The was no rain, nor the smell of smoke except the amazing cologne that corrupted the surrounding.
A person was sleeping beneath the chandelier lights; she appeared to be a weary princess who had just returned from royal responsibilities. Of fact, she was not dressed like a princess, but the rooms appeared to belong to a person of high social standing rather than a rich money lord.
Outside the rooms, heels were audibly pounding the floor. The door abruptly snapped open, showing a well-dressed woman carrying a tray with a cup of milk.
The woman placed the milk on a bedside table and called out to the person on the bed, "Great elder"
Mom...
The individual on the bed woke up with the start of someone who has experienced a nightmare.
Is anything wrong, Great elder ?
The person looked at the woman whose anxious face said it all. She raised her feet off the bed onto the perfectly polished tiles, had gorgeous eyes, bright black hair, and a composed expression that only the daughter of the virelle family possessed. The beauty was still alive and appeared to be in good health, with no visible wounds or scars.
She arose with a minor headache and proceeded passed the woman who had bowed her head slightly in the direction of the enormous mirror on the wall. She was unharmed and did not experience any pain or burns on her person.
What happened?
The woman, who was obviously a servant, turned to look at the bewildered look on the little miss's face as it was mirrored in the mirror.
Great elder , are you okay?
Eliza snapped out of her trance, she said recognized the place she was in, and the title great elder was only used by her servants and the entire virelle family, after all she was the matriarch
" How did I get here? ". she asked softly.
The servant clearly was confused by the question.
What do you mean miss, you returned yesterday from a business trip, and today, you are supposed to head to Japan.
Returned, head to...?
What day is it?
May 18, Miss
Eliza give her a narrowed glance, the corners of his eyes crinkling with with doubt.She always forgot things everytime she woke up
You can leave.
Eliza massaged her temples, attempting to understand what in the world was happening. What if she was driven into such a mess by fear? It was clear that everything she experienced was a dream and that all was not genuine, only an illusion.
The door slammed close as the servant left the room
Eliza let out a shaky breath, legs and hands shivering like a drunkard pulled out of a cold pool of water
She hadn't blinked in nearly a minute.
She stared at herself—or what should have been herself.
There she was.
Same silver-blonde hair, falling messily over one shoulder. Same sharp jawline, same pale violet eyes. And yet… something was wrong.
In the mirror, her reflection was soaked in blood.
A dark, gaping hole pierced straight through her chest—round, precise, like something had burned through her with a spear of molten steel. Red ran down her ribs, dripping onto bare feet, painting the white-tiled floor crimson.
She took a shaky step back.
But the reflection didn't move, it only smiled at her like a demon
Eliza screamed, letting out a raw, choked sound from her throat —something inside her stirred violently,all of this was just too overwhelming.
The mirror cracked.
Then shattered.
Shards rained down around her like jagged snowflakes, clattering on marble and scattering into corners.
Eliza stood frozen, panting, chest heaving beneath her robe.
She looked down to see only smooth skin, untouched and alive.
she remembered the pain she got every time she slept
Her hand went instinctively to her sternum. The skin was cool. The scar was faint—so faint, she could almost pretend it wasn't there.
Fifteen minutes passed before she moved again. The silence in the room wasn't comforting—it felt like a trap. Like the world was holding its breath, watching her.
The only sign that time was still flowing came from the sleek digital frame on the far desk.
Eliza narrowed her eyes.
She remembered it with perfect clarity. The tall tower and the horrible dream she had every night, it was as if she was transfered into a different world.
She remembered warrior screams and what looked like a nine headed demon sucking the soul of her mother.
She remembered the end.
So what was this?
Some simulation?
And Eliza Virelle was no ordinary woman.
Eliza virelle had been born into power
By twenty-three, she was the youngest chairwoman in East Asia's economic circle. She sat at the head of the Virelle Foundation, a global conglomerate heading the great yuan sect
Seven elite institutions used her name in their funding reports.
The media liked to call her The Immortal Heiress.
But they didn't know the half of it.
Behind her wealth, beneath the layers of business empires and public appearances, Eliza hunted the very limits of reality. Ancient ruins, sealed artifacts, forbidden tech—she funded and led expeditions herself, not out of curiosity, but out of obsession.
All for one goal:
To break the chain of death.
