Morning sunlight poured softly over Mount Skyhowl, scattering golden rays across the courtyard.
The mountain air was crisp, wavy and fresh.
At the heart of the courtyard stood Fang Yuan, with his robes fluttering gently in the faint wind.
The altar beneath him shimred with layered formation lines, circles within circles, glowing faintly with spirit light.
In his hand, he held the delicate silver necklace that contained Du Xin’s fragnted soul, its faint blue glow pulsing like a weak heartbeat.
Around the courtyard, dozens of faces peeked from behind pillars and open windows, disciples, elders, and even a few children, their eyes wide with curiosity and awe.
Whispered voices carried through the air, filled with both reverence and worry.
Near the front stood Du Juan, her hands clenched tightly together, knuckles pale.
Beside her, Xiao Pei kept his voice low and steady, though his posture betrayed his own unease.
"Relax," he said softly, noticing her trembling hands. "Brother Shaoge might be many things, but a liar isn’t one of them."
Inside, he was calmly muttering. ’Yeah right! He lies. Constantly. It’s practically his second cultivation path!’
Du Juan forced a small nod, her eyes never leaving the glowing necklace in Fang Yuan’s hands.
A few ters away, several spirit birds perched atop the courtyard roof, their heads tilting as if drawn to the strange energy below.
The faint chirping mixed oddly with the hum of the formation, adding an eerie calm to the atmosphere.
Farther in the distance, Lin Zhaoyue stood quietly behind a stone pillar. Her silver hair caught the morning light, her expression serene yet unreadable.
There was a softness in her gaze, curiosity tinged with sothing deeper, though even she couldn’t na it.
Inside the room, Fang Jingyi slept soundly, oblivious to the gathering outside.
Her breathing was calm and even, a rare mont of rest after days of turmoil.
At the center of it all, Fang Yuan slowly closed his eyes, the necklace glowing brighter between his palms, ready to begin the rebirth.
The world around him faded into silence and only the soft hum of the altar’s formation and the glow of the necklace in his hands remained.
Then ding.
A translucent golden screen shimred before his eyes, the familiar characters of the Faith System unfolding in front of him.
[System Notification]
You have the ’Perfect Vessel’.
Do you wish to use it now?
[Yes / No]
Fang Yuan reached forward, tapping Yes.
In the next instant, space rippled before him.
A soft pulse of light ford at the altar’s center, twisting and folding upon itself until it condensed into a radiant white egg, roughly the size of a human head.
Its shell shimred faintly, like moonlight captured in crystal, runes drifting lazily across its surface like floating threads of spirit light.
For a mont, Fang Yuan simply stared. "An egg?" he muttered, blinking once.
Not entirely sure what to do, he placed the egg reverently at the heart of the altar. The runes around it flared briefly, resonating with the vessel’s own glow.
Just then, another ssage appeared before his eyes.
[System Instructions]
Pour your soul into the vessel and enter hibernation.
The egg will absorb nutrients and hatch into the perfect version of a cultivator.
Note: Congratulations on advance from the system, host, you have taken the next step toward becoming invincible.
Fang Yuan arched an eyebrow, his fingers hovering over the egg.
"Invincible, huh? Sha I’m not the one inheriting this vessel."
He lowered the necklace in his palm, letting it catch the light for a mont before guiding his spiritual energy into it, steady and precise.
Threads of golden qi wound around it, cradling the fragile soul within as he directed it into the egg.
Light swelled across the altar, flaring bright enough to blind before softening into a steady pulse, calm, rhythmic, like a heartbeat.
Fang Yuan remained kneeling, eyes locked on the vessel.
A minute passed. Then another.
When the formation finally settled, the egg’s glow turned warm and serene.
Only then did he exhale, a slow, quiet release, and push himself to his feet.
He gazed down at the egg resting in the altar’s heart and whispered,"Let’s see what kind of miracle you’ll beco."
A faint smile touched his lips as morning light spilled across the courtyard.
BOOM!
In the next instant, the ground roared beneath him.
Dust rained from the courtyard walls as spiritual energy surged through Mount Skyhowl, rippling outward like a crashing tide.
The once-serene altar flared with protective light, and Fang Yuan instantly straightened, his expression sharpening into pure alertness.
His hand moved in a blur.
The egg vanished from sight, sealed within layers of protective formations and a temporal barrier of his own making.
His divine sense burst outward like an expanding tide. Every stone, every flicker of qi, every heartbeat within the mountain ca into perfect focus.
The southern wing of the estate was a ss of splintered wood and smoking rubble.
One of the Fang family’s newly built hall had exploded a d flas still crackled along the beams, qi residue thick in the air like static.
Fang Yuan’s heart lurched. "What the—"
He vanished from the altar, reappearing in a burst of light above the shattered hall.
Below, chaos rippled through the courtyard.
Disciples shouted orders, buckets clattered, and streams of water splashed over the burning rubble. Others rushed into the wreckage, hauling the wounded out one by one.
In the middle of it all stood a woman, her hair wild, her face drained of color, her eyes fixed in horror on the heart of the explosion.
Fang Yuan followed her gaze. Amidst the smoking debris, a tiny baby sat unhard.
The child blinked up at the sky with wide, curious eyes and let out a string of bubbling sounds. "Aaah... buh... guh..."
The surrounding rubble still radiated residual spatial energy, thin tears of the void itself shimred faintly, bending light around them.
Fang Yuan froze, midair. His eyes twitched.
"Wait a minute..." he muttered under his breath, voice flat with disbelief. "Isn’t that... Fang Nitian?"
The baby looked up at him and smiled, waving a chubby hand as a faint ripple of void qi distorted the air around him.
Fang Yuan’s expression went completely still. Slowly, cautiously, he extended his divine sense toward the infant, just to confirm.
The instant his spiritual perception touched the baby, his eyes went wide, pupils contracting to pinpoints. His qi recoiled as if burned.
Fang Yuan stumbled a half-step backward, eyes wide. His pupils constricted to pinpoints.
"What the heck..." he whispered, voice barely audible.
"That... that baby feels like—"
He couldn’t even finish the sentence.
The word itself carried too much weight.
The Void.
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