Fa Hua said irritably, “Show some respect. The ancestral consciousness inside the Peerless Pearl isn’t something to treat lightly.”
“Oh.” Lan Ge answered aloud, but the dismissal in his eyes was obvious.
He would never forget what happened in the Devouring Ant cavern—how he and Fa Hua had been flung away by the Peerless Pearl without the slightest resistance. The despair of that moment was etched into him, surpassed only by one other memory.
His parents.
The thought struck without warning. Lan Ge’s chest tightened, the weight crushing down, and he fell silent.
Fa Hua sensed the shift immediately. “We’ll go back,” he said calmly. “Once we reach Ninth-Rank, we return at once.”
Lan Ge lifted his head and looked at him, his expression unusually serious. “Help me. Help me become the Lord of Thunder City. I can’t let my father’s life’s work go to waste. Even if I’m not qualified to be king, Thunder City is something I must preserve for him.”
“Mm.”
Lan Ge turned his gaze toward the distant direction of the Blue Domain, speaking softly, as if only for himself. “Father. Mother. Rest in peace. Don’t worry. I won’t let you down.”
**
Thunder City
Lan Xiang: “Achoo!”
Xiang Yun: “Achoo—achoo!”
**
As they continued forward, both of them began to feel a strange restlessness stirring in their bloodlines, subtle but persistent.
Only then did Fa Hua and Lan Ge realize it wasn’t a passing sensation. Something real was affecting them.
And that source was the Ancestral Court.
Only now did they understand why, before parting ways, Jin Yang had casually remarked that their current cultivation qualified them to enter the Ancestral Court. It was clear that this was not a place just anyone could approach. There was a threshold, and it was tied directly to the bloodline disturbance they were feeling now.
What kind of power could do this?
They were still thousands of miles away.
They had no doubt that within the Ancestral Court of the Demon Domain existed Twelfth-Rank great demons and nymphs—the legendary Great Heavenly God level. They had already witnessed the might of Moon God–level experts. That power was world-shaking, but even so, affecting someone from such a vast distance seemed impossible.
And yet the pull they felt now was tangible. Unmistakable.
Before this, they had assumed that the Ancestral Court—being the core of the Demon Domain—would be an enormous city. They had even asked Jin Yang about it back then. She had only smiled and said they would understand once they arrived.
As they drew closer, Fa Hua and Lan Ge began to realize how wrong their assumptions had been.
The closer they came, the fewer demons they encountered. As for demon beasts, they had not seen a single one for two full days.
“Do you think we should still go?” Lan Ge asked quietly. “Ruby hasn’t chased us. Wouldn’t it be safer to just find a place and cultivate instead? This Ancestral Court feels… abnormal.”
Fa Hua shook his head. “If there were real danger, given the help we gave the Capricorn clan, Jin Yang would have warned us. She didn’t. That means the risk should be manageable.” He paused. “Since we’re already here, we should see it for ourselves. For humans, this kind of information matters.”
Although Lan Ge’s parents had “died” at the hands of experts from the Devil Domain, the greatest long-term threat to the Law Domain, Blue Domain, and Saint Domain had always been the Demon Domain—simply because it was closer.
The Demon Domain had long treated the three human domains as its own backyard.
Understanding how strong the Demon Domain truly was mattered. At the very least, humans needed to know what kind of future opponent they were measuring themselves against.
And from that point on, the journey became genuinely difficult.
“Your face is red,” Lan Ge said, glancing at Fa Hua.
Fa Hua’s complexion was flushed—but not with the healthy color of exertion.
“So is yours,” Fa Hua replied after a brief look.
They could no longer ride the wind. Flying became impossible. Their speed dropped sharply, forcing them to continue on foot.
The reason lay in the invisible pressure saturating the air.
Their bloodlines were boiling constantly, suppressing their own auras from within. Only by fully drawing their Elemental Magic and Holy Magic back into their bodies could they barely resist the pressure pressing down on them.
Even so, the sensation was miserable. Every step felt heavy, as though their legs were sinking into mud.
This was the pressure of the Ancestral Court itself. They were not being attacked. They were not being rejected. And yet, merely approaching it was enough to make them feel this way.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge were both Eighth-Rank experts. Under normal circumstances, they stood far above the masses. Here, however, they felt painfully small.
