Buzz buzz buzz—

  The atmosphere trembled violently as Aurel unleashed a devastating strike. Shockwaves carved patches of vacuum through the air, trailing shards of compressed air, shattered blade-qi, and the crushing residue of a condensed vital energy field.

  It all hurtled straight toward Vale.

  But then—

  CLANG!

  A brilliant arc of Sword Qi, radiant and endless like a sliver of the galaxy, formed in Vale’s palm.

  "Hm?!"

  Aurel, mid-descent, his body a meteor of fury, saw the gleaming arc. His pupils dilated in shock.

  "That... that’s not possible! This Sword Qi—it's purer than anything I’ve ever seen—ten times, a hundred times more refined than my own! What kind of monster...?!?"

  Before he could finish the thought—

  BANG!!!

  The Starspan erupted.

  A thunderclap of darkness and light exploded forth. In that flash, the Starspan pierced straight through Aurel’s Seal of Heavenfall, shredding dozens of protective sword-shield barriers in its path.

  In one instant, everything from Aurel’s shoulders to waist—was vaporized.

  Dust. Gone.

  The streak of Sword Qi continued its skyward arc, vanishing into the sky above. Only then did the sonic shockwave catch up.

  BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!

  A chain of delayed explosions rippled through the air, shaking the forest, lake, and mountain. Aurel’s dismembered legs tumbled from the sky, landing with two muted splashes in the lake.

  He was still alive. Barely.

  His vitality, freakishly potent, refused to extinguish. But his Dao Heart—the will that anchored his path—had utterly crumbled.

  "So... my hundred years of cultivation... were just a joke?"

  His life-force drained. He no longer struggled. As the last light dimmed from his soul, Aurel found himself thinking not of his failure, but of the being he never faced—Seraphine.

  The one who had never even needed to fight him. Who had only shown her strength by teaching Vale. She had crushed him without appearing.

  "I wish... I had met her once..."

  His thoughts dissolved into nothing. Aurel was dead.

  Vale stood in silence for a moment, then turned without a word. He headed toward the inner sanctum, where Kael was still butchering the surviving Heavenreach Sect members.

  ...

  BANG!

  Kael slammed through an iron door, steel saber in one hand, and kicked into the Heavenreach Sect’s vault. It was a small chamber, packed with all manner of items—bottles, scrolls, artifacts.

  He ignored most of it. His eyes scanned only for one thing: books. In minutes, he had stacked dozens of rare manuals and secret texts into a tall pile.

  Just then, Vale entered, carrying his own bundle of scrolls.

  “You checked the south?” he asked.

  Kael grinned. “Yes, Senior Brother. This was the last cache.”

  Vale nodded. “Good. Take all the secret texts. We’re done here.”

  ...

  Ten minutes later, the two stood atop a nearby peak, overlooking the once-proud Heavenreach Sect. Now utterly silent. Lifeless.

  Kael narrowed his eyes. “The buildings still stand. If we’re going to erase a sect... we should finish the job.”

  He raised his hand. A streak of ink-black Sword Qi, sharp and celestial like a falling star, shot skyward.

  BOOM!

  At its peak, the Starspan exploded. The shockwave spread like a divine halo, and thousands of dark blade streaks rained downward in a blazing dome.

  SSSSSHHHHHHHHH—

  The air filled with a thousand slicing sounds. Every temple, hall, and courtyard split like tofu. Stone shattered. Wood burst apart. Palaces collapsed into heaps of rubble.

  “AAAAHH!!”

  “HELP!”

  “NO! NO! PLEASE—”

  Desperate screams erupted across the compound. Hidden survivors—disciples, elders, caretakers—had tried to avoid the two demons. Now, they died beneath falling walls, impaled on stray swords, shredded by the rain of death.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  It ended quickly. The screams faded. Only the crackling collapse of ancient buildings remained, and then silence. The two men watched the destruction for a long breath, then walked away.

  ...

  Later that night, in a lonely, ruined forest outside the valley, a pale old Daoist raced toward the devastated grounds.

  It was Daoist Hakuzi. He sprinted through the broken gate, eyes wide with dread. A minute later, he stumbled out, ashen and shaking. Fumbling, he grabbed his phone and made a call.

  The voice on the other end was cold: “What is it? Calling me at this hour?”

  Hakuzi trembled. “Patriarch Xander—it’s bad. Heavenreach Sect... has been exterminated!”

  “...What did you say?!”

