## Liam''s Perspective


    My spatial ring was packed to its limit. Countless inner cores glowed inside, theirbined energy creating a warmth against my wrist. Yet the vast treasure beneath the floating ind remainedrgely untouched.


    "Too much wealth to carry," I muttered, eyeing the millions of cores still embedded in the rock.


    A bold idea struck me. If I couldn''t store them all, perhaps I could absorb them directly. Risky, but when had I ever yed it safe?


    I selected a moderately-sized core, no bigger than my thumbnail. The energy within pulsed seductively. Without hesitation, I ced it in my mouth and swallowed.


    The effect was immediate. Searing heat spread from my throat to my stomach. My meridians lit up like wildfire as the raw energy flooded my system.


    "Fuck!" I gasped, doubling over. The pain was excruciating but familiar - simr to breaking through cultivation bottlenecks.


    When the initial shock subsided, I felt stronger. My wounds began closing at an elerated rate. Encouraged, I grabbed another core and swallowed it.


    Then another. And another.


    Each core added to my strength. After consuming nearly fifty, my injuries had almostpletely healed. My energy reserves swelled to unprecedented levels.


    "This is incredible," I whispered, flexing my restored limbs.


    The floating ind above me suddenly shifted. Julian and his party were departing. Good. Let them think me dead while I imed their treasure.


    I continued my feast, pushing my limits. Each core brought me closer to a breakthrough. My body trembled with barely contained power.


    After consuming my hundredth core, I noticed something peculiar on the seabed below. Swim deeper, and the sandy floor gave way to what appeared to be ancient stone tiles.


    Intrigued, I descended. The pressure at this depth would have crushed an ordinary man, but my reinforced body barely noticed.


    The stone tiles formed a massive circr pattern, partially buried under centuries of sediment. At the center stood an enormous gate, its surface covered in algae and coral.


    "What is this ce?" I wondered, running my hand along the weathered stone.


    My touch dislodged years of marine growth, revealing intricate carvings beneath. I cleared more of the surface, unveiling ancient characters.


    "Immortal Bane Sect," I read aloud, recognition dawning. The infamous cultivation sect from legends, said to have vanished overnight thousands of years ago.


    History imed they practiced forbidden arts that defied the heavens themselves. Their disappearance had spawned countless theories, but no conclusive answers.


    Until now.


    The massive gate beckoned. A sensible man would have returned to the surface with his newfound wealth and strength. But I had never been sensible.


    I channeled energy to my palms and pushed against the ancient doors. They resisted at first, then yielded with a deep, ominous groan that vibrated through the water.


    Beyondy darkness so profound it seemed solid. I created a small ball of me in my palm, illuminating whaty within.


    "By the heavens..." I whispered.


    The hall before me stretched impossibly far, preserved perfectly despite millennia underwater. But what stopped me cold were the bodies - hundreds, perhaps thousands of skeletons littering the floor.


    These weren''t ordinary remains. Even after eons submerged, the bones gleamed like polished ivory. When I touched one, it resisted pressure that would have shattered steel.


    "Divine-grade bones," I realized with shock. "These cultivators... they must have been Divine Annihtors at minimum."


    The implications staggered me. In our current era, Divine Annihtors were myths, theoretical peaks of cultivation that no modern practitioner had achieved. Yet herey an entire sect of them.


    All dead. All killed at once.


    I moved deeper into the hall, stepping carefully between the remains. Many had died inbat poses, their bony hands still clutching weapons that hadn''t corroded despite millennia underwater.


    "What could kill Divine Annihtors? And so many at once?"


    The architecture grew more impressive as I proceeded. Pirs carved from single pieces of jade. Floors iid with materials I couldn''t identify. Everything spoke of power and resources beyond modernprehension.


    At the hall''s end stood a raised dais. Upon it sat a skeletonrger than the others, seated on a throne of ck crystal. Its skull bore a crown fused to the bone.


    "The Sect Lord," I murmured, approaching cautiously.


    Unlike the others, this skeleton''s face retained expression - jaws stretched wide in what could only be described as terror. Even in death, the being radiated authority.


    Somethingpelled me forward. Against my better judgment, I reached out and touched the Sect Lord''s bony hand.


    The world exploded into darkness.


    When vision returned, I wasn''t myself anymore. I experienced memories not my own - viewing through the eyes of the seated figure.


    The hall was alive with activity. Thousands of disciples moved with purpose, their bodies radiating power that distorted the very air around them. These were the Divine Annihtors in their prime, each capable of leveling mountains with a gesture.


    Then came the screams.


    The massive entry doors burst inward. Disciples near the entrance simply... dissolved. Their bodies turned to mist, then nothing.


    Through the doors walked a single figure. <i ss="ref-73a3e8">Brought to you by the folks at *.</i>


    The hall descended into chaos. Divine Annihtorsunched attacks that would have shattered continents. The figure walked through them unaffected, each step bringing more death.


    Not fighting. Simply walking. Death followed in their wake like an obedient shadow.


    I felt the Sect Lord''s terror as the unstoppable entity approached. Felt his desperate attempt to flee, to bargain, to understand.


    The figure stood before the throne now. Their face was obscured, but something about their presence triggered a shock of recognition within me.


    I knew this person. Somehow, impossibly, I knew them.


    The figure reached toward the Sect Lord, and reality itself seemed to scream.


    I was violently ejected from the vision, thrown backward across the ancient hall. My body mmed against a pir with enough force to crack it.


    Blood trickled from my nose and ears as I struggled to my feet, gasping.


    "That figure... why do I recognize them?" I whispered, horror and confusion battling within me.


    The skeletal remains watched me silently, their empty eye sockets somehow using.


    "Who are you?" I asked the darkness. "And why do I feel like I''ve seen your face before?"