Inside the collapsing ruins, amid Old Lei’s hysterical laughter, something slithered from the dark rift. It moved with sinister composure, crawling out like a colossus—a reptilian monstrosity whose endless, massive body seemed to coil without end.
The inner core of the six-story castle had long since caved in. Standing within that hollowed crater, anyone would feel crushed by their own insignificance.
The creature’s crimson eyes remained locked onto Qiu Fa, gleaming with cunning and ravenous hunger. Within the rolling black fog, its maw parted, forming a demonic, mocking grin.
Qiu Fa kept his gaze fixed on the beast, slowly stepping back until he cleared the castle gates.
The moment he emerged into the open, military satellites locked onto his position. Inside the Central Command Building, the giant monitor flashed, revealing his figure once more. Everyone in the war room rose to their feet.
“Wait—is there something else inside the castle?”
Squeezed from within, the ancient structure groaned in agony. Concrete split, steel rebar snapped, and dust exploded from every seam. Glass shattered into fine mist. A grand stronghold with a thousand rooms and a thousand years of history cracked open like a fragile eggshell.
In seconds, the castle collapsed into mountain of rubble.
The heavy rain washed away the dust, revealing a staggering shadow rising from the ruins.
It was a hideous sight—a snake-like colossus with four muscular limbs and grotesque fleshy lumps crowning its head. Thick, foul black mist wrapped around its coiled form like a living shroud. Nestled atop the debris like a mountain, its crimson eyes burned with pure malice.
Beside it, Qiu Fa looked like an ant beside an elephant.
The sight on the satellite feed choked the air from the room. Primal terror, hardwired into human instincts at the sight of apex predators, gripped everyone present.
“What… what is that thing?”
“Is that an Atavist? Has someone entered a complete Atavist form?”
“No way. No Atavist form has ever reached a size like that!”
Atavists could shift between human and animal forms, but physical size directly correlated with Atavist energy reserves. Just as a child needed nourishment to grow into an adult, an Atavist required massive energy density to sustain a colossal form.
Size equaled raw power.
“The top-ranked Atavist from the neighboring country—the one Qiu Fa defeated when he lost his mind—was only half that size at his absolute peak!”
In an instant, the Information Broker’s prophecy flashed through their minds. Suddenly, that warning carried terrifying weight. Judging by sheer scale, Qiu Fa stood no chance.
“Are they trying to trigger a second Cosmic Convergence?”
The realization chilled the room to silence. Cold sweat drenched the backs of officials and generals alike.
“They wouldn’t… Are they insane?!”
“They’ve always been insane!”
“Everything connects now!”
“Have they forgotten what humanity endured during the Cosmic Convergence?!”
No history book was needed to imagine the horror. When humanity tumbled from the top of the food chain, ancient monstrosities turned people into livestock, slave labor, and meat.
The revered Four Sacred Beasts—the Dragon, Tiger, Phoenix, and Black Tortoise—were merely idealized myths created by desperate survivors millennia ago to worship raw power.
“Is Qiu Fa fighting a beast with a hundred percent Atavist purity?”
“Did the Qiu Family face a monster like this twenty-three years ago?”
“Wait! Chief Qiu won’t necessarily lose! He survived when he was five! Besides, does a beast like that possess intelligence? Human intellect is our greatest weapon!”
Hope flickered back into their eyes. True enough, Qiu Fa had survived as a five-year-old child. Now that he was stronger and mature, he might stand his ground. Mass did not equal intellect, and human cunning had carried civilization through the darkest ages.
Invisibility.
The word flashed in Qiu Fa’s mind right as the monster vanished from sight.
Super Speed.
Another warning echoed in his thoughts. A massive shadow dropped from the sky, sharp claws cutting the air to shred him. Qiu Fa leaped back, but a third warning struck his mind—Instant Precognition.
BOOM!
He dodged the first swipe, only to land right beneath a second claw waiting in ambush. The razor-sharp talons slammed down, driving him deep into the earth. Dust exploded outward as the ground cracked and caved in.
Black fog gathered around the invisible beast, wrapping it in a dark cloak. Its crimson eyes narrowed into a cruel, greedy sneer as its massive foot ground heavily into the dirt.
Inside the Central Command Building, officials watched the screen in stunned silence. The sheer, overwhelming force was terrifying.
The beast possessed not only mountain-like size, but also high-tier Atavist abilities. Magic-type abilities were notoriously harder to counter than physical strength. A warrior who relied solely on brute force often met a grim end against unpredictable magic.
