Inside Zhuo Riyan's Lifebound Space, his crimson-black spiritual body floated silently above the eight remaining eggs. The dim, primordial light of the space rippled gently across his form.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
He exhaled sharply, looking around in disbelief. "I'm… inside my Lifebound Space?"
Just moments ago he had been on the brink of death, Pan Lun's sword descending toward him. But then—time itself had stopped.
How did time stop? He rose to his feet slowly, scanning the silent void. He needed answers.
A calm voice echoed directly in his mind. "I did."
Zhuo Riyan stiffened instantly. A foreign presence inside his Lifebound Space—inside the very core of his soul. He raised his guard, crimson-black qi forming in his hands. "Who are you? Show yourself!"
Someone capable of freezing the outside world… someone capable of entering his Lifebound Space… their power had to be unimaginable. And such a person was speaking so casually.
A tearing sound cracked across the sky. A jagged void tore open above him, splitting the Lifebound Space itself. From the darkness behind it, an enormous pair of eyes emerged.
They were closed at first, but even shut, the overwhelming energy rolling off them was so suffocating that Zhuo Riyan felt his soul tremble.
Then the eyes opened.
The sclera were pitch black.
The pupils were blood-red.
And within each pupil were two small, drifting black dots that pulsed like living shadows.
"Here I am," the voice said again, echoing directly inside Zhuo Riyan's mind.
Zhuo Riyan's breath caught. His instinct screamed that those eyes could crush him with a thought.
"W-who are you… and what do you want?" he demanded, bracing himself despite the shaking in his hands.
A soft, amused tone echoed in response. "Hmm… I am Zhuo Yi-Fen, and I'm not here for something."
Zhuo Riyan's mind froze. "Zhuo… Yi-Fen?" He swallowed hard. "Why is your surname Zhuo? If your surname is Zhuo… then you should know my father, right?"
It made no sense. His mother had never spoken much of his father, only that she gave him his surname. If this being truly carried the same name, then—
The voice laughed, low and knowing. "Hahaha… so Su Jing didn't tell you anything."
Zhuo Riyan's heart lurched. He… he knows my mother's name? How? Does he know her personally?
"How do you know my mother?" he asked, anxiety and hope twisting inside him.
The answer came lazily. "How do I know her? You could say… I'm her husband, hehe."
Zhuo Riyan froze.
His entire spiritual body trembled.
His vision blurred.
The voice… the presence… the monstrous eyes… the impossible power that could freeze time…
This person…
"…Are you really my father?" Zhuo Riyan whispered, eyes stinging as tears began forming uncontrollably.
A faint sigh echoed through his mind. "Yeah. But I'm only a fragment of my soul. I'm not truly here."
The Lifebound Space fell into an unnatural silence as Zhuo Riyan stared up at the colossal eyes of the father he had never known.
Zhuo Riyan's tears streamed uncontrollably as he looked up at the massive eyes in the void. "Where have you been all these years, father… buuu…"
His voice cracked like a child's. The pain he had buried for so long erupted all at once.
A low sigh echoed in his mind. "Ah… about that, I can't tell you. But—"
His father's voice suddenly cut off.
Zhuo Riyan's grief twisted into anger. "But what? My mother is suffering from an illness no one can cure, and you're out there enjoying your life like nothing happened!"
A faint, urgent pressure filled the space as the voice returned. "Hey… we don't have time left. When you reach a certain stage, I'll appear again and explain everything. For now, I came to give you something. When you leave this space, you'll understand. And as for your mother's illness—ask your Lifebound beast. That brat, Genesis. He knows."
Before Zhuo Riyan could react, the colossal eyes closed. The void crack folded in on itself and disappeared.
"Father! Don't go! At least tell me where you're going!" Zhuo Riyan shouted, voice breaking.
But no answer came.
A violent force then seized him, dragging his consciousness out of the Lifebound Space.
He gasped as his eyes opened to the real world again.
Time was still frozen.
Pan Lun's sword still hung mid-air, inches from his left hand.
Zhuo Riyan groaned and pushed himself up, realizing he could move again.
As he shifted, his left hand brushed against the suspended blade.
A sharp crack rang out.
The sword shattered the moment his skin touched it.
"What…?" He stared blankly at the jagged metal floating before him.
Then his gaze dropped to his left arm.
His breath stopped.
From shoulder to fingertips, his arm was pitch black—like a piece of living night. A crawling, prickling pain wriggled under his skin, like millions of ants biting at once. He watched in horror as the flesh warped, twisting into sleek, ominous black scales. Each scale was a perfect hexagon, layered tightly like armor crafted by a god.
A terrifying aura bled out from the transformed limb. It wasn't human. It wasn't beast. It was something older, something supreme. Something his father must have meant.
"The hell…" Zhuo Riyan whispered, horrified.
His fingernails elongated sharply, bleeding into deep scarlet as they curved into razor talons.
His left hand had become a monstrous claw.
And yet—he felt its power humming, waiting, alive.
The shattered sword fragment suspended in the air suddenly slipped from its frozen state.
Time resumed.
Pan Lun's sword, now missing half its blade, clattered helplessly to the ground. The broken edge dropped beside it.
Pan Lun stared at the weapon, confused. "What…? How did my sword—?"
He didn't even get to finish the question.
Because Zhuo Riyan was standing now, transformed, crimson-black aura swirling violently around him… and a demonic, ancient power throbbed from his left arm like a heartbeat from hell.
Little cat, trapped in the Four-Winged Roc's beak, suddenly froze. His pupils shrank to pinpoints as he stared at Zhuo Riyan's transformed arm. "N-no way… that hand… it was the one who killed me…" His voice trembled. Cold sweat poured off his fur like water.
Pan Lun still hadn't understood what was happening when Zhuo Riyan moved.
With a single, brutal swing of his blackened arm, Zhuo Riyan smashed his clawed fist straight into Pan Lun's face. The impact detonated like a thunderclap. Pan Lun shot backward, slamming into his Four-Winged Roc, and both master and beast were sent crashing through the trees in a tangled heap of feathers and shattered wood.
The Roc's beak flew open from the collision, and Little cat was flung free—straight toward Zhuo Riyan.
Zhuo Riyan reached out instinctively and caught him by both paws, his monstrous claw steady despite the chaos.