Corruption

Those five hundred Jade Sovereign Flowers held Spirit Power equivalent to fifty million Sixth-tier Spirit Crystals — enough to fully temper more than ten Emperor Grade genes, and sufficient even for Sovereign Grade genes, provided they weren't of a particularly rare type.

For Li Qinghe and the other two, it was more than enough — they'd have some to spare.

That was exactly why the three of them had been so excited earlier. By their standards, the haul this time was extraordinarily generous.

They had taken part in Aberration Source pacification operations before, but had only ever earned a few thousand Merits — the gap between that and what they'd received this time was staggering.

After redeeming their Merits, the four of them left the Merit Hall.

Li Qinghe and the others headed to the Training Hall, while Lu Yuan made his way to the Auction House first.

His Spirit Crystal reserves had dwindled to just a few hundred thousand Seventh-tier crystals — far too few. If he wanted to evolve any of his treasures, he'd need to replenish his stock.

He listed every Sovereign Grade Transcendent Gene in his possession for auction.

Sovereign Grade Feral Beasts were far rarer than Emperor Grade and below, and the Sovereign Grade Transcendent Genes they dropped were correspondingly scarce. As a result, even the most ordinary Sovereign Grade Transcendent Gene commanded a steep price — tens of millions of Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals, equivalent to a few million Eighth-tier crystals. Rarer specimens fetched considerably more.

After listing all his Sovereign Grade Transcendent Genes, Lu Yuan evolved a batch of Seventh-tier Sovereign Grade Gene Armaments alongside some single-use Talismans and gene serums, and put those up for auction as well.

All that remained was to sit back and wait for his consigned items to sell.

Sky-Mending City housed virtually every Human Race warrior of Battle King Rank and above — a substantial population that included no small number of Battle Emperors. He hadn't been waiting long before one of his listings sold.

The gene that sold was the Flame Solar Vortex — a powerful group-attack fire-element Combat Technique. Beyond its devastating flame damage, the vortex it generated also provided a degree of crowd control. It fetched a solid price: sixty million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals.

He collected the payment from the Construct overseeing the transaction and left the Auction House, heading to the Training Hall to cultivate.

He intended to try evolving some Jade Sovereign Flowers.

Spending Spirit Crystals to push them to Saint Grade, each flower now held Spirit Power equivalent to ten million Sixth-tier Spirit Crystals — one hundred thousand Eighth-tier crystals' worth. Fully evolving a single flower had cost two hundred thousand Eighth-tier Spirit Crystals.

For anyone else, that would have been sheer extravagance. But for Lu Yuan, earning Spirit Crystals posed little difficulty given his evolution ability. The real bottleneck was Spirit Power itself — with seven Saint Grade Transcendent Genes demanding constant tempering, his appetite for it was enormous. Being able to accelerate cultivation by spending Spirit Crystals was well worth it in his situation.

He put every last bit of the sixty million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals from the auction to use, evolving thirty Saint Grade Jade Sovereign Flowers in total.

Then he began cultivating.

Even at his absorption rate, drawing in all the Spirit Power from a Saint Grade flower took considerable time. A single bloom held Spirit Power equivalent to a hundred thousand Eighth-tier Spirit Crystals — enough to temper a Sovereign Grade Transcendent Gene to a third or even halfway to completion.

Fortunately, despite the immense volume of Spirit Power contained within each Saint Grade Jade Sovereign Flower, it released itself with remarkable gentleness — dispensing in small, steady increments rather than flooding his body all at once. Even an ordinary Battle Sovereign could use one safely.

After twelve hours of absorption, Lu Yuan reached his daily limit, the flower still not fully depleted. It wasn't until the following day that he finished absorbing it completely — roughly twenty hours in total.

That worked out to five thousand Eighth-tier Spirit Crystals' worth of Spirit Power per hour.

An extraordinarily fast cultivation pace by any measure. For context: back when he was at Battle King Rank, he'd only managed five thousand Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals per hour in his later stages. When the tier difference between Seventh and Eighth was factored in, the actual cultivation efficiency of the two periods was surprisingly comparable — the jump in gene quality bridged most of the gap.

