Chapter 138: Drink It (First 3,000-word chapter)

June 8, 2010, 8:00 PM, a bright moon hung in the sky.

The entire world would remember this date—the day the Kingdom of Heaven was officially declared established.

"The one billion, three hundred and eighty-seven million, six hundred and ninety-seven thousand, two hundred and eleven citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and all peeping toms, I am speaking directly to you." Aboard an airplane, Liu Tian said calmly. Specially crafted equipment converted the surrounding scenery and his words into electromagnetic waves transmitted to satellites, which instantly relayed the signal to ten million video players across the land of the Kingdom of Heaven. "Many of you are probably seeing me for the first time and find me a bit unfamiliar, but it doesn't matter. Very soon, you will carve my appearance deep into your hearts."

"I loathe tedious formalities, so I will only state five points. First, starting today, the Kingdom of Heaven is officially established. All unconverted regions are automatically considered citizens of the Kingdom, and you must unconditionally execute the commands and demands of the Kingdom. Betrayers will be executed without mercy; depending on the circumstances, you may be granted a swift death or a painful one."

As he spoke, Liu Tian snapped his fingers, and two men—whether fortunate or not—were brought forward. Appearing in such a setting meant that, whether they wished it or not, their names would be forever recorded in history.

"A swift death is very simple." Liu Tian rested his head on one hand, pointing his other finger at the man on the left. With a gentle flick, a specially condensed ripple of physical force shot forth, directly causing the man to explode into pieces. "Just like that—*pop*, and he's gone."

"As for a painful death, that depends entirely on my creativity at the moment." Liu Tian smiled. "I happen to have a brilliant idea right now. Up until now, humanity has categorized pain into 12 levels, ranging from Level 1 to Level 12, from a mosquito bite to the most agonizing phase of childbirth for a woman."

"And today, I shall personally define Level 13." Liu Tian waved his hand, and an invisible force hoisted the other, "luckier" man into the air, placing him right before him. "It is a well-known fact that all perception of pain stems from the stimulation of pain receptors. These pain receptors exist within everyone as a neural network spreading throughout the body. Yet to this day, even the most intense Level 12 pain has never simultaneously stimulated every single pain receptor in a person's body."

"I am quite curious, what would it look like if all of a person's pain receptors were stimulated at once?"

"Oh, right, we certainly cannot seal your mouth at a time like this. Come, speak. You are Mr. Daolong, correct?" The invisible force released its restraint on Daolong, allowing him to speak. However, this was by no means an act of mercy, but rather a way to let him experience the impending agony even more profoundly. "Come, be congratulated on going down in history as the definer and initial tester of Level 13 pain. That is a rare honor indeed."

Before Daolong could utter a word, a powerful magnetic field permeated every fiber of his body, bypassing electrical signals to directly stimulate all the pain receptors in his physique.

"Aaaaaah—!!"

The intense agony instantly overwhelmed Daolong's consciousness. Whatever he had originally intended to say was reduced to a succession of piercing screams.

His facial expression completely distorted, cold sweat poured continuously from every gland in his body. In an instant, he was utterly submerged in an ocean of liquid as if drenched by a torrential rainstorm. His wretched shrieks sounded like a hundred pigs being slaughtered simultaneously, and that excruciating torment was formidable enough to blast directly into the minds of everyone who saw the image and heard the sound.

An involuntary cold sweat broke out across the skin of every viewer. Their empathetic nature as fellow human beings made them instinctively want to look away and cover their ears, but the cold glares of the Kingdom's members at every viewing station told them one thing—keep dreaming!

Under normal circumstances, when faced with agony surpassing the limits of human endurance, the brain would automatically protect the individual by causing them to faint, or even directly trigger death from shock—commonly known as dying from pain.

Yet in front of Liu Tian, dying was not nearly that easy. Stimulated by the formidable magnetic field, no matter how excruciating the agony, Daolong's consciousness was forcefully maintained. He remained exceptionally alert, and his sensory perception was magnified tenfold or a hundredfold, ensuring he felt the pain to its absolute fullest!

A massive amount of energy was transmitted into Daolong's body through the magnetic field to sustain his vital functions—a power that Liu Tian termed the Magnetic Heavenly Lock.

This was a rather magnificent ability, possessing the dual functions of sealing an opponent's power with one's own while simultaneously transmitting one's energy to sustain the opponent's life. It made the enjoyment of torture all the more exquisite!

"Aaaaaah—!!"

The violent torment even shocked Daolong into a strange state of 'lucidity' despite previously being capable of nothing more than screaming. Liu Tian relaxed his hand, and Daolong naturally plummeted to the ground. Then, with the strongest force and most sincere posture of his life, he began kneeling and kowtowing frantically, seemingly begging for mercy while simultaneously trying to crack his own skull open to end it all. Unfortunately, under the ceaseless influx of magnetic energy, his body healed even faster than he could damage it. "Leader, I was wrong! Leader, I was wrong! I shouldn't have let the people from Cassel College enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Please, Leader, kill me! Just kill me—!!"

"Tch, giving up the will to survive so quickly. Oh well, leaving psychological trauma on the little kids wouldn't be good either." Liu Tian suddenly lost interest and swatted him flying into the corner of the aircraft. "Let's just punish you with pain for one day. After a day of agony, I'll let you die."

