Lin Zian walks out of the wizard tower.
The moment he appears, the atmosphere around the tower subtly changes.
Wizards standing nearby turn their heads almost instinctively.
Some look at him with open respect, sensing the overwhelming stability and pressure of his presence.
Others look with curiosity, trying to understand what they are seeing.
And a few look with suspicion.
Lin Zian understands all of it.
He knows exactly why those gazes carry unease.
He is a Second Stage of Transcendence cultivator.
Yet he is not a Spiritual Wizard.
Nor is he a Qi Refiner.
Nor a Martial Artist—at least not in the conventional sense.
That alone is enough to unsettle anyone who has spent their life inside established cultivation systems.
Before advancing, Lin Zian had walked the path of martial arts.
Minyu, who now follows him closely, had been a Qi Refiner.
Years ago, both of them fell into a trap laid by the Divine Puppet Sect.
A ruin.
An isolated place cut off from stable spiritual energy.
At that time, Lin Zian had reached the absolute limit of the Ultimate Martial Artist Realm.
He stood at a crossroads.
Transform into a Wizard.
Or break through the next realm through the Gang Qi path.
Minyu was in a similar position.
He had reached the peak of Qi Refining, standing one step away from the Core Formation Realm.
But the ruin offered no support.
The energy density was insufficient.
Breaking through normally was impossible.
Fate intervened.
They encountered each other deep within the ruin.
With time, danger, and limited resources pressing down on them, Lin Zian shared something he had never shared with anyone else.
The Darklight Martial Art technique.
Within that technique existed a hypothetical final step.
A step Lin Zian himself had never completed.
The description was vague—poetic even.
To shine a light in absolute darkness.
Lin Zian had always interpreted it as the transformation of Dark Elemental Energy into Light Elemental Energy.
But Minyu saw something different.
His interpretation was simple, yet radical.
"Darkness isn't defeated by changing into light," Minyu had said back then.
"It's defeated when something shines from within it."
His idea was not elemental.
It was internal.
Concentrate the spirit.
Condense it to an extreme.
Then let it shine like a sun within the spirit space itself.
Not converting darkness.
Overwhelming it.
They tried.
With no certainty.
With no precedent.
And against all logic, it worked.
Their spirits broke through first.
Only the spirit.
At that moment, both of them stepped into the Second Stage of Transcendence—partially.
Their bodies and energy lagged behind, but the foundation was laid.
When they finally escaped the ruin, the breakthrough completed naturally.
Yet the result was strange.
Their new energy was unlike Qi, mana, or Gang Qi.
Its base was spirit.
Pure spirit.
In Qi Refiners and Wizards, spirit is the only component.
Physical essence and spiritual energy dominate.
But for Lin Zian and Minyu, spirit outweighed everything else.
Physical essence and spiritual energy became secondary supports rather than the core.
They had stepped onto a path no system fully recognised.
That is why the wizards look at him the way they do.
Lin Zian stops in front of a two-storey stone house near the plateau's edge.
He opens the door and steps inside.
The door closes softly behind him.
Minyu is already descending the stairs, his expression thoughtful.
"What did that Commander Chen talk to you about?" Minyu asks.
Lin Zian walks into the kitchen, pours himself a glass of water, and takes a slow sip.
"He wants us to stay for six months," Lin Zian says calmly.
Minyu takes a seat, eyebrows lifting slightly.
"Why?"
Lin Zian sets the glass down.
"Because after six months, they'll be able to defend against opponents at the Core Formation level."
Minyu leans back, processing that.
"Is the Wizard way really that short on Second Stage Transcendents that they need six months of us just standing here?"
Lin Zian nods.
"Very short."
He pauses.
"They have only one true Spiritual Wizard."
Minyu's gaze sharpens.
Lin Zian continues, "In six months, they plan to upgrade the entire defensive system."
"By then," he adds, "they'll be able to withstand a Second Stage Transcendent siege for months."
Minyu's eyes widen in genuine surprise.
That is no small statement.
At the same time, far away at the eastern sea, inside the Wizard Academy, Kaelan's third clone sits behind a desk in his office.
Across from him sits Qi Zhe, the head of the Sound Dolphin Clan.
Their discussion has just concluded.
The Sound Dolphin Clan has agreed to become subordinate to the Wizard way.
They are powerful.
They possess double-digit Core Formation Realm members and five Divine Mind Realm cultivators.
Yet they know the truth.
The founder of the Wizard Way is Kaelan.
Kaelan alone could annihilate their clan if he chose to.
And even without him, given time, the Wizard way would eventually surpass them.
Qi Zhe stands, bows once more, and leaves the office.
The door closes.
Kaelan leans back in his chair, fingers tapping lightly against the armrest.
He gazes at the closed door for a long moment.
Then he speaks softly to himself.
"The time has come."
"To create a Wizard way cultivation method for the demon race."
Kaelan stands and walks toward the window, hands clasped behind his back, his gaze drifting over the sea that surrounds the small island. Waves break gently against the shore, rhythmic and calm, a stark contrast to the wars unfolding across the continent. His eyes shift sideways and settle on a mountain eagle perched on a jagged rocky face rising from the island's spine.
