Meanwhile, in the Rage Forest…
Jalen rested beneath a shattered root, adjusting the torn sleeve of his garment, breath still uneven. He hadn't merely escaped—he had survived a fusion that bent space and silence alike.
The technique had cost him more than qi. It had drained both cores to emptiness. His dantian trembled with hollowness, and even now, his spirit threads frayed with every breath.
Thread Fusion had merged Flash Reversion withEclipsed Motion, amplifying both beyond their designed limits—carrying three bodies across borders, kingdoms, and the very edge of reason.
It worked. But the toll had etched itself into his marrow.
Fusing shadow and light—two fundamentally opposing forces—wasn't just reckless. It was lethal. Without the transformation granted by the Origin Shard, without its intervention to allow both qi types to coexist within him, Jalen's body would have collapsed under the strain.
No one else would have dared attempt such a fusion.
And truthfully, no one else could have survived it.
Only Jalen—whose body had been reshaped by the shard, whose cultivation defied conventional logic—could contain a mixture of light and shadow qi without suffering catastrophic backlash.
Lloyd was seated beside him, still pulsing with cultivation heat. The slash hadn't drawn blood—but it was a reminder.
They'd been noticed.
Tera stood quietly, eyes soft. "I guess this is as far as I travel with you two."
"Leaving so soon? Just when the fun started, Grandma," Lloyd teased.
"I hope you die, pipsqueak," she snapped.
"You'd miss me if I did."
"Who would miss a brat?"
"Where are you going?"
"Why? You want to come with me, pipsqueak?"
"Are you planning to get me away from Master so you can steal my treasure?" Lloyd teased.
"You think that low of me?" Tera scoffed. "Anyway, this is farewell. Don't die, pipsqueak."
"I survived your antics. Pretty sure taking on the top twenty sects and ten royal families will be a walk in the park," Lloyd joked.
Tera rolled her eyes, nodded once at Jalen, who returned the gesture with quiet respect, and vanished skyward—leaving the continent behind.
Lloyd watched her vanish, the sky swallowing her like a secret. He didn't say it aloud, but something in his chest tightened—like a goodbye he wasn't ready for.
"You like her, don't you," Jalen said suddenly.
"What?" Lloyd's voice cracked—completely caught off guard.
"You two flirted so much just now, I thought you were going to tear each other's clothes off and get down to business," Jalen teased.
"I never thought you would be interested in these kinds of topics." Lloyd blushed instantly, surprised by Jalen's sudden interest in his romantic affairs. Not that there is any affair. "And it's not like that."
"I saw how you looked at her in the sub-realm—the short banters between you two, the side glances you exchanged when you thought no one was watching."
Lloyd's embarrassment deepened. He hadn't realized Jalen noticed this. And wait—Tera was checking him out too?
After a moment, Jalen added, "I know you're after revenge on the Sabre Sect, but I'll be leaving in three weeks." That's how long he deduced it would take him to recover after the dangerous stunt he pulled earlier.
"You're not going to ask me why?"
"Why?"
"You're a heartless brat."
"Is that how you address your master?"
Lloyd took a breath.
"My father is an elder of the Sabre Sect," he began. "He forced himself onto my mother—who was from a mid-tier sect—and tried to kill her when she got pregnant. Her entire family was wiped out by Sabre Sect underlings.
"My mother suffered a fatal stroke while she tried to escape the massacre. The Sabre Sect thought she had died, and I, the mistake, with her. But that wasn't the truth. The man I thought was my father found her—helped her. They fell in love. He raised me along with my three brothers. His biological sons.
"When I overheard the truth last year... I was furious. I accused them of lying. I couldn't believe I was a product of something so despicable, that I was nothing but someone's unwanted child. And the worst is a trauma that stayed with my mother till the day she died."
His voice grew quieter.
"There was a girl I liked. We were very close. I vented to her and told her everything—how it felt. She comforted me. I thought it would stay between us. But she told my best friend... who I didn't know was her boyfriend at the time. He told someone else. Eventually, the story reached the Sabre Sect.
"They sent people. My mother, my brothers, and my stepdad were killed because of me.
"My best friend led them to my house. I don't hold it against him, though. They threatened his family. But his betrayal still hurt to this day.
"I watched my family get slaughtered right before my eyes. My younger brothers were butchered like animals... my mother—" Lloyd swallowed hard, his voice faltering. "—decapitated without hesitation."
His hands trembled as the memories surged. "My stepdad came late but fought like a demon to protect me. I'd been slashed across the chest. He took blow after blow, just to buy us a chance."
Tears welled in Lloyd's eyes. "The only reason I'm still breathing is because we fell into an underground ridge. The enemy assumed no one could survive that drop. They were right... my stepdad didn't. He used a healing pill on me before he died, just enough to keep me alive."
He looked up; the pain in his gaze hardened into resolve. "I've lived in hiding ever since—training, surviving, trying to grow stronger so that one day I'll make them pay. The monster who birthed me and the sect that bred such a viper. I'll burn it all to the ground."
Jalen, who felt sympathy toward Lloyd, looked him dead in the eye and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "I'll help you burn that sect to the ground."
"Really?" Lloyd whispered, stunned.
"My mother is also part of that sect. I plan to say hi to her—while the flames of her betrayal consume it."
His voice made Lloyd's spine go cold.
"Now let's go find somewhere to keep a low profile."
Lloyd nodded.