"Heavenly Calamity"

"What happened? Where's the Soul-Devouring Orb? Where did it go — was it stolen?"

Li Qinghe frowned, shock plain on her face.

Lu Yuan shook his head. "There was no spatial fluctuation. If someone had used spatial power to take it, I would have felt it. I'm not entirely sure what happened."

His Spatial Type Transcendent Gene had already reached Sovereign Grade — if anyone had tried to take the Soul-Devouring Orb through spatial means, he definitely would have noticed.

This was clearly something out of the ordinary.

He thought it over, then said, "This probably has something to do with the multiple Soul-Devouring Orbs that appeared before. Maybe the bearers never truly controlled them — maybe it was the orbs' real owner who made a move."

"The real owner? Why would he suddenly act now?"

Confusion crossed Li Qinghe's face. Then her eyes lit up, and she turned to him.

"Could it be because you killed several of the bearers?"

Lu Yuan turned the idea over in his mind and thought it might actually be right.

He nodded. "Maybe so."

Just as they were discussing it, the Aberration Events in the other cities suddenly collapsed as well, vanishing without a trace.

At this sight, every Night Watchman and Gene Warrior clan member who had been fighting Shadows and managing the Aberrations froze where they stood, staring at one another in bewilderment.

No one could understand why the Aberrations had simply disappeared.

Imperial Capital. Underground Containment Room.

Inside Li Xinghai's Dark Domain, the battle had been raging for over half an hour.

The Cloaked Figure, elevated to peak Battle Emperor rank, was holding his own against two opponents of equal standing — and doing it inside Li Xinghai's own Domain.

It spoke to just how far above an ordinary Battle Emperor a wielder of the Soul-Devouring Orbs could stand.

By now, all three of them — Li Xinghai, Si Qi, and the Cloaked Figure — carried wounds of varying severity, their auras noticeably diminished.

**Hiss!!**

Streaks of Ice Blade slashed through the darkness toward the Cloaked Figure. He dodged, but one blade caught the edge of his hood and tore it aside, revealing the face beneath.

It was an Elf — pale as a corpse, with jet-black hair cascading past pointed ears.

Both Li Xinghai and Si Qi furrowed their brows at the sight of him.

Neither recognized this Elf.

"Just who are you?! I have never seen your face among the Elven Battle Emperors of the White Cloud Star Domain."

Si Qi's ice-blue scale armor was riddled with fractures, blood seeping steadily from the cracks. His expression was stone-cold as he fixed his gaze on the dark-haired Elf.

The Elf's lips curved into a faint smile. His gaze swept the surroundings, and he let out a slow breath. "Who I am doesn't matter. 'Heavenly Calamity' has already set its sights on Great Qi Star. You will all become sacrifices."

As the expressions on Si Qi's and Li Xinghai's faces shifted, the Elf suddenly tore a rift through the space within the Dark Domain and vanished into it.

He had made up his mind to go. The number of Aberration Entities he had managed to extract was nowhere near what he'd hoped, but Si Qi and Li Xinghai were far stronger than he had anticipated. After all this time he still hadn't taken either of them down — if he kept at it, more Battle Emperor-rank reinforcements would inevitably arrive. Better to cut his losses now.

Even so, cold killing intent rose on his face. All of this was because someone had stolen the power stored in his Soul-Devouring Orbs. Without that, even if the orbs hadn't reached full maturity, absorbing all of them should have given him a fighting chance at Battle Saint — and even if he fell short of that, he would still be far stronger than he was now.

Ever since he had been discovered at the Tong Family estate, nothing had gone right.

Once that meddlesome insect reported him to the Red Maple Guard and the Night Watchmen, he'd been forced to overhaul his entire plan — virtually all of his prior arrangements had become useless overnight. In the limited time he'd had to improvise, his preparations had been woefully inadequate.

He had originally expected far more time. He had even planned to use the Soul-Devouring Orbs to trigger widespread disturbances — luring large numbers of powerhouses away from the Imperial Capital while simultaneously accelerating the orbs' growth, giving himself enough trump cards for the assault.