The eagle is still.
Alert.
Its sharp eyes scan the world below with instinctive vigilance.
Kaelan's spirit extends outward, silent and precise, slipping past natural defences and invading the eagle's mind. There is no resistance, only confusion, then submission. The eagle beats its wings, lifts from the rock face, and glides toward the window before landing neatly on the ledge in front of him.
Kaelan reaches out, grips the eagle's leg gently but firmly, and places it on his desk.
He sits.
Their eyes meet.
An ordinary beast.
Nothing special.
And yet, this is exactly the problem.
Beasts cannot cultivate the Wizard way, even after awakening wisdom.
Their spirituality is incomplete.
Only when a beast reaches the Core Formation Realm does its spirituality approach completeness, and upon reaching the Divine Mind Realm, a demon's spirituality is fully formed. But by then, demon essence has already fused with spirit, becoming inseparable.
If such a demon wishes to convert to the Wizard way, it must first transform its demon essence.
That alone is already troublesome.
And worse still, the Wizard Way itself ends at the Divine Mind Realm.
There is no higher immediate benefit.
For a Divine Mind Realm demon, switching paths offers no advantage.
They would never do it willingly.
If Kaelan commands it, the five Divine Mind Realm members of the Sound Dolphin Clan will obey, but obedience is not what he wants.
Forced conversion breeds stagnation.
He wants willingness.
He wants acceptance.
He wants a system that pulls demons toward the Wizard's way naturally.
Kaelan exhales slowly.
The root problem is clear.
The Wizard way is based on spirit.
The demon race's greatest shortcoming is spirit.
Their strength lies elsewhere.
In essence.
In flesh.
In blood and instinct refined over generations.
He murmurs to himself, "What if I change the base of the Wizard way?"
Spirit cannot be the foundation for demons.
Spiritual energy is also unsuitable.
At the early stages, demon races have almost no control over spiritual energy worth mentioning.
Their advantage has always been essence.
Pure, raw essence.
Then the answer becomes unavoidable.
"I must create a new branch," Kaelan says quietly.
"A Wizard cultivation method based on essence."
He sighs, rubbing his brow.
"I have to… if I want demons to walk the Wizard way."
He focuses again on the mountain eagle.
With a thought, he deepens his control over its mind.
The eagle beats its wings rapidly, muscles tensing, body vibrating as instinct and fear mingle under forced direction.
Kaelan places several spiritual stones onto the desk.
He channels their energy, guiding the flow carefully, not into himself, but into the eagle.
The process is slow.
Deliberate.
The eagle's body trembles as energy seeps into its meridians, crude pathways forming where none existed before.
Days pass.
Kaelan does not move from the desk.
One week later, the eagle's internal Qi circulation stabilises.
Once.
Twice.
Ten times.
More.
With a sharp cry, its eyes change.
Clarity replaces instinct.
Wisdom awakens.
The mountain eagle becomes a demon.
Kaelan watches closely.
He does not allow it to leave.
Instead, he forces it to remain within the magic energy environment surrounding the academy.
Normally, newly awakened demons instinctively flee such regions, their bodies rejecting unfamiliar energy.
But under Kaelan's control, the eagle absorbs the free magic energy.
Its demon Qi begins to shift.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Demon Qi thins, restructures, and transforms into mana.
When the process completes, Kaelan releases his grip slightly.
The eagle—no, the creature—tilts its head, confused but aware.
It is no longer a demon beast.
It has become something new.
A magic beast.
Perhaps the first of its kind.
Kaelan leans back.
The magic beast's wisdom is limited.
Comparable to that of a human child not yet three years old.
And it will not increase with age.
Its spirituality remains incomplete.
Its intelligence will grow only as its cultivation advances.
Kaelan's expression grows serious.
The Wizard Way relies on research.
On comprehension.
On knowledge transforming into power.
With this level of wisdom, magic beasts cannot research.
They cannot innovate.
They cannot fully utilise the advantages of the Wizard way until they reach at least the Core Formation Realm.
Without completed spirituality, demons who cultivate in this way will still walk a path closer to the demon way than the Wizard way.
They will gain power, but not enlightenment.
Not yet.
So this is not the final answer.
But it is a beginning.
"For now," Kaelan says softly, "demons can become magic beasts."
Demon races will not gain immediate advantage from this.
But the Wizard way will.
Magic energy will spread further.
Wider.
Deeper.
The world itself will begin to change.
He looks at the eagle again.
This creature is proof.
A prototype.
A stepping stone.
What he truly needs is a method to complete demon spirituality before they cultivate the Wizard way.
Only then will demons be able to use knowledge as power.
Only then will the Wizard Way truly integrate them.
Until that solution is found, he must take the long route.
Kaelan turns his attention inward, mind already racing with formulas, structures, and possibilities.
His hands begin to move.
Runes form in the air.
Diagrams take shape.
A new technique begins to emerge.
One meant for all demon beasts.
One meant to turn them into magic beasts.
And one day, to prepare them for something greater.
Kaelan becomes busy with creation, the quiet room filling with the soft hum of thought, magic, and the slow reshaping of the world.