Emperor of the Source

Hestia looked at Adrian for a quiet moment after hearing his words, the faint amusement in her eyes softening into something warmer and heavier.

She had seen many rulers in her life, many elders who justified cruelty in the name of necessity, many sect leaders who claimed survival while secretly feeding their pride or greed. Adrian was different.

His words were cold, but the reason behind them was clear. He was not trying to become a tyrant. He was trying to make sure the people who had trusted him would never again be placed at the mercy of enemies who smiled while preparing their deaths.

"That is exactly what makes you both dangerous and reassuring, Adrian," she said quietly. "You can be terrifyingly ruthless to those who threaten your people, yet the same ruthlessness is also the reason everyone standing behind you can live without fear."

Hestia studied him again, and the corner of her mouth curved slightly as her eyes moved from his face to the torn, blood-soaked state of his robes. "We can deal with these matters later," she said, her voice returning to a lighter tone. "For now, are you planning to continue roaming around the Crimson Spire dressed like someone dragged you out of a battlefield grave?"

Adrian looked down at himself, and only then did he properly register the condition of his clothes. His body had healed long ago through his own spell, but he had not cared about his clothing at all. In the middle of a war, ascension, willforce exhaustion, and the possibility of Major Sect attention, bloodied robes had simply not entered his priorities.

He gave a small sigh and snapped his fingers.

For a single second, his newly fused crimson-green domain flickered around him, not expanding aggressively but just enough to wrap around his body. He issued a simple, direct command. The torn fabric repaired itself instantly. The dried blood vanished from the robes, the scorch marks faded, the sliced edges sealed together, and even the faint stains left across his skin and hair disappeared as if they had never existed. In the next breath, Adrian stood before her in clean crimson robes, his appearance restored.

Hestia watched the entire thing with a faintly raised brow. "Using authority to fix your clothes?"

"It was efficient," Adrian replied without shame.

"It was excessive," Hestia countered, though her smile widened slightly as she stepped closer. She reached toward his chest and smoothed a crease in the newly repaired fabric with her fingertips, her touch lingering for a moment longer than necessary. "But I suppose after watching you use a single word to silence half a battlefield, I should not be surprised that even your laundry requires reality to obey."

Adrian looked down at her hand, then back at her face.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Hestia stood close enough that Adrian could feel the calm warmth of her aura, and the space between them carried something neither of them had fully named yet.

Hestia's lips curved slightly as she withdrew her hand, though she did not step far away. "Do not look at me like that, Adrian. I still have many questions for you."

"That sounds dangerous."

"It should," Hestia replied, and her gaze sharpened with sudden intent. "So what is this Origin Sect about? Are you planning to run away from the Crimson Vital Sect?"

Adrian blinked once, then narrowed his eyes slightly. "Did Octaven say that to you? And when did I ever say I was going to run away from here? This is my home now."

Hestia did not look satisfied with the answer. "Then what is the Origin Sect? Tell me properly, Adrian."

Adrian looked at her for a second, then sighed faintly. "You are quite demanding."

"I think I have earned the right to be demanding," Hestia said as she stared at him.

"All right," he said, raising one hand in surrender. "I am not leaving the Crimson Vital Sect, Hestia. For the Origin Sect I created, I have a different plan."

His expression became more serious as he continued, "You already know better than me that this entire universe is under the Great Sects in one way or another. From the UNI-OS that everyone uses daily to the Boundless Mana Body Art that almost every cultivator relies on, even the structures that define trade, identity, communication, contracts, and information flow all came from them."

"In essence, they control us in ways most cultivators do not even think about because those systems have become part of normal life. But that control can turn against us and our people at any time. So tell me honestly, do you not want to break free from that? Do you not want to make our sect a Great Sect one day?

Hestia's expression became more serious. "Yes," she admitted. "I have thought about these things, and I do want to make the Crimson Vital Sect a Great Sect. But what does that have to do with the Origin Sect? Do not try to redirect the conversation, Adrian."

