"A retained soul fragment could explain the battle instinct," the elder continued. "If they awakened memories from a prior life, their realm would be false in a practical sense. Their Qi is Origin Core, but their comprehension may belong to a much higher existence."
Han Shuo's eyes darkened. "Reincarnation is not so clean. Most old monsters who force rebirth lose themselves, or require centuries to recover."
"And yet they broke a Saint artifact cage."
No one replied to that.
Someone else muttered, "They may not be human."
Lei Qingshan glanced at him.
The elder continued, "Monster-blooded? Ancient beast lineage? Demon royalty? Some humanoid race with a suppressed form? If their bodies carry an inheritance above Noble Domain standard, their realm gap would make more sense."
Mu Jingfei finally spoke.
"Not enough sense."
The elders looked at her.
She gestured toward Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe.
"Look at them. Injuries alone could come from an ambush. Losing treasures could come from a trap. But being robbed clean after the fight means they were completely suppressed while conscious. Their opponent had enough spare control to take inventory."
The words were cold.
Zhao Chuan's face flushed with humiliation.
Mu Jingfei did not spare him.
"To strip two sixth layer Sky Lords of everything while leaving them alive requires overwhelming dominance. An eighth layer Sky Lord might do it if unusually strong. A ninth layer Sky Lord certainly could. But a random eighth or ninth layer Sky Lord hiding in the Lower Domains is nearly impossible. A pair of Origin Core juniors doing it is more impossible still."
She looked at Lei Yunhe.
"Which means the truth is not simple."
One of the elders said, "What about Ning Huang?"
The room turned.
He spoke more carefully now. "Could she have been deceived? A soul art? An emotional parasite? Some charm technique? Long Shenyu declared her his woman in public. If she was under influence—"
"No."
The answer came from Lei Yunhe.
It surprised everyone.
Even Zhao Chuan turned toward him.
Lei Yunhe's face was pale, his breathing unstable, but his eyes were clear.
"The War Heiress was not controlled."
The elder frowned. "You are certain?"
"Yes."
Lei Yunhe's voice grew steadier.
"She was angry. Clear-minded. Her aura was her own. Her lightning answered her will. When the cage trapped Long Shenyu and Long Shenyin, she did not behave like a puppet waiting for orders. She was furious because she wanted them released."
The chamber darkened.
Zhao Chuan's jaw tightened.
But he did not deny it.
Lei Yunhe continued, "She defended him because she chose to."
The words were simple.
They struck harder than many accusations.
If Ning Huang had been controlled, Heaven's Edict could treat the matter as rescue and revenge.
If she had chosen Long Shenyu, then the insult cut deeper.
Ning Huang was not an ordinary disciple. She was the youngest war heiress of Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace, a proud genius with mutated Aurora Judgment Lightning, a woman whose future had already drawn eyes from the upper halls. Her name carried value. Her allegiance carried meaning.
For Long Shenyu to hold her in public and declare her his woman after beating Heaven's Edict enforcers half to death—
It was not only personal.
It was political.
A slap across the face of Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace.
A slap delivered in front of a Lower Domain city.
Lei Qingshan's fists clenched. Thunder crawled over his knuckles.
"He said this himself?"
Zhao Chuan's voice was rough. "Yes."
"What exactly did he say?"
Zhao Chuan closed his eyes briefly.
The memory tasted like blood.
"He told us to return and tell the sect. Tell the prince. Ning Huang is his woman."
The chamber went colder.
Lei Qingshan's eyes became murderous.
"And?"
Zhao Chuan's remaining hand gripped the bedding.
"He said he did not care what the prince thought."
The thunder lamps flickered.
Several younger elders instinctively lowered their heads, as if the words themselves might draw punishment from the sky.
Then the chamber doors opened.
No one had heard footsteps.
No one had sensed an approach.
The doors simply parted, and supreme pressure filled the room.
It was not explosive. It did not roar outward like Lei Qingshan's anger. It descended smoothly, like a verdict already written, like thunder choosing not to strike only because the target had not yet been named.
Every cultivator below the seventh layer Sky Lord dropped to their knees.
They did not choose to kneel.
Their bodies chose for them.
The eighth and ninth layer Sky Lords remained standing, but their shoulders trembled. Their Qi slowed. Their breathing became careful. Even Lei Qingshan, a peak ninth layer Sky Lord, lowered his gaze by half an inch.
Han Shuo and Mu Jingfei stood straighter than the rest, but sweat appeared along their temples.
Both were second layer Sage Rulers.
In front of this presence, they felt inferior.
A young man entered the healing chamber.
White-gold battle robes flowed around him without stirring the air. Lightning patterns moved across the fabric like living veins. His hair was bound beneath a thunder crown, and his face held the calm beauty of a statue carved for a temple altar.
He had no wasted motion.
No visible anger.
No need to announce himself.
Everyone knew him.
Lei Tianzhao.
The Heaven's Verdict Prince.
He stopped in the center of the chamber.
