The heavens burned that morning.
Flames of pure divinity streaked across the golden horizon, splitting clouds as the Celestial Alliance prepared a single mission silent, unseen, and absolute.
In the Hall of Mirrors, where truth and illusion walked hand in hand, the Prime stood before a kneeling figure dressed in white light.
"You are the blade that Heaven does not claim," the Prime said, his voice echoing like prophecy carved into thunder. "Your name will not be written in any scroll. Your path will not be traced by any star. Go and see what lies within the Realm of Soil."
The figure bowed his head low. "As the heavens command."
His name was Lian Zhen, known among the divine assassins as The Unwritten Wind.
A god without lineage, without temple — one whose power was to erase his existence from divine sight.
If anyone could slip into Tian Yuan's growing dominion, it was him.
The Prime extended his hand. A single Feather of Law materialized — glowing with the pure essence of celestial decree.
"Take this," he said. "It will mask your origin, but beware… if your heart wavers, the soil will reject you."
Lian Zhen took the feather and pressed it to his chest. It dissolved into light, seeping into his essence. His form dimmed, his aura vanished, and even the air forgot his presence.
Then, with a whisper, he stepped into the void.
---
The Descent
Beyond Heaven's watchful gaze lay the endless expanse of the Upper Void — the unseen layer between divine territories.
Here, the fabric of reality trembled like stretched silk, and threads of creation flowed in rivers of light.
Lian Zhen moved silently through them, his eyes fixed on a distant shimmer ahead — a realm pulsing with living energy.
At first, it looked like a world made of light.
Then he blinked — and saw roots.
Thousands upon thousands of divine roots extended from a central golden tree, weaving into rivers, mountains, clouds, and stars themselves.
"This…" he whispered, awe flickering in his eyes. "This is not a realm. It's… alive."
The soil beneath the roots pulsed like a heartbeat. Each rhythm whispered something — not in words, but in emotion: calm, harmony, memory, patience.
He took a cautious step forward.
The instant his foot touched the edge of the soil, the air shifted.
A warm breeze brushed his face. The scent of earth and fruit filled the void.
Birdsong echoed somewhere in the distance.
For a moment, he almost forgot his mission.
But then, something vast and unseen stirred as though the world itself opened its eyes.
---
The Living Realm's Voice
"Who walks my field?"
The voice wasn't loud.
It didn't thunder or roar — it breathed.
It came from everywhere and nowhere, from leaf and sky and water.
Lian Zhen froze. He had concealed his divinity completely. No being should have been able to sense him.
"I mean no harm," he said carefully. "I am… lost."
"Lost?" The voice echoed thoughtfully. "All seeds are lost before they take root."
Then the wind changed.
Before him appeared a child, barefoot, with soil-stained hands and eyes reflecting stars. He carried a small gourd and a smile too serene to be mortal.
"Are you the master of this place?" Lian Zhen asked.
The child tilted his head. "Master? No. I am the Caretaker. The master tends to deeper soil."
He pointed toward the horizon, where golden light shimmered like dawn.
"But before you walk further," the child said, his smile never fading, "you must pass the Heart's Harvest."
Lian Zhen's brow furrowed. "What is that?"
The ground shifted. Flowers bloomed in a circle around him, forming a sigil of living light.
The boy's eyes glowed faintly. "This land listens to the heart. If you step here with malice or deceit the soil will know."
The petals began to close in.
Instinctively, Lian Zhen drew divine power to resist but the moment he did, the flowers drank it.
His energy vanished like dew in sunlight.
"Do not fight," the child warned. "Just let the soil see you."
Lian Zhen gritted his teeth. "Very well."
He closed his eyes. The petals brushed against his aura, warm and soft. Then, suddenly, his memories surged outward pulled like roots exposed to light.
---
The Trial of the Soil
He saw flashes of his life battles fought for gods who forgot his name, temples he guarded for masters who called him "useful tool."
He saw the day he was erased from Heaven's registry his very existence deleted to protect secrets of divine wars.
He saw himself kneeling in the Hall of Mirrors, receiving orders to infiltrate a god's domain that dared to grow freely.