The closer they came, the stronger the pressure grew. By the time they were within roughly a hundred li, they had no choice but to clasp hands, relying on the connecting power of the Peerless Pearl just to move forward steadily.
At last, the Pearl revealed its true value.
Whenever the pressure became unbearable, they would retreat into the Peerless Pearl’s cultivation space, allowing themselves to recover before continuing onward.
They soon noticed something else.
Each time their energy was completely depleted and they returned to cultivate within the Peerless Pearl, subtle changes took hold. Their bodies felt sturdier, and even their bloodlines seemed more refined, able to channel power more smoothly than before.
Their cultivation did not rise directly. But if the body was a vessel, then that vessel’s capacity was quietly increasing—slowly, subtly, but undeniably.
“Is that… the Ancestral Court?”
Through days of grueling progress, what they had expected to be a journey of one or two days stretched into seven. At last, they saw it.
A city.
Or rather, something that could only barely be called one.
There were no towering walls. No majestic structures. What lay before them was a vast field of ruins.
Collapsed walls stretched endlessly. Broken pillars lay scattered across the land. Shattered statues rose like the bones of ancient giants, as far as the eye could see.
And from within it all, the dense bloodline pressure radiated outward.
The Ancestral Court was a ruin.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge exchanged a look, surprise unmistakable in both their eyes.
“Stop.”
A towering figure blocked their path.
The man wore silver-white armor. His physique was enormous, his height easily over three meters. A long-handled battle axe rested in his grip. Yet aside from his size and presence, he looked little different from an ordinary human.
“Do you have a pass for the Ancestral Court?” he asked, standing firm, immovable as a mountain.
From within him surged a torrent of bloodline power, vast and unrestrained.
A Ninth-Rank expert.
Guarding the entrance.
Fa Hua reached into his robe and produced a golden token, engraved with the image of a goat’s head. It was the token Jin Yang had given them. Without it, they would never have made it inside.
“Capricorn clan,” the man said, glancing at the token. “Not bad. You’ve cultivated far enough that even your horns no longer show.” He handed the token back. “No loud noises inside.”
And with that, he stepped aside.
That was it.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge exchanged another glance, both startled. They had expected questioning. Perhaps even a trial.
Stepping into the ruins, they felt the pressure ease slightly. It was still present, but strangely less oppressive than outside.
“Good grief,” Lan Ge muttered, pointing ahead. “That statue—before it broke, it must’ve been a hundred meters tall.”
Only a fragment remained: a single arm, with part of a wing still attached.
Curiosity got the better of him. He stepped forward and reached out, brushing his fingers against the stone.
Instantly, Lan Ge’s body convulsed.
His vision exploded into chaos. A world of collapsing mountains and shattering skies engulfed his consciousness. His mind screamed, yet his body was utterly frozen, unable to move even a finger.
Fa Hua felt it too.
The pain slammed into his mind like a tidal wave.
“The Peerless Come In A Pair. One Life, One Fate They Shall Share!” Fa Hua shouted, pouring every ounce of strength he had into gripping Lan Ge’s hand.
Light flashed.
Both of them vanished.
“Ha… ha…”
Inside the Peerless Pearl, they collapsed, gasping for breath. Shock was written plainly across both their faces.
“What the hell was that?” Lan Ge blurted out.
Fa Hua’s brow was deeply furrowed. “We know far too little about the Ancestral Court,” he said grimly. “Coming here may have been a mistake.”
It was the truth. Their ignorance had nearly cost them everything. If not for the Peerless Pearl, that mental shock could have trapped them permanently.
“We have to be careful.”
After resting and cultivating until their condition stabilized, they returned to the ruins. This time, neither of them dared touch the statues again. Lan Ge eyed them warily, his face still pale.
“Why are you here?”
A surprised voice sounded behind them.
It was a woman’s voice. Pleasant. Familiar.
For two people who had been hunted relentlessly by the Ruby Queen, any familiar female voice appearing out of nowhere was terrifying.
They spun around instantly, hands clasping together out of reflex, eyes locked on the source of the sound.
And then they froze.
It was her.