For a moment, his gaze did not fall on Zhao Chuan's missing arm, Lei Yunhe's wounds, or the elders kneeling around him. He looked only at the still-sparking traces of foreign sword energy inside their bodies.
Interest passed through his eyes.
Then he spoke.
"Repeat the part about Ning Huang."
His voice was quiet.
That made it worse.
Lei Yunhe forced himself to lift his head. "Long Shenyu declared her his lover in public."
Lei Tianzhao's expression did not change.
Zhao Chuan added bitterly, "He said he did not care what you thought."
A faint silence followed.
Lei Tianzhao looked at him.
"Those were his words?"
Zhao Chuan swallowed.
"Yes."
Lei Tianzhao's eyes sharpened slightly.
Not rage.
Not humiliation.
Interest deepening into focus.
Mu Jingfei noticed it immediately.
She stepped forward and bowed. "Prince, what are your orders?"
No one else spoke.
Truthfully, despite the bizarre nature of Long Shenyu and Long Shenyin, the elders still held confidence. Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace was not a small Lower Domain family. It was one of the Great Noble Domain powers. It possessed many Sage Rulers, ancient verdict-lightning inheritances, Saint artifacts, tribute territories, and foundations left behind by a half-step Emperor ancestor.
In smaller cities, its direct disciples were treated like royalty.
In the Noble Domains, its decrees could bend sects.
And Lei Tianzhao was not merely a disciple.
He was the face of Heaven's Edict's future.
If he took interest, most people in the chamber already felt the matter was decided.
Lei Tianzhao walked closer to Zhao Chuan.
The enforcer's body stiffened.
Lei Tianzhao did not comfort him. He did not mock him either. He only extended two fingers and touched the air above Zhao Chuan's wound.
A thread of pale sword energy rose from the stump.
It resisted.
The elders' eyes changed.
Lei Tianzhao's fingers glowed with white-gold lightning. The lightning did not crackle wildly. It formed a small seal, square and bright, like a miniature imperial decree.
The sword energy trembled once.
Then it split apart.
Zhao Chuan gasped, his face twisting from pain and relief.
Lei Tianzhao withdrew his hand. "Clean sword force. Not high in quantity. High in control."
Mu Jingfei's gaze flickered.
Lei Tianzhao turned toward Lei Yunhe.
Lei Yunhe's wounds were worse in structure. Long Shenyu's sword force had entered deeper through his lightning pathways, likely because Lei Yunhe had continued circulating Qi after the first injury.
Lei Tianzhao examined it for several breaths.
Then he smiled faintly.
"This Long Shenyu…"
The smile was small.
It did not warm his face.
"Perhaps he is reincarnated. Perhaps he comes from the Divine Central Domains. Perhaps he is something stranger. All are possible. None are proven."
He turned away from the healing beds and faced the elders.
"But one point is clear."
No one breathed loudly.
"His cultivation is abnormal. His sister's cultivation is abnormal. They have no respect for Heaven's Edict, and they have already chosen to stand against us."
Lei Qingshan lowered his head. "My prince, allow me to lead a force immediately. I will bring Ning Huang back and tear that boy apart."
Lei Tianzhao looked at him.
Lei Qingshan's voice died.
Not from fear alone.
From understanding.
He had spoken too quickly.
Lei Tianzhao said, "You would go in anger."
Lei Qingshan clenched his jaw. "He humiliated the palace."
"Yes."
Lei Tianzhao's voice remained even.
"That is why anger is unnecessary."
The sentence quieted the room more than a shout could have.
Lei Tianzhao continued, "An anomaly that grows this quickly cannot be given time out of politeness. But neither should it be crushed blindly before its value is measured. Long Shenyu broke a Saint artifact cage while still appearing as an Origin Core junior. That is not only a threat. It is information."
Han Shuo's eyes moved. "My prince means to test them?"
"I mean to use them."
The elders' hearts jolted.
Lei Tianzhao raised his hand.
White-gold lightning gathered above his palm. It did not form a bolt. It formed a seal.
The seal was square, ancient, and layered with tiny characters. Each character seemed to carry a command. Kneel. Stop. Submit. Die.
The weaker elders could not look directly at it.
"This prince has been refining the Edict-Thunder Emperor Seal," Lei Tianzhao said. "The third seal-layer is near completion."
Mu Jingfei's usually composed face shifted.
"My prince…"
Her voice slowed.
"Are you already close to the third seal-layer?"
Lei Tianzhao lightly smiled.
"Indeed."
A wave passed through the chamber.
The Edict-Thunder Emperor Seal was not a common technique. It was a side inheritance of the Heaven-Coronation Lightning Canon, reserved only for the few disciples whose bodies, souls, and verdict intent could bear it. Each seal-layer did not merely strengthen lightning. It refined authority.
At the first layer, thunder became command.
At the second, command became suppression.
At the third, suppression began to resemble law.
Lei Tianzhao was already a fourth layer Sage Ruler. His realm alone placed him far beyond the younger generation of most Noble Domain forces. But if his third seal-layer succeeded, then his combat power would no longer be measured by realm in any ordinary sense.
