Special Domains

“Old man, do you think I still have a chance to reach the Transcendent stage in this lifetime?”

Feeling the nascent domain and aura around him dissipate again, the youth helplessly asked the old man behind him, who was chugging wine.

“No manners, call me Master!”

The old man, with tattered clothes and white hair, glared at him. He threw an empty wine bottle at the youth, scolding him with a drunken air.

The youth dodged sideways, easily avoiding the glass bottle.

“Oh, but I was afraid you, Master, would hear me, so I used a different title…”

The youth scratched his head, forcing a smile.

“Heh, you, with your devil-may-care attitude, still want to advance to the Transcendent stage? Do you think advancing to Transcendent is as easy as drinking water?”

The old man stroked his beard and glared, lecturing him, all while not slowing down his speed of opening wine bottles.

“But I’ve been at the High-tier for a year now, and the path to advancement remains stubbornly stuck.”

The youth wore a bitter smile, sweat dripping down his cheeks onto the dry ground.

The old man stared at the freshly opened bottle of wine for a long time before finally speaking.

“How can you advance to Transcendent if you can’t even condense a domain? A domain is the stepping stone to Transcendent, and moreover, the symbol of Transcendent. When you successfully condense a domain, that’s when you’ll reach Transcendent…”

With that, the old man closed his eyes and lowered his head to drink again.

Listening to his Master’s explanation, the youth looked at his calloused hands, his eyes gradually dimming.

‘Is that really how it is…? Without a domain, I can’t advance to Transcendent. But a heaven-deficient person cannot condense a domain. You probably knew this all along, old man…’

Hearing the youth’s despondent whisper, the old man’s drinking motion suddenly paused. He slowly put down the wine bottle and looked at the youth, complex emotions flashing in his aged eyes.

“What, are you giving up?”

“No, I just feel there’s no need to make futile struggles anymore.”

The youth shook his head, forcing a faint smile.

Since he had come to this world and become this old man’s disciple, why wouldn’t he want to become stronger? Only by becoming stronger could he better protect himself. Only by becoming stronger could he find a glimmer of hope for the old man’s health.

But now, he couldn’t even step through the threshold of the Transcendent stage.

Looking at his severed left arm, the youth’s face held only a bitter smile.

Condensing a domain required possessing a strong and complete mental state.

And he, as a naturally heaven-deficient person, inherently could not meet the first condition. Due to physical defects, heaven-deficient individuals possessed inherently flawed mental states. Without a complete mental state, one could not successfully condense a complete domain.

The atmosphere seemed to grow somewhat heavy. The youth felt there was no need to persist any longer. Impossible things were destined to remain impossible. Rather than waste time here, he might as well leave now…

“Ouch!”

An old man, who had approached him at some unknown point, heavily flicked his forehead. The youth cried out in pain, clutching his head, while the old man unhurriedly walked past him.

“Listen closely, kid. I don’t care where you heard that a heaven-deficient person cannot condense a domain. Firstly, before you were born, this truly was an insurmountable chasm for heaven-deficient individuals. But after your birth, what I see in you is infinite potential…”

As he spoke, the old man walked further and further away, hunching his back, yet his voice echoed with perfect clarity in the youth’s ears.

“How many impossible things were there in this world, but weren’t they all changed into possibilities by individuals, one by one, with their own hands, across the long river of time?”

“Everyone has their own path. Why do you think your life, at only a dozen years old, should stop here?”

“What was impossible for people in the past might not be impossible for you. Perhaps ordinary heaven-deficient individuals truly cannot achieve it, but you must believe in yourself. Only by believing in your own uniqueness can you forge a path that belongs solely to you.”

The old man’s words seemed to transcend time and space. Even now, they echoed clearly yet vaguely in his ears. Conde slowly opened his eyes. At that moment, he felt the wind was so real, the fire so moving.

An invisible barrier and aura expanded outwards. A nascent seed, a new domain embryonic form, unfolded and extended within the giant dragon’s domain, filled with Dragon Soul flames. The man’s will permeated and resonated within the embryonic form, and fragmented cracks continuously expanded outwards…

[Thief God Skill: Steal]

Accompanied by a universe-shaking “crack” that resounded in the silent air, Hadian was astonished to find that a corner of his complete domain was inexplicably missing. Transparent fire and light clung to the man’s hand, and with his only remaining hand, he had stolen a part of Hadian’s domain.

