Chen Zhenhai, Yan Li, He Yingli, and the base commander Jin Chao gather inside the sealed meeting room, their expressions solemn and heavy.
None of them speaks at first.
They have all seen it.
Yesterday's spectacle still lingers in their minds—the moment Kong Wuya refined a massive flying ship, a spiritual construct capable of carrying hundreds of men, rising into the sky as if the laws of the world no longer applied.
A wizard refining such a thing.
Not a sect artefact.
Not a divine relic.
But a creation born entirely from the Wizard Way.
They can already envision the future.
Wizard kingdoms are growing stronger by the day.
Guns and bombs equip mortal armies.
Flying ships dominate the skies.
In just a few years, such a force could overwhelm every human kingdom.
Unify them.
Erase balance.
For them, that outcome is unacceptable.
Silence finally breaks when Jin Chao speaks.
"Our energy detection array captured a signature last night," he says slowly.
"A Divine Mind–level cultivator leaving the city."
He Yingli twirls a strand of hair around her finger, her lips curling faintly.
"It must be Kong Wuya," she says.
"Leaving for the Silver Treasure House auction."
The room falls silent again.
Each of them understands what that means.
Kong Wuya's absence changes everything.
Chen Zhenhai is the first to voice it.
"With Kong Wuya gone," he says carefully, "we can take control of the kingdom."
Yan Li's eyes sharpen.
Until now, the Divine Mind presence of Kong Wuya has been the unmovable pillar holding the Tang Kingdom together.
Without him—
Yan Li exhales slowly, gathering his thoughts.
"Elder Jin," he says, turning to Jin Chao, "the chance of killing Kong Wuya is close to zero."
No one refutes that.
"And without Kong Wuya present," Yan Li continues, "our chance of taking control of the kingdom rises dramatically."
He pauses.
"If we succeed without directly confronting him, the headquarters may not punish us."
All three of them turn toward Jin Chao.
They wait.
Jin Chao's expression remains unreadable.
"Kong Wuya can refine Spiritual Treasure–grade instruments," he says at last.
"Two or three Ultimate Martial Artists equipped with Spiritual Treasures could stop me."
He Yingli's fingers are still.
"So the answer is no," she says flatly.
Jin Chao shakes his head.
"Not no," he replies.
"But we will need help."
"What kind of help?" Chen Zhenhai asks.
"The nobles," Jin Chao answers.
Chen Zhenhai frowns immediately.
"They won't agree," he says.
"Not after yesterday."
Jin Chao's gaze turns cold.
"Then we force them to agree."
The air in the room grows heavy.
No one speaks for several breaths.
Then Yan Li nods slowly.
"If we control the nobles," he says, "we control the supply lines, the guards, and the administration."
"And once the kingdom is in our hands," He Yingli adds, "even Kong Wuya will find it troublesome to intervene openly."
They exchange glances.
The decision is not yet finalised, but the direction is clear.
Plans begin forming.
Pressure points.
Hostages.
Hidden threats.
Outside the sealed room, the capital remains peaceful.
Inside, conspiracy takes shape.
---
Far away, deep within a cultivation chamber, Kaelan sits in silence.
Spiritual energy flows around him like a calm tide, restrained and refined.
His thoughts are far removed from political schemes.
He is thinking about life itself.
To break through the Third Stage of Transcendence, cultivation alone is not enough.
The body must change.
Life level must rise.
From mortal grade
to Black Iron grade
or higher—Bronze grade
or even Silver grade
Or—
He opens his eyes slightly.
The third path.
The extraordinary physique.
Gold grade.
Each option carries its own cost.
Raising life level means reshaping the foundation of existence—cells, blood, bones, spirit, and soul all advancing together.
Black Iron grants resilience.
Bronze grants longevity.
Silver grants regeneration.
Gold—
Gold transforms existence itself.
But the higher the grade, the harsher the requirements.
Materials.
Time.
Pressure.
Risk.
Kaelan exhales slowly.
The flying ship.
The spiritual pool.
The nodes beneath the kingdom.
All of them are pieces.
And the next step is not political.
It is biological.
To transform his life level, Kaelan must transform his life origin.
That realisation settles with quiet weight as he sits in the cultivation chamber, spiritual light flowing through him in steady cycles.
This is not a matter of energy quantity or realm comprehension.
It is a matter of what he is.
He lets his spirit sink inward.
Layer by layer, perception peels back.
Skin.
Muscle.
Bones.
Blood.
Organs.
Meridians.
Mana pathways.
Magic circuits.
Deeper still.
Life force.
Vital rhythm.
Existence pattern.
He observes without interference, without haste, allowing every detail to present itself clearly.
Two paths unfold before him.
