Gen settled Liang and Kang Mao, ensuring they were as comfortable as possible against the base of the wooden throne. "Stay here. I am going to meet Shelia."
Liang looked up, his face still pale. "Be careful, Gen. I do not know what she will ask, but I hope it is nothing too big."
Kang Mao watched Gen, a deep unease in his heart. He did not understand the link between them. What drove Gen to make a blind promise to an unknown, ancient being just for Liang—even if it was just to buy him a few more minutes of life? Before his thoughts could settle, Gen was already moving, leaving the hall.
Deeper into the building, Gen did not need to search. Shelia's presence was not a matter of power, but of *being*. It was an aura common to the truly strong—the Divine Generals, the three-tailed Sky Demon had it in aggressive, crushing waves. For Shelia, it was calm, almost soothing, yet impossible to ignore.
After a while, he found a smaller chamber. In its center was a pool of still, blue water—the first thing in the Sky Ocean that truly resembled water, not the breathable liquid of the void. At the pool's edge, Shelia sat with her bare feet submerged in the blue, her emerald robes pooled around her like moss.
He approached, his curiosity piqued. "What is this?"
Shelia looked at him, the interest in her ancient eyes deepening. "The moment I saw you, I knew you could help me, Gen Jiang."
Gen frowned slightly. Back when he and Liang first met Shelia at Black-Green Wood's place, the old hermit had been deeply worried. *Meeting her could be your greatest fortune, or the worst misfortune to ever fall on your life.*
Gen stood by the edge of the water. "You spoke of the Sky Ocean last time. Here we are. What do you want? Since you saved Liang, I will fulfill my part of the promise. I will give you anything." He said it seriously, with the weight of his lineage. He was the son of the Immortal. His word carried a measure that could not be broken. It was a matter of honor, just as it had been for his father.
Shelia looked amused at the sixteen-year-old boy. "Would you really give me *anything* I ask for?"
Seeing her gaze linger on him, Gen felt a prickling unease, but he nodded.
"What if I want your body? Your life, then?" Shelia said. In a blur of motion, she was behind him, her arms circling affectionately around his shoulders from behind, her lips murmuring deep into his ear.
Gen trembled slightly as he felt the mature, powerful form pressed against his back. He was scared. *Would* he really give his life if she asked for it? He had promised for Liang. But his own life…
He balled his fists. Yet he did not beg. He did not cry. He did not try to bargain. He simply stood there, his heart beating a frantic rhythm against his ribs. If she wanted his life, then so be it. It might be stupid. It might be naive. But this was Gen Jiang. The Immortal Jiang's son. A young, still-growing boy who would do anything for those he cared for.
Observing his stillness, his acceptance, Shelia let out an amused laugh. She flickered away, standing in front of him once more. "The deal is simple. I will take rest in your body for a period of time. Once I feel satisfied, I will leave you to be."
Gen lifted his head, confused.
Shelia sighed and motioned for him to follow her. As they walked a slow circuit around the pool, she explained. "Milky Beasts have three stages of evolution: the Infant stage, the Adult stage, and the most difficult to attain—the Old stage. I have achieved the latter. But we Milky Beasts pay a huge price for that power."
Gen was confused. "You have so much power at this stage. What kind of price could it be?"
Shelia waved a hand at the building around them. "This is my prison."
Gen looked around, even more confused.
Shelia explained, her voice tinged with an ancient weariness. "When a Milky Beast achieves this stage of evolution, they are tied to the area where they evolved. They cannot leave that place with their real body. Only a part of their soul can wander. It is the price we pay for such power. This place… is my domain. It is why the three-tailed Sky Demon left and did not dare force its way in. Inside this place, I could slay one of those Divine Generals with ease."
Gen took a deep breath as he listened. So that was how it was. If this was true, then the level of power Shelia wielded was beyond anything he could comprehend. Even his father's mount in the past had been just an Adult Milky Beast. Gen had always wondered why, with his father's strength, he never sought a stronger companion.
Shelia then looked at him with a profound, pitiful expression. "You know, Milky Beasts have very short lifespans. Most die before even reaching the peak of the Infant stage in the real world, taken as mounts or pets. I was lucky. I fled to the Sky Ocean. I was hunted, and I almost died many times. But here, I could evolve with time, until this level. However…" Her voice grew soft, filled with a longing that spanned eons. "I feel life still has so much to offer. I cannot let myself be trapped here forever with all this power, which feels useless."
Gen could somehow understand her thinking. For Shelia, it was not about honor, or heroics, or any human concept. The Damocles, the Divine Generals—none of that mattered. All she wanted was freedom. Freedom to roam the world, freed from this place, and with her full being, to see a real sun without fear for once.