Mu Jingfei's eyes brightened despite herself.
"How long until completion?"
"A short seclusion." Lei Tianzhao closed his palm. The seal vanished. "I need the last edges perfected. Afterward, these anomalies will do nicely."
Han Shuo inhaled. "You intend to fight them personally?"
Lei Tianzhao turned his head.
"Do you think they are unworthy?"
Han Shuo stiffened. "That is not what I meant."
"Good."
Lei Tianzhao looked toward the distant south, though there were walls, mountains, and thousands of miles between him and River Ridge.
"At my current foundation, after the third seal-layer stabilizes, I should be able to contend with an ordinary seventh layer Sage Ruler."
The chamber froze.
Even Mu Jingfei's pupils contracted.
A fourth layer Sage Ruler contending with a seventh layer Sage Ruler.
That was not crossing one minor layer.
That was crossing a chasm.
The higher the realm, the more brutal the gap. In the Spirit Qi-Sensing realm, cleverness and treasure could overturn small differences. In Nascent Essence, talent began to matter more. In Origin Core, Dao comprehension created true separation. At Sky Lord, every layer represented a deeper connection to Sky Qi and heavenly resonance.
But Sage Ruler?
Sage Qi carried law and authority. Every minor layer widened domain structure, dantian endurance, soul pressure, and Dao control. A fourth layer Sage Ruler fighting a seventh layer Sage Ruler should have been crushed by sheer depth.
Yet no one laughed.
No one doubted aloud.
Because the speaker was Lei Tianzhao.
The Heaven's Verdict Prince had built his reputation on turning impossible claims into public ceremonies of submission. He had defeated rebellious heirs, broken sect challengers, forced tributary powers to send oath tablets, and made battlefield geniuses kneel before his verdict lightning.
If he said he could contend with an ordinary seventh layer Sage Ruler, the elders did not hear arrogance.
They heard warning.
Lei Qingshan's eyes burned with excitement. "Then Long Shenyu will die."
Lei Tianzhao glanced at him. "Perhaps."
The answer surprised several elders.
Lei Tianzhao continued, "Or perhaps he will show me something worth taking before he dies."
Mu Jingfei lowered her gaze.
She understood the difference between Lei Qingshan's anger and Lei Tianzhao's interest.
Lei Qingshan wanted punishment.
Lei Tianzhao wanted profit, proof, and supremacy.
That was why he was the prince.
"My prince," Mu Jingfei said, "it is still imperative that you have a late-layer Sage Ruler escort whenever you leave the sect."
Lei Tianzhao did not immediately answer.
Mu Jingfei continued, carefully but firmly, "Long Shenyu is strange, but he is not the only matter moving in the Noble Domains. The Fallen Emperor's Map fragment has already drawn too many eyes. Nine Severing Sword Sect, Mountain-Subduing Palace, and several hidden factions are all stirring. If you leave openly, anything can happen."
The words "Fallen Emperor's Map fragment" changed the air.
Even Zhao Chuan, drowning in pain, looked over.
A Fallen Emperor inheritance was not a rumor one ignored. Anything tied to an Emperor-level existence could change the future of a sect. It could create a new peak Sage Ruler, strengthen a half-step Emperor foundation, or draw Divine Central Domain eyes into Noble Domain disputes.
In ordinary times, the humiliation at River Ridge would have demanded immediate retaliation.
But these were not ordinary times.
The Noble Domains were already tense. Old alliances were shifting. Inspection expeditions had become sharper. Sword heirs were issuing challenges. Hidden ruins had begun opening. Every great power wanted to move, but none wanted to expose its throat first.
Lei Tianzhao understood this better than anyone present.
He nodded once.
"Mn. Prepare a powerful escort."
Mu Jingfei bowed. "Which elder should be summoned?"
Lei Tianzhao considered for a breath.
"Not one who wants glory. Not one who hates wasting time in the Lower Domains. I need someone who will watch the surroundings while I test Long Shenyu."
Lei Qingshan's expression tightened, but he said nothing.
He knew that description did not fit him.
Mu Jingfei nodded. "I understand."
Lei Tianzhao turned toward Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe one last time.
"You failed."
Both men lowered their heads.
The words were not shouted.
That made them cut deeper.
"But you returned with useful information."
Lei Yunhe's fingers tightened.
Zhao Chuan's face twisted.
Lei Tianzhao continued, "Heal. Remove what sword force you can. Leave what you cannot. Pain is a good memory."
Neither man dared answer.
Lei Tianzhao began walking toward the doors.
Before he crossed the threshold, Mu Jingfei asked, "My prince, what of Ning Huang?"
For the first time since entering the chamber, Lei Tianzhao paused.
His back remained turned.
"Ning Huang chose?"
Lei Yunhe said quietly, "Yes."
Lei Tianzhao was silent for a moment.
Then he said, "Then she will be shown the cost of choosing poorly."
No rage.
No wounded vanity.
Just decree.
He stepped out.
The pressure left with him slowly, like a storm pulling away from a mountain range.
Only when the doors closed did the lower cultivators dare breathe.