Gen's mind was air, his focus a needle-point. He tapped his leg on the void, not on stone. The **Swords of Infinity** formation, etched in the energy of the space itself, activated. From a dozen different angles, blades of condensed, annihilating light pierced towards Juo Si.
Juo Si's face remained a mask of serene authority. He activated **The Leader's Burden** once more. The crown shone deeply, and his Jingdao—that strange, bloody-crimson hue—densified around him. He crossed his arms before his chest.
The blades of light landed on him in a terrifying, sequenced impact.
***BOOM. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!***
The platform shook. A cloud of shattered light and displaced dust erupted around the king.
When the smoke subsided, Juo Si stood unmoved, his robes unruffled, his crossed arms slightly smoking. Then he moved. He burst forward, a streak of bloody gold, his fist driving straight into Gen's unprepared torso.
The impact wasn't a sound. It was a vacuum of sound, followed by a deep, sickening *crunch*. Gen's Eternal Body shell flickered violently. He was driven from the air, his body carving a trench through the solid platform stone as he skidded backwards, forced to dig his reinforced fingers into the rubble to stop himself.
Liang, Lorel, and Chubbs all looked at Juo Si with dawning, cold shock. They knew, bone-deep, how absurd Gen's reinforced body was. Yet Juo Si was overwhelming it with terrifying, effortless ease.
Juo Si hovered, looking down at the crater Gen had made. "The Leader's Burden," he explained, his voice carrying easily, a lecture in the middle of a execution. "Is a spell created with **Zhidow**, Creation, giving form to the intention of a monarch. The four jewels represent forms of leadership." He pointed to the glowing red gem. "This hue is that of **Dictatorship**. It allows the jewel to… *reinforce the Reinforcer*."
On the ground, Gen spat a mouthful of blood onto the pale stone. He looked up, amber eyes burning. "Quite impressive indeed." He knew Juo Si wasn't telling him this without reason. He was displaying, for all to see, the chasm of understanding between them. Gen understood the implication instantly. The Leader's Burden was a Creation Wheel spell that could *create a sub-Wheel* applying the principle of Jingdao reinforcement. Coupling it with his own natural Jingdao was like reinforcing something that was already reinforced, layering the principles exponentially. This wasn't just about raw talent or power anymore. It was about a **level of synthesis, a depth of understanding of the Wheels**, that made the observing elders break into a cold sweat behind their pavilions.
Lorel and Chubbs had been protecting the kneeling Mearl while Liang and Gen kept Juo Si busy. The fight was intense, but it was brutally clear: there was no way Gen and the others could kill Juo Si, let alone harm him.
Gen pushed himself up, the golden vapor around him solidifying once more. He shot forward, a shadow entering another direct clash. Fist against fist.
The bloody Jingdao hue met the condensed vapor of the Eternal Body, sunk deep into Gen's bones.
The impact was a sunburst of conflicting energies. The air screamed. Both were forced back, skidding across the ruined platform, the stone melting where their feet touched.
In his heart, Gen knew victory here was a phantom, a trick of the light. But how could he accept that?
Lorel fought with all her might, but her Supremacy Swords, while deterrent enough to keep the regular guards at bay, were useless against the apex. Powered by her frustration—with Gen's obliviousness, with Juo Si's cruelty, with the accumulated resentment of the day—her mind was clouded, and so were her abilities, the swords losing a fraction of their lethal precision.
Juo Si looked down at them from above, a hint of impatience finally touching his regal facade. "This is taking too long," he declared. "Kill her now, Royal Guards."
As he spoke, the ten Royal Guards who had been kneeling in perfect formation since the coronation all stood as one, movements synchronized like terrifying clockwork. They stretched their arms out, and in each hand, a lance of condensed energy coalesced. But these lances were strange, etched with coiling, archaic dragon-markings along their lengths, their tips shimmering with a chaotic, multi-hued light.
**The Little Chaos.**
Many elders in the pavilions frowned deeply. Most knew where this spell originated. Its history was deeply tied to the past of the Four Kingdoms, and to the very reason it had fractured long ago.
