Chapter 4: The Beast and the Betrayal
The Void Kitten was not, as it turned out, actually a kitten.
"Your naming conventions leave much to be desired," Li Xianling observed as the creature—now freed from its cage—stretched to the size of a large dog. Its scales rippled from starlight-silver to deepest void-black, and its eyes contained the same cold intelligence Alex remembered from his most dangerous subordinates.
[Creature Profile Updated: Void Wyrmling (Juvenile)]
[Race: Extinct stellar dragons, bred for void travel]
[Current Status: Imprinting on Host]
[Warning: Requires massive spiritual energy to sustain. Recommend immediate bond ceremony.]
The wyrmling circled Alex's small room, its presence somehow folding space so that the cramped quarters felt cavernous. When it finally settled, it curled around his feet and emanated a contentment that felt like distant supernovae.
"You can't keep it here," Xianling said flatly. "The Death Peak's seal was containing its aura. Without it, every Golden Core cultivator in the sect will sense a void creature within the hour."
"Then we bond it." Alex's decision was instantaneous. Void Wyrmlings were legends even in his Sovereign days—creatures that could navigate the space between stars, whose scales could phase through dimensions. If he could bind it before the sect detected it...
"You'll need a soul imprint at least at Nascent core realm," Xianling warned. "You're barely Foundation Establishing."
"The system says otherwise."
[Bonding Ceremony: Available via System Override]
[Cost: 150 Destiny Points]
[Success Rate: 100% (Host's three-soul structure provides unique compatibility)]
Alex initiated the ceremony. The wyrmling looked up at him with those galaxy-filled eyes and agreed, its consciousness touching his with a trust that made his three souls ache. He had been a destroyer of worlds, a ruler who saw people as resources. This creature saw him as pack.
The bond formed like a chain of starlight, linking their souls. Alex felt the wyrmling's hunger, its confusion at being imprisoned, its instinctive understanding of void law.
[Bond Complete: Void Wyrmling "Nebula" is now your Companion]
[Companion Skill Shared: Dimensional Phasing (Limited)]
[Host can now phase through solid objects for 3 seconds per day]
[Companion Growth: Linked to Host's cultivation realm]
[System Evolution Progress: 6/10]
Nebula shrank back to kitten-size, its aura now perfectly masked by Alex's own. It butted its head against his hand, purring with the sound of gravitational waves.
Xianling watched the entire process with an expression between awe and frustration. "You were always infuriatingly prepared. Fine. You have your pet. Now explain how we kill whatever's in that sealed chamber."
Alex accessed the system's map of the Death Peak. "The entity is a Soul Realm cultivator who failed their tribulation. They're trapped in a state between life and death, sustained by the sect's killing intent. They're insane, but their core knowledge remains."
"And you want that knowledge."
"I want their soul. A fragmented Soul Realm essence would boost my cultivation to Golden Core instantly, without the usual instability."
"That's dark, even for you." But she didn't disagree. "You'll need a soul cage. The sect's treasury has one, but it's guarded by a Peak Golden Core formation."
Alex smiled. "Good thing I know someone who's good with formations."
Mei Ling's reaction to being introduced to Li Xianling was priceless. The scarred girl went pale, recognizing the Li Clan's prodigy. "You... you're working with him? He's just a crippled outer disciple!"
"Appearances deceive," Xianling said coolly. "The cripple stole from Death Peak under the sect's nose. What have you done lately?"
Mei Ling's jaw tightened. Alex intervened before it could escalate. "Mei Ling, I need you to inspect a formation. No theft, no sabotage. Just analysis."
He showed her the schematics of the treasury's guard formation—data the system had compiled through weeks of passive scanning. Her eyes widened as she studied them. "This is... genius. Brutal, but genius. The array feeds on aggression. The more you want to steal, the stronger it gets. But if you approach with no intent..."
"It becomes dormant," Alex finished. "Can you modify our spiritual signatures to read as 'non-threatening'?"
She could. It took a week of careful calibration, during which Alex continued his outer disciple duties, Nebula hidden in his system inventory, his cultivation silently pressing toward Golden Core Perfection.
