Five days later, Kai was still inside the larava, completely submerged in that boiling inferno like a man who had forgotten the meaning of self-preservation. His third eye remained open the entire time, and the lava continued pouring into it in that same bizarre parent-scolding-child manner, washing it with fiery precision.At some point, Kai had simply given up paying attention to the torture, the cleansing was automatic now, like the lava had placed his third eye on spiritual autopilot. As long as the lava wanted to clean, it would keep cleaning, and Kai’s only job was to allow himself to be roasted, boiled, polished, purified, and reshaped like a stubborn piece of metal in a divine forge.Surprisingly, he had gotten used to the pain. The unbearable heat that would’ve melted mountains now embraced him like warm water, and his skin was no longer blistering. His bones, however, that was where the true miracle was happening. Each bone glowed faintly under his skin, radiant like polishe

Kai stared at the three men, deadpan expression, dead soul, dead patience. He had just crawled out of a literal pool of molten death, his bones polished, his skin reborn, his strength skyrocketed and the first thing he met was this trio of idiots with inflated confidence and a woman who brought chaos like it was perfume.He sighed, long and deep, the kind of sigh that said “I regret every decision that led me to this moment.”Then he lifted a hand and pointed lazily at the woman hiding behind him.“I don’t know her,” he said flatly, voice cold enough to frost the lava pit behind him. “Never seen her. Don’t want to see her. You can take her, carry her, bury her, sacrifice her to your ancestors, I honestly don’t care. She’s not with me, she’s not behind me, she’s not around me. As far as I’m concerned, she’s air.”The woman choked.“W-What?! Kai?!” she squeaked, eyes wide, looking like someone had slapped her soul out of her body. “Why are you talking like that?! After everything?!”Kai

Kai flicked the blood off his Helrberd with a casual motion and slid the weapon back into his body. When he turned his head, the woman who caused all this nonsense in the first place instantly dropped her eyes like a guilty child pretending she wasn’t caught stealing meat from the pot.Kai stared for two seconds and she swallowed hard.He exhaled sharply, muttering a curse under his breath as he turned around and started walking away without a word.The woman’s head shot up.“W...wait! Wait for me!”Kai pretended he had suddenly gone deaf, he didn’t slow down, didn’t even tilt his head instead he walked faster.Realizing she was being ignored, the woman stomped the ground once then sprinted after him.“H...HEY! Why are you walking so fast?! Slow down!”Kai did not slow down.She finally caught up, panting, glaring, mumbling something like “heartless block of muscles,” and Kai only rolled his eyes and kept going. Her tiny footsteps shuffled behind him like an annoying echo that refused

Abigail’s mind was already spinning, but the moment Xander said there was something he had prepared, her thoughts scattered like startled birds. She blinked up at him, staring into those impossibly ancient eyes, waiting, half excited, half terrified for whatever revelation would follow.But Xander didn’t speak immediately or give whatever he wanted.Instead, he looked at her the way one might look at a child who had been living in a tiny house her whole life while unknowingly holding the key to a kingdom. His expression softened, a mixture of amusement, fondness, and a quiet regret that felt too heavy for her to understand.“There is…” he began, voice smooth “far more you do not know, little descendant.”Abigail swallowed, already bracing herself.Xander continued, taking a slow, measured step toward her, the air around him rippling ever so slightly with power that felt too refined to belong to any ordinary realm.“You walk with questions in your heart,” he said. “Questions about why

The moment Abigail was thrown out of the shattered statue, landing on all four with her head bowed and her breath shaking the air, Jian and the girls gasped and rushed toward her.“Abigail!”“Abby, are you oka...”They didn’t even get halfway before every single one of them froze as if an invisible wall slammed into their chests because Abigail lifted her head and her eyes… were no longer her eyes.They burned bright crimson, glowing like something ancient and furious had crawled out of her soul. The air around her rippled with heat and destructive intent. Her hair drifted as if blown by a wind only she could feel, and the ground beneath her feet cracked like it couldn’t withstand the aura leaking from her skin.The girls stopped breathing, Jian’s pupils shrank, other disciples' eyes widened as they stepped back and even the sky above them dimmed slightly.“She’s… not herself,” Jian whispered, voice trembling. His stutter was gone... burned away by instinctive terror.Before the girls