The Sovereign Chronicles novel Chapter 3

"I heard you fumbled your way into The Spirit Warrior Tier on your own. Feeling proud? Feeling arrogant? Today, I am going to make you understand that you and I are on completely different levels. You and I... do not share the same destiny!" Jaden's aura surged as he broke into a wild sprint. After a dozen steps, he vaulted into the air, executing a flawless seven-hundred-and-twenty-degree flip that landed him directly behind Kaelen. His movements were fluid, seamless, and fiercely fast. A cold sneer touched his lips as he swung a brutal punch aimed squarely at the back of Kaelen's neck.

Roaring flames boiled furiously around his right fist.-

He wasn't just going to defeat Kaelen; he was going to humiliate him completely. He had waited far too long for this moment.

"Yes! Yes!"

"Beautiful!"

"Cripple him!"

The lackeys cheered wildly, completely unhinged with excitement.

"Jaden, you've gone too far!" Celine hastily moved to intervene.

But in a fraction of a second, Kaelen spun around. His tightly clenched right fist suddenly opened into a wide palm, blinding arcs of lightning violently dancing across his fingers.

Bang!!

His open right palm impossibly caught Jaden's flaming fist. Lightning and fire clashed and erupted, neither willing to yield an inch.

Kaelen didn't move a muscle, his feet practically nailed to the stone paving.

Jaden was stunned. How was this possible? He had been supremely confident in his ambush. He was at the Third Phase of The Spirit Warrior Tier, while Kaelen was supposedly only at the Second Phase.

Celine's mouth parted in disbelief. Third Phase? Why didn't I know about this!

Kaelen's open hand clamped down over Jaden's flaming fist like an iron vise, brutally crushing his knuckles.

"You..." Jaden suddenly snapped back to reality.

Kaelen blinked, the corner of his mouth curling upward. Aether surged through his entire body. Channeling the power through his waist, he stomped the ground and vaulted upward in an instant. Gripping Jaden's fist, he swung the boy's entire body like a ragdoll and smashed him ruthlessly into the ground.

With a deafening crash, Jaden was plastered against the dirt, his arm twisted almost into a knot. There was a few seconds of dead silence before a pig-like shriek of agony echoed through the warehouse courtyard. "Ah... ahhh... my arm..."

"Senior!"

"Peasant! Let him go!"

The panicked lackeys frantically rushed forward.

"My apologies, but I'm also at the Third Phase of The Spirit Warrior Tier! You were right about one thing, though: we are definitely not on the same level." Kaelen dragged Jaden around the courtyard, swinging and smashing him into the ground over and over again as he ran. It looked exactly like a man swinging a sack of grain, except this sack of grain was screaming in blood-curdling agony. The scene was utterly absurd.

Kaelen possessed freakish physical strength and explosive power.

Before the group of lackeys could even close the distance, Kaelen spun in place three times and suddenly let go, hurling Jaden straight toward the warehouse's iron gates.

With a thunderous boom, Jaden skidded across the ground, leaving a trail of blood, before crumpling into a heap.

Celine covered her mouth in shock at the sight.

"Thrall Kaelen! You've really crossed the line..." the lackeys cursed as they charged at him. Kaelen's brows narrowed dangerously as he unleashed a deafening roar: "Get lost!"

All five of the youths shuddered violently, actually freezing in their tracks.

Jaden struggled to his feet, just about to explode in rage, when he realized Kaelen was already marching briskly toward him. "Kaelen... stay back... don't come any closer... let's use our words like gentlemen, no need for violence, we can talk this out... don't come any closer... are you deaf? I said stay the hell back..."

Kaelen stopped right in front of him, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders, his joints popping like firecrackers. "Does it hurt?"

"Yes! It hurts! Please don't do this... we've known each other for years... there's no need... really, there's no need for this..." Jaden was both terrified and panicking. How was this possible? What was going on? How did Kaelen reach the Third Phase?

"What's in here? The Glimmerpearl Herb? I'll take that off your hands." Kaelen ripped the Embroidered Satchel right off Jaden's waist.

"You..." Jaden nearly leaped out of his skin.

"Hmm?"

"Fine, fine, fine!"

"Much obliged." Kaelen weighed the satchel in his hand, reaching in to pull out a vibrant, emerald-green stalk of grass that shimmered with a faint luminescence. It was indeed a Lesser Aether-flora, the Glimmerpearl Herb.

He had never used a treasure like this before, but he absolutely knew of it and was fully aware of its value.

Jaden scrambled backward to put distance between himself and Kaelen, his mind on the verge of collapsing. I schemed and suffered to finally reach the Third Phase, how the hell did Kaelen manage to do it?

His lackeys finally snapped out of it and hurried over to support him.

"Senior, something's not right. How could he have advanced so quickly?" None of them could believe Kaelen's level of strength.

"Celine, it's you guys! You're the ones behind this!" Jaden turned his fury on Celine. The Grand Elder had previously decreed that no one in The Azure Sky Sanctum was allowed to privately provide Kaelen with Aether-flora or Martial Arts, nor were they allowed to give him any martial guidance. This was Kaelen's punishment. For Kaelen to suddenly leap to the Third Phase, there had to be foul play involved.

