After confining the weakened Will and his five colleagues inside a formation chamber within his residence, Jalen finally allowed himself to recover.
None of his light healing techniques could help this time. The battle had been too epic, the qi expenditure too dangerous. Fortunately, during the month Jalen spent recovering, no further assaults came. The town remained untouched, and its cultivators advanced another step.
When he finally met with Will and the others, they had already recovered. They tried to remove the detonation seeds from their bodies—but failed. Jalen had refined the technique beyond even the Solar Clan elders of years past. Because of their cultivation realm, the seeds were more sensitive, more unforgiving.
Any attempt to channel qi triggered a warning: a pain so grave it shook their dantian and threatened their foundation. A second attempt would cripple them permanently. After that, they stopped trying.
As a secondary measure, Jalen forced them to form a slave pact. Even if they somehow removed the seeds—which wasn't impossible—the pact would keep them in check. It required opening their spirit seas and allowing Jalen to embed his spirit sense within. If they disobeyed, a single thought could shatter their spirit sea. It wasn't foolproof—those with stronger spirit seas could resist—but none of the six could compare to Jalen, whose spirit sense had already reached the realm of Sky Limit.
He ordered them to help the cultivators of Alina—those with potential—to grow. No holding back. No reserved effort. And with clenched teeth and gritted fists, they obeyed.
Five more months passed. Alina had transformed again. People from neighboring towns and villages began migrating—many fleeing royal recruitment. Rumors spread that royal enforcers feared approaching Alina. Among the newcomers were many with awakened spirit roots, some already on the path of cultivation. Jalen welcomed them into the growing army he was building.
Some struggled, but they endured. As long as they didn't have to die meaninglessly on the front lines, anything was better.
There were spies from the royal court—but none made it out. Will and his comrades weren't just responsible for training; they also secured the borders. Alongside other former recruiters, they controlled the city's formation gates—able to permit or deny entry. Any suspicious movement was to be suppressed. Failure meant punishment. Flame Sage had once tried to help a spy escape with intel. She paid dearly.
Over time, Will and some of his male colleagues began mingling with mortals—some even fathering children. It was a way to pass the time, however long this strange captivity lasted. They hoped the war would end soon, and that their emperor and surviving peers would storm Alina and crush this "dollhouse."
One evening, while Jalen was instructing Jael and Calen in cultivation, Will stopped by.
"Here to spy again?" Jalen asked. Will often came to observe Jael and Calen practice. Not only was Jael a mythical dragon, but Calen was a rare phenomenon. And Jalen—he was simply an anomaly.
"Not spying," Will said. "Just intrigued by the cultivation method you used to turn a young dragon and a boy into monstrous cultivators."
"Still looking out for your state, I see," Jalen replied. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your state has already been conquered—by me."
"What do you mean?"
"While you and your colleagues trained Alina's cultivators, I've been quite busy. I entered the battlefields of the Ron State and the enemy state Ethion. I suppressed and enslaved their peak and mid Sage Realm survivors—just like I did to you and your comrades, only with less effort."
Will's face paled.
"Then I used those people to lure their own comrades into traps, forcing them to fight each other. Like a vulture, I swept in to take the spoils. In a month, I managed to enslave a mix of twenty peak and mid Sage Realm experts from each state. I killed a few too.
"But I didn't stop there. I sent agents into both warring states. One used a potent poison I crafted myself to eliminate the crown prince of the Petal State—Pecos, infamous for his cruelty toward young girls and for trafficking spirit-rooted children, whom he exploited in his twisted cultivation rituals.
The other targeted the emperor of the Trident State, a man feared across the continent for his brutality—known to have executed dozens of his own wives and concubines during depraved pleasure rites.
Both emperors—Sky Limit Realm experts—had planned to wait and swoop in after the Ron-Ethion war. But with blood spilled and pride wounded, they had no choice. They led their armies into battle."
"I took control of some of their top experts as well. To my surprise, the two emperors even joined forces to eliminate the Ron and Ethion emperors, who were already locked in battle. All four suffered grave injuries. As the Ron and Ethion emperors were dragged away by their subjects—who were under my command—they were ambushed. Their cultivation was shattered. They are now imprisoned."
Will staggered. "That's impossible…"
"I didn't stop there," Jalen continued. "I had ten Peak Sage Realm cultivators under my control cut off the Trident emperor's escape route. They assassinated him. He fought back and killed three, but he was too wounded. The rest finished him. Now, as we speak, a civil war rages in the Trident State. Hundreds of princes, long waiting for their father's death, are revealing their true colors."
Will's voice cracked. "You…"
"I plan to cripple the Petal State emperor as well. He survived, but he's critically injured. In just eight months, I've ruined four states—Ron, Ethion, Trident, and Petal."
Will was silent.
Jalen stepped closer. "You once asked why I protect the people of Alina—why I bother when it's pointless. Do you still think it's pointless now?"
He paused.
"By tomorrow, the youngest prince of the Ron State—the one treated like an outcast, the kindest of them all—will become emperor. All his wretched brothers who bullied and humiliated him, some will be killed and those innocents will be exiled with their generations. The same will be the fate of other members of the royal family. There will be no threat to his reign. I'll make Alina the capital of the Ron State, where he will rule. Ethion will slowly integrate into Ron and fall under his command. Trident and Petal will be broken states. I've already ordered my people to keep attacking the Petal emperor until he dies. I can't give him a chance to recover. I won't let all my hard work be undone."
Will looked at him, horror and awe mingling in his eyes.
"You're not a cultivator," he whispered. "You're a calamity."
Jalen smiled faintly. "Well, you brought this on yourself. All you had to do was leave Alina alone. Now, for a small piece of land, you've lost an entire state."
"You've been here… all this time. How did you do all this?" Will's voice cracked, disbelief etched into every word.
Jalen didn't answer immediately. Instead, he raised his hand. Two identical versions of himself stepped from the shadows—one emerging from the wall behind him, the other rising silently from the floor like smoke.
The clones stood silently, their presence unmistakable but lacking the pressure of the true Jalen.
He gestured to them calmly.
One clone spoke, voice low and hollow:
"I never needed to leave."
The other followed, tone like drifting mist:
"Not fully."
Jalen stepped forward, his gaze steady.
"Some walk the dusk. Others walk the deep. I walk between."
He paused, letting the weight of his words settle.
"As we speak, I have a clone stationed in each state—guiding, watching, ensuring everything unfolds exactly as I planned."
Will's eyes widened, realization dawning.
Jalen's voice dropped, quiet but firm.
"You don't need to understand it. You just need to know—I was always watching."