After that , William returned to Earth.
There were no celebrations.
No reunions.
No triumphant return worthy of a champion who had stood among the greatest talents of an entire era.
The village was gone.
His parents were gone.
The tournament was over.
Even the inheritance of the Eternal Body no longer occupied his thoughts.
For the first time in years, William found himself without a destination.
Without an enemy.
Without a goal that demanded immediate action.
And so he chose the only path he knew.
He trained.
Far from civilizations.
Far from sects.
Far from people.
William found a lonely region beyond the borders of any influence.
A barren place where mountains met endless wastelands.
No one lived there.
No one visited.
It was perfect.
There, he built a simple dwelling.
Not a palace.
Not a fortress.
Merely a place to exist.
And then he began.
This time, however, something was different.
Throughout his life, William had sought understanding.
Understanding of his power.
Understanding of existence.
Understanding of the connections that bound reality together.
But now...
he stopped chasing understanding.
Instead, he pursued growth itself.
Pure advancement.
Pure transcendence.
The insights obtained from the Eternal Body, the Final Trial, and the Absolute Truth had accumulated within him for years.
Now there were no distractions preventing those insights from bearing fruit.
His progress became frightening.
Months passed.
Then years.
William's cultivation advanced at a pace that would have been considered impossible by ordinary standards.
Entire bottlenecks shattered before him.
Barriers that stopped geniuses for centuries collapsed within months.
The foundations laid during the tournament finally revealed their value.
His mastery over connections deepened.
His control became increasingly precise.
His body adapted.
His soul evolved.
Even his perception of reality transformed.
And after one year—
he reached the end of the First Level.
The breakthrough shook heaven and earth.
Invisible waves spread throughout existence itself.
The universe acknowledged the transformation.
A new physique emerged.
The Infinite Body.
Not a body defined by endless power.
Nor endless energy.
But by endless potential.
Every limitation became harder to impose.
Every boundary became more difficult to define.
The body itself seemed to reject the concept of a final destination.
For the Infinite Body, there was always another step.
Always another horizon.
Always another possibility.
Yet William don't celebrated.
He simply continued forward.
Soon afterward came the Second Level.
A far greater challenge.
William separate from his body.
His consciousness entered the Realm of Spirit.
A place unlike any world.
There was no matter there.
No physical existence.
Only souls.
Only will.
Only essence.
For two entire years, William remained within that realm.
His body stayed motionless in the outside world.
Like a statue.
Like an abandoned vessel.
Meanwhile his spirit wandered through endless spiritual landscapes.
He witnessed souls being born and fading away
Spiritual storms.
Spiritual civilizations.
Truths hidden beneath ordinary existence.
Again and again, his spirit was challenged.
Again and again, it endured.
Until eventually—
it transcended.
At the conclusion of the second year in spiritual world
His eyes opened.
And the world itself appeared different.
Because his spirit was different.
A Transcendent Soul had been born.
A soul capable of existing independently from the body.
A soul no longer completely dependent on flesh.
A soul that had stepped beyond ordinary life.
Yet William continued.
One year.
Then another.
Then another.
The boundaries between existence and nonexistence became increasingly thin before him.
The concepts of life and death gradually revealed themselves.
Not as opposites.
But as two parts of a larger cycle.
A greater truth.
A greater mechanism.
Many cultivators spent entire lifetimes attempting to understand that boundary.
William crossed it in five years.
The day he succeeded, reality trembled.
His understanding rose beyond the domain of mortality.
Life no longer appeared mysterious.
Death no longer appeared absolute.
He had entered a realm where both concepts could be observed from above.
Not controlled.
Not mastered.
But surpassed.
The universe recognized the achievement.
William had officially stepped beyond the World of Life and Death.
Yet the universe was not willing to grant such advancement freely.
As always—
a trial arrived.
A calamity.
A judgment.
A challenge sent directly by existence itself.
The sky darkened.
The stars vanished.
Reality became silent.
Then a sword appeared.
A single sword.
Nothing more.
No wielder.
No army.
No explanation.
Only a blade.
And from the moment it appeared, William understood.
The sword represented inevitability.
Its purpose was simple.
To cut.
Anything.
Everything.
Without exception.
It could sever matter.
Energy.
Space.
Time.
Concepts.
Even understanding itself.
Most terrifying of all—
it could not be dodged.
Every path led to the blade.
Every attempt at escape resulted in failure.
Every future ended the same way.
The sword would arrive.
The trial lasted months.
William was struck countless times.
Again and again.
Each failure taught him something.
Each defeat forced him to evolve.
His body regenerated.
His soul adapted.
His understanding expanded.
But still the blade came.
Always.
Unstoppable.
Unavoidable.
Until finally William realized something.
The answer was never resistance.
The answer was never evasion.
The answer was never defense.
The blade represented inevitability.
Therefore, the solution had to exist outside inevitability.
Outside direct interaction altogether.
William spent weeks contemplating.
Months refining.
And eventually—
he succeeded.
For the first time, he touched a new possibility.
A second authority.
A second gift.
A second power.
When the sword descended once more, William did not move.
Instead, the blade moved.
By itself.
Its trajectory changed.
Its direction altered.
Its momentum shifted.
The sword was no longer entirely its own.
William had seized influence over it.
Not through strength.
Not through force.
But through direct manipulation.
Telekinesis
The ability to move and influence objects without physical contact.
At first it was weak.
Crude.
Limited.
Yet it was enough.
For the first time since its creation, the sword missed.
Silence spread throughout the heavens.
The trial had ended.
The universe acknowledged the result.
The blade dissolved into countless fragments of light.
And a new authority settled within William's existence.
His second innate power had been born.
The power of telekinetic manipulation.
The power to influence the external world directly through will alone.
Standing beneath the fading stars, William slowly opened his eyes.
Nine years had passed since the destruction of his village.
Nine years since he buried his grief beneath endless cultivation.
Nine years since he began running from the pain.
And yet...
despite all the progress.
Despite the Infinite Body.
Despite the Transcendent Soul.
Despite surpassing the World of Life and Death.
One truth remained unchanged.
The strength continued growing.
The emptiness remained.