Lloyd flew low over the obsidian cliffs, light qi tucked tight against his skin to mask his signature. The Vault Realm unfolded beneath him in gradients—misted lowlands, fractured altar fields, shallow lakes bubbling with concentrated essence. Each zone pulsed with latent danger.
He wasn't searching for a fight.
But the Vault was never a place for peace.
Three hours in, while crossing crystalline outcroppings, he felt it: pressure like molten glass pressing against his lungs. He crouched, extended his spirit sense. The source pulsed from a collapsed temple ruin, half-sunken in silver dust.
Atop a stone dais tangled in radiant root threads sat the Sunroot Heart—a rare artifact known to awaken hidden veins in cultivators attuned to illumination and flame.
When Lloyd reached for it, the ground trembled.
The beast emerged.
A flaming tiger, scaled in translucent heat. Its mane roared like wildfire, claws dripping molten qi. Eyes like glowing fractures. Mid-Enlightened Realm—an entire sub-realm above him.
Lloyd reacted instantly. Luminous Veil Step activated. He phase-stepped through ambient light, narrowly avoiding the beast's claw swipe. Reappearing behind a shattered pillar, panting. His shoulder burned—he hadn't escaped unscathed.
The tiger roared, unleashing a wave of curved flame that tore through the terrain. Lloyd spun mid-air, light qi coiling through his limbs to buffer the impact. He countered with Raystorm Volley, unleashing hundreds of spear-like rays to force the beast back.
It worked—but barely. The beast's flaming hide absorbed most of the damage.
They clashed again.
Speed became the battlefield. Lloyd flickered across illuminated terrain using Luminous Veil Step, but the beast's higher cultivation gave it the edge. It struck with flaming claws, launched fireballs that exploded on impact. Lloyd anchored himself with Radiant Pulse Weave, stabilizing his flow mid-strike.
He retaliated with Piercing Ray Spiral, a spiraling projectile of light qi that drilled into the beast's flank. It staggered—but the wound sealed instantly in a burst of flame.
The tiger reared, unleashing spiral flame shards in a wide arc.
Lloyd sidestepped—barely. The first shard grazed his shoulder, sizzling through fabric. He twisted low, the second shard slicing overhead. The third—he dropped into a roll, heat licking his heels.
No shield. No counterstrike. Just motion.
He sprang up, breath sharp, eyes locked. The ground beneath him scorched, but he remained untouched. His skin pulsed with residual heat, but it held.
The tiger snarled, confused. Its attack had landed nowhere.
Lloyd's stance was loose now—fluid, reactive. He wasn't trying to overpower the beast. He was reading it. Frame by frame. Twitch by twitch.
The next barrage came faster.
So did he.
Lloyd flickered between fractured rays. He reappeared at the beast's flank—struck once, then again. Qi looped through his limbs, redirecting force. But the beast unraveled into mist before the final blow could land.
It reformed across the ridge—faster than before.
Lloyd's robe hung in tatters. His core dimmed. The beast grew erratic. Faster. He began slipping—dodging fractions too late, countering a beat too slow.
So he baited it.
He stabilized his stance with Radiant Pulse Weave, letting his qi loop through his limbs in perfect rhythm. He exposed his core—arms open, vulnerable.
The beast lunged, claws igniting in a burst of condensed flame.
Refraction Field Bloom activated at point-blank range. The flame strike collapsed into the field, absorbed instantly. But the backlash tore through him—his limbs shook, his veins seared.
Still, he endured.
The energy twisted, then transformed—light qi surged from his core.
Before the beast could phase out, Lloyd redirected the burst. A beam of pure light erupted from his chest, striking the tiger square in the chest.
The beast staggered—locked in place, unable to shift.
Lloyd didn't hesitate. He summoned Solar Pulse, channeling the last of his strength into a concentrated beam. It struck the exposed flank with precision.
The beast collapsed.
Lloyd approached the Sunroot Heart, its radiant threads still pulsing faintly atop the stone dais. He reached out, claimed it, and stored it in his pocket world for later refinement.
Then he turned to the fallen beast.
His breath came in torn gusts. Blood mingled with light qi across his chest, painting him in streaks of pain and power. Exhausted, he knelt and retrieved the beast core. It wasn't compatible with his qi—but it could still be refined. Used to nourish his spirit core. A small gain, but a necessary one.
He found shelter in a hollow ridge, shielded from ambient essence and roaming predators. There, he rested. Recuperated.
Had he mastered the Eighth Light Technique, his wounds would've sealed instantly. Qi restored to eighty percent. But he hadn't. So he healed the slow way—through natural light qi resonance. A process that could take up to three days.
One day passed.
His qi climbed to sixty percent. Injuries not fully healed, but sealed enough to move. Enough to fight again.
And while he was out treasure hunting he heard voices.
Not distant. Not loud.
Familiar.
He stopped just short of a ridgeline where broken trees bled sap into the wind. There, standing among a group of twelve, was the Diamond Realm woman from the Sabre Sect.
She hadn't changed. Not much. Still sharp-eyed. Still cold. Still carrying herself like someone who had learned too young to fear weakness.
But this time, when she saw him—she flinched.
Only slightly.
Only for a heartbeat.
"You're still alive?" she said, half disbelief, half challenge.
Lloyd said nothing.
She didn't attack.
He could have. She had nearly killed him before. Robbed him. Humiliated him.
He could end her.
He wanted to.
But if he did, the others with her—those layered in advanced spirit robes, their auras crackling beyond Enlightened strength—would close in. Even the Star Realm cultivator among them could kill him in less than ten moves.
So he turned. Walked away.
There would be time for vengeance. Not against her.
Against the Sabre Sect.
One of her companions raised a brow. "Who was that?"
She hesitated.
Then answered, low and clipped:
"Nobody."
No one questioned further.