On the second floor, Kael sat cross-legged on his room floor with his eyes half-closed.Yesterday, two fragments had merged inside his body, and he was still adapting. Primordial Realm fifth level was a power he knew from his previous life, but this new body needed time to make peace with a spiritual sea that had suddenly overflowed far beyond any boundary it had ever known before.He regulated his breathing, drawing energy into his main dantian, spreading it slowly through every meridian.Then something stopped him.A deeply familiar spiritual energy slipped into his senses, rising from the floor below like a scent that couldn't be named but was immediately recognized by the deepest part of his memory.Kael opened his eyes.He stood and went straight downstairs.In the middle of the shop, talking with Bai Junlin, stood a woman in a wide-brimmed bamboo hat. Two men were positioned half a step behind her.The woman turned.And Kael recognized her instantly.Lou Bingxin.His beloved. Th

After ten hours of non-stop flying, Lou Bingxin finally ordered the Demon Eagle to descend, and the creature landed on a sizable floating island nestled between a sea of clouds. No buildings, no residents, just dense trees and ground with no trace of anyone having passed through."We rest here," said Lou Bingxin.She turned to her two companions. One was ordered to gather firewood and get a campfire going. The other was sent to hunt for dinner. Both nodded and moved without a word, the way people do when it's already become routine.Lou Bingxin then walked to a large tree at the edge of the clearing, sat down comfortably, and removed her bamboo hat.Her hair was long and black, falling along her shoulders and back like flowing ink. Her face, which had been partly hidden until now, was fully visible in the afternoon light turning golden around them. Her bone structure was perfect in a way that felt designed rather than born. Her lips were slightly full, her eyes long with dark, deep ir

The thick smell of medicine greeted them the moment they stepped in, a blend of herbs that had been burned and boiled for days but had clearly produced nothing meaningful.On the large bed in the center of the room lay an old man.Wu Shengming.Kael looked at him from the doorway.The face he had once known so well, the face that had always looked sharp and calculating, had become something far older than its years. His skin had yellowed in a way no medicine or technique could hide. His eyes were sunken, dark circles pooling around them. His stomach swelled unnaturally beneath the thin blanket, fluid accumulating from organs that were no longer working properly. Across the exposed patches of skin, yellowish patches spread like a map drawn by the disease itself.Liver cancer.Kael recognized it in three seconds.Lou Bingxin stood beside him, her voice dropping. "He's been like this for nearly thirty years. No physician has been able to explain what the illness is. His spiritual energy

Nobody in the crowd made a sound.They hadn't seen Kael move. Even the Transcendent Realm cultivators among them hadn't caught a single shift in the air before the slap landed. All they saw was Wei Jinlong standing, and then Wei Jinlong already flying sideways.Wei Jinlong got back up with one hand pressed against his swollen left cheek, eyes fixed on Kael with an expression that hadn't yet found the right word to describe itself.What had just happened?"Get up," said Kael in an easy tone. "You can't possibly be giving up after taking one light slap, can you?"Light?!This guy..."I was caught off guard!" Wei Jinlong dropped his hand from his cheek and straightened his back. His eyes were burning again, this time with an anger far more serious than before. "I'll be more serious this time.""Good."Wei Jinlong drew a deep breath, and something changed in the air around him.Black energy began flowing out of his body, dense and heavy, wrapping around both fists like gloves made from da

"What are you planning to do with that leftover food?" asked Kael the moment he reached them.Both of them stopped immediately. They recognized the white robe in front of them, then recognized the face.One of them answered quickly, their manner changing on the spot. "I-it's for a prisoner, Divine Physician."Kael furrowed his brow. "A prisoner? Interesting. I'd like to see them. May I come along?"The two servants exchanged a brief glance. There was no reason they could give to turn down the Divine Physician that even Lou Bingxin herself treated with respect."Of course, Divine Physician."---The door to the underground chamber was tucked in the farthest corner of the eastern wing, hidden behind an unremarkable stone wall. Kael didn't recognize the location. Not because he had forgotten it, but because this place hadn't existed when he was still Grand Leader.Wu Shengming had built it.Built specifically for someone.One of the servants pulled a large key from inside his robe, slid