The Disobedient Hand

Before long, the Tianming Sage, Yemu, and the others emerged from the spatial gate.

The Aberration in the Valley of Night had been fully dealt with.

However, with many residual effects still requiring attention, the royal trial was officially called off, and everyone went their separate ways.

Since no one knew whether the trial would ever be rescheduled — or when — Lu Yuan returned to Yeye's chambers long enough to say his farewells.

Youming City was Cat-kin territory, after all. Outstaying his welcome wasn't Lu Yuan's style. Besides, he had his own cultivation to attend to, and resources to harvest from the Demon Dragon Mountain Range.

Leaving Youming City, he teleported to White Cloud City. The moment he stepped into the transport hall, he noticed a stream of Gene Warriors filing out in a hurry, their expressions tight and purposeful.

They came from all different races, and every one of them looked like they had somewhere urgent to be.

Lu Yuan glanced over, but didn't think much of it.

Then snatches of conversation drifted to his ears.

"Did you hear? An Aberration source suddenly appeared near the Kaman city of Gale City — all the Feral Beasts in that entire region got infected."

"And that's not all — there are reports near Elf, Nightshade Race, and Green Fiend settlements too. Whatever's happening, isn't this supposed to be the first time Aberration has ever appeared in the Land of Origin?"

"Hard to say, but something about all this doesn't sit right."

Ice shot down Lu Yuan's spine.

*It's not just the Valley of Night?*

From the sound of it, the Aberration had struck across a wide swath of territory.

*What about the human cities? Have any of them been hit?*

That thought sent him reaching immediately for his Communication Crystal to contact Si Tingxue.

The crystal pulsed with white light, and a moment later Si Tingxue's face appeared within.

"What's wrong?"

She looked puzzled.

"Has Aberration appeared in Red Maple City?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Aberration?"

Si Tingxue blinked, a flicker of confusion crossing her cool features. "I've been in cultivation — I haven't heard anything. Let me check."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Mm."

The crystal went dark. She'd gone to look into it.

Lu Yuan then reached out to Amy.

Amy appeared in the crystal, blinking her wide eyes. "You big liar! Looks like Aberration is popping up all over the place, huh? My great-grandfather is worried."

"It's true," Lu Yuan said, his expression serious. "Aberration is showing up in a lot of places. How are things on your end?"

Amy shook her head. "Mom has already deployed the Tianrao Army on patrol around the area. No signs of Aberration so far."

Lu Yuan let out a quiet breath. "Good."

After ending the call, he realized he might have been overthinking it. The Lower Layer of the Land of Origin was effectively a stronghold for Gene Warriors. With so many races present, even if Aberration did appear, it was unlikely to spiral out of control.

That thought eased the tension in his chest considerably.

He took the White Cloud City transport array back to Red Maple City. Stepping out of the transport hall, he noticed the patrol details had grown considerably thicker — but extra patrols alone didn't point to anything truly serious.

Soon after, Si Tingxue called back to confirm: no Aberration detected in the surrounding area.

Lu Yuan let himself relax completely.

He made his way back to the Training Hall like a man returning home, and settled in to cultivate.

Imperial Capital, Red Maple Empire. Li Qinghe's villa.

White light flashed in the room as Lu Yuan materialized, returning from the Land of Origin.

He stretched lazily, a faint smile on his face.

As his cultivation deepened, the amount of time he could remain in the Land of Origin had grown once again. This session, he'd stayed a full sixty-five days before emerging. Aside from the day spent on Yeye's trial, every other day had been pure cultivation.

He'd absorbed the equivalent of roughly 1.5 million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals' worth of resources.

Combined with his previous progress, Starfield Roaming's tempering had reached approximately sixty percent.

The rate would only slow from here, but two more sessions like that should be enough to bring it to full completion. Once that happened, he could finally consider heading to Ice Vein Star to close the Blood Bone Gnolls' Spatial Rift.

All in all, things were progressing smoothly. Lu Yuan was in an excellent mood.

Then something occurred to him. He pulled out his phone and opened Battle Net.

