Chapter 141 - - 141 - Shattering the Ten-Year Seal

Chapter 141: Chapter - 141 - Shattering the Ten-Year Seal

The next day, Lucien met Vex in the same narrow alleyway as before. She was waiting in the shadows, her dark eyes tracking his every step as he approached. Without a word of greeting, she turned and motioned for him to follow, leading him through a labyrinth of side streets until they stopped behind the small tea shop.

There was a secret safe house beneath the establishment—a hidden cellar concealed behind a thick false wall of stone that only opened when exposed to a specific spiritual signature. Vex placed her palm against a hidden groove in the masonry, channeling a faint trace of dark energy. The stone shifted with a heavy, scraping groan, sliding back to reveal a dark, narrow staircase leading downward. Vex led Lucien through the passage with her daggers drawn, her gaze constantly shifting, never still for a single second.

When they reached the bottom, Zaria was already there. She sat on a worn wooden chair in the middle of the damp cellar, illuminated by the dim flickering glow of a single wall lantern. She had traded her fine silk for simple, unadorned training robes, and her long hair was pulled back tightly into a high ponytail. Sitting there in the gloom, she looked less like a disgraced princess and more like a soldier preparing for a brutal battle.

Lucien walked over to a rickety wooden table nearby, set his leather satchel down, and began taking out several glass vials filled with colored liquids.

"The Silent Sovereign poison has been in your system for over a decade," Lucien said, his voice flat and practical as he lined up the bottles. "It’s not just suppressing your cultivation—it’s woven itself directly into your spiritual foundation. Removing it isn’t going to be pleasant. It will be agonizing."

Zaria didn’t flinch. Her dark eyes remained locked on his. "I’ve endured pain before."

"Not like this," Lucien replied smoothly, picking up the first vial and uncorking it. The liquid inside was a deep amber, glowing faintly in the dim cellar light. "This is Purifying Earth Essence. It will force its way into your system and burn through the poison. But because the poison has bound itself to your meridians, it will burn through them too. You’re going to feel like you’re being cooked from the inside out."

In truth, drawing upon the deep memories and knowledge he possessed, Lucien had already figured out the absolute best way to cure her physique. He carried a bottle of Heavenly Marrow in his void storage—a divine substance that could cure her completely and effortlessly in a single second. But he had deliberately chosen not to use it right away.

His reasoning was simple: if her recovery was too easy, it wouldn’t carry any weight. She wouldn’t truly appreciate the magnitude of what he was doing for her, assuming he had simply handed over a rare potion without any real effort or cost. She needed to experience the struggle to understand the value of her own restoration. However, if a true life-or-death emergency occurred, he would step in and use the Heavenly Marrow immediately.

Zaria’s jaw tightened, a fine bead of sweat forming at her temple as she stared at the amber liquid. "And if I die?"

"Don’t worry, I never break my promise," Lucien said calmly. "I told you I’ll make you queen, and I will. You won’t die—I trust your resolve." He extended his arm and handed her the vial. "Now drink."

Without another second of hesitation, Zaria took the vial and drank the entire contents in one gulp.

For a few long, tense seconds, nothing happened. The cellar was dead silent save for the dripping of water from the stone ceiling.

Then, Zaria’s eyes flew wide. A sharp, violent gasp tore from her lungs as she doubled over, her spine arching unnaturally. The color drained from her face, leaving her ghost-white, before a wave of deep crimson flushed across her skin as intense heat built up within her veins. Sweat instantly soaked through her light robes. Her fingers dug into the arms of the wooden chair so hard that the old timber groaned and cracked under the pressure.

Vex instinctively took a step forward, her hand flying to her dagger hilt, but Lucien raised a single hand to block her path.

"Don’t touch her," Lucien commanded coldly. "The energy needs to cycle through her body freely. If you interfere now, you’ll disrupt the flow and shatter her channels completely."

"What’s happening to her?" Vex demanded, her voice tight with suppressed panic as she watched her mistress suffer.

"The poison is fighting back," Lucien explained, his eyes fixed on the chaotic energy pulsing wildly around Zaria’s body. "It’s been a part of her for so long that her physical body doesn’t even know how to function without it. It treats the medicine as an invader." He watched the faint aura around her flicker and pulse erratically. "This is only the first stage. There are three stages in total."

Suddenly, Zaria threw her head back and screamed.

It was a raw, primal sound—the desperate scream of a person having a piece of their very soul torn out by the roots. The veins on her neck stood out like thick cords as her body trembled uncontrollably. Vex turned pale at the sound, her knuckles white around her weapons, but she forced herself to stand ground. Lucien simply watched with an unreadable, indifferent expression, carefully monitoring the internal destruction and rebuilding taking place inside the princess.

The first stage dragged on for a full, agonizing hour. By the time the amber light inside her skin finally died down, Zaria was slumped forward in the chair, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for air. She was completely drenched in cold sweat, her hair sticking to her pale forehead.

"One stage is complete," Lucien said, his tone entirely even as he reached into his satchel. "Now, two to go."

The second stage was far worse.

Lucien handed her the second vial. The moment the liquid went down her throat, Zaria’s body convulsed violently. The sheer force of the energy surging through her meridians caused the worn wooden chair to shatter into splinters beneath her, throwing her heavily onto the cold stone floor. She curled into a tight ball, writhing and gasping as her inner channels burned.

"The poison is retreating," Lucien said calmly, kneeling beside her on the dusty floor. "It’s trying to dig deeper and hide in your core where the medicine can’t reach it naturally. I need to force it out."

He reached out and placed his open palm directly against her lower abdomen, channeling a thin, razor-sharp stream of his own astral energy straight into her body. Zaria let out a choked gasp—the feeling of another person’s powerful energy invading her core was sharp, overwhelming, and agonizing all at once.

