"It will permanently freeze the spatial coordinates of the lower realm l," the leading messenger explained, his yellow hawklike eyes gleaming with a ruthless, bloodthirsty satisfaction. "The thinning cycle will become a permanent, wide-open rift that only our peak bird carriages can navigate. While the Patriarch is trapped up here fighting the defensive lightning of the heavenly arrays, our elite hunting squads will slide down into the lower valley, slaughter his female, and extract the dual bloodlines from the three triplets’ cores. Once their cores are brought up to our high ridges, the power of the silver leopard tribe will belong to the avian tribes forever."

Elder Shen’s pale face slowly twisted into a sharp, vindictive grin. The terror that had been suffocating his mind since the grand feast hall suddenly transformed into a wave of pure, intoxicating greed.

With the Primordial Void Lock in his hands, he didn’t need to fear Wang’s pressure anymore. The moment the lower world was wiped out, Wang’s destiny would be permanently broken, leaving him as a leader without a lineage—a hollow king who could be easily managed by the council elders.

"Excellent," Elder Shen whispered, his old knuckles tightening around the black box. "Our contact in the lower realm has already prepared the primary reception altars near the high ridges of the capital. They are waiting for my final signal to clear the landing zones. In two weeks... the bloodline of the white leopard will be thoroughly extinguished from the face of the earth."

The two Bird Beastmen let out a synchronized, low chuckle, their figures slowly rippling like liquid ink as they prepared to activate their escape talismans to leave the mountain boundary.

"Your presentation was remarkably detailed," a voice suddenly spoke from the dark corner of the room.

The voice was smooth, low, and perfectly flat. It did not carry any loud, booming weight, yet the moment the words echoed through the cavern, the five layers of heavy silencing arrays on the stone walls instantly turned into fine, black dust, crumbling to the floor in a single millisecond.

The two Bird messengers froze completely, their escape talismans cracking into pieces inside their fingers.

Elder Shen’s jaw dropped in absolute horror, his heart dropping into a bottomless abyss of raw terror as he slowly turned his stiff neck toward the shadows behind his chair.

Wang stepped out from the darkness.

He didn’t wear his magnificent throne robes; he wore his simple, loose black linen shirt and loose trousers, his shoe touching the damp stone floor without emitting a single sound.

His long dark hair cascaded over his shoulders like a sheet of pure silk, and his piercing crimson eyes were fixed entirely on the black jade box resting beneath Elder Shen’s hand. Behind him, the four old sages materialized from the void, their ancient grey robes smelling of dust, their hands tucked into their sleeves like a row of silent executioners.

"P-Patriarch..." Elder Shen stammered, his entire body shaking so violently that his teeth let out a loud, frantic chattering sound. He tried to pull his hand away from the box, but his muscles felt completely paralyzed by an invisible, solid block of atmospheric pressure. "I... we were merely... merely discussing the border trade contracts with the northern peak merchants..."

"A liar should at least have the intelligence to hide his tracks," Wang murmured smoothly, his face remaining a mask of absolute, glacial indifference.

He raised his right hand slightly, his long index finger executing a lazy, casual flick through the empty air.

A sudden, concentrated blast of wind erupted from his knuckle. The shockwave didn’t just strike the two Bird messengers—it completely bypassed their physical armor, slamming directly into their cultivation oceans with the force of a falling star.

With a series of sharp, messy ’pop’ sounds, both messengers let out a brief, strangled gasp as their inner cores were instantly crushed into fine sand. Their eyes rolled back into their heads, and their tall bodies collapsed heavily onto the ironwood table, completely dead before their foreheads even touched the wood.

Elder Shen let out a high-pitched, pathetic shriek of pure terror, sliding out of his chair until he was groveling on his knees, pressing his old forehead flat against the cold, damp stone. "Patriarch, spare me! Spare my lineage! I was forced into this by the Ancestors of the northern peaks! They held my granddaughter hostage! I had no other choice! I am entirely loyal to the throne!"

Wang walked slowly past the two dead birds, his crimson irises flaring with a cold, terrifying fire as he reached down to pick up the black jade box containing the Primordial Void Lock.

He turned the box over in his hand, his supreme intelligence easily reading the ancient spatial runes carved into the dark metal.

