“He’s back,” Edmund said quietly.

  Lauren paused mid-stroke, her lips curling into a faint sneer.

  “I think he’s got a death wish.”

  “I’ll steal his mp,” Edmund said calmly. “You handle him with your spiritual sense.”

  Lauren raised an eyebrow, gncing at him in surprise.

  Not bad… he’s learning to py dirty.

  They split up instantly.

  Lauren’s spiritual projection stretched outward, forming a massive shadow that lurked silently in the darkness, watching the approaching cultivator like a predator stalking prey.

  Meanwhile, Edmund slipped into the shadows, his gaze locked onto the ntern in the man’s hand.

  The male cultivator spotted the upright figure inside the tent and began calcuting how to subdue her quickly and cleanly.

  Lauren waited patiently, watching from the darkness. Her eyes were fixed on the flickering light of the ntern.

  Edmund waited as well, muscles coiled, timing his strike.

  Then—He exploded out of the darkness.

  His jaws cmped down on the wrist holding the ntern, slicing clean through the tendons.

  “AAARGH!”

  The man screamed, instinctively flinging his arm. Edmund was thrown aside, but the ntern slipped from the cultivator’s grasp, smashing against the ground and snuffing out instantly.

  Now.

  Lauren moved.

  She burst forward and delivered a brutal kick to the man’s chest, unching him straight out of her tent.

  Her massive spiritual projection loomed over him like a descending nightmare.

  The cultivator scrambled in panic, fumbling to relight his ntern—

  —but before he could react, Lauren seized him by the back of his colr and hurled him like trash toward a charging beast spirit drawn by the disturbance.

  The beast lunged forward, jaws yawning wide, accepting Lauren’s “gift.”

  The next second, the night filled with the man’s shriek—cut short by the wet, horrific crunch of bones being crushed and flesh being torn apart.

  The chewing sounds echoed eerily through the silent wilderness.

  After that…

  No one else wandered nearby.

  Lauren withdrew her spiritual projection and returned to her body. Moments ter, Edmund slithered back as well.

  “You okay?” she asked, then blinked in surprise. “Wait… why are you missing a horn?”

  Edmund shook his head casually. Before her eyes, the broken horn regrew, restoring itself perfectly.

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  Lauren reached out curiously, brushing her fingers against the newly formed horn. It looked completely identical to the original.

  “I’m only a fragment of a Nascent Soul,” Edmund expined. “I don’t possess a true physical body. Even if I’m damaged, it’s not real injury. I’ll recover.”

  Lauren shrugged. “I was just curious.”

  Edmund fell silent.

  …He had thought she was worried about him.

  They had originally pnned to travel during the day.

  After what happened that night, Lauren changed her mind.

  From then on, they traveled under cover of darkness.

  With a small ntern in hand and Edmund watching the shadows, their progress became significantly safer. Most cultivators feared the night; most demonic beasts ruled the night. Moving against the pattern gave them an edge.

  During the journey, a Spirit Severing elder from their sect contacted Lauren through a communication token.

  After confirming she was still alive and in one piece, the elder finally rexed.

  “If you encounter danger, notify us immediately,” he instructed.

  Lauren agreed.

  .......

  Ten days passed without incident.

  At st, she arrived at the entrance to the sixth level.

  The air here felt unnaturally still.

  “Be careful,” she said quietly. “It’s been safe so far… maybe I should go in with you?”

  Her master’s map hadn’t included the sixth level. He probably never expected her to reach this far.

  Edmund, however, possessed maps of both the sixth and seventh levels.

  He didn’t answer.

  Lauren frowned. “What?”

  After a long silence, Edmund finally spoke.

  “Based on the previous levels… are there seventh-rank demonic beasts inside the sixth level?”

  “Yes,” Lauren replied cautiously.

  “Then why hasn’t a single Spirit Transformation cultivator entered?”

  Lauren paused.

  She hadn’t thought about that.

  Edmund’s voice lowered.

  “The sixth level is a sea of flowers.”

  “A… sea of flowers?” Lauren blinked in disbelief.

  “There’s a pnt called Dream of Rebirth growing inside,” Edmund said. “It may have developed sentience. You cannot pass through it.”

  “And what does it do?”

  “Anyone who steps into that level—human or beast—becomes its nourishment.”

  Lauren looked at him ftly.

  If that were true, how had her master drawn a map for Edmund?

  “My master has been inside,” she said.

  “Perhaps,” Edmund replied. “But he was wary enough to ask for my help.”

  He slipped from her arm and stopped at the boundary of the sixth level.

  Turning back to her, his tone sharpened.

  “Do not follow me. Don’t underestimate it. Dream of Rebirth is not something you can handle. If you die inside… I’m finished too.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes.

  “Do I look three years old to you? Go. I won’t go in.”

  Only after she reassured him repeatedly did Edmund finally cross into the sixth level.

  Lauren activated both a Hidden Breath Talisman and a Hidden Spirit Talisman—double concealment—before hiding near the entrance.

  Strangely, there wasn’t a single demonic beast nearby. Even spiritual pnts grew at a careful distance.

  Whatever y inside… even monsters avoided it.

  ......

  Inside the Sixth Level

  Because Edmund was not entering in a true physical body, Dream of Rebirth couldn’t affect him.

  The moment he stepped inside, fiery red vines bnketing the ndscape recoiled violently, retreating to either side as if making way.

  After observing for a few breaths, Edmund recognized it.

  “Dream of Rebirth… so it’s you.”

  This vile creature had actually hidden itself here, clinging to life.

  It was nothing but a pnt—yet its tendrils covered the entire sixth level, leaving no room for any other living thing.

  “Briar.”

  Edmund’s voice was soft. Calm.

  Yet the moment the word left his mouth, a force like a silent storm swept outward.

  It felt gentle—like wind brushing across skin.

  But it shook the soul.

  The entire crimson sea trembled violently.

  Fear spread through it like poison.

  The red vines recoiled rapidly, stopping several feet away from him.

  Farther ahead, the writhing crimson mass rose like a tidal wave before slowly forming into a blurry human face.

  Then it colpsed to the ground.

  “Briar… greets God Venerable.”

  The voice was androgynous and eerie.

  A mountain of red vines kneeling before a tiny bck dragon—it was grotesque, almost absurd.

  Edmund’s expression remained indifferent.

  “Why are you hiding here?”

  “Briar’s sins are grave… I remain here to atone.”

  “To atone?” Edmund’s gaze swept across the ground.

  White bones littered the soil beneath the flowers.

  “This is how you atone?”

  The pnt fell silent.

  The red leaves rustled nervously.

  “I think,” Edmund said coolly, “you’re hiding here to recover from your injuries.”

  The accusation hit home.

  The mass of crimson trembled again, bowing even lower.

  Edmund had no interest in its excuses. His eyes shifted toward the seventh level.

  “Have you ever entered?”

  “Reporting to God Venerable—never. Extreme cold lies within. It can freeze any living being instantly into an ice sculpture.”

  “Who has gone in?”

  “I have guarded this pce for tens of thousands of years. More than a dozen cultivators nearing ascension entered. None returned.”

  It hesitated, then added nervously,“A few days ago, a fierce monk arrived. He shattered the ice door with a single punch. The cold that escaped forced me back to the entrance.”

  The crimson mass instinctively shrank toward the fifth level, as if remembering that cold still terrified it.

  Edmund understood immediately.

  He said nothing more.

  His body dissolved into a streak of bck shadow and flew toward the seventh level.