  ...

  Time quietly flowed. Two days had passed since the day Seraphine ordered Kael and the others to exterminate the Heavenreach Sect. Therefore, her attributes had doubled twice more.

  Attribute Interface:

  【Host: Seraphine】

  【Physical Strength: 12,126,392】

  【Soul: 12,119,568】

  Physical Strength and Soul had both suddenly broken through the ten million mark. Seraphine shifted her attention from the interface, looked at her two dust-laden disciples, and said calmly:

  "Not bad. I am very satisfied with your actions this time."

  Glancing at the piled-up secret texts on the table, she spoke again:

  "You two should leave first. The ceremony for the inauguration of the successor will be held tomorrow. Come early and escort me to the Imperial Palace."

  Kael said blankly: "Huh? You still need an escort? And who is the designated successor?"

  Vale also looked puzzled. Seraphine turned to look at them and said calmly:

  "The person is me, of course. Also, with my status, how can I not have bodyguards?"

  "Uh..." Their expressions froze.

  After just two days, Master has ascended to the position of successor?! Have times changed this quickly? However, they immediately relaxed upon recalling Seraphine's abilities.

  "Master is a divine being descended from heaven. The position of successor is merely a small detail to her."

  Thinking this, the two bowed respectfully, said "Yes," and turned to leave.

  Seraphine looked at the more than a hundred secret texts on the long table. She casually picked up one and began to read.

  This one was titled 《Slaughtercall》.

  Her speed was incredible; in moments, she had finished the entire book.

  "Absorbing external Yin Qi into the body, fusing the soul with killing intent, tempering the soul body and will... it slightly increases Soul Power."

  "Hmm, it seems this method primarily focuses on solidifying the soul."

  Seraphine put down the cultivation method and picked up a copy of 《Moonforge》.

  "Using the crescent moon as a focal point to contemplate moonlight entering the body and raising Soul Power."

  Before long, she finished this book and reached for 《Dreamshatter》.

  "The art of creating and entering dreams to harm the soul and seize the spirit."

  She put it down and began to read 《Soul-Calm》.

  "Cultivating the spirit and soothing emotions... a small technique to consolidate one's will."

  She moved on to 《Heaven’s Favor》 and 《Demon Decree》.

  "Taoist secret incantations based on idealism. Their effects are inconsistent."

  "This world leans toward materialism. There are no actual gods, devils, immortals, or Buddhas. All arts of worshiping deities are illusory—essentially self-hypnosis."

  Time flowed. Seraphine read and contemplated, discarding each volume after finishing it.

  Priceless cultivation methods and secret texts were casually tossed into various corners of the room.

  Any single one of these books could cultivate a uniquely dangerous Daoist or martial artist.

  But for Seraphine...

  These mystical texts were merely nutrients for her growth. Once consumed, they were not worth a second glance.

  《Godpierce》

  《Mindshatter Curse》

  《Ghoulscript》

  《Dreamsutra》

  《Exorcist Rite》

  《Soulveil Method》

  《Divine-Borrowing Bolt》

  《Manifest Windbind》

  "..."

  The pile of books on the long table grew smaller and smaller.

  Finally, Seraphine had completely mastered all the spiritual and mystical arts the Heavenreach Sect had accumulated over a thousand years.

  Her eyes were half-closed. Vast torrents of knowledge collided in her mind, each impact sparking new bursts of wisdom.

  Her Soul attribute surged dramatically. Simultaneously, her Physical Strength was stimulated by the shift, leaping forward in tandem.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  One hour. Two hours. Three hours.

  Seraphine remained seated for over ten hours, until nearly midnight.

  Attribute Interface:

  【Host: Seraphine】

  【Physical Strength: 24,932,507】

  【Soul: 25,683,641】

  Both attributes had more than doubled. For the first time, her Soul attribute surpassed her Physical Strength.

  And just then—

  The first hour of the morning arrived.

  The 【Infinite Attributes】 system activated once more.

  BUZZ ~~

  Her attributes soared again, doubling instantly.

  Attribute Interface:

  【Host: Seraphine】

  【Physical Strength: 49,865,014】

  【Soul: 51,367,282】

  Both attributes now stood at nearly fifty million—an overwhelming level of power.

  Seraphine suddenly opened her eyes.

  In that instant, arcs of lightning exploded within the black palace, streaking outward into a sea of blue.

  It was the direct consequence of her terrifying Mental Power—so vast it warped reality and triggered mystical phenomena.

