This was Ethan Grey's second day of taking care of his child.
His daughter was strange. Deeply, profoundly strange.
She had woken up in the middle of the night to sit in meditation and cultivate.
A baby. Less than a year old. Not sleeping — cultivating.
Did he understand that? Did anyone understand that?
Was this some quirk of reincarnated children? Were all children from other worlds like this — just terrifyingly precocious from the start? She was six months old. *Six months.* Starting cultivation at six months old.
Did his daughter possess the aura of a grand emperor?
*"System,"* Ethan said, stretched out on his recliner, the memory of last night's shock still fresh enough to make the corner of his mouth twitch. *"What kind of world is this, exactly? When can I leave the mountain? Are all children here like this?"*
It had genuinely frightened him. At first, he'd assumed it was just a baby unable to sleep — some restless stirring in the night. But before he could even get close, aether from every direction had begun to converge, threading through the air in visible currents before flowing straight into his daughter's small body.
He knew what that was. He'd read enough to recognize it.
Cultivation.
Not that he had any personal experience with it. He'd never once left this mountain, never trained a day in his life. Every scrap of his strength had come through daily sign-ins and check-ins — power handed to him by the System without effort or understanding. He lived leisurely. He did not cultivate.
Which meant he knew absolutely nothing about it. And a six-month-old doing it? Completely unheard of.
For a hundred years, he hadn't taken a single step beyond these mountains. As for how strong he actually was — he wasn't entirely certain, except for one thing he could feel in his bones: if he wished it, this entire world could be reduced to nothing in an instant. According to the System, he had already reached the ascendant emperor realm.
The world he currently occupied was a lower realm — the most unremarkable of all lower realms, one of countless scattered beneath the single High Realm that sat above them all.
Power in the lower realm was roughly divided as follows: the aether condensation realm, the aether gathering realm, the aether unification realm, and then the sovereign triad realm — itself split into three tiers, the Warden, the Emperor, and the Saint. Above all of those sat the grand emperor realm, the strongest a person in the lower realm could reach.
Each realm was further divided into nine tiers.
When someone in the lower realm reached the ninth tier of the grand emperor realm and stood at the threshold of the next stage, the World's Law would forcibly transfer them to the High Realm. This world simply could not bear the weight of an ascendant realm expert.
Ethan was an exception. Years ago, when he broke through to the grand emperor realm, the System had given him a garment that concealed all things — designed to mask his presence and keep the World's Law from noticing him. Now that he had reached the ascendant emperor realm, the garment's concealment function was entirely obsolete. Its only remaining purpose was looking good.
Ascendant emperor realm. Free to move between all realms.
Not that it mattered, apparently.
*The time is not yet ripe. The host should not think about leaving the mountain. Focus on raising your daughter.*
Again.
*"Is that the only thing you ever say?"*
*Yes.*
He'd asked before. The answer was always the same.
What timing? What did that even mean?
---
Before he could brood further, a small figure came waddling toward him at full speed.
Sera, both chubby arms wrapped around a thick, weathered book nearly as large as her torso, toddled across the floor with the single-minded determination of someone on an urgent errand. She reached his side and stopped.
She thrust the book toward him with her baby-fat hands, babbling urgently — syllables that didn't yet form words but carried, unmistakably, the tone of someone demanding answers.
Ethan blinked. Then, more out of amusement than understanding, he took the book.
*Records of the High Realm?*
He turned it over in his hands. He recognized it — he'd gotten it from a sign-in years ago. A book that documented major events from the High Realm, famous figures, notable deeds. He'd read through it many times over the decades simply because there was nothing else to do, and because some part of him had always hungered for a world beyond these mountains.
More than that, it was an ascendant emperor-level treasure — enchanted to update itself, recording new events automatically as they unfolded. He hadn't opened it in quite a while.
*Does she want to know what it is?*
He thought about it for a moment, then stood, crouched down, and scooped her up.
*"This,"* he said, settling her against his arm, *"is called the Records of Time. It's full of stories. Very interesting ones."*
*Stories?*
Sera stared at him.
*This King is asking you whether what's written inside is TRUE.*
The more she thought about it, the more indignant she felt. Her soft little hand swung up and slapped him squarely across the face.
To Ethan, it felt like a gentle pat.
*His daughter had touched him.*
Joy detonated somewhere in his chest.
*Soft! Warm!*
*"The stories inside are wonderful,"* he said, barely containing himself. *"Come on — let Daddy tell you one."*
He opened the book. It fell open to exactly the page Sera had been looking at. Four words in large, bold script filled the top of the page.
*Eternal Lord Vael.*
*"Look here, my dear,"* Ethan said, tilting the page toward her. *"This is a very famous eternal lord. Isn't she beautiful?"*
Sera's eyes went wide.
Those words. Those four words she knew better than any others in existence.
She read on.
---
*Eternal Lord Vael. Saintess of House Vael in the High Realm. Holder of the Celestial Spirit Physique. Ranked third on the High Realm Beauty Codex.*
*Three thousand years ago, she attained the eternal lord realm and, in an exceptionally short span of time, challenged several veteran eternal lords across the High Realm — suffering no defeats. She was hailed as the foremost expert within the eternal lord realm.*
*One thousand years ago, the Ascendant Emperor's Vault opened. Eternal Lord Vael entered alone and, through a powerful display of strength, obtained the Ascendant Emperor's Legacy. At the critical moment of receiving the Legacy, she was ambushed by five eternal lords and ultimately succumbed, perishing within the Vault.*
*She lived for six thousand five hundred years.*
---
Sera's small body went still.
Then she began to tremble.
It was true. All of it. Actually true.
She had been dead for a thousand years.
*"What's wrong?"*
Ethan's voice came quietly from above her. He'd noticed — of course he'd noticed. She couldn't hide the way her expression had crumpled, just slightly, before she caught herself.
She didn't answer him. Her small hand reached out and turned the page forward, pushing toward the most recent entries.
---
*Dorian Ashvane. False Ascendant Realm.*
*One thousand years ago, alongside Eternal Lords Aurin, Maren, Draveth, and Ossian, he entered the Ascendant Emperor's Vault and jointly killed the celebrated Eternal Lord Vael. He obtained the Ascendant Emperor's Legacy and successfully broke through to the ascendant emperor realm.*
*Five hundred years ago, within a second Ascendant Emperor's Vault, he went on a rampage — slaying every ascendant emperor who had entered alongside him. He alone emerged alive, and successfully broke through once more, advancing to the false ascendant realm.*
---
Dorian Ashvane.
Sera stared at the portrait beside the entry. That face. She would know it anywhere.
Something cold and sharp ignited inside her. Her small fist swung up and struck the page.
In that instant, blade aura began to coalesce.
*Not good.*
The aura of a false ascendant could not be provoked — not even by accident. If that landed on her, she wouldn't die, but she would absolutely lose a layer of skin.
The sky above the wooden house darkened. Auspicious clouds rolled in. Golden runes, ancient and intricate, cascaded downward and locked together into a vast dome. A colossal blade of condensed aura took shape within it, its tip angled directly at the small figure lying against Ethan's chest.
The presence that came with it was suffocating. Heaven and earth fell silent. Even the wind stopped.
A deathly stillness.
Then Ethan spoke. One word, low and unhurried.
*"Leave."*
A false blade sovereign's aura, pointed at his daughter?
Was it worthy of that?
The moment his voice landed, the sky cleared. The runes dissolved. The blade aura vanished as though it had never existed. Heaven and earth returned to their usual, quiet calm.
*Ding — for showing off in front of your daughter, you have received one string of marshmallows.*