Author's note
Hello, everyone!
This is your dear (and currently Qi-depleted) author, Void-Scribe, speaking.
I know I've been uploading very few chapters lately. I take my share of the blame; I've been quite busy with my daily life and I end up with my energy reserves at zero. However, there's another big reason for this delay (and I think it actually benefits you guys).
As you may have noticed, things got a little out of hand (in a good way). Chapter 181, for example, was planned to be two parts at most and end with the combined attack of the Sequences. But the truth is... I didn't want it to end like that. Suddenly my brain sparked, I entered the "Zone", I let myself be carried by the flow (yes, a massive Blue Lock reference, HAHAHA!) and I couldn't stop. Three more parts came out of that!
And just like that one, there were many other chapters that I made much longer and with completely new details. I know I told you a bunch of times that those chapters were already written, but I simply couldn't chain my own imagination when the ideas started flowing like crazy.
Seriously though: I really hope you are enjoying all these changes.
I tell you with total sincerity that I am pouring my heart and soul into this novel. This is my first work; it started as a simple hobby this year because I was a hardcore reader just like you guys for a very long time. Look at me now... who would have thought I'd end up creating my own story and my own empire?
That's why I ask from the bottom of my heart for your support. Any comment, review, critique, or vote (drop those Power Stones!) helps me a lot. Reading you guys is my true cultivation system and it gives me the energy I need to keep going.
From now on, I will try to stabilize my schedule and upload a maximum of 2 to 3 chapters daily so you aren't left in suspense.
Keep joining me on this great adventure!
Signing off, Your dear author, Void-Scribe. Have a happy day, afternoon, or night (depending on which part of the multiverse you are reading me from)! HAHAHAHA.
Chapter 183: The Devotion of Chaos and the Empress's Wrath
The interior of the Palace of Primordial Heritage was a sanctuary where time and space bent to the will of its master. In the dimness of the immense meditation chamber, two absolute and opposing forces intertwined in a dance of cosmic power and deep intimacy.
Samael and Seraphina were in the midst of a dual cultivation session. The energy of the Astral Gestation Supplement flowed through them like a river of stardust. Samael, with his bare torso revealing muscles carved like dark marble, channeled his devouring void with an unprecedented delicacy. He did not seek to consume, but to purify.
Opposite him, Seraphina radiated absolute perfection. Her pale skin shone with an icy glow, and the temperature around her was the manifestation of absolute zero. However, when Seraphina's aura of Order and Frost clashed with Samael's Chaos and Void, there was no destruction. There was creation.
The energies merged in the center, descending into Seraphina's womb to nourish the gestating twins. Samael opened his eyes, his violet and crimson irises fixed on his wife's ecstatic face. He raised a hand and caressed her cold cheek, brushing aside a strand of silver hair. Seraphina leaned into the touch, letting out a sigh that crystallized the air into small ice lotus petals.
"They are absorbing everything wonderfully," Seraphina whispered, opening her eyes, which shone with a love so deep it bordered on devotion. "They will be unstoppable."
"They have your blood and mine. They couldn't be anything less than goddesses," Samael replied, placing a soft kiss on her cold lips, sealing the end of the cultivation cycle. "Come. It's time to breathe a little. The empire can wait a few hours."
After dressing in their majestic robes, they exited the Palace of Primordial Heritage. Upon crossing the immense obsidian doors, the dense and oppressive air of training was left behind, replaced by the cool, warm breeze of the Realm of Eternal Dawn.
They walked together along the jade paths toward the Patriarch's Palace, their home.
As they approached the immense back gardens, a scene that would have given any orthodox cultivator on the continent a heart attack welcomed them. It was the most dangerous and lethal playground in the entire universe.
To one side of the garden, sleeping peacefully, lay a living mountain. Valka, the colossal Mythic Grade dragon and Guardian beast of the Clan, rested coiled upon herself. Her Iron Jade and Void Diamond scales gleamed under the artificial sunlight. With every lazy exhalation of the tectonic leviathan, the space around her slightly liquefied.
Closer to the center, coiled lazily on a silk cushion, was Kala. The small but terrifying dragon of the Eternal Night, devourer of destinies, opened an eye from time to time, letting out a small yawn that released sparks of extinct stars, watching her ward attentively.
And in the middle of this nightmare zoo, the crystalline laughter of a two-year-old girl echoed.
Little Celeste ran across the grass with a flower in her hand, chasing a massive shadow. Abaddon, the Eternal General of the Crimson Void, the manifestation of Samael's protective will, was awkwardly crouching. The conceptual aberration, whose mere presence could bring empires to their knees and erase existences, moved with a comical delicacy, trying to hide his three meters of black and red armor behind a bush that barely covered his knee.