Now, they faced a nightmare that possessed both absolute physical dominance and magical abilities.
Worse, the beast’s deliberate stomping proved it possessed cruel intelligence.
“Hahaha! Qiu Fa! Did you really think surviving at age five meant you could survive today?!” Old Lei’s ecstatic roars echoed from a safe distance. He stared at the monster with fanatical devotion. “Lord Serpent didn’t even fully emerge back then! Thanks to our incompetence, it could only push two claws and its head through the rift. How else do you think that hollow crater inside the castle was made?!”
“Just two claws slaughtered the entire Qiu Family! What divine power!”
“Five hundred years of waiting!” On a private broadcast channel, the Host declared with equal euphoria. “Our great vision is finally coming to fruition!”
“The world will reset!”
“A era of divine strength will be born!”
“The true gods shall walk the earth!”
“And Qiu Fa will be the first sacrifice of this new dawn!”
Suddenly, the monster’s expression flickered. It looked down at its foot, feeling the immense weight beneath it shift. Its eyes narrowed as it pressed down with all its strength, only to be pushed back up.
The man beneath its claw was far from dead. Instead, he was slowly raising the creature’s crushing leg.
Watching the screen, everyone held their breath, their hearts in their throats.
What kind of monster was Qiu Fa? How many tons of lifting power resided in those arms? Ten thousand tons? A million?!
The beast realized its prey was far more dangerous than expected. Dropping its maw, it lunged down to bite him. Sensing Qiu Fa’s next move through precognition, it attempted to pull its leg back to hide.
It moved super fast, but it was still just a bit too late.
A flash of white tiger claws sliced through the dark like lightning. Before the monster could pull its leg away, Qiu Fa severed the limb cleanly, reversed his grip, and jammed the severed leg straight into the beast’s gaping mouth!
“Eat up.” Qiu Fa kicked upward, sending a surge of Atavist energy exploding through his muscles. The severed foot lodged deep into the monster’s throat.
The creature’s agonized roar choked in its gullet. Its crimson eyes widened in fury.
Qiu Fa landed lightly on the muddy ground, breathing softly. Wiping blood from his cheek, he stared at the beast with a cold, expressionless gaze. “It seems we really did fight when I was little. But back then, I was small, and you couldn’t exert your full strength. Now, let’s see who is the actual hunter.”
Enraged, the monster launched a frantic assault.
Invisibility, super speed, precognition, and overwhelming physical power tore through the battlefield. Rocks shattered, and the earth trembled violently.
Yet Qiu Fa moved even faster—a blur impossible for the naked eye to track. Only the sudden gleam of the Tribunal Division emblem on his chest marked his path. To onlookers, the giant monster seemed to be beaten senseless by flashes of light.
What’s the point of being invisible? Qiu Fa’s Atavist energy spread out like a radar you couldn’t escape. As soon as the creature got close, his senses locked onto it. What’s the use of seeing the future? Qiu Fa was so fast that warnings didn’t matter. Out of ten attacks, the beast only managed to block two before taking seven or eight hard hits.
In the organization’s war room, the executives’ triumphant smiles froze.
Meanwhile, inside the Central Command Building, shouts of relief and excitement erupted across the hall.
“As expected of our strongest warrior!”
“Outstanding!”
“Kill that monster! Kill it!”
Only the President’s expression grew heavier.
Was it really this simple? If it were truly this easy, why had the Information Broker prophesied Qiu Fa’s death tonight?
At that moment, a secure line rang.
“General, the villages surrounding the Qiu Estate are completely deserted,” an officer reported. “We swept every settlement. Not a single soul is in sight.”
“Qiu Fa!” Old Lei’s enraged voice boomed from afar. “Look at what I have here!”
Qiu Fa glanced over, his expression instantly hardening.
Old Lei held a strange cage glowing with sinister energy—an Atavist artifact.
Inside the cage sat thousands of shrunken humans, packed tightly like grains of rice.
“Old Lei! What is the meaning of this?!”
“What’s going on?!”
“What did you do to us?!”
The captives were the villagers from the surrounding settlements. Shrunken and trapped, they cried out in panic and confusion.
They had been called to gather at the ancestral hall earlier that evening under the guise of an update regarding Qiu Fa. Because it concerned the Qiu Family, everyone had attended. None of them expected to wake up trapped inside a cage.
