The Highest Sky-Pillar did not feature walls or a ceiling. It was an ancient, open-air stone dais suspended above the cloud layer, surrounded by seven colossal marble thrones that overlooked the entire metropolis.
Seated upon those thrones were the seven leaders of the Upper Realm—Monarch-level experts whose collective presence bent the local atmosphere, turning the air as dense and unyielding as solid crystal.
In the center of the dais stood Ren.
His black-and-gold robes were clean, unruffled by the fierce winds blowing across the peak. Behind him, Lin Xiu stood with her hand resting lightly on her icy hilt, her face a cool, unreadable mask despite the suffocating weight radiating from the thrones.
"You destroyed the dantian of my son!"
A thunderous roar shook the pillar as Patriarch Huo of the Crimson Solar Sect leaned forward from his throne. His long crimson beard crackled with divine solar embers, and his fiery gaze threatened to burn Ren into ash where he stood.
"You did not merely win a duel—you erased a century of royal bloodline cultivation!" Huo continued, his voice echoing across the sky. "Patriarchs, I demand this arrogant outer trash be bound in divine chains and thrown into the Solar Crucible to be refined into a spirit pill!"
A heavy, tense silence fell over the dais.
To Huo's left, an elderly woman wrapped in starry robes—Monarch Chen of the Starlight Pavilion—shook her head slowly. "The duel in the Void Arena was conducted under ancient Conclave law, Patriarch Huo. Your son issued the challenge. He unleashed his Solar Annihilation Field with full killing intent. Disciple Ren simply defended himself."
"Defended himself?!" Huo spat, rising several inches off his marble seat as his aura flared, sending a wave of scorching heat across the dais. "He used an uncategorized, forbidden art to crush a Soul Assembly core! He carries a demonic menace!"
"Enough," a deep, resonant voice cut through the argument.
At the center throne sat the Head Sovereign of the Seven Astral Council—a towering figure clad in grey stone armor whose eyes glowed like dying stars. His gaze locked onto Ren, scanning his frame with divine sense that could break an ordinary man's soul.
Yet, when that divine sense hit Ren, it slipped uselessly off his Sovereign Frame, swallowed into the quiet, dark vortex within his chest.
The Head Sovereign’s eyes flickered with subtle shock.
"Disciple Ren," the Head Sovereign said slowly. "You possess a physical foundation and spatial comprehension that should not exist in an outer sect disciple. How do you answer Patriarch Huo’s accusation?"
Ren took a single step forward. He did not bow, nor did he lower his head.
"A warrior who swings a sword with killing intent must be prepared to feel the edge," Ren said softly, his voice carrying clearly through the heavy atmospheric drag. "Your son’s fire was loud, but his frame was hollow. I did not destroy his core—his own weakness collapsed under its own mass."
"You arrogant worm!" Patriarch Huo roared, unleashing a wave of Monarch-level heat Qi directly at Ren’s chest.
Ren didn't dodge.
Sovereign Domain: One Hundred Feet.
The wave of divine flame hit the boundary of Ren's domain and instantly flattened into a harmless ring of dead sparks, completely swallowed into his Null Root. The massive gravity field didn't just neutralize the flame—it locked onto the stone floor beneath the seven thrones, making the marble dais groan under a sudden, intense spike of localized weight.
The seven Monarchs shifted on their thrones, eyes widening in genuine surprise as they felt their own clothes pull downward.
"He... he absorbed a Monarch's strike without using a spirit blade?" one elder whispered.
Saintess Yao of the Jade Heavens stepped forward from the sidelines, bowing elegantly to the Council.
"Sovereigns," Yao spoke smoothly, her voice soothing the tense air. "Executing a genius who can manipulate mass and space without elemental Qi would be a tragic waste for our realm. The ancient Abyssal Star Tomb has begun to destabilize. Its outer barriers are tearing, and the Void-Horrors threaten to spill into our lower continents."
She turned her bright eyes toward Ren.
"Instead of execution or punishment, let Disciple Ren lead the expedition into the Star Tomb. If he recovers the realm’s stabilizing core, his debt to the Conclave is settled."
Patriarch Huo sneered. "The Star Tomb is a spatial graveyard! Even Peak Soul Assembly experts do not return alive!"
Ren looked at Saintess Yao, then up at the Head Sovereign. He knew the Star Tomb held the remaining fragments of the Astral Crown—the very relics his core was calling out for.
"I will enter the Star Tomb," Ren declared, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "But I have two conditions."
"You dare set conditions before the Grand Council?!" Huo barked.
"Speak," the Head Sovereign commanded, raising a hand to quiet Huo.
"First, the Azure Cloud Sect receives full immunity and a permanent seat on the Upper Realm Council," Ren stated calmly. "Second, whatever relics, cores, or ancient scrap I find inside the Star Tomb belong to me. The Council gets its spatial stability—nothing more."
The Monarchs exchanged quiet, heavy looks. The pressure in the air thinned slightly as the Head Sovereign slowly nodded his head.
"Agreed," the Head Sovereign announced. "You have three days to prepare, Young Master Ren. Prove your weight... or be buried in the void."