Gen and Liang floated through the liquid-gold air of the Sky Ocean, propelled by threads of **Shidow**. A strange, prickling sensation crawled up Gen's spine, a feeling of being watched. He turned sharply, scanning the shimmering expanse behind them. He saw nothing but the endless, blurry divide between the real ocean of air and the strange, breathable liquid that filled this realm.
"What is it?" Liang asked, noticing his tension.
"Nothing," Gen muttered, turning back. "A ghost on my neck."
Liang reached out and popped one of the iridescent bubbles drifting past. It released a soft, chiming sigh. "Lolly would have loved to see something like this," he said, a faint smile touching his lips.
Gen nodded. "It must be one of the reasons they call it the Sky Ocean. It feels like being deep underwater, but the sky is still above you."
They had been traveling for over a day, perhaps more. Time felt slippery here. The place was massive, disorienting. It felt as if they had been turning in circles even though they had moved in a straight line.
Liang looked over the endless, shifting vistas. "Gen, the Zenith Sky-Root shouldn't be hard to find. I remember Black-Green Wood said it was a common herb here. At least, I think that's what he said. Let's land on one of those islands over the edge and take a look."
Gen agreed. Although the secret of Master Yujin and the chess piece burned in his mind, their first duty was to Lolly. They had time for mysteries later. The duo flew deeper, and after a few more hours, the jagged silhouette of an island coalesced out of the golden haze. This one was different. At its very peak stood a structure, an old building that looked as if it had been grown rather than built—woven from gigantic, petrified tree roots and veins of dull, dark ore.
They landed on a rocky shore and began making their way uphill towards the center.
"Black-Green Wood didn't give much of a description," Liang said, scanning the strange, twisted flora. "Just that it wasn't rare. How are we supposed to find it?"
"Might be there are locals," Gen suggested. "Or something like a guide."
Liang slapped his own forehead. "Do you think we are in some sort of market or village? We're in a ruin floating in a liquid sky."
A soft laugh escaped Gen's mouth, but it was cut short.
***BOOM.***
A sharp, violent burst of Qi erupted from a clearing ahead, followed by the crackle of energy and a bestial shriek.
Gen and Liang exchanged a glance. Without a word, they dampened their auras and moved forward, keeping to the cover of the petrified root-structures. They climbed to a vantage point and looked down.
In an open space below, a group of cultivators was facing their first real challenge of the Sky Ocean. There were seven of them originally. Three already lay motionless in spreading pools of their own blood.
Among the remaining four, **Kang Mao** was the only one who hadn't been wounded.
Facing them was a being of grotesque form—a humanoid figure with obsidian, insect-like skin, a long, whip-like black tail, and limbs that ended in razor-sharp talons. It had gills like a fish at its throat and a pulsating, bronchi-like sack on its chest, which it used to spit high-powered, condensed beams of corrosive energy. The beams pierced straight through the **Jingdao**-reinforced defenses of the cultivators beside Kang Mao. This was a **Sky Demon**.
Gen looked at Liang. "Should we intervene?" Kang Mao had, after all, been a friend of sorts before they met Black-Green Wood. Things had changed after the Tower of Wonder and his brother's death, but the old connection lingered.
On the ground, Kang Mao stood covered in a powerful, dense **Jingdao** aura. As the Sky Demon flickered through space, leaving only afterimages, Kang Mao didn't chase. He simply raised his forearm and stood there, solid as a mountain.
The beast's claws swept out, shearing through the necks of the two cultivators flanking Kang Mao. Their heads tumbled into the void, trailing arcs of blood.
Kang Mao did not flinch.
Then, something strange happened.
Kang Mao's figure, which had been as slow and immovable as a monolith a moment before, *blurred*. His **Jingdao** didn't just glow; it *bleached* the air around him with a shocking, lightning-like intensity. He stepped into the guard of the beast—a movement too fast to follow—and landed a solid, piston-like blow on the Sky Demon's chest.
***THWUMP.***
The Sky Demon let out a pained, grating groan, as if complaining about the indignity. Before it could react, Kang Mao vanished again. He reappeared at its side, struck. Vanished, struck from behind. His figure left trailing arcs of blinding white light around the Sky Demon, a continuous storm of concussive hits. It was like watching a single bolt of lightning strike the same spot from a dozen different angles in a heartbeat.
With another devastating hit, the Sky Demon screeched and was hurled back, its chitinous skin smoking, its eyes blazing with furious red light.
However, two more Sky Demons melted from the shadows at the edge of the clearing, their strange, guttural groans sounding like a dark conversation. They seemed to be telling Kang Mao he was dead for his defiance.
Kang Mao remained utterly calm. It was hard to believe this was the same cultivator who had cried like a child when his brother was killed in the Tower. He was different. Transformed. It was as if he could shift his **Jingdao** principle in a millisecond—from the unyielding solidity of the **Born Monolith** to the shocking, explosive speed of the **Blitzing Dragon**. This was what his master had taught him.
