Attitude

The other Battle Saints gazed at Gladys with undisguised surprise.

Gladys said nothing. She merely smiled and flew toward Lu Yuan.

"Young Master Lu Yuan, I never imagined your strength was this formidable."

The Spatial Rifts had fully subsided by now, so Lu Yuan dismissed his Heart of Light Combat Technique.

His power placed him among the universe's absolute elite. He no longer needed to worry the way he once had about someone discovering his ability to evolve Transcendent Genes.

At his current level, no one would presume to interrogate him about such things.

So rather than vanishing immediately, he heard Gladys's words and returned her smile.

"Senior, just Lu Yuan is fine."

There was no denying it — now that Lu Yuan's strength had grown, Gladys's demeanor carried a note of genuine respect that hadn't been there before.

Last time, her attitude had been that of a senior investing in a promising junior. This time, it was closer to the deference one showed a true powerhouse.

Lu Yuan wasn't the sort to let rising fortunes go to his head. He still remembered the gift Gladys had given him.

And besides, he and Anastasia were friends.

Hearing his words, Gladys's eyes brightened. A soft smile touched her face as she regarded him with noticeably warmer eyes.

"The one in the Dark Night Forest last time — that was you as well, wasn't it?"

Lu Yuan blinked, then chuckled and nodded. "It was."

*I knew it.*

Gladys's gaze shimmered, a light smile playing across her elegant features.

"It seems the token of thanks I gave you was far too meager."

Lu Yuan smiled. "Senior, quelling Aberrations is what our generation should be doing. And Anastasia and I are friends besides — there's really no need for such formality."

At the mention of Anastasia's name, Gladys broke into a radiant smile.

"It sounds like the two of you get along quite well?"

"Ahem... I suppose so."

Lu Yuan felt a twinge of self-consciousness.

Gladys watched him with a knowing grin. "You know... with your level of strength, even taking a few more companions from among the Nightshade Race wouldn't be a problem at all."

As she spoke, the Nightshade Race Saint wore an unmistakably teasing expression.

Lu Yuan: "???"

The corner of his mouth twitched. *You're a Saint of the Nightshade Race — one of its core figures. Is it really appropriate to hawk your own people like this?*

He managed a strained laugh. "You jest, Senior."

Gladys smiled faintly and let the subject drop. In her view, so long as Anastasia remained in the picture and Lu Yuan's relationship with the Nightshade Race didn't sour, the future could only benefit her people.

Having a War God-level powerhouse as a patron would make life considerably easier for the Nightshade Race.

While the two were talking, the other Saints flew over.

They glanced at the beaming Gladys beside Lu Yuan, their expressions complicated.

The Ink-Wing Race Battle Saint, in particular, stared at Gladys with a distinctly peculiar look.

The arriving Saints were just about to greet Lu Yuan when he suddenly paused and produced a Communication Crystal, its surface pulsing with white light.

The moment he connected, Li Qinghe's disheveled face filled the display, her voice frantic:

"Yuan! Help! We've got an Aberration Beast Tide here! Someone opened Spatial Rifts — there are hordes of corrupted Aberration Feral Beasts everywhere! We think we've been targeted by a Saint Grade one!"

Lu Yuan's brow creased. "Where are you?"

"Thorn Plateau, west of Sky-Mending City."

He nodded. "I'm on my way."

With that, Lu Yuan turned to Gladys. "Senior, something's come up. I need to go."

Gladys had naturally overheard the exchange. She nodded with a smile, glancing toward Anastasia's group in the distance. "I'll let Anastasia know."

Lu Yuan flashed a grin — and then his body simply vanished from the spot.

The Saints stared at the empty sky where he'd stood, mouths hanging open. Not even a ripple of spatial energy had marked his departure.

The Ink-Wing Race Battle Saint turned to Gladys, curiosity getting the better of him. "Gladys, who exactly was that?"

The other Saints watched her with the same question in their eyes.

A knowing smile spread across her face. "You should have heard his name before."

"I should have?"

The Ink-Wing Race Battle Saint blinked, confused.

"His name is Lu Yuan. A human prodigy from the White Cloud Star Domain. He should have crossed paths with your clan's Yan Liang a few times."

"Lu Yuan..."

The Ink-Wing Race Battle Saint thought for a moment — then his eyes went wide, disbelief coloring his voice.

"You mean *that* Lu Yuan? The one who held the number-one spot on the Prodigy Rankings, the King Rankings, *and* the Emperor Rankings?! That's impossible! He only just broke through to Battle Emperor—"

His voice trailed off. When Lu Yuan had dismissed the Heart of Light, his aura hadn't seemed to reach War God level. It hadn't even seemed to reach Battle Saint.

