Hand of Death

After completing Spatial Walker, Lu Yuan moved on to evolving his fifth Transcendent Gene: Sacred Brilliance.

The process was identical to before and concluded quickly — though unlike the earlier evolutions, there was no pain this time, and no wounds appeared.

When the Evolution Cube's deep-blue radiance faded, the transformation of the Transcendent Gene within Lu Yuan's body was complete.

Saint Grade Transcendent Gene: Wings of Light.

Like Sacred Brilliance before it, Wings of Light was a persistent enhancement Combat Technique — though its amplification effects were considerably stronger. It provided massive boosts to strength and speed, along with meaningful improvements to physical constitution and Mental Power. When activated, it also greatly enhanced resistance to abnormal and debilitating conditions. Most notably, it could dramatically increase one's mastery over the power of light — something none of his other Saint Grade genes could replicate.

As for the baseline stat boosts inherent to any Saint Grade Transcendent Gene — those went without saying. Extraordinary, across the board.

The light-force inheritance embedded in Wings of Light was far more profound than what Sacred Brilliance had carried, and combined with the skill's own bonus to light mastery, the synergy became even more formidable.

It was undeniable: regardless of type, every Saint Grade Transcendent Gene had its own remarkable strengths. Some of that was simply because the gene prototypes Lu Yuan had engraved were themselves rare and precious to begin with.

This evolution left him feeling no fatigue whatsoever. Without pausing to rest, he moved straight on to his last remaining Transcendent Gene.

Shadow Dominion.

The Evolution Cube's deep-blue light swirled to life. Evolution commenced.

Some time later, his Gene Chain shifted and the process concluded — Shadow Dominion had ascended to Saint Grade.

Saint Grade Transcendent Gene: Shadow Sacred Domain.

Compared to Shadow Dominion, the overall ability set wasn't dramatically different — but the domain capabilities had multiplied severalfold. Both the oppressive pressure it bore down on intruders and its ability to scramble their senses and vision had grown far more potent. Within the Shadow Sacred Domain, any Battle Emperor-rank enemy who entered — unless they had mastered shadow-force or possessed extraordinary perception — would be effectively blinded, losing all awareness of anything beyond their own body.

In other words, they wouldn't know what was happening until the blow had already landed.

The corner of Lu Yuan's mouth curved into a satisfied smile. That single advantage alone was enough to let him casually handle Battle Emperor-rank warriors.

Beyond that, Shadow Sacred Domain could still generate large numbers of Shadow Clones — and within the domain, those clones were substantially stronger than before, reaching half the power of Lu Yuan's true body. While inside the domain, he could swap positions with any clone at will, making it nearly impossible to distinguish his true self from the doubles. And as an ability Shadow Dominion had never possessed, the clones could even execute other Combat Techniques from his repertoire — excluding light-force techniques, since darkness and light were inherently at odds. The clones' techniques operated at half strength.

Lu Yuan had to admit — a Saint Grade skill was something else entirely. Inside the Shadow Sacred Domain, he was practically half a god.

The only downside was the enormous Spirit Power consumption. For him, though, that barely qualified as a drawback.

That covered the domain skill. Beyond it, Shadow Sacred Domain's passive stat boosts were multiplied as well, and the shadow-force inheritance knowledge it contained was far more profound than before.

Lu Yuan exhaled a long breath and let a quiet smile cross his face.

With this, all of his existing Transcendent Genes had been evolved. Now it was time to think about engraving something new.

After some consideration, he settled on a curse-type Transcendent Gene.

Lord Grade Transcendent Gene: Weakness Curse.

It was a gene he had previously redeemed from the Talent Camp — genuinely useful, and quite rare.

Rare Transcendent Genes did appear in the Auction House from time to time, but every major faction had representatives watching the listings around the clock. The moment anything valuable surfaced, they'd be fighting to claim it within seconds. Lu Yuan didn't have the luxury of constant surveillance — he'd only kept a close eye on it recently while consigning his own items, and even then, nothing suitable had come up.

The Talent Camp, on the other hand — established by the Red Maple Empire to nurture its finest talents — held a number of rare genes the Empire had acquired through various channels.