"Hold still," Lucien warned, his voice firm. "If you thrash around now, the energy might tear your meridians apart."

"Easy... for you to say... Aghhhh!" she gasped out through gritted teeth, her fingers clawing uselessly at the polished stone.

The second stage took two excruciating hours. By the time the chaos subsided, Zaria lay motionless on the stone floor, silent tears cutting trails through the dust on her face. Yet despite the absolute agony tearing her apart from the inside, her eyes remained open. She was still conscious. Still fighting.

Vex immediately dropped to her knees beside the princess, pulling a soft damp cloth from her pouch to gently wipe the sweat and grime from Zaria’s forehead. "You’re doing so well, my lady. Just a little longer. Please hold on."

"Don’t... coddle me," Zaria rasped out, her voice weak, hoarse, and broken, yet still carrying that stubborn, unyielding bite.

"She’s right," Lucien said as he prepared the third and final vial. "You’re doing far better than most would in your position. This poison has been rooted in you for so long that it essentially became a part of your identity. Most people would have surrendered to the pain and given up hours ago. But you’ve been fighting it—not just today, but silently for years."

Zaria let out a short, broken laugh that turned into a painful cough. "Is that... supposed to be... encouragement?"

"No. It’s just an observation," Lucien replied smoothly. A rare, warm smile touched his face as he looked down at her. "And you aren’t the only one who has had to suffer the humiliation of being looked down on for being weak."

He held out the third vial to her. "Drink."

She reached up with trembling hands, took the bottle, and drank.

The third stage was where everything went horribly wrong.

The instant the final liquid touched Zaria’s lips, her body reacted with violent rejection. The poison—cornered, desperate, and facing complete destruction—lashed out wildly. It stopped merely trying to defend itself or suppress her power; it actively turned on her body, trying to destroy her core and kill her instantly.

Zaria’s back arched off the floor so violently her spine creaked. Her eyes rolled back until only the whites were visible, and a deep, guttural sound of pure agony tore from her raw throat.

"Lucien!" Vex yelled, her voice cracking with sheer panic as she reached for her daggers.

Lucien was already moving before she even called his name. He had anticipated the possibility of a violent counter-reaction—the Silent Sovereign poison was ancient and crafty in its own malicious way. Knowing it was about to be completely purged, it was attempting a final, suicidal strike.

He slammed both palms firmly against Zaria’s chest, pouring a massive surge of his own energy directly into her core to suppress the backlash. The black poison energy recoiled under his pressure, but it refused to break. Instead, it dug deeper into her vital organs like stubborn, barbed hooks.

"She’s dying, Lucien!" Vex cried out, stepping closer, her hands shaking. "Please, do something!"

Lucien’s face remained entirely calm, his mind calculating the variables in a fraction of a second. The Purifying Earth Essence was no longer enough; the poison had evolved past what the liquid could cleanse on its own. He needed something far more powerful—something capable of instantly shattering the poison’s hold without destroying her body in the process.

He reached into his void and pulled out the small glass vial containing a glowing, golden liquid. Heavenly Marrow.

"What is that?" Vex asked frantically.

"Something I wasn’t planning on using unless necessary," Lucien said flatly. He uncorked the bottle and carefully dripped a single, concentrated drop directly into Zaria’s open mouth.

The moment the golden drop touched her tongue, a wave of blinding, divine energy exploded outward from her core. Zaria let out a deafening scream—but this time, the tone was completely different. It was no longer a sound of agony, but one of immense, overwhelming release. Overpowered by the vast, pure energy of the Heavenly Marrow, the ancient poison shattered into nothingness like fragile glass.

With the poison destroyed, Zaria’s suppressed spiritual roots—compressed and suffocated for over ten long years—instantly uncoiled and exploded with dormant power.

BOOM!

The hidden safe house violently shuddered.

Long cracks spiderwebbed rapidly across the thick stone walls. Fine dust and small pebbles rained down from the ceiling, and the stone floor beneath them buckled under an immense weight. Vex was nearly thrown off her feet, throwing her body against the heavy oak door to keep the structure from collapsing inward.

Lucien raised an arm to shield his eyes as Zaria’s body erupted with brilliant, blinding light. The energy was distinctly earthen—a rich, deep brown laced with veins of radiant, shimmering gold—and it pulsed outward in heavy waves that matched the rhythmic trembling of the ground beneath them.

Her breakthrough was wild and utterly destructive. A full decade of compressed, suppressed talent was released all at once, violently tearing through every boundary in her body. Her cultivation didn’t just awaken—it roared upward, surging past the lowest tiers, skipping entire realms in a single, blinding flash of light as her body forged itself anew. The sheer momentum carried her straight past the basic stages, landing her directly at the threshold of the Spirit Forge Realm.

When the blinding light finally began to fade, silence returned to the ruined cellar.

Zaria lay on the ground, completely unconscious, but her breathing was deep, steady, and peaceful. Her skin carried a faint, healthy golden glow. Surrounding her body, the environment itself had been permanently changed by her sudden awakening—the rough, dirt-covered cellar floor had been transformed into a smooth, flawless sheet of polished marble, perfectly shaped by the sudden release of her earth-attribute power.

Vex stood frozen near the door, staring wide-eyed at the transformed room and her glowing mistress. "What... what did you just do to her?"

"I simply gave her back what she was born with," Lucien said quietly, standing up and casually brushing the white stone dust from his dark robes. He looked down at the unconscious princess on the polished marble floor, his eyes gleaming with quiet satisfaction. "Earth-Sovereign Physique. It seems it was even rarer than I initially thought. And far more valuable, too."