Olivia stands with the other students, waiting for the participants of the competition to return.
Her eyes remain fixed on the sky.
Around her, murmurs rise and fall, tension mixing with anticipation.
Then someone points upward.
The flying ships begin descending through the clouds.
Cheers erupt instantly.
After three decades, their academy has returned to the top ten.
Pride spreads through the crowd.
As the ships hover above the ground, figures begin jumping down one by one from the deck.
Each landing draws louder cheers.
Olivia does not cheer.
Her gaze searches.
She looks past every face.
Waiting.
Counting.
One after another, the participants land and gather.
Thirty-eight.
They stop.
No more follow.
The cheers begin to fade.
Then silence spreads through the crowd.
More than half did not return.
Among them,
Wang Hui.
Olivia's face turns pale.
The colour drains completely.
Her hands tremble slightly at her sides.
Behind her, she hears Tang Li speaking casually to his friends.
"It's better this way," he says with a faint smile. "If he didn't return, he'll be remembered as a martyr and enshrined in the Hall of the Academy."
He chuckles lightly.
"Otherwise, who would remember him? Now, even in death, he leaves his name behind."
Olivia's fingers curl tightly.
Anger surges.
For a moment, she almost turns to attack him.
But before she can move, another voice rises from the crowd below.
"Wang Hui's not dead, he's trapped inside the Chaos Magic Island!"
Olivia freezes.
Then turns immediately.
Without hesitation, she pushes through the crowd and heads into the castle.
Her pace quickens.
Through hidden corridors.
Past sealed doors.
Until she reaches a chamber.
She pushes the door open.
Inside, Li Xueyao's spiritual clone sits at a desk, working quietly.
"Grandmother!" Olivia shouts, her voice trembling. "I need your help!"
Li Xueyao looks up and smiles gently.
"What kind of help does my dearest granddaughter need?"
Olivia steps forward, her eyes already red.
"Wang Hui is trapped in the Chaos Magic Island. Can you bring him out?"
Li Xueyao's expression changes.
She frowns slightly.
Then shakes her head.
"I cannot."
Olivia's breath catches.
"The rules of the Federation," Li Xueyao continues calmly, "state that the Chaos Magic Island opens only for the duration of the competition."
Tears gather in Olivia's eyes.
"But Grandmother," she says, her voice breaking, "we are the Kong Family. We founded the Federation. Why can't we break a small rule?"
Li Xueyao sighs softly.
"Because we are the founders," she says, her tone steady but firm. "We cannot break any rule, small or large. Otherwise, how can we enforce them?"
Olivia's tears fall.
She cannot hold them back anymore.
Seeing this, Li Xueyao's heart trembles.
Olivia is not her direct granddaughter, but she has never loved her any less.
She watches her cry, and her expression softens.
After a moment, she sighs again.
"Let me see what I can do."
Olivia's eyes light up slightly.
She steps forward and hugs Li Xueyao tightly.
For a brief moment, she feels relief.
But then,
She notices something.
The figure she is holding begins to distort.
Cracks spread across the spiritual clone.
Olivia steps back in alarm.
"Grandmother, what's happening?"
Li Xueyao's expression turns serious.
Her eyes widen slightly.
"I have to go."
The clone shatters.
Disappears.
Far away, in the Inner Void, Kaelan steps out of his wizard tower, a frown already forming on his face.
He looks toward the edge of the world.
The World Barrier.
Now covered by a crystal layer.
Sealed.
Completely.
No one can leave.
No one can enter.
Kaelan's eyes narrow in shock.
This is not the work of a transcend.
This,
Is the Void itself.
The Sword Immortal has initiated the Void War procedure against the Wizard World.
Kaelan's eyes narrow as he takes in the sight of the crystal barrier sealing the world.
For a moment, he wonders if the Sword Immortal has gone mad, because only a madman would initiate a Void War procedure so recklessly.
Then he feels it.
A pull.
The urging of the World Will, pressing against him, pushing him toward the Void Battlefield.
Before he can move, space ripples.
Isla cuts through the void and appears before him, her face filled with shock.
"Kaelan," she asks, her voice tense, "what is a Void War?"
Kaelan knows the answer.
But he cannot tell her.
Not now.
Not when she will soon witness it herself.
He shakes his head.
"I don't know."
Her expression falls immediately.
Disappointment flickers across her face.
Kaelan adds, "Maybe we will understand after entering the Void Battlefield."
Isla exhales slowly.
Then nods.
"Then let's go."
Kaelan raises a hand.
"Wait."
She frowns slightly.
"What?"
"First, we have to do something."
She looks at him, confusion clear in her eyes.
"What?"
"Follow me."
Without another word, Kaelan turns and flies toward the world.
Isla follows closely behind.
They cut through layers of void energy, passing the inner barrier and re-entering the world.
Kaelan heads straight toward the northern frozen lands.
As he flies, his spirit spreads outward, covering vast distances.
What he sees makes his expression darken.
Chaos.
Across the world, first-stage transcendants, whether wizards or magical beasts, are being forcibly dragged into the Void Battlefield by the World Will.
They vanish one after another.
Only those above a certain threshold remain.
Him.
Isla.
If they were weaker, they too would have already been taken.
Soon, Kaelan slows.
He stops above a vast frozen battlefield.
Below, nine swords are embedded deep within the world's origin, their presence distorting the surrounding space.
Isla arrives beside him and looks down.
"Why are we here?"
Kaelan glances at her.
"Do you remember what I told you?"
"That in the foreign world, there is only one fourth-stage transcend?"
Isla nods.
"Yes. I was going to ask you after your preaching. What made you so certain?"
