The kiss was different from the first. The first had silenced fear. This one answered desire. Ning Huang's pride did not vanish beneath it; it burned through it, making her fiercer, more honest, more herself. She did not become soft in the way fragile things were soft. She became open in the way lightning split the sky open.
Long Shenyu's arms tightened around her.
The formation lamps flickered.
A faint pulse moved through the room.
Draconic Qi stirred.
Thunder Qi answered.
Deep within Long Shenyu's dantian, the Supreme Sovereign Dual Cultivation Blessing awakened with terrifying clarity.
It had already formed two bonds.
Mei Qingxue's bond was lunar, gentle, pure. It nourished and refined, a quiet moonlight that turned rough growth into something smooth and deep.
Shen Lanyue's bond was cold and stable. It compressed, clarified, and strengthened the foundation, giving his dantian a bedrock that could carry heavier power.
Ning Huang was different.
The moment her heart truly opened to him, Long Shenyu felt thunder.
Not ordinary lightning.
Not the crude lightning of a storm cloud.
Verdict lightning.
War lightning.
A proud, imperial force that had been shaped by Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace, sharpened by its doctrine, and then forced for years to obey a path that did not fully belong to her.
Now it met him.
And instead of submitting, it roared.
Long Shenyu laughed softly against her lips.
Ning Huang pulled back just enough to glare at him. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because your Qi has a temper."
"So do I."
"I noticed."
"You enjoy it too much."
"More than is reasonable."
Her eyes flashed, but before she could retort, the Sovereign Bond formed.
…
Thousands of miles from River Ridge City, the thunder clouds above Heaven's Edict territory rolled like a sea of iron.
This was not the wild weather of common lands. Every cloud above the palace range carried formation marks. Every bolt of lightning that flashed between the peaks had been refined by array towers, guided through thunder pillars, and folded into the spiritual veins beneath the sect. The entire mountain range breathed with verdict-lightning.
Here, disciples did not walk with lowered heads because they were humble.
They lowered their heads because the sky itself seemed to judge them.
At the outer relay platform, white-gold runes suddenly flared.
The guarding disciples straightened.
A relay light tore open above the stone altar. It did not arrive smoothly. The teleportation force stuttered midway, crackling as if something savage had followed it through the spatial channel. Thunder runes along the platform sparked and shattered. Three formation masters cried out and hurriedly pressed their palms to the control pillars.
Then two bodies fell out of the light.
They did not arrive in triumph.
Zhao Chuan crashed first, landing on one knee before collapsing forward. His robes were torn from shoulder to waist, the proud thunder insignia across his chest almost unrecognizable beneath dried blood. His right arm was gone. The stump had been sealed with lightning, but the wound still trembled with pale sword force, opening tiny cuts whenever his Qi moved.
Lei Yunhe appeared half a breath later.
He did not fall as heavily. His instincts were better. Even injured, he forced one foot under himself, but the moment his boot touched the platform, his face went white. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. The wrapped spear that should have rested across his back was missing. His storage ring was gone. The talismans sewn inside his sleeves had been stripped away. Even the bronze control seal he had guarded like his own life was nowhere to be seen.
Two sixth layer Sky Lords of Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace stood there like defeated beggars.
No.
Worse than beggars.
Beggars at least owned what little they carried.
The disciples around the platform froze.
One of the deacons rushed forward out of instinct. "Enforcer Zhao? Enforcer Lei? What—"
"Shut up," Zhao Chuan rasped.
His voice was weak, but the shame inside it was poisonous.
The deacon stopped.
Lei Yunhe drew a slow breath, but that single breath nearly made him collapse. Long Shenyu's sword energy still clung to his meridians. It was not a violent storm. It did not rage mindlessly. It hid in the cuts it had made, waiting for his lightning Qi to circulate, then bit into the flow and scattered it.
Every attempt to heal became another wound.
Every attempt to suppress it reminded him of that calm young man holding Ning Huang with one arm and cutting them down with the other.
The formation masters exchanged glances.
Their first reaction was not pity.
It was confusion.
Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace disciples were raised on pride. Even a failed mission rarely produced this kind of scene. For a sixth layer Sky Lord enforcer to return injured was serious. For two to return half-dead, without weapons, storage rings, escape talismans, or sect treasures, was another matter entirely.
That was not a defeat.
That was humiliation.
And humiliation demanded an explanation.
"Escort them to the inner healing hall," the lead deacon ordered, his face tight. "Send word to Protector Lei Qingshan. Send word to Elder Mu Jingfei. No one speaks of this before the upper hall receives the report."
His order came quickly.
Not quickly enough.
Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace was too large, too old, and too full of eyes for silence to last. The moment Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe were carried from the relay platform, whispers began to spread through the outer courts.
Two Thunder-Ridge enforcers had returned.
Their weapons were gone.
Their treasures were gone.
Their wounds would not close.
The Thunder-Ridge Judgment Cage had not returned with them.
At first, the rumor sounded absurd.
Then the healing hall confirmed that both men were alive.
Then a disciple from the relay platform swore he had seen Zhao Chuan's missing arm.
Then someone else heard the name Ning Huang.
The whispers became wind.
The wind became thunder.
By the time Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe were placed inside the inner healing chamber, half of the enforcement division already knew that something had happened in the Lower Domains.
Not the Noble Domains.
Not a forbidden ruin.
Not a battlefield between great sects.
The Lower Domains.
That made it worse.
If an upper Noble Domain power wounded Heaven's Edict envoys, rage would follow, but understanding would exist. If a Divine Central Domain heir humiliated them, the matter would become delicate, but not impossible to explain.
But the Lower Domains?
A place where weak first layer Sky Lords could call themselves ancestors?
That answer satisfied no one.
Inside the healing chamber, thunder lamps burned with blue-white flame. Six elders stood around the stone beds, each controlling a healing array. Golden needles pierced Zhao Chuan's shoulder, chest, and remaining arm. Lei Yunhe sat upright with his eyes closed, both palms resting on his knees, his breathing shallow and careful.
The foreign sword force refused to leave.
It was too clean.
That was the most frightening part. A brutal injury could be washed out with stronger Qi. A chaotic injury could be contained by formations. But Long Shenyu's sword energy seemed to understand where it had entered. It clung to circulation points, meridian turns, and the thin spaces between lightning channels.
One elder tried to force it out with Sage Qi.
Lei Yunhe's body convulsed.
The sword energy answered by cutting deeper.
"Stop," Lei Yunhe said hoarsely.
The elder withdrew his hand, his expression ugly.
Zhao Chuan laughed once from the next bed. It sounded like broken glass grinding together.
"Still thinking about how to remove it?" he muttered. "Good luck."
No one replied.
A moment later, the doors opened.
Protector Lei Qingshan entered.
He was a peak ninth layer Sky Lord, broad-shouldered, heavy-eyed, and dressed in dark thunder armor. He did not release his full pressure. He did not need to. His expression alone was enough to make every servant in the corridor drop to their knees before he spoke.
Behind him came Mu Jingfei.
She moved with less sound and less force. Her robes were pale gray, edged with thin lightning threads. Her face was cold, but not angry in the same way Lei Qingshan's was. Her gaze passed over Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe once, then returned to their wounds.
She looked at them as if reading a damaged scroll.
Every tear mattered.
Every missing line had meaning.
As the Sage Ruler elder who first oversaw this mission, Mu Jingfei could not afford to rage before she understood. Anger was easy. Judgment required clarity.
Lei Qingshan stopped between the two beds.
"What happened?"
His voice was low.
No one answered.
His gaze lowered to Zhao Chuan's missing arm, then to Lei Yunhe's bare hands, then to the empty places where their storage rings should have been.
"Where are your items?"
Again, silence.
Lei Qingshan's eyes narrowed.
"You…"
He stopped.
The answer arrived before either man spoke.
"Robbed?"
The word fell into the chamber like a hammer.
Lei Yunhe forced himself straighter despite the pain. His lips had no color.
"Yes."
Several elders stiffened.
Mu Jingfei's expression finally changed.
Only slightly.
Her eyes became colder.
"How?"
Lei Yunhe opened his mouth, but the first attempt produced only blood. He swallowed it back down, breathed through the sword force shredding his meridians, and said, "Long Shenyu took everything."
The elders stared.
Lei Yunhe continued, each word heavier than the last.
"And he broke the Thunder-Ridge Judgment Cage."
One of the attending elders snapped, "Impossible."
The word came out too quickly. Too reflexively.
The Thunder-Ridge Judgment Cage was damaged, but it was still a Saint artifact. Even fractured, even old, it carried enough remnant Saint-level law to trap early Sage Rulers for a short time. In the hands of Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe, it should have been absolute against anything beneath Sage Ruler.
Zhao Chuan gave a bitter laugh.
"I thought the same thing while watching him do it."
The elder's face stiffened.
Lei Qingshan's jaw tightened. "Start from the beginning."
Lei Yunhe glanced at Zhao Chuan.
For once, Zhao Chuan did not fight to speak first.
So Lei Yunhe gave the report.
He began with River Ridge City. The Qin Family. The Verdant Edge Sword Sect. Lu Jiangheng's earlier humiliation. Luo Zhenmu's arrival. Long Shenyin's spear.