Maybe somehow, she can bring her mother back to life.
She sat now at the edge of the bed, hands curled around a tablet. It had powered on automatically the moment her biometrics were recognized.
A flick of her finger brought up a familiar interface: her combat dossier.
She hadn't checked it yet—not since she awoke.
The screen projected a holographic readout into the air.
> Combat ID: E. Virelle – Classification Update
Spiritual Energy Reserves:291,600 Units
Previous Base: 102,200 Units
Current Rank: Tier-9, Peak A-Class
Next Threshold (Saint -Class Ascension): 350,000 Units
Status: Awakening anomaly detected. Manual review required.
Her throat dried.
She reread the numbers twice. They didn't change.
She had quadrupled her energy base.
Impossible.
No one in the modern world quadrupled overnight. Not without ancient bloodline awakenings, or exposure to forbidden realms—and even then, such surges came with mental instability or cellular decay.
But Eliza felt… fine.
More than fine.
She inhaled slowly, then exhaled.
The air around her seemed to react.
A subtle pulse radiated from her core, as if something deep inside her had awakened and now watched the world with quiet hunger.
Was this spiritual energy?
Or something beyond?
The unit system had become the global standard over the past decade. Rather than labeling someone as "gifted" or "high-tier," the Energy Unit System tracked exact spiritual output in measurable waves, like radiation.
Most civilians never broke 1,000 units in their entire lives and at 300,000 units, one entered the whispered realm of Saint intiate Class then you would be called a soul master, the highest profession in the world.
In the world of cultivation, power did not simply rise like water in a river.
There were only nine true stages of soul cultivation. Beyond them, there was nothing left for a human to reach. Each step was a battle against heaven itself, and only a few had ever climbed to the peak.
But before a cultivator could ever step into that path, they had to survive the long years of training that came before—the first stage, known only as Affinity.
Basically affinity level wasn't even supposed to be a level, people at this level were just strong men whose wounds healed faster and could demolish a building with one punch,at this stage their spiritual cavities are just developing to apprehend the true spiritual strength at it was at least up to 300,000 spiritual energy units before becoming a Soul intiate -rank and finally starting to evolve and undergo spiritual refinement,for every spiritual refinement,one could gain a domain and the number of domains was the number of skills one human could use with in a battle,so this meant that Affinity level cultivators possessed no spiritual skills at all ,the only power was martial arts and all other techniques
Most breached it and advanced until they turned fifteen. Only then could the energy of heaven and earth be absorbed. Only then did the path of cultivation truly begin.
From there, the soul stages emerged—starting with the Soul Initiate, the first true cultivator. At this point, the soul started to respond to spiritual energy. The first of nine Soul Domains would form, after that came the Soul Practitioner, where the soul stabilized and energy manipulation became instinctive.
Then came the Soul Lord, Soul Saint stage. Reaching this point meant surpassing every ordinary limit but even the greatest Soul Saint was still mortal.
Only those who broke past the ninth domain could step into the realm of the Primordial Soul Venerable. A single Primordial Soul Venerable could face three peak Soul Saints at once and still stand tall.
But that was not the end.
The next stage was the Origin Flame Venerable. It was said that those who reached it gained the ability to forge Spirit Flames which was created from their soul essence and refined the body, unlocking what is known as Liquid Spiritual Energy, it was the highest form of energy one could obtain before entering the divine ranks.
Yet, to fully master this stage, one had to undergo three soul refinements: Low, Intermediate, and Superior. But once completed, the cultivator would finally touch the Black Rank, something few in history had ever achieved.
Then came the strangest realm of all—Cyclebreaker Monarch.
At this stage, refinement was no longer necessary. The body became a devourer of spiritual energy. There were no limits to how much energy could be absorbed, no ceiling to growth. The cultivator would regenerate endlessly in battle, fighting with strength that felt bottomless.
A transitional realm leading to Void Soul Emperor stage, the peak of human cultivation.
A gentle vibration pulsed from the tablet.
She had received a high-clearance request from her personal AI system.
"Would you like to begin diagnostic sync?"
Eliza hesitated.
No.
She needed more time.
More space to think, more clarity
And some part of her still remembered the smile in the mirror.
The one that had looked like her.
But wasn't just an illusion