The return journey from the Central Continent was not the victory lap the disciples had expected. While the floating annex of the Heavensward Institute drifted through the sea of clouds, a heavy, suffocating stillness began to pervade the halls. The Sovereign Archive was no longer pulsing with gold; it was flickering with a rhythmic, blood-red alarm that only Gaurav could perceive.
[WARNING: Dimensional Anchor Breached.]
[Threat Level: Calamity.]
[Entity: The Silent Hand of the World Will.]
Gaurav stood in his private study, his eyes fixed on a drop of water that refused to fall from a porcelain vase. Time itself was being stretched, warped by an entity that existed outside the laws of the mortal realms.
"Rong'er, Feng'er, get behind me," Gaurav said, his voice dropping to a tone of absolute command.
Empress Mo Rong and Zhu Feng appeared from the balcony, their expressions shifting from irritation to high alert. They felt it too—the absence of sound, the way their internal Qi began to stagnate as if the very air had turned to lead.
"Gaurav, what is this?" Mo Rong whispered, her silver eyes scanning the empty air. Her Night Domain, usually invincible, was being pushed back into her body.
"The World Will has sent a 'Cleaner'," Gaurav replied, his hand reaching into the air. Instead of a God-Binding Leaf, he pulled out a jagged shard of Demonic Essence he had harvested from the Abyss. "It realized that a 'Librarian' is rewriting its script. It wants to delete the error."
Suddenly, the shadow of a pillar detached itself. It didn't move; it simply existed three inches away from Gaurav's throat. A blade, forged from the pure darkness of the void, lunged forward with a speed that bypassed the concept of time.
CLANG.
The blade didn't hit Gaurav. It hit a translucent, golden barrier of concentrated Archive Data.
The Assassin was a being of pure white light, wearing a mask with no eyes. It was a Heavenly Assassin, a literal manifestation of the universe's law. It had no name, no soul, and only one directive: Erase.
"You are early," Gaurav sneered. He snapped his fingers, and the Enslaved Heavenly Tribulation—the black lightning he had bound to the Academy—erupted from the floorboards.
The black lightning coiled around the Assassin like hungry serpents. The two forces of 'Universal Law' collided, creating shockwaves that cracked the jade walls of the floating library.
"Feng'er, now!" Gaurav shouted.
Zhu Feng didn't hesitate. She unleashed the Matriarch's Divine Flame, but instead of fire, it was a concentrated beam of white-hot plasma. Mo Rong added her Eternal Night energy, creating a 'Dual-Eclipse' blast that hit the Assassin head-on.
The Assassin didn't scream. It simply dissolved into white particles, but as it vanished, a voice echoed in Gaurav's mind—a voice that sounded like a thousand stars grinding together.
"The Library... shall... burn."
The Village of the Sleeping God
The encounter with the Assassin forced Gaurav to change course. The Archive pointed him toward a remote, fog-shrouded valley known as The Valley of Eternal Sleep.
"The 6th Disciple is here," Gaurav said as the floating annex descended into the mist. "He is known as the 'Slowest Genius' in history. He has been Level 1 for fifty years."
Han Tie, the 5th Disciple, looked confused. "Level 1 for fifty years? Master, even a pig can reach Level 2 in a week with our resources."
"It's not that he can't break through," Gaurav explained, leading them toward a small, moss-covered hut. "It's that his soul is so vast that it takes fifty years just to fill the 'First Cup' of his cultivation. He isn't slow; he is Infinite."
Inside the hut, a middle-aged man was sleeping on a wooden bench. He looked ordinary, except for the fact that every breath he took caused the fog outside to swirl in a perfect Taiji pattern.
[Target: Mu Chen (The Sleeper)]
[Condition: Soul-Hibernation.]
[Hidden Talent: The Eternal Dreamer (God-Rank). He cultivates while sleeping.]
[Flaw: 1 (His 'Waking Mind' is too small to contain his 'Dreaming Power').]
Gaurav walked up to the sleeping man. He didn't use a God-Binding Leaf this time. Instead, he placed a finger on the man's forehead and began to chant in a language that predated the universe.
[Technique Active: Sovereign Awakening — Bridge of Dreams]
The hut exploded with light. Mu Chen's eyes snapped open. For a second, his pupils were filled with the image of entire galaxies being born and dying. He sat up, and the Level 1 Qi around him suddenly surged.
Level 2... Level 5... Level 8... Level 9!
In the span of ten breaths, he bypassed what took others thousands of years. But his aura was different; it was calm, almost lazy.
"Is it time to wake up?" Mu Chen asked, yawning. He looked at Gaurav and bowed his head slightly. "I saw you in my dream, Master. You were the one who built the bridge."
"Your dream is over, Mu Chen," Gaurav said. "Now, you will make the world your dream. You are my Grandmaster of Soul Oracles and Painting. Whatever you draw, becomes real. Whatever you dream, becomes Law."
[System Notification: Sixth Personal Disciple Bound.]
[Reward Unlocked: The Pavilion of Dreams & 1 'Reality-Ink' Brush.]
The Administrator's Jealousy
Back at the Academy, Lady Yue was waiting for them at the docks. Her sapphire robes were perfectly pressed, but her eyes were sharp. She had already heard about the Goddess of Blades, Aria, who was currently "recovering" in the guest wing.
"Gaurav," Lady Yue said, walking up to him and adjusting his collar with a possessive tug. "The 'Goddess' is awake. She has already asked for three private meetings with you. And she refuses to follow the 'East Wing' rule Mo Rong set."
Gaurav felt a headache coming on. Between the Heavenly Assassins trying to delete him and his Harem trying to manage him, the life of a Sovereign Master was exhausting.
"Aria is a disciple, Yue," Gaurav tried to reason.
"She is a Level 9 expert who looks at you like you're the only star in the sky," Lady Yue retorted, her 'Mirror-Soul' shimmering with a blue light. "If she stays, I want her in the Blacksmith Department. Let's see how 'Goddess-like' she looks after a day at the forge."
Zhu Feng and Mo Rong appeared on either side of Gaurav, nodding in agreement with Lady Yue. For once, the three wives were in total harmony.
"Fine," Gaurav sighed. "Aria will assist in the forge. But we have bigger problems. The World Will has sent its first Assassin. It won't be the last. We need to accelerate the training of the 12 Disciples."
Gaurav looked at his 6 Disciples—the Ancestor, the Saintess, the Demon, the Sword-Slave, the Primal Titan, and the Sleeper.
"The next lesson," Gaurav announced, his voice echoing through the newly built halls, "is not about cultivation. It is about War. Because the Heavens are coming, and we are going to teach them how to fall."