Upon arriving in front of his house, without any pleasantries, Baskara immediately walked towards his father's room. The door was opened without knocking, his heart racing.
"Father, how are you?" he asked anxiously, though his voice carried an aura of spiritual pressure that was hard to hide. Teguh slowly turned his face and was instantly stunned by the aura emanating from his son—thick, calm, yet feeling like a blaze in the silence.
"…Your aura… Is this already at the Padet Sukma stage… intermediate level?" Teguh spoke softly, surprised. "Wasn't it just the Buka Nadi stage before?"
"Hehehe… yeah, I've been working hard these past few days. Maybe it's also because of Grandfather's guidance…" Baskara chuckled lightly, responding with a half-arrogant tone, despite having come in with a worried expression. He suddenly fell silent.
"…Where is mother, father? How is she?"
"Your mother is fine. She didn't go to the ancestral land. She's still at home," Teguh replied, sitting down slowly. "She's making spiritual medicine for me right now, so don't disturb her."
"Alright, father…"
Teguh stared at his son for a moment. His face hardened slightly, then he spoke softly, "Take the wooden box… from that cupboard."
Baskara quickly retrieved the old wooden box from the indicated place. Inside, there was a greenish stone, emanating a warm aura and smooth to the touch.
"Because of this conflict… our family has suffered significant losses. This is all I could bring. Take it. It's the Sempur Stone, purify it in your meditation. The stone is meant to coat your body, making your physical form stronger, slick, and hard to touch by enemies. Slick but hard… like a stone that refuses to be controlled."
Baskara gripped the stone tightly. "Thank you, father…" he said quietly and sincerely. Though he knew his physical strength had long surpassed anything his parents knew, he still regarded this gift as sacred—a symbol of his father's love, full of wounds.
Just as they sat together, suddenly…
A tremor echoed from beneath the ground.
The earth shook, the air grew heavy, and energy pressed from all directions.
"Father… is this a disaster?" Baskara asked, reflexively standing, his breath alert.
Even Teguh squinted his eyes. "No… This… is the pressure from the Mandala Raya realm. Pure spiritual pressure… coming from the return of a great power."
Baskara murmured softly, "Such pressure… could it be that a powerful figure has appeared in our region? Could it be… an enemy?"
---
Above the platform of an ancient temple, stood a middle-aged man, his white hair neatly arranged, his eyes scanning the land sharply. He floated in the air, untouched by gravity, his body surrounded by an indescribable majestic aura.
Eyang Pradipa emerged from below, bowing deeply.
"Greetings… Ancestor."
Shortly after, one by one, the seven elders of the Baskara family appeared from various directions, floating closer and also bowing, paying their respects.
The great ancestor of the Baskara family, who had completed his decades-long meditation within the Mandala Raya realm, slowly opened his eyes, gazing at them with immense authority.
"…Your energies are unstable," he said heavily. "Some of you are injured…"
He took a breath, his eyes shining with silver light. "It seems… our family is in trouble."
"Is that so?" he asked seriously, his voice echoing like the rumbling of an ancient mountain.
Eyang Pradipa nodded and then pointed below, toward the main hall of the family house. "Over there, Ancestor. Let us speak more deeply… about what has happened."
The ancestor's gaze sharpened toward the direction indicated. His eyes narrowed, and with his first step, the air trembled as though every movement he made could shake history itself.
The Baskara family's main hall was filled with the pressure of the aura, making it hard to breathe. The engraved walls began to glow faintly, reacting to the presence of the long-awaited figure.
The Ancestor, cloaked in dark ash with the family crest embroidered, stepped inside, followed by Eyang Pradipa and the other seven elders. They all sat in a circle, with the ancestor in the center, on a special wooden chair carved for the first-blood heir.
The room was silent, only the sound of wind gusting through the ventilation holes could be heard.
Eyang Pradipa began, his voice calm but deep.
> "Ancestor… we need to report something heavy. It's not just conflict… but also betrayal."
The ancestor's gaze changed. He didn't ask. He didn't nod. He simply stared directly into Pradipa's eyes, signaling: continue.
Eyang Pradipa continued.
> "A few weeks ago, we recovered the secret map of the ancestral land—a map that should only be accessible through the main bloodline of the family. However… it turns out the map was leaked to the enemy: the Surya family."
The room rumbled softly. Some of the elders lowered their heads.
> "The traitor's name is Karno, a distant cousin from the side line. He sold a copy of the map to the Surya family… in exchange for a position in their eastern territory."
The ancestor's face remained unchanged… but the temperature in the room suddenly dropped.
> "As a result," Eyang Pradipa continued, "the Surya family was able to penetrate deeper into the ancestral land… undetected. We've clashed multiple times. They ambushed our guard posts. Three of our posts fell. Two elites died. Four elders were injured…"
One of the elders, Kirandi, added quietly.
> "We couldn't hold them off completely. They know the hidden routes. They have the map. They even managed to steal half of the Niskala Stone box from the Petang Valley…"
> "And the worst part…" Pradipa continued, his voice softening, "…we lost some of the ancient technique heritage. They managed to infiltrate the storage room in Mount Kanda. How, we don't know…"
The ancestor finally spoke, his voice deep and slow.
> "Karno… from the side line, huh? He chose wealth over honor… and then dragged his own blood into an invisible civil war…"
He closed his eyes briefly, as if reading thousands of fates in his mind. Then, his eyes opened slowly.
> "We must reclaim the honor that was stolen. Not just the map… but our name."
Eyang Pradipa nodded.
> "That's why… we've called you back, Ancestor. The Surya family is cunning. They never attack openly. But now, the ancestral land has been tainted by their greedy feet. And we fear… if this continues… they will desecrate the graves of our founders in the Deep Valley."