Chapter 347: Garden of Aurous Ribs (1)

Kai’s breath quickened without him realizing it.

His eyes behind the mask took in the entire landscape slowly, processing everything he could see, as it was completely different from what he had in mind. In fact, it did not resemble what he had in mind at all.

Mallory’s domain was neither a desolate flatland nor a swirling cloud of darkness.

Instead, it was a mountainous, rocky terrain as far as the eyes could see.

But not mountains of earth and stone.

Everything was made of glistening obsidian-like material that was charged with the night.

Beneath his feet, the ground cracked. Not crumble or weather—but shattered. The edges of the terrain didn’t break into pebbles or dust, but broke into thin, glistening layers that caught the moonlight and reflected it back in muted silver.

Cracks spread across the surface like veins of the world.

And within those cracks, a muted gold shimmered and pulsated like they were alive.

Kai watched the light move through the fissures like blood through arteries.

Moreover, the mountains around were not normal mountains.

Instead, they were spears—gigantic black stone spears that tapered into pointy ends like some kind of monolithic shards, bursting from the ground at irregular angles. Some rose straight— Others leaned, and others had their tips curled inwards like stone tentacles frozen mid-writhe.

Due to their messy formations, the scenery became a chaotic mess.

An irregular landscape of teeth and grasping hands.

Just like the ground, the same golden veins stretched across their surfaces, making them look like they were breathing, like they were limbs of a gigantic monster. It was a horrifying scene. It felt like being surrounded by gigantic monsters with no path to escape.

Not too far away to the side, a cliff gaped wide open.

An extremely deep chasm that stretched forward like a throat—swallowing the obsidian land and leading toward a massive structure in the distance. A temple. It looked eerie and old, and its architecture was dominated by sharp, gothic spires.

And at its center was a sky-piercing tower crowned by a glowing crystal of muted gold.

It was the only real source of light in this domain—and it cast long, wavering shadows across the chasm and the spears and the cracked ground. Kai tilted his head upward and was greeted by a different sky.

Many of the constellations were missing—not hidden by clouds, but simply gone.

Like always, the centerpiece was the moon, but it was almost a full eclipse.

A disc ringed by a thin halo of silver.

It drowned everything in shadow, made the darkness thicker, and made the muted gold veins seem like the only warmth left in existence. Kai sucked in the scene and then flashed a small smile that barely reached his lips.

Kai felt even more tiny than he already was.

He knew he was nothing compared to Mallory, but this made it more glaring.

Compared to him, who materialized in the House of Night in the middle of nowhere and spent most of his time in a Nightborn’s domain, Mallory had an impressive domain. Something that she had built from scratch.

Just the thought of creating such a vast domain already made Kai’s head throb.

Even making a crude tall rock was already taking a toll on me. I can’t even begin to imagine this.

"I formally welcomed you to my domain, the Garden of Aurous Ribs," Mallory said—glancing at him and then flashing a confident, pretty smile. "But we’re not here for a tour. I know you disliked wasting time, so let us get to the point. Follow me."

Kai nodded and followed her closely behind.

He made sure that Mallory understood that he was not one to waste time.

Not because he wanted to maintain the mysterious persona, but because that would cut down their meeting time by a lot. He still needed to grow stronger, and talking with her should only be reserved as a secondary priority.

It was why he acted like this.

Just a few steps in, a small, cracking sound resounded through the air.

Kai turned toward where the sound came from. Above, there was a shadowy humanoid figure perched atop the stone spear, hands gripped around its pointed tip hard, staring down at him with a peculiar gaze.

A Nightborn, but not the ordinary kind.

He could feel the enormous presence it carried, one that even made it hard for him to breathe.

If this Nightborn was a shadow, then Perion and Kaelmorath were nothing but a small shade.

Simply incomparable.

Must be a Nightborn from the Third Floor or higher.

Wait... a Nightborn?

Kai’s steps suddenly halted, and his heart skipped a beat inside his chest.

His mind replayed his encounter with the first Nightborn he’d coaxed into siding with him in order to battle the Ending of Impersonation. It had seemed to sense something about him the moment it saw him.

Something that didn’t quite align with Nightborns.

It was clear that Nightborns possessed a universal, intrinsic sense of recognition.

One that told them whether an entity was truly one of their kind.

Must be some kind of evolution to help them recognize the Children of the Night.

I can’t let these Nightborns inspect me, or else they’ll expose my identity.

Kai gritted his teeth.

Even though the Nightborns under Mallory might be fully domesticated by her, too obedient and docile to disturb her direction, he reckoned there was certain Nightborns exempted from that rule.

