It was only after Wang Chen sucked in several rapid breaths—short, sharp, desperate inhalations more suited to a drowning dog than a dignified cultivator—that his hammering heart finally calmed.

It can't be that bad.

So what if he learned to cultivate?

The threat should be nothing much…

He repeated that to himself like a mantra. Slowly, his nerves loosened.

Beasts within the Garden of Eternity had already begun evolving through their own form of body cultivation. So what if humans did the same? One or two cultivating children shouldn't be able to cause a catastrophe.

Probably.

Wang Chen exhaled and let the tension bleed from his shoulders. Once he looked at the situation from all angles, the earlier paranoia dulled. The spiritual space might be turning into a miniature world, but it wasn't the apocalypse.

Yet.

Meanwhile, Ni Luo's eyes gleamed with an inner radiance that didn't belong to a child. A faint, mystic glow pulsed from his skin. Then—

Hoooom—

The qi in the atmosphere shifted as if responding to a primordial summons. Thousands of pores across the boy's body opened like greedy mouths, pulling in qi with terrifying intensity.

Bang! Bang!

Loud popping sounds resounded from Ni Luo's bones and muscles as they restructured. The ground beneath him cracked like dry soil under a hammer. Even the air vibrated, shuddering around the child's small frame.

Wang Chen watched from afar, equal parts nervous and enthralled.

Humanity—within the Garden of Eternity—had been on the brink of extinction. If this monstrous talent grew unhindered… the balance in this miniature world would shift completely.

A single legendary figure could rewrite the fate of a race.

The thought made Wang Chen let out a helpless chuckle. "Truly… the world works in mysterious ways. You never know what it's planning next."

By the time he finished musing, Ni Luo's transformation had reached completion.

Pop!

Ni Luo clenched his small fist. A metallic grinding noise rippled through the air—heavy, resonant, unnatural. Even the atmosphere shivered as if something powerful was struggling to manifest.

Wang Chen narrowed his eyes.

"That strength… at the first rank of the Qi Refining Realm?"

His expression tightened. Ni Luo's cultivation was only at the initial stage of Qi Refining, yet the boy's physical output already rivaled Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivators. Maybe even stronger.

Is there something I've overlooked…?

Is the Qi Refining Realm more complex than I assumed?

He had little time to ponder.

A disturbance echoed across the spiritual space.

The air around Ni Luo twisted. Space rippled like water disturbed by a stone. Then—

A phantom appeared.

Crude. Ancient. Worn.

A colossal clock manifested behind the boy, its metal frame rusted, its two heavy iron hands ticking in a ceaseless, merciless rhythm.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Each swing of the clock's hands carved through the air like a divine guillotine. Anything in its path—even illusory constructs—was crushed into bloody vapor.

It looked unstoppable. Eternal. A representation of inevitability itself.

Wang Chen's entire body stiffened.

His breath stalled.

His pupils constricted to needle points.

"…Doomclock."

He whispered the name like a curse.

That phantom—those iron hands—he would never mistake them.

Because they belonged to him.

A skill unique to Wang Chen.

And now, impossibly, a ten-year-old child growing inside his spiritual space was using it.

Just then, Wang Chen's tight frown eased.

On second look, the phantom wasn't quite Doomclock. It resembled it, yes—the crushing inevitability, the sweeping iron hands, the oppressive aura—but it lacked the density, the ancient cruelty, the absolute law-level suppression unique to the real thing.

A diluted echo.

A shadow of his technique, not the full truth.

And frankly, that made perfect sense.

The Chains of Enlightenment were crafted from Wang Chen's accumulated insights, comprehension, and knowledge. For someone like Ni Luo—whose talent bordered on the absurd—it wasn't shocking that he managed to glean a fragment of Wang Chen's understanding.

A diluted Doomclock was still terrifying. But it wasn't the apocalypse.

At least… not yet.

Meanwhile, Ni Luo rose to his feet. Determination burned through his young eyes, an emotion far too heavy for a child his age. With a single explosive step, he vanished into the distance, heading straight for the Rising Sun Kingdom.

This time, his heart wasn't weighed down by despair.

This time, he carried hope.

At his newfound speed, it didn't take long for him to reach the capital. What greeted him was chaos—a besieged city, walls crumbling, soldiers drenched in blood, the air thick with despair. The final bastion of humanity was moments from being devoured.

The battle-hardened soldiers froze when they saw him.

The child who had sworn an oath no mortal should make.

The Martial Saint who had left alone, declaring he would either die or return with salvation.

That oath still echoed in every heart.

Now, seeing him return with confidence blazing in his eyes, something inside them ignited. Did the Martial Saint truly find a path out of this hell?

Their answer arrived instantly.

Ni Luo blurred.

And then—

Splat. Crack. Crunch.

Hundreds of alien beasts—each strong enough to rip through ranks of elite warriors—were torn to pieces by the ten-year-old child's bare hands. Flesh rained across the battlefield, rivers of thick blood carving new channels through the cracked stone.

Weapons forged from frost iron had barely scratched these monsters.

Ni Luo punched straight through their skulls.

The martial warriors' eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

Is this… the power of a god?

For many, the question didn't even need answering. A few immediately fell to their knees mid-battle, chanting prayers to the heavens in gratitude for sending this miracle.

Wang Chen, watching from afar, nearly died from shame.

His carelessness—his lack of foresight—had plunged an entire world into catastrophe. Millions had suffered because of the sudden growth of his spiritual space. Even now, witnessing mortals worship Ni Luo, he felt an uncomfortable sting of guilt.

He rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Maybe during Lin Huang's breakthrough, I should warn them first…

Regardless of the suffering they endured, Wang Chen wasn't selfless enough to deny how much they also gained. Their world had evolved faster than it ever could have naturally. As long as he warned them next time, the rest was up to them.

Meanwhile, Ni Luo's appearance changed everything.

Morale surged like a roaring flame.

The humans, once moments away from being wiped out, pushed back the beast tide.

For the first time in years, the Rising Sun Kingdom breathed.

And all of it… came from a single boy who touched Wang Chen's Chains of Enlightenment.

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