"I am not redirecting it," Adrian replied, glancing at her. "Listen first. You want to make the Crimson Vital Sect a Great Sect, and maybe with both of us, we can push it forward much faster. But do you think that path would be easy?"

Hestia was silent for a moment, then answered honestly. "It would be hard. Extremely hard. It could take billions of years, and even then, there would be no guarantee."

"Actually," Adrian said, "I think it is impossible if we try to do it openly through the Crimson Vital Sect alone."

Hestia frowned, "Impossible? Why?"

"Think about it carefully," Adrian said. "The universe is under the control of the Great Sects. Do you think they would allow another Great Sect to appear that easily? No matter how talented we are, no matter how many resources we gather, we would be rising inside a system they already own. They essentially have all our data. They know our histories, our transactions, our communication patterns, our sect members, our public divine concepts, our affiliations, and probably more than we can even guess."

"Even if we pushed ourselves to the level of a Great Sect, we would be at a disadvantage from the very beginning because our enemies would know far too much about us while we would know almost nothing about them. Information is everything, and compared to the Great Sects, we have none."

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Hestia understood the logic. Her entire life as a sect leader had taught her the value of intelligence, preparation, hidden resources, and controlled information. Strength mattered, but strength without information could be lured, isolated, and destroyed.

"That may be true for others," she said slowly, "but do you not have connections to a Great Sect? You have an ultimate-tier divine concept, and even the people you brought from your galaxy said that your home galaxy has structures from a Great Sect. If that sect helped us, would the situation not change?"

This was the first time Hestia had asked him so directly about his background and connections. Until now, she had sensed the boundaries around that topic and had not pushed. But their relationship had changed since then, and now she could ask without making it feel like an interrogation.

Adrian considered his answer carefully. He did not want to reveal the truth of the Source, not yet, not even to her fully, because the Source was not simply an ultimate-tier divine concept. But what Hestia said was not wrong. In a way, he did have a connection to the Void Sect, or at least to the territory and protection of the Void Sect through the Milky Way.

"My ultimate-tier divine concept has nothing to do with any Great Sect," Adrian said, choosing his words carefully. "But yes, you can say I am connected to a Great Sect. The galaxy I come from has structures belonging to a Great Sect, and it exists under the protection of that sect. So in that sense, I was born and raised inside the territory of a Great Sect. But that will not help us in the way you are thinking, Hestia. I rejected the chance to join that sect."

Hestia's brows lifted in genuine surprise. "You rejected it? Why would you reject joining a Great Sect?"

"They wanted to recruit me," Adrian said. "Only me. I do not want to walk forward alone while leaving my people behind."

"Actually, thinking about it now, even if they had offered me the chance to join with all my people, I still would not want to accept so easily."

"Joining a Great Sect sounds wonderful from the outside. The resources, the protection, the knowledge, the training, the prestige, all of it is real. But it comes with a price. Because it is the same logic as before. If I joined them, even with my people, I would be under them. Controlled by them. Their systems, their elders, their politics, their contracts, their enemies, their expectations. It would be the same cage, just made of more expensive materials."

"If we enter without enough strength, anything can happen to us. Maybe they treat us well at first. Maybe they truly value us. But what happens if internal factions fight over us? What happens if one elder wants to control the people connected to me? What happens if someone decides that the safest way to own my future is to bind everything I care about? Only absolute strength can guarantee protection, Hestia. Everything else is a promise that can be broken by someone stronger."

Hestia's expression slowly changed as she considered his words. In a way, he was right. If she herself joined a Great Sect, even if they offered to take the entire Crimson Vital Sect with her, there would be no absolute guarantee of protection.

Her current sect was something she had shaped with care, keeping internal conflicts and politics from poisoning its foundation as much as possible. But other sects were not like this. Great Sects were ancient, vast, and undoubtedly filled with internal factions, hidden struggles, and old monsters who treated weaker people as pieces on a board. If she brought her people into such a place without the strength to protect them herself, the situation could become worse than remaining outside.

Adrian saw her understanding and continued. "This is where the Origin Sect comes in. The Crimson Vital Sect is already a public face. Our people are here, our home is here, our history is here, and now the galaxy knows us. If we blindly try to push the Crimson Vital Sect into becoming a Great Sect while standing fully in the open, there is no way we can succeed."

