Night had settled quietly over the Sovereign Aerie.
The towering spire of the guild rose against the dark sky like a spear aimed at the heavens. Lanterns flickered along its terraces, casting long golden shadows across the stone courtyards below.
Inside the Black Dragon residence, most of the recruits had already retired to their quarters.
But in one small room near the eastern wing—
Lu Mao sat alone.
The faint light of a single lantern swayed beside him.
His expression was troubled.
The events of the day replayed again and again inside his mind.
His hand hovering over the slab.
The sudden pressure in his skull.
That strange whisper.
And then—
His body moving on its own.
Lu Mao clenched his fists.
"How…?"
The word slipped from his lips before he even realized it.
He had chosen Eight Gate Circulation.
No—
That wasn't right.
The truth was he had not chosen it at all.
Something else had.
Something inside him.
For a long time he sat in silence, staring at the floor as the lantern's flame flickered softly.
Then slowly—
Understanding began to form.
Lu Mao exhaled quietly.
"…So it was that."
The answer had always been there.
He had simply chosen not to dwell on it before.
Ever since he was a child, Lu Mao had known something about himself was… different.
His meridians.
His veins.
Even the way qi flowed through his body sometimes felt strange, as if there was something deeper hidden beneath the surface.
But the clearest sign had always been something else entirely.
His inner world.
Lu Mao leaned back slightly, his gaze drifting toward the dark ceiling.
He had visited that place many times throughout his life.
Sometimes by accident.
Sometimes through sheer stubborn effort.
There had been nights when he sat for hours, forcing his consciousness inward until his mind grew numb.
Other times he had slipped inside without even realizing it.
Just a few fleeting moments—
Then he would be thrown back into the real world again.
The reason had always been the same.
Insufficient qi.
Without enough spiritual energy to sustain his consciousness within that strange realm, he could never remain there for long.
But even those brief glimpses had told him something important.
His inner world was not ordinary.
In rare cases throughout history, powerful warriors or sect leaders developed unusual inner worlds.
Sometimes it happened through cultivation of rare martial techniques.
Sometimes through ancient treasures that altered their bodies.
But such matters were rarely spoken about openly.
The world feared what it could not understand.
Anything strange.
Anything unpredictable.
Such things attracted greed… and enemies.
Lu Mao's father had always warned him about that.
Even though Jin Wu was nothing more than a wandering thief, he had been strangely serious whenever the topic came up.
"Don't talk about that place too much," he had told him once.
"People kill for far less."
Lu Mao had understood.
And so he had kept the matter to himself.
But he had also made a plan.
His original intention had been simple.
He would cultivate his qi steadily using the technique he intended to choose today.
Once his qi circulation improved and his meridians strengthened, he would finally be able to enter his inner world properly.
Then he could explore it.
Understand it.
Learn the truth about whatever lay hidden inside him.
But now—
Everything had changed.
His carefully laid plans had been thrown into chaos by the strange event in the Hall of Feathers.
Lu Mao closed his eyes slowly.
"…Then there's only one way to find out."
If something inside his inner world had influenced his decision…
Then the answers could only exist there.
He had to return.
Even if it was difficult.
Even if he could only stay for a few moments.
Lu Mao adjusted his posture and sat cross-legged on the floor.
He placed both hands on his knees and slowly began calming his breathing.
The lantern beside him flickered softly.
Outside the window, the night wind whispered across the stone rooftops of the guild.
Inside the room—
Silence deepened.
Lu Mao focused his thoughts inward.
He had done this before many times.
The process was simple in theory.
But incredibly difficult in practice.
First, empty the mind.
Then guide the consciousness inward along the flow of qi.
Slowly…
Carefully…
He concentrated.
Minutes passed.
Then half an hour.
Sweat began forming along his brow.
Lu Mao did not move.
His breathing remained steady.
But his expression gradually tightened with effort.
Guiding his consciousness inward felt like trying to walk through a storm of invisible currents.
His thoughts scattered.
His focus slipped.
Each time he tried to descend deeper into himself, the sensation would break apart like sand slipping through his fingers.
Still—
He refused to stop.
Another hour passed.
Sweat now soaked through his clothes.
His hair clung damply to his forehead.
His breathing had grown heavier.
Yet Lu Mao remained seated, forcing his mind deeper and deeper.
His thoughts began fading.
The world around him slowly dissolved.
The lantern light dimmed.
The walls of the room seemed to melt into shadow.
Then—
Darkness.
A vast, endless darkness spread before him.
Lu Mao felt as though he were drifting through a deep ocean where no light could reach.
The darkness thickened.
Closing in from all sides.
For a moment he felt as though it might swallow his soul entirely.
Then—
A single streak of light appeared.
Thin.
Faint.
But growing rapidly.
