Lara's breath hitched before her eyes even opened.
She knew this ceiling. This scent. This silk. Her body responded before her thoughts did—panic blooming in her chest as she sat upright, fingers trembling as they sought Jaquan.
But the bed was empty.
Her pulse quickened. She scanned the room. Ornate carvings on polished stone walls. Crimson tapestries lined with golden thread. A standing mirror curved like a royal crest. The room was hers—the same one she'd fled from five years ago.
"No…" she whispered. "No, no, no…"
Her stomach churned with dread. She rose, barely steady on her feet, and moved toward the door—only to stop cold at the sight of someone seated calmly near the window.
A young man in ceremonial attire. Regal robe, deep burgundy and blue, embroidered with the Crown Kingdom's sigil. He didn't smile. Just turned, expression somewhere between disdain and disappointment.
"Where is he?" she demanded.
Silence.
Then, with a voice soaked in venom, "Is that how you greet your father, you ungrateful girl?"
Lara's throat tightened. "Father…"
Raiden, king of the Crown Kingdom, stood slowly. He hadn't aged much—same granite jaw, same piercing gaze that once froze entire war councils. But this time, his fury shimmered beneath every word.
"You've humiliated this king," he said flatly. "You disappeared over five years ago—right before the most important alliance ceremony in our history. You were promised to the Duke Kingdom's heir. And you ran."
"I had no choice," Lara whispered. "I couldn't marry that womanizing wretch. You know what he was."
Raiden's lip curled. "It wasn't about him or you. It was about something bigger than you two. Our kingdom. Peace. Borders. Legacy. And you threw it away to play fugitive."
Lara straightened. "I didn't play anything. I tried to survive."
"Oh, you did more than survive," Raiden snapped. "You resurfaced—alive and pregnant. With a bastard. An illegitimate child conceived out of wedlock with some forest stray cultivator."
Lara staggered. "He's not—he's more than that. His name is Jaquan, and he saved me. He loves me."
"Love?" Raiden laughed bitterly. "You think I care about love?"
She stepped forward, defiant. "He's strong. He's kind. And he's the father of your grandchild."
Raiden's face darkened. "The spawn of that peasant is not my grandchild."
Lara trembled. "Please don't hurt him."
Raiden sighed. "I've already sent Thomas to find a cultivator skilled enough to sever a child from its mother's body—without killing her. You'll live, Lara. But you won't disgrace our name further by birthing that thing."
All the blood drained from her face.
"No…"
"It's not up to you."
Her voice cracked. "Father, please."
"Silence."
His hand struck before she could react—a slap so sharp her cheek lit red instantly. Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall.
"If you hadn't betrayed me five years ago," Raiden hissed, "we wouldn't be here."
He turned and left without another word.
The door slammed shut.
And Lara collapsed.
She held her belly with both hands, shielding it. Whispering apologies. Vows.
"Don't worry," she murmured. "I won't let them take you. I won't."
___
Somewhere deep inside the Rage Forest.
Jalen stepped into the fading light between trees, his breath blending into the shadow around him. He was the storm that moved without sound.
The spirit tether he'd left on his father felt stronger as he headed east; that means he's close by.
With the second technique of the Spirit Wind Art technique Dance Like the wind, he followed the connection across mountains, valleys, and into the borders of the Crown Kingdom. Even from outside, he could feel it—more than two hundred Imperial Realm signatures and a presence far stronger.
None sensed him.
His Spirit Wind Art first technique Breath Like Dust technique erased presence, aura, movement, and heat. Even formations failed. He passed through guard posts, over palace walls, and into halls lined with protective wards—untouched.
No one tracked him.
Eventually he managed to find his father down in the dungeon, bound in qi suppression shackles. Walls pulsed with containment formations. But the tether shone brighter here.
Jalen entered, eyes flared blue. He as been longing for an happy reunion with his father, but instead this is what he had stumbled into.
Jaquan knelt, shackled by qi-draining glyphs. His arms looked pale. His head hung low. Blood crusted his lip.
He hadn't sensed Jalen until Jalen spoke. "Dad."
"Jalen?" Jaquan whispered wondering if he was imagining things or if this was a reality.
The chains broke by a wind qi blade formed by Jalen. His fifth technique of his Spirit Wind Art: Tornado Slash.
Jalen stepped closer. "What happened? Who did this to you?"
Jaquan's voice cracked. "I'll explain later. Right now—I need to find her."
"Her?" Jalen's anger subsided as his brow lifted briefly due to curiosity.
"My fiancée. Lara."
Jalen didn't waste any more time he could catch up with him later.
He reached for his father.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished from the dungeon via eclipse motion, the first skill of his shadow technique—appearing above inside the palace hallway.
"Do you know where exactly she is?" Jalen asked.
The palace formations were dense—layers of spirit barriers, tracking arrays, and imperial-grade surveillance constructs. Any careless flare of spirit sense would alert the entire capital, and he would like to avoid trouble if it's necessary.
Jaquan lifted a hand and closed his eyes. He pressed his palm outward—not toward space, but inward. Into the child. Into the thunder spirit seed growing inside Lara. His qi pulsed gently, seeking resonance, not disturbance.
Then he felt it.
A flicker—like lightning beneath silk. Warm, erratic, alive.
"She's northeast. Four chambers away," Jaquan whispered.
They moved quickly. Quietly.
Until two guards dropped from the ceiling—Moon Realm elites, weapons drawn, blades humming.
No questions. No warning.
Jalen's eyes flared dark.
One of the guards lunged—blade humming with Moon Realm force ice energies.
But before the strike landed, the space around him… changed.
It didn't explode outward. It didn't roar.
It simply vanished.
The shadow didn't spread—it replaced.
One moment, the guard stood ready to kill.
The next, his place was occupied by a void. A patch of reality that no longer belonged to this world.
Shadow Devour.
The second guard screamed and struck wildly, but the same thing happened.
A flicker. A silence.
Then nothing.
Jaquan stared at his son in quiet awe and couldn't help feeling a little chill.
He didn't recognize the technique. But he felt its hunger. And it scared him.
Jalen turned. "Lead the way."
They reached the hallway.
A scream tore through the air.
Lara's.