“Is… is that the Little Young Master?”
“Where?! Where is he?!”
Gradually, some of the villagers spotted Qiu Fa standing in the distance.
“Qiu Fa! If you don’t want them to die, surrender now and offer your life!” Old Lei yelled. “Back then, your clan died to protect these people! Are you going to stand by and watch them perish after your family gave everything for them?!”
Staring at the cage, the final missing piece of Qiu Fa’s childhood memory surfaced from the depths of his mind.
Twenty-three years ago, on his fifth birthday, uninvited guests had crashed the family banquet.
“We have admired the God of War White Tiger for years,” dangerous strangers had announced with sneering smiles, pushing several massive gift boxes forward. “We heard the young master is a once-in-a-millennium genius, so we brought congratulations.”
The Qiu Estate was not a place just anyone could enter. The birthday banquet had been strictly private.
They were promptly ordered to leave.
“Is that so? Rejecting our goodwill isn’t very polite, Patriarch Qiu, Madam Wang. Take a look at this before making your decision.” The lead intruder pulled out a tablet displaying a video feed of someone shaking a small cage. Inside were the familiar faces of the local villagers.
“This artifact is called the ‘Cage of Shrinking Earth.’ It can shrink tens of thousands of people and store them inside.”
Madam Wang—Qiu Fa’s mother—was a dedicated law enforcement officer. Her face paled instantly. “What do you want?!”
“We just want to join the young master’s birthday party and share a glass of fine wine. If you refuse, we’ll have to toss this cage into the ocean. Don’t make any sudden moves. We just want a drink, but if anyone tries to use force, let’s see who is faster.”
At the time, the Qiu Family stood at the pinnacle of the four great clans. They possessed every reason to be proud.
For centuries, the local villagers had treated the Qiu Family as their guardians, sending fresh catches and farm produce out of respect and affection. Even if not every Qiu family member cared deeply for commoners, they viewed the villagers as under their protection. Strangers slaughtering their people was a direct insult to the White Tiger clan.
Thus, the Qiu family restrained themselves, waiting to see what game the intruders were playing.
The uninvited guests exchanged glances. They knew a stealthy approach against the Qiu Family was impossible. Only an overt confrontation would allow their experiment to proceed.
As the heavy gift boxes were pushed forward, the intruders stepped inside, surrounded by elite White Tiger Atavists. The suffocating pressure made their skin crawl, feeling as if they had walked straight into a den of apex predators.
They kept their eyes locked on the adults, never noticing that the guest of honor—the five-year-old birthday boy—had quietly vanished.
Meanwhile, down by the shore.
A dozen organization operatives stood around, idly debating whether to pull a few shrunken villagers from the cage and throw them into the sea for fun.
“We can’t. Old Lei warned us not to.”
“Old Lei is from Lei Village. He has to go back there eventually.”
“There are so many people inside. He won’t notice if one or two go missing. I’m bored, hurry up.” One operative opened the cage latch and reached in.
The next second, his severed arm flew into the air.
Blood spattered across the man holding the cage. The injured operative screamed a moment later.
Before anyone could react, agony exploded through the shore. Blood painted the withered grass crimson. The operative holding the cage couldn’t even see how the attacker moved. In panic, he sprinted toward the water, holding the cage over the waves. “Stop! Or I’ll drop it!”
A small figure materialized before him. With a refined, handsome face and large, striking amber eyes, the child looked like a pampered prince.
“I hate being threatened,” the young prince said softly, his small hands dripping with blood.
Amid a sharp cry, the cage tumbled safely into Qiu Fa’s hands.
Curious, the boy peered inside at the sleeping mini-people. Blinking his amber eyes, he channeled Atavist energy into the cage. The container expanded instantly. Withdrawing his energy, it shrank back down.
“Fun. It’s mine now.” He could use this to catch bluefin tuna in the sea—it could hold dozens at once.
Delighted by the thought of fishing, the young prince released all the villagers onto the sand and stuffed the half-dead operatives into the cage instead. Wagging his fluffy tiger tail—which popped out whenever he was in a good mood—he walked back toward the castle, stepping over bloodstains while calling his parents on his phone.
With the hostages rescued, his family could eliminate the intruders without restraint.
Shortly after Qiu Fa left, Old Lei arrived at the shore with two henchmen. Seeing the blood and the unconscious villagers scattered along the beach, cold sweat drenched his back.
