Gen took a deep breath. He looked past his friends, his gaze finding Lorel. Her voice had been exactly what he needed to push through the guilt and find himself again. With a faint trace of blood on her lips, Lorel smiled back at him. Part of her timid self had vanished in the fires of the duel. She was not running from his gaze now.
The exchange was brief—just a shared smile across the rubble-strewn board. But it carried something more, a weight of understanding and shared trial that Gen didn't know how to name yet. He had fought for his father's name, but her voice had anchored him. His attention snapped from her beautiful, determined face to the impassive stone visage of the other King.
Master Yujin's chessboard was slowly dissolving, its light fading into motes of golden dust. The few surviving cultivators—only about ten, excluding Gen's group—landed back on the original plaza floor. This was the brutal arithmetic of the Sky Ocean.
The alabaster King landed with them, an inscrutable expression on its carved face. It raised both arms. Two round objects appeared, floating above its open palms.
They looked like simple chicken eggs, smooth and unremarkable. But on their shells were faint, familiar symbols, as if calligraphed with a single, perfect brushstroke. One egg held a shade of pristine white, the other a shade of deepest black.
The legendary Eggs of Master Yujin. Mujiin and Muiyin. The Two Births.
The King moved forward. Every cultivator held their breath. Eyes glittered with raw greed, with bitter envy, with hidden malice.
The King stopped in front of Gen. It offered the eggs. "This is the last puzzle of Master Yujin," its voice resonated softly. "I think by now you know what he wants from you with these."
Gen collected the two eggs, one in each hand. They were warm, humming with a deep, slumbering power. He nodded. How could he not understand?
It had taken him time, but through the puzzles, Master Yujin had been teaching him the **Wheel of Creation**, honing his mastery of the Wheels of Destiny in general. The goal was clear: for Gen to use that mastery to make these eggs open. Eggs created with the Wheel must be given birth by the Wheel. As to why Master Yujin, who created them, could not bring their legendary births to life himself—that was a story for another day.
"The Sky Ocean is yours now," the King said, its form beginning to translucent. "It shall be destroyed, now that the four statues no longer hold it in place. By solving the puzzle, you have sealed this place. Now, farewell."
As the King's voice faded into nothingness, along with its body, the Sky Ocean began to tremble violently. Sections of the ancient castle walls crumbled with deafening roars. The cultivators used their remaining Qi to shield themselves from the raining debris. In a matter of seconds, the entire colossal structure was down, leaving them standing in a field of shattered stone and golden mist.
Gen stood surrounded by his friends. Lorel, closest to him, looked at the eggs with open curiosity. "Can I touch one?" she asked softly.
Gen nodded.
Chubbs was just to the side, trying to get their attention with a booming, tired laugh. Liang was already making jokes about Gen's luck, though his own movements were stiff with pain. Kang Mao massaged his shoulder, watching the group with a quiet, wistful envy.
Shelai moved out from within Gen's body, her translucent form coiling around his frame with intense interest as she tried to touch the eggs. Gen kept them close to his chest. "You should not touch," he said firmly.
Looking at the mature, stunningly beautiful woman coiled so familiarly around Gen's shoulders made Lorel's skin crawl. Although Gen had spoken of this Milky Beast that day by the rock, this was the first time Lorel was seeing her fully. The first thought that struck her was how impossibly beautiful Shelai was. Lorel bit her lip without realizing.
Baili stood further away, but close enough. He wasn't melding with them yet, but the distance had shrunk. Lorel had somehow entered his eyes today. Although she was seventeen and older than both him and Gen, Baili had never seen her as an elder—she hadn't been worthy of that title. Now, his mind wasn't changed, but it was… shifting.
While the group was quietly reveling in the end of the adventure, something happened.
The other ten cultivators had gathered around them in a loose, tightening circle. Their eyes shone with something darker than greed.
Kai, the one who had attacked them at the castle entrance, took the lead. "Hand over the eggs," he said directly, his voice flat.
Gen and his group froze, feeling the predatory circle closing.
"Are you broken, or something?" Chubbs boomed, stepping forward. "My lady and I almost got erased from the history books for these eggs, and you want us to hand them over to you?"
Kai dismissed the "fat boy" without even looking at him. His eyes were set on Gen, specifically on the eggs, and with a lingering, possessive flicker, on Lorel. He smiled. "It's over. The Sky Ocean will break down at any moment. If you want time to leave in your… state, you should hurry now. Hand over the eggs, and I can guarantee you all leave the Sky Ocean in one piece."
