Jalen sat cross-legged in his quarters before dawn, the silence thick with anticipation. His body had now fully recovered—his spirit sea was stable, his qi flowed without obstruction, and the lingering effects of the elemental storm had finally faded.
He closed his eyes and shifted inward, entering his spirit domain to commune with his second spirit core. But instead of a conversation, something else emerged—a memory, or perhaps a revelation. It wasn't spoken. It simply was.
A vision unfolded: trees stretching across the sealed state, their roots intertwined like veins of the earth, forming a vast spiritual lattice. Through this network, he could channel wood qi—an element rarer than light or shadow—one he didn't even know he possessed until now to open a spatial rift. But as the second spirit core, or rather his eternal spirit, said, to bypass the sealing formation, Jalen would need to sacrifice an entire realm of cultivation.
As it was revealed, the sealing formation was ancient, forged by Upper Realm cultivators to trap and suppress so someone of Jalen's realm won't be able to pierce it; it will take great power, and that's what the eternal grade spirit is temporarily granting him, but to ensure his life isn't destroyed in the process.
He opened his eyes. The time had come.
Jalen found Calista in the outer courtyard, training alone beneath the morning mist. She froze when she saw him, her breath catching in her throat.
"What's your answer?" Jalen asked.
Calista had spent the past few days in turmoil. Elders had warned her against leaving, reminding her of the clan's generosity. Friends had encouraged her, calling it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She had weighed loyalty against destiny and gratitude against survival. In the end, she chose to be selfish.
"I accept," she said quietly. "I want to be your disciple."
Jalen nodded. "Then come with me."
They returned to the guest quarters where Zakai was meditating. He opened one eye as they entered, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
"I see the girl made her choice," Zakai said. "You know, it's bad form to poach from a clan that's been nothing but good to us."
"I have my reasons," Jalen replied. "If not for those, I would've left her."
"You mean the three elemental energies clashing inside her body," Zakai said, his tone unreadable.
Calista flinched. She hadn't expected them to know. But of course they did. They were far beyond her realm. Even the elders of her clan had warned her that her condition was unstable, possibly fatal. Yet she had endured. Despite her age, she had reached the late Pearl Realm—a feat that marked her as a genius. The Westminster Clan had accepted her not just out of kindness, but curiosity. She was, in many ways, an experiment.
"Let's go," Jalen said.
A green aura began to rise around him—soft, ancient, and unfamiliar. It was wood qi, the energy his eternal grade spirit is made of. Outside The wind stirred as the trees around the compound began to shimmer faintly.
The seal responded immediately. The air thickened. Pressure mounted. The formation recognized the threat and began to react and affect every living thing inside.
Even a sky-limit realm like Zakia could barely stand in this pressure, much less those below their realms. The people of the Arian state all over were terrified of this since this is the first time something like this had ever happened.
Jalen anticipates that such an event will happen; of course, the seal would try to stop anyone trying to leave.
But before he could complete the breaching process, the Origin Shard acted.
Without warning, it seized control of his body. Flash Reversion activated, and in an instant, Jalen, Zakai, and Calista were teleported to the border of Arian. The seal loomed before them—vast, ancient, and pulsing with suppressed power.
The shard began to absorb energy from the sealing formation, refining it carefully. But unlike before, it didn't channel the energy into Jalen's body. It kept it for itself, storing it within itself.
"What are you doing?" Jalen demanded internally.
"The origin shard can't allow you to go through with your reckless plan and lose a realm," the Origin Shard replied. "It will take over from here on out."
"If you do this, the seal will weaken. Those cultivators will be free."
"Even if they escape, it will take time for them to recover. But the origin shard won't drain the entire seal—just enough to get us through."
"What about the risk?"
"The origin shard had chosen another way."
"You mean to say there was another way all along—and you lied?"
"The shard didn't lie," the shard said. "It just withheld this method. Remember what I told you the purpose of the origin shard was. It is to make you stronger by any means necessary. But watching you destroy a realm to escape such a low-tier sealing formation—the very realm the origin shard helped you achieve—it couldn't allow it."
After taking enough energy from the seal, the origin shard used its own reserves, Jalen's qi, and the refined energy; it opened a spatial rift.
A tear formed in the air—blue and silver, flickering with elemental light.
"Enter the portal," the shard ordered, using Jalen's voice to communicate with Zakia and Calista.
Zakai hesitated. "Who are you?"
Light appeared beside him, his form flickering. "Don't worry. The kid's fine. Just hurry and leave."
The rift pulsed. The sealing formation roared in protest. A final wave of suppression surged across Arian—raw, merciless, and absolute. Cultivators staggered. Mortals collapsed. And in the outer reaches, where qi was weakest, some bodies turned to ash before breath could escape their lips.
It was the seal's last cry. A desperate attempt to hold back what had already slipped through its grasp.
But it failed.
Jalen, Zakai, and Calista were gone. And with them gone the atmosphere returned to normal; however, the seal dimmed due to the energy that it no longer possessed.
The three reappeared in the Sunray State, the sky clear and the air calm. Zakia, who was injured by the suppression of the seal, is holding the now unconscious Calista like a baby in his arms.
Jalen collapsed immediately. His qi was gone—drained completely from his dantian. Light had to take on humanoid form to hold him up.
The spatial rift had drawn attention. Powerful cultivators began to converge on the location. Zakai and Light sped off with the two toward the Light Clan.
They entered quietly, avoiding attention. A few elders noticed their return, but none approached. As patriarch and grand elder, their movements were unquestioned.
Zakia placed Calista in a room where some female curers attended to her, and Light carried Jalen down into the sanctuary beneath the clan grounds—where the Light Tree stood.
The tree shimmered with radiant qi, its roots pulsing with life. Light laid Jalen at its base, placing his hand on the trunk so the energy can help him recover at a speedier rate.