“Quick! Turn on the signal jammer!” Old Lei ordered.
Back on the path, young Qiu Fa frowned at his disconnected phone and broke into a sprint.
At the castle, the Qiu family remained unaware of the boy’s absence, still confronting the intruders.
“If you came to give gifts, open them,” a Qiu family member said coldly, looking down at the intruders. To warriors of their caliber, the enemies’ weak Atavist energy was laughable.
“Of course. Take a look over there. Do you see that tiny point in the air?”
In the middle of the room, a needle-sized bubble hovered in space—like a tiny tear in a transparent curtain.
Suddenly, sharp, terrifying claws jabbed through the tear from the other side, ripping the rift wide open! A suffocating wave of ancient Atavist energy hit them like a tidal wave.
Instinctive terror gripped every person in the room.
“It worked!”
“The experiment succeeded!”
The intruders cheered in fanatical joy. Outside the estate, dozens of organization elites charged into the castle.
Now that the rift was open, the Qiu Family had to be exterminated. No witness could be left alive. On their own, the organization lacked the strength to wipe out the White Tiger clan, but with the dimensional monster on their side, victory was guaranteed.
When young Qiu Fa sprinted back holding the cage, he walked straight into a nightmare of blood and carnage.
The cage slipped from his hands. His wagging tail dropped lifelessly.
“Dad… Mom… Brother…”
Old Lei watched as the young boy’s Atavist energy went berserk. Unleashing terrifying power, the child fought like a possessed demon, tearing victim after victim straight from the monster’s jaws. The extermination plan nearly failed as the dimensional rift began closing, slowly dragging the beast back inside.
Seeing the tide turn, Old Lei stabbed himself in the chest and stumbled into the fray. “Young Master! Save me!”
His two henchmen chased behind him, brandishing bloody blades.
Even though young Qiu Fa was overwhelmed by grief, he still recognized the family steward and immediately stepped in to protect him.
An hour later, the slaughter ended.
Old Lei knelt beside the unconscious boy, pulling a green ribbon from his pocket and tying it around Qiu Fa’s wrist. The child wept silently in his sleep. The pampered prince who had grown up surrounded by love was left broken and alone.
“Forgive me, poor child,” Old Lei whispered. “Blame fate. Our scientists harvested cells from various beasts, but the rift only reacted strongly to White Tiger DNA.”
“It’s a relief you arrived in time,” a surviving operative panted, wiping sweat from his brow. “That kid was terrifying. Should we kill him now?”
“No. He just ‘saved’ my life, and I repay my debts. Besides, future experiments will still require White Tiger Atavists. Keep him alive. With this green ribbon, our people in prison will know he’s reserved for the organization and spare his life.”
“What about his memories?”
“His Atavist energy went berserk, so his mind is shattered anyway. But to be safe, seal his memories completely.”
“The Qiu Family was stupid,” Old Lei sneered, staring at the cage in his hand. “If they hadn’t cared so much about these worthless commoners, they wouldn’t have met their end. And you wouldn’t be standing here today, forced to watch history repeat itself.”
Inside the cage, the shrunken villagers listened to the truth in stunned horror. Twenty-three years ago, they had all woken up on the beach with no memory of what happened. They had never imagined that the downfall of their guardians was caused by a trap set using their lives!
Despair and rage erupted among them. Villagers fell to their knees, weeping bitterly. “Patriarch! Madam!”
“It was because of us… It was all because of us!”
“Lei Zhao! You heartless monster! How could you?!”
“You despicable bastard! May your entire bloodline rot in hell!”
Curses and agonizing cries filled the tiny space. Their faces twisted in hatred, wishing they could tear Old Lei apart with their teeth.
Old Lei’s face darkened. He shook the cage violently. “Shut up! You’re like a swarm of annoying flies!”
The captives tumbled over each other, groaning in pain.
Qiu Fa dodged a swipe from the giant beast, his jaw clenching as veins bulged on his forehead.
“Qiu Fa! Stop fighting, or I’ll crush them all right now!” Old Lei yelled, reaching into the cage to grab a handful of people.
“We made a mistake! We should have stationed forces near Chief Qiu! What do we do now?!” inside the Central Command Building, an officer slammed his fist on the table.
They hadn’t anticipated the villagers being used as hostages.
While Old Lei continued screaming demands for Qiu Fa to surrender, a hand reached across the distance toward him and clenched tightly.
