Viktor inhaled deeply and calmed himself. He continued to circulate his cultivation technique. His body constantly absorbed some faint Spirit Energy, but the golden-red light continued to absorb it. Viktor could already feel the golden-red light at this point was about to unravel itself. Early the next morning, Viktor's whole body shook abruptly. To his astonishment, the golden-red light in his heart shot out and directly transformed into a golden-red sphere before him. "What's going on? What's this?" Viktor's eyes widened as the golden-red sphere floated before him, glowing softly. It was about the size of his fist, spinning slowly in the air. Strange golden and red patterns appeared on its surface, flowing like rivers of fire and lightning. His heart started beating wildly. This light had been inside him since birth, stealing away every bit of Spirit Energy he tried to cultivate. Just thinking about the existence of this unknown thing inside him caused him to shiver. The sphere vibrated gently, releasing waves of warmth that spread through his entire body. Instead of stealing his Spirit Energy, it now seemed to return something to him. Viktor felt a strange, majestic force entering his meridians, repairing and strengthening them. His weak body trembled, but not from pain. For the first time in his life, he felt Spirit Energy circulating inside him properly. It was smooth, natural, incredibly strong, and very fast. The speed of spirit energy circulation inside him currently was at least a million times faster than before. Viktor's whole body trembled as a strong stream of energy entered his body, flowing smoothly into his meridians. His cultivation started rising very fast, like a storm. From no cultivation to Body Refinement Stage to Foundation Establishment Stage and then Enlightenment Stage—everything happened in mere seconds. His body glowed golden-red, his skin burned with fiery light, and his aura shook the room violently. In the blink of an eye, Viktor had already reached Crystal Transformation Stage and then straight into Void Martial Stage. His power surged higher and higher until, shockingly, he surpassed even the strongest in the entire Dragunov Family. He became an Extreme Void Stage warrior. Yet his cultivation did not slow down. Spirit Energy continued to pour inside him by the golden-red sphere and his cultivation continued to rise rapidly. Since the golden-red sphere was pouring spirit energy inside him, then it must be absorbing it from outside. Victor didn't notice, but outside his room, terrible things were happening. The golden-red sphere was actually devouring everything around him. The walls of his room shook as invisible force spread out. His protector, the old man Kenji, sensed danger and rushed forward. But before he could even open Viktor's door, his entire body turned into golden-red dust and was sucked into the sphere. His father, Diago, who just had food with him, also vanished without even a scream. The entire Dragunov Family compound shook violently. Servants, elders, guards, powerful warriors, and even the Family Head—all were reduced to golden-red dust and devoured by the sphere. Not only the people, but even the houses, weapons, treasures, and trees were swallowed whole by the invisible wave, leaving not a single trace behind. In the blink of an eye, the entire Dragunov Family disappeared from the surface of the world. But the sphere was still hungry. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⚫𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵 Its devouring force spread outward like a storm. The neighboring streets of the city vanished. People screamed for only a fraction of a second before being pulled into nothingness. Houses, carriages, markets, animals, and even the stone-paved roads all crumbled into golden-red particles and were swallowed. In less than a minute, the entire city had disappeared. The devouring force then swept across the land. Forests withered into dust, rivers dried into sparks of light, and mountains collapsed into streams of golden-red energy. At last, even the vast country itself was gone, erased without leaving a single trace. Everything was swallowed by the golden-red sphere. All the while, Viktor sat on his bed, eyes closed, carefully observing his rapidly rising cultivation in excitement. He felt all his previous sufferings were worthwhile. He even started imagining how good it would feel to teach all those people, who bullied him, a lesson. Unfortunately, he didn't know he would never get that chance. Victor felt no tremors, no screams, and no destruction. Currently, his entire world was only cultivation. He observed the changes happening inside his own body as he crossed from Divine King to Divine Emperor without any pause. Most importantly, the laws of worlds didn't seem to be working for him. Along the way, he didn't have to go through any lightning tribulation at all. Hours passed as his cultivation continued to rise. In the matter of a few hours, his aura rose again, and suddenly he became a Spirit Martial God without needing to go through Three Tribulations of Life Destruction. But the rapid rise in his cultivation didn't stop there. In just twenty or thirty minutes, he soon advanced again and become an Origin Martial God. It was at this moment that the golden-red sphere finally calmed down. It stopped devouring and slowly shrank. Then, like mist returning to the ocean, it transformed into a golden-red light and entered Viktor's body again. This time, it settled inside his dantian, floating silently like a sun made of fire and lightning. When Viktor opened his eyes, he smiled faintly. He first observed carefully himself before standing up and taking a deep breath. Then he walked to the door and pushed it open. But the next thing he saw caused his heart to stop momentarily. There was nothing outside his room, nothing at all. There were no houses, no trees, no people, no beasts, not even corpses. The entire Dragunov Family including his father, Kenji, and others was gone. In fact, he could see far far away just from standing in front of his room's entrance. He realized that it was not just the Dragunov Family, even the entire city had disappeared at some point in time. The land in front of him stretched out endlessly like a barren desert. He rushed outside in panic, but the silence was unbearable. Other than the endless empty land under his feet, there was nothing at all, not a single leaf or any sign of life. "What… what happened?" Viktor muttered in panic and extreme shock. And then, a memory flashed inside his mind like a flood. This memory was provided to him by the Golden-red Sphere. At that moment, he clearly saw the golden-red sphere leaving his heart, devouring everything, swallowing his family, his city, and even his country, until nothing remained. The rapid rise in his cultivation was contributed by the sacrifices of entire country. Viktor's eyes widened in terror when he absorbed this memory. His lips trembled as he fell to his knees. "That sphere… it was me… it was because of me all along that everything… everything..." Victor found it very hard to even speak. His voice cracked, and he clutched his chest in pain. This pain was not physical but emotional. For the first time, he truly felt fear. Moreover, this fear was not ordinary, it was a great terror. He was terrorized by the golden-red sphere and even started fearing himself. The sudden disappearance of an entire country shook the world. Countless powerful cultivators felt the disturbance and rushed over. The sky soon filled with streaks of light as experts from every direction descended. Some of them were mighty beings at True Divinity Stage. Others were going through the Three Stages of Saint Tribulation, and even some of the Saint Foundation and Saint Manifestation Stage experts appeared. They arrived at the barren land where once a country had stood. What they saw shocked them greatly. They immediately started investigating but found nothing other than a single person. That person was Victor. He was sitting on the ground blankly. His body was trembling. His eyes were wide but empty. He looked like a man who had lost everything. His aura was strong, but his heart was broken. He didn't speak, didn't move, didn't even react when they surrounded him. The experts questioned him one after another. "Young man, do you know what happened here?" "Did you see the one who caused this?" "Can you explain what exactly happened here?" But Viktor gave no answer. His lips moved faintly, but no words came out. His empty eyes only stared blankly at the horizon, without any life inside them. Seeing that they could not get anything from him, the experts grew irritated. However, they soon reasoned that this young man must have witnessed the shocking disappearance of the entire country. It was likely this very event that left him in such a broken and dazed condition. So, they didn't immediately take out their anger on him. It was at this moment, a very powerful person descended from the sky. He looked at Viktor for a while, then spoke quietly with the other experts. After some time, the others nodded and left. That powerful person then lifted Viktor gently and took him away. Years passed. Viktor stayed with that powerful person, but he lived like a walking corpse. He never spoke a single world. He didn't even train. He spent his entire time in silence. His heart carried a wound too deep to heal. But one day, something about him changed. A fierce light returned to Viktor's empty eyes. He seemed to have thought of a way to atone for "his" sin.