Despite it being futile, Shae continued to struggle against the radiant chains binding her limbs, spatial qi flaring in bursts of desperation. Her robes were torn, her aura fractured, and blood trickled from the cuts Jalen had carved into her earlier.

  Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined losing to a single Sage Realm cultivator in the same realm as her with two backups. A brat in his twenties, at that.

  And not just losing—being humiliated.

  Her mind raced. How was this possible?

  Jalen’s power was beyond anything she’d anticipated. Not just his cultivation realm, but his versatility. He wielded light qi, flame qi, and ice qi—three distinct forces, two of which opposed each other. That alone was unheard of.

  Possessing two qi types was rare, but not impossible. It required a dual-natured spirit core, one that could harmonize complementary energies—like wind and lightning, or flame and metal. But light and ice? Flame and ice? That was madness.

  There were only two explanations.

  Either he possessed a single spirit core capable of holding three distinct qi types—which should be impossible, as even dual-qi cores were considered miracles—or…

  He had two spirit cores.

  Shae’s eyes widened slightly. The more she thought about it, the more the latter seemed likely. And if that was true…

  “Then he was like Yanon—possessing two spirit cores. But even that shouldn’t work. Spirit cores with opposing elemental affinities typically clash, causing internal backlash or spiritual instability. Yet this boy wielded flame and ice in harmony. That meant either he’d achieved something unprecedented… or something was helping him.

  Shae swallowed hard.

  “Release me,” she hissed. “The Twilight Sect will hunt you down. Everything you care about will be reduced to ash if anything happens to us.”

  Jalen didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned toward Shae’s two accomplices still bound by his Light Chain. Then, without ceremony, he raised Luminal Edge.

  One slash. One flash of radiant destruction.

  Chains shattered. Heads detached. Bodies collapsed.

  Dead.

  Shae gasped, eyes wide. Her breath caught in her throat.

  Jalen turned back to her, his expression unreadable.

  “For someone in an unfavorable circumstance,” he said calmly, “you sure talk tough. But if I were you, I’d choose my words wisely going forward.”

  Shae’s heart pounded. Her spatial qi surged again, but the chains held. She tried to summon a fold, a ripple, anything—but her anchor had been destroyed. Her options were dwindling.

  “If you kill me,” she said quickly, “Yanon will never forgive you.”

  Jalen tilted his head slightly. “You think I care about this Yanon forgiveness?”

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  “But don’t worry. I won’t kill you. But I also cannot let you go, so you can call for backup.”

  Shae flinched.

  Jalen stepped forward; Luminal Edge vanished. He then activated Flash Reversion—and they vanished, appearing at the sanctuary where Tian was a couple miles away from the battlefield. Despite knowing Jalen’s ability to pop up out of nowhere, Tian still stood on edge. Only when he realized it was Jalen did he relax.

  “You’re okay,” Tian said, relieved. He thought Jalen would’ve been overpowered, being outnumbered—but that wasn’t the case. He also felt a bit useless that he wasn’t able to help his cousin.

  Jalen nodded, but he didn’t give Tian any time to question him any further.

  “I’ll be back soon.” He vanished again. His destination: the Twilight Sect.

  When he arrived, he noticed movement. The sect had already learned about the deaths of their two elders thanks to their spirit sense disappearing upon their death. Too bad while they were gathering in discussion, seeing people out to find out what happened, and disciples gossiping, no one expected the killer to be so brazen as to show up at the sect. Nor had they put stricter security measures in place.

  Jalen wasn’t complaining—it worked in his favor.

  He found Weylan, who was unaware of his master’s current predicament, in his quarters meditating and snatched him and got out of there.

  And within minutes arrived back at the sanctuary with him.

  Despite Weylan’s shock at being taken against his will, the first thing he saw was his master—battered, wounded, and bound in chains.

  “Master!” he rushed to her.

  Weylan was furious at Jalen and rushed to attack him for his master, but Jalen summoned Blizzard Coil—a whirlwind of ice froze his body up to his neck.

  “Chill out.”

  Weylan was about to unleash his aura to break free, which would’ve caused a commotion in the sanctuary, thus giving away his location to those above ground scouting what was left of the forest, so Jalen bound him in Light Chain to prevent such an outcome.

  “What is this?” Weylan gnashed his teeth. “Get me out of here!”

  Jalen ignored him and turned to Shae, picking her up from the ground by the hair.

  “So, will you tell him? Or shall I do the honor?”

  “Let her go, you bastard!” Weylan shouted, trying to muster his power—but his qi channels were blocked.

  “I guess I’ll do the honor.”

  Jalen used his spirit sense to invade Shae’s spirit sea, which has now weakened due to her being bound and in critical condition. He bypassed irrelevant memories—training, missions, sect politics—and dove straight into the ones that mattered. The ones that revealed her true nature.

  He began with the moment she first found Weylan.

  The boy, just fifteen, was unconscious, bare, and bloodied. But Shae hadn’t cared about his condition—only the energy radiating from him. The second spirit core, pulsing with Sky Limit Realm spatial qi. She desired it.

  She tried to extract it immediately, but the core lashed out, rejecting her and almost destroying her. So she changed tactics.

  She relocated him to a hidden residence outside sect jurisdiction—far from prying eyes and rival elders. A place where no one would question her claim over him.

  By the time Weylan woke up, the spirit core had completely become part of him but suppressed its massive energy to keep its host alive. He also didn’t have any memories of himself—and she saw that as an opportunity to use to her advantage.

  She became his savior. His mentor. His world.

  When he started showing signs of remembering, which caused him headaches, she fed him spirit tea laced with daze herb to suppress memory and spiritual instinct. She masked it as medicine for his migraines, ensuring he never questioned his past or her intentions.

  The daze herb didn’t erase memories—it severed the spiritual pathways that accessed them. Identity, emotion, instinct—anything tied to who he was before Shae became his world was locked behind a fog of suppression.

  But her plan went deeper.

  Months later, Shae had discovered an ancient ritual—one that allowed a cultivator to voluntarily transfer a spirit core to another, bypassing resistance. The catch? It required emotional closeness, spiritual synchronization, and physical intimacy. She gave him all three. Not to nurture him—but to tame the core.

  And when Weylan reached Sage Realm—strong enough to survive the extraction—that’s when she was planning on striking. She would convince him to hand it over willingly.

  In that moment, the core wouldn’t fight. It would obey.

  Everything she did—the affection, the guidance, the intimacy—was calculated. She never loved him. She was disgusted by him. He was a vessel. A tool. A stepping stone to power.

  Weylan saw it all. The truth. The lies. The manipulation.

  And it broke him.

  It was also revealed that Shae had tried to assassinate Tian that night—to keep him from leaving. She feared he would want to find out more about his past and leave. She couldn’t have that. Sure, she could force him to stay, but she didn’t want him to reject her—so she took the first option.