Far away in the opulent heart of Bellini's royal capital, where the rivers shimmered with essence and the palace walls pulsed with legacy, a ripple tore through the emperor's spirit sea.
Jack WangChester, known across realms as Emperor of Bellini, sat in a chamber carved from midnight jade, surrounded by enchanted flame lanterns that never flickered. Though his real age neared three thousand, his appearance betrayed none of it—he looked no older than eighteen. Regal and composed, his features bore the same icy silver hair as his fallen son Rayan, yet where Rayan had arrogance, Jack possessed beauty so sharp it unsettled even the bravest of officials.
His brows furrowed.
He had felt it: the rupture of a life he had once given breath to. Through the lingering spiritual tether left on Rayan, he not only sensed his death—he witnessed it.
The final clash. The shadow spears. The boy with the emotionless eyes. Jaya was standing nearby, unaware her father was watching through severed fate.
The Emperor stood from his throne, silent, shaken.
"In all my years…" he murmured. "Not once… have I seen something like that."
A whisper of wind signaled the arrival of his right hand. Floyd—a battle-worn cultivator at the early Sage Realm—stepped into view, his robes marked by the silver sigils of the emperor's elite.
"You summoned me, my lord?"
Jack turned slowly, gaze still fixed ahead. "My Five hundred and fifty first son Rayan is dead."
Floyd didn't flinch—he had served long enough to mask shock. But his voice cracked. "Dead? By whom?"
Jack extended two fingers and flicked them. A blue shimmer spilled into the air—a spirit echo of what he had seen. Floyd watched the scene unfold. Spears of shadow. A young boy—and devastation without flourish.
Floyd's face paled. "A Spirit Fusion cultivator… at sixteen? That shadow technique—rare and refined. I've never seen anything like it."
Jack nodded. "Neither have I."
"Do you want him dead, my lord?" Floyd asked.
Jack's eyes narrowed. "Truthfully? I want answers. How did a child attain such mastery? Was he trained in secret? Whose lineage produced such a being outside my notice?"
Floyd nodded gravely.
Jack added, voice cold: "But he did kill one of my sons. And as a father, that demands consequence."
"Shall I dispatch the squad, your majesty?"
The Squad are three Peak Spirit Fusion experts. Masters of tracking and subduing threats to the royal family.
"You think they'll be enough?" Jack arched a brow.
"It would be easy if we sent an Immortal Realm expert. But we can't risk breaking the pack we had with the other powerhouses of the continent over one brat," Floyd said. Then after a moment of silence, he suggested, "Then… how about hiring unaffiliated cultivators to support the squad in capturing the boy?
"We could use Princess Jaya to trace him since they seemed close."
Jack shook his head. "That's a problem. I can't."
"What?"
"That boy… somehow disrupted my spiritual tether on Jaya. I can no longer see through her."
Floyd's eyes widened. "He's a formation specialist?"
"Or his true cultivation is beyond what we perceived."
The air grew still between them.
"If that's true," Floyd whispered, "then that boy... is a monster."
Jack turned back toward the horizon beyond the chamber's enchanted windows.
"Do as you suggested earlier," he said. "And while they hunt him, I want investigations. Background checks. Connections. I want to know what state he came from, what sect raised him, and what God blessed his birth."
Floyd bowed. "Yes, my Emperor."
As the chamber fell quiet once more, Jack remained in place—his thoughts a storm masked behind serene silence.
Whatever Jalen was… he was now entangled with the royal bloodline.
And Jack was not a man who let mysteries linger long.
"What have you done?" Jaya asked, breath sharp and alarmed.
Jalen raised a brow. "What does it look like?"
"This won't end well," she said, eyes wide. "My father will sense that one of his children has died. He'll send strong cultivators to investigate, and if they find you… they'll kill you."
Jalen didn't respond. He figure her father is already aware of what happened since Rayon like Jaya also had a strong sprit sense imprinted on him.
"Don't you understand? I get that you're strong—but you're not strong enough to take on the WangChester royal family."
Jalen's voice was calm. "Is this how you thank the person who saved your guard and protected you from harm?"
He looked off into the trees. "Worrying about future problems is pointless. I'll cross that bridge when it comes."
Jaya nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I am thankful. That jerk and those scums deserved to die… but my father won't see it that way."
Jalen glanced at her. I see. She's worried about my safety.
"Don't worry about me. As long as your father is only at the Sage Realm, I can escape if he proves difficult."
Jaya scoffed at his humorous remarks. "Just what do you think a Sage Realm expert is? I agree—you're strong. You've reached the Spirit Fusion Realm at sixteen, though that's said to take over thousand years."
She paused. "But the Sage Realm is two whole realms and six sub-realms above Spirit Fusion. You will die."
She's right. Jalen shrugged. "Then let's get out of here before their backup comes."
Before Jaya could reply, Walford spoke—his voice rough but firm.
"He's right. It's pointless to stress over what's already done."
Like Jaya, he feared the consequences Jalen now faced. But unlike her, he felt nothing but relief that the boy had saved them. His injuries could be healed. Humiliation and death were far worse.
Jalen reached into his pocket space and tossed a pill—round, blue-flecked, and glowing faintly like a spirit bead—toward Walford.
"Take this. It'll heal you faster."
He considered briefly using Flare of Recursion, the twelfth technique of his light cultivation method, to trigger a full recovery. But it wasn't time to reveal everything—not yet. The pill was more than enough. In four days, Walford would be completely healed, his qi fully restored.
"Thank you," Walford said, accepting it.
He swallowed the pill. Warmth surged through him immediately—cooling his wound, mending torn veins, and settling his spirit. He blinked in awe.
"What kind of pill is this?"
"Does it matter?" Jalen replied.
"I guess not." Walford didn't press further, though curiosity gnawed at him. That was a high-grade healing pill—no question. And it left him wondering who in the world this youth truly was.
Jalen turned, glancing into the sky.
"Now let's go. And keep up."
He leapt into the air in a streak of silent motion.
Walford took Jaya's hand gently. "Come on. We need to move."
Jaya nodded, and without another word, she rose into the sky beside him—chased by the storm they'd just created.