The moment the Royal Guard moved, the atmosphere on the battlefield shifted. This group of elite soldiers was Juo Si's true trump card. Together, they had no doubt they could even fight a Pillar like Varja or Tiang Feng.
One guard shot towards Mearl, a dragon-marked lance aimed at her heart.
Lorel screamed, waving her hands. The Supremacy Swords fanned out to block its path. But this time, the Royal Guard was *fast*. He evaded the leading sword with a fluid twist, landing behind Lorel in a powerful pivot. She faltered, stepping out, waving the swords to fan back and block the spear-thrust.
To her dismay, the **Supremacy Sword** that met the dragon-lance… **shattered**. The lance's chaotic tip pierced through the pink light, dissipating it into fading motes. The spear missed her face by an inch, the wake of its passage slicing a lock of her hair. She was forced to retreat several steps, a cry of pure shock torn from her.
When Gen and Liang saw that, they tried to disengage, to retreat into that part of the battlefield. But how could they, with an opponent like Juo Si? With a single tap of his foot, the bloody flames of his formation covered the sky and the ground, rising in a nightmarish wall, blocking Liang and Gen's path, separating them from Lorel and Mearl.
The Royal Guard raised his lance again, stepping towards the kneeling General Mearl.
Lorel screamed, tears of fury and helplessness streaming down her face. Chubbs balled his fists, his whole body trembling with frustration. Gen and Liang could only watch, their heads tilting down in a moment of crushing realization.
Just as the dragon-marked spear began its final, descending arc…
…the sky above them changed.
It was as if a piece of the heavens had decided to fall. No flash, no thunder. The oppressive, bloody flames walling off Gen and Liang were simply *consumed*, not by water, but by a more aggressive, virulent green flame that rose from the very stones.
Furthermore, the green flame coalesced in mid-air, twisting into the form of a massive, serpentine bamboo dragon. It descended from the sky, silent and inevitable.
The Royal Guard thrust his **Little Chaos** spear upward to block. The dragon-lance met the flowing, green-flamming body of the bamboo dragon.
***SCREEE—CRUNCH.***
The sound was of rending metal and snapping crystal. The legendary spear's chaotic energy screeched against the dragon's flowing, yet incomparably hard, skin. The guard was not just blocked; he was *overwhelmed*. The force of the descending dragon drove him to his knees, the spear in his hand buckling, the dragon-markings along its length dimming. The other guards surged forward, but the bamboo dragon merely completed its circle, its massive, coiling body forming a protective barrier around Mearl, Lorel, and Chubbs. It lowered its head, a construct of living flame and ancient wood, and let out a silent roar that was felt in the bones, not heard.
Standing at the edge of the platform, leaning on his petrified black-green staff, was Black-Green Wood.
He looked old. He looked tired. And he looked utterly, unassailably present.
Gen's smile was not one of triumph, but of sheer, stunned relief. The awe wasn't in his expression; it was in the sudden, perfect silence that gripped the entire courtyard, in the way the very air stilled, holding its breath for the Pillar who had just stepped onto the stage.
Juo Si hovered, the bloody aura around him receding like a tide. His face, a masterpiece of controlled displeasure, settled on the old man with the bamboo staff.
"What is the meaning of this, honored Pillar?" Juo Si asked, his voice a carefully modulated blend of respect and cold authority. "This is a matter of royal justice."
Black-Green Wood did not look up at him. He kept his moss-green eyes on General Mearl, assessing her wounds with a clinical detachment. "It would not be smart to take a life on this particular day," he said, his voice dry as autumn leaves rustling. "The Love Moon, the Elysium Bloom… they are important traditions of the Four Kingdoms. Threads in the tapestry. Does the new king wish to unravel the old patterns quite so… hastily?" He finally glanced up, his gaze holding no challenge, only a profound, weary wisdom. "A king who breaks tradition on his first day breaks the trust of those who cherish it."
Juo Si's face darkened as he understood the old man's move. Today was supposed to be his day of unification, of majestic ascension. Killing Mearl would have cemented his absolute authority, but this public interruption, this *lesson* from a living relic, complicated the narrative. It made him look rash, opposed by the very past he claimed to embody. And all of it, tangled with Gen Jiang.
