On the surface of the Morey Earldom, the winds of the wasteland remained biting and cold. The once dilapidated ruins of the castle, reinforced by the sorcery of the wizard Ian and the gravitational anchoring of Allen and his kin, now exuded an eerie sense of deathly stillness.

  At this moment, on the edge of the dense forest some three miles from the castle, several uninvited guests stood in silence, their cold gazes fixed upon the structure.

  "Master Aude, the readings on the Space-Stabilizer have leveled out. The elemental activity within a five-mile radius has been suppressed to rock bottom. That 'Master of Succession's' vaunted heresy won't be able to strike so much as a spark now," a Gryphon Warrior said, stowing a bronze disc with a tone of undisguised contempt.

  Master Aude stood with his hands behind his back, his arms—forged of what looked like solid gold—shimmering with a piercing brilliance under the sunlight. He closed his eyes to sense the surroundings, then snorted coldly. "Let us go. It is time to meet this 'Lord of the Underground.' The Duke gave his orders: we shall observe the courtesies, but the rules... the rules will be set by us."

  At the rear of the group stood a young man draped in a deep purple cloak. He remained silent, his hood concealing most of his face. Only an occasional glimpse of his cold, noble jawline suggested an identity far removed from the metallic, martial air of the warriors surrounding him.

  Inside the castle’s reception hall, the décor maintained a restrained austerity. Only the ink-jade long table, personally reinforced by Ian, gave off a heart-stopping sense of mass.

  "Master, they have crossed the threshold," Allen said, standing behind Del. His eyes were as deep and dark as a well. Having endured seven days of the "Mind-Chaos Trial," the very air seemed to warp slightly around him even when he stood perfectly still.

  Del wore a loose grey robe, leaning back in a rocking chair with a cup of freshly brewed coarse tea in his hand. "How many?"

  "The leader is the 'Golden Body Master' Aude, followed by four personal guards carrying an iron contraption—a Space-Stabilizer," Allen paused, his brow furrowing slightly. "But at the very back follows a person in a purple cloak. I cannot see through him."

  "You can't see through him?" Del took a sip of tea, a self-deprecating smirk playing on his lips. "If even a 'demon seed' like you, fresh from the Mind-Chaos Hell, can't read him, it seems the Duke has spent a fortune this time to hire a true expert. Chip, scan them."

  Deep within his sea of consciousness, the cold awareness responded instantly:

  【Target: Aude. Metalization ratio: 62%. Threat level: Low.】

  【Target: Unknown youth. Detected high-energy bloodline fluctuations. Frequency is abnormal and possesses strong exclusivity. Suggestion: Approach with caution.】

  "Bloodline fluctuations?" Del whispered, a flicker of curiosity crossing his eyes.

  Beside him, Ian leaned against the window, fiddling with his staff. Upon hearing the word "bloodline," the old wizard’s face grew uncharacteristically grave. "Del, if it’s truly one of those 'Favored of the Heavens,' you’d best tuck away that cynical, world-weary look of yours for a moment."

  The heavy oak doors were pushed open. Master Aude stepped into the hall with a steady gait, his golden feet striking the floor with a crisp, metallic ring.

  "Lord Morey, Mr. Del, forgive our unannounced visit," Aude said. Though his words were polite, his gaze locked onto Del's, showing no intention of bowing. "I am Aude, a guest official of the Northern Dukedom. The Duke believes that the resource development of the Morey Earldom should be 'co-managed' by more professional forces. For safety, we will be stationing a Gryphon Guard unit here..."

  Del didn't even lift his head. He simply gestured toward the seat opposite him. "Sit. You’ve come a long way. Have some tea."

  Master Aude’s brow twitched. He had expected fear or indignation; he had never imagined this kind of lethargic indifference. He let out a cold laugh and signaled his men to set down the Space-Stabilizer.

  "Mr. Lord, I think we can skip the tea. Let’s be blunt: hand over the underground development rights, and the Duke will guarantee your safety. Otherwise, once this Space-Stabilizer is fully deployed, those heresies of yours—"

  "Settle."

  Del uttered the single word flatly.

  BOOM—!

  Without a hint of warning, the gravity in the reception hall increased sixty-fold within a millionth of a second.

  CRACK!

  The golden arms Master Aude took such pride in let out a piercing screech of deforming metal. It was as if he had been struck by a ten-thousand-ton hammer while completely unguarded. His knees slammed into the floor, shattering the hardened stone slabs into dust. The four personal guards were flattened instantly, their faces contorted, unable to move a muscle. The precision machinery known as the Space-Stabilizer collapsed into a pile of scrap parts in the very first second.

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  "This... this is impossible!" Aude’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. He frantically activated his 【Indestructible Golden Body】, but under this extreme, irrational physical pressure, his vaunted defense was as thin as fragile paper.

  Just as Master Aude was about to be pressed into the very foundation of the earth, the purple-cloaked youth at the back moved. He did not draw a sword. He simply took a light step forward, his slender fingers tracing an ancient and complex rune in the empty air.

  "Dispel."

  A nearly transparent ripple, shimmering with dark-gold light, radiated from beneath his feet. The sixty-fold gravity pressing down on them vanished the moment it struck this ripple, dissolving like snow under a desert sun—or rather, it was directly erased and neutralized by a higher-dimensional "Rule."

  Aude felt the weight vanish. He slumped to the floor in a disheveled heap, gasping for air.

