Luo Hao stared at Ming Yue's concerned face in silence.
She spoke first, her voice soft with practiced worry. "Young Master, I must inform the Master about this."
Luo Hao's face was pale, his body weak. He reached out and gently grabbed her hand. Even that small effort cost him greatly.
"No," he said in a faint voice. "Don't. It isn't as bad as it looks. It's just a minor internal injury from improper energy circulation. Nothing serious."
He loosened his grip slowly and let his arm fall back onto the bed with a dull thud.
Ming Yue's brows furrowed, her eyes glistening with practiced worry. "Young Master, a minor injury does not produce this much blood. Please, allow me to fetch a physician at the very least."
"I said it's fine." His voice was flat, exhausted. "I just need to rest."
He turned his head toward the window. Morning light fell across the floor in pale strips, cold and indifferent.
"You may go, Ming Yue. Take the sheets with you when you leave. I don't want the room smelling like this any longer."
A beat of silence passed.
Then Ming Yue bowed her head slowly. "Yes, Young Master."
He watched as she carefully removed the sheets from the bed, bundled them under her arm, and made her way to the door.
She left without another word.
As the door clicked shut, Luo Hao exhaled,long, slow, and heavy. Even that small release of breath sent a dull ache rippling through his chest.
I need sleep.
He had spent the entire night trying to circulate Primeval Energy without a single moment of rest. His body had nothing left to give. He closed his eyes, and before he even realized it, sleep pulled him under.
Down in the courtyard, the morning sun shone brightly over the Luo family estate.
Luo Zhen stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching Luo Jin sit cross legged on the stone ground. Blue Primeval Energy shimmered around the boy's body in unsteady waves.
"Slowly, Son," Luo Zhen said, his voice calm and instructing. "Don't simply absorb the Primeval Energy ,you must feel it. In every bone, every muscle, every cell, every drop of blood. When you feel a sensation as though your body is holding back a tremendous force, focus your will and direct that force toward your stomach. Try to condense it into a single point."
Luo Jin followed the instruction carefully. His face betrayed visible pain and sweat dripped steadily from his forehead, veins rising visibly along his temples. His fists were clenched against his knees.
"Don't lose focus," Luo Zhen added quietly. "The moment you do, the condensing force will ripple outward."
Luo Jin held on. Twenty minutes passed in tense silence.
Then his stamina broke.
"I can't hold it any longer!"
The moment he released, a massive wave of Primeval Energy exploded outward, sweeping across the entire courtyard. He collapsed onto his back, chest heaving, breath ragged and desperate. He stared up at the open sky above him.
A shadow fell across his face.
Luo Zhen stood over him,his expression a mixture of disappointment and quiet pride.
Though Luo Jin had failed to form his Spirit Core, Luo Zhen had expected as much. Even Luo Wei whose talent had been a generational rarity,had taken three full weeks to form his. Luo Jin's talent, while exceptional, did not surpass his late uncle's.
But the pride remained. Luo Jin had understood the instruction on his very first attempt. He had felt the force. He had nearly held it. Within enough attempts, within enough time, he would form his Spirit Core in at most three weeks.
Luo Zhen was certain of it.
Luo Jin quickly sat up upon seeing his father.
"I'm sorry, Father. I wasn't able to form it."
Luo Zhen said nothing at first. He extended his will, and a vine shot from beneath the earth, a Red Razor Grass Vine, thick and vivid, with golden veins branching through its center like rivers of light. The vine wrapped gently around Luo Jin's hands and waist, lifting him smoothly from the ground and setting him upright on his feet.
"Don't apologize," Luo Zhen said finally, his voice quieter now. "Your grandfather formed his Spirit Core in seven weeks. Your uncle Luo Wei formed his in three. You will form yours in less. That is what matters."
Luo Jin straightened at the mention of his uncle's name. Something flickered briefly in his eyes,curiosity, perhaps. Or the faint edge of rivalry toward someone who was no longer alive to be rivaled.
His gaze drifted upward,toward the second floor of the estate, toward a particular window.
