Chapter 153: The Old Dynasty

"It shouldn’t be... Such a pure Primeval Wyrm bloodline. Outside of the Devourer’s royal sect in the Western Marches, it is practically nonexistent!"

Silas stood frozen, staring at Seraphina in shock. As the eldest son of the Silas family he was intimately familiar with Wyrm-bloodlines. The bespectacled girl’s Aetheric purity surpassed even his own.

Though the Silas family was not the supreme authority of the Cult, they were firmly in the upper echelons. Even with the Imperial Legions constantly hunting them, they had survived for centuries in the western territories.

"May I inquire as to the young lady’s name?" Silas asked. "Are you a scion of the Western Imperial Clan?"

He had already calculated three possibilities.

First, she was a hidden princess of the Cult’s royal sect.

Second, she was an exiled illegitimate heir.

Third, and most shockingly, she was a descendant of the Old Dynasty—the original Wyrm-Lords who had been overthrown by the Cult centuries ago during the Great Schism.

"Let’s go. Enter the Spire," Seraphina said, entirely ignoring Silas. She grabbed Cassia by the collar of her robes and dragged the junior operative toward the Primeval Spire’s entrance.

Seeing her dismiss their young master, Silas’s three Exarch-level bodyguards stepped forward to intercept her.

Silas raised a hand, halting them.

He could not ascertain her identity yet, and offending a potential royal scion was foolish. He frowned, watching Seraphina and Cassia step through the Spire’s spatial barrier.

Once they were gone, Silas retrieved a Provincial-grade Aether-crystal from his spatial ring and held it up to the surrounding crowd of Sanctum disciples and rogue cultivators. "Who knows her?"

"I do!" A rogue cultivator shouted instantly, terrified someone else might claim the prize. "That’s Operative Seraphina! The Abyssal Sovereign’s senior disciple!"

Silas tossed the crystal to the informant, a cold smirk touching his lips. On the periphery, Elder Vane frowned, making a mental note to have the informant blacklisted from the Sanctum.

"Oh? A Syndicate Operative..." Silas murmured.

If she were a current scion of the Cult’s royal sect, she would never subject herself to the indignity of working for the Abyssal Syndicate. Silas was now certain. She was a descendant of the Old Dynasty, hiding her bloodline under the Sovereign’s protection.

"Third Uncle," Silas whispered excitedly to the eldest bodyguard. "Send a spatial transmission to the family. We have struck gold in the Eastern Marches! A scion of the Old Dynasty! If we capture her and present her to Hierarch Malakor, the Silas family will secure double our current resource allocation!"

The elderly Exarch’s eyes widened. He did not hesitate, immediately pulling a transmission talisman from his robes and burning it to send the encrypted message.

Silas had only brought three Exarchs as an escort to clear the Primeval Spire, never expecting such a monumental geopolitical opportunity to fall into his lap.

"Uncles, I leave the perimeter to you," Silas instructed. "I must enter the Spire to complete my trial. When that girl emerges, you must detain her immediately! We cannot afford delays. If the Imperial Legions catch wind of this, it will become infinitely more complicated."

Leaving the three Exarchs to guard the entrance, Silas turned and strode into the Primeval Spire.

The surrounding Eastern cultivators exchanged nervous glances. With three Exarchs locking down the courtyard, no one dared to voice an objection. They could only wait in silence.

"Elder," Justina whispered, stepping up beside Elder Vane. "Operative Seraphina might be in trouble."

"Perhaps not..." Elder Vane muttered, though his brow was creased with worry.

He had personally witnessed the Sovereign’s Shadow-Clone erase House Rullus and nonchalantly extort three Archons. To the Abyssal Sovereign, Exarch-level combatants were little more than insects.

However, Elder Vane was well aware that if the Western Cult could deploy three Exarchs merely as bodyguards for a junior scion, their overarching faction was formidably strong. They likely possessed a Supreme-tier patriarch. The Cult of the Devourer was not to be underestimated.

Elder Vane sighed inwardly, remaining silent as he waited for the Spire’s trial to conclude.

***

Inside the Primeval Spire.

When Seraphina and Cassia materialized on the first floor, they found themselves in a vast, circular stone arena. In the center stood a hulking Aether-Automaton—a mechanical centurion forged from brass and meteor-iron.

A spatial ripple heralded Silas’s arrival a moment later. The three exchanged glances but did not speak. Seraphina and Cassia had no interest in him, and Silas was busy calculating his ambush.

"Challengers," a disembodied, mechanical voice echoed from the ceiling—the Spire’s governing Aether-spirit. "For the first trial, you must withstand thirty strikes from the Vanguard-class Automaton."

"You may utilize your own Aether arts and personal armaments. External summoning tokens and talismans are prohibited. Violation will result in immediate expulsion. Who shall proceed first?"

"Heh. Ladies first, please," Silas chuckled, gesturing politely toward Seraphina. He intended to use the Old Dynasty scion to test the Automaton’s attack patterns.

Seraphina ignored him. She patted Cassia’s shoulder, adjusted her spectacles, and lightly vaulted into the center of the arena.

*Clank... clank... clank...*

The mechanical centurion’s brass gears whined as it slowly stood up. Its optical sensors flared crimson, locking onto Seraphina, and it immediately charged forward, raising a heavy iron broadsword.

The Aether-signature radiating from the machine indicated it operated at the First Realm of the Vanguard tier.

"A question for the Spire," Seraphina called out. "If I break it, do I have to pay for it?"

***

At the heart of the Abyssal World-Forge...

[System Alert: Operative Cassia has neutralized a Vanguard-tier opponent. Reward: 8 Merit Points.]

Theo, who had been dozing in a padded lounger beneath the canopy of the Astral Enlightenment Tree, cracked one eye open.

"Eight points? She must have swatted a fly," he muttered.

Still, it was a good sign. Although it was only a Vanguard-tier enemy, it meant Cassia and Seraphina had officially entered the Primeval Spire trial in the Eastern Marches.

For the past two days, his left eye had been twitching... a sure sign that the universe was conspiring to deliver a fresh batch of wealthy aristocrats for the Syndicate to exploit.

"I am not asking for much," Theo said, adjusting his posture on the lounger. "Just a few arrogant heirs with spatial rings full of Provincial-grade artifacts. Half a million points would be sufficient to push my meridians into the Exarch realm."

He wasn’t in a hurry to go back to sleep. He materialized a pot of spiced Enlightenment tea and poured himself a cup.

If his disciples encountered an Exarch-level threat they couldn’t handle, his Shadow-Clone was ready to deploy.