Despite the vast distance and the fact that Qiu Fa lacked spatial magic, Old Lei suddenly felt an invisible grip choke his throat. Panic surged through him—it was Qiu Fa’s Atavist energy! In the middle of a life-or-death battle against a colossal beast, Qiu Fa had extended his energy across the field to seize him!
In the blink of an eye, Old Lei was dragged across the battlefield, his neck clamped firmly in Qiu Fa’s grip. He met a pair of cold, merciless amber eyes.
“Did I mention I hate being threatened?” Qiu Fa said coldly. Snatching the cage from Old Lei’s hand, he tossed the traitor directly into the path of the monster.
Flung before the beast, terror overwhelmed Old Lei’s fanatical devotion. Falling to his knees, he screamed frantically, “Lord Serpent! I am your loyal servant! I willingly submit to you!”
The monster possessed intelligence. Though it didn’t understand human words, it recognized submissive body language.
Its crimson eyes narrowed. Reaching out its long tongue, it wrapped its maw around Old Lei.
Old Lei froze in horror.
The next second, he was pulled into its mouth. Sharp teeth snapped down, eliciting a bloodcurdling scream. “Lord Serpent! AAAAAGH—!”
The intense battle with Qiu Fa had drained the beast’s energy. To regenerate its severed leg and torn scales, it needed sustenance. Old Lei served as a convenient snack.
The screams faded into silence as the monster swallowed him whole. Turning back toward Qiu Fa, it let out a deafening roar.
Qiu Fa leaped back to a safe distance, opening the cage to release the captives. “Run. As far as you can.”
Weeping, the villagers helped each other up and fled as fast as their legs could carry them.
Inside the Central Command Building, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“He’s incredible! Even though that monster is tough, it’s no match for Chief Qiu!”
“If Chief Qiu holds out until our military forces arrive, we can see how much firepower it takes to obliterate that beast.”
Yet the President’s right eye twitched, an uneasy feeling settling in her chest.
It was going too smoothly. Could it really be this simple?
At that moment, Qiu Fa sensed a sudden shift and whipped his head toward the castle ruins. Above the debris, the dark dimensional rift still hovered in midair. Slowly, a second Serpent-Lizard slithered out from the tear.
Then a third, a fourth, followed by a horde of grotesque, elephant-sized beasts pouring endlessly from the void.
The creature had called for reinforcements.
Sirens echoed across the city as armed police vehicles and heavy artillery trucks sped along the highway toward the Qiu Estate.
Hundreds of fighter jets streaked through the night sky. Out at sea, naval warships and submarines converged on the coast.
High above, inside two colliding passenger airships, cries of terror filled the cabins. A dark shadow seemed to smile with triumphant satisfaction.
“Trying to morally blackmail your own mother? Don’t you know I have no moral compass?” Jing Pei sneered coldly.
She didn’t stop for the air disaster. Expressionless, she flew forward in her green dragon form, ignoring the falling airships.
The shadow’s triumphant smile froze.
As the two airships plunged toward the earth, their speed suddenly dropped two hundred meters above the ground, as if supported by an invisible cushion.
A moment later, Jing Pei’s phone rang inside her dragon scales.
She answered, hearing Feng Yilian’s relaxed voice: “Caught them.”
“Pretty fast.”
“It’s rare for Master Long to ask a favor. We couldn’t mess it up, especially for a debt from the Long family,” Feng Yilian laughed before turning serious. “Was this staged?”
Jing Pei replied, “More or less. I’ll leave the rest to you. I have to reach my destination.”
Days earlier, Jing Pei had contacted Feng Yilian.
“For the next few days, I need you to tail me.”
“What?” Feng Yilian had asked in surprise.
“Not just you. Contact as many people as you can to follow me.”
Feng Yilian had agreed. Over the past few days, a large group of Atavists—mostly students from the Twelve Zodiac Academies, including Chen Mo and Tang Qiaoqiao—had been secretly trailing Jing Pei. With school out and family elders busy retaliating against the organization, the bored youth had eagerly joined the chase.
Now, they finally understood why.
Wherever Jing Pei flew, disasters erupted—trains derailed, plane collisions occurred, and multi-car pileups blocked roads.
Each time, her followers stayed behind to assist in rescue operations, thinning her tail until no one remained.
Jing Pei had long anticipated that the Plot would try to stop her from altering the original storyline.
“Wait for me. I’m coming,” she murmured, gazing at her destination glowing in the distance.
