The space seemed to simmer and distort as a milky-gold swirl of the Origin Realm bled into reality...

Spitting out Seth with it.

He appeared standing over the very bathtub he had disappeared in.

Suddenly his ears perked up as he sensed something.

"Tsk, someone has been here. Meaning by now they should have noticed my absence."

Seth frowned. This happened rather too quickly — he had been away for roughly sixteen hours.

He hadn’t expected them to check on him so soon. It didn’t make sense, unless they had come here with a specific purpose in mind.

Seth’s gaze chilled as his head whipped toward the direction of the door.

He could feel the towering presence of the four elders barreling his way.

’To think the difference between an evolved and unevolved life would be this vast,’ Seth wondered.

He could feel their presence, and it was nothing special. Even the Elite-grade Dile Origin Beasts had a slightly stronger aura.

To think that a few Elite-grade Awakened creatures had oppressed a Monarch-grade Shackled creature so thoroughly it didn’t even have hopes of resisting.

The difference in grade was vast, but the massive gap in strength between higher and lower ranks made battling figures of a higher rank nearly impossible.

Not only would you have to deal with the inherent suppressive pressure of facing a being with a higher life state, but their strength had also undergone a qualitative leap — meaning the power provided by each stat was widely boosted.

Seth’s essence churned. He could feel them getting close.

Last time they met, he was a weak Shackled creature. But this time was different.

He levitated in the room, staring at the door, preparing for the battle that was about to ensue.

Honestly, by this point his hatred for them had diminished. He had much vaster priorities and couldn’t be bothered now that he knew these old farts were of such low grade.

For example, he was working on borrowed time and had to help his friends ascend to the Origin Realm.

And not only that — he still had to make sure they spawned in the Savage Oasis just like he did.

These old fogies were so weak they were unworthy of his hatred.

His lips curled faintly. Well, he had plans on fixing that now... no one could hate the dead, after all.

Bang!

The door to the room blasted off its hinges, the wooden pieces splintering and shooting his way.

But they couldn’t land a hit, as a faint essence bubble flickered around Seth, deflecting the shrapnel.

Seth remained unfazed, his body levitating ever so slightly. His legs didn’t need to make contact with the ground, his toes hanging a few inches above it.

The dust cleared, and four hooded figures were revealed.

"Why do I feel his aura has changed?" Elder Rodi muttered to himself, brows furrowing.

Everyone here had undergone Awakening. They knew how tough it was to cultivate to this level, how much more difficult and time-consuming it was to undergo the evolution of life and become Awakened.

Unlike Seth, they had no connection with the Origin when they advanced. Meaning, to this day, they still had zero connection with the Origin.

Heck, these elders had never even experienced getting stronger from killing. That option never existed in the era they were born.

They could only slowly grind and accumulate the power they had today over centuries of cultivation — an inferior method of advancement.

So they couldn’t fathom how Seth did it. Wasn’t this going all too fast?

How had this brat become Awakened?

They had even made the decision to seize his Evolution Crystal, the only object he had that contained the X Cells.

They had hoped that without the X Cell as a catalyst, they would be able to keep him suppressed for as long as they saw fit.

But obviously, they had made a mistake. Seth must have had another treasure, something that made him advance so quickly.

Their eyes flashed. Could that be what also gave him the strength to clear a freaking safe zone?

Did this child have some special treasure he hid from them?

Greed roiled in their hearts.

They had just robbed him a few moments back, but right now they were ready to do it again.

The elders’ eyes flashed as Elder Rodi stepped forward. The man didn’t see the use in prolonging it. They came to kill, so they would kill.

No need for needless chatter.

The atmosphere around him turned murky black as he slammed his palm down through the air.

"Die!" He stared at Seth coldly as a crushing slam of thousands of times the pull of gravity pressed into his being.

Bones creaked and veins bulged beneath his skin, coiling like hidden snakes as torrents of essence pumped through him.

Seth’s muscles tensed as the sudden crushing flow of gravity forced him a few millimeters downward, but he still remained levitating.

His eyes were cold, his hands clasped behind his back, his expression placid — zero emotions passing through his eyes as he stared at the four elders.

A flash of blue burned around him as a pair of sparkling jade-blue hands congealed into existence.

And before Elder Rodi could even react, a jade hand lashed out through the air.

Tide!

Palm spread wide, the hand slammed down above the elder. The air around him compressed, the very force of strength behind the floating hand far beyond what the elder could imagine.

And like a mosquito slapped into a puddle of blood, the elder crumpled into a bloody meat paste before he could even grasp what was happening. He was dead.

Seth didn’t even bother to collect the item that had been extorted from him. He killed him straight away, just like that.

Seth didn’t react. His heart wasn’t moved. He felt nothing — no joy, no satisfaction, nothing.

Just like a human couldn’t care less that they trampled on an ant, he felt the same.

When he had yet to awaken, they might have been unbeatable monsters. But now?

Not even worth his attention.

The elders stared in horror at the remains of their comrade.

What the fuck?

Just like that?

No struggle, no chance to resist, and Rodi just died like that.

Didn’t that mean this child was far stronger than them already?

The glowing blue hands streaked through the air.

And before one of the elders could react, he was grabbed by the neck and whisked into the air.

The glowing blue hand squeezed tight. The elder gasped, saliva churning in the depths of his mouth. He croaked and choked as he squirmed.

His hood fell back, revealing a severely emaciated figure — so old and decrepit, his eyes sunken deep into his skull, his skin clinging tightly to bone with barely any flesh within.

Seth flew through the air leisurely, arriving before the struggling elder still tight in his grasp.

Seth stared coldly. His mouth moved. "Hand it back."

That was all he had to say as his grip tightened over the elder’s throat. He had given a command, and he expected a response.

He didn’t need to bother or care what they did. They only needed to obey him — and die.

Saliva spattered from the elder’s throat, smearing across his chin as he choked. Unwilling, he hurriedly waved his frail, bony fingers.

And a crystal, along with his Grim Executioner’s legendary set, fell into the air.

’Good.’ The blue hand stopped, restraining its strength, crushing the elder’s throat into mush with a gentle squeeze.

Seth turned to look at the remaining two...

The two elders shivered as they snapped out of their daze.

It felt like a nightmare. Two of their peers were just dead like that.

And their eyes flickered with terror when they realized they were next.