The Cultivation Affairs Ministry building was a forty-story glass tower in Haishi City's administrative district. At 3 AM, it should have been mostly empty.
Instead, every floor blazed with light.
"They're mobilizing," Wei'er observed as they approached. "With so many people working at this hour, something big is happening."
Kai's divine sense swept the building. Hundreds of cultivators, ranging from Body Refinement to several Golden Core presences. Military-grade formations on every floor. This wasn't just an administrative office.
This was a fortress.
"Three Golden Cores on the top floor," Kai murmured. "Probably the regional directors. Two more in the basement interrogation and holding cells. The rest are support staff and field agents."
Wei'er stared at him. "You can sense all that from here?"
"Yes."
"That's... Kai, divine sense range is limited by cultivation. At Foundation Establishment, you should barely manage fifty meters. You're reading a building forty stories tall."
Kai didn't respond. His divine sense continued mapping, noting the defensive formations, the patrol patterns, the areas of highest spiritual energy concentration.
And on the thirty-eighth floor, a presence that made his blood run cold.
Someone with a cultivation level that registered as Golden Core, but with a spiritual energy signature that was wrong. Twisted. Familiar in the worst possible way.
Heaven's Eye Sect.
No doubt now.
"Come on," Kai said, walking toward the main entrance.
"Wait—we can't just walk in! We need an appointment, credentials—"
Kai pushed through the revolving doors. Inside, the lobby was pristine white marble and modern architecture. Security guards all Body Refinement cultivators looked up immediately.
"Halt," one said, hand moving to his weapon. "State your business."
"I need to speak with whoever's handling the cultivation family disappearances," Kai said calmly. "I have information about the perpetrators."
The guards exchanged glances. "You need to file a report through proper channels—"
Kai pulled out his phone and displayed the photo of the assassin's wrist tattoo. "Does this expedite the process?"
Every guard in the lobby went rigid.
One reached for a radio. "Code Silver. Lobby level. The witness claims knowledge of Heaven's Eye activity. Requesting immediate supervisor."
Less than thirty seconds later, an elevator opened and three people emerged: two cultivators at peak Foundation Establishment, and one woman at Golden Core who moved with a warrior's grace.
She was in her forties, wearing a Ministry uniform with the insignia of a Director-level official. Her eyes locked onto Kai immediately, spiritual sense probing.
Kai felt the probe and allowed it, careful not to reveal too much of his true nature.
The woman's expression shifted from suspicion to surprise to careful neutrality. "You're Foundation Establishment. Recently advanced, by the feel of it. Yet you have information about Heaven's Eye assassins?"
"I killed three of them six hours ago," Kai said. "At the Azure Dragon Teahouse. Your forensics team should have recovered the bodies by now."
The woman's eyes narrowed. "And you're admitting this to Ministry officials because...?"
"Because I want something in exchange. Protection, resources, and answers."
One of the Foundation Establishment cultivators snorted. "Civilians don't negotiate with the Ministry. You'll answer our questions, or—"
The Golden Core woman raised a hand, silencing him. "I'm Director Lin Qiu. You are?"
"Kai Zhenwu."
"And your companion?"
"Chen Wei'er. Civilian. Non-cultivator. She's here for moral support."
Wei'er shot him a look that clearly said this was NOT what she'd agreed to.
Director Lin studied them both, her expression unreadable. Finally: "Follow me. But understand if you're lying, or if this is some kind of trap, you won't leave this building alive."
"Understood."
They were led to an elevator that required both a key card and a spiritual energy signature to operate. It descended, not up toward the basement levels Wei'er had sensed earlier.
"Interrogation rooms?" Wei'er whispered nervously.
"Probably."
"That's not reassuring."
The elevator opened onto a stark white corridor lined with reinforced doors. Each door had a small window and a cultivation formation etched into its surface containment wards strong enough to hold even Golden Core prisoners.
They were led to a conference room instead—less threatening, but still windowless and lined with formations.
Director Lin gestured for them to sit. "Before we begin, I need to verify your claims. The Azure Dragon incident describes what happened."
Kai recounted the attack efficiently, omitting only his true combat capabilities. He described the assassins' movements, their equipment, and the moment the leader's soul-bound poison activated.
Director Lin listened without interrupting, her expression growing progressively darker.
"The symbol," she said when he finished. "You recognized it immediately. How?"
Here was the delicate part.
"I study ancient cultivation history," Kai said. Which was technically true. "The Heaven's Eye Sect is documented in pre-Heavenly Realm texts. They were annihilated five thousand years ago for attempting to overthrow the celestial hierarchy."
"So you know the legends." Director Lin pulled up a holographic display from the table's embedded formation. It showed a map of Haishi City with red markers scattered across it. "What you may not know is that Heaven's Eye has reappeared. Fourteen confirmed attacks in the past six months. Twenty-seven cultivation families targeted. Eighteen members kidnapped, nine killed when they resisted."
Kai studied the map. The attacks followed a pattern targeting specific family types. Not the most powerful families, but those with connections to Ministry operations, sect politics, or ancient bloodlines.
"They're not random," Kai said. "They're systematic. Building a database of some kind. Knowledge collection."
Director Lin's eyes sharpened. "Explain."
"Look at the targets. In the Zhang family, their grandfather was a historian specializing in ancient formations. The Liu family and their mother served as a Ministry translator for recovered cultivation texts. The Qian family descendants of the original Qian sect that discovered the Void Walking technique." Kai pointed to each marker. "Someone is kidnapping people with specific knowledge about ancient cultivation practices."
"Why?"
"Because Heaven's Eye was destroyed before they could complete their original goal: finding the Celestial Vault."
The room went silent.