But the orbs were discovered faster than he could have imagined. He'd had no choice but to enter the Underground Containment Room before his preparations were anywhere near complete. And in the end, even the most critical element — the Abyssal Demon Gate — had run into problems. This was how it had all collapsed.

His face twisted with fury. *Whoever you are — if I find you, I will rip your soul out and torment you for all eternity.*

Seeing the Elf flee, Si Qi and Li Xinghai snapped back to their senses and gave chase.

"Think you can run?! Today is the day you die!"

The moment they drew near the spatial rift, it sealed shut.

Watching the turbulence subside, both men's expressions darkened.

"Old man, can we catch him?" Li Xinghai turned to Si Qi, who produced a silver-white Talisman. A look of visible pain crossed his face.

"Damn it... this is the last use. But we *will* catch him!"

The Talisman blazed with light in his hand, tearing open a fresh spatial rift. Both men stepped through together.

In Taichuan City, after the Soul-Devouring Orb disappeared, Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe left the residential building. Their plan was to report to the local Night Watchman branch director, then head to wherever the next Aberration Event was unfolding.

High in the night sky, the two were flying when Lu Yuan suddenly stopped. His brow furrowed, his gaze fixed in one direction, something between surprise and unease flickering across his eyes.

Noticing his stillness, Li Qinghe frowned slightly. "What is it?"

Lu Yuan came back to himself and smiled. "I think I've picked up a new Aberration Event. You go explain things to the branch director — I'll go check it out."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

He shook his head. "Nothing serious. Should be about the same as before."

Li Qinghe thought of the strength he'd already shown and gave a quiet nod. "Alright. Be careful."

"Don't worry."

He flashed a smile and vanished.

He reappeared in a stretch of wilderness not far outside Taichuan City. Dark mist curled around him as he suppressed his aura and melted into the shadows, expression grave.

He had been far too casual back there. What he had actually sensed was spatial turbulence — and with it, a sinister aura stepping through from the other side.

This was nothing like the Soul-Devouring Orb bearers before. No Battle Sovereign-rank bearer could radiate an aura this powerful.

*This is a Battle Emperor.*

His first thought was the Pursuer that had appeared when he was repairing a Space Gate. Pursuers radiated overwhelming Aberration energy and were capable of tearing space apart.

But this aura felt somewhat weaker than a Pursuer's — and it carried a hint of exhaustion. Not quite certain what he was dealing with, he had come to check for himself.

Before long, a spatial rift split open in the sky above. A humanoid figure stepped out.

A measure of relief moved through him when he made out what it was. *At least it isn't a Pursuer.* If it had been, even every Battle Emperor on Great Qi Star charging in together would likely have suffered devastating casualties.

Still... *this figure looks oddly familiar.*

Lu Yuan studied the tattered robes, searching his memory.

The figure was an Elf. The only Elves he had ever encountered were Shuangyue and the Elven delegation, along with a few Elven Gene Warriors he'd come across in the Land of Origin. None of them had this face.

Then he reached out with his senses and caught something in the Elf's aura. His expression shifted.

*This aura... isn't this the same person I ran into at the Tong Family's Small World? The Cloaked Figure?*

*What is he doing here? And he's an Elf? I thought he was human.*

He stared, genuinely taken aback.

Above, the Cloaked Figure emerged from the rift and exhaled slowly. He surveyed the area — he had tried to lock onto the city where the last of his servants had been killed. Through his connection to the Soul-Devouring Orbs, he should be able to locate whoever had done it. Revenge might have to wait, but he at least wanted to know who this enemy was. Payback could always come later.

The problem was that he had no Spatial Type Transcendent Gene, his strength hadn't reached Battle Saint, and on top of that he was carrying significant injuries. Though he could tear space open through sheer force and execute long-range spatial travel, the coordinates had drifted slightly, depositing him in a stretch of wilderness some distance from the city.

For someone of his caliber, it was a minor inconvenience at most. Even wounded, at Battle Emperor rank he could close the remaining distance at tremendous speed and trace whoever had killed his servant through the orb connection.

Crimson killing intent bled into the Elf's eyes.

