Breaking the Rules

As he spoke, Lu Yuan's Spirit Power surged and he activated the Heart of Light Combat Technique.

The power of light erupted. Lu Yuan once again transformed into a miniature sun, radiating dense, overwhelming luminous energy in every direction. All the Aberration flames were gradually suppressed and extinguished beneath its force, while the Aberration Feral Beasts below disintegrated into ash under the light's embrace.

No Aberration Feral Beast was spared—from King Grade to Sovereign Grade, none escaped. Only those at Saint Grade avoided instant immolation, though even their auras had been drastically weakened.

Muba and his two companions, standing beside Lu Yuan, felt the terrifying power of light wash over them, shock plain in their eyes.

Lintong and the Radiant Battle Saint had still borne lingering wounds, but under the light's influence, they rapidly recovered to peak condition.

The three exchanged glances and began conversing via mental transmission.

"This dense light power... is it also a Divine Grade gene?"

"The spatial power from before was Divine Grade, and the life force he used to heal me was likely Divine Grade too. Add this light on top of that—who *is* this man? He's actually inscribed three Divine Grade genes?! It's beyond belief."

"Exactly. He doesn't seem to be any of the Human Race's eight War Gods, does he? And yet even among War Gods, he'd rank as one of the formidable ones."

The three were deeply curious about Lu Yuan's identity, but none dared press him with questions. They stood to the side watching the miniature sun, waiting for him to close the Spatial Rifts.

The happiest among them was the Radiant Battle Saint. As a light-wielder himself, bathing in such concentrated luminous energy, he discovered his own mastery of light had ascended to new heights.

In fact, he had received a degree of permanent enhancement across multiple aspects of his abilities.

In the distance, Li Qinghe and the others were busy hunting Aberration Feral Beasts.

Thanks to the spreading Corruption, the Thorn Plateau—once sparsely populated with such creatures—was now teeming with them. Under normal circumstances, this kind of density would have been dangerous even for Li Qinghe's group.

After all, aside from Li Qinghe, Si Tingyu, and Shuangyue, everyone else was at Battle King Rank. While each had inscribed at least Sovereign Grade genes—and Si Tingxue and Rebecca had inscribed even higher-tier ones with their Frost Emperor Dragon and Flame Demon Body—the sheer volume of Aberration Feral Beasts, Sovereign Grade specimens among them, could still exhaust their Spirit Power.

They might even encounter Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beasts again, as they had before.

However, Lu Yuan's Shadow Divine Messenger was overwhelmingly powerful. Whenever they struggled, it would intervene, unleashing shadow energy to grievously wound the beasts and give them room to recover.

As a result, they had slain a substantial number of Aberration Feral Beasts and accumulated a considerable haul of Merits.

Naturally, smiles lit up every face.

Li Qinghe glanced at the Shadow Divine Messenger beside them, a hint of envy crossing her features.

"This Shadow Divine Messenger is incredible. I wonder when I'll ever have a Combat Technique this powerful."

Shuangyue chuckled. "What's so hard about that? Just go butter Yuan up a little. Worst case, you let him have his way with you, and he'll *definitely* hook you up."

Li Qinghe rolled her eyes, deciding she wanted nothing to do with this incorrigible tease. Even she couldn't handle that kind of innuendo.

But while Shuangyue spoke carelessly, others took it to heart. Si Tingxue and Rebecca both flushed a delicate shade of red.

After all, that was more or less what had happened to them—though the order had been reversed. Lu Yuan had given them their Sovereign Grade genes first, and then... well, he'd had his way with them afterward.

Nearby, Yeye heard Shuangyue's words. She tilted her head in thought, then turned to her.

"Shuangyue, all I have to do is let Yuan push me around a little?"

Seeing the eager look on Yeye's face, everyone else's hearts skipped a beat.

*Good grief.* She looked so innocent—who would have guessed she was actually considering it?

Then again, on reflection, perhaps only someone as guileless as Yeye could be that unabashed about it.

Li Qinghe and the others silently lamented that appearances were deceiving, the competitive pressure suddenly mounting.

Only Small White felt her heart leap, as though she'd glimpsed a ray of hope in the darkness. She stared at Yeye, barely containing her excitement.