At the time, the Ink-Wing Race Battle Saint had assumed the powerful warrior was merely suppressing his presence.

But he was truly just a Battle Emperor?!

The surrounding Saints were equally stunned.

"A mere Battle Emperor wielding that kind of power?!"

"How is that even possible? Did he inscribe a Divine Grade gene? How could a Battle Emperor possibly inscribe a Divine Grade gene?!"

A group of Battle Saints — each of whom had lived for tens of thousands of years at a minimum — felt their understanding of the world being fundamentally rewritten.

It defied all reason.

Gladys was equally astonished, but since Lu Yuan hadn't volunteered an explanation, she hadn't pressed.

She smiled and spoke up. "Well, the Aberration Source here has been dealt with. We should move on to other regions — it seems this situation is more serious than expected."

The other Saints sobered at once, nodding gravely.

Gladys bid them farewell, then flew down toward Anastasia and the others.

After the light faded, Anastasia's group had naturally spotted the figure hovering in the sky.

As warriors of at least Battle King Rank, their eyesight rivaled astronomical telescopes. They could tell the person above looked... familiar.

For a long moment, no one spoke. Shock and disbelief filled every pair of eyes.

After the silence stretched on, Xia Zhi finally broke it, her voice hollow.

"...Is— is that Lu Yuan?!"

Everyone snapped back to their senses and exchanged glances, but no one answered. Even Anastasia looked dazed.

They all knew Lu Yuan was powerful and extraordinarily gifted, but this was War God-level combat strength!

The sudden realization that the awe-inspiring War God they'd just witnessed was *Lu Yuan* was more than their minds could readily accept.

Even Nina, whom Xia Zhi had long labeled Lu Yuan's biggest fangirl, stood there slack-jawed.

Then Sherry spoke up. "Is that... Lady Gladys?"

They watched as Gladys and a contingent of Saints appeared, and Gladys flew over to Lu Yuan. The two seemed to be conversing, but the distance was too great to make out any words.

Still, the familiar ease between them confirmed it. The War God-level powerhouse really was Lu Yuan.

"Young Master Lu Yuan is incredible! He's already at War God level?!" Nina was the first to recover, practically vibrating with excitement.

Xia Zhi shot her a sidelong look. "Hmph."

The other Nightshade warriors couldn't help but silently agree, though.

Anastasia lifted her gaze to the figure in the sky, her expression a tangled web of emotions.

She had come to Skywaste Forest specifically to hunt Aberration Feral Beasts, earn Merits, and push for a rapid breakthrough to Battle Sovereign — all to close even a fraction of the gap between herself and Lu Yuan.

And now it turned out he was displaying War God-level strength.

Proud as she was, she couldn't help feeling a sting of defeat.

And yet beneath it, a small spark of something almost like delight flickered — she was genuinely happy for him.

*I suppose that's just who he is. Truly impressive.*

The corner of Anastasia's lips curved upward into a quiet smile.

Western district of Sky-Mending City. Thorn Plateau.

This was a Wilderness Zone somewhat smaller than the Skywaste Forest, with fewer Aberration Feral Beasts, more ordinary Feral Beasts, and a correspondingly higher safety margin.

Over the past stretch of time, Yeye, Small White, Amy, Wang Lingling, Si Tingxue, and Rebecca — the six of them — had ascended to the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin. Under the guidance of Li Qinghe, Si Tingyu, and Shuangyue, they combined regular cultivation with excursions into the wild to hunt Feral Beasts.

After assessing the group's capabilities, Li Qinghe, Si Tingyu, and Shuangyue had settled on Thorn Plateau as their hunting ground. On one hand, the Aberration Feral Beasts here were fewer and not excessively powerful. On the other, it lay close to Sky-Mending City, with a major supply settlement nearby that doubled as a convenient training base.

This let them seamlessly alternate between daily cultivation and field experience.

Thanks to the trove of treasures Lu Yuan had provided, the group's collective strength was formidable. Coupled with the array of trump cards he'd given each of them, they'd reaped considerable rewards over this period — even destroying several Aberration Feral Beast nests. Confidence ran high.

What none of them had anticipated was encountering a sudden Aberration Source today.

Deep in Thorn Plateau, amid a wilderness of enormous gray-white brambles, Li Qinghe's group found themselves surrounded by Aberration Feral Beasts on all sides.

