Solanky, unlike the countless beings searching for opportunities to ascend into Transcendent Entities, sat cross-legged before the ancient statue, feigning deep contemplation of its mysteries. To everyone watching, he appeared completely immersed in comprehending the statue's profound secrets.
The mysterious woman, the special lifeform, glanced at him with puzzled eyes before turning away. Rather than waste time in meditation, she left the safety of the sanctuary to hunt malevolent spirits, intending to temper her newly gained insights through real combat.
Within Solanky's consciousness, Supremo's voice continued to echo with unwavering authority.
"Give me ninety percent of your attention. What I am about to tell you will determine how deeply you understand the Peak-Turns."
Solanky immediately focused.
"For a being to truly step into the Peak-Turn realm, there are only two paths.
"The first is to isolate yourself from the outside world and reincarnate into another being's cave world.
"The second is to challenge the Peak Summits that exist within every being's consciousness.
"Neither path is safe. Both are filled with unimaginable dangers. However, directly challenging the Peak Summits is by far the more terrifying choice."
His voice remained calm as though he were recounting ordinary events.
"The Peak-Turn realm consists of nine stages. Every advancement brings an overwhelming leap in both the quality and quantity of one's power.
"For Transcendent Entities attempting their First Peak-Turn, that first breakthrough determines the foundation of everything that follows. Should you perish during the trial or fail to reach the required cultivation level within the cave world, your breakthrough ends in failure.
"The cave world path is both the easiest and the cruelest method.
"The creator of that cave world holds absolute authority over your destiny. They may suppress your cultivation however they wish, manipulate every law within that world, and use its entire power to prevent you from ever reaching the required realm."
A trace of regret entered Supremo's voice.
"My own First Peak-Turn was accomplished through that path.
"I slew the creator of that cave world. Afterwards, I nurtured countless special lifeforms and experimented with ways for future cultivators to avoid suffering the same fate.
"Every one of those experiments ended in failure.
"The result was the complete annihilation of every living being within that cave world."
Silence lingered before he continued.
"To atone for my sins, I created my own internal cave world.
"I sacrificed twenty percent of my own power and resurrected more than one hundred trillion lives.
"I could accomplish such a feat because I was an exceptionally powerful special lifeform, nearly fifty times stronger than others at my cultivation level.
"Losing twenty percent of my strength was insignificant compared to what I gained.
"As every one of those beings returned to life, I experienced their lives alongside them. I witnessed their joys, despair, victories, failures, and every emotion in between. Through them, my understanding of the universe and the abstract laws governing existence deepened beyond imagination.
"That enlightenment revealed the path toward elevating both my power and my life itself."
"With that comprehension, I secluded myself once more and challenged the Second Peak-Turn. My goal was to temper both my physical body and my spiritual body into something greater.
"But everything went terribly wrong."
Even Supremo's usually composed voice became solemn.
"The powers of the Beyond Realm, my internal cave world, the Infinite Source Space, every one of its infinite worlds, and every Void Region manifested simultaneously within my consciousness.
"My physical body was torn from the Beyond Realm and dragged into the Void Realm, where the Higher Spiritual Realm exists.
"Terrifying energies gathered around me.
"The first strike reduced my body to dust while shattering my consciousness into countless fragments.
"I came within a hair's breadth of complete destruction."
His voice remained steady.
"But my resolve never wavered.
"I refused to die while the countless beings I had once indirectly condemned still depended upon me.
"When the second strike descended, I used its power to reconstruct both my body and consciousness.
"At that moment, I officially stepped into the Third Peak-Turn."
"For reasons I still cannot explain, the tribulations that should have followed never arrived.
"I spent one hundred quadrillion years consolidating my cultivation before attempting the Fourth Peak-Turn.
"During that breakthrough, my life aura reached the threshold of a calamitous lifeform.
"My strength became one thousand times greater than ordinary beings at the same cultivation level.
"Although I had only reached the Fourth Peak-Turn, I already possessed the combat strength of powerful Fifth Peak-Turn cultivators standing on the verge of the Sixth."
"In the Beyond Realm, I became known as the strongest True Peak-Turn being.
