Two days later, Kai’s eyes flashed open.The cold around him cracked.For a moment, the black glacier domain trembled as if something beneath it had awakened. Frost clung to Kai’s hair, his shoulders, and his robes, and a thin layer of dark ice had formed over half his body, but when his eyelids lifted, silver light flashed through his pupils before disappearing just as quickly. The frozen pressure that had been crushing his blood and marrow for two straight days loosened slightly, not because the training ground had become weaker, but because his body had learned how to push back against it better than before.Kai inhaled slowly.His silver blood moved like a cold river beneath his skin, stronger and smoother than it had been when he first sat down. Every heartbeat felt heavier, deeper, and more controlled. The cold that had tried to slow him now moved through his body like a sharpening stone. It still hurt, of course. It hurt terribly. But useful pain always had a different taste.

Ten years later.The loud sound of a beast falling echoed throughout the whole forest.It was not a simple sound. It was the kind of fall that made the earth tremble, the kind that sent birds scattering from ancient trees and forced weaker creatures hidden in burrows to curl tighter in fear. The massive beast crashed through three towering trunks before its body finally slammed into the ground, carving a long trench through mud, stone, and roots. Dust rose. Leaves rained down. The thick spiritual mist hanging over the forest shook violently from the impact, and for a few breaths, everything went still.Kai stood several meters away from the fallen beast, breathing heavily.His clothes were torn in too many places to count, blood streaked the side of his face, and one of his arms hung slightly lower than the other, clearly dislocated or half-broken, but he remained standing. His silver blood pulsed beneath his skin, rapidly closing the deep wounds across his chest and shoulder. Every b

Then they woke up again, sat in silence and Kai stared ahead, Abigail did the same too and after a long moment, Kai said, “I don’t like valleys.”Abigail replied, “Noted.”They cultivated again.This time, Kai added lightning pressure and crushing weight into his training ground. Abigail added collapsing terrain and unstable footing into hers. They trained until their bodies and instincts could at least respond better to sudden environmental death, then they left again.The next death came from something even more ridiculous.They avoided valleys and the beast forest.They chose a calm river path instead, moving carefully along the bank while watching for beasts, formations, guards, and natural disasters. The river looked harmless, flowing quietly with clear water and faint spiritual mist. Kai even crouched once to examine it.“Looks safe,” Abigail said.Kai frowned. “That’s suspicious.”“You say everything is suspicious.”“And I keep being right.”A moment later, the river opened it

Zora smirked immediately she saw them properly.It wasn’t the soft kind of smirk either. It was the kind that made Kai’s instincts tighten, because after thousands of years inside her terrifying time domain, he had learned one simple truth with absolute certainty. Whenever Zora looked pleased, someone else was about to suffer. Usually him. Sometimes Abigail too. Occasionally it was HIMShe looked them over slowly, from Kai’s quiet silver-blood pressure to Abigail’s almost invisible sword intent, and for a moment, the air between them carried a strange silence. Kai and Abigail had changed so much that anyone else from their earlier days might not have recognized them at first glance. Their faces were still the same, their bodies still young, but their eyes were not. Their eyes carried years, too many years. Deaths stacked upon deaths. Battles that lasted decades. Cities crushed, beasts fought, formations broken, realms crossed inside an artificial world that refused to let them rest. T

Seeing them properly, the thunder bird immediately became excited.Its massive head lowered and nudged Kai first, nearly knocking him off balance despite how powerful he had become. The giant beast let out a deep cry that echoed across the mountains, and for the first time in a while, Kai found himself smiling without any hidden calculation behind it.The bird genuinely seemed happy.After all, while only two years had passed in the outside world, Kai and Abigail had lived through more than a thousand years inside Zora's training realm. To them, the last time they had seen the thunder bird felt unimaginably distant.The bird rubbed its head against Kai again and Kai laughed."Alright, alright. You're acting like I abandoned you."The thunder bird chirped.One of the younger birds shrunk in size and immediately jumped onto Kai's shoulder.Another landed on Abigail's head.The third boldly climbed onto Kai's arm and started pecking at his sleeve.Kai stared at the little criminal.The l