And at the core of all those memories a seed of resentment, buried deep.
The soil drank it.
When Lian Zhen opened his eyes again, the flowers had changed color from gold to deep crimson.
The boy sighed softly. Your roots are tangled in pain.
I I have no choice, Lian Zhen muttered. Heaven commands. I obey.
The boy tilted his head again. Even when it costs your peace?
Lian Zhen said nothing.
Then you are not lost, the boy whispered. You are buried.
Before Lian Zhen could respond, the ground beneath him trembled. Roots rose from the soil, coiling around him not to harm, but to hold.
Images bloomed in the air around him: a woman planting rice under golden rain; a child feeding birds; a farmer praying to the sunrise.
All of them bore the same aura — the aura of Tian Yuan.
The voice of the soil spoke again, this time older, deeper — resonating through every leaf and stone.
"Your heart bears no true malice, only chains. So I shall not cast you out… but I will not let you hide."
Light burst from the roots, and Lian Zhen cried out as his celestial disguise shattered.
His wings of mist flared into view; his divine mark burned through the illusion.
Above him, the sky twisted into a mirror — and Tian Yuan's reflection appeared upon it, serene yet infinitely vast.
---
The Farmer God Appears
Tian Yuan stood barefoot upon the lake's surface, his long robes fluttering gently. His eyes were soft — almost human — yet when they met Lian Zhen's, the air itself bent in reverence.
"So Heaven has finally sent a seed," he said quietly. "I was wondering when they would plant one."
Lian Zhen fell to his knees. "I came to see, not to destroy."
"Did they tell you that?" Tian Yuan asked. "Or did you tell yourself that to ease the weight?"
The assassin lowered his head. "They said you were dangerous."
"Then they were right," Tian Yuan said, smiling faintly. "Dangerous to the order that fears change."
He walked closer, each step causing flowers to bloom beneath his feet.
"You've seen my soil," Tian Yuan continued. "Tell me—did it reject you?"
Lian Zhen hesitated. "No. It… showed me."
"Then you already know what Heaven cannot."
Tian Yuan raised his hand, and the air filled with golden motes. The roots that bound Lian Zhen softened, retreating into the earth.
"I do not punish seeds for where they fall," Tian Yuan said. "But I do not allow weeds to spread."
Lian Zhen looked up, trembling. "Then what will you do with me?"
"I will give you a choice," Tian Yuan said. "Leave now, and return to Heaven's hollow gardens. Or stay—and learn what it means to grow."
Lian Zhen stared, stunned. "You would let me live? After I trespassed?"
Tian Yuan smiled gently. "The soil doesn't hate the foot that steps on it. It only remembers the shape."
For a long moment, there was silence — broken only by the sound of the wind in the divine wheat.
Then Lian Zhen bowed deeply. "Let me stay."
---
The First Heavenly Seed
From that day onward, the assassin god of the Celestial Alliance became the first Heaven-born disciple of the Farmer God.
He learned to plant divine seeds that could purify qi, to draw strength from harmony instead of conquest, to wield power that healed instead of destroyed.
But somewhere beyond the skies, Heaven watched.
And in the Hall of Nine Suns, the Seer's brush trembled violently across the divine scrolls.
"My lord," he gasped, "the infiltrator has gone silent—his fate thread is no longer golden."
Elder Ran snarled. "He's been corrupted!"
But the Prime said nothing. He merely looked out toward the distant stars where Tian Yuan's soil shimmered faintly — a living world defying Heaven's gaze.
His lips curved into something between fear and awe.
"No," he whispered. "Not corrupted. Cultivated."
---
In his divine garden, Tian Yuan stood beside the Eternal Willow, gazing into the stars.
The System's voice murmured softly in his ear.
> "You're collecting quite a garden, Master."
He smiled faintly. "Even Heaven has seeds worth saving."
> "But they'll send more."
"I know," he said, his eyes hardening as thunder rolled faintly across distant skies. "And when they do… the soil will test them too."
End of Chapter 72 (The God Who Tests Hearts)