Alistair looked down at the hand clamping onto his dark blue suit jacket.The fabric didn't even wrinkle under Patrick's pathetic grip.The raw absurdity of a fool threatening a celestial Grandmaster was almost amusing."I allowed you to move," Alistair said, his voice dropping into a quiet, chilling register.The ambient temperature around the hospital entrance seemed to plummet by several degrees. "You chose to waste it on vulgarity and delusions.""Oh, look at him trying to act tough!" one of Patrick's wealthy friends mocked, stepping forward while jingling the keys to a multimillion-dollar sports car. "Hey Patrick, why don't we show this broke loser how real men handle things in Haven? Let's break his legs and throw him in the gutter where he belongs.""Yeah, let's see if Isabella Heart still wants him when he's crawling on all fours!" another chimed in, cracking his knuckles.Patrick sneered, emboldened by his sycophants. "You heard them, Alistair. Hand over Isabella's private nu

Alistair, unaware that Sara had been kidnapped, made his way to Metal Gear, one of the largest car retail companies in Haven, to get a new car, considering the last one he was driving was destroyed by Bullseye. The Metal Gear establishment stood as a shimmering monument to glass and chrome, a place where the air-conditioned atmosphere smelled of Italian leather and arrogance.Alistair stepped onto the polished floor, his presence immediately causing a ripple of unease among the sales staff.Even without unleashing his aura, his mere presence was imposing. His movements had the coiled tension of a man who had spent enough time learning the mysteries of the world. A salesman named Rowan, wearing a suit that was a size too small and with an ego three sizes too large, approached Alistair with a fake, practiced smile that didn't reach his eyes.He took one look at Alistair’s simple clothes, and his posture stiffened."Can I help you, sir?" Rowan asked, his tone implying that the answer

Sara was tied to a cold metal chair in what appeared to be an abandoned industrial warehouse. Standing around her were several shadowed figures clad in muted, dark robes, their faces hidden beneath deep hoods.But it was the man standing directly in front of her—the pale-skinned stranger from her hospital room—that made her breath catch in her throat."So, the little dove is awake," the pale cultivator purred, tossing the burlap sack onto the dirt floor."Who are you?!" Sara cried out, her voice echoing hollowly off the high steel rafters. Her wrists burned against the thick, coarse rope binding her to the frame. "What do you want from me? If it's money, my family—""Your family is broke, Miss Connor," a raspy, ancient voice sneered from the darkness behind the lightbulb.A tall, withered man stepped into the illumination.He wore an ornate, dark red robe lined with bone trim, his skin drawn tight over his skull like old parchment.A pair of sunken, pitch-black eyes stared down at he

The primary voice in the mirror let out a low, ominous hum. "The blood ritual... if you ignite the woman's karmic ties prematurely, her soul will shatter instantly. The shockwave will create a spiritual beacon. Every high-tier cultivator within a fifty-mile radius will sense the anomaly—including Reid himself.""Let him sense it!" Kuro laughed maniacally, his composure completely shattered by fear and malice. "By the time he pinpoints the location, his meridians will be torn apart by the karmic backlash! All I need from you is to clear the escape route to the harbor!""...Very well," the head figure replied smoothly after a tense pause. "The shadow enforcers will deploy to the perimeter of the abandoned foundry. But hear this, Kuro: if you fail to eliminate Alistair Reid, do not bother running to us. The Dark Heaven Sect has no use for failed pawns."The smoke vanished, leaving the room in a heavy, suffocating silence.Kuro gritted his teeth, his breathing ragged. He wiped the cold s

Master Xie burned off the blood that had stained his clothes before hurrying to where Sara was.He found her unconscious, most likely because of the strain that was on her soul. Even though he had saved her from the ritual, there was still some lingering effect.Clicking his tongue, he was just about to reach out to Alistair when he sensed something.Glancing back, he quickly froze as he laid eyes on the spiritual essence of all the cultivators he'd killed making its way upwards.Someone was absorbing it. Master Xie trembled, realising that something bad was happening.With no time to waste, he used some of his qi to stabilize Sara's condition before hurrying back to the surface. Meanwhile, over in Elder Kuro's room, twelve elders of the Beggars sect were gathered. Five out of the twelve had their guard raised as they watched Elder Kuro, while the other seven seemed a bit out of sorts. “Kuro, what's the meaning of this? We already agreed to meet by midnight? So why did you decide