  At that same moment, a spiritual core—like a second heart—detonated into the real world.

  BOOM!!!!

  Centered on Seraphine, a colossal, boundless ripple of spiritual force erupted like a tsunami, surging in every direction.

  RUMBLE ~~

  Tidal waves of soul energy surged from the Princess Mansion in a full 360 degrees.

  Tall buildings, towering skyscrapers, hotels, parks, cinemas, shopping malls, subway tunnels, and sewers...

  From the smallest corridors to the widest avenues, the waves spread.

  Above ground and below, in the sky and the soil, every corner was overtaken by Seraphine’s spiritual tide—domineering, frigid, and vast beyond comprehension.

  It was a psychic tidal wave of apocalyptic scale.

  In a single breath.

  Within a hundred-mile radius of the Princess Mansion, millions of people froze, their minds shaken.

  For a moment, nearly half of Ashara—this massive international metropolis—was paralyzed, brought to a catastrophic standstill.

  Even amidst the paralysis, countless traffic accidents occurred as vehicles lost control.

  Yet these disturbances failed to register in Seraphine’s mind.

  With a single thought, she retracted the scattered spiritual pressure. Her flawless face curved into a smile.

  "At last, I’ve forged a soul-centric cultivation technique. By training in it, I can continuously strengthen the soul and raise the energy level of my Mental Power, enabling it to influence physical matter."

  "Even more, this technique purifies psychic essence, allowing one to interfere directly with the thoughts and consciousness of living beings."

  "Whether it's the material domain or the ethereal spiritual realm, both are now under my control."

  "Take the sun as reality and the moon as illusion. The sun represents Yang, capable of suppressing all things in the world."

  "The moon represents Yin, able to distort the perception of living beings."

  "So then, let this cultivation method be named—《Twilight Dominion》."

  Upon successfully forging this technique, Seraphine instantly attained telekinetic power on the scale of millions of tons.

  Even in terms of precision, she had reached the atomic level.

  In theory, her Mental Power could manipulate—or even dismantle—matter at its most fundamental atomic structure.

  When she eventually makes another breakthrough into the subatomic layer...

  At that time, manipulating Nuclear Fusion will be as simple for Seraphine as turning her hand.

  Simultaneously, she now possessed the full capability to perform soul-searching and spirit-seizing without the slightest concern about spiritual backlash.

  Because with the creation of this method, Seraphine’s soul structure had undergone a fundamental transformation.

  It was as if a super search engine and a super editor had been embedded within her soul.

  When acquiring the memories of others, she could swiftly isolate critical information for immediate application.

  As for the irrelevant, emotional, or identity-corrupting memories—the 'garbage'—they were efficiently filtered out and discarded, leaving her essence untouched.

  Beyond this, there was yet another surprising revelation.

  The Spiritual Power and Mental Power, previously tangled together in a vague, indistinct form, now were clearly and cleanly separated.

  They were no longer blurred.

  In truth, the two had never been a truly unified whole. Forcing them together had only led to interference, reducing the efficacy of both.

  This insight emerged gradually as Seraphine combined the soul-secret techniques of the Heavenreach Sect with profound revelations gleaned from her study of Liora’s fate arts.

  "Mental Power can release telekinetic force to interact with material phenomena, or to ripple and twist the flow of conscious thought in intelligent beings."

  "But the point of contact for that interference is consciousness, and consciousness itself still belongs to the material domain."

  Waves surged through the boundless ocean of knowledge in Seraphine’s mind.

  Physiology. Neuroscience. Brain structure. Brain function. Pathology. Electromagnetism. Internal medicine. Surgery. Psychiatry. Psychology. Computational neuroscience.

  Countless categories of knowledge, directly or indirectly linked to the human brain, surfaced one after another upon her mental sea, each flickering with light.

  After her eyes flickered with radiant light for a while, she murmured slowly:

  "Human consciousness isn’t some ethereal abstraction; it’s a function. Without a complex material structure as its foundation, that function collapses. It depends on the brain’s biological structure and its energy supply, a product born from the interaction of countless neurons. On the micro scale, it’s the motion of electrons within atomic boundaries, and like everything else in this universe, it's part of matter's natural evolution into myriad forms."

  Although Seraphine, like the scientific community, could not yet grasp the detailed mechanisms underlying the brain’s operation, she was certain.