Of course, given the Talent Camp's relatively modest standing, those genes didn't reach particularly high grades. Emperor Grade at most, and Emperor Grade genes weren't generally considered especially precious by that point.

Fortunately, Lu Yuan had no grade requirements. He could evolve anything. As long as a gene was genuinely rare, King Grade or Emperor Grade was perfectly acceptable — he wouldn't even turn his nose up at Elite or Boss Grade.

He could also potentially acquire rarer finds — King Grade, Emperor Grade, or even Saint Grade — through White Cloud City's Auction House live events.

Unfortunately, those live auctions were held only infrequently. In his relatively short cultivation career, he hadn't attended a single one, and he wasn't about to sit around waiting for the next.

He had considered auctioning off some of his excess Emperor Grade genes — either through White Cloud City's auction or in the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin.

Emperor Grade genes were of primary interest to Battle Emperors, and within the White Cloud Star Domain, Battle Emperors represented peak combat power. But a Battle Emperor typically only needed one or two genes at a time, and the purchasing power available in White Cloud City wasn't especially high.

In the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin, there would be far more Battle Emperors with the means and desire to buy. But that was something to figure out later.

For now, the Weakness Curse — lower in grade, but genuinely rare — was a perfectly solid choice.

The Combat Technique embedded in this gene could weaken enemies, reducing their base attributes across the board. Debilitating an opponent was effectively the same as strengthening oneself. All in all, a solid skill.

Lu Yuan absorbed the purple orb of Weakness Curse into his body with ease, completing the engraving.

With the engraving done, a vision of a Feral Beast surfaced in his mind — pitch-black from head to tail, bone spines jutting from its back, two grotesque snarling heads, and patches of corrosion eating into its hide. A creature he had never encountered before.

It was probably one of the Land of Origin's rarer beasts. But its lingering imprint was only Lord Grade — against Lu Yuan now, a single slap was enough to scatter it completely, without leaving so much as a trace.

With the remnant gone, the final engraving was complete.

Next came evolution.

The Spirit Power reserves inside the Evolution Cube were still ample. Without pause, Lu Yuan drove Weakness Curse through successive ascensions.

King Grade. Emperor Grade. Sovereign Grade. And finally — Saint Grade.

Saint Grade Transcendent Gene: Hand of Death.

Compared to the original Weakness Curse, the Saint Grade Hand of Death was something else entirely — far more terrifying.

When activated, targets felt as though an invisible hand of death had closed around them. Those without sufficient power could die from the curse outright. Those strong enough to survive would still find themselves buried under cascading debuffs — weakening, accelerated aging, decay, plague-like afflictions, and more. Any single one might strike alone, or several could pile on simultaneously. The suffering it inflicted was the kind that made a clean death seem merciful by comparison.

Like Life's Gift, this Saint Grade gene primarily boosted Mental Power, with secondary improvements to constitution and minor gains to strength and agility.

The magnitude of those boosts was, of course, formidable.

At this point, Lu Yuan actually had more Saint Grade genes focused on Mental Power than ones focused on constitution — though a few granted balanced improvements across the board.

Even setting aside Gene Armament bonuses, Mental Power was now his single strongest attribute.

For him, that was genuinely good news. Life's Gift scaled directly with Mental Power — the stronger it was, the better. Given his current levels, even if his head were completely destroyed, as long as a trace of his mental presence persisted, he could regenerate.

He'd even entertained the thought of pushing his Mental Power to the point where he could survive the total destruction of his physical body. At that threshold, being reduced to dust would mean nothing — Life's Gift would bring him back.

That was still some distance away, but worth keeping on the list.

Beyond that, Hand of Death and Life's Gift were polar opposites — one carried the inheritance of life and the power of nature, while the other bore the inheritance of death, withering, and decay.

That Weakness Curse fell under the dominion of the laws of death made perfect sense, in hindsight.

With Hand of Death now at Saint Grade, Lu Yuan no longer even needed to activate the skill. Through sheer command over death-force, he could silently extinguish an ordinary Battle Sovereign without lifting a finger.

Of course, that was limited to ordinary Battle Sovereigns — not those with exceptional talent.

Even so, it was a staggering degree of power.

And to think — he had only just broken through to Battle Sovereign himself.

