Morning light falls pale over Sandrift City as Ji Jingxuan walks through the market street. The desert wind carries fine dust across the road, coating everything in a dull gold hue. Ahead stands the three-storey sandstone building of the military office, its flag snapping lazily in the wind.

He enters, passing guards in desert armour, their eyes sharp but tired. After inquiring at the front desk, he climbs the stairs to the third floor and stops before a door marked Commander Su Qianyu.

He knocks.

A voice answers from within, calm and deep. “Enter.”

Jingxuan opens the door and steps inside. The room smells faintly of ink and desert incense. Scrolls and reports are stacked neatly on the desk where a man sits in black robes trimmed with gold—Su Qianyu, Dark Sun Realm Warlock, commander of Sandrift’s garrison.

Jingxuan closes the door behind him. Su Qianyu’s eyes, sharp as blades, rise from the document to him. “Who are you?”

Jingxuan bows slightly. “Commander Su, I am Ji Jingxuan from the capital. I’ve come to report.”

A small smile touches Su Qianyu’s lips, though it never reaches his eyes. “Oh, Nephew Xuan. I heard you were injured some time ago. How are you now?”

“I am fine,” Jingxuan replies evenly. “It healed months ago.”

Su Qianyu leans back in his chair, gaze narrowing. “Then tell me—why transfer here, to a border city?”

Jingxuan meets his stare without wavering. “I’ve become a Warlock. Among the border cities, Sandrift suits my weird best.”

For a long moment, Su Qianyu’s silence lingers, heavy as the air before a storm. His gaze sharpens further, pressing against Jingxuan’s spirit like a blade tracing invisible lines across his soul—as though he can see the bound core glowing faintly within.

“It must be a special-grade weird,” Su Qianyu finally says, voice quiet but certain.

Weirds are ranked by level—Low, Mid, High, and Lord—and graded by rarity: Common, Rare, Special, and Divine. Jingxuan’s Sandman is a common-grade, low-level weird.

Jingxuan’s lips lift faintly. “No, it’s common grade.”

Su Qianyu studies him, expression unreadable.

Three years ago, after the tragedy that wiped out an entire Ji Warlock team on a mission, the family’s influence waned, though their divine army still made them one of the empire’s strongest military houses.

Yet, without the Powerful Warlocks, others began to challenge their dominance—and the Su family is one of them.

Jingxuan had known even before he stepped out of the capital that trouble awaited him here.

But to him, such trouble is nothing more than a game for children.

Su Qianyu’s smile returns, thin and sharp, disbelief hidden behind civility. He doesn’t press the matter; every Warlock’s weird is a secret, often kept even from their own kin.

“I have a task for you,” Su Qianyu says at last, his tone shifting to the firm cadence of command. “It’s important. Are you willing to take it?”

Jingxuan remembers his father’s words—how the military divides Warlock missions into three types.

First: investigation and sealing of ghosts or weirds within the empire.

Second: resource-hunting beyond the border, in the Weird Domain.

Third: commanding towns at the empire’s edge—those that face the endless assault of ghosts and weirds.

In such border towns, the governor’s word means little; the Chief Military Officer holds true authority.

Jingxuan’s current position is that of a Thousand-Man Captain. Once, he truly had a thousand under his command.

But when he fell unconscious—poisoned, his fate uncertain—the army reassigned his men.

No one believed he would wake again, even after the toxins were purged.

By the time he recovered and took his current posting, there were no soldiers left to return to him. He had left the capital the very next day, not waiting for new arrangements.

Now, standing before Su Qianyu, Jingxuan straightens and answers without hesitation. “Yes, my lord.”

Su Qianyu rises from his chair and walks toward the shelf lining the wall. He pulls out a thick file, flips through the pages, and withdraws a single sheet of paper.

Returning to the desk, he places it before Jingxuan. “Sign here,” he says. “From this moment, you’ll serve as Chief Military Officer of Ding Town.”

Jingxuan glances once at the paper, then signs without hesitation. The assignment suits him perfectly.

