Three days later, Kaelan enters retreat once more.
This time, his objective is clear.
To meet the physical criteria required to break through the Third Stage of Transcendence.
Elementalisation of the physical body.
Inside the sealed cultivation chamber, Kaelan sits unmoving as magic energy flows steadily into him.
His perception sinks inward.
Deeper.
Past flesh.
Past blood.
Down to the structure of life itself.
Magic circuits already exist within his body, intertwined with muscle fibres and nerve pathways, layered over cells like an external system.
That is no longer enough.
With his increased understanding of the laws of the world, Kaelan begins to improve them.
The circuits loosen.
They dissolve from rigid pathways and begin to spread.
Not between cells.
Over them.
Each cell becomes a carrier.
Each cell gains a microcircuit etched directly into its structure.
Magic energy no longer travels through fixed routes.
It diffuses.
Breathes.
Flows everywhere at once.
His skin darkens faintly.
Muscle fibres shimmer.
Bones hum softly as elemental resonance integrates deeper into matter.
Elementalisation rises steadily.
Ten per cent.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
At twenty-five per cent, Kaelan halts the process.
He opens his eyes.
Something has changed.
In his spirit space, a rune has formed naturally.
It is simple.
Elegant.
Absolute.
Information flows into his mind without resistance.
Dark Energy Materialisation.
With a single thought, Kaelan reaches out.
Dark energy condenses.
Not as an illusion.
Not as a projection.
But as a matter.
A shard of solid darkness forms above his palm, heavy, cold, real.
He releases it, and it dissolves silently.
Control sharpens dramatically.
Dark spells require less mana.
Their output increases.
Efficiency surges.
Yet Kaelan does not smile.
Instead, he frowns.
He closes his eyes again and introspects.
The change is subtle.
But undeniable.
As his understanding of Dark Law deepens, his sensitivity to other laws weakens.
Most noticeably—
Light.
His perception of light law dulls.
Reaction slows.
Balance shifts.
"I fully understand the Dark Path," he murmurs, "and the improvement of the magic circuits is being influenced by that."
This is not what he wants.
When he obtains the Divinity of Storm, he sets a goal.
Not the dominance of one element.
But synthesis.
To expand Storm Divinity into the Priesthood of Elemental Storm.
A storm forged from seven elements.
Fire.
Water.
Wind.
Earth.
Thunder.
Dark.
Light.
Perfect balance.
Perfect circulation.
Dark Law is only one of seven.
Each elemental law contains its own path.
Fire Elemental Law also contains the Fire Path.
And he cannot allow one law to suppress the others.
Kaelan exhales slowly.
Resolve hardens.
Without hesitation, he makes his decision.
He scraps the magic circuits.
All of them.
Dark energy surges violently as he destroys the refined circuits embedded in every cell.
His skin ruptures.
Muscles tear.
Bones crack audibly.
Blood pours from his pores.
His aura collapses into chaos.
The newly formed talent rune shatters in his spirit space and dissolves into fragments.
Pain rips through him without restraint.
Kaelan does not scream.
He endures.
He absorbs the ambient magic energy in the room desperately, forcing regeneration.
Cells rebuild.
Flesh knits.
Bones restore.
Hours pass.
Then days.
When stability finally returns, Kaelan sits upright once more.
His body is intact.
Empty.
Unbiased.
He does not rebuild the circuits.
Not yet.
Instead, he turns inward.
And begins to comprehend the Fire Path.
Outside the sealed chamber, a week passes quietly.
In the courtyard, Yuelan practices her cultivation routine as usual.
Midway through a movement, she freezes.
Her hand presses unconsciously against her abdomen.
Something is wrong.
No—
Something is there.
Her breath catches.
She closes her eyes and senses inward.
Her face pales instantly.
Shock floods her expression as she feels a faint, unfamiliar presence inside her stomach.
A foreign object.
Alive.
Her heart begins to race.
She is already a Bronze Wizard, so she enters introspection at once and sees the fetus quietly growing inside her.
"I am pregnant."
Joy floods her, warm and overwhelming, because she has finally achieved her goal.
She is carrying Kong Wuya's child.
Her status is now unquestionable.
She leaps to her feet and rushes to open the door of her cultivation room.
Her hand stops midair.
She remembers Kong Wuya's words: no one is to disturb him unless it is an emergency.
She is pregnant, not giving birth.
This is not an emergency.
Kong Wuya has three clones.
Informing them is the same as informing his true body.
She steadies her breathing, opens the door, and walks into the corridor of the Wizard Tower.