Celine raised her chin defiantly. "So what if we are? So what if we aren't? Look at you, acting like a coward. You only reached the Third Phase by riding your sister's coattails. With talent like yours, even if you get into The Vanguard Vault, you'll still be a failure. I shouldn't even waste my breath on you, yet here you are acting all high and mighty."

"You..."

"Don't think just because you have some slutty sister that you can throw your weight around. Your sister isn't even a big deal in The Azure Sky Sanctum."

"Good! Very good! You just wait!" Jaden turned and left with his crew. Before stepping out the door, he shot an incredibly reluctant glare at the satchel in Kaelen's hand. His heart was bleeding!

"Come back anytime, and don't forget to bring gifts." Kaelen waved them off.

"Don't get cocky! You're going to regret this!"

"Heh, what an idiot, practically hand-delivering me a Glimmerpearl Herb." Kaelen chuckled, sitting back down on the stone stool to inspect his prize. He had been sick of hearing phrases like 'you just wait', 'I'll cripple you', and 'do you yield' for the last eight years.

What did he have? Pure talent and sheer grit!

It was precisely through observing others, self-study, and ironclad willpower that Kaelen had managed to complete The Spirit Forging Realm and step into The Spirit Warrior Tier entirely on his own.

However, Kaelen himself felt that his strength was increasing a bit too fast after entering The Spirit Warrior Tier, as if it were much easier for him than for others. Two months, three Phases? It was slightly absurd. Kaelen thought about it constantly and realized the answer had to be The Genesis Mantra. Three years of painstaking research, followed by two years of mastering its intricacies. Even though it had consumed a massive amount of his time and energy, the benefits were astronomical. The Essence of Vitality drawn from heaven and earth seemed to be invisibly reconstructing him, allowing his physique to undergo a profound metamorphosis during the most critical stage of his youth.

This was just Kaelen's own hypothesis. He had asked the old man about it before, but the only response he got was silence.

The Aether inside the Glimmerpearl Herb was indeed torrential, easily equivalent to over a hundred Minor Aether-flora. Kaelen spent the entire night refining it, finally converting all of it into Aether within his own body. The unique medicinal properties of the Glimmerpearl Herb were also nourishing his injured body, helping him heal.

Kaelen had only just broken through to the Third Phase five days ago, yet a single Glimmerpearl Herb had completely stabilized his realm. He could clearly feel the Aether within him had become vastly more abundant.

Aether-flora was truly incredible stuff. When would he be able to get his hands on another one?

Elder Cyra had likely intended to use this Glimmerpearl Herb to help Jaden stabilize his realm, making it easier for him to break through to the Fourth Phase once inside The Vanguard Vault. This would make her look good and prevent others from claiming she was abusing her power to favor a useless disciple.

What a pity it had now become Kaelen's spoils.

Kaelen stretched his stiff body. The moon and stars hung high in the sky, their light pooling like water. In the distance, he could hear people still practicing Martial Arts within The Azure Sky Sanctum, but here in the secluded warehouse, it was perfectly tranquil.

The Old Man was still sitting silently by that lone grave. The grave had a headstone, but it was completely blank.

"Old Man, go sleep inside. Don't catch a cold."

The Old Man's eyelids twitched, as if returning to reality from his thoughts. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Kaelen. Tonight, there seemed to be a different gleam in his eyes than usual—at the least, they were no longer so hollow and numb.

"How about I fetch you a cotton blanket?"

Just as Kaelen turned to leave, an indifferent, slightly raspy voice drifted over like a ghost. "Linking the Twin Essences, piercing the soul's anchor, Vitality begets Aether."

"What?" Kaelen spun around.

With his back to Kaelen, The Old Man whispered softly, "Vitality enters the vessel, spiraling upward, ascending like a ram's horn..."

"The Genesis Mantra?!" Kaelen's mind reeled in shock. Could this be the next part of The Genesis Mantra?

"Don the nine, tread the one, three to the left, seven to the right, two and four as shoulders, six and eight as feet, five anchoring the core. Light holds the cardinal, Shadow takes the corners, the center harmonizes the Twin Essences. Above, command The Astral Crown; below, dictate The Mortal Sphere."

"The ebb and flow of all things, contained entirely within."

The Genesis Mantra? The second verse of The Genesis Mantra! Kaelen was ecstatic. It was so sudden, so incredibly thrilling. After five long years, the second verse of The Genesis Mantra had finally arrived! He bowed deeply in gratitude to The Old Man, immediately sitting back down on the stone stool, repeating the words over and over until they were permanently seared into his mind.

Could this verse be about how to circulate energy within the body?

The first verse of The Genesis Mantra he had practiced had only taught him how to absorb the Essence of Vitality from the world and let it seep into his body; there were no further instructions. Kaelen had been agonizing over whether the Essence of Vitality could be circulated through his meridians like regular Aether. Now, he finally had the method.