“The mission lasts one year,” Su Qianyu continues. “Before that year ends, you cannot withdraw or request reassignment.”

Jingxuan nods. “Understood, sir. When will I be assigned my soldiers?”

Su Qianyu leans back slightly, his expression unreadable. “From the barracks, take a centurion team. The rest, you’ll recruit on your own.”

Jingxuan nods, bows slightly, and leaves the room.

He returns to the inn, informing his guards and servants of their departure.

Orders are given—his guards to gather information about Ding Town, his servants to purchase the needed supplies.

Once preparations begin, Jingxuan makes his way toward the military barracks.

The guards at the gate recognise his token and lead him directly to the officer in charge. Jingxuan doesn’t need to explain his purpose; the barrack chief already knows why he’s come. Without delay, he guides Jingxuan toward a wide training field.

“Team Six,” the man says, stopping beside him. “Ninety-five ordinary soldiers and five Warlocks of the Third Ring Realm. You’ll command the five Warlocks—they, in turn, command their squads.”

Jingxuan stands beside the man, his gaze sweeping across the field where five groups of soldiers train in formation beneath the morning sun. “What are the names of the five Warlocks?” he asks.

The officer replies, “Xu Liang, Ren Shou, Bai Qiren, Luo Ying, and Fang Wu.”

Jingxuan nods. “Let’s meet them.”

The officer steps forward and calls out, voice sharp across the training field, “Xu Liang, Ren Shou, Bai Qiren, Luo Ying, and Fang Wu—step forward!”

Five men break from their squads and stride toward them, their steps steady, faces composed.

When they stop before the two, the officer says, “This is Lord Ji Jingxuan, Thousand-Men Captain. From today onward, Team Six will serve under his command.”

The five men exchange brief glances, their gazes settling on Jingxuan—measuring, testing. The faint air of scrutiny doesn’t bother him. He meets their eyes calmly.

“You five,” Jingxuan says evenly, “be ready tomorrow at dawn outside the eastern gate. We leave for Ding Town.”

The five men nod in unison.

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Jingxuan turns to the officer. “What about their supplies?”

The officer waves a hand dismissively. “Handled. The barracks will provide everything you need.”

Jingxuan nods once, then turns and walks away, the clamour of the training field fading behind him as he leaves the barracks.

Inside his room at the inn, he sits cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, his breath calm and even.

Within his spirit space, the chained core of the Sandman glows faintly—its strange pulse echoing through his soul.

From it, he feels a subtle connection to the world around him, a quiet whisper in the grains of sand beyond the walls.

The power it grants is simple yet profound—the ability to command sand.

The Sandman, whose core he absorbed, was a first-ring, low-level Weird, and so the strength of its gift is limited.

According to the empire’s warlock system, to advance, he must refine either one core of a second-level Sandman or two more first-level cores.

But Jingxuan follows a different path.

He doesn’t see the core merely as fuel for advancement—it is a window.

He dissects the ability, tracing the essence of sand itself, its flow, its weight, its silence.

Through the fragment of the Sandman’s nature, he senses the faint outline of a deeper truth—the Law of Sand, woven into the world’s foundation.

For him, refinement is not just strength—it is comprehension.

Now, he can only sense the mystery of sand, but that doesn’t matter.

He will refine other Weird cores in time and unravel the remaining mysteries hidden within the Laws of this world.

Some time later, the core within his spirit space begins to hum softly.

A pulse of energy flows out from it, threading through his spirit and body, strengthening both.

His cultivation rises—he steps into the Second Ring of the Warlock Path.

In the extraordinary system, this corresponds to the Zero Stage’s second realm, though his essence remains at the First Stage’s sixth realm, unchanged since the day before when he first became a Warlock.

He doesn’t stop there.

The flow of energy continues, the connection between him and the Law of Sand growing ever clearer.

The night deepens, the moons move across the sky, and as midnight arrives, his spirit space blazes with golden light.

He has grasped the full mystery of sand—and when his breath settles, Ji Jingxuan sits at the peak of the Fifth Ring Warlock.