Then space nearby shuddered and tore apart again. Si Qi and Li Xinghai burst through.

The Elf's expression hardened. He hadn't expected these two humans to also possess the ability to tear through space. His face went cold.

"Damn it... these humans just won't quit."

His gaze flickered. He had no choice but to abandon the search and retreat first. There would be other opportunities to find the killer.

He tore space open again, ready to leave.

These two humans were weaker than him. On top of that, the Aberration granted him certain advantages — tearing space wasn't particularly difficult for him. He doubted they could match him rift for rift; more likely they were relying on spatial-type items, and such things were rare and finite.

A cold smile formed at the corner of his mouth.

Then the rift he had already opened suddenly shuddered — and erupted into violent, twisting turbulence.

The Elf lurched backward in alarm.

**Boom!!**

The rift detonated. Twisted fractures ripped through the air as spatial storms burst outward in every direction, powerful enough to crack the ground far below in a web of fissures.

The blast wave slammed into the Elf. Black blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He stared at the slowly closing tear in space, disbelief etched in his crimson eyes. He could not comprehend it — his own spatial tunnel had simply *exploded.* That was impossible.

Si Qi and Li Xinghai had been watching the Elf lunge toward another escape rift with grim expressions — then it detonated, and they too froze for a single heartbeat, caught completely off guard.

*If you don't know how to tear space properly, don't bother trying.*

But they were Battle Emperor-rank veterans with decades of combat instinct behind them. They recovered in the same instant and launched their assault.

The Elf's face contorted with rage. "Damn it all!"

His eyes blazed red, sinister black mist swirling around him as he flung himself at Si Qi and Li Xinghai. He was certain these two humans had done something to sabotage him.

Hidden in the shadows, Lu Yuan had pieced the situation together the moment Si Qi and Li Xinghai came through the rift.

These two elders were clearly hunting the Elf.

If his read on the aura was right, this was the same Cloaked Figure he had spotted at the Tong Family estate. He wasn't sure how the man had been tracked down, but the presence of two Battle Emperor-rank elders made the picture clear enough.

What he hadn't expected was such a stroke of coincidence — the Cloaked Figure had appeared right on Taichuan City's doorstep. Fortunate timing, he supposed.

Then he watched the Elf begin tearing open another rift to flee.

Lu Yuan couldn't help but smile.

This Elf clearly had no Spatial Type Transcendent Gene — he was forcing the rift open through raw brute force alone, just as the Tianming Sage had done back in the Land of Origin.

The difference was, the Elf was no Tianming Sage. His rifts were far less stable.

For someone with a Sovereign Grade Spatial Type Transcendent Gene, forcibly closing a rift against active resistance might have been a challenge — but *sabotaging* one? Trivial. An unstable rift like this needed nothing more than a light nudge of the spatial threads, introducing just enough chaos to tip it over the edge, and it would tear itself apart.

Lu Yuan reached out through his gene, gave the spatial threads a gentle flick — and watched the rift explode. The Elf looked like he'd taken some damage from it.

Seeing the Elf's dazed, confounded expression, Lu Yuan's lips curved into a quiet smile.

*Surprised? Didn't see that coming?*

Then Li Xinghai and Si Qi charged in.

Dense darkness poured off Li Xinghai in waves, swallowing the night sky whole — and the Elf along with it.

Thunderous crashes rang out from within. The fight had resumed.

Lu Yuan watched the dark space shudder and tremble, one eyebrow lifting slightly.

It reminded him of his own Shadow Dominion — both created a domain-like space that pressed down on enemies caught inside it.

He thought about it for a moment, then decided he wanted a front-row seat.

With most Combat Techniques, sneaking inside might get him spotted. But for something this similar to his own Shadow Dominion, he knew the territory. He could slip in soundlessly without even the technique's user — Elder Li Xinghai himself — noticing.

*There's something deliciously thrilling about sneaking around like this.*

Of course, he wasn't about to go in personally.

The shadow beneath his feet twisted and condensed into a Shadow Clone. It rose into the air, then drifted slowly into the dark domain — as natural and easy as walking through a familiar door.