The Immortal Realm rippled like a silent dream when Emma and Zhou Fang stepped through the temporal breach. In the first instant, the realm felt distant, observing them with a cold intelligence, like a deity waiting for a mistake.
Then the second instant arrived—
And something noticed them.
It was neither presence, nor beast, nor being.
It was an awareness, woven into the very authority of this realm.
Zhou Fang felt a subtle shiver crawl along his spine.
So… we've triggered something.
The scenery around them—floating mountains, inverted seas, stars suspended in stillness—suddenly froze. Every motion in the world stopped. Clouds halted. Light stopped bending. Even the pulse of energy thick in the air paused mid-flow, like a river frozen in a single heartbeat.
Zhou Fang narrowed his eyes.
Time stopped… no, something deeper. Regulation of this realm paused. A reactionary mechanism…
He opened his mouth to speak, but before he did—
Space distorted.
The air trembled as cracks of pure law formed. Darkness oozed from between these fractures like ink bleeding into existence.
A thunder calamity began condensing.
Not the thunder of tribulation.
Not thunder of punishment.
Not lightning of heavens.
This was the Immortal Realm's Heavenly Annihilation Lightning—the absolute eraser of existence. A force so pure it carried no emotion, no judgment. Only finality.
Zhou Fang watched calmly, eyes reflecting the distortion.
"What is happening? Why is everything stopping? Why does the world react like this?"
The forming lightning shook the entire region. Even the floating mountains trembled. Stars flickered.
Emma raised her gaze, expression turning cold and sharp like a blade drawn from the void.
Then a voice spoke from within the thunder.
A voice deeper than storms.
A voice older than light.
"Who dares violate the law?"
"Who dares interfere with the past of this realm?"
"I shall erase you beyond existence."
The thunder plunged downward.
---
This thunder was unlike anything Zhou Fang had ever seen.
It was a power that could evaporate not only the body and soul, but also:
origin
causality
memory
karma
consciousness
dimensional identity
spiritual blueprint
destiny
narrative existence
A force that erased not the person, but the fact that the person ever existed.
It was not "attack."
It was not "force."
It was the pure concept of annihilation.
Zhou Fang felt his chest tighten. His mortal body, even with a protective shield, instinctively reacted to this fundamental danger.
So this is the law of this realm. Heavy, cold, unbiased. It does not ask who we are… only what rule we break.
Interesting.
The lightning approached.
The world vibrated.
And Emma… simply lifted her finger.
She flicked it lightly—almost lazily.
The lightning erased itself.
Silently. Instantly. Absolutely.
As if the annihilation force was nothing more than dust caught in a breeze.
Zhou Fang blinked.
She made the Immortal Realm's highest annihilation erase itself…
Emma's voice was colder than the thunder.
"A mere Heavenly Dao dares raise its hand against me?"
"Pathetic."
She released her aura.
The world bent.
Space twisted like soft cloth.
The distortions that even those beyond dimensional time-space could not touch… bent under her pressure like a bow under an emperor's hand.
The thunderclouds evaporated.
The sky itself folded submissively.
Zhou Fang felt the pressure wash over him. His protective shield trembled—it did not weaken, but reacted instinctively.
He realized something with terrifying clarity.
Her aura alone suppresses the abstract space of a realm above the universe…
How powerful she is?
What was her creator?
This thought lit a cold flame inside him. Not fear.
Interest.
"The world only becomes valuable when it reveals its hidden teeth."
Zhou Fang felt the same sentiment echo through him.
Only when danger bares its fangs does truth appear.
A figure emerged from the dispersing calamity.
Humanoid.
Formless.
Radiating cosmic law.
The Heavenly Dao of the Star Universe—the rule-system that governed this part of the Immortal Realm.
It fell to its knees before Emma.
"Please spare me, Goddess."
"This ignorant one has offended you."
"I beg for mercy."
Emma withdrew her aura with casual indifference.
"Leave," she said.
Her tone was not cruelty.
It was acknowledgment that it was beneath her attention.
"Thank you, Goddess. None shall disturb you again."
Then the Heavenly Dao vanished.
Zhou Fang watched without expression.
Heaven bows. Emma stands. What a disparity.
But his mind did not waver.
Power never truly impressed him.
Only structure did.
SEARCH FOR HIS MOTHER
Emma turned toward him.
"Let's go, Zhou Fang. We need to find your mother."
She made a gesture.
The world inverted.
They teleported.
---
MANG FAMILY – ENTRANCE OF AN UNSEEN TRAGEDY
They appeared outside an enormous estate—its gates taller than mountains, its walls made of condensed divinity, glowing with runes.
But they were not alone.
Emma sensed two auras.
She immediately cloaked herself and Zhou Fang with invisibility so absolute that even the Heavenly Dao could not perceive them.
Two figures approached.
Zhou Fang's breath caught for a moment.
The first figure—
A woman with beauty colder than the moon.
Her expression aloof.
Her aura damaged.
Her body weakened.
But her eyes—
Her eyes held a madness that only a mother who had lost her child could carry.
Zhou Fang felt his bloodline react.
He was staring at his mother.
A storm rose in his heart—
Emotion surged…
But he crushed it instantly.
This was not the time.
Emotion clouds truth.
Emma glanced at him, noticing the subtle tremor despite his cold expression.
"So that is your mother," she whispered.
The second figure was a young man—Lin Fan.
Her brother.
Lin Fan spoke urgently:
"Big Sister, don't be reckless. Your cultivation is damaged. You're only at Divine Transformation now. The Mang Family has billions of Divine Soul soldiers… fifty Divine Transformation generals… Divine Master elders… a Divine Flame Clan Head… and maybe a Divine King ancestor."
"You'll die."
Lin Moun's voice was colder than winter steel.
"My son is inside."
"I will save him."
"If he is harmed, I will erase the Mang Family from existence."
"No child, no elder, no woman, no slave—none will escape."
"I will kill them so brutally that even heaven will tremble."
Zhou Fang listened without blinking.
So this is my mother… ruthless enough to destroy a clan, yet fragile enough to burn herself for her son.
He felt something shift inside him.
Not emotion.
Not sentiment.
A realization.
Love is a double-edged knife. Sharp. Devoted. But blind.
Strength built on emotion collapses easily.
But strength built on truth? That endures.
Lin Fan clenched his fists.
"Big Sister… I am your brother. I am ashamed I cannot protect you or my nephew. Why am I so weak?"
Lin Moun did not answer.
Her gaze was fixed on the gate.
She raised her hand.
"Move."
She attacked.
BOOOOOOM!!
A burst of divine power erupted.
The gate of the Mang Clan shattered under her blow.
An explosion tore through the entrance.
Dozens, then hundreds, of soldiers were obliterated instantly.
The ground shook.
The air burned.
Zhou Fang watched expressionlessly.
Inside his heart, a cold thought formed:
In every world, justice is always defined by power.
And revenge is always justified by suffering.
But fate cares for neither.
He exhaled softly.
This… is the beginning of the past I came to witness.
And beneath this chaos… lies the truth someone tried to hide from me.
His eyes sharpened.
Let them tear the veil. I will observe. I will learn. And I will extract the truth from every drop of blood spilled here.
Emma looked at him with quiet understanding.
"Are you ready, Zhou Fang?"
He replied:
"I have always been ready."