"My cultivation was merely at the Fourth Peak-Turn, yet none questioned my supremacy."
"The powerful Fifth Peak-Turn beings and those above them invited me into a secret organization created to defend the Beyond Realm against malevolent spirits and beings that sought to devour every living existence within it.
"I accepted."
"Six hundred years later, the invasion began."
"The malevolent armies launched a full assault against the walls of the Beyond Realm.
"We met them head-on."
"My early-stage calamitous lifeform allowed me to stand alongside the strongest defenders.
"Together, we slew six malevolent beings and spirits whose strength rivaled Fifth Peak-Turn cultivators."
"After that battle, I was given a title."
"The Wrath of God."
"Among our enemies, I became known simply as WoG."
"The surviving invaders fled to report my existence to the rulers of their race."
"I knew the war had only begun."
"I intended to attempt the Fifth Peak-Turn immediately afterward.
"Before doing so, I performed a divination."
His tone darkened.
"What I witnessed shook me more than any battlefield ever had.
"The Fifth Peak-Turn trial condensed the collective will of every living being that had ever existed into a single opponent.
"That being would become your tribulation."
"I briefly considered choosing the cave world path instead.
"But although it offered greater safety, it would barely improve my overall strength. More importantly, I would lose the opportunity to temper my life under overwhelming pressure and elevate the resilience of my life force."
"So I chose the Peak Summits."
"There was no turning back."
"When the trial began, neither my consciousness nor my body was drawn into another realm.
"Instead, the manifestation appeared directly above the walls of the Beyond Realm.
"Five enormous concentric circles of brilliant colors slowly rotated clockwise in the heavens."
"I understood immediately.
"I had to shatter every circle with both my physical body and spiritual body before absorbing their power.
"Only then could I advance."
"Failure carried a devastating price.
"You would lose the breakthrough and fall back an entire cultivation stage."
"I challenged it regardless."
"And I succeeded."
"The moment I stepped into the Fifth Peak-Turn, my strength underwent another overwhelming transformation.
"My lifeform became fifty thousand times stronger than that of an ordinary Peak-Turn being."
"I stood as the undisputed strongest cultivator in the entire God Realm."
"My body and power had reached the level of the kings among the calamitous lifeforms and the malevolent beings."
"My combat strength even rivaled Behan, the strongest Peak-Turn cultivator of that era."
"He had already reached the Seventh Peak-Turn."
"I remained only a Fifth Peak-Turn cultivator."
"And yet, through the sheer superiority of my lifeform alone, I stood beside him."
"However, that overwhelming strength became my greatest obstacle."
"My lifeform had become so extraordinary that breaking into the Sixth Peak-Turn proved nearly impossible.
"So I abandoned cultivation for a time and focused entirely on evolving my lifeform."
"I ventured alone beyond the walls of the Beyond Realm."
"There, no one dared challenge me in single combat."
"Even when powerful experts united to besiege me, I escaped without suffering a single injury.
"Before leaving, I killed two beings whose strength rivaled Fifth Peak-Turn cultivators in a single exchange."
"After that battle, few dared provoke me or anything associated with me."
A faint trace of pride finally surfaced in Supremo's voice.
"Even now, I stand beyond the walls of the Beyond Realm as one of its guardians.
"My lifeform has already reached the Source-Defying Lifeform level."
"If I were to fight without restraint, half of the enemy's armies would vanish."
"That is why I do not move."
Silence settled within Solanky's consciousness.
He remained stunned.
He had never imagined that Supremo alone possessed enough strength to stand as a living fortress protecting the Beyond Realm from endless hordes of malevolent beings.
After composing himself, Solanky finally spoke.
"What Peak-Turn stage have you reached now?"
"How many times stronger are you than ordinary beings at your current level?"
"And what about the Desolate God, the Forsaken God, and the Levian Progenitor?"
"What Peak-Turn stages have they reached, and how powerful are their lifeforms?"
After a brief pause, another question surfaced.
"How great is the gap between Half-Step Peak-Turns and True Peak-Turn beings?"
"And after I become a Transcendent Entity, if I combine your techniques with my own, will I be capable of challenging a True Peak-Turn being?"