The morning sun was just peeking from behind the icy spires of the capital city of Gimle, scattering golden light that reflected across the blanket of white snow.
However, the atmosphere inside the Silver family’s VIP guest residence was already bustling with morning activity.
Inside the warm, steamy bathroom lined with white marble, Elena stood at the edge of a small, stone-carved bathtub.
With meticulous care and a beaming smile, the little girl was pouring warm water over Aiden’s tiny body using a small wooden ladle.
Earlier, Martha and Amy, loyal maids of the Silver family, had intended to step in to help prepare the young master’s bathing necessities.
However, Elena immediately blocked them at the door with the serious expression of a little commander.
”No need.
Let me take care of Aiden.
You guys wait outside!” Elena commanded absolutely, leaving no room for the maids to argue, as she wanted to make the most of that exclusive moment to pamper her beloved younger brother.
In the water, Aiden could only resign himself to enjoying the gentle head massage from his older sister.
Ah, how nice…
having such an overprotective older sister actually has its perks, the old soul of Aiden thought relaxedly while letting Elena soap his small back with white rose-scented soap.
Moving to a spacious courtyard outside the palace, the fresh morning air was filled with the whistling sound of wind and the clanging of blunt metals.
Edward and Sir Raymond—the senior protective knight of the Silver family—stood in the middle of the snowy field for their routine sparring session.
This morning, the two agreed not to wear heavy armor or full iron plating, opting instead for practice shirts made of thick linen and practical trousers.
Clang!
Swish!
Edward swung his wooden sword with extraordinary speed, instantly met by a solid parry from Sir Raymond.
Despite being much younger, Edward’s sheer physical strength and sword techniques honed in the northern frontier forced the senior knight to muster all his concentration.
Beads of sweat began to trickle down Edward’s temples, mingling with their breathing vapor that billowed in the cold morning air.
However, far from the hustle and bustle of the training in the palace courtyard, that quiet morning tranquility was observed by a pair of sharp eyes from a high vantage point.
Atop a silent rooftop, he looked like a shadow blending into the darkness of dawn.
Sitting gracefully in a cross-legged position, the plain black kimono he wore contrasted sharply against the dawn sky.
The tip of his long smoking pipe occasionally glowed red, creating a silhouette of his cold face as he cast his gaze far toward the bustling palace courtyard across the way.
His presence felt deadly not only because of his gaze that pierced through the distance, but also because of the two steel blades accompanying him: a black katana resting faithfully beside his crossed knee, and a short katana tucked firmly into the front of his kimono belt, signaling that the man was a storm at rest.
The game in the capital had just begun, and he was a cold-blooded spectator ready to move at any moment.
The thin puff of smoke from the long smoking pipe slowly dissipated in the dawn breeze.
Without turning his head even slightly or shifting his gaze from the courtyard view below, the lips of the figure in the black kimono moved slightly.
His voice sounded like a soft whisper, yet its vibration struck the air with absolute precision, echoing very clearly in the ears of two people cowering in fear behind the building’s shadows.
”You have been watching me long enough, little rats of the Hao Clan,” Tian Mo said without turning his head at all.
His voice sounded calm, yet its vibration struck the air with absolute precision.
”Come out of your hiding place now, or your heads will part from your necks first.”
Hearing that absolute threat, the two shadowy figures instantly leaped out from hiding.
Without a second thought, both immediately knelt trembling upon the tiles, lowering their heads as deep as possible until their foreheads almost touched the tiled surface.
The figure sitting cross-legged was no ordinary adventurer.
He was Tian Mo—the Heavenly Demon born from the bloodline of a legendary God (Player) who combined the lineages of the Human-Immortal Race and the Demon God race, making him the sole unique owner of the Human-Immortal race.
On the official ranking list of the strongest beings in the world—compiled by the Hao Clan and updated every hundred years—Tian Mo’s name stood firmly at Rank 3.
No wonder those two Hao Clan spies trembled out of their minds in utter terror, nearly pissing their pants.
They had been ordered to monitor the Heavenly Demon’s movements from afar because the clan’s high-ups knew very well that a sword slash from that mixed-blood monster was capable of splitting a mountain in two and leveling the entire capital of Gimle in a single swing.
“W-We beg for mercy, Your Excellency the Heavenly Demon!”
one of the spies choked out, her breath stifled by the dense aura of death exuding from the sky demon’s body.
”We meant no trouble!
We were just carrying out standard surveillance duties from the clan!” Tian Mo slowly extinguished the embers of his pipe.
He glanced briefly at the two kneeling women with a pair of dark, abyss-like eyes holding endless darkness.
The atmosphere on the rooftop abruptly froze.
However, unexpectedly, the corners of Tian Mo’s lips curved upward into a relaxed, crooked smile.
“You two are very fortunate,” Tian Mo said in a low, calm tone.
“As it happens, my mood since yesterday has been exceptionally good after watching insects fight in the city square,” Tian Mo continued while tucking his pipe behind his kimono belt.
”However, your lives do not come for free.
Deliver this message to your current Hao Clan leader,” Tian Mo said coldly.
“As compensation for disturbing my peace with this foolish surveillance, tell him to send a full cask of Cold Dragon King Alcohol—the rarest and most expensive beverage in the Borealis continent—to my lodging before sunset tomorrow. Otherwise… ” Tian Mo paused briefly, causing the dense murderous intent to instantly crush the mental fortitude of the two women before him.
”
“..then I will be forced to slaughter a few hundred members of the Hao Clan to wash my eyes. Consider that a warm greeting from me to an old friend. Leave.” Hearing the name of that drink, the spies’ faces turned deathly pale.
The Cold Dragon King Alcohol was a treasure whose value equaled a royal fortress.
But refusing meant dying on the spot.
“Y-Yes, Your Excellency! We will deliver that message to the leader right now!”
they stammered frantically.
In an instant, the two shadows bolted away like a terrified whirlwind, leaving the high rooftop in restored silence.
Tian Mo slowly raised his long smoking pipe to his lips, inhaling deeply until the embers at the tip burned brightly, then exhaling a puff of gray smoke that was swiftly swallowed by the northern wind.
His abyss-dark eyes stared straight ahead at the vast expanse of the sky over this Pangea world (the term used by reincarnated beings for this world from the era of ancient entities; ordinary people of the present era call it Novarth), a place where gods, grand clans, and mortal humans vied for power like ants on a tray.
The man in the black kimono wore a cold, subtle smile.
Beneath the same sky, thousands of mages, genius fighters, and faction rulers spent their entire lives training desperately to break through limits, weaving sky-high ambitions to grasp the world.
Yet in his eyes, all that hard work was nothing more than a child’s joke.
Tian Mo tapped his smoking pipe gently against the edge of the roof tiles, then began to hum softly.
His voice was low, echoing calmly yet carrying the weight of absolute oppression that shook the heavens.
”Sitting above the ninth cloud, holding a cup while watching the world’s stage,
Thousands of cold-blooded heroes draw their swords for a fleeting name.
They scream, slaughter one another, weaving dreams upon the graves of their own clans—
Ah, how joyful it is to watch a swarm of ants dance inside a boiling cauldron.”
”They worship the heavens, they fear destiny, they feel themselves the mightiest of all,
Yet this entire world is merely a toy tucked inside the demon’s sleeve.
A single blink of an eye, empires collapse; a single smile, oceans of blood dry up.
Keep fighting, O you insects…
for your joke is the best entertainment in eternal silence.”