It expanded outward like a star being born.
The light surged forward.
And in the next instant—
It consumed him.
Lu Mao's vision exploded into brilliance.
When the brightness settled, he found himself floating in a vast, glowing expanse he had visited before—yet the sight still fascinated him every time.
And there—
At the center of it all—
Was something that stole the breath from his lungs.
A colossal golden vein stretched upward like a divine tree of light.
Its surface pulsed with flowing qi, blazing brighter than molten gold.
Countless glowing threads branched outward from its trunk like roots of pure energy.
Around it—
Slowly rotating through the air—
Were rings of iron vaults.
They circled the golden pillar like the rings of a distant planet.
Lu Mao stared in stunned silence.
There were ninety-nine vaults.
Each one forged from dark iron, massive and ancient in appearance.
Every vault was connected to the central pillar by a thin strand of golden qi.
The entire structure resembled a heavenly mechanism too vast for mortal comprehension.
Lu Mao floated before it like a tiny speck of dust.
"…Still the same."
His voice sounded impossibly small in the glowing world.
Then—
A voice answered.
Ancient.
Slow.
Heavy with the weight of forgotten ages.
"You have arrived at last."
Lu Mao's heart jumped violently.
His head snapped around.
"Who's there?!"
The voice echoed again, deeper this time.
"Long have I slumbered in silence… waiting for the bearer of this vessel to awaken."
Lu Mao felt a chill run down his spine.
Someone was speaking.
Inside his own consciousness.
He swallowed.
"…Who are you?"
The golden pillar pulsed faintly.
Then the ancient voice spoke once more.
Its tone carried a strange, poetic cadence — as though each word had been carved from centuries of memory.
"I am but the fading echo of a sovereign long buried beneath the dust of time."
"Once I wore the crown of the God Lands."
"Once the heavens themselves bent beneath my decree."
"Now I remain only as a whisper… a fragment of will."
Lu Mao's eyes widened.
The voice continued.
"I am the lingering consciousness of the Last Emperor of the God Lands."
"An ancient spirit… bound to the legacy of the Lords of the Seven Realms."
Before Lu Mao could even process those words—
The world around him suddenly trembled.
The glowing space flickered violently.
Cracks of darkness spread through the air like shattered glass.
The ancient voice spoke again, quieter now.
"You are yet too weak, young bearer."
"Your soul cannot linger long within this sacred domain."
The light around Lu Mao began fading.
The golden tree dimmed.
Darkness surged inward like a collapsing tide.
"But heed these words…"
The voice echoed one final time.
"Walk the path I have opened."
"Let not doubt cloud your spirit."
"Cultivate the method I have bestowed upon you…"
"For in your rise…"
"Our fates are bound as one."
Darkness swallowed everything.
The glowing world vanished.
Lu Mao's eyes snapped open.
He gasped sharply.
Cold night air filled his lungs.
His body was drenched in sweat.
His clothes clung heavily to his skin as though he had just emerged from a river.
For several moments he simply sat there, breathing hard.
He had only remained inside that world for a few seconds.
Yet it had taken everything he had.
Still—
It had been worth it.
Lu Mao wiped sweat from his forehead slowly.
His mind churned with questions.
Emperor of the God Lands.
Did that mean something like the Immortal Emperor spoken of in his own world, the supreme being every cultivator aspired to become?
And what about the Lords of the Seven Realms?
He had never heard such a title before.
Lu Mao shook his head slightly.
"…Maybe I misunderstood some of it."
The language had felt ancient.
Strange.
Perhaps he had not interpreted it correctly.
But one thing was certain.
Whatever existed inside him—
It was far more than a simple secret.
The aura he had felt from that voice…
It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
Not even the powerful saints and elders of the guild had possessed such a presence.
Not even his own father.
No—
This had felt older.
Richer.
Like something that had existed long before the world he knew.
Lu Mao exhaled slowly.
"Well…"
He scratched the back of his head.
"…I guess I don't really have much choice now."
The path had already been chosen.
Whether by fate… or by something deeper within him.
All he could do now was walk forward.
Lu Mao closed his eyes again.
The knowledge of the Eight Gate Circulation technique already existed clearly within his mind, the moment his hand had touched the inscribed slab earlier that day.
The movements of qi.
The pathways through the meridians.
It was as if the knowledge had always existed somewhere inside him.
He began circulating qi according to the technique.
Slowly.
Carefully.
The hours passed quietly.
Outside the window, the night deepened.
Moonlight drifted across the rooftops of the Sovereign Aerie.
Inside the small room—
Lu Mao continued cultivating without pause.
Without sleep.
Completely absorbed in the technique.
The path ahead had changed.
And somewhere deep within his meridians—
Something ancient had begun to watch his progress.