One begins at the deepest point—life origin itself.
The other begins at the surface—his body.
He calculates.
If he touches the life origin directly and something goes wrong, there is no undoing it.
Life origin damage is permanent.
Even divine-level beings cannot reverse it once altered incorrectly.
And his understanding of life origin is close to nothing.
Fragments.
Hypotheses.
Incomplete theories.
Without knowledge, touching it is reckless.
The body, however, is different.
The body can be dismantled, rebuilt, sacrificed, and restored—so long as sufficient resources are paid.
Mistakes can be corrected.
Paths can be reversed.
After several hours of silent calculation, Kaelan reaches his conclusion.
He will transform the body first.
Let the body's transformation pull the life level upward naturally.
He opens his eyes.
Decision made.
Now comes the method.
He surveys the directions available to him.
Many ideas surface, but two stand above the rest.
Elemental Transformation.
Blood Transformation.
He examines the first.
His body already walks the elemental path.
Through magic circuits embedded within his flesh, he can partially convert his body into elemental states—fire, wind, lightning, void-aligned elements.
But it is slow.
Painfully slow.
At present, his body can only maintain partial elementalization for a few seconds, and even then, the conversion rate is shallow.
Less than ten per cent.
Even if he meets the first three criteria to advance into Third Stage Transcendence, this level of elementalization is insufficient to raise his life level meaningfully.
He needs acceleration.
The second path—blood transformation—is more dangerous.
His body contains his true blood.
Void Monster blood.
Blood that does not belong to this world.
It grants terrifying potential, but revealing or amplifying it too much risks invoking the world's rejection—curses, suppression, calamity.
Using demon beast blood as a substitute is also unsatisfactory.
None of them is worthy.
None matches his ambition.
None aligns with his future path.
He dismisses them.
Then an idea surfaces—quietly, unexpectedly.
Synthetic blood.
He stills.
If no existing bloodline is suitable, then why use one?
If demon beasts are insufficient, then why not extract the strengths of all of them and create something new?
A bloodline tailored to his needs.
Stable.
Adaptable.
Compatible with magic circuits and elemental flow.
The idea has merit.
But it is incomplete.
Blood transformation alone does not solve the elementalization speed problem.
Then—
A minor thought rises.
Runic transformation.
Engraving runes directly onto the body, treating flesh as a living formation.
He pauses.
And at that moment, memory aligns.
Magic circuits.
He exhales slowly.
The magic circuits engraved within his body are already responsible for elemental transformation.
They are the cause.
Not the result.
They are composed of runes and mana pathways fused into flesh.
If he improves the magic circuits themselves—
refines their structure, density, and responsiveness—
Then elemental transformation will naturally accelerate.
And in doing so, he will advance both elemental transformation and runic mastery simultaneously.
The path clarifies.
Improve magic circuits.
Speed up elemental transformation.
Let the body evolve.
Let life level rise as a consequence.
Kaelan begins calculating.
Night after night, he refines models.
Rune density thresholds.
Mana circulation efficiency.
Circuit responsiveness.
Failure tolerances.
By day, his attention splits.
One part of his mind designs arrays for transforming spiritual nodes.
For converting spiritual energy into magic energy.
For stabilising magic pools.
The other part continues refining the internal blueprint of his body.
He does not rush.
Precision matters more than speed.
Far away, in the Tang Kingdom capital, both clones pause simultaneously.
Their heads turn toward the royal palace.
A chill passes through the air.
A rising pressure.
Death-aspected aura.
Dense.
Focused.
Controlled.
Both clones recognise it instantly.
Relief touches their thoughts.
"A new helper."
The aura signature is unmistakable.
Veena.
She is advancing.
After surrendering to Kaelan, Veena entered deep retreat the very next day.
She did not hesitate.
She did not delay.
She dismantled her Qi-refining cultivation and rebuilt it entirely along the Wizard Way.
During her retreat, communication was minimal.
Only spirit transmission.
Only guidance on constructing a meditation technique suitable for a former Divine Mind cultivator.
Her foundation had already reached the Divine Mind Realm.
That advantage carried over.
Even after transforming her cultivation base, her advancement did not slow.
Months pass.
Now the breakthrough arrives.
Veena steps into the Spiritual Wizard stage.
Death aura surges—not chaotic, not wild, but refined and obedient.
A controlled ascent.
The clones sense it, acknowledge it, and return to their tasks without ceremony.
One continues teaching.
The other continues refining data.
Elsewhere, Kaelan continues his calculations.
Magic circuits evolve on parchment before they ever touch flesh.
Soon, the transformation will begin.
And when it does—
It will not merely change his body.
It will redefine what kind of life he is allowed to be.