*Host, don’t panic yet.*
*My name is the Tyrant Dragon System.
My origin—that’s not something you need at your current level.
My purpose is simple: keep you alive long enough to reach the peak of this world’s cultivation realm.*
“Keep me alive.
How generous.” I activated the teleportation array.
Warmth spread across my body.
A brief moment of distortion—
And then I was standing before a gate with a plaque above it reading Patriarch’s Hall.
I stepped through.
Rows of servants lined the path, dressed in dark, unsettling uniforms.
One of them directed me toward the Patriarch’s study.
I walked in.
A handsome, visibly stressed middle-aged man sat behind a desk buried under reports.
He didn’t glance up when I entered.
“Greetings, Patriarch,” I said.
“Zaitian.
How many times do I have to tell you—drop the ‘Patriarch’ when it’s just us.” His voice was tired.
I said nothing.
“Here about the Spine?” he asked, still not looking at me.
“The Spine isn’t your concern right now.
What matters is your training—and the Son of God tournament ten months from now.”
I stayed quiet for a long moment.
“Dad.
Where’s Mom?
I haven’t seen her in years.”
That made him stop.
He dropped the report entirely and looked at me for the first time since I’d walked in.
“I knew this day would come.”
He leaned back.
“I assume you’ve heard of the Falling Star Omen.”
“I’ve heard the name.
I don’t know what it means.”
“The Falling Star Omen is an anomaly.
It marks a coming disaster—a terrible omen.”
“How does that connect to me?”
“When you were born, that omen appeared.
The clan’s divination showed you wouldn’t survive past your first month.”
“So how am I still here?
Did the divination turn out wrong?”
The moment I asked, I caught it.
A faint flicker of pity.
Regret.
Reluctance.
“A few days before your first month would have ended, your mother disappeared,” he said quietly.
“She disappeared.”
“The clan searched everywhere.
I searched myself.
We never found her.
What tied her disappearance to you was the timing.
You survived that first month, right around when she vanished.”
I stared at him.
“So I’m the reason Mom disappeared.” My voice came out flat.
“Dad.
Do you blame me for that?”
He looked at me directly.
“I don’t blame you.
I blame myself—for being powerless to do anything.”
The words hung in the air.
Then he shook his head.
“Enough of this.”
“The two families have decided the engagement between you and Xue still stands.
She’ll be arriving at the clan in a few days.”
“But Father—”
“The two families believe you two simply don’t know each other well enough yet.”
He saw I wanted to argue.
He cut me off.
“Your training starts tomorrow.
Someone is already waiting for you outside—”
I cut him off in turn.
“Dad.
I’m not okay.”
“What happened in the Elder Hall took a toll on my body.
I need your help.”
He appeared right in front of me instantly, checking my pulse before I could react.
“Your body’s a genuine mess.”
“I need you to suppress it.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m no suppressor.
Best I can do is make it more docile, since your bloodline hasn’t fully awakened yet.”
“I’ll do it.
Even though your bloodline doesn’t look remotely normal.”
I nodded.
“Okay.
Don’t resist.”
A flow of majestic qi surged through my veins.
My bloodline tried to push back, but it didn’t have the strength—only partially awakened, going up against something already at its peak.
After a moment, a steady, powerful energy moved through me.
Oddly comforting.
“Use what’s left over to strengthen your body and foundation.
Elder Mo Xuan will handle the rest—breaking you down from the inside out.
He’s not an easy man to deal with.”
“What do you mean, Dad?” Suspicion crept into my voice.
The Patriarch smiled—and it wasn’t comforting.
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”