His expression grew serious when he saw the front page.

As expected, Aberration dominated the headlines.

*"Aberration Sources Appear in the Land of Origin for the First Time in History — What Does This Portend?"*

He clicked through and read. The article made no mention of the Upper Layer — either that information wasn't meant for most Gene Warriors, or the journalist hadn't reached Battle King rank themselves and simply didn't know what went on up there.

Either way, the first-ever appearance of Aberration in the Land of Origin had stirred no small amount of fear and uncertainty. The comment sections made that obvious.

On the bright side, none of the human cities had been affected. Small mercies.

The four races dealing with Aberration Spatial Rifts this time were the Cat-kin, Nightshade Race, Elves, and Kaman. Powerful individuals had intervened swiftly, and the rifts were brought under control before anything catastrophic could occur.

Lu Yuan scrolled through a few more related articles, found nothing else of significance, and closed Battle Net.

He left his room and found Li Qinghe in the living room, draped across the sofa in a light, casual dress, her pale feet swinging idly as she scrolled through her phone. Glancing at her screen, Lu Yuan could see she was reading Battle Net news as well.

He walked over and settled beside her.

Li Qinghe glanced at him, then automatically draped her calves across his lap.

Her delicate brows furrowed slightly. "Didn't expect Aberration sources to show up in the Lower Layer too," she murmured.

Lu Yuan gave her calf a light squeeze. She tensed briefly, then relaxed, making no move to pull away.

"Qinghe-jie," he said with a smile, "are there many of these sources in the Upper Layer?"

"Mm... more than a few, I'd say. What's got you asking? Ready to head up there?" A grin spread across her face. "You could team up with us, you know — big sis will show you the ropes."

"I'll get there eventually. Oh — while you were in the Land of Origin, I took on an emergency mission and obtained another Soul-Devouring Orb."

"*What?!* Another Soul-Devouring Orb?"

The grin died on her face.

Her brow creased, and then something seemed to click. "When I came out of the Land of Origin the other day, I got an anonymous text on my phone. It said someone was planning to make a move against the Night Watchman's Underground Containment Room."

*Of course I know — I'm the one who sent it...* Lu Yuan kept that firmly to himself. His expression grew serious. "If someone really does target the Containment Room, that would put the entire Imperial Capital at risk, wouldn't it?"

Li Qinghe nodded, her tone grave. "That message said the A39 incident in the Containment Room last time was caused by exactly this. And now you've found a second Soul-Devouring Orb — there's clearly no shortage of threats lurking in the shadows right here in our own capital. I'm going to inform the old man and start making preparations."

"That's wise. Better ready than blindsided."

Lu Yuan felt a quiet relief settle over him. He had no idea when or how that cloaked figure planned to strike — getting ahead of it was the best outcome he could hope for.

"Oh, and — the Tong family. For reasons no one can explain, all of their key people have vanished. No one knows where they've gone."

Lu Yuan paused. "Vanished? How?"

*Didn't the Red Maple Empire have people watching them?*

He was genuinely caught off-guard.

"I don't know either. I heard it from your mentor."

Li Qinghe stretched languidly on the sofa, then caught his hand and fixed him with a long, pointed look. "Yuan-di — where exactly is that hand heading?"

Lu Yuan looked down. His hand had somehow migrated to her thigh.

He cleared his throat with perfect composure. "It has its own ideas. Nothing to do with me."

Li Qinghe nodded slowly, eyes crinkling. "Such a disobedient hand. We should cut it off."

The corner of his mouth twitched. "...Could we maybe spare it just this once?"

"Hmph!"

She shot him a glare, then released his hand.

Lu Yuan wisely kept to himself after that.

Then it occurred to him — Si Tingfeng. What must Senior Si be thinking now that his intended fiancée from the Tong family had simply vanished?

...Best not to ask.

More than half a month later.

White light flashed in the room, and Lu Yuan materialized again — this time with undisguised delight on his face.

Two more sessions in the Land of Origin, and he had finally tempered Starfield Roaming to full completion.

