Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2088 Trying to ascend to heaven

Fifty years later - Year 750 After the Coronation Planet Azakra

In a vast open courtyard beneath the Imperial Palace, Rinara sat cross-legged in a formal meditation posture. The stone floor beneath her had long since darkened from repeated training sessions, stained by Thermal, frost, and blood. Yet despite her disciplined posture and perfectly aligned breathing pattern, it was obvious she had not truly entered a state of deep meditation or mental equilibrium.

Her eyes were tightly shut, but her eyelids trembled uncontrollably. Her chest rose and fell in a measured rhythm, yet each breath carried a faint hitch, as though something inside her chest resisted calmness. She held her chin high with stubborn pride, maintaining the bearing of someone unwilling to bow even before failure. But sweat streamed down from the roots of her hair, soaked her temples, and traced thin lines along her neck. The muscles in her shoulders twitched intermittently. She was enduring pain, suppressing it through sheer will.

Clink.

Beside her, an empty crystal bottle rolled gently across the damp, hardened stone. It turned once, twice, then continued toward the edge of a short rocky drop. For a brief second it teetered there before tipping over.

Plish.

It fell into a shallow pool of dark crimson liquid below the same blood pool beside which Rinara had trained fifty years ago, when her journey with the Aurora Fox blood first began.

Across those fifty long years, Rinara had consumed two additional bottles of Aurora Fox blood beyond the original seven. However, the reaction of her body to the eighth and ninth bottles had been noticeably weaker. The violent purifying storms and explosive surges of affinity that once shook her meridians had diminished.

The reason was not stagnation - it was oversaturation.

The number of Affinity Elixirs supplied to her by the True Beginning Empire had steadily increased over time. What began as one bottle per month became one bottle every three weeks. Each elixir was valued at three hundred million Pearls, a figure that would bankrupt entire star systems, yet they were delivered to her as routine cultivation support.

That overwhelming quantity of elixirs had continuously purified her body, scrubbing away impurities accumulated from the Aurora Fox blood while simultaneously expanding her affinity toward all nine paths. The environment of Sky Opening City itself had changed as well. The city no longer relied on Devos blood for large-scale cultivation enhancement. Instead, Aurora Fox blood had become integrated into its infrastructure, further strengthening Rinaraʼs natural resonance with frost and heat.

By the time she consumed the ninth bottle, Rinara had clearly sensed the Minor Frost Law. It had responded to her. It had accepted her presence. The pathway toward becoming its Monarch stood open before her.

Yet she did not forge the link.

Because a direct command arrived from Lord Robin Burton.

She was to study the Major Thermal Law itself. Not merely touch it. Not merely sense it. But attempt communication.

The order struck her like a thunderclap. Along with it came a sixth-stage cultivation technique centered on the Major Thermal Law, accompanied by an increase in elixir allocation and complete logistical support from every department under Lord Robinʼs authority. Resources, guidance, protection - everything was arranged.

There was no hesitation in her obedience.

To attempt communion with a Major Law she had never once studied in her life, while a Minor Law from the Thermal Path had already granted her acceptance as its Monarch?

It was irrational. It was reckless.

But Lord Robin knew better.

At least... that was what she told herself.

The difficulty lay in the nature of laws themselves.

A Minor law could be approached, negotiated with, slowly harmonized. A Major law was different. It was foundational, vast, uncompromising. It did not bend easily.

The gap between her and the Major Thermal Law felt absurd.

It was like a child who had only just learned addition and subtraction being handed a thick tome labeled Differential Geometry, expected not merely to read it, but to master it.

And yet...

Lord Robin knew better. ...Probably. ”Hoooooh-”

Rinara exhaled a long, trembling breath. Her brows quivered violently as waves of heat and cold clashed within her meridians.

She had just swallowed the final drop of the tenth bottle.

For fifty years she had delayed this moment, stretching out the process as long as possible. Instead of immediately consuming the tenth bottle, she had greedily absorbed the lake of Aurora Fox blood in Nexus State, draining most of it through relentless refinement. She allowed no one else a single drop. The more she consumed, the more impurities accumulated.

The Affinity Elixirs were forced to work overtime, purging toxins, repairing meridians, stabilizing her foundation. It became a cycle of accumulation and purification, heat and frost, expansion and correction.

And in the end, all that excess achieved nothing decisive.

Her connection to the Minor Frost Law remained stable. Her body grew stronger. Her affinity broadened. But the Major Thermal Law remained distant silent unreachable.

