Not knowing how much time had passed, Yvette finally awoke.

At first glance, there was no difference about her, but she could faintly feel that a change had happened.

Looking around, she could see Daiyu still lying on the bed next to her, asleep.

While making sure to not wake her up, Yvette went down from her bed and went to the nearby window, lifting a bit of the curtain and looking outside.

As she expected, the sky was still the same sky she saw before, a night sky full of stars shining bright with the moon resplendently hanging high at the center of it.

But unlike before, she could keenly sense the changes and peculiarity of this small, isolated world, a change brought about by the enhancement of her soul.

The one change she truly felt was the enhancement of her soul’s senses, which surpassed even the senses of her physical body.

Different from the senses of the physical body, the senses of the soul do not require anything to transmit information to it. Just by willing the soul to extend its senses to a certain item, one could gain much more detailed information than simply using the bodily senses, or even Qi.

As she realized this, Yvette thought of a certain thing with similar description in a book.

The book called it Spiritual Sense.

Thinking of thus, she tried to experiment and spread her spiritual sense throughout the kingdom. She could sense the surrounding people energetically moving all over the place, and the most common thing she found was people fighting each other, either for benefits or because of their hot-bloodedness. But no matter why they fought, the moment they were about to damage the kingdom, whether accidentally or deliberately, a statue of a knight would appear and bind them before kicking them out, leaving them defenseless.

Then, as she extended her spiritual sense to the night sky, she found a certain peculiarity about it.

When she first arrived, she noticed that the moon was different from one above the main realm. But now, she felt as if a veil had been removed, revealing the true appearance of the moon and the eternal night sky.

With its true appearance revealed, Yvette realized that the moon was actually a treasure!

Not only that, but she could feel a type of energy emanating from the moon which seemed to cover the whole realm.

After a careful thought, Yvette realized the true identity of the moon.

In every world, may they be the main realm or a pocket realm, there would always exist a core which kept the world together.

And the moon hanging high above is such, the core of this realm.

The moment she came to that realization, a strand of intent came from the moon and came into contact with her spirit sense.

Although the intent did not form coherent wordings, she was able to roughly discern what it was trying to convey.

But right at that moment, she heard a rustling sound followed by a voice.

“My lady?”

Not showing a hint of emotion, Yvette turned around and calmly looked at Daiyu who had called out to her.

Seeing that her lady was fine, Daiyu finally put her worries at ease. But when she looked at her eyes, she sensed that something seemed to be amiss.

Yet no matter how she thought of it, she was unable to find the exact problem.

Before she could continue her thoughts, Yvette called out to her.

“Is something the matter, Daiyu?”

“It is nothing, my lady.” Answered Daiyu, throwing her doubts to the back of her mind.

Just as she answered, a knock came from outside the room.

“Yvette, Daiyu, are you awake?” Said Behnam from behind the door.

Not waiting for Daiyu to react, Yvette approached the door and opened it, “Is there something the matter?”

Sensing nothing amiss, Behnam spoke, “If you two are ready, we will be leaving for another place soon. If we don’t hurry, we might not be able to partake in the main event.”

Nodding, Yvette stepped out of the room, closely followed by Daiyu.

Seeing this, Behnam said nothing more and led the two outside of the house.

There, Arash and Saba was already waiting. When Arash saw the them, he waved his hand and approached.

“I scouted around, and it seems it will be located outside this time.”

When Behnam heard his words, his expression became heavy.

Without waiting to be asked, he explained, “In truth, the benefits gained in this realm could be divided into two, inheritance and resources. Inheritances would usually be found in the kingdom, but the resources would only appear after some time passed, or possibly not appear at all.

The location of where the resources would appear is not definite either, so we would have to search around each time. It could be outside or inside the kingdom.

If it was inside, we would receive some protection from the kingdom’s statue guards. But if it is outside… we can only rely on ourselves.”

By the time he finished explaining, the expression on Behnam’s face turned slightly grimmer. Then, he turned to say to Yvette.

“You don’t need to go, it would be far too chaotic there, and we’re not sure whether we would be able protect you there.” After a moment of hesitation, he continued saying, “But if you truly wish to go, I won’t stop you.”

Listening to his words, Yvette did not hesitate, “I will go.”

Expecting such an answer, Behnam sighed, “Alright, but make sure to not get separated.”

Then, with Behnam leading the group, they rushed out of the city.

By the time they arrived, a large crowd could be seen outside the city. Beyond the crowd, a screen of light could be seen blocking the way.

Looking around, Yvette noticed that although the situation seemed calm, people in different groups could be seen distancing themselves from one another, clearly wary towards the others.

In the end, Yvette and her group found a secluded location with less people far from the light screen.

Soon, a pillar of light appeared from deep inside the location blocked off by the light screen. Following that, the light screen rapidly dimmed, followed by the uproars from the people waiting before it.

But before the light screen completely disappeared, a scene broke out from within the crowd.

“Who dares to sneak attack me?! Show yourself, coward!!!” As a burly looking boy went through the crowd in search of his assailant, similar scenes broke out in other parts of the crowd, quickly causing the crowd to escalate into chaos.