"I found you, big guy!" Celeste yelled, touching the General's cold metal boot.
The immense shadow seemed to sigh, and a deep voice, which normally sounded like the end of the world, murmured with solemn softness: "My defeat is absolute, little light. You have the eyes of a stellar hawk."
Samael and Seraphina exchanged a smile. Samael walked toward them, completely relaxing his tyrant posture.
"Come here, little demon," Samael said, opening his arms.
Celeste squealed with joy, abandoning Abaddon to run toward her father. Samael caught her in mid-air, lifting her and covering her face with kisses while she laughed out loud. Seraphina sat gracefully at an elegant carved glass table set in the garden, watching her family with a peace she rarely allowed herself in the cruel cultivation world.
The air vibrated softly behind the table. From the shadows, not an assassin emerged, but a woman in an impeccable, fitted military uniform and glass spectacles.
Vexia appeared. However, she did not carry her usual clinical and sadistic aura of Grand Marshal. Her expression was relaxed, showing the human and loyal side she reserved exclusively for the main family.
In her hands, she did not carry casualty reports, but a beautiful silver tray.
"Good afternoon, Patriarch, Empress," Vexia greeted with a slight bow. "I thought you might need something to settle your energy after your meditation."
Samael sat down with Celeste on his lap. Vexia approached and placed the tray on the table. There was steaming spiritual tea and a bowl full of crystallized sweets and exotic fruits from the mini-world.
"Aunt Vexia!" Celeste exclaimed, reaching her little hands toward the sweets.
Vexia smiled genuinely, a rare sight for her. She took a small fruit that shone like a ruby and handed it to the girl carefully. "Only a few, my little lady, or the Empress will use me as a test dummy."
Seraphina let out a soft laugh, taking her teacup. "You know I allow it, Vexia. Sit with us for a moment."
Vexia nodded and poured tea for Samael and Seraphina. For a few minutes, the sound of war and ambition disappeared, replaced by the clinking of cups and Celeste's childish stories about how Valka snored too loudly.
But an emperor's duty never fully rests.
Through the System's mental link, Sienna's elegant and sadistic voice resonated directly in Samael's mind: «My lord. The Portal Key has been successfully activated. The fifty million crystals, the herbs, the metals... everything has arrived at the vault. Ah, and of course, the "study materials" from the clash outside have also been moved to my laboratory. I have already begun preparations.»
Samael nodded imperceptibly. He took a sip of his tea and looked at Vexia.
The Patriarch's eyes began to subtly darken, the violet and crimson shining with contained lethality as he stroked Celeste's hair. His voice, although maintaining a casual and conversational tone so as not to alarm his daughter, was laden with absolute dictates.
"Vexia," Samael began, his gaze fixed on his Marshal. "We just received a massive shipment through the Portal Key. Sienna confirms that the resources from the tomb have arrived. And also... we received some extra gifts. About ten new, very sturdy 'mannequins' we picked up from some noisy neighbors outside. Several of them of excellent quality for your collection."
Vexia, immediately understanding Samael's subtlety regarding the corpses of the Saints and the Great Saint of the Iron Blood Alliance and the Violet Cloud Sect, adjusted her glasses. The sadistic gleam of the commander returned to her eyes for an instant.
"I understand perfectly, Patriarch. Top-quality materials for the vanguard."
"Exactly," Samael continued, his voice dropping a pitch. "I want you to begin training immediately. Use the amount of resources you deem necessary, there are no budget limits. But my demands have increased. I want you to forge at least eighteen new Commanders in the Great Saint Realm to lead the squads. With Feng-Wu and Lian-Hua, we will have twenty Generals."
Vexia nodded frantically, bringing out a mental notebook.
"Furthermore," Samael added, his eyes shining with the promise of future slaughter, "the minimum power floor of the thirty thousand foot soldiers must be raised to Stage 5 of the Saint Realm. Under the Tyrant Dragon formation, a team of a thousand men must be capable of stalling and wearing down a Stage 5 or 6 Great Saint. And if the entire legion deploys and fuses their Dantian... they must be able to overwhelm and annihilate a Stage 1 Holy King."
They were monstrous requirements. Absurd for any sect in this world. But Vexia did not back down. With the Demon King's soul as a processor, the Cold Star Iron as armor, and the newly arrived corpses, it was logistically possible.
"It will take sweat, blood, and many dismantlings, my lord," Vexia said, standing up and giving an impeccable military salute. "But the meat grinder will meet those standards. If you'll excuse me, I have soldiers to torture. With your permission, Empress. Goodbye, little Celeste."
