The skies above the Reign Kingdom trembled—not from thunder, but from the arrival of a flame that refused to be forgotten.
Jalen didn't hide his presence. He didn't sneak through shadows or suppress his aura. He arrived like a verdict—his robes torn from past battles, his eyes steady, and his grip firm around the hilt of the Solblade Khopesh: Crown of Embers, the supreme-grade flame spirit tool that had already reduced legends to ash.
The Dragon Meridian Sect had long been a fortress of pride, protected by high-level formations and ancient runes etched into the land itself. These defenses had repelled armies, sealed off realms, and even bent space to their will. But today, they faced something they weren't built to withstand.
Jalen raised his blade.
Flame qi surged through the air, pulsing with the rhythm of his soul. Then he activated the Spirit Flame Technique: Nuclear—not partially, not cautiously, but at full capacity.
The world responded.
A wave of compressed flame qi erupted outward, detonating against the sect's protective barriers. Runes shattered. Formation glyphs cracked. The sky lit up with spiraling fire, and the ground trembled beneath the force. Buildings caught fire. Towers collapsed. Even the air itself seemed to burn.
From miles away, spies from the top sects and royal families watched in stunned silence. They had come to witness a confrontation. What they saw instead was a one-sided declaration: Jalen wasn't just powerful—he was untouchable.
But as the flames died down and the smoke cleared, Jalen stepped into the territory and paused.
It was empty.
Not entirely—there were staff members, cleaning personnel, and a few low-level disciples scrambling to contain the damage. But the core of the sect—the elders, the patriarch, the elite warriors—were gone.
Jalen's eyes narrowed.
He scanned the area with his spirit sense, searching for hidden chambers, cloaked formations, or soul signatures. Nothing. Only echoes of fear and the scent of retreat.
The truth came quickly.
The moment the Dragon Meridian Sect's leader sensed Jalen's presence, he had ordered a full evacuation. He had tried to rally support from the other top sects and royal factions—but none answered. Not one dared to stand beside him.
So he fled.
Jalen stood in the center of the ruined courtyard, flame still flickering around his blade. His aura pulsed once—sharp, disappointed, cold.
He could have pursued them. He could have hunted them down like prey. But he didn't.
Instead, he turned and walked away.
No further destruction. No more fire. Just silence.
But he made a quiet vow: should he ever meet anyone from the Dragon Meridian Sect again, they would not be spared. He wouldn't chase them like a butcher—but they'd better stay buried under stones like the roaches they were.
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Jalen returned to the Hewitt family to ensure their safety and stability. Recognizing the threats they faced, he helped them establish more robust defensive and offensive formations. He also constructed a teleportation array capable of relocating the entire family to a secure location in the event of another violent assault.
To further strengthen their foundation, Jalen gifted the patriarch several high-grade spirit tools and a cache of spirit stones he had collected during his travels. More importantly, he guided Ronald and Silver in refining their cultivation method—which will help them break through a centuries-long bottleneck and safely ascend to the next realm months after Jalen left.
Once everything was in place, Jalen and Sion bid the patriarch farewell.
Sion chose to venture to another continent in search of ancient legacies and opportunities to elevate his strength. His path was one of exploration and self-improvement, driven by a desire to stand at the pinnacle of cultivation and revenge.
As for Jalen, he decided not to return to the Rale Continent to retrieve the final treasure hidden within the mystic ground. The time wasn't right. With powerful enemies still pursuing him, it was wiser to grow stronger before making such a move. For now, patience and preparation were his allies.
Instead, he turned his attention elsewhere.
To the Great Wave Continent—home to rising sects, rare elemental zones, and cultivators with unique paths. And it was here that Lloyd, the boy Jalen had once mentored, now his adopted little brother had chosen to grow.
Jalen had been curious.
How far had Lloyd progressed since their separation? Had he found his own rhythm, his own strength? Or had the world swallowed him whole?
It took Jalen a full week to reach the Great Wave Continent—not because the path was treacherous, but because he allowed himself moments of stillness. Breaks to breathe. To reflect. To simply exist without fire or fury. He could have arrived faster using Flash Reversion, the teleportation technique anchored to reflective surfaces—but this was unfamiliar territory. No prior presence. No spatial echoes. The skill was useless here.
So he traveled the old way. Step by step. Sky by sky.
Once he arrived, it took another four days to locate Lloyd—deep within the State of Riley, where a regional cultivation tournament was underway. Hosted by the Azure Drift Alliance, one of the continent's rising powers, the event had drawn sects, rogue cultivators, and elemental specialists from across the region.
Jalen didn't rush. He watched. He listened. And eventually, he found Lloyd—not in hiding, not in trouble, but standing at the center of a jagged battlefield, defending his sect's honor.
The battlefield was a jagged plateau surrounded by floating stones and fractured terrain—an arena designed to test spatial awareness and elemental control. Wind howled through the gaps, and the sky above flickered with unstable qi. Cracks in the ground pulsed with residual force, and the air shimmered with tension.
Lloyd stood at the center, his robes torn, his breath ragged, but his eyes sharp. His hands pulsed with radiant energy, and from that light, he summoned Luminal Edge—a blade forged entirely from condensed light qi. It shimmered with fluid brilliance, humming with the rhythm of his spirit core.
His aura had reached peak-stage Moon Realm—a formidable level for someone his age.
His opponent hovered above the ground, arms outstretched, eyes glowing with psychic force. Stones levitated around him, spinning like blades. With a flick of his fingers, he sent them flying toward Lloyd in a spiral of telekinetic fury.
Lloyd didn't flinch.
He activated Luminous Veil Step, bending light around his form to phase-step between illuminated zones. His body flickered, leaving shimmering echoes that confused both vision and spirit sense. The stones passed through illusions, missing their mark.
Then he moved—swift, precise, reactive.
A burst of light qi surged from Luminal Edge as Lloyd unleashed Solar Pulse—a concentrated beam that drilled through the air and cracked the psychic barrier on impact.
The telekinetic cultivator recoiled, summoning a wave of mental pressure to crush Lloyd's spirit. The air thickened. Lloyd staggered, knees buckling.
But then—he roared.
His qi surged. Threading Loop Resonance activated within his core, coiling light qi into spirals that buffered the pressure and stabilized his flow. The psychic threads snapped. The force shattered.
The cultivator reeled.
Lloyd dashed forward, blade spinning, and struck with the sixteenth technique he created, Luminous Rift Slash—a wide arc of radiant force that destabilized his opponent's footing and shattered the remaining barrier.
The final blow came with Flash Bloom Barrage, the seventeenth light technique also invented by him—a rapid burst of light petals that exploded on contact, knocking the cultivator unconscious.
Silence followed.
Then cheers—from the crowd of disciples, elders, and sect leaders watching from the viewing platforms. Lloyd had been defending his sect's honor in the third round of the tournament—and he had won.
Jalen watched from the shadows, arms folded, a faint smile on his lips.
The boy had grown. He even managed to create his own light technique using the cultivation method created by master Raphael Litch as a foundation. Impressive.