"So I plan to make the Origin Sect a mysterious organization. No one would know whether the Origin Sect is a minor, major, or Great Sect. No one would know where it is based, who its disciples are, or how many people it has. There would be no proper data of the Origin Sect within the UNI-OS. Essentially, even the Great Sects would not have reliable information about it."

Hestia's eyes sharpened with interest despite herself. "A hidden power operating outside the normal information structure."

"Yes," Adrian replied. "And because of that, it opens doors that a publicly known sect cannot use safely. For example, the willforce artifacts. Think about it. Those alone could make us famous across countless galaxies. If we experiment further with willforce and build proper systems around it, that path could push us toward becoming a Major Sect or even lay the foundation for a Great Sect."

"But if we do this under the name of the Crimson Vital Sect, every decision becomes dangerous. We have to worry about consequences, retaliation, spies, assassinations, political pressure, and attacks on our people. We are already worrying about Major Sect envoys possibly coming soon because of the chime and our ascension. Imagine adding a revolutionary willforce artifact market on top of that."

Hestia's gaze sharpened further. The mention of the willforce artifacts struck directly at the heart of the issue. Adrian had already created a willforce recovery ring that had caused a Major Sect envoy to appear at an auction. If such a product became widely known as something the Crimson Vital Sect could produce, the consequences would not be simple. Wealth would come, yes, but so would greed, coercion, espionage, and war.

"If the willforce artifact appeared as a product of the Origin Sect instead," Adrian said, "then no one would know where to strike. A mysterious organization with no confirmed location, no registered disciples, no clear hierarchy, and no public dependency on any specific galaxy can act with far more freedom."

"More importantly, the willforce artifact is only one product. I have many plans, Hestia. Too many to carry out safely while constantly worrying that every innovation will bring danger to our disciples. The Origin Sect gives me a place to move without placing all consequences directly upon the Crimson Vital Sect."

Hestia studied him carefully. "And Octaven and Kaelar?"

"They are part of that beginning," Adrian said. "Virelith gave us territory outside Andromeda, people who were already hidden from most of the current political structure, and leaders who are loyal to me personally. The Origin Sect can grow through such places. Quietly. Patiently. It can gather knowledge, resources, techniques, researchers, hidden disciples, and production lines without exposing our public home."

For a while, Hestia said nothing. Her gaze drifted toward the windows, beyond which the Crimson Spire stood bathed in the glow of a new era. She was not worried anymore. The edge in her expression had faded, replaced by deep contemplation. Adrian had not created the Origin Sect to abandon Crimson Vital. He had created it to protect what Crimson Vital could not afford to risk openly.

"You really do think far ahead," Hestia said at last.

"I try to," Adrian replied. "One day, when the Origin Sect reveals itself publicly, it will not be begging for recognition. It will be the birth of a new Great Sect within the universe, one strong enough to stand even against the UNI-Sect."

The chamber fell silent after those words. It was an ambition so vast that most cultivators would not even dare dream it, let alone speak it aloud. The UNI-Sect was not merely a sect. It was one of the pillars of the known universe, tied to the systems that shaped civilization itself. To say that the Origin Sect would one day stand against it was madness by any normal measure.

But Hestia believed him. She placed her hand over his chest. Her expression was calm, but her eyes carried something fierce. "Then do not speak of it as your plan alone," she said. "If this is the path you are walking, then I will walk it with you. Crimson Vital Sect, Origin Sect, Andromeda, Virelith, whatever name we use and whatever mask we wear, our people must survive first. After that, we can start thinking about making the universe kneel."

Adrian looked at her, and the tension he had not realized he was holding eased slightly. "That sounds a little ambitious for an alchemy sect leader."

Hestia's smile returned, "I am an Astral Stage alchemy sect leader now. I believe I am allowed to be unreasonable."

Adrian chuckled softly, and for a moment, the future no longer felt like a storm waiting to consume them. It felt like a battlefield they had chosen to enter together.