*As expected of Her Highness! So bold, so direct!*

Small White cleared her throat and spoke with an air of utmost solemnity. "Since Her Highness has such intentions, as her personal handmaiden, I shall stand by her side through thick and thin!"

At this, everyone rolled their eyes—except Amy, who stared at Yeye and Small White with something approaching awe for their apparent fearlessness.

Wang Lingling scoffed. "Standing by her side, my foot. You just want to get your hands on Yuan."

Then she glanced at Amy, whose face was still frozen in shocked admiration, and felt weariness settle into her bones.

*Why is my young lady so hopeless?*

While they bantered, golden radiance suddenly blossomed across the sky. Dense luminous energy spilled outward, blanketing nearly half the Thorn Plateau. Though they were on the plateau's outskirts and not directly engulfed, they could still feel the overwhelming purity of the light.

"What—"

Wang Lingling, a light-wielder herself, stared wide-eyed at the distant sun blazing in the sky.

"That's definitely Divine Grade light power!"

Li Qinghe, Yeye, and Small White all possessed darkness-type abilities. Though the light didn't reach them directly, they still felt mildly uncomfortable, their bodies weakening noticeably.

Li Qinghe frowned slightly. "Who is that—"

She trailed off, eyes widening as she recalled Lu Yuan's light power.

Si Tingyu had reached the same conclusion. Their gazes met, and Si Tingyu spoke with quiet certainty. "That's probably Yuan as well."

"That's *Yuan's* light power?!"

Wang Lingling stared at Si Tingyu in disbelief.

The others were equally shocked. Even Si Tingxue and Rebecca were taken aback—they hadn't known Lu Yuan possessed such formidable light abilities.

Li Qinghe smiled. "That guy's always had powerful light abilities—he just almost never uses them."

A brief silence fell. Then Wang Lingling's face settled into a smile that was equal parts gentle and dangerous as she took Amy's hand.

"You know, I suddenly feel like my young lady could use some of Yuan's... personal attention."

"Wh-what?!"

Amy's already large eyes grew even wider as she stared at Wang Lingling's betrayal in disbelief, then shook her head so frantically it looked like a rattle drum.

"No way! That guy would definitely beat me up!"

Shuangyue grinned, keeping up the innuendos. "He wouldn't. Actually, it might even feel *pretty good*."

"Feel good getting pushed around? I'm not three years old, Shuangyue! Don't try to fool me!"

Amy looked at Shuangyue with undisguised contempt, as if she'd seen right through the deception.

Rebecca opened her mouth, tempted to confirm that Shuangyue wasn't actually wrong, but thought better of it.

Si Tingxue pretended not to hear, lifting her gaze to the distant sun, seemingly lost in a daze.

While they talked, the Aberration Feral Beasts grew more frenzied in response to the surging light power. Roars erupted one after another, waves of menacing energy pulsing through the air.

Everyone snapped back to attention. Si Tingyu stepped to the front, her brow furrowing.

"More Aberration Feral Beasts are coming. Stay sharp."

Li Qinghe scanned the area and allowed herself a small smile. "Their auras seem to have been weakened by the light. They're much less of a threat."

Shuangyue smiled, waving her Staff as Wooden Guardians materialized around them. "Even better—that's a mountain of Merits waiting to be claimed. By the time we're done, even Yeye and the others can buy plenty of cultivation resources. Should be enough to break through to Battle Sovereign soon."

"Then let's wipe them all out."

Si Tingxue's cool voice rang out as she commanded the Frost Emperor Dragon, which roared and unleashed a torrent of icy breath.

Before long, under the blanketing light, all the Aberration flames were extinguished. The Spatial Rifts began closing slowly under the will of the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin. Finding the pace too sluggish, Lu Yuan applied his spatial power to accelerate the process, and the speed of closure increased dramatically.

The two Spatial Rifts in the sky were sealed completely in short order.

Lu Yuan swept the area with his Mental Power and found that the majority of Aberration Feral Beasts across the Thorn Plateau had been destroyed by his light. However, since the Aberration Source had been spreading for some time, pockets of beasts remained along the outer edges—though these posed no real danger.

What saddened him was the toll the initial outbreak had taken. When the Aberration Source first appeared and the beasts surged, quite a few Gene Warriors had still been in the area. His Mental Power swept over numerous corpses.

