His Dantian and meridians were nearly torn apart, and the life essence leaked out like a broken vessel.

The internal organs were still burning, the residual heat refusing to cool, gnawing at flesh and blood alike.

If he had not exhausted every last bit of strength to defend—if not for the life-saving sword talisman his master had bestowed, and the top-tier immortal-grade spiritual armor shielding his body—

Today, it would not have ended with severe injuries.

He would have been completely swallowed by that terrifying fireball, erased without leaving a trace.

"Ethan…!"

Luca staggered, clutching his shattered arm. His fingers trembled violently as blood dripped down, hissing upon contact with the scorched ground.

Above his head floated a blue-purple bead.

The bead pulsed with a profound, ancient aura. Purple light spilled outward, runes blooming like ghostly flowers, and a translucent barrier instantly unfolded, sealing Luca within.

The red mist roared.

The murderous tide surged like a corrosive sea, its killing intent capable of rotting bodies and devouring souls. Yet when it struck the barrier, it was completely blocked, unable to advance even half a step.

This bead was clearly not a mortal treasure.

"It's His Royal Highness the Holy Son—he's not dead!"

The surrounding demons finally let out the breaths they had been holding.

They did not know who had launched the sudden, devastating attack, nor how His Royal Highness had been pushed to such a miserable state.

But as long as he still lived, hope remained.

With the terrifying vitality of the demon race and the Holy Son's own monstrous recovery ability, it would only take a few days to stabilize. Once he recovered, revenge would surely follow.

"Your Highness, who was the intruder?" Roslyn asked cautiously.

Luca's gaze flickered.

He had not expected survivors from Blackspire Mountain. He had assumed Roslyn and the others were already consumed by the murderous tide.

At this moment, his body was riddled with holes.

The demon clan's famed regenerative power struggled desperately against the devastation left behind by that fireball, yet even so, the recovery was painfully slow.

"What kind of technique is this…?" Luca growled inwardly.

"The body repairs itself slower than a crippled beast. If this continues, we won't last the night."

He lowered his head, staring at his wounds, then waved his hand.

Several jade bottles appeared in his palms.

Crack. Crack.

He shattered them without hesitation and swallowed every pill inside.

Violent energy erupted within his body, forcibly suppressing the collapse threatening to tear him apart.

"Damn it…" Luca clenched his fists, his jaw tight enough to crack teeth.

"I've burned through nearly every life-saving pill just to stabilize myself."

At last, the deeper bloodline power awakened.

A mysterious force surged from his bone marrow, flowing into shattered meridians and torn flesh, nourishing and repairing them from the inside.

The wounds on his body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Ethan… damned Ethan!" Luca's eyes burned with hatred.

"Even if I recover, my foundation is damaged. It will take at least three years to return to my peak!"

"Who attacked you, Your Highness?" Roslyn pressed.

"Someone from the Azure Origin Dao Sect… Skyreach Territory," Luca replied coldly.

"Azure Origin Dao Sect?" Confusion spread across the demons' faces.

"That sect is the weakest among the four major sects of Skyreach Territory. How could it produce someone capable of pushing Your Highness this far?"

"Exactly. It has been suppressed by the Black Demon Sect for years. How could they obtain a Sage Token, let alone enter the Training Trial Secret Realm?"

Murmurs rippled through the group.

"Enough nonsense," Luca snapped. "Enter the Heavenly Net Demonic Pearl—now!"

Everyone obeyed immediately, turning into streaks of light and gathering beneath the hovering bead.

The Heavenly Net Demonic Pearl.

A top-tier holy-grade spiritual weapon, personally refined and bestowed by his master, meant to save his life in moments of absolute peril.

Luca had never imagined he would be forced to use it on the very first night in the Training Trial Secret Realm.

Worse still, his defensive treasures, countless elixirs, and even the immortal-grade armor on his body had been completely destroyed.

The price was catastrophic.

But he had survived.

"Your Highness, what about the one from Azure Origin Dao Sect?" Roslyn asked again.

"I can't detect his aura at all."

Luca sneered.

"He exhausted everything to unleash that attack. The power was overwhelming—even I barely survived."

"He must have been caught in it himself. He's dead."

As he spoke, color slowly returned to his face.

The demon race's recovery ability was indeed terrifying.

Luca spread his senses outward, sweeping the area again and again.

Nothing.

No trace of Ethan's aura.

The tension in his expression finally eased.

With his perception, no one in this Training Trial Secret Realm should be able to escape detection.

If Ethan's aura had vanished completely, there was only one explanation.

He had fallen in that inferno.

"Nothing detected. His Highness is right—he must be dead," the others echoed.

As supreme experts outside the secret realm, they trusted their senses absolutely.

If they could not perceive him, then he did not exist.

Either dead.

Or gone beyond reason.

Then—

Crack.

A faint sound echoed from beneath the rubble.

Stones shifted. Gravel slid aside.

Something was moving.

Luca's pupils shrank violently.

"No… this is—Ethan's aura!"

Cold dread surged through his spine.

Only then did he recall the jade bottle Ethan had produced before unleashing that final attack—an artifact capable of storing living beings.

If Kara and her disciple could be hidden within it—

Then Ethan could have done the same.

Boom!

The rubble exploded outward.

A beam of light tore through earth and stone, shooting into the sky.

Ethan emerged.

He hovered calmly in midair, arms crossed, allowing the thick red mist to wash over him.

With a cold snort, invisible airwaves surged outward, dispersing the murderous fog in an instant.

Ethan narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly at Luca.

He was not surprised.

Luca was the Holy Son of the Heavenly Demon Sect—a peerless genius who had awakened the ancestral pattern of the demon ancestor.

Someone like that would never lack life-saving trump cards.

Moreover, the Blackspire demon race itself was abnormal.

So long as there was still a single breath left, recovery was only a matter of time.

This characteristic is somewhat similar to the Earth Ancestral Demon lineage of the Black Demon Sect, but it is not exactly the same.

A/N:

Extra chapters

100 power stones - 1 Extra chapters

200 power stones - 2 Extra chapters

Massage Chair - 1 Extra chapters

Luxury Car - 2 Extra Chapters

Dragon - 5 Extra Chapters

Magic Castle - 15 Extra Chapters

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