The heist was set for the night of the new moon, when spiritual energy was at its weakest.
But the universe had other plans.
Three days before the heist, Elder Tian summoned all outer disciples. His expression was grimmer than usual.
"A dungeon break has occurred in the Death Peak mines," he announced. "A void beast escaped. The inner disciples are hunting it now. Until it's captured, all outer disciples are confined to quarters. Anyone found outside will be executed as an accomplice."
The disciples panicked. Alex sat perfectly still, his face showing the appropriate fear while his mind raced.
Nebula's escape hadn't gone unnoticed. But they think it's a beast, not a wyrmling. Good.
That night, Xianling appeared in his room via a spatial talisman. "Change of plans. They're moving the soul cage to the Death Peak to trap your 'beast.' The treasury will be empty tomorrow."
"Then we move tonight."
"The formation—"
"Will be at half-power because of the beast hunt. They diverted spiritual energy to tracking arrays." Alex was already standing, Nebula flowing up his arm to rest on his shoulder. "Mei Ling, are you ready?"
The scarred girl stepped from the shadows, proving she had been listening the entire time. "I modified the signature maskers. They'll last ten minutes."
"Then we have nine to get in and out."
The treasury was located in the central peak's base, a windowless vault of black stone. The guard formation washed over them like a tide of hungry knives, but Mei Ling's maskers worked perfectly. To the array, they were three mice in a fortress of lions.
Inside, the soul cage sat on a pedestal of jade—a small lantern that trapped light rather than casting it. Alex's Sovereign's senses confirmed it: This could contain a fragmented Soul Realm essence.
But as he reached for it, the system screamed a warning:
[ALERT: Detection Array Active!]
[Source: Li Xianling's spatial talisman!]
He whirled. Xianling stood by the entrance, her expression unreadable. But her talisman was broadcasting their location, the signal reaching directly to the Death Peak's hunters.
"Seraphine," Alex said, his voice cold. "What are you doing?"
"What I must." She held up a hand, and Mei Ling froze, a paralysis talisman stuck to her back. "The sect promised me the void beast's core if I helped them capture it. I get what I want. They get what they want. And you... you get to prove you're still the Xaelinth I knew."
Nebula hissed, scales flaring to starlight. The dimensional phasing skill activated instinctively, and Alex felt reality loosen around him.
"You're testing me." It wasn't a question.
"Always." Xianling's smile was bitter. "I spent three centuries in darkness because of you. I won't follow you blindly. Show me you're worth the risk."
The sound of approaching hunters echoed through the corridor—inner disciples at Foundation Establishing and Qi Core levels, led by a Golden Core elder.
Alex had seconds to decide.
He could phase through the wall, escape with Nebula, abandon the soul cage and Mei Ling. The system calculated survival probability at 94%.
Or he could trust that Xianling's betrayal was a feint, a test, and that the broadcast signal was actually a looped recording meant to stall the hunters, not guide them.
Probability of that being true: 23%.
Sovereigns don't gamble, Alex thought. But Alex Chen took risks for his team.
He chose option three.
Phasing through the floor, he dropped into the treasury's foundation layer—a space only the system had detected. It was a maintenance cavity filled with conduits for the guard formation. From here, he could access the entire peak's infrastructure.
But he didn't run. Instead, he reached through the phased space and grabbed Xianling's ankle, pulling her down with him.
She gasped as reality shifted around them. Nebula's phasing extended to cover all three of them—Alex, Xianling, and the frozen Mei Ling. They fell through stone and metal, through the mountain itself, tumbling into a natural cavern far below any mapped levels.
They landed in darkness broken by bioluminescent fungi. The hunters' presences faded above them, confused by the sudden signal loss.
Alex released the phasing. Xianling shoved him away, her face pale. "You could have killed us! Phasing through solid matter like that—"
"Is something only a Void Wyrmling can do safely." Alex helped Mei Ling remove the paralysis talisman. "Which you knew when you gave me the test. You wanted to see if I had truly bonded it, or if I was just carrying a stolen beast."
