Chen Yuan sat alone at the edge of the inn's bed, staring at nothing in particular.
The night had passed quietly after The Fox vanished, but his mind had not rested for even a moment. Gu Wen's face—calm beneath the fox mask—kept resurfacing no matter how hard Chen Yuan tried to push it away.
Hunter of The Tree.
The One Who Hunts Lies.
He exhaled slowly.
Gu Wen had gained everything he wanted. Strength. Confidence. Genius. Purpose.
And yet… something felt off.
Not wrong.
Just incomplete.
Chen Yuan leaned back, eyes drifting toward the ceiling.
Where do you stand now, Gu Wen?
Are you still walking beside me… or ahead of me? Or have you already crossed a line I can't follow?
And then there was the Seed of Destruction.
That name echoed everywhere now—spoken by the Lady, feared by the Hunters, acknowledged even by Qiang Hao. A thing planted, growing, maturing.
Something inevitable.
Chen Yuan clenched his fist.
Everyone talks about it.
Everyone moves around it.
And yet no one truly knows what it is.
Not the Fox.
Not the Bear.
Not even the Lady—at least, not completely.
And somehow, disturbingly, The Fox had implied that Chen Yuan himself was standing close to where it would grow.
He closed his eyes.
I don't like that.
A soft chime echoed in his mind.
The System awakened.
"Act II: Strife, complete."
Chen Yuan's eyes snapped open.
So that was it.
Elder Zhao was gone.
The legal battle was over.
The Strife against the past had ended—not by his blade, but by forces far larger than him.
He did not feel triumph.
Only finality.
Then the System spoke again.
"Act III: Strife, begin."
The air around Chen Yuan seemed to tighten.
A new window unfolded in his vision, sharper and heavier than before.
New Mission Issued.
Chen Yuan's heartbeat slowed—not from calm, but from focus.
He read.
"Search for the Dungeon of Demise."
"Location: The Great Zone."
"Objective: Conquer the Dungeon."
"Final Condition: Consume the Pill."
Chen Yuan frowned.
"The Dungeon of Demise…?"
He had never heard that name before.
But the location made his blood chill.
The Great Zone.
The same place where beasts roamed freely.
Where even Inner Court elites vanished without trace.
Where ancient things slept and legends were born—or buried.
A dungeon inside the Great Zone was not a challenge.
It was a death sentence.
Chen Yuan laughed quietly, shaking his head.
"So that's how it is," he murmured. "No more courts. No more trials."
Only Strife.
Only forward.
He rose from the bed and tightened the cloth around his waist. The Conquest rested at his side, silent—but attentive, as if it too sensed the weight of what lay ahead.
"A Pill…" Chen Yuan whispered.
Not just a reward.
A transformation.
Something meant to be consumed.
Something meant to change him.
He looked toward the window, where moonlight spilled into the room.
Gu Wen had chosen The Tree.
Lin Xue climbed toward the Cloud.
Zhao Ming ran forward, no longer fleeing.
And now—
Chen Yuan would descend.
Into the Great Zone.
Into Demise.
He took a slow breath.
"Act III," he said quietly. "Let's see what kind of challenge you have waiting for me."