When he described Luo Zhenmu's death, the elders' expressions shifted.
"A fourth layer Sky Lord," Han Shuo said slowly.
He was a second layer Sage Ruler elder, older than Mu Jingfei and broader in build, with a heavy beard streaked by silver. He had been quiet until now. "Killed by an Origin Core junior?"
"Not merely killed," Lei Yunhe said. "Crushed. She did not win through poison, formation, or ambush. She faced him openly. Luo Zhenmu could not hold her spear."
Mu Jingfei's eyes sharpened. "What weapon?"
"A black spear. Heaven Rank. Heavy suppression force. But the weapon was not the true issue."
"What was?"
Lei Yunhe's fingers curled against his knee.
"Her instinct. She fought like someone who had killed Sky Lords long before reaching the Sky Lord realm."
The chamber quieted.
That sentence carried more weight than any exaggerated praise.
Cultivation could be disguised. Treasures could inflate power. Forbidden pills could burn a short-lived flame.
But battle instinct could not be faked so easily.
Lei Yunhe continued.
"After Luo Zhenmu died, Long Shenyu turned toward us. War Heiress Ning Huang was beside him."
"Beside him?" Lei Qingshan asked.
Lei Yunhe hesitated.
Zhao Chuan's face twisted. "In his arms."
The temperature in the chamber changed.
Mu Jingfei did not blink, but the elder beside her crushed the jade cup in his hand.
Lei Qingshan's voice darkened. "Continue."
Lei Yunhe did.
He described Long Shenyu's first sword strike.
How Long Shenyu had held Ning Huang with one arm.
How he had drawn the Sky-Severing Narrowblade with the other.
How Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe had both circulated their sixth layer Sky Lord lightning, activated defensive arts, and still been cut apart in one exchange.
Zhao Chuan's face turned uglier with every word.
But he did not interrupt.
He had been arrogant. He had been furious. But he had not imagined the strike. His chest still carried the proof.
Lei Yunhe then spoke of the Thunder-Ridge Judgment Cage.
"The artifact activated correctly," he said. "The mist field formed. Distance warped. Divine sense was suppressed. Long Shenyu and Long Shenyin were sealed inside."
"Then how did they leave?" Han Shuo asked.
Lei Yunhe's throat moved.
"They broke it."
The elder who had shouted impossible earlier looked ready to speak again.
Mu Jingfei raised one hand.
The elder swallowed his words.
Lei Yunhe's eyes lowered, not out of fear, but memory.
"For a moment, they were truly trapped. I am certain of that. The cage affected them. It was not useless. But then two distant powers attacked Ning Huang at the same time."
Mu Jingfei's face became still.
"What powers?"
"One demonic. One beast. Both at the eighth layer Sky Lord level, at least in projection force. They were not physically present. They attacked across distance using high-grade means."
Lei Qingshan's expression turned vicious. "They targeted Ning Huang?"
"Yes."
Lei Yunhe's voice dropped.
"And Long Shenyu sensed it from inside the cage."
That was when the chamber truly went silent.
Not because the elders had no questions.
Because too many arrived at once.
Inside a damaged Saint artifact mist field, divine sense should have been distorted. Even early Sage Rulers would struggle to read the outside clearly. For an Origin Core junior to sense an attack launched from a distant hidden location, identify its target, break the cage, erase both attacks, and mark the attackers before they escaped—
That was not talent.
That was something else wearing talent's skin.
Lei Yunhe finished the report.
Long Shenyu broke the cage.
Long Shenyu erased the attacks.
Long Shenyu protected Ning Huang.
Long Shenyu nearly struck back across the distance.
Long Shenyu then crippled them further, stripped their storage rings, weapons, talismans, escape means, and sect treasures, then ordered them to return with his words.
By the end, the chamber had no sound except the low crackle of thunder lamps.
Han Shuo finally spoke.
"This is impossible."
No one answered.
He looked at Zhao Chuan, then Lei Yunhe, then the wounds that refused to close.
His voice sank.
"That person and his sibling, whoever they are, cannot merely be Origin Core juniors."
That broke the silence.
Not into panic.
Into speculation.
One elder said, "Hidden disciples from the Divine Central Domains."
Another immediately replied, "Then why appear in the Lower Domains? Why provoke Verdant Edge and Heaven's Edict openly? Even Divine Central Domain disciples understand political consequence."
"A trial," the first elder said. "Some ancient powers throw their heirs into weak regions to temper them."
"With no protectors visible?"
"Visible is the key word."
A third elder narrowed his eyes. "Reincarnated old monsters."
That made more people look over.
The idea was absurd.
It was also less absurd than the report.