"Goodbye, Aunt Vexia!" Celeste waved her hand, her mouth full of fruit.
The Marshal dissolved into the shadows, eager to begin her work.
The rest of the afternoon passed in idyllic peace. The family of three enjoyed the dusk of the mini-world, watching the artificial suns set to make way for a crystalline, starry sky. Celeste, exhausted from running and playing with Abaddon, fell fast asleep in her father's arms.
Samael carried her with infinite delicacy, took her to her room, and tucked her in under stellar silk sheets, with Kala immediately curling up at the foot of the bed.
After ensuring their daughter was dreaming peacefully, Samael and Seraphina walked to the grand main balcony of the Patriarch's Palace.
The balcony offered a majestic view of the entire floating Citadel and the vast territories of the Realm of Eternal Dawn. The night breeze caressed their faces. Samael leaned on the polished ebony railing, looking out at the immensity of his empire.
"Look at it, Seraphina," Samael murmured, his deep voice resonating in the silence of the night. "We went from the ruins of a dead sect to this. And I promise you this is only the beginning. I will lead the Morningstar Clan to rule this world. I will rule the higher continents, the worlds beyond the veil, and even entire universes if necessary, just to lay them at your feet and those of our daughters."
Seraphina approached from behind, embracing him and resting her cheek on his shoulder.
Samael sighed, a heavy sound, laden with a pragmatic vulnerability he only showed to her. He turned to look her in the eyes.
"But the path we tread is paved with the blood of gods, my love. The risks will be astronomical." Samael raised a hand and stroked his wife's silver hair. "If, by some error of fate, I should fall in this attempt... I want you to swear that you will take the reins. That you will protect the clan, that you will take care of Celeste and the twins. I know you would be an absolute sovereign without me."
The silence that followed was not peaceful. It was terrifying.
The temperature on the balcony plummeted, not because of the natural cold of the air, but because of the Eternal Lotus Empress Physique reacting to its bearer's emotions.
Seraphina looked at him. Her beautiful crystalline eyes filled with tears, but not of sadness. They shone with a dark, insane obsession, and a possessiveness so lethal it would have made death itself step back. The empress's pupils trembled with an uncontrollable yandere energy.
Her delicate hands came up and grabbed the collar of Samael's robe, pulling him toward her with a strength that belied her apparent fragility.
"Never..." Seraphina whispered, her voice broken but laden with a sweet, absolute poison. "Never say that again, Samael Morningstar."
Seraphina's tears fell, freezing before they touched the ground.
"You are not going to fall. We will rule this and all universes for all eternity. No one is going to separate me from you. If destiny tries to take you, I will kill it. If death claims you, I will freeze the underworld until they give you back. And anyone... anyone who tries to mess with our family or lay a hand on you, will cease to exist. I will erase them from the records of time and shatter their souls so they never have the right to be reborn. You are mine, Samael! Mine and our daughters'! I do not allow you to die!"
Seraphina's outburst of toxic, obsessive, and purely tyrannical devotion did not scare Samael. On the contrary. It made the dragon blood in his veins boil with a savage euphoria.
Samael's eyes mirrored the same obsessive, predatory gaze. The darkness of his void tangled with her frost, in a dance of souls that refused to accept the laws of the universe.
A wide, fierce, and arrogant smile split Samael's face.
He grabbed her by the waist, lifting her slightly, and crashed his lips against hers in a deep, hungry, and ferocious kiss. It was a kiss that sealed a pact of blood and eternity, where chaos and order collided without restriction.
As they slowly pulled apart, both panting, a thin, glistening thread of saliva connected their lips for a second before breaking in the night breeze.
Samael pulled her against his chest and placed a reverential, protective kiss on her cold forehead.
"And I swear to you, my beautiful empress," Samael murmured against her skin, his voice vibrating with the purest and most lethal sword intent of the Heavens, "that I will help you claim your revenge. Those who betrayed you in your past life, those who stole your throne... I will find them. I don't care if they are primordial gods, immortals of the celestial dome, or the original Chaos itself. I will make them pay with millennia of agony for daring to hurt the woman who belongs to me."
Seraphina smiled against his chest, closing her eyes with an expression of absolute peace, wrapped in the darkness of the man who would bring the universe to its knees for her.
Behind them, in the immensity of the mini-world's night sky, Samael's will manifested. A colossal projection, a massive shadow that covered the stars, rose from the Palace. It was the true form of the Dragon of Chaos and Void, his scales black as a galaxy with violet hues devouring the moonlight, opening his stellar jaws to release a silent roar towards the heavens, warning the gods, the demons, and destiny itself that the Morningstar Clan had arrived to claim eternity.