The Heavenly Judgement Summit had never been so crowded, not once since the very day of its foundation.Thousands upon thousands of disciples filled the ascending stone terraces, packed shoulder to shoulder like a endless sea of silent, eager spectators. Below them lay the vast, ominous drop of the precipice, while above and along the razor-sharp edges of the summit, dark, swirling clouds churned endlessly. Every few moments, sheet lightning crackled across the purple-tinged sky, sending low, thunderous reverberations through the stone below. It was as though the heavens themselves had descended, brooding and watchful, to witness the spectacle of absolute doom.Even the surrounding mountain peaks, jagged fingers of rock piercing through the sea of mist, were crowded to capacity. Cultivators from distant regions had arrived days in advance, enduring freezing winds and treacherous ascents, utterly unwilling to miss a single moment of this historic moment. High above the execution pl

Zareth's body jagged more and more, trembling violently as uncontrolled, agonizing sputters of white foam began to gather around the corners of his mouth. The makeshift wooden bed creaked and groaned beneath the unnatural, violent convulsions of his frame, the thin legs scraping harsh lines against the damp floorboards.The thug stared down at the thrashing youth, his broad face twisting as his relieved smirk slowly vanished, morphing into a murderous, dark snarl."Do you want me to tell you to do something already?!" the thug growled, swinging his fierce gaze directly at the trembling physician. "If this kid dies, I swear on my life that you will follow him straight to the grave!"The physician felt the cold, unyielding weight of absolute certainty behind the thug's words. He knew with dreadful clarity that the violent man would not hesitate to slit his throat on the spot. Shaking off his panic, the physician sprang into action."Hold him down!" the physician shouted frantically. "

As the former Holy Son, a supreme genius once favored by the very heavens, perceiving the ambient Aether Qi of the world was a fundamental instinct. To Belmoth Cross, sensing Qi was supposed to be as natural and effortless as breathing.He channeled his focus inward, sinking into the dark expanse of his consciousness, reaching out toward the atmosphere around him.Seconds ticked by.What should have taken a fraction of an instant dragged on. Ten seconds... thirty seconds... a minute...Zareth frowned within his mind, digging deeper, reaching out with every shred of his refined soul perception.An hour passed in complete, motionless silence....Nothing.Not a single flicker of energy.Not a solitary trace of ambient Aether Qi made contact with his senses. The surrounding atmosphere felt entirely hollow, dead, and desolate, like a fish trying to swim through a desert of dry sand.Zareth's eyes snapped open in sheer disbelief."What... what is going on here?!"A wave of shock washed over

The thought echoed loudly through his entire consciousness. As he blinked away the dimness, Zareth realized that the darkness of the room had vanished. It was already the next day, and judging by the bright sunbeams piercing through the cracks of his makeshift abode, noon was rapidly approaching. Outside in the alleyways and distant streets of Blackwater Town, he could hear the bustling clamor of footsteps, shouting vendors, and daily activity.A wave of utter disbelief washed over him. He had been so deeply submerged in his inner sea that he hadn't realized an entire night and half a day had slipped by, all just to catch a subtle, microscopic trace of energy.Yet, despite how agonizingly slow the process had been, a profound sense of sheer happiness filled his chest. It had been an eternity since he last felt this kind of raw, genuine excitement over a minor achievement. In his past life as Belmoth Cross, cultivating was a given, a effortless, guaranteed right bestowed by his bless

Zareth was utterly furious. He had spent the last two hours tirelessly accumulating that sphere of condensed Qi from scratch, only for this mindless brute to barge in and destroy it all in a single fraction of a second. With no core to retain the condensed Qi, every drop of energy he had gathered had vanished into thin air.Because he was bedridden and utterly helpless, he couldn't even express the white-hot rage surging in his chest."This thug... this damn thug!" Zareth thought, his eyes burning as he stared up at the man. "He is a constant, intolerable thorn in my side!""Zareth! It's time for your meal!" Gao barked with his usual arrogant snarl.It seemed the thug had gone directly to retrieve the boy's food after leaving The Roaring Panda inn. Moving roughly, Gao grabbed Zareth by the shoulder, hauling his limp upper body up into a sitting position against the wall before shoving a wooden spoon filled with bland food into his mouth."When I was walking back here, I was pissed off