Meanwhile, Yvette and her group who hid themselves were not the least bit implicated.

“Let’s go.” Behnam ordered as he led the group to stealthily enter the area passing the light screen.

At first, there was no change in their surroundings, but as they got closer, Yvette was the first to notice that there seemed to be traces of beings that are not human.

Cautioning the others, their pace started to slow down.

Suddenly, they heard a roar of a beast from the distance.

With a grim look on his face, Behnam instructed, “Arash, scout ahead.”

Knowing the situation, Arash did not joke around and nodded, scouting ahead as instructed.

After a few minutes passed, Arash returned with a heavy look on his face.

“Around a hundred meters ahead is a group of people fighting a beast around the late Enhancement Stage, we better leave quickly.”

Just as he finished his words, a loud roar came from within the forest.

“Let’s go!” Behnam shouted, hurriedly leading the others away.

Just as Daiyu wanted to follow them, she noticed that Yvette was unmoving. Although she did not understand her intentions, she followed her and stood still behind her mistress, preparing to do her best to fend off any incoming danger.

But before long, a long roar sounded and a silver snake appeared, chasing after them.

“Damn it, a serpent beast, we won’t be able to outrun it!” As he spoke, Behnam stopped running and turned around.

“You guys hurry and run, I’ll- wait, Yvette, what are you doing?!” Shouted Behnam when he noticed them still standing there, wanting to turn around and pull Yvette away from there.

At that moment, the giant serpent slowed down and laid subserviently before Yvette.

As if it was natural, Yvette then stepped onto its head.

Following that, the serpent once again raised its head and turned around, preparing to return deep into the forest.

But before it could, Yvette tapped on its head, pointing towards the others.

Understanding her intentions, the snake also brought the others onto its body and slithered deeper into the forest.

On its body, Behnam and the others sat there in a daze, attempting to process the whole situation.

That is, excluding Daiyu who still focused on accompanying her mistress, conveniently ignoring any other unexplainable situation.

When they finally realized the situation they were in, they chose to obediently stay put on the snake’s body, while Behnam stared at Yvette’s back atop the snake’s head with a complex gaze.

Unfortunately, or fortunately for him, Yvette was wholly focused on another task entirely, failing to notice his gaze.

With each interaction Yvette made with the realm’s core, Yvette slowly managed to understand its intention.

“The true inheritance… is there.” Yvette muttered, looking towards where the center of the forest should be.

As if spurred by her words, the white snake sped up, rapidly slithering through the forest.

But with their increase in speed, they became increasingly noticeable until someone finally noticed Yvette and the others atop of its body.

“Someone’s riding the white serpent?”

“Impossible, it’s at least at the late enhancement stage, how could anyone under the late qi condensing stage subdue it?”

“They definitely know some secret, capture them and make them spill it!”

Shortly after those words, numerous people appeared and obstructed the white serpent’s path.

Even with its strength, the white serpent still needed to be wary against numerous opponents.

But without giving it a chance to make a move, Yvette took out her pair of fans and waved it up to the air, causing the numerous blades on it to detach and fly away with the guidance of her qi.

Before the assailants could react, a rain of blades fell upon them, causing screams to sound out all around.

Those who were fortunately out of range from the blades were struck in fear.

Yet before they could get away, the blades again flew up and regathered into a cluster before raining down onto them once more, causing more people to cry and scream in pain.

But Yvette was apathetic to them all and once again waved her fan, causing all the blades to once again regather in preparation of another attack.

Right as she was about to once again cause the blades to rain down, she felt a hand holding onto her shoulder.

“That’s enough Yvette.”

Hearing Behnam’s voice, Yvette’s hand froze before pulling back, returning the blades into her fan.

As she turned around, Behnam was about to reproach her. But as his gaze met with her apathetic eyes, his words were stuck in his throat, not knowing what to say under her gaze which seemed to view everything beneath it.

By the time he realized, Yvette had already looked away, seeming to be staring forward blankly.

Not knowing what to do, Behnam hesitantly walked away from the head of the serpent.

Unbeknownst to him, Yvette was not as calm as she seemed.

When Behnam stopped her from attacking, she came to truly realize what she had lost in exchange for her reforged soul.

But it was not enough to stop her, nor would she let it.

For there was something for her to strive for. One which kept her going. A fuel for her now unfeeling self.

As those thoughts came to her mind, her soul, which was dim and weak from the sudden cleansing once again burned steadily.

Had she failed to pass through the trial and unable to reignite her soul, she would have turned into an unfeeling doll, one who had lost its way in life, no better than a dead person.

As she silently went through those changes, Behnam met up with Arash and Saba.

Noticing how down he looked, Saba was about to go and console him. But before she could, Arash pulled Behnam towards them and whispered with a serious expression.

“We’re being followed.”

Hearing his words, they both turned serious.

“How many are there?” Behnam asked in a whisper.

“From what I found, at least a dozen of them.”

Those words caused Behnam to knit his brows in contemplation as he looked at Yvette who still seemed to be out of it.