He was currently tempering his Stellar Body, which still required approximately two million Eighth-tier Spirit Crystals' worth of Spirit Power to reach full completion. At his current rate, around thirty days in the Land of Origin would see it done.

For a Saint Grade Transcendent Gene, that was a remarkable pace.

In the Training Hall, Lu Yuan sat cross-legged in the Gravity Room, threads of jade-green light rippling around him. Rootless flowers bloomed silently in the air — the joyful resonance of life itself radiating outward.

More than thirty days had passed, and the Stellar Body had finally reached full completion. He was now working on his second Saint Grade Transcendent Gene: Life's Gift.

Just then, his eyes snapped open, green light swirling within them.

He reached for his Communication Crystal. It was pulsing with a soft white glow — a call from Li Qinghe.

*Hmm. Why isn't she cultivating?* He accepted the call, puzzled.

Li Qinghe's face appeared in the crystal. Si Tingyu was visible alongside her, but there was no sign of Shuangyue.

"What's up, Qinghe?" he asked.

Li Qinghe smiled. "You remember how Grandfather and the others were looking for a Saint to help deal with that Saint-grade Aberration Feral Beast? They reached out to the Tianming Sage at the time, and now he's arrived on Great Qi Star. Grandfather wants us to go greet him — especially you, little brother, since he came partly on your account."

*Ah, that explains it.* He'd been wondering why she'd called out of the blue.

"Got it," he said. "Are we meeting at the exit chamber?"

"Mm-hmm. Tingyu and I are waiting outside the Training Hall. Come on out and we'll head over together."

Lu Yuan nodded, shut down the Gravity Room equipment, and stepped out of the Training Hall.

Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu were standing at the entrance.

"So," Li Qinghe said with a grin as he walked over, "how are the Jade Sovereign Flowers working out? Personally, I feel like with this many, it won't be long before I fully temper my latest gene."

Si Tingyu gave a small nod from beside her. "The cultivation effect really is quite good."

Lu Yuan smiled. Their flowers were only Emperor Grade quality, and their Transcendent Genes were of a lower grade as well — but that was still a solid combination, and he could see why they were pleased.

"Same for me," he said.

"If things keep up at this rate," Si Tingyu said, "we should be able to reach full tempering within about a year of Land of Origin time. After that, we can start thinking about breaking through our Gene Locks."

A frown creased Li Qinghe's brow. "Once you hit Emperor Grade, Origin Stones become scarcer. Breaking through the Gene Lock at that level is going to need a different approach."

Lu Yuan thought for a moment. "What about aiming for the Emperor Rankings when the time comes?"

Li Qinghe rolled her eyes. "Do you think we're you? Sure, we're stronger than the average Battle Sovereign, but every warrior on the Emperor Rankings has multiple Sovereign Grade Transcendent Genes. Even if we tried, we wouldn't make the cut."

"Then come find me once you've both hit full tempering," Lu Yuan said, still smiling. "I might have something figured out by then."

*Their Transcendent Genes are a notch lower, but that's what Gene Armaments are for.* If he prepared enough Sixth-tier Sovereign Grade Gene Armaments for them, they wouldn't be completely outmatched. *Worth a shot, at least.*

"What exactly are you planning for us?" Li Qinghe asked, her curiosity piqued. "You're being awfully mysterious."

"You'll see when the time comes."

"Pfft — you never tell me anything."

She pouted.

Si Tingyu was curious as well, but pressing the point wasn't in her nature. Seeing that Lu Yuan wasn't going to elaborate, she let it go.

The three of them chatted as they made their way to the exit chamber. Like White Cloud City, Sky-Mending City had exit rooms where warriors could leave the Land of Origin. They paid the Spirit Crystal fee and departed Great Qi Star.

Back in the real world. The Talent Camp.

A flash of white light, and Lu Yuan materialized in his dormitory room. He glanced out the window — still daytime. He stretched languidly, then stepped out and vanished.

He reappeared at Si Tingyu's dormitory building and knocked. The door opened quickly, and Si Tingyu stepped out.

She was dressed in a white blouse and cream-colored slacks that showed off her figure beautifully — the generous curves of her chest drawing an involuntary second glance from Lu Yuan.