  For the first time, Del sat up straight, his teacup pausing mid-air. "Oh?" A surge of intense surprise erupted in his eyes, accompanied by a curiosity akin to discovering a new toy. The chip in his mind began flooding his vision with data:

  【Detected high-dimensional restructuring. Local physical constants restored. This is not brute force resistance, but 'Rule Cancellation'.】

  The youth pulled back his hood, revealing a face that was excessively pale, almost hauntingly beautiful. His eyes were a rare pale violet. His gaze toward Del held no arrogance, only an equal, scrutinizing inquiry.

  "The Dukedom’s rhetoric is indeed tiresome, Mr. Del. I represent the Augustus family, and I apologize for the earlier impudence." The youth bowed slightly, his etiquette flawless. "I am Cyrien Augustus. These men were merely 'scraps of iron' used to scout the path. I hope they haven't spoiled your appetite for tea."

  Looking at Cyrien, Del’s heavy world-weariness dissipated significantly. He was not a man who loved conflict; he preferred quietly building his Black Wind City over crushing people into pancakes. Seeing an ability that could neutralize gravity at the level of universal rules sparked a genuine interest in conversation.

  "Cyrien... Augustus?" Del let out a self-deprecating laugh and pointed to the seat across from him. "It seems you are worth far more than these 'iron scraps.' Allen, bring Mr. Cyrien a cup of good tea. As for those lying on the floor, don't crush them yet—just toss them into the corner."

  The gravity field returned to normal instantly. Master Aude was hoisted up like a dead dog by Allen with one hand and tossed into the corner. The "Golden Body Master" now had nothing but terror in his eyes; he finally understood that Del’s remark about "gold plating being too expensive" was no joke.

  Cyrien sat down gracefully and picked up the teacup, sniffing it lightly. "The flavor is coarse, but it possesses a certain purity. Mr. Lord, I am quite interested in your 'gravity.' In the description of that mediocre talent named 'Griffin,' this was a curse. But what I see is a perfect material order."

  Del leaned back in his rocking chair, watching the faint purple halo surrounding Cyrien. "I’m curious about your ability as well. In that moment, you didn't forcibly withstand the gravity; you made it 'cease to exist.' That feeling... it doesn't feel like sorcery, nor does it feel like Battle Qi."

  "It is the power of Bloodline," Cyrien answered frankly. "In this world, some families have, since their inception, carried fragments of ancient laws. We call them 'Sacred Words'."

  The two sat at the table that had once crushed boulders, conversing peacefully. Del found that compared to the mediocre fools who were always looking to "purify" or "annex" him, Cyrien was more like a scholar in pursuit of truth. An hour later, Cyrien departed with the unconscious Aude and his guards. Before leaving, he left behind a token engraved with a violet crest.

  "I will handle the matter with the Dukedom. The Morey Earldom is interesting; I would hate to see it ruined by a pack of merchants who only know how to hoard gold coins. I hope the next time we meet, we can discuss the deeper relationship between 'Mass and Spacetime'."

  After Cyrien left, the reception hall fell into a long silence. Del looked at the shimmering token in his hand, then turned back to Ian and Allen. "Master, Allen. Tell me... what exactly are these 'Sacred Words' and the Augustus bloodline?"

  Ian sighed, tapping his staff against the floor with a complex expression. "I knew it. Once you made enough noise, these 'Children of God' were bound to appear. Del, do you know of the Saint Warriors?"

  "I've heard a few rumors," Del shrugged.

  "A Saint Warrior’s technique is to excavate the astral potential within themselves. But the Sacred Word families... they are born possessing a piece of the stars," Ian explained. "The Augustus family inherits a bloodline known as the 'Shadow of Order.' They don't need to painstakingly analyze gravity like you do; their words are the law. The word 'Dispel' that Cyrien used is a type of Sacred Word. It can briefly cause the physical rules within a hundred-meter radius to return to nothingness."

  Allen added in a deep voice, "Master, I have read of this in the ancient records of Black Wind City. This bloodline is noble and rare. They have their own method of cultivation called 'Star-Rail Imprinting.' Their attacks possess both the unpredictability of sorcery and the explosive power of Battle Qi. In the eyes of ordinary knights, they are gods walking among mortals."

  "Star-Rail Imprinting... Sacred Words..."

  Del laughed to himself, but a light flickered in his eyes that had never been there before. He looked at his own hands, sensing the Black Buddha power within him—power he had analyzed, suppressed, and tempered step by step through the chip.

  "They were born with it. But I... I snatched it away bit by bit through calculation and agony."

  Del suddenly felt an unprecedented curiosity toward the background of this world. Originally, he had only wanted to develop in silence and build a sanctuary for himself in the Morey Earldom. But now, Cyrien’s appearance felt like a window being pushed open.

  "Master, do you think my gravity can crush their 'Sacred Words'?"

  Ian remained silent for a moment, then gave a sly grin. "If you can deduce gravity to its ultimate extreme—where even light cannot escape—then forget Sacred Words. Even if a true God comes, they’ll have to sit down and drink tea with you quietly."

  Del stood up and looked out at the wasteland as it slowly sank into darkness.

  "Then let us continue developing in silence. Allen, notify the old smith: the excavation speed at four thousand meters must be increased. Since the Sacred Word families can neutralize gravity, I will simply stack gravity to a magnitude they cannot neutralize."

  He rubbed his chin, a somewhat boyish grin appearing on his face.

  "To be honest, that purple robe of Cyrien's looked quite good. Next time we meet, I’ll ask him where he had it made. It's about time the uniforms of the Morey Earldom had a change in style."

  Beside him, Ian and Allen exchanged a glance, the heavy stones in their hearts finally falling away. Though a far more terrifying opponent had appeared, their Lord finally seemed to have stopped being that "stray dog" who couldn't find the energy for anything.