The thirteen bishops enter the throne room, fear etched deep in their eyes.
They know well what it means now that the Judgement Knight has failed to force Lin Yu into the Dark Continent.
Their lives are no longer their own.
One by one, they kneel before him, the weight of terror pressing them into the ground.
A day later, Nora wakes from her meditation to the sound of pounding fists on her door.
Adam's voice shouts from outside, frantic and hoarse, "Nora! Nora!"
She frowns, rising, wondering, What's wrong with him?
Their once-close bond has long been strained since Adam learned of her engagement to Lin Yu—an engagement she herself had struggled to accept.
But last night changed everything.
She had seen Lin Yu's strength with her own eyes, strength so vast it smothered the heavens.
All the small warmth she still carried for Adam vanished, and in its place surged something deeper, fiercer—a love for Lin Yu that now filled her heart.
If she were mortal, she might have chosen Adam for a fleeting romance across a short span of years.
But she is extraordinary.
A Tier Three already, with a life expectancy of one hundred and eighty years, and should she rise higher, she could live for millennia.
Adam could never help her climb that path.
Lin Yu could.
She opens the door and finds Adam frantic, his face pale, his breath ragged.
"What happened?" she asks.
Adam blurts out, "Nora, you have to save Elowen!"
Her eyes widen.
Elowen, a member of the Church of Light—here in the town, only one person has the authority to threaten her.
Now Nora understands why Adam has come.
"Why does Lin Yu want to kill her?" she asks quietly.
Adam stammers, "His Majesty ordered all personnel from every church to be hanged this afternoon."
Nora freezes, the weight of the words crashing into her.
Why?
Her mind races until the conclusion dawns like ice—of course, the churches were behind the attack on the town, and on Lin Yu himself.
She looks at Adam, her expression unreadable.
"I will do what I can to save her."
She closes the door before he can speak again.
Inside, she begins to prepare herself.
She takes out the most beautiful dress she owns, one she bought long ago but never had reason to wear.
Lin Yu feels the subtle but undeniable changes flowing through him after advancing to Tier Six.
His physical body shows little transformation, yet his spirit and soul have become denser, heavier, like forged iron tempered in silence.
In this world's cultivation system, the extraordinary walk the path of energy first, then spirit, and only after that, the body.
So the shift in his flesh is not drastic, but in his essence, it is monumental.
With Tier Six comes a gift, one granted to all who step across this threshold.
The extraordinary heart manifests outside the body, pulsing not unlike a human heart, but colored an eerie, ashen grey.
From this heart flows energy, and the energy shapes itself into a second figure.
The clone stands, identical in form to the original, yet its skin bears the same grey as the heart from which it was born.
It is not a mere illusion, but a true construct of mastered energy.
From Tier Six to Tier Nine, the road lies in deepening one's comprehension of the chosen energy, refining the energy body toward solidity.
Step by step, the intangible is hammered into the tangible until it becomes the divine body.
And with the divine body, one stands at the edge of Tier Ten—the True Demigod realm.
Beyond that waits Tier Eleven, where divine body and physical body fuse, birthing the true spirit.
That step is godhood, immortal lordship, the fourth stage of the extraordinary path.
If Lin Yu reaches that point, he will recover completely, beyond the scars of this world's battles.
But his aim is not the ordinary path, not a simple shadow divine body.
His goal lies deeper, darker—he seeks the Nether Divine Body.
What he understands of Nether energy is that it exists in the liminal state between life and death.
By right, his extraordinary journey should have begun with life energy or death energy.
But he encountered no inheritance of either at the start, so he began with shadow energy.
Shadow was the closest—born when light and dark overlap, it mirrors his grasp of the Nether's boundary.
Now, however, he holds many inheritances of both life and death.
Yet in this world, life energy is not pure.
It is fused with wood and nature, forming the true way of life and nature.
Death energy, too, is not pure.
It is bound with spirit, becoming the true way of the spirit of the dead.
Both of these true ways are under the dominion of the gods.
If he cultivates them directly, his comprehension will bleed into their slumbering divinity, siphoned away.
That might hasten their awakening, something he must never allow.
So he will not walk their paths as they are.
Instead, he will bend them into shadow.
Shadow Life Mage.
Shadow Dead Mage.
With this, the essence of the true ways will remain, but their authority will not.
He decides the main body will first forge both extraordinary paths and begin practising one of them.
