Chapter 29 – The Sovereign's Gift
Outside the Shui Manor, the air is still thick with the smell of ozone and sulfur. General Kael watches as Lakan's carriage is prepped. He hasn't dared to interfere.
"General," Lakan says, stepping onto the porch. He doesn't look at Kael, but his voice carries. "Go back to Heaven Dou. Tell the Emperor that the Duke died of 'natural causes'—it's natural to die when you're a rot on the earth. Tell him the North is stable. But if I see another Imperial slave-collar in this province, I won't send a letter. I'll send a storm."
Kael swallows hard, bows, and signals his men to retreat. He knows the report he carries will change the map of the Empire. The North no longer belongs to the throne; it belongs to the boy with the golden eyes.
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The carriage heads further into the blizzard-swept plains toward the edge of the Extreme North. Inside, the atmosphere is heavy. Shui Yue-er is huddled in the corner, her eyes fixed on her boots. The image of the slaves and the Duke's monstrous end is clearly playing on a loop in her young mind.
Lakan watches her for a moment, then lets out a dramatic, exaggerated sigh. He leans back, spreading his arms across the velvet seats.
"Yue-er, look at me," Lakan commands, his voice light and airy. "The world is a messy place, filled with people who have the aesthetic taste of a mud-toad. Those 'nobles' were just a bad stain on a beautiful canvas."
He stands up, nearly hitting his head on the carriage roof, and makes a grand, sweeping gesture toward the frost-covered window.
"A child should act like a child! Your eyes should be shining as you take in the sights of the world. After all, you are traveling with the Holy Son! While it is true that everything in this world must pale in comparison to my own radiance, that is no reason for you to look so gloomy. Be proud! You are the first to witness the dawn of a new era!"
Shui Bing'er covers her mouth to hide a giggle. Yue-er looks up, blinking at Lakan's ridiculous, narcissistic pose.
"Are you... really that full of yourself?" Yue-er asks, a small smile finally tugging at her lips.
"Full of myself?" Lakan scoffs playfully, sitting back down. "I am simply the only person in this carriage brave enough to state the obvious truth. Now, wipe your face. We are looking for a partner for you, not a funeral procession."
At the edge of a frozen forest, the air suddenly hums. Adarna's Gaze of Truth flares. In the canopy of a crystalline tree, a 12,000-year-old Frost-Weaver Spider hangs. It is a rare beast—intelligent, elusive, and possessing the "Ice-Silk" attribute that perfectly matches Yue-er's "Slippery Ice" spirit.
"Perfect," Lakan whispers. "It has the intelligence to understand a contract."
He doesn't kill it. Using his Seven-Tone Chaos, he hums a low, resonant frequency—the Song of Binding. The spider, usually a vicious predator, finds itself paralyzed not by fear, but by a strange, divine peace.
Lakan draws a complex Baybayin circle in the snow. The glowing blue symbols hiss as they meet the ice.
"Yue-er, step into the center. Hold out your hand," Lakan instructs. Headmistress Lin watches with bated breath, her eyes wide as the spider descends, its hostility completely replaced by the "Soul Spirit Bond."
As the ritual peaks, the spider dissolves into a flurry of crystalline snow, merging into Yue-er's forehead. Her martial soul manifests—the Slippery Jade Eel—but as the 10,000-year energy flows, the spirit begins to change. The sleek eel grows legs, its skin hardening into shimmering, diamond-like scales, and its tail splits into eight silk-producing filaments.
Due to Soul Spirit Bond, it casued a mutation and it has evolved into the Ice-Silk Jade Eel.
"A first ring at 10,000 years..." Headmistress Lin whispers, her voice trembling. "And a spirit mutation that elevates it to a Top-Tier Martial Soul. You... you really are a God, aren't you?"
Lakan just smirks, patting Yue-er on the head as her first soul ring—a dark, shimmering Black—settles at her feet.
"I told you," Lakan says to Yue-er. "Everything looks better when you're with me."