The carriage ride back to the Lin manor was silent, but it was a silence charged with an electric intensity. Lin Yue stared at the ornate wooden box resting on Lin Xuan's lap—the City-Tier Reward. Inside lay a Beast King's Core, a pulsating orb of condensed spiritual energy harvested from a 7-star monster. To most families, this was a generational treasure that could fund a decade of luxury. To Lin Xuan, it was high-octane fuel.
Lin Feng kept glancing at her brother. The way he had dismissed the Royal Healers and stared down the City Lord had ignited a fire in her. She was a warrior who respected strength, and Lin Xuan was currently radiating a brand of power that was quiet, cold, and absolute.
"Xuan'er," Lin Chen finally whispered, her eyes fixed on the invisible spot on his left shoulder where the Void-Stalker Ant rested. "That ant... it didn't just eat the poison, did it? Its spiritual signature has completely shifted. It's no longer Iron-Rank."
"Sharp as always, Chen'er," Lin Xuan replied, opening the box.
The interior of the carriage was instantly flooded with a thick, amber light. The Beast King's Core hummed, its power causing the air to ripple.
"Xiao Ying reached the peak of the Iron Rank during the healing process," Lin Xuan explained, his voice calm. "The Abyssal Toxin was the catalyst. Now, it needs the pure energy of this core to break through the racial shackles and enter the Bronze Rank. But more importantly, it will unlock the first of the Forbidden Evolutions."
The sisters gasped. The transition from Iron to Bronze was usually a slow process of months, involving specialized diets and rigorous training. Lin Xuan was planning to force a breakthrough in a single night.
When they arrived home, Lin Xuan headed straight for the basement lab. This time, however, the sisters didn't stay upstairs. They followed him down, their faces set with a mixture of determination and longing. They realized that if they didn't keep up with him, the gap between their worlds would soon become an abyss.
"Stay back," Lin Xuan warned as he placed the black ant on the pedestal.
The Void-Stalker Ant was no longer smoke-like. After consuming the 6-star toxin, its exoskeleton had hardened into something resembling obsidian glass, with faint purple veins pulsing beneath the surface.
Lin Xuan didn't hesitate. He took the Beast King's Core and crushed it with a specialized spiritual press.
[Warning: Extreme Energy Release Detected!]
[System Protocol: Channeling Beast King Essence into Path 201 - The Abyssal Shadow-Slayer.]
" Xiao Ying, devour it!"
The liquid energy from the core didn't splash; it was pulled toward the ant by a gravitational force. The basement was plunged into a strange, flickering darkness. The shadows of the lab equipment began to detach from the floor, swirling around the pedestal in a chaotic vortex.
"It's an atmospheric resonance!" Lin Chen shouted over the roar of the wind, her lab coat whipping around her. "He's creating a localized void field!"
In the center of the vortex, the ant's body began to crack and reconstruct itself at a terrifying speed. It grew from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a large beetle. Its six legs became elongated and serrated like obsidian daggers, and a pair of translucent, ghost-like wings erupted from its back.
[Ding! Evolution Successful!]
[Species: Abyssal Shadow-Slayer (Unique Forbidden Mutation)]
[Rank: 3-Star (Bronze Rank)]
[New Skill: 'Shadow Assassination' — The beast can hide in the shadow of any target (human or beast) and strike directly at their spiritual core.]
[New Skill: 'Void Storage' — Sub-space expanded to 100 cubic meters.]
The darkness snapped back into place. The room returned to normal, but the air felt thinner, colder.
Lin Xuan reached out, and the ant flickered, appearing instantly on the back of his hand. It was beautiful in a lethal, terrifying way. Its violet eyes now held a glint of predatory intelligence that surpassed many high-level beasts.
"With this," Lin Xuan murmured, "the Iron-Claw Corporation's security will be like wet paper."
He turned to see his sisters. They were standing close together, looking at him with eyes that shimmered with a new kind of heat.
Lin Yue stepped forward first. She reached out and touched Lin Xuan's arm, her voice soft but heavy with emotion. "Xuan'er... you've done more for this family in three days than we did in three years. But don't forget... we are your sisters. Don't carry everything alone."
Lin Feng walked up to his other side, her usual bravado replaced by a fierce, protective gaze. "If you're going after Iron-Claw, you're not going without me. My Valkyrie squad is already on standby. We'll burn their warehouses while you take their head."
Lin Chen stood in front of him, her glasses slightly fogged up. She grabbed his hand, her fingers interlaced with his. "I've finished the analysis on the 'Lunar-Silk Elixir'. We don't just have a potion, Brother. We have a monopoly. We can collapse their stock by tomorrow morning."
Lin Xuan looked at the three of them. In his first life, he had died alone in a lab. In this life, he was surrounded by beauty, talent, and unyielding loyalty.
"The auction is in two days," Lin Xuan said, his voice dropping to a low, commanding register. "We won't just sell the elixir. We're going to announce the formation of the Sovereign Sect. And we're going to invite the Iron-Claw Corporation to watch their own funeral."
He pulled his sisters into a group embrace. The warmth of their bodies and the scent of their hair filled his senses, a stark contrast to the cold void of his second beast.
"Rest tonight," Lin Xuan whispered. "Tomorrow, we start the takeover."
In the shadows of the corner, the Abyssal Shadow-Slayer flickered and vanished. It was already moving toward the city, a ghost in the night, marking the targets that would fall before the Sovereign's rise.