Chapter 38: When the Past Spoke of the Higher Realms

  While I was flying with Mia on the way back, the winds streaming beneath our wings and the clouds parting silently before us, my mind was far away… far from poison, treasures, and storms.

  I was thinking about everything mentioned in the novel about the world William came from.

  That world… in the beginning, was nothing more than an ordinary one.

  Seven vast continents, separated by oceans. Cities shining at night with the glow of technology. Humans who believed they stood at the top of the food chain.

  Humans were the dominant race.

  The world resembled Earth in every way—in its technological advancement, in its aircraft, in its cities, in its climate and atmospheric structure.

  A stable world.

  A logical world.

  A predictable world.

  Then… everything ended.

  Ten years before William’s death, the apocalypse occurred.

  It wasn’t gradual.

  It wasn’t a war.

  It wasn’t a plague.

  It was a gate.

  A colossal gate opened in the sky, tearing through space itself. A strange light poured out from it… and then came the monsters.

  Creatures unknown to science, unrecognized by any law, destroying everything in their path.

  Cities collapsed.

  Armies fell.

  And humanity… lost its place at the top.

  At the same time—the Ancestors’ Tower appeared.

  A towering structure that pierced the heavens, mysterious, filled with secrets.

  And with its emergence, everything changed.

  Humans began to follow the path of hunting.

  Survival was no longer secured through politics or technology… but through strength.

  And thus, the Hunters Association was established.

  A global entity, uniting those who possessed the power to confront the monsters.

  Hunting became the only way.

  And blood became the new language of the era.

  A new age began—the age of power, the age of awakening, the age where those who possessed strength possessed the right to survive.

  William was among the first to awaken.

  He was not ordinary.

  He was not late.

  He became one of the strongest hunters of his era. His name echoed across the seven continents, and his presence on the battlefield was enough to tip the balance.

  But the world… showed no mercy.

  The fighting never stopped.

  And death was not a possibility—

  but a constant shadow.

  Even he, known as the Royal Hunter, could not escape his fate.

  His fall was not caused by a monster.

  Nor by a greater power.

  But by betrayal.

  His wife.

  His friends.

  Those he had trusted.

  In his final battle inside the Ancestors’ Tower, after reaching the eighty-eighth floor, he was betrayed and left alone.

  Alone… on a floor that showed no mercy.

  But his death was not the end.

  It was the beginning.

  After his fall, he was reborn in this different world.

  A world where the laws were different, and power was not merely energy—but a path of existence.

  He was given a second chance.

  A chance to rewrite his fate.

  And in this world, after countless opportunities, struggles, and confrontations beyond measure,

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  William achieved what no one before him had managed to achieve.

  He became the first Emperor of the Inner Universe in thousands of years.

  And when the Inner Universe witnessed a new rise in the Emperor’s path, William was the first to break through it after thousands of years since the beginning of the end of the Age of Emperors.

  As I continued to soar, the air obeying me like an extension of my own body, a thought surfaced quietly within me:

  But William… did not walk that blood- and fire-stained path alone.

  An emperor is not born from emptiness, but from alliances, from beasts, from companions who walk beside him until they, too, become unforgettable names.

  The first of them—the Golden Lion.

  A beast who formed a contract with William in his early days, yet he was never merely a subordinate.

  He was an existence of majesty, surrounded by a golden aura like the sun at dusk. His voice alone was enough to sow fear across battlefields.

  His power was not only physical—he was a king among kings, an entity before whom even storms would bow.

  Then—the Demonic Ape.

  Another beast bound to William through a bloody contract, an existence forged amid the fires of war, carving his own name among the ruins.

  His presence meant chaos. His leaps tore through the battlefield, as if war itself followed wherever he went.

  And as events escalated, another name shook the foundations of the Inner Universe—the Golden Dragon King.

  He was not a subordinate.

  But closer to a friend.

  One of the most powerful beings in the Inner Universe, and the lord of an ancient lineage.