Against opponents at his level or higher, Hand of Death's debuffs were still substantial. As long as they lacked a corresponding purification ability, the skill could cripple a significant portion of their combat effectiveness, handing him a decisive advantage.

And if an enemy ever turned a curse like Hand of Death against him, Wings of Light could counter it.

That was the beauty of holding powerful genes across diverse domains — no matter what came up, he had an answer for it.

A quiet swell of satisfaction settled in Lu Yuan's chest. The more genes he engraved and evolved, the more complete and formidable his power became.

He stood, stretched lazily — joints popping and cracking from head to toe — and exhaled slowly.

He had broken through to Battle Sovereign, engraved a new gene, and evolved every gene he had. All of it, done.

He checked the Spirit Power expenditure inside the Evolution Cube — and the corner of his mouth gave a small twitch.

Roughly thirty million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals gone. Averaged out, just under five million per gene.

Still within expectations. No real surprises.

Now it was time to focus on training.

He glanced at the seven hundred-plus Heavenly King Fruits he still had remaining, then left his rented room and headed for the Training Hall.

With the Saint-level Aberration Feral Beast still lurking somewhere out there, rest wasn't on the agenda — he was going straight into cultivation.

He'd originally planned to visit the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin after reaching Battle Sovereign, but that would have to wait. Strengthen first. Build up trump cards.

One month later, back in the real world.

A flash of white light — and Lu Yuan materialized in his Talent Camp dormitory room.

He had returned to the Talent Camp partly to search for new Transcendent Genes, and partly because the Elf man's death had caused many Aberration (Event) incidents to subside. With no emergencies arising, he'd simply come back and resumed training Heaven-Sundering Slash under Si Tingyu.

Though his raw power now far exceeded Si Tingyu's, he still had plenty to learn when it came to Spirit Technique practice.

None of his current Combat Techniques were direct offensive skills. Heaven-Sundering Slash might only be an Emperor Grade Spirit Technique, but it served as a meaningful supplement — genuine striking power added to his toolkit.

He glanced out the window. Just past dawn.

He left his room and stepped into the common area, where Yang Ping and Maige were in the middle of breakfast.

The moment they spotted him, both pairs of eyes snapped over — carrying a look that blended shock with a numb, shell-shocked disbelief.

Lu Yuan read their expressions immediately and knew exactly what they were thinking. It had been a while since his breakthrough to Battle Sovereign — his name had long since vanished from the King Rankings in the Land of Origin, causing quite a stir inside. Si Tingxue and the others had already asked him about it.

He smiled.

"Yeah, that's right — I'm Battle Sovereign now."

Yang Ping: "......"

Maige: "......"

A moment of silence. Yang Ping quietly spooned up some congee, face utterly blank.

"At this point, if you told me you were about to hit Battle Saint, I wouldn't even blink."

Maige, beside him, gave a slow twitch of his mouth. "...The Talent Camp has never produced a freak like you. What are the underclassmen supposed to do with themselves? You're a third-year. At this rate, you won't actually be graduating at Battle Emperor rank, will you?"

Listening to the two of them, Lu Yuan quietly filled in the blanks himself. *My cultivation rank isn't at Battle Saint, sure — but my actual combat power might arguably be there, give or take. Seven Saint Grade Transcendent Genes. None of them fully tempered, but Saint Grade they are, and seven of them — more than almost any real Battle Saint out there.*

*As for graduation... if I really pushed, maybe reaching Battle Saint before finishing school isn't entirely out of the question.*

Of course, he kept that to himself.

He walked over and sat down, smiling. "Not that extreme. Upper-tier Battle Sovereign by graduation, maybe."

"...'Maybe.'"

Both of them tugged the corners of their mouths into the same flat grimace.

As scions of reasonably prominent families, they understood what Battle Sovereign actually entailed.

At that tier, tempering difficulty scaled dramatically with gene quality. A typical Battle Sovereign might spend decades — or even centuries — tempering a single King Grade or Emperor Grade Transcendent Gene to perfection.

Reaching upper-tier Battle Sovereign in three years — pushing your tempering rate above sixty percent — was already a borderline absurd achievement.

If anyone else had said it, they would have laughed them out of the room. But it was Lu Yuan saying it. Both of them went quiet.