Declan stood at the entrance to the sealed chamber and looked at the supplies laid out inside. Spiritual pills in wooden cases, sorted by type and potency. Recovery medicines in glass vials, each one labeled with instructions Edmund had written in his precise hand. Various tools and artifacts arranged along the stone shelf. And the Phoenix Heart Ring on his finger, warm against his skin. Edmund stood beside him. "Once I seal this, you're alone until it's done. No one enters. No one interferes." "I understand." "The monitoring formations will track your vital signs. If something goes catastrophically wrong, I can break the seal. But short of that, you're on your own." Declan nodded. Edmund looked at him for a long moment. "You're ready for this." It wasn't a question. Declan stepped inside and Edmund sealed the chamber behind him. The door closed and the formations activated with a low hum that faded after a few seconds. Then there was silence. Declan sat down in the center o

The first week after the breakthrough was spent learning what his body could do now.Declan moved through the training facility with Edmund and tested everything systematically, working through the techniques he'd been practicing for months to see how they'd changed. His physical strength had increased by a significant margin and movements that used to require effort now felt natural. His spiritual senses had sharpened to the point where he could feel energy fluctuations in the estate that he'd never noticed before, and his energy reserves had expanded dramatically so techniques that used to drain him could be performed repeatedly without fatigue.Edmund watched him work through a combat sequence and nodded when he finished. "You're adjusting faster than most cultivators do after breakthrough, which is good because we have a lot of ground to cover now.""What changes?" Declan asked."Everything," Edmund said simply. "The techniques you've been learning were Foundation Establishment

The dinner conversation flowed easily once everyone had settled into their seats and the first course had been served.The Lin family patriarch asked Declan about his cultivation progress with the kind of specific questions that showed genuine interest rather than polite curiosity. "Your advancement to Core Formation in less than a year is remarkable," he said. "What training methods did your grandfather employ to achieve such rapid results?"Declan shared some information about Edmund's approach, discussing the foundational techniques and the emphasis on stability over speed, while being careful not to reveal too much about the Phoenix Heart Ring or other family secrets that weren't appropriate to discuss even in friendly company. The patriarch listened carefully and nodded at several points, clearly appreciating both what Declan said and what he chose not to say.Georgina handled herself gracefully throughout the dinner, answering questions about her background and her relationship

The message from the Jade Phoenix Society arrived on a Tuesday morning, marked urgent and delivered by courier rather than through normal channels.Declan opened it in his office and read through the contents twice before calling Edmund.His grandfather arrived within minutes and read the message himself, his expression growing more serious with each paragraph."The Shadow Serpent Sect interrogations revealed something bigger," Edmund said when he finished. "An organization called the Black Dragon Syndicate, operating across multiple countries and involved in activities that make the Shadow Serpent Sect look small by comparison.""Smuggling cultivation resources, human trafficking, assassination, artifact theft," Declan read from the message. "The Society believes the Syndicate may have been the power behind the Shadow Serpent Sect and is now moving to fill the void left by their destruction."Edmund set the message down. "The Society is organizing a coalition to investigate and comba

The raid began at midnight exactly. The strike team moved in coordinated groups, using cultivation techniques to mask their presence and muffle their footsteps as they crossed the final distance to their entry points. Declan felt the energy around him shift as Kane activated a concealment technique that made their team nearly invisible in the darkness, and he followed the formation exactly as they'd practiced. The guard rotation was in progress just as Kane had predicted and the Syndicate members outside were at their furthest points from the doors when the teams breached simultaneously. Kane's hand signal came and they moved fast, covering the last thirty meters in seconds. Davis reached the door first and placed a small device against the lock while Kane and Declan took positions on either side, ready to move the instant the door opened. The lock clicked and the door swung inward and they burst through before the Syndicate members inside could react. The warehouse interior erup