This tower is used only by her and Kong Wuya, and servants are forbidden from the top three floors, leaving the corridors silent and empty.
She descends to the fourth floor and enters the control room.
Standing before the formation, she sends two messages, one to the main tower in the Tang Kingdom and one to the tower at the Silver Treasure House.
The message is simple.
Her name.
And that she is pregnant.
Afterwards, she does not return to cultivation.
She leaves the Wizard Tower and heads toward the palace she shares with her son.
As she nears the palace, she senses something wrong.
The atmosphere is tense.
Guards and maids freeze when they see her, guilt written plainly on their faces.
Her heart tightens.
She asks calmly, already preparing herself for bad news, "What happened?"
A guard swallows hard and answers, "Mistress… the young lord has gone missing."
The ground seems to vanish beneath her feet.
Everything she has done since the death of her former husband, the crown prince of Chen Kingdom, has been for her son, Chen Juan.
For him, she risks returning to the capital.
For him, she enters the palace again.
For him, she meets Kong Wuya and becomes his lover.
Even her desire to become pregnant is for herself and for Chen Juan, so that with her status secured, she can protect his present and his future.
Rage surges through her chest.
She screams, "How can he go missing with all of you here?"
A maid trembles and says, "Mistress… when I went to wake Young Lord Chen Juan, his room was empty."
A guard steps forward urgently, "Mistress, I guarded the door all night; no one came out."
Another guard points at two others, "We guarded the back road of the palace; we did not see the young lord."
Her voice sharpens, shaking with fury, "If all of you were doing your duty, how did he disappear?"
They exchange glances, lower their heads, and say nothing.
Her mind races.
If every entrance is guarded, then he cannot have left openly.
Then a thought strikes her.
A hidden path.
A secret road behind her palace, leading directly into the garden.
The garden is enclosed on all sides, with only a passage from the palace, and no guards stand inside it at night because patrols circle outside the garden walls.
Her face pales.
Without another word, she turns and walks toward the garden.
Inside the garden, she heads straight to the artificial hill and circles behind it, where a sealed well lies hidden between stone and wall.
She freezes.
Two sets of footprints lead there, one large, one small.
The wooden cover over the well's mouth bears fresh marks, clearly moved not long ago.
She pulls it open.
Darkness yawns below.
She forms a flame with her mana and lets it descend, hovering several meters above the bottom.
Then she jumps.
Her body lands lightly, controlled, silent.
On the side of the well, she sees it.
A tunnel.
She enters without hesitation.
Guards rush after her, armour scraping against stone.
At the end of the tunnel, she opens a concealed door and steps into the underground sewer.
She waits until the guards catch up.
When they do, she gives her order calmly, forcefully.
"Find every exit from the sewer."
"Yes, Mistress."
They scatter immediately.
She takes a side passage, moves quickly through the damp corridor, and climbs a rusted ladder.
She pushes open the cover above.
Night air greets her.
She emerges into the backyard of a house.
Her breath catches.
This is the house where she once hid Chen Juan, back when she secretly went to meet Kong Wuya.
A crow caws.
Her head snaps up.
A black crow sits on a tree branch in the garden, its eyes sharp and intelligent.
A voice enters her mind.
"Master's clone is coming. He told you to rest in the Wizard Tower and wait for him."
She looks at the crow and says firmly, "I cannot rest while my son is missing."
The crow caws again.
The voice returns, colder.
"You are going to bear the Master's child. That child is more important."
Her eyes harden.
"Every child of mine is equally important."
The crow tilts its head, then caws once more.
"But you still have to listen to the Master's order."
Her voice trembles, but she does not lower it.
"How can I rest when my son is missing?"
The crow caws.
This time, the voice is calmer.
"You cannot do anything here. Let us professionals handle the search."
She hesitates.
Her fingers curl slowly.
The crow caws again, insistent.
"My people and I will find your son for you."
Silence stretches.
Finally, she nods.
"Alright," she says quietly. "I will return. But without my son, it is impossible to rest."
The crow spreads its wings.
"I will find your son as soon as possible."
It launches into the air, cawing loudly.
She watches as more crows gather, drawn by the call, black shapes filling the sky before scattering in every direction.
She turns back, enters the house briefly, then exits onto the street.
She returns to the palace.
Inside, she sits.
Waiting.
Time crawls.
Her hands rest over her stomach unconsciously.
She wonders if she should wake Kong Wuya.
She shakes her head.
No.
She will wait.
And pray that her son comes home.