Luo Chuan stared at the scene before him, his breath catching.
A kilometer-wide expanse of shattered stone stretched into the distance, now transformed into a jagged sea of translucent blue-violet crystal. Arcs of azure energy crackled like living lightning across the fractured terrain, their eerie glow casting long shadows. The air itself seemed to pulse with mottled, unstable energy—a chaotic tapestry that would overwhelm even a cultivator at the Soul Dominion stage.
By the Nine Stars…
He blinked, momentarily blinded by the aftermath. When he'd fired the pistol, the burst of nether energy had erupted like a miniature sun—not golden, but an otherworldly cerulean. Now, silence hung thick, broken only by the faint hiss of lingering energy devouring the remnants of the stone platform.
"You weren't exaggerating," Luo Chuan muttered, turning the sleek silver firearm in his hand. Its sci-fi curves gleamed innocently under the dawn light, belying the devastation it had unleashed. "A weapon that lets even a Mortal Awakening cultivator rival an Eminence? No wonder the system restricts these."
The System's voice hummed in his mind, clinical yet edged with warning. [Nether Energy occupies the first tier beneath primal void forces. Spiritual power, by comparison, ranks third.]
Luo Chuan snorted. "So laws are second, then? Makes sense." He holstered the pistol, eyeing the corrupted crystals. Unlike the crater he'd once blasted through Eminence defenses—a wound swiftly healed by the world's natural order—these jagged formations remained. Unyielding. Hungry.
A shiver crept down his spine. This isn't just power. It's a violation.
Later, Luo Chuan lounged in his recliner by the shop's entrance, the morning sun warming his face. Birds chirped in the distance; the alley smelled of dew and steamed buns from a nearby vendor. Peace, at last.
Or so he pretended.
His fingers drummed restlessly. The pistol's weight still haunted his hip. What happened if this energy spread? If a child stumbled upon such a weapon? The Azure Continent's fragile balance would shatter like glass.
No. The System knows. That's why it locks these away. He sighed, tilting his head back. Still…
Bu Lige stumbled into the alley, dark circles under his eyes. Seven days. Seven days without Origin Cola's fizzy burn, lighting up his meridians. His hands shook. His qi felt muddy, stagnant.
"Please," he whispered, rounding the corner—
—and froze.
There it was: the faded sign, the cracked step, the recliner… and the figure sprawled in it, silhouette haloed by sunlight.
"B-Boss?!" Bu Lige croaked.
Luo Chuan cracked one eye open. "Took you long enough. You look like a wraith."
Bu Lige nearly wept.