Si Tingyu caught his gaze and fixed him with a sharp look, her expression as composed as ever — though a faint flush had crept into her cheeks. "...Don't stare like that."

Lu Yuan cleared his throat and quietly averted his eyes. "I couldn't help it. Let's go, Sifu."

He put a hand on Si Tingyu's shoulder and teleported them to the White Willow District, arriving at Li Qinghe's small villa. She was already ready, sitting on the sofa. She rose with a smile when they appeared.

"I hear the Tianming Sage is at the Red Maple Imperial Palace. Both elders are there. Shall we head over?"

Lu Yuan nodded. "Let's go."

He brought Li Qinghe along, and all three of them vanished, reappearing at the gates of the Red Maple Imperial Palace.

The guards recognized them at once and bowed respectfully.

"Your Highness the Grand Princess, Elder Li, Elder Lu."

Si Tingyu gave a slight nod. The three entered and flew toward the small hill at the back of the palace complex.

Before long, they arrived at the gate of the courtyard near the hill's crest — Si Qi's residence.

Si Tingyu knocked and called out respectfully, "Ancestor, we're here."

"Come in."

The three of them stepped inside to find Si Qi and Li Xinghai seated in the main hall — and with them, a strikingly handsome Cat-kin man with jet-black eyes.

It was the Tianming Sage whom Lu Yuan had encountered before: the Ancestor of Yeye's family.

The Tianming Sage occupied the seat of honor, with Li Xinghai and Si Qi seated below him. The Tianming Sage was a Battle Saint — among the most powerful beings in the entire White Cloud Star Domain. Compared to that, even a Battle Emperor's standing fell short.

When the Tianming Sage spotted Lu Yuan, his eyes lit up, and a warm smile spread across his face. "Ah, Yuan — you're here?"

Lu Yuan stepped forward alongside Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu — and then he stopped short, something flickering behind his eyes.

The Evolution Cube within him had begun to tremble, faintly but unmistakably.

*This...*

The sensation startled him.

*Is there an Aberration presence here? Or has someone been corrupted?*

His gaze swept quietly across Li Xinghai, Si Qi, and the Tianming Sage.

A wave of complicated feeling washed through him. He didn't know what to say.

All three of these men had shown him kindness — and all three were bound to women he cared deeply about. One of them had been touched by the Aberration?

*Which one?*

*If it's Li Xinghai or Si Qi, it could trace back to the Green Dog incident — that might have been enough to expose them.* He hadn't noticed anything at the time, but perhaps the corruption had been too shallow back then to register.

*Or it could be the Tianming Sage.* He recalled the events in the Valley of Night — the Tianming Sage had taken injury during his battle with that flesh-mass creature.

Possibilities churned through his mind.

*The tremor from the Evolution Cube is faint, though. Maybe the corruption isn't deep. If that's the case, there might still be hope.*

*First priority: figure out who's affected.*

Composing his expression into an easy smile, Lu Yuan spoke. "Tianming Sage, My Lord. It's been a while."

The Tianming Sage chuckled. "Barely any time apart and you're already Battle Sovereign rank, boy. If Yeye hadn't told me herself, I'd have had trouble believing it. Oh — and if you ever find yourself in difficulty in the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin, don't hesitate to come find me."

Genuine warmth flickered through Lu Yuan. He smiled and nodded. "Understood, My Lord. And thank you for making the journey here to deal with the Aberration situation."

The Tianming Sage waved it off. "The Aberration is a threat every race must stand against — no exceptions. Great Qi Star falls within the White Cloud Star Domain, and as its Saint, of course I'll act when something happens here." He let out a hearty laugh. "Besides — you're here too, Yuan, and for Yeye's sake, I couldn't very well sit on my hands, now could I? Ha!"

At his jovial laughter, Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu both glanced over at Lu Yuan. They knew of Yeye — the young Cat-kin girl — though they'd had little contact with her and didn't know much about her. Neither had expected to encounter the Saint standing behind her here, of all places.

Even Li Xinghai and Si Qi exchanged a glance, something subtly odd passing between their expressions.