  Once she fully understood it, she could, in theory, have a battalion of soldiers simulate the brain’s neural processes.

  And by the functional definition of consciousness, that battalion could collectively possess consciousness.

  The moment Seraphine commanded them to stop, that consciousness would vanish.

  It sounded absurd, almost comical.

  But through the aggregation of vast data and theoretical models, Seraphine had come to a chilling conclusion: there was nothing sacred about biological consciousness.

  It was merely function, a natural phenomenon rooted in matter.

  "Therefore, when I use Mental Power to influence another's thoughts, I’m merely interacting with the electrical signals in their brain, a structure of matter, not with the so-called soul, or any true spiritual realm!"

  "The spiritual realm, by definition, must be something ethereal, something that transcends matter. Mental Power is not that. It is tied to the brain and the soul, and thus fundamentally material in origin."

  "To manipulate the true spiritual realm of living beings, Spiritual Power must be the foundation. It must begin by reaching into the soul itself."

  "All of human experience is nothing more than a series of countless nerve impulses. The glitter of diamonds, the rumble of thunder, the fragrance of roses: all of it is constructed from the signaling of nerves."

  "The entire world of human thought, this reality we inhabit, can be wholly explained as a vast collection of nerve impulse signals received since the moment of birth."

  "By habit, humans mistake this sensory representation, this neural tapestry, as the external world itself."

  "But this is not the only possible explanation."

  In the dim palace, Seraphine sat quietly, cross-legged. The flicker in her eyes was distant, unfathomable.

  "Brain in a Vat. Holographic Universe. Simulation Hypothesis. Strange, mysterious, and terrifying conjectures: each of them has the potential to effortlessly unravel the so-called real world composed of sensory representations."

  "That is why the notion of experience remains inherently neutral."

  "Its truth can never be permanently proven, nor its falsehood permanently disproven."

  "And so, humans cling to sensory evidence. Yet buried deep within their minds, they harbor a quiet doubt, a suspicion, toward gods, toward Bigfoot, UFOs, and all such entities that are nearly always unprovable and unverifiable."

  "Why? Because no one has presented irrefutable sensory evidence for any of them."

  "But the Brain in a Vat problem dismantles that very skepticism."

  "Trust the senses?"

  "Then how can one be sure they are not simply a brain floating in a vat? The truth is, you can’t."

  "The question 【Am I a brain in a vat】 cannot be refuted by empirical means. In philosophical terms, this is what we call a transcendental argument."

  Seraphine paused in quiet contemplation. “So then… stripped of all appearances, all forms, what remains as the true essence of an existence in this world?”

  With the boundless expanse of knowledge surging in her mind, the answer came swiftly.

  “If we speak from the standpoint of material reality,” she murmured, “then life is not the fixed arrangement of matter, but rather, a pattern of its motion. A person is a phenomenon, not a static collection of cells caught in any single moment.”

  Time drifted.

  As torrents of data roared within her, ceaselessly, without pause, Seraphine turned her gaze outward, to the vast darkness beyond the window.

  That ocean of ink-like night could not smother the blaze of intellect burning behind her eyes.

  Seraphine spoke, her voice calm and resolute:

  “My essence is the totality of my memories, emotional frameworks, behavioral algorithms, logical processes, self-awareness, and even the most primitive instincts, woven together under the name 【Seraphine】."

  “And the projection of this unified entity into the world, that is the Soul.”

  Her contemplation reached its end.

  Suddenly, her eyes sharpened, their warmth gone cold. “Even if my existence is nothing more than thought in a Brain in a Vat, or a character in a Holographic Illusion, or a line of code in an unprovable Simulation...”

  “My will must remain free.”

  “To be free, I must keep growing stronger, without end.”

  With that thought, Seraphine recalled the special subjects in the research institute, those gifted with short-range Teleportation.

  During testing, every teleport emitted faint energy pulses, similar to Mental Power, yet far more ethereal.

  Before creating 《Twilight Dominion》, Seraphine couldn’t fully analyze these fluctuations. She couldn’t see their essence. She could only suspect, perhaps they were pure spiritual energy.

  But after successfully creating the method, and learning to perfectly separate and harness Mental and Spiritual Power, she finally understood.

  They were indeed spiritual in nature.

  But that raised a deeper question.

  Teleportation, by conventional logic, should be rooted in space.

  So why, then, were the spatial fluctuations so much weaker than the spiritual ones?

  Seraphine already had a vague answer, hinted at in the original work.