In his heart, Kang Mao thrilled at the sensation. Following the **Thousand-Shifting Jingdao** path had been his salvation, seized from the wreckage of his misfortune.
From their perch, Gen watched, a smile of wary appreciation on his face. Kang Mao's growth was phenomenal. But he was now facing three Sky Demons, and the situation was turning against him.
Gen turned to Liang. "We should help."
Liang hesitated, biting his lip. "Kang Mao has made phenomenal progress. But I can feel three more of those beasts approaching from a distance. And one of them… feels incredibly powerful. If we don't help—"
Liang's words died in his throat.
A smile appeared behind them.
Cold sweat drenched Gen's back in an instant. His **Jingdao** flared on pure instinct. He didn't think; he *pounced*, shoving Liang sideways.
***SHRIK!***
Twin claws, darker than the void and sharper than sound, ripped through the space where their heads had been a heartbeat before. They landed in a heap, unceremoniously tumbling into the middle of the clearing, right between Kang Mao and the circling Sky Demons.
Kang Mao frowned, not taking his eyes off his foes. "What are you both doing here? I did not ask for help."
Gen scrambled to his feet, his gaze darting to the figure now perched on the petrified root they had just occupied. This Sky Demon was different. It had *three* sinuous black tails, not one. Its body was encased in a sleek, organic exoskeleton that glistened like polished oil. It licked one of its claws, now tipped with a faint smear of red.
That's when Gen noticed the four parallel gashes across Liang's forearm, deep and bleeding freely.
"This thing is dangerous, Gen," Liang hissed, his voice trembling not with fear, but with the shock of the attack and the venom already burning in the wounds.
Gen didn't answer. He had already guessed. His blood was boiling, but his usually steady hands were now faintly shaky. It was that same feeling of helpless, cold dread the Divine General had inspired in him long ago. The pressure was absolute, a weight that threatened to crush his spirit before the fight even began.
The three-tailed Sky Demon's mouth, a slit in its chitinous face, twisted into something approximating a smile. When it spoke, its voice was a wet, clicking rasp, yet horrifyingly clear.
"Sooo… new prayers have fallen into the sky net," it crooned, its three tails weaving hypnotic patterns in the air. "Delicious. I cannot wait to taste the quality of your blood."
Kang Mao's eyes, fixed on the three-tailed horror perched above, widened a fraction. His confident, shifting aura stuttered. The feeling was unmistakable—a pressure that sank into the bones, a primal warning. He shifted back, his lightning-swift movements turning cautious and deliberate, until he stood with his back to Gen and Liang, forming a shaky, triangular defensive stance with them.
"Why did I have to meet you two here?" Kang Mao hissed, his voice tight. "You bear nothing but ill luck."
Gen cursed, his golden aura flaring in indignation. "We came to help! How can you say such things?"
"Shut up!" Kang Mao snapped, his gaze never leaving the three-tailed demon. "Didn't you take any information before coming to the Sky Ocean? Or did you just rush in blind, as your father's son always does?"
The insult hung in the air, but Kang Mao didn't wait for a retort. He spoke fast, his words a terse, urgent lesson in survival. "The Sky Ocean isn't just a ruin. It's a breeding ground. An ideal place for Milky Beasts to grow and evolve. Unlike in the real world, the energy here… it accelerates them. The Sky Demon is just one of the breeds."
His eyes flicked to the three twitching, whip-like tails of their primary foe. "The number of tails represents its stage of evolution. That one… with three… can speak. It is intelligent. It is not an Infant, nor a simple Adult. It is a fully mature, evolved Adult Milky Beast. A true Monster of this realm."
Gen's face darkened as the words landed. A fully grown Adult Milky Beast. The false deity in the Tower of Wonder had been powerful, a twisted Infant touching the edge of adulthood. This being was of a completely different order. It was perhaps as strong as his father's Six-Winged Sky-Dancer had been in its prime.
They weren't just in a fight.
They were in deep, mortal trouble.
The three-tailed Sky Demon watched their hurried conference, its clicking smile widening. It seemed to enjoy their fear.
"The little one knows the rules," it rasped, pointing a claw at Kang Mao. "His blood will taste of lessons learned. The noisy one's"—its gaze slid to Gen—"will taste of suns and sorrow. And the wounded one's…" It looked at Liang, licking its lips. "…will taste of confused potential. A delightful variety."
It raised a single talon. The two standard Sky Demons flanking it tensed, their gill-sacks pulsating with building energy.
The net was closing. The promised reinforcements were getting closer, their oppressive auras beginning to stain the edge of Gen's senses.
They were surrounded, outmatched, and facing a foe that saw them not as opponents, but as a curated meal.