Cole's expression turned serious.
The faint tiredness in his eyes sharpened into something wrath.
"To defeat the Daos."
They didn't speak after that for a while.
Ahead of them stood a temple.
The structure looked old, worn down by time rather than battle.
The stone steps were cracked, and the pillars leaned slightly, as if they were holding themselves upright out of habit rather than strength.
Cole walked forward first.
Neo followed.
As they entered the temple, Neo's thoughts drifted back to everything he had seen since stepping into the True World and his own Elemental Cosmos.
The corpses he had seen in the True Blessed Lands.
The Supremes.
All of it felt deliberate now.
Like Celestial Worthy had been peeling back layers of truth, one step at a time, preparing him without ever saying it outright.
In the Elemental Cosmos, reaching Stage 7 meant merging with a Supreme.
It was already dangerous there.
In the True World, it was worse.
