Emperor of the Source

Around eighty years passed within the time formation since its initial establishment.

Hestia, Lara, and Lysandra walked together through the inner-zone base, discussing their final strategic preparations for the impending war with the Everlasting Pill Sect.

In the outside world, around twenty days had passed. Even though they expected an attack only after an entire month, which in a sense they would have a total of one hundred and twenty years of time within the time formation, one could never guarantee that no attacks or moves would happen for an entire month. Anything could happen at any moment, and they had to be prepared if something unexpected happened.

As they moved, they analyzed the current state of the Crimson Vital Sect before them. The difference was truly staggering.

Disciples filled the training grounds in organized formations, their divine domains flickering like distant stars as they practiced coordinated techniques. The sounds of combat echoed from multiple arenas: the clash of weapons, the hum of authority techniques bending reality, the controlled detonations of divine spells contained within reinforced barriers.

Not a single disciple remained at the Early Rule Stage. Every disciple had reached at least the Mid Rule Stage, and these were not recent ascensions. They had spent decades stabilizing their power, refining their authority, and developing their combat capabilities in the Mid Rule Stage. Their foundations were solid, their control precise, and their growth steady.

Lara observed a group of younger disciples executing a complex multi-layered attack pattern involving multiple layers of authority techniques, their movements synchronized through years of training together. "Remember, Master? When most of them struggled to maintain a basic authority technique for more than a few minutes?"

Hestia smiled faintly, "Yeah. They have truly improved quite well…"

The growth did not end there.

As they continued walking, they passed a training area where over a thousand disciples at the High Rule Stage were training under the guidance of Elder Torvain and Adrian. These were former core disciples who had already spent thousands of years at the Mid Rule Stage. With their enhanced comprehension, their ascension to the High Rule Stage had been swift, and according to the sect's new rules, they didn't try to ascend further; rather, they spent time focusing their newfound power.

In any minor sect, High Rule Stage cultivators were considered elder-level powerhouses. Most of the upper minor sects usually would have only a few dozen Elder figures.

Hestia's gaze swept across the assembled cultivators, her expression unreadable. "One thousand and forty-three High Rule Stage disciples…"

Even the four strongest sects within the Andromeda Galaxy possessed only a few hundred such individuals. Yet here, the Crimson Vital Sect had already surpassed one thousand.

And beyond them, the original elders themselves were approaching new heights. Figures such as Lara, Maelis, Varcain, and others who had long resided at the High Rule Stage were now nearing the Peak Rule Stage. With a little more time, their breakthrough seemed inevitable.

Hestia herself stood in a similar position. Having the same enhancement on comprehension, she spent her free time cultivating the divine concept, Verdant Genesis. She also didn't need to pause her comprehension like the other disciples. She already reached the Peak Rule Stage through one divine concept and knew how to control authority stably.

Her progress on Verdant Genesis already stood at High Rule Stage. The only wall that was stopping her now was the absence of an Ultimate-Level divine spell for Verdant Genesis. Without it, the only path forward was to deepen her understanding of the divine concept herself, refining it through experience and insight.

The upcoming war could play a huge role in it. With one final push, one moment of clarity, she could soon cross into territory that no one in this galaxy had ever reached.

The scale of this transformation was unprecedented.

What made the four strongest sects within the Andromeda Galaxy powerhouses? It was the number of Peak Rule Stage beings they had under them. Only after strength, things like one's business specialization, market index, and everything else followed. Strength was the foundation for everything. And now, the Crimson Vital Sect had evolved into a state where it was going to become a true powerhouse within the Andromeda Galaxy.

As the three women continued their walk, their attention was drawn to a figure in the distance. Adrian stood among a group of disciples, personally tending to an injured cultivator, his actions calm, his presence gentle in a way that contrasted sharply with the overwhelming power he possessed.

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The disciple, a young woman named Faera, had overtaxed her willforce attempting a technique beyond her current mastery. She sat on the ground, trembling, her face pale with exhaustion.

Adrian knelt beside her, his hand resting lightly on her shoulder. "Breathe. Don't fight the recovery process."

Emerald mist flowed from his palm, wrapping around Faera's body. The healing wasn't just physical; it soothed the fragmentation in her consciousness and accelerated the reassembly of her scattered willforce. He was silently casting his willforce recovery spell combined with the healing spell without anyone noticing it.

"I'm sorry, Elder Adrian," Faera whispered. "I thought I could handle it."

"It's alright. Everyone has once crossed the same issue you are facing, just relax for now." Adrian said, his tone neither harsh nor condescending.