A fully completed Sovereign Grade Spatial Type gene. His mastery over spatial force had taken a massive leap forward. He was now confident he could smooth out even the most chaotic spatial threads and restore torn Spatial Rifts.

Smaller ones, at least.

Like the one on Ice Vein Star.

He decided to head there now and seal it.

In the time since the Tong family's disappearance, the Red Maple Empire's upper echelons had grown considerably more alert — and considerably more willing to accept the anonymous tip Lu Yuan had sent them. As a result, the Night Watchman headquarters' Underground Containment Room remained secure. No one had made a move against it.

Still, Aberration activity across other regions of the Red Maple Empire had ticked up slightly. Nothing as catastrophic as what had struck Yali City, thankfully. The situation remained manageable overall.

Lu Yuan left his room and went to the living room.

Li Qinghe wasn't there — she was in the Land of Origin, cultivating.

That saved him the trouble of making up excuses.

He vanished. The next instant, he was standing in the wilderness.

In the distance loomed a massive iron fortress. Gazing toward it, he could see the spatial lines — a tangle of chaotic threads, and at their center, a Spatial Rift.

The Ice Vein Star Spatial Rift.

Lu Yuan didn't approach directly. The ability to seal a Spatial Rift was far too significant to reveal in front of others. His plan was to slip into Ice Vein Star undetected, make his way to the Gnolls' base, and close the rift from their side.

Once it was sealed, the humans would notice something had changed before long and take action accordingly.

It was currently evening. He decided to wait.

Time passed, and darkness settled in completely. Only the distant fortress blazed with light. From across the wilderness came the howls of Feral Beasts, though none dared approach the fortress.

In the darkness, Lu Yuan became shadow and glided silently toward the fortress.

*It's time.*

With the Shadow Dominion gene, merging with darkness came naturally to him. Aided by his spatial mastery, he passed through the Spatial Rift without alerting a single person in the fortress, and emerged on the other side.

Ice Vein Star. Nothing had changed since his last visit. It was just as bitterly cold as he remembered. Outside the human base, ice and snow raged unchecked in the dark.

It was nighttime here as well. Without disturbing anyone, Lu Yuan vanished from the base and reappeared far out in the wilderness.

A blizzard swept across him — but his body didn't so much as sway.

He spread his Mental Power outward and took to the air, drifting through the howling snow in search of the Gnolls' base.

A moment later, he stopped mid-flight. A smile curved at the corner of his mouth.

He'd picked up the Gnolls' aura. The base was in that direction.

He turned and flew toward it.

Soon the massive Gnoll castle took shape through the darkness. The structure was built entirely of metal, stained a deep, visceral red — brutal and savage in design, its surfaces jagged with interlocking fang-like protrusions.

Within the castle grounds was a Spatial Rift, roughly the same size as the one at the human base.

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes, melted into the shadows, and drifted silently toward the castle.

Like the human base, it was ringed by a protective energy barrier. But the spatial distortions radiating from the nearby rift offered a natural opening. He used Spatial Movement to slip through the barrier without resistance, emerging in a pool of shadow not far from the rift.

In the plaza surrounding the Spatial Rift, pairs of Gnoll warriors moved on patrol. Lu Yuan probed their auras — two Battle Kings among them, the rest Battle Venerables.

Against the current him, they were far too weak to detect his presence. In truth, within an area of such severe spatial anomaly, as long as he intended to stay hidden, even a Battle Sovereign would struggle to find him.

*Let's begin.*

Lu Yuan drew a slow, deep breath, then began methodically combing through the chaotic spatial lines surrounding the rift.

At first, nothing changed.

But as he continued, working through the threads one by one, the rift began to slowly, almost imperceptibly close.

In the plaza, a Gnoll Battle King clad in crimson battle armor glanced toward the Spatial Rift. A frown crossed his muzzle, suspicion flickering across his face. He turned to the warrior beside him.

"Heiyu — does the Spatial Rift look smaller to you?"

Beside him, a Gnoll warrior with black fur went still. He stared hard at the rift, senses reaching outward.

Then his eyes went wide. "It really is shrinking?! What's going on?!"