"Father," he said, his voice genuinely curious, carrying no trace of malice. "Does Luo Hao have any chance of forming his Spirit Core?"
Luo Zhen's expression turned dismissive.
"Your cousin Luo Hao has very little chance. As you know, he was born with a cursed body,frail and utterly unsuitable for cultivation. No matter how hard he tries, forming his Spirit Core within one month is simply impossible." He paused, then placed a firm hand on Luo Jin's shoulder. "So do not concern yourself with him. You, my son,you are the future of the Luo family. You will carry our name beyond this Western Province and into the Central Continent. You will fulfill the dream your grandfather never could."
Luo Jin's chest swelled. A wide smile broke across his face.
Good, Luo Zhen thought, his expression warm.
But beneath that warmth, darker thoughts moved in quiet satisfaction.
With the pill I asked the maid to slip into the dying brat's food, there is no chance he forms his Spirit Core even in three months.
A faint smile crossed his lips.
"Go and freshen up," he said aloud. "Then continue your practice. Your father has other matters to attend to."
Luo Jin nodded. "Yes, Father."
He barely finished speaking before a Silver Razor Grass Vine,thinner than his father's but elegant in its own way, golden veins branching outward like the pattern on a leaf ,coiled around Luo Jin's foot and launched him smoothly upward, depositing him onto the second floor balcony of the estate.
Luo Zhen watched him go, a genuine smile touching his face.
Then he turned and walked deeper into the estate.
Moonlight streamed into Luo Hao's room through the open window.
He had slept through the entire day. By the time his eyes finally opened, the night had already settled deep around the estate, wrapping the world in silence.
He lay still for a long moment, staring at the ceiling above him.
What just happened?
His expression was confused. His eyes were tired.
A memory surfaced,something that had occurred while he slept.
In the dream, Luo Hao had found himself standing inside his Sea of Consciousness.
The dazzling night sky stretched endlessly above him, countless stars glittering like scattered diamonds across a canvas of deep black. The rippling ground beneath his feet reflected their light like still water.
In the distance, Malice stood motionless.
Luo Hao walked toward it. As he approached, Malice reacted,raising its massive head slowly, as though acknowledging his presence. Luo Hao stopped when they were face to face, though the gap in their sizes was enormous. Malice lowered its head until its glowing red eyes were level with Luo Hao's cold black ones.
Luo Hao smiled faintly and raised his right hand, placing it atop Malice's head.
After that brief moment of recognition, Malice lifted its body back upright. Then it turned toward the opposite end of the Sea of Consciousness, raised one great shadowy arm, and pointed into the distance.
Luo Hao couldn't see what lay beyond from where he stood,Malice's sheer size blocked his view. He walked around the entity and followed its pointing finger.
The distance was empty. Endless space. Nothing but more drifting stars and still, rippling ground stretching to infinity.
And yet, for reasons he couldn't articulate ,he knew Malice wanted him to go there.
So he walked.
And walked.
And walked.
What felt like hours passed, and yet the horizon never seemed to draw closer. The farther he went, the more it seemed as though he were moving nowhere at all,like a man walking against an invisible current.
Eventually, exhausted by the futility of it, he stopped and collapsed onto the floor of the Sea of Consciousness.
It doesn't even feel like I've moved.
He turned his head back instinctively, and his eyes widened slightly.
Malice was still visible behind him,no more than fifty steps away.
He had been walking for what felt like hours. And he had taken fifty steps.
Luo Hao sat still for a moment, thinking.
Then his gaze swept across the entire Sea of Consciousness,the stars, the rippling ground, the endless expanse.
This space resides within my mind. It is an extension of my will.
He turned back toward the direction Malice had pointed.
He closed his eyes.
He stretched out one hand toward the distance and willed the space to fold.
The entire Sea of Consciousness responded.
The stretched expanse began collapsing inward toward him,like a scroll being rolled up, like cloth being gathered in a fist. Space pulled itself forward with a deep, resonant hum.
Then it stopped.
Luo Hao opened his eyes.