Despite the fury boiling beneath his skin, his face remained unnervingly neutral, a placid lake over a volcanic deep. "You understand," Juo Si said, his voice dropping, becoming more conversational, more dangerous, "that as king, I have the right—the duty—to do anything for the good of the kingdom. Even unpleasant things."
Black-Green Wood walked to stand beside Lorel and Chubbs, placing a steadying, gnarled hand on Chubbs's trembling shoulder. He looked at Mearl, not even bothered with Juo Si anymore. At his level, in this gathering, there was truly nothing that could threaten his life. But he also understood the deeper game. He could not simply take Mearl by force without compromising the future—Lolly's future—in the Four Kingdoms. It was a thorny dilemma, and his sigh carried the weight of it.
Gen and Liang approached the others, the bloody flame-wall now gone. Gen wanted to ask, *Why are you here? This has nothing to do with you. Why go this far, revealing yourself?* But he bit the words back. This was not the right time. He simply completed the defensive circle around Mearl, his golden eyes fixed on Juo Si.
Seeing the stalemate solidify, Juo Si descended. He released his abilities, his oppressive Qi vanishing as he floated gently back to the ravaged arena floor. He gave a minute, almost imperceptible wave.
The Royal Guards snapped back into their rigid, formation. The ominous dragon-marked lances of **The Little Chaos** dissolved into wisps of chaotic light, then nothing.
Seeing this, Black-Green Wood tapped his bamboo staff once on the ground. The aggressive green flames that formed the protective dragon vanished into nothingness, leaving only the scent of ozone and fresh-cut bamboo. On his shoulder, the jade mantis cleaned its forelimbs, its prismatic eyes fixed on Juo Si with a disturbing, predatory curiosity.
"How do you wish to settle this, then?" Juo Si asked, his voice calm, reclaiming the role of the reasonable monarch. "Pillar Black-Green Wood."
The use of the title sent a fresh ripple through the watching elders. It was a public acknowledgment of the hermit's true stature, placing him on the board for all to see.
Black-Green Wood took a slow look around the courtyard, his gaze drinking in the powerful representatives from every major family, especially lingering on the Kang Clan pavilion. He had been nesting on the edge of their territory for who knew how long, a silent, unseen god in their backyard. By helping Gen, he had burned that secrecy. He could not stay hidden anymore.
He let out a long, slow sigh, the sound of a man accepting a burdensome new path. "Let us settle this after the Sky Ocean, Juo," he said, his voice firm. "The sacred ruin opens soon. Many destinies will be decided there. After that… we will discuss a good way to resolve this. Without further bloodshed." He met the king's eyes. "What do you think?"
Juo Si's face darkened a shade. He looked at this walking, talking obstacle, this relic who could, with a flick of his will, shatter the carefully crafted spectacle of today. He knew, deep down, that with his current power, this old fool could truly break things. He was painstakingly building a kingdom; he could not allow a rogue pillar to topple the first stones. Not until he was strong enough to deal with the old fool himself.
Juo Si opened his mouth to speak, and when he did, his voice was the epitome of regal concession, a king wisely heeding sage counsel. It was a perfect performance.
"The wisdom of a Pillar is not to be dismissed," Juo Si said, inclining his head just enough. "The Sky Ocean is a trial for the new generation. A fitting crucible. Very well." He turned his gaze to Mearl, and his eyes were not those of a thwarted executioner, but of a merciful ruler. "General Mearl's sentence is stayed. She will remain under guard until the resolution after the Sky Ocean." His eyes then swept to Gen, Lorel, and Liang. "And our… esteemed guests from the Jiang faction shall have the opportunity to prove their worth and their intentions in the same trial. A chance to clear the air."
He was boxing them in with grace, turning a defeat into a delayed contest with rules he would set. He looked back at Black-Green Wood, a thin, polite smile on his lips. "Does this satisfy the tradition's sanctity, honored elder?"
Black-Green Wood gave a single, slow nod. "It is… acceptable." He said nothing more. The bargain was struck, not in friendship, but in the cold calculus of power and timing. The battle was over, but the war had simply found a new, agreed-upon battlefield.