Mei Ling rubbed her neck, glaring at both of them. "You two are insane. We're in the Dead Caverns now. No one comes down here. They say it's haunted."
"They're right." Alex noted what she did, she could have jeopardize his third life Alex would never forgive that even if it was a test. Alex's system was mapping the caverns, and the readings were disturbing. "This is where the sect dumps its failures. Cultivators who went mad, experiments that went wrong. The killing intent is so thick it's alive."
Nebula prowled forward, scales bristling. It growled at the darkness, and the darkness growled back.
[Entity Detected: Fragmented Soul Realm Cultivator]
[Status: Confirmed | Location: 300 meters northeast]
[Mental State: Deranged but lucid in cycles]
[Danger Level: EXTREME]
"Found our target," Alex said softly. "Stay behind me. Both of you."
They moved through the caverns like ghosts. The walls pulsed with half-formed spiritual pressure, the remnants of countless broken cultivators. Here, a hand print that glowed with killing intent. There, a face stretched across the stone, mouth open in an eternal scream.
The Soul Realm cultivator waited in a chamber of black crystal. It—he? she?—was barely human anymore, a being of fractured light and shadow held together by sheer will.
"Visitors," it whispered, its voice the sound of rustling graves. "Fresh souls. Young. Hungry."
Alex stepped forward, the soul cage held before him like an offering. "Not to feed you. To trade."
The entity laughed, a sound that cracked the crystal walls. "Trade? What does a hatchling have that I could want?"
"Freedom." Alex's voice was soft but carried the weight of his Sovereign's will. "The sect bound you here, using your suffering to power their killing arrays. I can sever those bindings. In exchange, I take your knowledge and your remaining essence."
The entity coalesced into something resembling a human face—beautiful, tragic, and utterly mad. "You lie. No Foundation Establishing child could break a Soul Seal."
"You're right." Alex's aura shifted. Just for a moment, he let his three-soul structure show—a being that existed outside the normal cycle of reincarnation, a paradox that defied heavenly law. "I'm not just a child."
The entity recoiled, then pressed forward with desperate hunger. "Anomaly! The tribulation's child! Yes, yes, we can help each other. But first—proof."
"What proof?"
"Bring me the blood of the one who sealed me. The sect founder. His descendants still rule the Death Peak. Their blood runs in the current Peak Lord's veins."
Alex smiled. "The Peak Lord is hosting a banquet for the inner disciples tomorrow night. I can get his blood."
"Then return, Anomaly. Return with the blood of my jailer, and I will give you the key to the Soul Realm."
They retreated from the caverns using a hidden exit the system discovered—an ancient ventilation shaft that led to the surface. When they emerged beneath the light of three moons, Mei Ling immediately put distance between herself and the other two.
"I'm in too deep," she said, her voice shaking. "I just wanted to fix my scar. I didn't sign up for... for that."
Alex understood. He had been a god, but she was just a girl trying to survive. "You can walk away. We'll erase your involvement."
"How?"
Xianling answered, tossing her a medallion. "Li Clan shadow token. It'll create an alibi. Go back to your quarters. Forget you ever helped us."
Mei Ling looked at Alex, her expression complex. "You're not a cripple. You're not even human, are you?"
"I'm exactly what I need to be," Alex replied. "Thank you for your help, Mei Ling. Your debt is paid."
She left, clutching the token like a lifeline.
Xianling turned to Alex, her earlier hostility replaced by grudging respect. "You're building something. Not just power, but... people."
"In my last life, I ruled through fear. It worked, but it was inefficient." Alex scratched Nebula behind the ears. "This time, I'm trying something different. Allies who choose to follow, not subjects forced to obey."
"Sentimental."
"Pragmatic. Loyalty gained through choice is stronger than loyalty enforced by power." He met her gaze. "You're here by choice, aren't you? The betrayal was a test, but you could have actually turned me in."
She looked away. "The Li Clan wants the void beast. I told them I'd deliver it. I just didn't tell them I already knew where it was.