Instead of destroying the box, a slow, dangerous smirk spread across Wang’s handsome lips.

His mind naturally connected the information he had just intercepted with the tiny, vibrant spark of Lin Wan’s soul signature he had found in the forbidden archive.

He knew that the lower realm alliance was waiting for a signal, and he knew that the boundary walls were about to thin.

"Get up, Elder Shen," Wang commanded, his voice smooth and dropping into a flat, deadly whisper that made the entire subterranean cavern vibrate.

Elder Shen slowly lifted his face, his eyes red from tears of pure panic, his body shivering like a wet leaf. "P-Patriarch...?"

"You will keep your contracts," Wang said coldly, tossing the black jade box back down onto the table right in front of the old man’s nose. "You will activate the central array in two weeks. You will inject this Primordial Void Lock into the mountain ley lines exactly as your dead masters instructed, and you will send the signal to the lower-realm capital to clear the landing zones."

Elder Shen blinked in complete, utter confusion, his mind failing to comprehend why his supreme leader was ordering him to continue the treasonous plot. "But... Patriarch... if the rift opens permanently... the Northern Peak squads will flood the lower valley..."

"The squads will not touch a single blade of grass in that valley," Wang whispered, his crimson eyes flashing with a ruthless, protective fire that made the four old sages behind him bow their heads in fanatical worship. "Because the moment that spatial rift opens... the first person stepping through the door will be me. You want to give the lower-realm alliance a permanent entry point? Excellent. We will give them a frontline view of a king reclaiming his kingdom."

He turned on his heel, his loose black robes snapping softly in the cold draft as his figure slowly rippled and vanished back into the shadows of the tunnel, leaving Elder Shen staring at the black box with a heart that had completely forgotten how to beat.

The trap was officially set, the lines of communication were cleared, and the absolute countdown to the ultimate convergence between the heavens and the spatial sanctuary had officially begun.

.....

The Grand Palace of the Divine Feline Alliance was a massive structure built from polished white marble and thick sheets of gold leaf that caught the light of a hundred floating spiritual lamps.

Tonight, the main hall was filled with the sounds of soft music, the rustling of expensive silk dresses, and the low, polite chatter of the highest noble clans in the Upper Realm.

It was a neutral gathering, a grand banquet hosted to celebrate the stabilization of the central territories.

But everyone in the room knew the real reason for the assembly.

Wang sat on the highest guest throne at the back of the hall, his posture completely relaxed, yet his presence alone completely dominated the entire room.

He wore his grand robes of deep black and crimson silk, the silver tips of his long dark hair resting against his collarbones. His handsome face was a mask of cold, absolute indifference.

To his left and right, various clan leaders were actively parading their finest, most beautiful daughters in front of the throne. Female leopards, foxes, and panthers dressed in translucent silk gowns were displaying their spiritual talents, playing ancient string instruments, or offering rare northern fruits with trembling, hopeful smiles.

Wang didn’t look at a single one of them.

His crimson eyes were fixed entirely on the clear wine inside his jade cup, his mind completely detached from the shallow display of vanity.

To him, the heavy perfumes and artificial smiles of these high-born females were nothing but an annoying distraction. The hollow ache inside his chest was pulsing with a quiet, steady frequency, pointing his soul directly toward the location of the lower realm.

Deep within the architectural shadows of the high marble pillars, far above the glittering crowd, a tall figure stood perfectly still on a dark stone ledge.

He was completely wrapped in a heavy, pitch-black cloak that masked his physical form, but beneath the dark fabric, his sharp, golden eyes were locked onto Wang’s face with an intensity that burned like hot iron.

He had been watching the banquet for over an hour. He watched the way the noble females tried to catch Wang’s eye, and he watched the absolute, freezing contempt radiating from the Patriarch’s core. Seeing this, a sudden, sharp realization hit the shadow’s mind.

’She isn’t here,’ the man thought, his fists tightening beneath his black cloak until his knuckles let out a sharp click. ’If she were in this realm, this man would never allow these common females to breathe the same air as his throne. Wanwan... you are still down there, he actually left you in the lower realm to enjoy the riches and fame of the upper realm.’