Lord of the void realm

News of the three hunters' disappearance spread quickly—but not through the people.

The sects knew.

They had been watching the region for signs of strange spatial activity, and what they saw made them nervous.

Raizen wasn't hiding anymore.

And that was the problem.

In the Jade Clarity Sect, Elder Xu stood before hundreds of disciples. His voice rang across the stone courtyard.

"There is a devil walking the lands," he declared. "A child dressed in human skin, born of void and destruction. He has erased five top-ranked hunters without leaving a corpse."

The disciples stirred, some with fear, others with rising ambition.

Elder Xu raised his hand. "This… thing… must be removed. And whoever does it—whoever brings me his head or fragments of his core—will be made a legacy disciple and rewarded with access to the Ancient Flame Library."

They cheered.

But in private, Elder Xu turned to the two inner elders by his side and muttered, "I don't care about the boy. I want his root. That spirit core isn't natural. If it can be extracted… our sect will rise above all others."

They nodded.

This was happening across every major power in the lower world. From northern mountain clans to southern sword valleys, elders painted Raizen as a threat—then quietly plotted how to steal from him what they could never create.

Far above the mortal sky, in a realm only ancient cultivators could access, other eyes were watching too.

A silent temple hovered over a void sea.

Inside, seven figures in masks sat in a circle, each one radiating suppressed divinity.

"He's grown faster than the timeline predicted," one said.

"He's touched the threshold of a hidden realm already," said another.

"He'll soon break the lock between lower and upper realms."

One figure—larger than the others—spoke with calm weight. "Then seal him. We have the old designs. Prepare the formation. Anchor it to the bones of a star beast."

"And if the seal fails?" a thin voice asked.

"Then we use the void-cursed relic."

The room fell quiet.

That relic was never meant to be used again.

But this boy—this anomaly—was too dangerous to ignore.

Raizen didn't know the details yet.

But the shift in the air was clear.

More people were watching.

More people were coming.

And most of them weren't brave.

They were desperate