Director Lin's spiritual pressure flared momentarily, filling the space with crushing force. Wei'er gasped, her chair scraping backward.
"How," Director Lin said, her voice deathly quiet, "do you know about the Celestial Vault?"
Kai met her gaze steadily. "The same way I know Heaven's Eye is led by someone calling themselves the True Prophet. The same way I know their base is somewhere in the Kunlun Mountains. The same way I know they're not rebuilding their sect, they're searching for something the original sect hid before they were destroyed."
It was a gamble. Kai was revealing knowledge that no mortal researcher should possess. But he needed the Ministry to take him seriously.
Director Lin studied him for a long moment. Then she waved her hand and the conference room's formations flared to life soundproofing, anti-scrying wards, energy dampeners.
Complete isolation.
"You're not a historian," she said flatly. "You're either Heaven's Eye yourself, or you're something else entirely. Which is it?"
Before Kai could answer, Wei'er spoke up. "He's my husband. He's been helping me deal with a stalker situation. We got caught up in the teahouse attack by accident."
It was a good cover story. Simple, believable.
Director Lin didn't believe it for a second.
"Miss Chen," she said without looking away from Kai, "thank you for your input. But I'm more interested in what Mr. Kai isn't saying." She leaned forward. "I've been investigating Heaven's Eye for eight months. I've read every historical text, consulted every expert, sacrificed three of my best agents to plant spies in their organization. And you, a Foundation Establishment cultivator who just advanced recently, walk into my headquarters at 3 AM with more actionable intelligence than my entire department has gathered."
Kai remained silent.
"So here's what's going to happen," Director Lin continued. "You're going to tell me all of it or I'm going to assume you're an enemy agent and treat you accordingly. Choose quickly."
The threat was real. Kai could feel the formations in the walls powering up, ready to suppress his cultivation if needed.
He had seconds to make a decision.
Tell her everything and risk exposure?
Or fabricate a story and hope she bought it?
Before he could choose, the conference room door exploded inward.
A figure stood in the smoking doorway, wreathed in golden spiritual energy. But it wasn't Master Feng.
It was someone Kai recognized.
Someone who shouldn't exist.
"Well, well," the figure said, stepping into the light. Male, late thirties in appearance, wearing robes that marked him as Ministry, but with eyes that gleamed with something inhuman. "The War God awakens. And here I thought we'd have more time before you recovered enough to cause problems."
Kai's blood turned to ice.
That voice.
That spiritual signature.
"Impossible," he whispered.
The man smiled, revealing teeth that were slightly too sharp. "Oh, it's very possible. In fact, the Jade Emperor specifically sent me to ensure you stay dead this time."
Director Lin's spiritual pressure exploded outward. "Who are you? This is a secure facility—"
The man waved his hand negligently. Director Lin froze, her body locked in place by invisible force. The formations in the room flickered and died.
"Apologies, Director. But this is Heavenly business. Mortals shouldn't interfere."
Kai stood slowly, his mind racing. This man was one of the Twelve Supreme Deities. Specifically—
"General Bai," Kai said. "The White Tiger Deity. I killed you ten thousand years ago during the Demon Abyss campaign."
"And I was reborn, as all gods eventually are. Did you really think death was permanent for us?" Bai's smile widened. "The difference is, when we decided to eliminate you, we made sure there would be no resurrection. Your divine spark was scattered. Your cultivation shattered. Your very soul fragmented into pieces."
"Yet here I am."
"A mortal echo, yes. A shadow of your former glory. You've recovered, what, one fragment? Maybe two? What makes you what Foundation Establishment? Early Golden Core if you push it?" Bai laughed. "I'm at Nascent Soul stage, War God. You can't beat me. You can't even slow me down."
Kai's hand moved to his pocket, where the second fragment he'd secretly recovered yesterday hummed with dormant power.
He'd been planning to absorb it slowly, carefully.
No time for that now.
"Wei'er," Kai said quietly. "When this starts, run."
"What? Kai—"
"RUN!"
Kai crushed the fragment in his palm.
Golden light exploded outward as ten thousand years of combat memories, techniques, and divine power flooded back into his body. His cultivation rocketed from Foundation Establishment through Golden Core, touching the edge of Nascent Soul.
The conference room couldn't contain the energy. Walls cracked. Formations overloaded. The entire Ministry building shook.
General Bai's smile vanished. "You had another fragment? That's not—"
Kai moved.
The conference table exploded as he crossed it in a single step, his fist wreathed in divine flame, a technique from his War God days. Bai barely blocked, his own spiritual energy flaring in response.
The collision of their powers created a shockwave that shattered windows three floors up.
"Impressive," Bai admitted, skidding backward. "But you're still three stages below me. This changes nothing."
Kai's response was a barrage of strikes, each one capable of pulverizing steel. Bai defended, his White Tiger cultivation granting him speed and ferocity.
They moved too fast for mortal eyes to track. The conference room became a warzone, destroyed in seconds.
Wei'er had fled, thank the heavens. Director Lin was still frozen, her eyes wide with shock.
"You know what happens if you kill me!" Bai snarled, trading blow for blow. "The Heavenly Realm will send everyone! You'll be obliterated!"
"Then I die fighting instead of hiding," Kai snarled back. "The War God doesn't run!"
Their fists met in a final collision that created a pillar of light visible across the city.
When the light faded, both were standing.
Both were bloodied.
And between them, space itself had cracked a rift in reality, showing glimpses of the Heavenly Realm beyond.
Bai looked at the rift, then at Kai. "Shit."
"Agreed," Kai said.
Because through the rift, they could both feel it: attention. Massive, overwhelming attention from beings far more powerful than either of them.
The Jade Emperor was watching.
And he was not pleased