The atmosphere shifted the moment they entered the private chamber where Atlas Blackwood waited, seated calmly on a wide leather chair with one arm resting on the edge of the antique desk before him. His sharp eyes scanned each of them slowly, and then stopped on Kai and Abigail.“You two alright?” Atlas asked, voice even but with a slight edge of concern.Abigail folded her arms, gave Kai a side glance, and then replied sweetly, “I’m fine. Can’t say the same for someone though.”Kai let out a small dry chuckle, scratching the back of his neck, “I’m also fine, Grandpa.”His voice was calm, but there was a bitter tinge to it that made Atlas narrow his eyes slightly but he didn’t push though.Ella stepped forward and greeted politely, her voice soft, eyes respectful, “Morning Grandpa.”Atlas gave her a light nod and smiled at her, but his attention was already drifting toward Zora, who at the moment wasn’t paying anyone the slightest attention. She was walking around the room like it w

Zora suddenly burst into laughter, a rich, mocking sound that echoed through the room. The expressions on their faces were just too priceless, eyes wide, mouths slightly ajar, like children caught with their hands in something forbidden. She folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head, amusement still dancing in her eyes as she shook her head slowly.“Really?” she said with a chuckle. “You all thought cultivation was just some ancient discipline created here? That the gods I talked about were all from Earth?”They didn’t answer immediately, but their silence was louder than any confession. Heads slowly nodded one by one, their assumptions crumbling piece by piece. Well, everyone except Atlas. He stayed still, unreadable, his expression only shifting the slightest bit. If anyone had secrets buried deep behind those weathered eyes, it was him. He didn’t look shocked, but neither did he look confident. There were gaps in what he knew, and he was just now realizing how wide those

The air shifted again and even though no one had moved, it felt like something heavier than mere words had been dropped into the room.Abigail blinked slowly. “Wait… the Eye of Reincarnation and the Divine Staff?” Her voice came out quiet but laced with disbelief. “Why would such powerful cultivators, people from higher realms, care so much about something hidden here?”Atlas leaned forward, his hand slightly shaking as he touched the edge of the map with a kind of sacred reverence. “What even is the Divine Staff…?”Zora, still standing with arms folded, gave a low chuckle. “You really think something like this… something that even I had to decipher for months, something hidden across layers of dimensional barriers and encrypted in divine script… would be ordinary?”She glanced at each of them slowly, one brow raised. “That map was scattered across realms. torn apart by time and war and sealed by a god. A superior god.”Her words slammed into the room but Zora didn’t pause. “Even I di

After nearly five hours in the air, their private jet finally began its descent into another state within Calonia. The land beneath them stretched wild and vast, with mountain ridges hugging the horizon and a dense mist swallowing the base of the hills like the place was hiding secrets too old to name.The moment they landed, everything moved like clockwork. Atlas, in his usual overprepared fashion, had already arranged for a house. Not a rental or a hotel but a whole damn house.So they moved in, ate in silence like soldiers prepping for war, and then Zora stood from her meal like she was about to declare martial law.“You both should go to sleep,” she said, licking her fingers like a savage. “Might be the last peaceful sleep you’ll ever get in your entire miserable lives.”Kai blinked, fork halfway to his mouth. “Wow. Thank you, Satan.”Zora raised a brow. “You’re welcome, Crippled Cockroach.”Abigail choked on her water and burst out laughing, nearly falling off the couch.Kai lea

Seconds turned into minutes.Minutes dragged into hours and somewhere between pain, sweat, and mild hallucinations, three full hours slipped by. Zora didn’t say a word the entire time, she just sat in a lotus position across from them, sipping tea like some immortal monk-turned-drill sergeant, watching the two of them boil like dumplings in spiritual soup. Kai had stopped screaming somewhere around the forty-minute mark. Not because the pain had dulled, hell no, it was because his body had entered this strange meditative state where pain became fuel. He’d followed Zora’s instructions to the letter, guiding the energy into his muscles, his skin, his veins, even his bones. It was brutal and insane, but somehow, he could feel something new being born deep inside. As for Abigail, she looked peaceful… on the outside. Inside her tub, however, the water had turned into something else entirely. Unlike Kai’s bath which was now crystal clear, save for the mushy leftovers of broken herbs