In the end, he came to a decision.

“I will take care of them as silently as possible, you two cover for me.”

Then, without waiting for their words, he leapt away into the surrounding forest.

Seeing him leave, Arash turned to Saba with a weird look on his face.

“Since when can he fight without making a-“

*BOOM*

“ruckus…”

The moment they both heard the sound of explosion, they knew Behnam had already started his fight.

With a resigned sigh, they both armed themselves and started to intercept anyone going after, or escaping Behnam.

During that time, Yvette did not even notice what was happening, being too focused on the changes inside her.

By the time she came to her senses, she was already deep inside the forest, where nothing but the sound of leaves rustling and wind blowing could be heard.

The white serpent had already departed since who knows when, and she found that there was no one else aside from her, not even Daiyu.

Before she even had the time to think, her heart throbbed as she felt something calling out to her from the depths of the forest.

The sensation was so irresistible that without even realizing it, she had already taken a step into the forest.

She felt no sense of danger.

…

“Something’s wrong.”

Muttering those words, Behnam stopped chasing after their assailant and observed his surroundings.

“Since you said it, something must really be wrong.” Arash said as he jumped down from a tree with his bow in hand.

“A trap?” Saba thought aloud as she silently appeared.

“No, it’s just… where’s Yvette?” Following his words, silence surrounded them before the sound of clashing metals came to interrupt.

Looking at the source, the group saw Daiyu clashing against a group of people is cloaks.

Based on what they could see, Daiyu was at a clear disadvantage in terms of skill, power and experience. But from time to time, they could see a white silhouette coming to her assist whenever her life was in danger before continuing to attack the people in cloaks.

Not willing to stand around doing nothing, Behnam charged in, throwing his fist right at the back of the nearest enemy.

Caught off guard, the enemy reflexively raised his arm to guard his vitals. But the moment the fist came into contact with the enemy, he was instantly blown away, catching the attention of the others.

“Surround them!” Following his shout, Behnam charged into the fray, fists raised.

In the end, they managed to capture all their attackers with their numbers and the assistance of the white serpent.

“Where’s Yvette?” Behnam suddenly inquired after the last of the attackers were bound.

Shaking her head, Daiyu answered, “Mistress has already arrived at her destination, we can only wait.”

Realizing that they were forced to wait once again, Behnam sighed and turned to look at the robed men.

“Who are you all? I don’t think I saw anyone as suspicious as you guys before.”

At his words, they all suddenly let out a chilling laugh. His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, Behnam approached them, prepared to interrogate them. But then, one of them suddenly spoke up.

“Too late, you’re all doomed, we’re all doomed!”

Seeing the madness in his eyes, Behnam was about to question him further when sounds of explosion came from the distance, causing everyone’s expression to turn bad.

Running out of patience, Behnam grabbed one of them and raised them by their necks.

“Explain, now!” He growled.

“Hehe… We’ve placed engraved explosion seals all over the hidden realm, and it’s not just some normal ones, we powered them with highest grade of beast cores and they’re going to go off any minute now. There is nothing any of you can do about it!” By the end of his explanation, the man started to laugh maddeningly, seemingly to revel on their despair.

“Shut up!” Behnam shouted, knocking out the laughing man.

He then turned and looked towards the others with a dark look on his face.

“If what he said is true, we need to hurry and evacuate. I’ll go search for Yvette, you all try to find a way for us to get out.”

“There is no need.” Just as Behnam finished speaking, a voice came from behind him.

Turning around, Behnam saw the silhouette of a person coming out of the forest “Yvette?” He exclaimed, approaching her.

“The explosion runes will go off in minutes, but I am able to send you all out.” Yvette said.

But as they became relieved, Daiyu suddenly asked, “My lady, you only spoke of us, what about you?”

Hearing her question, Behnam jolted and stared at Yvette.

In the end, she could only confess, “I will not be leaving, nor could I do so even if I wish to. But I will be safe, I assure you.”

It was because she held a few more things to do here, and also to make sure that the realm would send out everyone out, but she chose to keep those reasons to herself.

Just as the others were about to talk her out of it, Yvette suddenly turned to look at the distance.

“We are out of time.” She muttered and waved her hand, causing the space all over the realm to tremble.

Looking at Behnam, she smiled and said, “Tell mother and father that I will be safe and return another time.”

But Behnam who was starting to get ejected out of the realm with the others noticed how empty her expression was, just like how she was earlier today.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he felt his body being pushed away heavily, causing him to instantly black out. The same thing occurred to all other people within the realm.

As everyone disappeared, silence blanketed to realm. But it was not for long.

*BOOM*

From one corner of the realm, an explosion swallowed the area, soon followed by the next and those after.

*BOOM*

*BOOMBOOMBOOM*

In the end, the explosions finally reached the center of the realm, where Yvette stood.

But she who stood there apathetically did not put it to her notice. Instead, there was only one thought in her mind as she stared at where Daiyu and the others were.

‘Be safe…’

Then, she was swallowed by the final explosion.