Gen could feel the depth of that longing in her voice and in her ancient eyes. "If that is all it is… then fine. I will grant you my body."
Shelia's eyes twinkled with a sudden, fierce joy. She pulled Gen into a tight embrace, her scent of night flowers filling his nose, her generous chest pressed against his chest. She explained then that, in fact, she would not *take* his body. She would use it as a host—a proxy to the area of her last evolution. That way, when Gen left the Sky Ocean, she would be able to come with him and roam free. The downside was she would always have to be near him, never far apart. Wherever Gen went, she could go.
Gen sighed, his face pressed into her shoulder. "You are… crushing me."
Shelia laughed, amused, and released him, stepping back. "Is this not what you human cultivators long for?"
Gen's face took on a red hue. "I do not care about such things. I want the heads of the Divine Generals. Nothing else."
Shelia laughed again. "You are interesting." She grew serious. "I will tell you the advantage of having me as a proxy. I will be able to nurture your Qi and train you. You will get stronger and stronger with every day I spend with you." She paused, her gaze sharpening. "However, I warn you. The process to become a proxy will be very risky. There is a high chance you will be unable to hold my essence within you… and die."
Gen's smile instantly vanished. He gulped, looking at her. Given how things had developed, he was pretty sure she would force him to do it even if he hesitated now. He nodded. Then he asked, "Why me? There are many cultivators you could have chosen from in the Sky Ocean."
Shelia paused for a second, looking deep into his eyes. "It is simple. You are Gen Jiang." In her mind, she added, *I once met the figure called Jiang when I was still an Infant Milky Beast. I had no intelligence back then, but he left a very deep impression on me when he razed the Bliss Palace and saved that girl. Furthermore, the One-Eyed Silver Fox has a knack for finding treasure. It is my born advantage as a Milky Beast of this race.*
Gen followed Shelia back to the strange basin room. She asked him to step into the middle of the pool.
He did so without question, the blue liquid cool around his ankles. "What do I do next?"
"Take off everything," Shelia said.
Gen frowned slightly, but Shelia's face held no jest. He bit his lip, looking left and right. There was really no one else. He was not the fifteen-year-old Gen anymore, the one Madame Su could wash without a second thought. He had seemingly grown to the point where he understood shyness.
He took off his shirt and trousers, staying only in his simple undergarments. "I am not taking anything more off."
Shelia laughed. "How old are you, little boy?"
Gen raised a finger. "I am sixteen now. I am not a little boy." But just as he was trying to explain, Shelia's figure vanished.
She melted into a beam of pure, silver light that shot straight into his unprepared body.
Gen suddenly felt a strange force *wielding* itself inside him. He felt hot. As if his body within was boiling. The water around him bubbled violently and then dried into wisps of white steam. Gen clutched at his own skin, biting his lips hard. It was like he was being roasted from the inside out. The essence of Shelia was just too strong. Perhaps even stronger than the pressure Nix had given him back in the arena.
His knees buckled, hitting the dry basin floor. His mind started spinning, a dizzying vortex threatening to pull him into unconsciousness. He heard a voice in his mind, her voice, telling him to *resist* the feeling, to not fall asleep.
Gen tried. He tried with everything he had. But the feeling was too intense, assaulting every sense, rewriting the very map of his spirit.
From the edge of the hall, Liang and Kang Mao arrived, Liang leaning heavily on Mao. Seeing Gen kneeling, wreathed in steam and trembling violently, Liang shouted into the chamber, his voice raw. "GEN!"
That was all he needed. That little bit of lifeline that held him to the world.
With a last, internal cry that tore from his soul, Gen pushed forward. He rose. One shaking step. Then another. His back straightened. His fingers clenched until they were white. *If I want to one day defeat Zeph and the Divine Generals, I must be able to bear this kind of pressure. And even more.*
Liang and Kang Mao watched with awe as the air coiled and swirled around Gen, a visible tempest of spiritual energy. His hair whipped in the wind generated from his own body, but his expression—though strained with agony—never wavered. They shielded their faces as the last of the water flashed outward in a perfect, expanding ring.
A few seconds later, the tempest died.
Gen fell forward, catching himself on his hands, panting as if he had run across the world.
The figure of Shelia reappeared behind him, but this time, it did not have the same overwhelming pressure as before. Clearly, doing this had a price she, too, had to pay. She looked at Gen, then at Liang and Kang Mao, a beaming, radiant smile on her lips.
"I am now free," she said, her voice a whisper of pure, unadulterated joy. She almost cried.