  His presence at William’s side was no coincidence… it was proof that a new era was being born.

  As time passed, all of their names became legends.

  But William’s name… remained the highest.

  It was engraved in history as the first Emperor of the Inner Universe in this new era.

  Even after hundreds of years, his name continued to echo in the records,

  in stories,

  in the memories of ancient beings.

  He was the one who revived the Emperor’s path in an age that had been believed to have ended forever.

  And yet…

  There was a mysterious figure, mentioned only once in the novel.

  Her name—the Silver Dragon Queen.

  The only person who managed to leave the Inner Universe.

  She was not mentioned often.

  Very little was revealed about her.

  But the Golden Dragon King spoke of her once, stating that she had discovered a way to reach the Outer Universe after twenty full years of searching.

  Twenty years of pursuit.

  Of attempts.

  Of breaking through barriers no one else had been able to even touch.

  He also mentioned… that she married an unknown person and laid two eggs.

  But the rumors were far from quiet.

  It was said she did it only to awaken her husband, who had fallen into a coma.

  Truth?

  Sacrifice?

  A hidden plan?

  Nothing was ever stated clearly.

  In the novel, the subject of the Inner Universe and the Outer Universe was never fully explained.

  All that was known was that this world belonged to the Inner Universe.

  As for the Outer Universe… it was mentioned only once—

  in that chapter

  where the Golden Dragon King

  spoke about the Silver Dragon Queen.

  A passing detail, yet not without meaning.

  And that, precisely, was what made me think of helping the Poison Empress.

  Repairing her soul.

  Giving her a new body.

  It wasn’t emotion.

  Nor pity.

  It was possibility.

  An idea that began to take shape in my mind after obtaining the inheritance of the Vampire Progenitor.

  There… the possibility existed.

  The possibility that a soul could be reforged.

  That consciousness could be rebuilt.

  That the paths everyone believed to be sealed… might not be sealed at all.

  I am certain of one thing.

  The Poison Empress will not be merely an ally.

  But… a crucial asset in my plan.

  In a world where universes overlap, and truths are hidden between legends, possessing a mind like hers—with her knowledge, her experience, and what remains of her legacy—may be the difference

  between remaining within the Inner Universe…or finding the path

  beyond it.

  Especially regarding the Outer Universe and the Inner Universe… I knew I would be able to gather a great deal of information from her on this matter.

  The Poison Empress is not merely a spirit returned to life—she is an existence that lived through a different era, witnessed what was never recorded, and knew what the novel never explained.

  And the path of our next journey… will not be random.

  It will be determined by the information I obtain from her.

  Only after that will I decide our next destination.

  It did not take long before we arrived at the entrance of the cave.

  I landed first, my wings slicing through the air before folding behind me, then entered directly without hesitation.

  The interior was quieter than I had expected.

  I walked toward her.

  She was there—in the new body of the bird, a faint green aura still coiling around her, but no longer unstable as before.

  I stopped in front of her, then spoke in a natural tone:

  Welcome, Empress.

  It seems you are enjoying your new body.

  She lifted her head toward me.

  There was no awkwardness in her movement.

  Only harmony.

  Her voice came steadier than before, “The feeling of being alive and possessing a body once again… is astonishing.”

  She paused for a moment, as if testing the sensation of breathing anew.

  “I am truly grateful to you.”

  “Is there anything I can help you with?”

  I did not delay.

  “Yes.”

  “I want you to teach me about poisons and medicine.”

  “Will you do that?”

  Her gaze fixed on me.

  It was not a shallow look, but a deep examination, as if she were measuring my resolve rather than my words.

  Then her voice came, carrying genuine interest:

  “You? Do you wish to walk this path?”

  She took a light step in the air, her small wings trembling slightly.

  “Learning poisons and medicine is extremely difficult, but very useful.”

  “Are you serious?”

  Then she added calmly:

  I don’t mind becoming your teacher.