The domain, once visible but untouchable, now seemed to become a tangible object in the man’s hand. He clutched the fragment, a triumphant smile curving his lips.

The fierce wind ruffled the long hair at his temples, revealing a face no longer young, yet still boyishly uninhibited.

Time seemed to rewind, returning to the past, to when the old man walked past him, speaking those words. And now, the man had his own answer and his own path.

“A heaven-deficient person might indeed be unable to possess a complete mental state due to physical defects and a damaged soul. I truly cannot build my own domain freely and completely like you…”

“But everyone has their own unique path. The path to a domain might seem to be only one on the surface, but I chose that unknown, hidden path to get to where I am now. Even if it’s not acknowledged by others, even if its appearance isn’t glorious, for a thief like me, it is my only choice, the only utopia that can encompass me, belonging solely to me, the thief!”

As his words fell, the space around the man, filled with cracks, suddenly shattered into countless fragments. And those fragments shed their original colors, became imbued with the radiance of memory, and manifested different auras.

Chaotic domain power enveloped the man’s body. He stood in this space, gazing at the domain fragments that he was continuously fusing in his hand, and slowly said.

“Two thousand and thirty-two fragments. This is the number of domain battles I’ve had in my life so far. Whether those battles were victories or not, without exception, I used the same method to steal a corner from their domains. I cannot, like you, construct external completeness due to my internal perfection…”

“But who ever said a complete domain must be forged with one’s own mental state? For a thief, combat is merely a skill for survival; stealing is the secret to our existence!”

As his words ended, countless fragments rotated around the man. Conde’s will settled upon each domain fragment containing a different aura. In an instant, those fragments seemed to respond, constructing and piecing together around him.

Each domain fragment was clearly incompatible, their edges misaligned. Yet, under the man’s power of fusion, fragment and fragment seemed to be glued together with superglue. Such an absurd method, yet the man, with his will and hands, forged an absurd reality.

[Special Domain: God’s Peach Blossom Spring]

In an instant, within that cracked domain, Hadian, for the first time in a domain, felt the auras of countless different people. Among them were Elves, Vampires, Werewolves, Sub-beasts…

In those lights, he seemed to see countless scenes, and all those scenes were of Conde battling innumerable different enemies.

His stance grew fiercely, steel and anvil clashing and grinding, producing sparks hot enough to melt everything; human body and beast combined, flexible limbs working with beastly claws, trampling a bloody path to kingship.

And no matter how terrifying the enemy, the man always responded with a calm demeanor. His god-like speed allowed him to brush past danger again and again. The power of a thief granted him the ability to steal everything, to steal the cornerstones that formed the whole from those indestructible entities.

At this moment, it felt as if he wasn’t facing one enemy, but countless Condes wearing others’ masks, yet acting as a thief. Pure Dragon Soul violently released itself within this chaotic domain light.

That seemingly absurd domain, pieced together from countless different domain fragments, in an almost rogue-like manner, shattered and mixed his pure Dragon Soul and flames until it was completely incorporated, with not a trace of its original aura discernible.

And those golden eyes, once as bright as day, gradually dimmed, until they could no longer be maintained and completely dissipated. And before him, the man already held a dagger against his own neck.

“You lost…”

Even outside the memory, Old General Hadian, lying on the lounge chair, reiterated the last words the man had spoken, just as he did back then.

The Archbishop had listened to the old general’s entire narration, but had remained silent throughout.

The old general, who had been lying on the lounge chair, now slowly rose. He straightened his somewhat hunched back and walked towards the dimly lit room, speaking as he went.

“They won’t succeed. As long as that man is there, Aurelia will never be pushed off the Saintess’s position. He is the Descender destined to assist the Saintess…”

“Because only a Descender possesses such terrifying mental power to piece together thousands of domain fragments, each containing different wills and auras, into one.”

“But that Thief Saint is said to have died, died in the Elf Forest.”

The Archbishop slowly added.

“Dead? Ridiculous. How could a person with such will and power die so easily?”

Hadian sneered, shook his head, and disappeared into the darkness.

The Archbishop fell silent, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.