Shadow returned to the inner sect grounds two days after the Sovereign Trials had ended. His robes were clean and repaired, though faint scorch marks still kissed the hem like reminders of a past storm. His Qi was calmer now—sharper. It no longer surged wildly as it once did. Now, it flowed like a blade hidden in velvet, a storm leashed with terrifying discipline.
As he approached the quiet sector that held his personal courtyard, something immediately felt off. His residence—granted by the sect in recognition of his achievements—was now surrounded by a softly glowing formation barrier. Even more surprising, **two female inner sect disciples** stood guard at the entrance, clad in defensive armor and armed with long silver-tipped spears.
Shadow slowed to a halt.
He blinked.
"…Did I come to the wrong place?" he muttered.
He stepped closer.
Without hesitation, both women lowered their spears at him.
"Halt!" one of them barked.
"You dare approach the residence of **Senior Sister Han Yuelin** without permission?" snapped the other, her tone sharp as steel.
Shadow's brow twitched. "I live here," he said calmly. "This is my courtyard. I've lived here for months. I am—"
"We've never heard of you," the first guard cut in. "By order of Senior Sister Yuelin, this courtyard is now restricted. No one enters without her personal consent."
Shadow's expression grew colder. "I'm Shadow," he said again, his voice gaining an edge. "The person who originally received this courtyard. Han Yuelin showed up *after* me."
The two guards exchanged glances, but they showed no signs of stepping aside.
"Rules are rules," the second one said. "She outranks you now."
Shadow exhaled.
And then, very slowly, **lost his patience**.
"You spear-shaking, chicken-brained, arrogant buffoons! Open this damned barrier before I bury you both in a thunderstorm so loud your ancestors come crawling out to ask for forgiveness—!"
Before he could finish, a cold wind swept across the courtyard.
A pressure fell like ice over skin.
Shadow froze in place.
He turned.
Standing directly behind him—silent as snowfall and twice as deadly—was **Han Yuelin**.
Her violet robes flowed with quiet elegance. A soft veil concealed her expression, but her eyes—those sharp, crystalline eyes—cut through the air with all the grace of an executioner's blade. Her spiritual pressure seeped from her body like frost, coiling around Shadow like chains of snow and silence.
She smiled.
It was terrifying.
Shadow instinctively took a step back. "...I guess this is the wrong house," he muttered, already bracing to run.
Han Yuelin said nothing.
Instead, she simply lifted her leg—
—and kicked him.
It wasn't an elegant, Qi-imbued martial arts move. No mystic sword strike or palm of fate. Just a straight, very physical, very deliberate **kick** that sent Shadow flying **through** the barrier and into the courtyard with a crash.
The two guards stiffened.
Han Yuelin glided past them. "From this moment on, this man may enter and leave as he pleases. Do not stop him again. Understood?"
"Yes, Senior Sister!" the women saluted instantly.
She stepped through the broken barrier and slammed the door shut.
Moments later, inside the residence, sounds of **chaos and verbal suffering** could be heard—shouting, yelping, and one very masculine scream.
Eventually, silence returned.
Shadow sat slumped at the tea table, his face swollen, one eye half-shut, and his robe disheveled like he'd rolled through a battlefield.
Han Yuelin poured him tea with slow, graceful movements.
"That's your punishment," she said smoothly, taking a sip of her own cup. "For insulting this unrivaled beauty of this empress."
Shadow raised his tea with a shaking hand. "You're absolutely right. You're the empress of snow and starlight, the frost moon, the celestial perfection. I'm lucky to breathe near your immortal presence."
She nodded with approval.
"Now," she said, setting her cup down. "Where have you been? You vanished after the Lightning Tomb trials. No one saw you return."
Shadow exhaled, leaning back. "I could ask the same of you."
Yuelin's gaze narrowed. "Answer me first."
He didn't reveal everything. The Thunder Lord's coffin, the hidden spatial ring, the supreme corpse—they remained secret. But he did recount the trials he endured—soul-based tribulations, the final battle, his brush with death, and the remnant's last gift.
Yuelin listened quietly.
After a long pause, she spoke.
"My dantian was shattered," she said. Her voice was even, but laced with lingering bitterness. "During the tomb's collapse, I was caught in a backlash. For weeks, I couldn't circulate Qi. I thought it was the end."
Shadow sat up straighter.
"But in that silence," she continued, "I awakened my true physique. Not a fragment. Not a theory. I've confirmed it."
She looked him in the eyes. "I possess the **Nine Heaven Devouring Physique**. Not a diluted version. The full, ultimate form."
Shadow's breath caught.
"That's said to be able to absorb spiritual energy… entire techniques… even cultivation bases."
Yuelin nodded. "I can devour and suppress Qi techniques. If I make contact, and concentrate, I can absorb someone's realm—layer by layer. And there's more."
She leaned forward.
"It can absorb *one* of the Ten Supreme Physiques."
Shadow blinked. "One? Only one?"
"Yes. That's why I've spent the last month researching. I have to choose carefully. Those physiques aren't myths. They're real. Hidden in this world… or maybe in another."
She tapped her teacup thoughtfully. "I also mastered the first stage of the **Three Timeless Physiques**. My past, present, and future selves have been formed. They're not ready to act yet—but once they are, they can fight beside me or assist in absorption."
Shadow exhaled slowly. "So while I was fighting for my life, you were evolving into a calamity."
Yuelin smiled. "Isn't it romantic?"
Shadow raised an eyebrow.
Then he stood.
He walked to the center of the room and took a breath. "There's something I need to show you."
He pressed his palm to the floor.
A hidden formation lit up beneath his feet—sigils of thunder rotating outward in spirals of power. The air shifted. Sparks danced in the air.
With a low hum, a **coffin** appeared in the center of the room.
It hovered in the air, bound in chains of lightning and sealed by ancient inscriptions.
Han Yuelin's eyes widened. The calm vanished from her face.
"What… is that?" she whispered, voice tight.
Shadow stared at it with solemn eyes.
"The Thunder Lord's final gift. A corpse that can't decay. A legacy cursed by heaven itself."
Silence filled the room.
And thus, the new chapter of their journey began.
Not in trials or bloodshed.
But in secrets far older than either of them.
And the echo of storms yet to come.
---
**End of Chapter 61**