CHAPTER 180 — BEFORE THE FIRST FRACTURE
The crack did not widen immediately.
It waited.
Five.
The number burned across the sky like a countdown carved into bone. The golden ring encircling the planet shimmered faintly in the upper atmosphere, thin but absolute. Heaven had drawn a boundary.
And Long Hao had drawn a breath.
Night settled over the capital city, but darkness never fully returned anymore. The sky carried a permanent golden sheen, like a reflection from something just beyond sight.
Ling Yifan had insisted on escorting him back to Azure Dragon territory.
The Vice Dean had not argued.
No one said it aloud, but they all felt it—
The fracture in his chest was no longer symbolic.
It was structural.
Inside the academy's deepest stabilization chamber, Long Hao stood alone.
He had dismissed everyone.
Not in anger.
Not in isolation.
In preparation.
The crack across the golden mark glowed faintly black at its center, gold along its edges.
Black.
Not void.