  Not definitive, but suggestive.

  In the pages of 《Dragonblood》, it was briefly mentioned:

  At the edge of reality in this universe, there existed a dimension, a 【Spiritual Dimension】. Much like the Warp in Warhammer 40K, it was a plane constructed entirely from mental and spiritual energies.

  Some called it the 【Psychic Dimension】.

  The records were vague.

  Even with Seraphine’s own soul attribute being terrifyingly strong, and her mind and spirit far surpassing the limits of humanity, she had never found a single trace of this so-called dimension.

  Not a whisper. Not a thread.

  It was as if it didn’t exist at all.

  This made her more than half convinced that Teleportation had to be tied to that 【Spiritual Dimension】.

  But the evidence remained incomplete.

  "Could it be," Seraphine pondered, "that entering that place doesn’t require Mental Power, but a rare soul? A unique spiritual trait?"

  She fell into deep thought.

  ...

  Outskirts of Ashara, inside an abandoned factory.

  "After this job, I’m done with the Black Skull organization."

  "One hundred million. Holy mother of... Even with a 20% cut, that’s still eighty million!"

  A wiry young man lounged on a decaying sofa, his face twitching with excitement.

  Across from him, a sallow-faced middle-aged man worked on a laptop, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

  “Xiao, did you dig into the target’s bodyguard team? How risky is this?”

  Wang Xiao grinned. “Not worth spending cash on intel. Before, maybe. But now, after the Ether recovery…”

  As he spoke, he waved his hand. In an instant, wind tore through the factory’s hundred-meter radius.

  Dozens, no, hundreds of razor-sharp wind blades shimmered into existence between his fingers.

  “…My powers have multiplied a hundredfold at least. Even someone like Evershield Body, the top martial artist alive, wouldn’t last a minute against me.”

  “You…”

  The middle-aged man sighed, turning to face him. “Always so reckless. Like that mess in the underground bar. Just because of some bitch, did you really have to slaughter everyone in there?”

  Wang Xiao snorted coldly. “So what? Killing is killing. To me, human lives aren’t worth more than pigs or dogs.”

  Gongsun Huo shook his head and muttered, “You make too much noise. Sooner or later it’ll catch up to us.”

  He took another drag of his cigarette. “But anyway, I checked out the Ninth Princess. She’s nothing special. As long as we neutralize the outer perimeter, she’ll be easy to take down.”

  He tapped the keyboard and pulled up a photo of Seraphine.

  “Not bad.”

  Wang Xiao looked at the screen and sneered. “I hate nobles, especially the Royal Family. She wants to be the next ruler? I’ll send her to hell personally tomorrow.”

  “Gongsun…”

  He turned to the older man. “With that kind of money, we can gather more brothers and make the PsyBro Syndicate rise for real.”

  “Exactly.”

  Gongsun Huo took a long drag, smoke curling from his nose. “The Ether recovery supercharged us. That’s not a coincidence; it’s a sign. The rise of New Humanity is inevitable.”

  His fingers danced over the keyboard.

  “In fact, killing Seraphine might bring some... unexpected benefits.”

  Wang Xiao raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

  Gongsun Huo exhaled smoke rings. “We’ve been hunted, dissected, and experimented on by the old generation for years. Part of it was because we were weak. But the bigger reason? There just weren’t enough of us.”

  Humans always categorize themselves; it’s instinct. Superpower users were no exception.

  Back then, they were few. Weak. Easy to marginalize.

  Unless you were born into a noble or official family, where talent earned protection and resources, life was hell. For the rest? The nobodies? They were monsters. Freaks. Abominations.

  Some looked so mutated after awakening that they could barely pass as human anymore. They became beggars, circus acts, street performers—surviving in society’s cracks and shadows.

  The slightly stronger ones attracted greed and malice.

  And the truly powerful ones? They drew the eyes of those who feared death: ancient men with power and no morals.

  After centuries of chasing myths and finding nothing, they turned to the powered. They were the new possibility, a chance to shatter the chains of mortality.

  And so, in the age before Ether recovery, they were rounded up, imprisoned, and dissected. One after another, they died on the operating table.

  A lucky few escaped. Hunted, desperate, clinging together for survival. From those clusters, they began to form what would become syndicates, scattered across the world, hidden inside industries, buried deep within the shadows.

  The PsyBro Syndicate is one of them.

  And Gongsun Huo and Wang Xiao are its core.