Floating directly before him was a red formation seal.
It was large,nearly two meters across and its surface was covered in an intricate design of interlocking lines and glyphs that pulsed faintly with a dim crimson light. Ancient. Deliberate. Hidden.
So this is what Malice wanted me to find.
He stepped closer, studying it carefully.
What is a formation seal doing inside my Sea of Consciousness? And why didn't I notice it the last time I was here?
Curiosity won over caution.
He reached out with his left hand and placed it flat against the seal's surface.
The seal erupted.
A surge of force blasted outward, sending Luo Hao flying backward. He stumbled and barely kept his footing.
He blinked.
What the hell.
He walked back toward it. This time, he coated his hand in a layer of Primeval Energy before making contact.
The seal responded with even greater violence.
The force that detonated from it was twice as powerful,it launched him clear across the Sea of Consciousness, sending him tumbling through the air until he landed hard on his back beside Malice.
Malice looked down at him.
Luo Hao lay still for a moment, staring up at the star filled sky.
That seal is not something to be trifled with.
He stood.
This time, he wrapped his entire body in Primeval Energy,a full-body coating, dense as he could make it and approached the seal again.
Before he could even reach it, the seal began reacting violently. Crimson lightning cracked and split from its surface, arcing through the air like the seal was alive and furious.
Then one bolt found him.
The moment it struck
He woke up.
Luo Hao sat upright in his bed, breathing hard.
What just happened?
He turned his head toward the window. Outside, a bright blue full moon hung heavy in the night sky, its light spilling across the floor and washing gently over his face.
He sat quietly for a long moment, leaning his back against the bed frame.
What was that seal? he thought, his eyes fixed on the moon. And who put it there?
In the grand study of the Luo family estate, Luo Zhen sat in the patriarch's chair,a seat that had not been rightfully his to occupy.
The study was vast, over a hundred and twenty square feet of dark wood and candlelight. On the right wall stood three shelves, each packed tightly with book,histories of the Luo family, cultivation records, and accumulated knowledge passed down through more than a thousand years of successive family heads.
Luo Zhen worked quietly at the desk, brush moving steadily across parchment.
Then he stopped.
The estate had gone completely silent.
Not the natural silence of a sleeping household,this was something else entirely. It was as though the sound had been drained from the world, vacuumed from the air itself. He picked up the candle stand from the table and dropped it on the floor deliberately.
It hit the stone, broke apart, and rolled.
And made no sound at all.
Luo Zhen's expression hardened.
"Whoever you are," he said, his voice measured, "show yourself."
Nothing.
The silence held.
"You don't know who you're dealing with," he warned, rising from his chair and settling into a combat stance. Yellow Primeval Energy surged over his body in a sharp blaze. His fingers curled, ready to summon his Razor Grass Vine.
Then the force arrived.
It crashed down on him like a collapsing mountain,an overwhelming, suffocating pressure that drove him straight to his knees before he could even react. His arms shook. His teeth ground together as he strained to resist.
A voice came from the direction of the window.
Low. Relaxed. Utterly unbothered.
"You've grown arrogant in these past few years, Luo Zhen."
The moment Luo Zhen heard that voice, the color drained completely from his face.
He stopped resisting.
The crushing force released him.
He exhaled shakily and managed to rise to his feet.
"My apologies," he said, his tone shifting to something careful, almost reverent. "I didn't realize it was you."
Sitting on the windowsill, one leg swinging idly in the night air, was a young man.
He appeared no older than his early twenties,blue hair tied neatly behind his head, wearing a plain black tunic and black trousers. A black mask covered everything below his eyes. The eyes themselves were striking,two different colors. The right eye was a deep, calm blue. The left was golden, bright as a coin held to candlelight.
Together, they gave him a presence that felt more like a phenomenon than a person.
The young man was a Level 5 Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.
He slid off the windowsill with the ease of someone stepping down from a single stair and walked calmly into the study. Without ceremony, he dropped into the patriarch's chair,the same chair Luo Zhen had been sitting in,crossed one leg over the other, and placed his feet on the desk.
