The air was thick, heavy with an unnatural taint.
Shen took a step back, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. He had seen cultivators lose control before—foolish youths who tried to absorb more power than their bodies could handle.
But this...
This was different.
The forest itself seemed to recoil from the energy radiating off Kael. The mist dissolved, trees withered, and spiritual creatures fled in all directions, their instincts screaming danger.
Then Kael opened his eyes.
Shen's breath hitched.
Black.
Kael's eyes were completely black, devoid of irises or pupils—an endless void, an abyss that seemed to stretch beyond comprehension.
And for the first time in years, Shen felt something he thought he'd forgotten.
Fear.
Kael collapsed to his knees, gasping for air as though he had been drowning moments before. His body was drenched in cold sweat, his mind struggling to process what had just happened.
But he wasn't alone anymore.
Something else was inside him.
A slow, rhythmic pulse echoed through his being, like a heartbeat in a place where no heart should exist.
Tum... Tum... Tum...
Kael stared at his hands. They looked the same, yet felt entirely different. The Dark Spiritual Lotus had changed. It wasn't what it once was.
"What the hell happened to you, kid?" Shen's voice broke the silence, firm but laced with hesitation.
Kael lifted his gaze to meet Shen's.
The world around Shen seemed sharper to him now. He could see the faint streams of spiritual energy flowing around the man's body, the natural currents of power he emitted. What had once been invisible was now painfully obvious.
"I don't know," Kael said at last. His own voice sounded strange to him—deeper, colder, more distant.
Something inside him stirred, restless, waiting to be understood.
Kael closed his eyes and descended into his spiritual essence.
It was no longer the same.
Before, his spiritual essence was a void where the Dark Spiritual Lotus floated, a solitary flower in an empty space.
Now, it was an ocean of darkness.
Fields of black flowers stretched out endlessly, blooming and withering in a cycle without end. Above them, a starless sky pulsed faintly, like the beating of a living heart.
And at the center of it all stood a shadow in human form.
It didn't move. It didn't speak.
But Kael knew it was waiting for him.
He stepped forward, drawn toward the figure, but before he could reach it, a powerful force yanked him back to the world of the living.
Kael's eyes snapped open.
Shen was watching him with cautious curiosity, the weight of his experience telling him that the boy standing before him was no longer the same.
And he was right.
Kael rose to his feet. His body felt different—lighter, stronger, and sharper. Instincts he hadn't consciously developed adjusted his stance, refined his balance, and tightened his movements without thought.
He clenched his fist, and a faint glow of black energy flickered around it.
The chaos that had once threatened to consume him was gone.
The energy was no longer unstable.
It was alive.
Kael turned to Shen, his gaze cold and resolute.
"If I'm going to continue this training," he said, his voice like tempered steel, "then you need to stop holding back."
Shen raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Kael dropped into a fighting stance, his movements fluid and deliberate.
"Test me."
The grin that spread across Shen's face was one of pure, unrestrained excitement.
"Good," he said, his tone laced with anticipation. "I was starting to think you didn't have the guts."
He moved first.
Shen's attack was fast, precise, and lethal.
But this time, Kael didn't just keep up.
He countered.