Following Liu Tian's words, the camera followed the dragged-off Daolong for a few seconds, allowing everyone to witness the man's expression of agonizing torment mixed with a profound sense of relief.

"Very well, the punishment is temporarily concluded." Liu Tian clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "The second point: I am going to tell you the reason why I am capable of doing all this—and of course, it is not due to such boring reasons as supreme morality, the greatest path, or noble bloodlines."

"You may all look up at the moon in the sky. Are you feeling puzzled by the character 'Heaven' that has appeared there? That is something I created two days ago!" Liu Tian declared. "Merely to warn some clueless fools, so they might understand my power and realize how utterly foolish it is to attempt rebellion with their microscopic strength."

"Of course, I know that some people will always remain skeptical until they see and verify things with their own eyes. Therefore, I shall display a portion of the power I possess, out of sheer mercy once again."

The cargo hold at the bottom of the aircraft suddenly opened. Liu Tian and Chu Zihang, who was holding the camera, slowly floated downward. A continuous mountain range came into view, and right in the midst of it stood the most prominent peak—the highest mountain in the world, piercing the firmament like a sharp sword.

"Zihang, do you know where this is?" Liu Tian asked with a smile.

"The highest peak in the world, with an altitude of 8,848 meters," Chu Zihang replied expressionlessly, delivering a deadpan joke. "The height of this mountain belongs to basic geographical knowledge; it's a test point for the national college entrance examination."

"It won't be anymore, very soon." Liu Tian responded similarly, slowly raising his hand and clenching it into a fist. "I have always had a question. Some say that if one were to blast it open and channel a 2,000-kilometer warm water vapor current, it could create two southern paradises. I want to know if that is actually feasible."

"Theoretically feasible, but the cost-performance ratio is low, and it's difficult to determine whether the warm current would merge into the plateau or flow south into the southern riverlands," Chu Zihang stated.

"I think it's worth a try."

Amidst lighthearted laughter, Liu Tian threw a punch. The hyper-accelerated punch speed meant that even the specially modified ultra-high-speed camera could only capture frame after frame of cross-sections, as if this single punch consisted of merely two frames: the moment of execution and the moment of arrival.

The ferocious speed stirred up a hurricane, and the formidable force compressed the thin air, solidifying it like a cannonball hurtling toward the mountain peak. Under this pressure, even the fluttering snowflakes were forced backward into countless razor-sharp blades, carving innumerable scars onto the mountain pillar.

The two of them stood after just a single punch—an opening punch!

"Watch closely!" Liu Tian said softly. "This is what is called—strength!"

Magnetic Field Rotation - 250,000 Horsepower - Heavenly Martial Art - Infinite Dao!

In an instant, Liu Tian's fists transformed into countless afterimages. Captured by the high-speed camera, it appeared as though innumerable fists were striking simultaneously. The mighty punch force battered the air, compelling the thin atmosphere to submit and become an accomplice to this devastation. The dark clouds of heaven and earth were swept up by the force and smashed down together upon the mountain range before them.

A deafening explosion resounded like an atomic bomb detonation—no, a force even more formidable than an atomic bomb struck the mountain peak from thousands of meters away. In an instant, the highest summit was sheared off by a section, then another section, and yet another!

Liu Tian and Chu Zihang descended from the high altitude at terminal velocity. And as they fell, the entire mountain range—nay, even the mountains surrounding the peak—gradually vanished from sight. By the time the two of them landed, the snow-covered mountain range that had stretched for dozens of kilometers had completely ceased to exist.

The warm winds from the ocean met no further obstruction and blew straight through. The apocalyptic martial might of a magnetic powerhouse—nay, a might surpassing natural disasters—was thoroughly and utterly displayed to everyone in the world for the very first time.

Countless people held their breath instinctively as they watched this moment, witnessing the instant a living god descended upon the world!

"And then comes the third point: what I will bring to all of you." Without flushing and without catching his breath, as if he had merely accomplished a trivial chore, Liu Tian smiled at the camera. "Fairness. At least, relative fairness. And now, I shall bring you the first step toward that fairness."

Having received their orders, members of the Kingdom across the nation slowly opened the cases behind them. Inside lay doses of serum, portioned out precisely one per person. A sliver of golden liquid drifted at the center of the culture medium—the absolute minimum standard derived from millions of human experiments.

The minimum standard required for the Blood of the Heavenly Kingdom's Gods to take effect!

Once ingested, within a day at the fastest or a week at the slowest, the Blood of the Heavenly God would seep into the human body, fusing with the original genes. While enhancing physical fitness, it would grant extended longevity, cure common ailments such as myopia and hyperopia, and even awaken cognitive faculties in mentally disabled patients. Furthermore, superior physical fitness would endow humanity with enhanced memory and accelerated learning speeds superior to anything in the past, synchronously elevating an individual's intellectual level.

This was an evolution—an evolution known as Genetic Ascension. Following this evolution, the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven would at least be elevated to a starting baseline capable of striving further.

"Now, drink it. This is your destiny!" Liu Tian said with a smile.