He looked at Luo Zhen like a man reviewing accounts.
"The Master is growing impatient," he said. "So he sent me to check on your progress."
His eyes narrowed thin, sharp, like two blades finding their edge.
"Tell me. Have you inherited the seal?"
Luo Zhen's already pale face went paler.
His mouth opened.
Then closed.
He was trying to form a sentence and failing.
Before he could manage one, the young man spoke again ,his voice still calm, still relaxed, but carrying an edge underneath it that made Luo Zhen's hands tremble.
"Why haven't you killed Luo Hao and inherited the seal? What is stopping you from simply killing the boy?"
Silence stretched.
Then Luo Zhen answered, carefully.
"It's Chief Xuan." He steadied his voice as best he could. "After my brother's death, the Chief grew suspicious. And honestly you yourself must acknowledge how suspicious it appears. A Nascent Soul cultivator dying to a group of bandit cultivators? Chief Xuan kept close watch on me and the family for a long time afterward. If I had killed Luo Hao,who is next in line for the family headship,the Chief's suspicions would have been all but confirmed. And if the Chief chose to take action..."
He paused, then added quietly:
"Not even the Master would be able to stop him."
The moment the words left his mouth, the young man's Primeval Energy erupted.
In a single instant,without expression, without warning,he raised one hand.
Luo Zhen was lifted into the air.
Then slammed into the floor.
Then lifted again.
Then slammed again.
Each impact sent a crack through the stone beneath him. The young man's face didn't change. His voice, when he spoke, was still almost bored.
"How dare you," he said quietly, "suggest that the Master has limitations."
He slammed Luo Zhen down a fifth time.
Then released.
Luo Zhen hit the floor and lay there,gasping, unable to rise, his breath coming in short, broken pulls.
The young man stood, straightened his tunic, and walked unhurriedly toward him. He looked down at the crumpled figure of the Luo family's patriarch with something close to indifference.
"It was our mistake," he said simply. "We should have killed the boy before killing the father. No point dwelling on what's passed."
Luo Zhen spoke from the floor, his voice shallow and strained.
"Tell the Master... he doesn't have to wait much longer. Luo Hao's body is weak and terminally ill. The boy is already fated to die before he turns twenty. There is nothing he can do to change that fate. And when he dies naturally... the seal will transfer to me. And whatever secret is hidden within it will belong to the Master."
The young man turned away.
He walked back toward the window without hurry. Then, at the sill, he paused and looked back over his shoulder. The moonlight caught his mismatched eyes,one blue, one gold.
"Remember who helped you when you had nothing," he said quietly. "And remember who holds your life in his hands."
Then he was gone.
A sudden gust of wind swept through the study, extinguishing two of the candles. Moonlight flooded the room.
Luo Zhen remained on the floor unable to rise, unable to speak,as the pale light washed over him.
Kneeling there in the silence, the past rose up to meet him.
Four years ago. The night Luo Wei died.
It was the dead of night.
The carriage moved steadily through the darkness, wheels rolling over the quiet road that led back to Jingsing Town. Inside, lantern light swayed gently with the rhythm of travel.
Luo Wei sat across from his wife, Luo Mu Bing. Luo Zhen sat beside him. The journey back from Autumn Gate Citadel had been long, and they were all tired but Luo Wei's mood was bright, almost restless with quiet excitement.
"I think the meeting went well," he said, his voice warm with anticipation. "Better than I'd hoped."
Luo Mu Bing smiled at him,the kind of smile that had always made a room feel warmer. "I believe so too. Hopefully the elders of the White Pearl Jade Sect will give our proposal genuine consideration."
Autumn Gate Citadel was the greatest city in the entire Western Province,a hub of trade, wealth, and power, sitting under the direct protection of the White Pearl Jade Sect. The Sect itself had been established over two thousand years ago by an Ascension Realm cultivator, and in the millennia since, it had produced talent after remarkable talent.