"Otherwise?" Baili was the first to step out from Gen's group. The **Cloud Juggernaut** rippled into existence around him, a low crackle of blue-white lightning in the dusty air. His voice was calm and daunting. "Otherwise what?"
Of all the fighters present, only Baili was near full strength. The others were severely wounded and had exhausted themselves completely. Even Gen. That was why Baili had acted without a word. The Sky Ocean had been challenging, but not enough for him. He needed more.
Kai smirked and waved a hand. "Get the eggs. And the girl. Even if she is broken, I don't mind collecting her for my collection." His eyes twinkled as his gaze passed over Gen and landed on Lorel.
She froze slightly, unknowingly shrinking a half-step behind Gen's frame.
It might have been instinct, or out of a cold, protective anger, but Gen shifted, placing himself squarely between Kai and Lorel. His face was fierce, his eyes like those of a guardian dragon. The scene was rare for Lorel, who observed from his back. Gen was really standing *for her*. The realization sent a warm, sharp thrill through her fear.
But the joy was short-lived.
A burst of Qi erupted from the encircling cultivators. Although Lorel could still summon her **Supremacy Swords**, they had lost their luster and power, looking shaky and dim. She couldn't even summon all seven. Kai and his group, however, had been bystanders for most of the final fights. They still had reserves of energy to burn.
Gen bailed his fist. "How can you be so ugly?" he spat, his voice raw. "After all that, why didn't you fight for it within the rules? Only stealing, like a coward."
Kai laughed. "You are too young to understand how life works. Once I collect them, no one will know the details. They will only know that I, Kai, collected the legendary Eggs of Mujiin and Muiyin. Haha! Kill them all!"
Kai condensed a violent beam of blood-red Qi and shot it not at Baili, but directly at Lorel and Gen.
Baili was already in front, using the Cloud Juggernaut to shield them. Gen tried to summon the Eternal Body, to reinforce himself, to do *anything*. To his dismay, there was no reaction. His body trembled violently. His legs went weak, and he was forced to lean heavily on Lorel for support. He had reached his limit long ago.
Just as the group prepared to fight with the meager strength they had left—even the dregs that held them upright—someone appeared.
It was not the type of hero one would expect.
It was **Buqu**.
His presence alone made all fighting seize, as if it had never been. The moment his feet touched the ground, the cultivators attacking Gen's group fell, all at once, as if struck by an invisible hammer. They crumpled to the stone, bleeding from their eyes, ears, and noses. Buqu wasn't restraining his aura. He let a part of it seep out. That aura bore down on them like the weight of the Damocles themselves.
"I hate cowards," Buqu said, his voice a low, world-shaking tremor.
When Kai, who was farthest back, saw this, he wiped the blood from his face, his bravado gone. He turned and dashed into the crumbling distance without a word.
Bax floated in the air behind Buqu, about to strike the fleeing man with a beam of light, but Kai had already vanished into a collapsing hole, escaping the disintegrating Sky Ocean. Bax turned with a sigh to Buqu. "Master, sorry. The Sky Ocean is breaking—that's why he could flee. But do not worry. Once we are out, I will personally hunt him down."
Buqu waved a hand nonchalantly, uninterested in the details. His eyes were on Gen and the girl floating at his side. Shelai had appeared, looking at the eggs, and that was how Buqu had come.
"You led me on a chase, little rascal," Buqu said, his gaze fixed on Gen.
Gen's frown deepened. He didn't know why, but he felt incredible anger, incredible frustration. Of all the people left, it had to be *him* who helped them. The Divine General Buqu. The one Gen hated to his core.
Bax floated to their level and glanced at Gen with a hint of analytical interest. Then he turned to Buqu. "Master, this old Milky Beast is linked to the boy. That is why we could locate her aura that day. It was my ignorance to think there was no Old Monster in the area. Excuse me." Bax bowed with cold respect. "What should we do, Master Bu?"
Buqu looked at Gen and his terrified, battered friends as his aura fully receded. He pointed a single, thick finger.
"They shall be our prisoners," he declared. He pointed directly at Gen. Then he added with a slow, terrifying smile. "And until that old Milky Beast gets out of his body and fights me… he shall now be my servant."