Si Tingyu, clad in golden battle armor with her entire body wreathed in draconic transformation, carved a path at the front with her spear. Each sweep sent blood spraying — no Aberration Feral Beast could withstand even a single strike, not even Sovereign Grade ones.

At her flank, Li Qinghe's figure flickered as jet-black sword gleams materialized from thin air, cutting down beast after beast.

Shuangyue twirled her Staff, summoning Wooden Guardians that took up positions on both sides, forming a protective cordon around the entire group.

In the center, Yeye periodically conjured swarms of shadow clones that plunged into the beast horde to slaughter. Small White drew her longbow, each arrow trailing arcs of dark light with devastating force.

Amy wielded her Tianrao Purple Vine, ensnaring any Aberration beast that breached the formation and pinning it for Yeye's main body to finish off. Wang Lingling lobbed light bombs into the distance at intervals, detonation after detonation thundering across the plateau.

Among the King Grade fighters, Si Tingxue and Rebecca shone brightest.

Si Tingxue swept her Staff through the air, directly summoning a Frost Emperor Dragon radiating Battle Emperor-level pressure. The ice dragon roared, periodically condensing lances of ice that impaled swathes of Aberration beasts — even Sovereign Grade ones could barely resist — and occasionally unleashed a breath of freezing mist that flash-froze entire clusters in place.

Rebecca blazed with flames from head to toe. Her normally orange hair had deepened to a fierce crimson, streaming behind her like living fire, while a cryptic sigil materialized on her forehead. As the Flame Demon Body activated, her aura surged dramatically, every Combat Technique she unleashed carrying terrifying destructive force.

Both had inscribed Sovereign Grade genes, and the power of Sovereign Grade Combat Techniques was naturally in a class of its own. It was worth noting that even Si Tingyu, Li Qinghe, and Shuangyue had only inscribed their Sovereign Grade genes upon reaching Battle Sovereign rank.

In terms of raw power, Si Tingxue and Rebecca still fell short of the trio — but the gap was far narrower than one might expect.

The group had already noticed how formidable the pair were during their regular hunts, but watching them perform under siege like this hammered the point home, drawing more than a few impressed glances.

Amy eyed Si Tingxue and Rebecca, her lips pushing into a slight pout.

"...That big cheat plays favorites. Tingxue and Rebecca's Transcendent Genes are *so* strong. I want one too..."

Wang Lingling narrowed her eyes, studying the pair.

She'd known since they first arrived from White Cloud City — those two had already been claimed by Lu Yuan. What she hadn't expected was how generous he'd been, helping them inscribe such powerful Sovereign Grade genes.

She didn't know how he'd managed it, but the cost couldn't have been trivial.

Even she felt a prick of jealousy.

*I need to work even harder on pushing my clueless young miss into his arms.* Her scheming redoubled. *Hmm... the young miss wants this too, doesn't she? A little pillow talk later, and Lu Yuan will definitely help her out.*

Yeye's delicate face remained composed, but watching the power surging from Si Tingxue and Rebecca, she couldn't entirely suppress the glint of envy in her eyes.

Small White simply felt the pressure mounting. *When is Her Highness ever going to win over Young Master Lu...* She sighed inwardly. *If all else fails, maybe I should... sacrifice myself first, and se— seduce Young Master Lu?!*

Her cheeks flushed at the thought, confidence wavering.

*This is all for Her Highness's sake... and for the Empire!*

Even Li Qinghe pursed her lips, privately resolving that once they escaped this mess, she was going to have a very thorough talk with that rotten sweetheart of hers.

Si Tingyu's spear flashed as she fought, her expression steely. "We're not out of danger yet! Whatever you want to say, save it until after we break through!"

The group collectively jolted, banishing every stray thought.

Si Tingxue and Rebecca both breathed a quiet sigh of relief — being scrutinized like that had been deeply uncomfortable.

Just then, Shuangyue's impish voice echoed in their minds:

"Tingxue, Rebecca — has Lu Yuan gobbled you two up yet? How was it~?"

Si Tingxue: "???"

Rebecca: "???"

They stiffened, glancing at Shuangyue — who was earnestly summoning Wooden Guardians, buffing the group with enhancement auras, and healing the wounded, all with the utmost professional composure.

*Of course. The Elf sister always steers straight into that territory. Nothing gets past her.*

Beads of sweat formed on both their foreheads.

The two exchanged a look and unanimously pretended they'd heard nothing.

Shuangyue pouted at their silence, feeling slightly deflated. No fun if she couldn't get a rise out of them.

Then a furious roar tore through the air, accompanied by a wave of crushing pressure that drained the color from every face.

"Saint Grade?!"