In a distant world, a pair of beautiful eyes suddenly opened, beautiful but filled with bone-chilling coldness. High Priestess Xerathuna slowly rose from her meditative pose.

Her long silver-white robes fell around her as she stepped down from the elevated platform. A golden mark resembling a closed eye rested between her brows, while strands of pale hair cascaded almost to her waist. There was no visible anger on her beautiful face, yet the oppressive aura surrounding her made the entire chamber feel suffocating.

She calmly looked to her right, and the golden doors opened. A paladin hurried inside and immediately dropped to one knee. "Esteemed Goddess."

Xerathuna regarded him without expression. "I ordered that I was not to be disturbed."

The paladin's body stiffened. Even with his head lowered, a bead of sweat appeared along his temple as the pressure within the chamber grew heavier.

"Forgive me, Esteemed Goddess. I would not have dared if it were anything less important."

"Then speak."

"We found him."

Xerathuna stopped. The pressure filling the chamber abruptly vanished. For several breaths, she said nothing. The paladin remained kneeling, unwilling to raise his head until her quiet voice finally reached him.

"Say that again."

"We have located Liam."

A faint smile appeared on Xerathuna's lips. Finally. "Where?"

"The Green Mountains."

Xerathuna's smile widened. "So the little rat has finally crawled out of whatever hole he was hiding in."

She had hunted Liam for far too long. After everything that bastard had done, she had expected to crush him almost immediately, yet he had somehow vanished so completely that even the methods available to her had repeatedly failed to locate him.

And now he had simply reappeared. In the Green Mountains, of all places. Xerathuna chuckled softly. "Does he think that old bastard from Green Mountain can protect him from me?"

The paladin wisely remained silent.

Green Mountain was not some insignificant sect that could simply be trampled whenever the Celestial Court wished. The ancient existence behind it was precisely why their people had exercised restraint there in the first place, but judging by the expression on Xerathuna's face, that restraint had reached its end.

"How certain are you?"

"Completely certain, Esteemed Goddess. Archon Von Brehalen marked him with our divine temple sigil."

Xerathuna's smile disappeared.

"Von Brehalen?"

"Yes, Esteemed Goddess."

That was unexpected. Von Brehalen had been dispatched elsewhere on Celestial Court business and had no involvement in the hunt for Liam, yet somehow their paths had crossed. More importantly, if an Archon had personally placed a Divine Temple Sigil upon Liam, there could be no mistake about his identity or current location.

"When?"

"Recently. The sigil appeared within the tracking temple only a short while ago. We confirmed it against the mark already recorded for Liam."

Xerathuna's eyes narrowed. "Why would Von Brehalen mark him?"

"We don't know."

"Contact him."

The paladin hesitated.

Xerathuna immediately noticed. "What?"

"We... cannot."

A faint pressure returned to the chamber. "Explain."

"We attempted to contact Archon Von Brehalen as soon as we detected the sigil. There was no response. We then contacted his attendants, but they do not know his current location either. According to them, the Archon departed alone some time ago and ordered that he was not to be disturbed."

Xerathuna remained silent.

That wasn't particularly unusual. At their level, disappearing for months or even years without informing anyone was hardly noteworthy. The stronger a cultivator became, the more carefully they concealed their movements, cultivation grounds, inheritances, and opportunities. Even within the Celestial Court, Archons were not required to report every place they visited. Still...

Von Brehalen had encountered Liam. He had marked him. And then he had vanished.

"Interesting." Xerathuna's fingers lightly brushed the golden mark between her brows.

Whatever reason Von Brehalen had for marking Liam no longer mattered. The bastard who had repeatedly slipped through her fingers had finally been branded with something he couldn't easily remove, and he was hiding in a place whose location was already known.

Xerathuna walked toward the enormous doors. "Prepare the gate."

The paladin raised his head. "Esteemed Goddess?"

"I am going personally."

His expression changed. "Would that be necessary? If the Divine Temple Sigil is stable, we could dispatch—"

"No."

The single word silenced him.

"I have made that mistake enough times."

Xerathuna stopped before the doors, her expression turning cold. Every time she had treated Liam as an insignificant nuisance, something unexpected happened. The bastard had survived far beyond what his cultivation and background should have allowed, and Xerathuna had finally accepted that sending increasingly stronger subordinates after him was pointless. This time, there would be no next time.

"I want him dead."

Divine light began gathering around her body.

The paladin bowed. "Understood."

"Once he's dead, recover everything." Her eyes became colder. "His spatial treasures. His artifacts. His inheritance. Everything he has touched since he entered the system training world."

"Of course, Esteemed Goddess."

Xerathuna took another step before pausing. "And send word ahead to Green Mountain. Tell that old bastard I am coming to collect a criminal marked by the Celestial Court. If he stays out of my way, I have no interest in his mountain."

The golden mark between Xerathuna's brows slowly opened. An eye of pure golden light appeared beneath it. The paladin immediately lowered his gaze as an enormous divine pressure descended upon the chamber.

"If they don't interfere, then fine. Otherwise...," Xerathuna said softly, "Green Mountain can lose more than one disciple."

The paladin bowed deeply. "As you command, Esteemed Goddess."

Xerathuna walked through the doors. It was time to settle everything once and for all.

Meanwhile...

Another pair of golden eyes flashed open. The Oracle drew in a slow breath. "It has begun."

A few feet away, the monk paused midway through stuffing something into his mouth. He chewed twice, swallowed, and looked over with a confused expression. "What has begun?"

The Oracle didn't answer immediately. His golden eyes remained fixed on something far beyond the walls surrounding them, as though his gaze had crossed the enormous distance separating one world from another.

The monk frowned and then rolled his eyes. "You're doing that thing again."

The Oracle glanced at him. "What thing?"

"Acting mysterious instead of answering a simple question."

The Oracle ignored the complaint.

The monk sighed and scratched his bald head. "Fine. Don't tell me." His fingers moved.

A few faint symbols appeared between them, rotating slowly as the monk began a casual divination. He had already guessed who this probably concerned, and rather than wasting his breath interrogating the Oracle, he decided to check for himself.

Then the monk's expression changed. An absolute darkness swallowed the entire divination before the symbols shattered one after another.

The monk stared at his empty hand. Then he smiled bitterly.

The Oracle's curiosity finally overcame his silence. "What did you see?"

The monk laughed. "What else?" He flicked away the remnants of the shattered divination. "As usual. Pitch-black darkness! That bastard will never have a good ending."

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