He frowned. These had all been Gene Warriors of Battle King Rank or above, yet they'd perished here. The raw strength of Aberration Feral Beasts was truly fearsome.

Seeing the Spatial Rifts sealed, Muba and his two companions finally exhaled in relief.

Muba smiled. "Sir, we owe you a great debt. Without your intervention, the spread of this Aberration Event would have been catastrophic for the entire Upper Layer of the Land of Origin."

The Radiant Battle Saint surveyed the aftermath and sighed. "It's a shame. The casualties are still considerable."

"We did what we could," Lintong said. "Fate simply wasn't on their side."

He then turned to Lu Yuan. "Sir, we still need to suppress Aberration Sources in other regions. We've also notified the other Battle Saints that the Heavenly Calamity Cult has people lying in ambush near the Sources, so they'll be on guard. Would you like to come with us?"

Lu Yuan considered it. "How many Aberration Sources are there? Do you have enough people?"

"An extraordinary number this time," Muba replied. "Twelve regions have been affected. And since the Heavenly Calamity Cult has agents guarding each one, we need a substantial force of Battle Saint-level combatants to clear a single area. So yes, we're genuinely short-handed."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Tell me which regions are short on people. I'll handle them."

The three Battle Saints broke into smiles.

"Then we'll trouble you, sir."

"Suppressing Aberration Sources is something I should be doing anyway." Lu Yuan shook his head dismissively.

Muba relayed the details of four understaffed Aberration zones, and the three parted ways with Lu Yuan, each heading to their own assignments. Lu Yuan paused briefly in thought, then vanished.

At the edge of the Thorn Plateau, Li Qinghe and the others were still cutting through Aberration Feral Beasts when Lu Yuan materialized beside them.

They blinked in surprise, then broke into smiles.

"Little Yuan, are you done already?"

Lu Yuan smiled and nodded. "This area is taken care of. But there are Aberration Sources in other regions too, so I need to go deal with those."

They all nodded in understanding.

"Then get going," Wang Lingling said with a grin. "We're not children—we don't need you babysitting us. We can handle these Aberration Feral Beasts on our own."

Lu Yuan nodded. "The Shadow Divine Messenger will stay here—it should last about two more days. During that time, you can keep hunting without worrying, even if a Saint Grade one shows up."

The Shadow Divine Messenger differed from his Shadow Clones in a key respect: while Shadow Clones could only operate within Lu Yuan's sensory range, the Shadow Divine Messenger could function independently once given behavioral parameters, continuing to act on its own even beyond his perception. Two days was roughly its operational limit.

With that settled, Lu Yuan departed the Thorn Plateau to suppress Aberration Sources in the remaining regions.

In the real world. Heavenly Calamity Star.

Shortly after the Spatial Rifts opened, the newly promoted Apostles and Aberration Servants had filed through them one by one.

The three Bishops and several high-ranking Apostles, including Xue Han, watched the Spatial Rifts in silence.

The Grand Archbishop spoke, his tone measured. "This time, we've committed no small amount of resources. It should be sufficient to damage the rules of the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin to a significant degree—enough to corrode its will. It won't be long before the Upper Layer dissipates entirely."

The other two Bishops nodded, smiles crossing their faces.

Xue Han and the other Apostles wore expressions of fanatical devotion.

"The Grand Archbishop is absolutely right!"

"All we need to do is wait."

A confident smile played across the Grand Archbishop's handsome features.

At that moment, the green flames around one of the Spatial Rifts suddenly guttered out. The Rift crumbled rapidly, collapsing into a roiling spatial storm.

The mood among the Cult's leadership went dead silent.

The Grand Archbishop gave a soft grunt, and the spatial storm vanished instantly. His expression darkened as he stared at where the storm had been.

The Ancient Barbarian Bishop frowned. "Bad luck, it seems. That particular Rift must have opened in an area with a concentration of Battle Saints."

The Grand Archbishop nodded slowly. "Most likely. The War Gods are all stationed at the borders right now. It will take them time to return, so they won't be dealing with these Sources any time soon. Even if the remaining Spatial Rifts are destroyed, that will take more than a day. We have enough time."