Yet he knows well that this comprehension is only the beginning. What he has touched is merely the surface—the outer layer of the Law of Sand.

To go deeper, he must evolve his Weird core.

His current core is of the common grade.

To continue advancing, he must refine it into a rare-grade core.

But he doesn’t yet understand the composition of a rare core—what separates it from the common, what essence grants it higher resonance with the Laws.

Before pushing further, he needs that understanding.

However, despite being at the empire’s edge, he is still within the divine domain, where rare-grade Weirds are scarce.

They can appear here, but only rarely—and he is bound by his military assignment.

He cannot wander freely to search for them.

So he reaches out through the link to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu, still cultivating in the distant mountains, opens his eyes.

He rises slowly, stretches, and looks toward the endless horizon, his gaze calm yet sharp. Spreading his spirit sense, he begins searching for a rare-grade Weird.

Almost instantly, countless auras appear in his perception—rare and even special-grade Weirds scattered across the land, pulsing faintly with malice and death.

Then, among them, a familiar presence flickers—Amelie’s aura, moving swiftly, racing toward him.

“She’s returning?” he murmurs.

She had left the moment they exited the cavern, while he remained behind to perceive the world. Now it seems her purpose for leaving is complete.

Then his expression hardens. An immense aura is chasing her.

“Demigod…” His eyes narrow. “What did she do for a Demigod-realm Weird to be after her?”

Through the forest haze, he sees Amelia darting through the sky at full speed, a streak of light above the treetops.

Behind her rolls a vast black fog, tearing through mountains and trees like a living storm.

Lin Yu launches himself forward.

Life energy flares around him as he conjures a luminous shield, intercepting the first wave of the Weird’s attack before it strikes her.

“What did you do?” he calls out, voice sharp over the roar of wind and collapsing trees.

Amelie halts midair, turns, and floats beside him, her expression strained but defiant. “I was researching the bodies of creatures from this world,” she says quickly, “and one of them happened to be its descendant.”

The black fog surges closer, letting out a deafening roar. From within it, serpents of condensed darkness slither out, their forms twisting and splitting into dozens as they lunge.

Lin Yu channels his life energy, which spreads over him like liquid light, forming a living armour that hums with vitality.

A sword of pure energy materialises in his grasp. He meets the first wave head-on, cutting through the fog serpents that coil and snap at him.

Behind Amelia, the air ripples.

A gigantic woman in a tattered white robe manifests, her face fragmented and held together by crude stitches.

Without hesitation, she swings her hand like a hammer, crushing several serpents in one blow—only for more to rise from the black fog, writhing and screaming as they replace the fallen.

Each kill births two more. The black fog only thickens, pressing in from all sides.

Then the fog quivers, bulging outward.

Massive legs burst from it, slamming down and crushing the forest below. The ground trembles.

A torso follows, then two enormous arms claw their way free. Last comes the head—featureless except for a mouth that splits open in a soundless scream.

It roars, and from its body surges a wave of black light that devours everything in its path.

In an instant, Lin Yu and Amelia are swallowed whole. The forest vanishes. The mountain behind them, the dark sun, the sky—all dissolve into churning black mist.

Only the fog remains.

Lin Yu curses under his breath. Amelia’s voice echoes beside him, low and tense. They both understand what has happened.

They are inside the Weird’s domain.

Here, all Laws of heaven and earth are gone—erased—except for one.

The Law of the 'Black Fog Weird'.

The creature raises its colossal hand, shadow blotting out the faint glow above, and brings it down with a sound like a collapsing world.

Neither Lin Yu nor Amelia moves to dodge. Inside the domain, evasion is meaningless—no matter where they go, the Weird’s strike will still reach them.

Amelie clenches her teeth and spreads her hands.

A silver field blossoms from her body, humming with unstable power—the prototype of her domain.

Beside her, Lin Yu’s eyes darken, and a grey field expands outward, swallowing the light around them. It is his shadow domain, half-formed, restrained by the absence of the Shadow Extraordinary Heart.

The two fields merge at their edges, and together they strike upward.

