Chapter 634: A Man’s Pride
(An uninhabited planet, Su Tang’s POV)
Su Tang stood in the middle of a vast empty desert on an uninhabited planet, staring at the crystalline bottle in his hand as though it were both his most prized possession and his most lethal poison.
The pale-gold liquid within shimmered with an almost divine radiance, every swirl carrying the condensed essence of heaven and earth that his father had spent centuries securing for him.
It was the key to stepping into the Demi-God realm—yet also a blade pressed to his own throat.
This was undoubtedly the most desperate moment of his life, for he was about to attempt a breakthrough he was not yet ready for.
His body and mind were not fully tempered, his soul not yet refined to its sharpest edge, and his circuits were still too narrow to safely handle the torrent of divine energy about to tear through him.
But he had no choice.
The Su Clan was collapsing.
The Five Great Clans were circling like vultures, and without the pressure of a Demi-God’s protection, the Su Clan was not going to survive till the end of the year.
"I need to do this.... I have no other choice,"
Su Tang reminded himself, as he knew very well that if he could break through now, even at the risk of death, he could then at least save the Su Clan from extinction for a few years longer.
*POP*
He popped open the cork of the breakthrough potion, his eyes hardening as he tilted his head back and drank the potion in one burning swallow.
*GULP*
The liquid scorched its way down his throat like molten steel, exploding in his core a heartbeat later.
*BOOOM!*
A shockwave erupted outward, flattening the dunes around him in a perfect circle, as the atmosphere itself seemed to crack under the sudden eruption of force.
His spear materialized in his hand instinctively, as arcs of golden energy writhed along its length like serpents desperate to be unleashed.
"HRRRRRAAAAAAHHH!"
He roared, thrusting the weapon forward to relieve the unbearable pressure swelling within.
[SPEAR STRIKE]
The desert floor split apart as though the planet itself had been stabbed, a canyon dozens of kilometers deep opening instantly, magma spewing upward in violent gouts as the planet’s crust buckled and groaned.
The unleashed energy did not stop, it rolled on like a tidal wave, carving through mountains in the far horizon and leaving scars onto the planet’s surface that would never heal.
Such was the power of a Demi-God, and was precisely why breakthroughs of such level could not happen in any chamber across the universe, and needed to be performed only on uninhabited planets.
[Blinding Thrust]
[Five Step Pierce]
[Thwart and Blast]
Su Tang unleashed one powerful move after another, desperate to channel the chaos tearing through his veins.
*SWOOSH!*
*CRASH!*
A storm of golden arcs slashed through the heavens, ripping apart clouds and tearing the atmosphere in sonic booms so loud, it sounded like the planet was being ripped in half, which in a way it was.
Entire continents collapsed under the force of his attacks, the barren desert transforming into a vision of the apocalypse.
Yet the more he released, the more the energy surged back, as though the potion had only begun to show its true cruelty.
"Damn it... DAMN IT!" he spat, his voice hoarse, as the blood vessels around his temples bulged like overdrawn cords.
*Shiver*
His body shook violently, veins glowing as divine energy ripped through circuits too narrow to contain it.
Then came the first trickle of blood.
A thin stream leaked from his nostrils, followed by a sharp sting in his ears, then a hot flow from the corners of his eyes. Within moments, crimson lines streaked down his face as if he were weeping blood.
*COUGH!*
He spat a mouthful of it onto the broken ground, the red liquid sizzling on contact with the molten stone beneath him.
Every breath now felt like fire devouring his lungs, every heartbeat like an explosion inside his chest.
’Hold it together... HOLD IT TOGETHER!’ he screamed inwardly, forcing himself to keep striking with his spear, trying to carve pathways for the divine energy to stabilize.
However, the more he swung, the slower he became, each thrust more desperate, as he tried to swim against the current of a stream which was roaring with a flood.
If Leo were here, he could have seen a bright green shine around Su Tang’s body at this moment, as he battled with the very doors of death, surviving purely on willpower as he desperately tried to make his way against a torrent that was slowly but surely washing him away.
However, no matter how slow his strokes became, Su Tang refused to give up as he fought, and fought and fought, as long as his body still obeyed his will to move.
"I will not fall here..... I swear on my name and on that of my father, that I SU TANG shall not fall here.
All my life, I have firmly believed that I was born to be a God.
And while many called it arrogance, I call it belief, for I know, Divine is in my blood." Su Tang muttered to himself, as his thrusts slowly started to regain some lost speed.
"The whole universe wants a piece of my clan.... The whole universe is against us. But so what?
We are not eunuchs, we are the Su Clan!
And I am Su Tang!
I’ll show them who I am.... I’ll show them all.
I won’t die here.
Not till I make the five great clans tremble in fear before me.
Not till I have avenged my father.
Come on!
Move body move!
We can’t let those cocksuckers get the satisfaction of knowing I failed to breakthrough and died like a dog.
No.
For the sake of our own pride.
We can’t die today!"
He said, as against the odds, in what was a purely egotistical way of holding on to life, Su Tang clawed his way back to survival, unleashing more and more of the chaotic energy trying to rip his body apart from the inside, as he inched closer and closer to a Demi-God breakthrough.