Special Nightborns—ones permitted to speak with her directly.

Dear Nightborns like Perion to Kai.

Regardless, he needed to take cover.

"Mallory." Kai caught her forearm, stopping her mid-step.

She looked over her shoulder and raised her brow. "Yes?"

Kai didn’t answer with words—he simply glanced over to the Nightborn above with his eyes.

Confused, Mallory followed his gaze and then realized what he was hinting at.

"I don’t like prying eyes."

"Ah—I apologize."

Mallory raised her hand, and a glowing dark sphere formed in her palm. It oozed with smoke. She squeezed it with barely any force, and it shattered—unleashing a dark, expanding bubble that covered a good chunk of the domain.

Kai watched as the Nightborn above was simply wiped away, swallowed by the darkness.

Not erased, but teleported away.

Other Nightborns near the area were also devoured the same way.

"I would create a portal to go straight to my temple, but I couldn’t. I made it that way, so I’ll have to ask you to walk the entire way."

"I don’t mind."

Kai was curious as to why she made such a mechanism on her temple.

Given that she was the Second Daughter of the Primordial Night, she must be ancient, dating back to centuries or even millennia ago. Naturally, every part of her domain had to be crafted with deliberate intent.

Adapting to the mistakes and loopholes she encountered along the way.

He found himself wondering why Mallory couldn’t simply make a shortcut to her own place.

But he tucked the question away for later.

Right now, he would let Mallory show what she wanted to show him first.

Kai followed Mallory closely behind, walking the entire way toward the temple.

He kept up with her pace as if fearing that being left behind would cause him to get lost.

It was a long path, a bit over half a mile, and the two spent the entire way in total silence. Past the deep crater at the center, the obsidian-like ground shifted into sculpted black stone, rough at its heart and trimmed with polished lines on either side.

He stepped onto a platform carved with the unmistakable drawing of a constellation.

And then he climbed a short staircase before coming to a halt.

Kai was frozen still at what greeted him at the top—a bridge that stole his breath away.

It stretched before him—a span of at least a quarter mile straight, flanked by two dark obelisks that rose like sentinels from the abyss. Each obelisk was crowned with a muted amber crystal that pulsed with a slow, rhythmic light.

And chains were attached to their peaks, connecting them to another pair of obelisks ahead.

As he walked, he looked down at the bridge.

It was made of dark, translucent dark that directly displayed the bottomless chasm below.

Every step Kai took sent a small, muted amber ring rippling outward from his boots. A ghost of light that faded as quickly as it appeared. He had never seen anything so grand and majestic as this.

Frankly, this place was quite overwhelming.

Even though Kai and Mallory were larger than normal humans, the bridge—and the obelisks made them look tiny in comparison. Insignificant. But despite the overwhelming difference, Mallory somehow dwarfed the architecture around her.

Not with her size, but with her bearing and might.

She walked toward the bridge without hesitation, and Kai trailed behind, still caught in awe.

He stared at the obelisks as he passed, feeling the immense power radiating from them. Their connection to the night was stronger than his own, which was ridiculous the more he thought about it.

As the First Son of the Primordial Night, his connection to the night was beaten by obelisks.

An inanimate thing.

It was quite an embarrassment.

Man... Going through her domain was emasculating. Our gap is too big.

It took more than five minutes to reach the other side.

Once the mist parted, Kai was greeted by a royal temple made entirely of black stone. It rose from the ground like a monument of an ancient Goddess. Its surfaces were etched with foreign symbols he could not read, and its spires reached toward the sky.

And above it, perfectly aligned with the temple’s highest peak, hung the almost-eclipsed moon.

A dark disc ringed by a thin halo of silver.

It was as if the realm itself had been built around this single point, around Mallory’s temple.

Her place felt like the center of everything.

Moreover, the temple seemed to be emanating a dark aura that thickened the darkness. Such a power so enormous that it altered the very space around it. Even seeing it—and being in its presence was pressing on Kai’s mind.

It was simply unlike anything he had ever felt before.

On the top of the massive archway that served as the entrance, there was a familiar symbol.

An inverted torch symbol with an amber crystal gem underneath.

It pulsated with the same light as the crystal gem above the obelisks.

I’m starting to have second thoughts... But I’m here already.

Kai gritted his teeth to steel his will and walked through the archway, and as he did, a chilling air brushed against his skin. It felt like he was stepping into another world entirely. A world that he could never access.

Not to mention, the weight of the temple pressed down on him from all sides.

As soon as he was inside, Mallory turned around.

"What’s wrong?" She asked as her lips curled into a crescent moon. "Is everything alright?"