The titanic palm crashes against their combined power. The impact splits the air and shakes the fog itself. For a moment, they hold it back—the world trembling between their wills and the Weird’s Law.

Then the fog retaliates.

It floods in from every direction, twisting like living smoke, gnawing at their defences, tearing at their domains. Amelia’s silver light flickers. Lin Yu’s grey field shudders, thinning under the weight.

He knows the truth. The longer they remain inside, the closer death draws.

So he makes his choice.

Burning his original power, Lin Yu’s aura surges.

His strength climbs in an instant to the demigod realm, and his incomplete shadow domain bursts open in full.

Black and grey light devour the fog, clashing violently with the Weird’s Law. The collision shakes the domain itself, rending it apart.

Through the collapsing layers of darkness, glimpses of the outside world appear—fractured, fleeting gaps of freedom.

Lin Yu doesn’t hesitate. He seizes Amelia, drawing her close, and launches toward one of the ruptures.

The next heartbeat, their bodies blur through the tear in reality.

The suffocating fog vanishes. Cold air strikes their faces.

They emerge above the forest, the cold wind tearing past as Lin Yu flies toward the mountain behind them.

His thoughts steady—he will take the risk, escape through the portal inside the cavern, and return to their world.

Behind them, the Black Fog Weird closes its collapsing domain and surges forward in a shapeless tide, darkness rolling over the forest as it gives chase.

When Lin Yu and Amelie cross into the mountain’s boundary and head toward the passage leading to the cavern, the Weird halts.

Its head rises from the seething fog, pale eyes glaring as it roars—but it does not step onto the mountain.

They land at the mouth of the passage. The creature spreads itself around the mountain, its body forming a dome of black fog that blots out the sky.

Lin Yu exhales, ceasing the burn of his original power. His aura rapidly declines, finally settling at Tier Seven Extraordinary. He gazes at the mountain now swallowed by fog, the scene like an endless storm pressing against the earth.

Amelie folds her arms, voice cold. “It’s really vindictive. I only injured its child—slightly.”

Lin Yu glances at her. “And what would you do if someone injured our child?”

Her mouth stills. Silence answers him.

He turns and starts down the narrow passage toward the cavern. Amelie follows behind, her tone laced with mockery. “What makes you think I’ll have children with you? I could choose others—or none at all.”

Lin Yu’s voice stays calm. “You’ve seen my strength. And that was only a fraction of it. So, I won’t let you be with anyone except me.”

Amelie snorts softly. “Yes, of course. You somehow reached Demigod strength—but if you’d truly broken through, the entire world would have felt it.”

Lin Yu steps into the cavern. The light of the blood lake reflects in his eyes, dim and rippling. “That’s because I’m not from the Maerne world. When I arrived, I was injured—and I took over this body.”

Amelie stops short, her expression breaking. “What?”

“Then what was your cultivation realm before you came here?”

“Peak of Initial Stage Four,” Lin Yu answers evenly.

She frowns. “Stage Four?”

Lin Yu nods and continues toward the lake. “I’ll explain. In the void, cultivation realms are divided differently…”

As Amelie listens, Lin Yu’s gaze hardens. He has failed to hunt a rare-grade Weird for its core. A thought surfaces—Amelie had mentioned researching them.

He turns to her. “Did you keep any cores from the Weirds you killed?”

Amelie shakes her head. “I didn’t kill them. I only studied them. Even if I stripped their bodies apart, they regenerated after some time.”

Lin Yu frowns. “Then we need to defeat the Black Fog Weird.”

Amelie doesn’t respond, her expression unreadable.

Lin Yu’s necromancer path stands at the peak of Stage Four.

From the four elemental paths, he has already constructed three spell systems.

The last remaining is the Earth-Death spell system—once complete, he can merge all four to break through to Tier Five Extraordinary.

But even then, four more tiers separate him from Tier Ten—the Demigod Realm.

For now, the only path forward is to strengthen his physical body. His eyes drift toward the blood lake—the resource he needs is right before him.

He removes his robe, steps naked into the thick, metallic water, and begins to absorb its energy, forging his body under the pulsing crimson light.