The three days passed over the imperial capital of Grand Chu not in celebratory revelry, but in an atmosphere of solemn, focused industry. Across every martial ground, imperial plaza, and sect training field, thousands of young disciples and armored soldiers practiced the unified forms Chu Yuan had compiled. The imperial treasury had been opened wide under Emperor Chu Tianzheng's personal decree. Carts laden with refined spirit iron, high-grade medicinal herbs, and astral boundary stones moved through the wide streets toward the imperial borders, reinforcing the great ward arrays that shielded the mortal realm from the void.Inside the quiet courtyard of the Heavenly Star Academy’s innermost pavilion, the aroma of medicinal herbs hung thick and sweet in the cool autumn air.Chu Yuan stood before the ancient Nine-Dragon Pill Cauldron, his expression serene as waves of golden-scarlet pill vapor coiled around his arms. With a soft chime like ringing jade, the cauldron lid lifted. Twelve

The wind sweeping across the mountain terrace carried the sharp tang of copper and ozone.Chu Yuan stood motionless for several breaths, his senses expanding outward like ripples across a tranquil lake. The world around them was vastly different from Grand Chu. The gravity pressing against his boots was roughly five times heavier than the earth below, pulling at his joints with relentless persistence. Every breath drew in air that felt thick and crystalline, packed with dense astral spiritual energy that prickled against the skin like tiny needles.Beside him, Luo Ningxue adjusted her footing on the fractured stones of the terrace. Her breath came slightly faster, her brow glistening with a faint sheen of sweat as her muscles and meridians naturally adjusted to the immense gravitational pressure of the Upper Realm."The spiritual energy here is wild," she noted, her voice hushed against the whistling mountain breeze. "In Grand Chu, spiritual Qi flows like clear river water. Here, it f

Eighty miles of jagged wilderness separated the Black Pine Ravine from the outer toll gates of Cloud Mist City. As Chu Yuan and Luo Ningxue traveled southward along the spirit shale road, the terrain shifted from steep, mist-choked canyons into rolling hills covered in crimson-leafed ironwood forests. Above, the three colossal moons slowly shifted their positions in the luminous indigo sky, casting overlapping pale gold, emerald, and silver halos through the canopy. Even while walking at a swift pace, Chu Yuan’s mind remained intensely focused. Within his chest and spine, the eight awakened desolate stars circulated with quiet rhythm. With every breath, the heavy, viscous spiritual energy of the Upper Realm was drawn through his pores, filtered through his marrow, and converted into pure stellar essence. The fivefold gravity of the Azure Firmament Province, which had initially felt like an iron vest strapped to his chest, was already becoming natural. His physical body felt lighter

The air beneath the heavy crimson curtain of Auction Room Nine was stagnant, heavy with the iron scent of dried blood, damp limestone, and burnt incense used to mask decay.Carved into the subterranean bedrock beneath the Myriad Treasure Tower, the amphitheater was designed with tiered circular seating made of cold black basalt. Roughly fifty wealthy patrons—clan elders, rogue cultivators with bloodshot eyes, and representatives of minor trading houses—sat in the shadowed upper rows, their faces concealed beneath silk veils or hooded cloaks. In the center of the pit stood an elevated iron cage surrounded by eight bronze braziers burning with eerie, violet ghost-fire.Inside the iron cage, thirty-two cultivators knelt on the damp stone floor. Their bodies were emaciated, their clothes reduced to blood-stained rags. Black iron nails—each inscribed with foul, spirit-suppressing runes—had been driven through their collarbones and dantians, pinning their spiritual energy completely and le

Night had settled fully over Cloud Mist City, but the streets were brighter than midday.Beacons of crimson and azure light flared atop the soaring watchtowers, casting sweeping columns of radiance across the rooftops. The city’s great atmospheric ward, the Cloud Mist Grand Array, had begun to contract, settling like a heavy, shimmering dome of frosted glass over the entire metropolis. The ambient pressure in the air increased by another fold, designed to ground flying artifacts and suppress rapid spatial movement within the city walls.Gong strikes and the deep baying of astral tracking hounds echoed from the main thoroughfares, punctuated by the rhythmic thumping of armored boots.Through the narrow, winding alleys of the Eastern Merchant Quarter, Chu Yuan moved with absolute silence. His dark traveling coat blended into the deep shadows cast by the high stone walls of three-story apothecary storehouses. Behind him, Luo Ningxue maintained a constant, freezing perimeter of frost Qi t