Yet Jingsing Town, sitting at the very edge of the Western Province, had never once received an envoy in over nineteen hundred years. Promising young cultivators born in Jingsing had always faded quietly into obscurity, their potential unrecognized and unused.
It was for this reason that Luo Wei, Luo Mu Bing, and Luo Zhen had made the journey to meet with city officials who held direct connections to the Sect's elders, and to make the case that Jingsing Town was worth visiting.
"Don't worry, Brother," Luo Zhen said, his voice light. "With the way you spoke tonight, I'm certain the elders will send an envoy."
Luo Wei chuckled softly. "I hope so. Jingsing may be small, but it has no shortage of promising young cultivators. It would be a shame to watch that talent simply wither away."
"Agreed," Luo Mu Bing said with a small smile.
"Agreed," Luo Zhen echoed.
The night settled comfortably around them. The road stretched on. After a time, the soft rhythm of the wheels lulled all three into sleep.
Then
Luo Wei's eyes snapped open.
A silver spear was piercing through the carriage wall, flying directly toward Luo Mu Bing's heart.
In the span of a single heartbeat,before thought, before fear, Luo Wei acted.
His Sky Piercing Vine erupted from beneath the carriage floor, a deep red vine that resembled thick seaweed, its surface threaded with vivid green veins that branched like the lines on a leaf. It launched outward and coiled itself around the silver spear, seizing it entirely, halting it a single inch from Luo Mu Bing's chest.
He had saved her.
But the force behind the spear was enormous.
The entire carriage shattered from the impact,wood splintering, the frame collapsing, sending all three of them tumbling out into the night air. Luo Wei used his vine to catch himself mid fall, steadying his body before his feet touched the ground.
The moment he was upright, he yelled out into the darkness.
"We're under attack! Prepare yourselves!"
Then he heard his wife's voice,soft as a whisper.
"Honey..."
He turned.
And the world stopped.
An arm had punched through Luo Mu Bing's back, its hand protruding from her chest. She was coughing blood,bright and red and terrible in the moonlight.
"You bastard!!!!!!!"
The figure who had struck her vanished instantly, leaping away before Luo Wei could reach them. Luo Wei crossed the distance in a single bound and caught his wife's body before it could hit the ground, pulling her against him, his hands shaking for the first time in years.
"Mu Bing," he said, his voice cracking at the edges. "Hold on. I will get you help. Just hold on"
Luo Mu Bing coughed again. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. But she was smiling ,the same warm, quiet smile she always had.
She raised her left hand slowly and pressed it against his cheek.
"We both know I can't survive an injury like this," she whispered.
"Don't say that"
"Luo Wei." Her voice was gentle but certain. She held his face in her palm as though memorizing it. "Forget about me. Go back to our son."
Her thumb brushed his cheekbone softly.
"Hao'er needs his father. He is young, and the world will not be kind to him. Not with the body he was born with." Her breathing grew shallow, each word costing more than the last. "Promise me... that you will go back to him. Promise me that you will be there."
Tears fell down Luo Wei's face,silent and unrestrained,dripping onto the ground between them.
"I promise," he said, his voice barely a sound.
Luo Mu Bing's smile didn't waver.
"Good." Her hand grew heavy against his cheek. Her eyes, still holding his, began to dim at their edges.
"Our son is going to do extraordinary things, Luo Wei," she breathed. "I can feel it."
Her hand slipped from his face.
And her eyes closed.
Luo Wei sat in the darkness, holding her,utterly still. The world around him continued: the sound of approaching footsteps, the rustle of wind in the trees, the distant call of a night bird.
He heard none of it.
For a long moment, he simply held her.
Then something shifted in his expression,something breaking open and going cold at the same time.
Slowly, he looked up.
Luo Zhen was standing a few feet away, watching.
And Luo Wei,for the first time,noticed that his brother hadn't summoned his Spirit Soul. Hadn't fought. Hadn't called out a warning. Had simply stood, unharmed, in the wreckage of a coordinated ambush.
Luo Wei's eyes didn't change.
But for just a moment, his gaze met Luo Zhen's.
And in that moment, he knew.