  I smiled faintly.

  “Then it’s a deal.”

  “You will teach me.”

  I paused for a moment, then added in a more serious tone, “But I have another question for you.”

  I fixed my gaze on her directly.

  “I want to know everything about the world of souls… and about the Outer Universe.”

  The air stilled for a brief moment.

  As if the cave itself understood that the question just asked… was not an ordinary one.

  Her gaze settled on me for a moment, then her voice came low, yet clear:

  “You’re asking about the Martial Soul World?”

  She paused briefly, as if weighing whether she should continue, then went on in a heavy calm tone:

  “Very well… I will tell you.”

  “In truth, I do not know how you learned of it, but it would be better for you to forget it.”

  Her warning was not emotional—

  it was realistic.

  “Ascending to it in this desolate era… is impossible.”

  “Even in the ancient eras, it was nearly impossible.”

  She lifted her wing slightly, as if pointing beyond the sky itself.

  “Before the Golden Era in particular… ascending to the Martial Soul World—or descending from it—would have been almost impossible.”

  “Do you understand?”

  I did not retreat.

  Instead, I asked,

  “What do you mean by that? Is there a specific reason?”

  This time, she did not evade.

  “Yes.”

  “There is a reason.”

  Her voice shifted slightly, growing more serious.

  “I believe you know about the battle that caused the fall of our era—the Age of Emperors.”

  The air inside the cave felt heavier.

  “That era ended.”

  “And there is no longer a true Emperor in this world.”

  She paused, then added:

  “After that battle, ascending to the Emperor’s throne became nearly impossible.”

  “No matter how great a person’s talent, they will not reach it… unless the universe itself chooses them, or they possess extraordinary luck and opportunities that defy logic.”

  I was not convinced.

  “But what does that have to do with being unable to ascend to the Martial Soul World?”

  “I don’t see the connection between the two.”

  This time, she moved slightly closer, her voice growing deeper.

  “Listen carefully.”

  She fell silent for a moment, then began explaining something like a history that had never been fully recorded in the novels.

  “The Martial Soul World… and the Immortal World… were severely damaged because of the Emperor War.”

  She was not speaking of an ordinary battle, but of a conflict that shook the very laws of existence.

  “Those two worlds could no longer endure further destruction.”

  “If the fighting had continued… they would have collapsed, just as this world fell from a higher realm into a lower one.”

  Her words were not exaggeration.

  They were a report.

  “And so, more than twenty Emperors gathered, along with fifty Half-Emperors, one hundred Saints, and more than a thousand beings below the Saint level, from across the universe.”

  She paused, then spoke two names with unmistakable weight:

  “Led by the Emperor of the Universe… and the Emperor of Space-Time.”

  Even I felt something when those two titles were spoken.

  ?Together… they created a barrier.

  ?It was not a physical wall, but a cosmic separation.

  ?A barrier that divided the universe into an Inner Universe and an Outer Universe.

  ?Then she continued with decisive calm:

  ?“The Inner Universe… is where we are now.”

  ?“As for the Outer Universe… that is where the Martial Soul World exists.”

  ?A brief silence followed.

  ?“After that, many Emperors attempted to break this barrier.”

  ?She slowly shook her head.

  ?“They all failed.”

  ?“The barrier was abnormally strong.”

  ?“It did not fracture.”

  ?“It did not crack.”

  ?“It remained intact.”

  ?Then came the sentence that shifted the rhythm entirely:

  ?“Crossing this barrier… is impossible.”

  ?She paused for a moment, then added:

  ?“Except in one way.”

  ?She looked at me directly.

  ?“The Contract Circle.”

  ?“I did not sever it.”

  ?“This circle is divided among the imperial families who participated in constructing the barrier in the Martial Soul World.”

  ?The cave fell silent.

  ?And for the first time since this conversation began… I felt that what I was searching for

  ?was not merely power.

  But knowledge.