Rise of The Abandoned Husband

The old woman's attack came straight for me—a deadly mist of gray energy aimed directly at my heart. I reacted purely on instinct, drawing the Prajna Ruler from my spatial ring in one fluid motion.

"Seal!" I commanded, channeling my energy through the ancient weapon.

Golden light erupted from the ruler, forming a shimmering barrier between me and Elder Lin's attack. Her misty gray energy crashed against my defense with surprising force, sending tremors down my arm. The collision created a deafening boom that shook the entire hall.

"The Prajna Ruler?" Elder Lin's eyes widened in disbelief. "How does a whelp like you possess such a treasure?"

I didn't answer, focusing instead on maintaining my defense while keeping my connection to Vernon intact. Dividing my concentration was dangerous, but I had no choice.

"You've underestimated me for the last time," I growled, pushing more energy into the ruler. The golden light intensified, expanding outward in pulsing waves.

Elder Lin leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the encroaching barrier. Her face contorted with fury.

"You think having a precious artifact makes you my equal?" she snarled. "I was crushing Military Marquis upstarts before you were born!"

She began another incantation, her fingers weaving complex patterns in the air. Dark energy gathered around her hands, coalescing into what looked like miniature black holes.

Meanwhile, Vernon was still locked in his deadly embrace with the Heaven Swallowing Python. The serpent's coils tightened relentlessly, but Vernon had managed to get both hands around its throat, squeezing with all his might.

I needed to end this quickly before my strength gave out. Fighting on two fronts was draining my energy at an alarming rate.

"Vernon!" I shouted through our mental link. "Forget restraint—use everything you have!"

Vernon's eyes glowed brighter in response. With a savage roar, he unleashed the full extent of his power—power I usually kept carefully regulated to prevent damage to his physical form. His muscles bulged, veins standing out like cords beneath his gray skin. The python hissed in alarm as Vernon's grip on its throat tightened impossibly further.

Elder Lin sensed the shift in momentum. "No!" she cried, redirecting one of her black energy spheres toward Vernon. "Heaven Devouring Strike!"

The sphere shot toward Vernon and her python, but it was too late. With a final surge of strength, Vernon twisted violently, his hands still clamped around the python's throat. There was a sickening crack as the serpent's spine snapped.

The python's body went limp instantly, its yellow eyes dulling as life fled from them. Blood trickled from its mouth, staining its iridescent scales.

Elder Lin's scream was primal, filled with rage and anguish. "You killed him! You killed my precious pet!"

The black sphere she'd launched dissipated as her concentration shattered. Her entire body trembled with fury as she stared at her dead companion.

"Thirty years," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I raised him for thirty years."

For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her. Then I remembered why we were here—Isabelle, held captive by the Guild, possibly suffering unimaginable torments.

"Release Isabelle Ashworth," I demanded, pointing the Prajna Ruler at her. "End this madness now, or face the consequences."

Elder Lin's head snapped up, her grief instantly replaced by cold, murderous hatred. "Release her? After what you've done? The only thing you've accomplished today is signing your death warrant, boy."

She reached into her robe and pulled out a small, crystalline object that pulsed with eerie blue light. "Remember this day, Liam Knight. Remember it as the day you made an enemy who will never rest until you're dead."

Before I could react, she crushed the crystal in her palm. A blinding flash of light erupted, forcing me to shield my eyes. When my vision cleared, Elder Lin was gone—vanished without a trace.

Vernon stumbled toward me, the python's massive corpse sliding from his grip to the floor. His body was heavily damaged—deep gouges where the fangs had pierced him, crushed ribs, and partially dissolved flesh from the venom.

"Are you alright?" I asked, scanning his injuries.

"Functional," came his terse reply through our mental link. "But repairs will be necessary."

I nodded grimly. "We'll take care of that soon."

My mind raced with the implications of what had just happened. I'd hoped to negotiate Isabelle's release, but instead, I'd made a powerful enemy and likely destroyed any chance of peaceful resolution. The Guild wouldn't forgive the death of an elder's cherished companion. They would come after me with everything they had.

But what choice did I have? They'd taken Isabelle—the one person in this world I couldn't live without. And from what little information I'd gathered, they were using her for something terrible. Something to do with her unique bloodline.

