Is This a Health Bar I Have to Lose Health to Move Forward

Chen Yi fell silent for a long moment before finally letting out a deep sigh:

"The Mirror of No Beginning... what a formidable Mirror of No Beginning. This time, I lost. I underestimated you, failed to see your hidden depths. You won beautifully."

"It was my carelessness—I was too focused on the supreme treasure and overlooked that you yourself are also a supreme treasure. That's how you succeeded. I can blame no one but myself."

The artifact spirit, a young boy, felt his scalp tingle and shivered as he stammered, "Brother, uh... don't be like this, you're scaring me..."

"I'll stay far away. You can still go in—it's only two and a half minutes late. It won't make much difference. Obtaining a Chaos Supreme Treasure isn't that easy. There's still a chance. Please, don't be like this. I'm really scared..."

Chen Yi gazed at him calmly. "Keep everyone safe. If even a single hair is missing, I will hold the Divine Realm accountable."

The young boy spirit immediately stood at attention, even saluting. "Don't worry! As long as I don't reveal myself voluntarily, not even a Celestial Emperor could track me down!"

Chen Yi said no more. With a flick of his hand, he tossed the Mirror of No Beginning aside. Then, his five-star avatar split into three four-star avatars. Only after purging the thick aura of the Chaos Supreme Treasure from them did he barely manage to squeeze into the radiant barrier.

As Chen Yi's figure disappeared into the barrier, the Mirror of No Beginning's spirit finally exhaled in relief. Then, its gaze turned sharp as it glared at the Little Golden Dragon.

"Creation... you had quite the fun biting me earlier, didn't you? Come, let's see how much power you still have in your broken state!"

The Little Golden Dragon shook the necklace of 162 Chaos-colored beads hanging from its neck, confirming that the other had no clue about them, then smirked. "Old No Beginning... I think you just don't get it, do you?"

"Brother Yi told you to take care of me, and the moment he leaves, you turn on me?"

The young boy spirit grinned mischievously. "So what? What can you do? Not only will I make sure not a single hair of yours is harmed, I might even give you the time of your life!"

"Come on then! I'm standing right here—dare to touch me!" The Little Golden Dragon was downright brazen.

"I..."

The young boy spirit was about to cast an illusion to teach the Little Golden Dragon a lesson, but before the mirror's power could take effect, it suddenly glimpsed Chen Yi's flickering silhouette superimposed over the dragon!

Wait... that can't be right.

I'm the one casting the illusion, so why am I seeing things?

Didn’t that guy already enter the barrier?

"Come on! Weren’t you going to give me a good time? Why the hesitation? I’m getting impatient here!" The Little Golden Dragon swayed its head, taunting relentlessly.

The young boy spirit fell silent.

This isn’t right. Something’s off.

This idiot’s arrogance must be backed by something!

Better play it safe. If that guy catches me misbehaving again, the price to pay might be unbearable...

With that in mind, it immediately softened its tone. "Look at you, always so impatient. I was just joking! Actually, I was planning to help restore your true form..."

The Little Golden Dragon licked its lips. "Then hurry up. I won’t hold back!"

"..."

Beyond the radiant barrier lay a vast world.

There were mountains and lakes, forests and oceans, suns and moons and stars.

As Chen Yi’s three four-star avatars entered, they immediately felt an overwhelming pressure pushing against them, making every step a struggle.

Above his head, a translucent red bar appeared, segmented with markings, exuding a peculiar sense of weight.

"Is this a health bar? I’m at full health, no doubt." Chen Yi examined the bar curiously, confirming it had no adverse effect on him before surveying the scene ahead.

In the distance, the half-Cosmos-level demonic fiend that had barged in first was slowly advancing while dissolving its own body, its health bar steadily decreasing.

"Does this place require sacrificing health to move forward? Only by losing HP can you weaken the repulsion? What if I refuse to lose any?"

Muttering to himself, Chen Yi tested by pushing forward forcefully. The repulsion intensified, shoving him backward relentlessly. Even his four-star avatars couldn’t withstand it, sliding uncontrollably until they reached the barrier’s edge, where the force finally faded.

"Ha! Interesting!"

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow. Watching the half-Cosmos-level fiend steadily advance while dissolving itself, an idea struck him.

Without hesitation, his four-star avatars split into three-star ones.

The difference between four-star and three-star avatars was astronomical—so was their health pool.

The moment the split occurred, the bar above his head shrank drastically, as if his max HP had dropped from 100 million to 10 million.

If health really was the currency for movement, then such a massive drop should grant him progress, right?

Chen Yi stored the extra avatars to avoid interfering with the world’s rules, then tested pushing forward again.

Sure enough!

The repulsion weakened significantly, now less than a quarter of what it had been for the four-star avatars.

"Wait, this doesn’t add up. It’s not health-based progress!"

After taking two steps, Chen Yi spotted a flaw in the logic.

If health truly determined movement, splitting into weaker avatars should have made advancement effortless. Yet, it was still a struggle—just less so than before.

In truth, the repulsion remained constant. Four-star avatars faced four-star resistance; three-star avatars faced three-star resistance. The latter just had it slightly easier.

"I was misled. This bar isn’t health—it’s an energy level gauge! That half-Cosmos fiend isn’t harming itself to lose HP but to lower its energy tier!"

Chen Yi formed another bold hypothesis and tested it immediately.

His three-star avatars split into two-star ones. The bar shrank again, and the repulsion weakened further, now allowing relatively smooth movement.

"Confirmed. This is an energy tier bar. Why make it look like a health bar? So misleading!"

Chen Yi’s lips twitched. The rule here was clear: the higher an entity’s energy tier, the stronger the repulsion. Conversely, the lower the tier, the easier it was to move.

This had nothing to do with cultivation realm—it purely targeted raw energy density.

The first fiend had been melting its own essence to reduce its energy tier, hence its progress.

Now that he understood, what was there to hesitate about?

No need for self-harm—just split into one-star avatars!

One-star avatars were the most basic, barely at the True Immortal initial stage.

It wasn’t that Chen Yi didn’t want to level up—it was simply that he couldn’t afford to. After all, he had a few too many clones, and the amount of primordial essence required to upgrade his base stats was astronomical. The cost-effectiveness was far worse than just training a few more one-star clones and then fusing them into higher-energy-tier clones!

Soon enough,

After disassembling into one-star clones, the repulsive force became as negligible as air resistance—barely noticeable unless he focused intently.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Yi quickened his pace and caught up to the half-cosmic-tier demonic abomination that had taken a few steps ahead. With a friendly wave, he called out,

“Fellow Daoist, please wait!”