Thus she finally resorted to the tenth bottle.

She drank it slowly. Carefully. With expectation trembling beneath her composure.

And still... nothing changed.

No revelation.

No resonance.

No whisper from the vast expanse of the Major Thermal Law.

No matter how deeply she focused, no matter how fiercely she pushed her perception outward, she could not sense it.

Over the past several years, Rinara had pushed herself relentlessly. She comprehended the Major Thermal Law all the way to the sixth grade, memorizing every theoretical framework, every symbolic fluctuation pattern, every recorded case of resonance left behind by ancient Monarchs. She did not merely study it in seclusion - she forced it into her everyday existence. When she walked, she adjusted the temperature of the air around her ankles by a fraction of a degree.

When she drank water, she subtly altered its warmth before it touched her lips.

When she breathed, she visualized microscopic Thermal currents entering and exiting her lungs in controlled spirals.

She did all this in the hope that repetition would breed familiarity... and familiarity would awaken instinct.

Yet no matter how she tried, she still could not feel the Major Thermal Law.

Instead, an unsettling realization crept into her awareness.

Her pull toward the Minor Frost Law was fading.

At first it was faint like a distant echo growing softer. But gradually she became certain. The responsiveness she once felt, the subtle welcoming chill that had acknowledged her presence... it was thinning.

It was as if the Minor Frost Law had sensed her rejection.

As if it understood that it was her second choice.

And so, it withdrew.

Rinaraʼs body suddenly trembled violently. Her meridians spasmed as opposing energies clashed without harmony. ”Pffft-!!”

A mouthful of blood burst from her lips. It splattered against the stone in a swirl of black, blue, and red - frost-tainted corruption mixing with overheated soul backlash. The metallic scent spread into the air.

For a few seconds she remained hunched forward. Then slowly, deliberately, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ”All I gained from the last bottle... was more impurities.” Her voice was steady, but her lips quivered with suppressed anger. ”It seems my body has built immunity to Aurora Fox blood.”

She lowered her gaze toward the diminishing lake below. Once vast and vibrant, it now appeared shallow, its surface duller than before.

Regret filled her eyes.

If she had developed resistance to the most refined, concentrated bottled blood, then the lake weaker by comparison was now meaningless. Continuing to consume it would only poison her further.

She inhaled deeply, then stood upright. ”I have to speak to him,” she murmured.

Without the blood, she had no means to elevate her natural affinity any further.

And without raising that foundation, sensing the Major Thermal Law was a fantasy. The only viable path left was to fully commit to the Minor Frost Law... but that required Lord Robinʼs approval. Or perhaps he would provide an alternative solution she could not yet see.

Did the thought ever cross her mind that she could ascend as a Monarch immediately and free herself from obedience?

Not once.

Authority, in her heart, was not a chain - it was structure. And structure was survival.

Whoosh.

Rinara exited the subterranean chamber where the blood lake had been relocated decades ago. She crossed the expansive grounds of her familyʼs palace in a blur, heading toward the spatial portal that connected to Planet

Donara.

But she stopped abruptly. ”Hmm?”

Her brows drew together.

The area around the spatial portal was in clear disarray.

The new Nine Halls Masters were present. The twelve new Elders stood in tense formation. Several Protectors lined the perimeter. Nearly every high-ranking figure not stationed on a critical frontline had gathered here.

The atmosphere was thick - not chaotic, but anticipatory.

Rinara descended slowly. ”Soltier. Daharis. What is happening here?” ”Wing Lady!!”

All present bowed deeply except for two figures who immediately rose to meet her.

Soltier Hall Master, her closest aide, and the first Nexus State after her - spoke first, urgency in her tone. ”Something significant is about to occur.” ”What?” Rinara asked. ”Why are you assembled around the spatial portal?”

Daharis answered, his expression serious. ”We were instructed by the Shadow Swords to clear a forest near the palace, establish a high-grade isolation and defensive formation around it, and gather all senior personnel here today. We were told to wait. Nothing more.”

Rinaraʼs gaze shifted toward the gate.

What kind of event required this level of secrecy and this degree of preparation?

The Shadow Swords did not act without cause.

Bzzzzzt-

The spatial portal suddenly activated. Light flared violently from its core, distorting the air around it. The formation arrays surrounding the plaza flickered under the surge of energy.

Every cultivator present instinctively tightened their aura.

Then-

BOOOOM!

A colossal paw burst through the portal and crashed the platform beneath.