I looked around the now-silent hall, at the destroyed floor and walls, at the massive serpent corpse cooling in a pool of its own blood. There was no going back from this. The Guild and I were now at war.

"Come," I said to Vernon. "We need to regroup and plan our next move."

As we left the hall, a single thought consumed me: What was so special about Isabelle that the Guild would risk open conflict with me to keep her?

---

Thousands of miles away, within the heart of the Veridia City Martial Guild compound, Elder Lin materialized in a flash of blue light. But she wasn't in any of the Guild's familiar chambers or training grounds. Instead, she stood at the entrance to what appeared to be a different world entirely.

Before her stretched an impossibly beautiful landscape—rolling green hills under a perfect blue sky, crystalline streams flowing between flowering meadows, and elegant pavilions built from materials that seemed to glow with their own inner light. In the distance, majestic mountains floated impossibly in the air, defying all natural laws.

This was the Guild's most closely guarded secret—a "small world" created through ancient formation techniques and sustained by the combined power of generations of Guild masters. It existed in a pocket dimension, accessible only to the Guild's highest-ranking members.

Elder Lin moved quickly along a winding path, her face still contorted with grief and rage. Her robes were torn and soiled, her usually immaculate appearance marred by the evidence of her recent defeat.

She reached a secluded pavilion nestled beside a tranquil lake. The structure seemed to be made of jade and silver, its walls adorned with carvings of ancient battles and mystical creatures. Within stood a figure dressed in black robes, his face hidden beneath a deep hood.

"You've returned earlier than expected," the figure observed, his voice calm and measured. "And alone."

Elder Lin's composure finally broke. Tears streamed down her weathered face as she fell to her knees.

"My python is dead," she sobbed, her voice raw with emotion. "Thirty years of cultivation, gone in an instant!"

The hooded figure remained unmoved. "Tell me what happened."

Through her tears, Elder Lin recounted her confrontation with me, describing Vernon's unexpected strength and my possession of the Prajna Ruler. As she spoke, her grief gradually hardened back into fury.

"I will kill him," she vowed, her hands clenched into trembling fists. "I will tear his heart from his chest and feed it to the crows!"

"Your personal vendetta is of no concern to the Guild," the hooded figure replied coldly. "What matters is whether this changes our plans regarding the Ashworth girl."

Elder Lin wiped her tears, struggling to regain her professional demeanor. "Liam Knight is more dangerous than we anticipated. He has powerful corpse assistants and ancient artifacts. If he continues to escalate, he might even target Darian Bancroft directly."

The hooded figure was silent for a long moment. "If Bancroft dies, it means all-out war. The Guild isn't ready for that level of public exposure... not yet."

"What should we do then?" Elder Lin asked, her voice still shaking slightly. "Knight demands the return of Isabelle Ashworth."

"That is not an option," the hooded figure stated flatly. "The girl's bloodline is too valuable to our research. Centuries of work would be wasted if we released her now."

Elder Lin nodded, her expression hardening. "Then we must eliminate Knight before he becomes an even greater threat."

"Perhaps," the hooded figure conceded. "But first, we observe. His rapid rise in power is... interesting. Those corpses of his—they're not ordinary puppets, are they?"

"No," Elder Lin admitted. "There's something unusual about them. The one I fought withstood attacks that should have destroyed it completely. And Knight's control technique is unlike anything I've encountered before."

The hooded figure turned to gaze out over the tranquil lake, his face still hidden in shadow. "Continue monitoring him. Gather more information about his abilities and weaknesses. When the time is right, we will strike."

Elder Lin rose to her feet, bowing deeply. "As you command. But I request the honor of delivering the killing blow myself."

The hooded figure made a dismissive gesture. "Your personal feelings are irrelevant. The Guild will decide Knight's fate based on what best serves our interests."

Elder Lin's expression darkened, but she knew better than to argue. Instead, she said, "Those two corpses won't last for long. As soon as their time comes, I will personally kill Liam Knight!"

The hooded figure offered no response, continuing to stare out at the perfect, artificial world that the Guild had created—a world as beautiful as it was unnatural, as peaceful as it was false.

Just like the façade of honor and tradition that the Veridia City Martial Guild presented to the world, while in the shadows, they conducted experiments that would horrify even the most hardened cultivators. Experiments using the blood of a young woman whose only crime was being born with a unique heritage.

Isabelle's heritage. My Isabelle.