He helped her to her feet once the healing completed. "Rest for the remainder of today. Tomorrow, we'll work on refining your technique properly."

Faera bowed deeply, gratitude evident in every line of her posture, "Thank you, Elder." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Adrian nodded and turned to the next disciple who needed guidance.

Seeing this, Lara smiled warmly. "Elder Adrian is the kindest soul I have ever seen."

Her voice held genuine admiration. Over the decades, she had watched Adrian work tirelessly, never once placing himself above the disciples, never treating them as tools for war. He knew their names, their struggles, their dreams.

Hestia nodded in agreement, her expression reflecting the same sentiment. She recalled a conversation from years ago, when a disciple had broken down in tears after failing to execute a technique properly. Adrian had sat with him for hours, patiently explaining each step, rebuilding the young man's shattered confidence piece by piece.

As Lysandra heard this, she suddenly stopped walking. A quiet, knowing laugh escaped her lips as she looked at the two of them.

The sound was soft, almost melancholic, carrying layers of meaning that neither Hestia nor Lara immediately understood.

Lara turned, slightly puzzled. "Why are you laughing? Do I sound like I'm joking?"

Her brow furrowed. She had spoken from the heart, expressing something she genuinely believed. The mockery, if that's what Lysandra's laugh implied, felt unexpected, almost insulting.

Lysandra shook her head lightly. "No… not at all. It's just that… you don't realize it."

Her expression softened slightly, though there was a depth to her gaze that hinted at something far beyond what Lara and Hestia had seen.

"Realize what?" Hestia asked.

Lysandra didn't answer immediately. Her eyes remained fixed on Adrian, who was now demonstrating a proper authority technique execution to another group of disciples, his movements precise and controlled.

Adrian may look like this now, but she had witnessed a different side of Adrian.

There had been a time when she had stood opposite Adrian. Her empire, Lexaria, held a monopoly over knowledge, a position of absolute dominance in that field for thousands of years. Even the Demon Emperor himself couldn't do anything to her empire.

Knowledge was power. That truth had sustained Lexaria's supremacy across millennia in the Milky Way galaxy.

And such a monopoly had been dismantled by Adrian through the introduction of knowledge spheres. Then, he had moved further, establishing the Origin Net and shattering another system of control, the Galactic Net, under the control of Lexaria.

More importantly, she had seen him in war, seen him erase entire demon armies, annihilate the Aethelian Empire, and drag its emperor across the galaxy.

She still remembered the day when she and the other rulers tried to stop Adrian from dragging the Aethelian Emperor through the galaxy. At that time, the action of Adrian casually throwing away the head of Arcton, an ancient being that even the rulers themselves didn't dare to cross against, was a scene still etched in her mind.

In those moments, Adrian had not appeared kind. Lysandra had even once felt Adrian was the true Demon Emperor rather than the actual Demon Emperor.

He had appeared so terrifying back then.

The way his presence had filled the void, the absolute certainty in his movements, the complete absence of hesitation when he decided someone needed to die, those were not the actions of a gentle soul.

They were the actions of something far more dangerous.

"The kindest heart," Lysandra continued slowly, her voice barely above a whisper, "often hides the fiercest side."

Hearing that, Hestia and Lara were taken aback for a moment.

Lara's smile faded entirely, "You're saying Elder Adrian is… dangerous?"

"I'm saying," Lysandra corrected, "that kindness and danger are not opposites. Sometimes they exist in the same person, and that person is far more terrifying than someone who is simply cruel."

Hestia found herself recalling moments from the past, words Adrian had spoken when he first arrived, his unwavering stance in protecting his people, his declaration to destroy even the Crimson Vital Sect if anything happened to his people. At the time, those had been words. They had never seen him act on that level of intensity.

Lara, too, even back in the Azure Garden expedition, didn't witness a fierce side from Adrian. She saw how experienced he was, his intelligence, his unexplainable powers, like the energy form he took, but that was it. The more time she spent with Adrian, the more she noticed his calm, patient, and selfless nature.

"I've never seen him angry," Lara admitted. "Not once."

"That's because nothing has pushed him to that point, yet," Lysandra replied.

They had never witnessed the other side.

Lysandra's gaze remained fixed ahead as she spoke her final words, "When the enemy inevitably forces him to reveal that side… you will be very, very glad that you are not standing against him."

The silence that followed was profound.

Hestia felt a chill run through her from the sudden realization of what the coming war might truly unleash. She knew the kind of power he held and had planned strategies around Adrian's strength, his abilities, his willingness to fight.

But she had not planned around what would happen if someone genuinely hurt the people he cared about.