The extraordinary clone will tread the Shadow Lord path to deepen his foundation.
His decision settled, his thoughts drift to Isolde.
He steps into his spirit world.
At the far edge, the ancient tablet floats, unmoving, giving no reaction.
Lin Yu's spirit begins to analyse the last three seals.
Once his analysis is complete, he will shatter them and release Isolde.
A voice reaches him, tinged with both fear and respect.
"Majesty, what are you doing?"
Isolde's form manifests within his spirit space.
Lin Yu does not stop his work.
"Breaking your seals."
Her mood brightens instantly, joy flickering across her features.
Her eyes fix upon the tablet, where her extraordinary blood energy heart lies bound.
One seal cracks.
Then another.
And finally the third.
The tablet disperses into motes of shadow, revealing a scarlet heart beating with suppressed power.
With Lin Yu's silent permission, Isolde leaves his spirit space.
The heart manifests outside, and energy erupts, weaving itself into her body.
She kneels, her voice steady.
"Thank you, your majesty."
Lin Yu regards her, unblinking.
"Your body is not completely unsealed."
Isolde lowers her head.
"My majesty, I cultivated two extraordinary hearts. One is this—blood energy. The other, dark energy, sealed together with my physical body."
"Then you will be leaving to unseal that heart," Lin Yu says flatly.
"If you allow me, your majesty."
"Why would I stop you? Our deal is finished."
Fear coils in her chest.
To lose her bond with Lin Yu now would be to lose the greatest chance of her life.
And in her heart, she suspects what Lin Yu truly is.
"Majesty, I will return to serve you after I retrieve my body."
"Ok," Lin Yu answers.
"You may leave. And send Nora inside."
He already senses her waiting beyond the door.
Isolde steps out, and Nora enters, bowing deeply.
"Greetings, your majesty."
She is his fiancée, but only in name—an arrangement born of family interests, not affection.
She knows her place.
"You came for the priestess of the Church of Light," Lin Yu says.
Nora's eyes widen.
"How do you know?"
The shadows whisper to him, carrying every word spoken within his town.
He sees and hears all through them.
Coming back to herself, Nora inclines her head.
"Yes, your majesty."
"I am not executing them," Lin Yu replies.
"I released that news so the thirteen churches would be forced to negotiate—and pay—for their people."
Even as he speaks, he senses new arrivals.
Multiple Tier Eight auras pierce the gorge, heavy and distinct.
His gaze sharpens.
"You will return to Greton Town," Lin Yu orders.
"Take my guards and bring both our families here."
Nora nods, turns, and withdraws.
Lin Yu remains seated, waiting for the emissaries of the thirteen churches to appear.
When they stand before him, he does not waste words.
"Eight-tiered extraordinary paths from each of you."
There is no bargaining.
No hesitation.
The emissaries agree immediately, each producing memory balls etched with runes, handing over the extraordinary paths without resistance.
They know their position.
They know his power.
When they leave, it is with gifts—rare resources, treasures, tokens of goodwill.
The next day, the atmosphere changes.
Representatives of the parliament and the royal family arrive.
They declare before all: the kingdom grants Lin Yu the title of Duke, and the entire Sakar Mountain Range is named his fief.
His dominion is official.
His authority is undeniable.
But the kingdom is only the beginning.
Soon after, emissaries of other kingdoms, empires, and the scions of powerful, extraordinary families come in waves.
Some seek friendship, others pry for secrets.
How had one not yet twenty-five ascended to Tier Nine?
Such a feat lies beyond the scope of genius.
It belongs to monsters.
Whispers spread like fire—what path did he walk, what inheritance did he seize, what power did he bind?
Behind some of these families stand True Demigods, beings who linger at the threshold of godhood.
They are not afraid of Lin Yu.
Some among them even consider striking him directly, believing his secret might be the key to break their millennia-long stagnation and step into godhood at last.
But they hesitate.
The ancient agreement binds them still—Demigods do not strike unless provoked.
Lin Yu has not crossed that line.
To attack him would be to break the pact and risk war between Demigods.
Yet hunger gleams in their eyes.
Others move differently.
They, too, want his secret, but through trade, alliance, or exchange, not through blood.
And these Demigods stand in the way of the hostile ones, blocking their path, making them hesitate further.
Lin Yu becomes the centre of a storm of desire, fear, and ambition, with every power in the world watching.