breath.
He abandoned all thoughts of forcing his way through.
Instead, he emptied his mind and prepared to enter the tranquil mental state he always relied upon whenever he created new techniques.
For the first time since arriving in the forsaken realm, he summoned the Source-Severing Blade.
Holding the weapon in silence, he began practicing two techniques he knew better than any others.
The Collapsing Neutron Star.
And the Void Shadow Steps.
Again.
And again.
With every repetition, he refined them further, correcting even the smallest imperfections.
Years quietly slipped away.
A century passed within the trial grounds.
By the end of those hundred years, both techniques had undergone complete transformation.
They had reached the level of transcendent entity techniques.
The second golem's eyes slowly illuminated.
It observed Solanky's progress before speaking.
"Good."
"But they have only reached the level of a Saint."
"It is still slightly below the level of a Saint Venerable."
Solanky frowned.
"The transcendent realm..."
"It has different ranks?"
Without answering verbally, the golem tossed a jade slip toward him.
The guardian's eyes immediately dimmed again.
Solanky caught the jade and examined it with his mental power.
Only three words appeared upon its surface.
Saint.
Saint Venerable.
Saint Emperor.
Curious, Solanky tapped the first inscription.
A torrent of information instantly poured into his consciousness.
According to the jade slip, every transcendent entity was collectively known as a Saint.
This title existed because they had broken free from the most fundamental shackles binding ordinary beings to the Collective Realms and the Collective Sources of Energy.
Source energy remained an essential part of cultivation.
However, relying upon it entirely limited one's potential.
Every realm possessed a Collective Mind that determined how much energy each cultivator could draw from the world's shared source.
Only after becoming a Saint could one begin opposing that invisible authority.
Solanky frowned.
"The Collective Mind..."
"The Collective Realms..."
He silently repeated the unfamiliar terms.
The information suggested that the world he had always known was merely a fraction of a far greater truth.
Only by becoming a transcendent entity, or by creating techniques worthy of that realm, could one begin uncovering those mysteries.
The jade continued revealing its secrets.
The Saint realm represented the first stage of the transcendent entity level.
At that point, cultivators gradually stopped depending upon the energies supplied by the Collective Realm.
Instead, they relied entirely upon their own understanding of its laws.
By twisting those laws to suit themselves, they forged an independent path.
Once someone became a Saint, the Collective Realm no longer willingly supplied them with energy.
Their personal energy and the world's energy became fundamentally opposed.
As a result, wounded Saints found it extremely difficult to recover without precious treasures or external assistance.
Although the strongest peak-stage entities possessed up to 999,999 times the strength of an Infinite Source God, Saints were still overwhelmingly superior.
In terms of physical strength alone, they were approximately ten times stronger than the mightiest entity-level beings.
Ordinary attacks fueled by Collective Realm energy could scarcely injure them.
Only transcendent techniques above the first Saint level posed any genuine threat.
After digesting everything, Solanky pressed the second inscription.
Saint Venerable.
Another stream of knowledge entered his mind.
Although only one realm separated a Saint from a Saint Venerable...
The difference between them resembled the gap between a candle and a blazing bonfire.
A Saint Venerable possessed a body roughly one hundred times stronger and more resilient than an ordinary Saint.
Their control over surrounding energies had reached extraordinary heights.
Rather than rejecting the Collective Realm's energy, they could directly convert it into their own power and use it to recover from injuries.
At this level, the deeper mysteries of the Collective Realms gradually revealed themselves.
Even the existence of terrifying higher beings became faintly perceptible.
Finally...
Solanky touched the last inscription.
Saint Emperor.
The instant his finger made contact, his consciousness plunged into endless darkness.
Unlike the previous two inheritances, this one possessed an independent memory space.
It forcefully dragged the reader's consciousness inside.
Within that endless abyss...
Countless hidden truths seemed to slumber.
Before Solanky could comprehend any of them, a gentle yet irresistible wave of energy swept across his consciousness.
It pushed him back into reality.
A majestic voice echoed through the darkness.
"You are not yet ready."
"Return after creating a technique that has reached the Saint Venerable level... or higher."
The next instant, Solanky opened his eyes.
Cold sweat covered his forehead.
The oppressive darkness he had just experienced...
It felt nearly identical to the mysterious domain the second golem had used earlier.
After calming himself, Solanky resumed his cultivation.
Time lost all meaning.
He trained relentlessly for another two hundred years within the trial grounds.
Outside, however...
Only five days passed in the forsaken realm.
No one questioned his absence.
Everyone assumed he was still within the Ancestral Beast Holy Land, acquainting himself with the newly born Beast Ancestor.
Another year passed inside the trial space.
By then, Solanky's improvements had become astonishing.
His previous techniques had undergone repeated refinement until they reached entirely new heights.
The Star God's Constellation Annihilation Palm had evolved into a Saint Emperor-level technique.
The Collapsing Neutron Star and the Fate-Piercing Thrust had both advanced to the Saint Venerable level.
Despite those accomplishments, Solanky did not immediately challenge the second golem.
Instead, he quietly sat down.
He intended to recover his depleted strength before examining the Saint Emperor inheritance once again.
However...
Before he could even touch the jade...
An overwhelming wave of exhaustion washed over him.
For the first time since reaching the entity level, Solanky felt truly tired.
Such fatigue was almost unheard of for beings of his realm.
Only relentless battles against overwhelmingly stronger opponents, or pushing one's body and comprehension far beyond their natural limits, could produce such exhaustion.
Without resisting it, Solanky slowly lay upon the ground.
Within moments...
He had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.
As his breathing gradually steadied...
His hand accidentally brushed against the Saint Emperor inscription.