Chapter 214

Three hundred years. The hourglass timer, forged from purple-gold sand, pressed heavily into his palm. His fingertips brushed the smooth, icy surface, a thin fingernail mark cutting through the thick layer of dust that had accumulated upon it. The top of the groove pointed toward that glaring character: *Eight*. Tribulation Transcendence, Eighth Level. Unmoving, for a full three hundred years. The congealed spiritual qi within the grotto-heaven hung as heavy as if it possessed mass, every breath of inhalation and exhalation feeling like pouring viscous lead and mercury down the throat. High-grade Spirit Stones had long since turned into dull, ordinary rocks, piled in the corners like heaps of colorful, useless refuse. The medicine bottles and jars on the jade desk were coated with a layer of gray grime. The contents within had once been his reliance for stepping into the fifth heaven; now, even if an entire jar were poured down his throat, it could not stir up the slightest ripple deep within his meridians—like drinking a cup of water to quench a burning desert, instantly evaporated into nothingness.