Kaelan speaks calmly.
"Because he is not a fourth-stage transcend."
Isla's brows knit together.
"Then what is he?"
"A fifth-stage transcend."
Her face turns pale instantly.
Shock.
Then fear.
"That's impossible," she whispers. "Fighting a peak fourth-stage is already dangerous. A fifth-stage…"
She shakes her head.
"Even hundreds of fourth-stage transcends cannot defeat one. Not under any circumstance."
A brief silence passes.
Then she looks at him.
"Should we surrender?"
Kaelan shakes his head.
"No."
"He did not reach the fifth stage normally."
Isla freezes.
Kaelan continues, his gaze falling on the nine swords below, piercing their World's Origin.
"These swords… are his natal artefacts."
"He advanced by relying on them."
"Without them, he cannot maintain the fifth stage."
"His cultivation will stagnate."
Understanding dawns in Isla's eyes.
A spark of hope appears.
"We cannot let him reclaim them."
Kaelan nods.
"That is why I brought you here."
"We are going to seal the nine swords."
Isla's fear fades, replaced by determination.
Her fighting spirit rises once more.
"Then let's begin."
Kaelan raises a hand again.
"First…"
"We need to make every living being in this world fall asleep."
A ripple spreads outward from him, silent and absolute, passing through land, ocean, and sky, touching every corner of the world as all living beings fall into deep slumber.
As the world falls quiet, their projections begin to fade, and their true forms reveal themselves.
Isla transforms into the Light Divine Bird, her radiant feathers shining with golden brilliance, while Kaelan dissolves into an endless Ether Sea, a vast silver ocean suspended in the sky.
They float above the world, their presence immense, and as they move, the rules of the world respond.
With two supreme existences acting together, the laws themselves bend, aligning with their will.
They mobilise those laws, weaving them into a grand formation that spreads across the world's origin.
The nine swords embedded within the world tremble.
The formation locks onto them.
Seals form.
Layers upon layers of restrictions descend.
The connection between the swords and the Sword Immortal is severed.
Now, if the Sword Immortal wishes to reclaim them, he must enter the Wizard World himself.
And that… is exactly what Kaelan and Isla want.
Because within their own world, even a Fifth-stage transcend is no longer something they fear.
The formation is complete.
The world stabilises.
They turn toward each other.
Even in their true forms, intent passes clearly between them.
They nod.
Then, they stop resisting the pull of the World Will.
In the next instant, space twists.
They are gone.
They reappear above a ruined city.
Below them, wizards and magical beasts move through broken streets and shattered structures.
Sensing their presence, Kaelan and Isla immediately conceal their true forms.
Their humanoid projections manifest once more.
Yet even that brief moment is enough.
Several lower-level wizards collapse, clutching their heads as blood leaks from their eyes, their minds unable to withstand even a glimpse of what they had just seen.
Kaelan and Isla ignore the disturbance.
At the same time, information floods into their minds.
The rules of the Void Battlefield.
Its purpose.
Its end.
Isla's face pales as she reads through it.
There is no mercy.
No retreat.
The Void Battlefield is a ritual, one that invokes the will of the Void itself to initiate war between worlds.
During this war, no one can leave their world.
No one can enter from the outside.
There is only one rule.
Win.
And to win… the enemy world must be completely destroyed.
Every life erased.
Silence hangs between them.
Then, streaks of light cut through the sky.
Nyxarin.
Issac.
Nyra.
Lin Zian.
They arrive quickly, stopping before Kaelan and Isla.
Nyxarin speaks first.
"What are we going to do?"
Isla instinctively turns to Kaelan.
She waits.
For his answer.
Kaelan looks at them all.
His voice is calm.
"What can we do… if not win?"
A brief silence follows.
Nyxarin frowns.
"Then how are we going to win?"
Kaelan answers without hesitation.
"The Void Will has given us fifty years before the war begins."
"During that time…"
"We will turn our world into a fortress."
The four nod slowly.
Lin Zian steps forward slightly.
"Master… what should we do?"
Kaelan speaks.
"I will begin preaching."
He looks at Nyxarin, Issac, and Nyra.
"You three… use these fifty years to break through to the Fourth Stage."
Then he turns to Lin Zian.
"And you… reach the Demigod stage."
They all nod again.
Without wasting time, they descend.
The ruined city grows silent as their presence presses down.
Kaelan lands atop the tallest building, Isla beside him.
The others land below.
Kaelan looks over the city.
His voice spreads outward, reaching every ear.
"Everyone should already understand where we are."
A pause.
"So we must win."
His words carry weight.
They settle deep into every listener.
"To win…"
"I will now preach the Wizard Way."
He sits.
Silence deepens.
Every wizard present immediately sits as well, not daring to miss a single word.
Kaelan begins.
From the Official Wizard stage…
To Shining Moon…
To Magic Sun…
Then, beyond, into the Great Wizard stages.
One layer after another unfolds.
Paths are clarified.
Obstacles explained.
Truths revealed.
Finally, he speaks of the path to becoming a True Spirit Wizard.
Then he stops.
He does not go further.
The method to reach Void Wizard remains unspoken.
Silence follows.
Deep.
Absolute.
Everyone remains seated, immersed in comprehension.
No one moves.
No one dares.
High above them, Kaelan's gaze shifts slightly.
A thought forms.
How did the Sword Immortal learn to initiate the Void War procedure?
That knowledge… is not something ordinary beings possess.
Kaelan knows it only because he is a Void creature.
Which means…
The Sword Immortal is not simple.
Kaelan's eyes narrow faintly.
His vigilance rises.
Without showing it, he spreads his spirit outward.
Across the Void Battlefield.