As a member of a prestigious noble family in the Highland Realm, Vespera's path to greatness had already been laid out in front of her.

In her homeworld, a dimension bathed beneath the light of purple suns, power was being cultivated not only through harmony with nature.

There was nature, but harmony with it had long been abandoned. Ever since the rise of the Dreillings, eons of unchecked expansion and the insatiable consumption of their own planet's resources had opened the Highland Realm in a period of glorious rise.

And to continue the momentum, their civilization had to look outward. They became cosmic conquerors, tearing open spatial rifts to leech the vitality of younger, greener realms.

For the aristocracy, the path of power was neatly divided.

Those who were more fascinated by the evolution of the body, like Xylos, walked the 'Path of the Apex'. They physically graft the stolen strength of conquered races onto their own bodies.

However, the true elites and the pioneers of their race are the Mind-Weavers like Vespera who walked the 'Path of the Zenith'.

They understood that the physical form was inherently limited. True immortality lay in the mind, in the conceptual domination of reality. They were taught from childhood to weave their psychic tendrils into the minds of lesser beings, to feast on their terror, their despair, and their shattered hopes.

A Mind-Weaver's spiritual sea was continuously expanding as they consumed the trauma of millions or even billions.

Vespera, if there wasn't any accident, entering the High Council wasn't a dream for her.

Alas, she had been deployed to lead their realm in establishing a foothold in the largest realm they had ever known in the vast cosmic dimension.

And now, she was facing the greatest threat of her years of existence.

Standing up, Vespera glanced at the Convergence Engine.

It was not a machine of gears and metal, but it was what Lin Mo would probably label as a biomechanical womb.

Inside it rested a 'Highland Seed', a concentrated mass of the High Emperor's own psychic blueprint mixed with the chaotic laws of their realm.

The Engine's purpose was to gorge itself on the ambient spiritual energy and the despair of the natives in a newly breached Anchor.

Once it reached one hundred percent saturation, the seed would hatch, giving birth to a Sovereign Avatar.

This Avatar would act as a permanent, living anchor, anchoring the Highland Realm's laws into the new world, irrevocably overwriting the local Heavenly Dao.

It was a terrifyingly efficient method of dimensional colonization.

Or at least, it was supposed to be.

Vespera's mercury-like eyes snapped back to the present reality of the cavern, the bitter taste of failure burning on her tongue.

The countdown timer floating in the periphery of her vision seemed to mock her.

[09:42]

Less than ten minutes until the restriction was lifted and true reinforcements could arrive. But ten minutes, in a battle between experts capable of breaking the sound barrier, was an eternity.

She looked at the spot where Zyrith had been unceremoniously executed by a mere sword intent, and where Xylos had been brutally compacted into a bloody smear by a teenage girl in golden armor.

"How inefficient. They are so proud and yet, they cannot even last for twenty minutes." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Vespera sighed but only for a moment as she quickly regained her composure.

True. She realized her own miscalculation. She had treated the Realm of Nine Heavens, specifically the natives, as inconsequential. Like, even with their resistance, once the Convergence Engine was completed, they would be helpless.

Even though she had become wary of the 'Shopkeeper', she still ended up underestimating his influence.

His convenience that the natives kept on parroting had been fully unleashed on them. And it was terrifying.

"I must not fall here. I must bring back the intelligence regarding this anomaly," Vespera muttered.

She turned her gaze back to the pulsating cocoon of the Convergence Engine. It was only at seventy-two percent saturation. The life-force of the captured cultivators and barbarians, combined with the ambient energy of the cavern, hadn't been enough to complete the gestation cycle.

But she had no other choice. If the native experts breached her defensive perimeter now, she would die, and the Anchor would be lost.

"A premature birth is flawed. It will be unstable, prone to rapid cellular degradation. It will burn out," She whispered, her hands trembling as she reached out towards the fleshy, violet-veined surface of the cocoon. "But it will burn them first."

Vespera bit down on her own thumb, drawing a drop of rich, luminescent purple blood. She pressed her bleeding finger against the center of the Convergence Engine.

Instantly, she channeled her remaining psychic reserves, dumping decades of refined trauma and stolen life-force directly into the cocoon.

"Awaken!" She screamed. "Consume my blood and rise!"

The cocoon convulsed violently. The rhythmic heartbeat escalated into a frantic, terrifying drumroll. The violet fluid inside began to boil, emitting a blinding, toxic light that forced the advancing Eastern Abyssal Domain cultivators to halt their charge.

"What is that witch doing?!" Patriarch Liu Tianfeng shouted as he crossed his arms over his face. The pressure emanating from the cocoon stopped his charge and pushed him back a dozen paces.

"Grandpa, quick! She's forcing it open!" Liu Xiaoyu shouted, her golden [Legionary Set] humming as the Aether Shard worked overtime to shield her. "Boss said to smash it if it exists. We cannot let it hatch!"

"Stop her!" Ancestor Swordpoint pointed his index finger, condensing his century-honed Sword Intent into a single, devastating beam of cerulean light aimed straight at Vespera's head.

The beam crossed the cavern in a microsecond.

But before it could pierce Vespera's skull, the cocoon exploded.

SKKKKKRRRK!

A psychic wail like an agonizing scream of a newborn echoed.

Then, a shockwave of concentrated Highland Energy blasted outward.

The cerulean sword beam struck the expanding wave and shattered like glass.

Patriarch Liu, the Spirit Severing Ancestors, and the surrounding Nascent Soul experts were thrown backward like leaves in a hurricane. Even the 5-meter sanctuary projected by the [Harmonic Resonance Instrument] around Liu Xiaoyu flickered wildly, the silver tuning fork emitting a straining hum as it withstood the sudden influx of chaotic laws.

From the wreckage of the fleshy cocoon, a small hand emerged. However, it was not a hand of flesh and blood.

Instead, it seemed to be formed from solidified Highland Energy that rippled with wondrous laws existing from their realm.

It grabbed the edge of its cocoon and pulled, dragging itself out.

As it floated out, everyone stared at what looked like a spiritual projection of a child Dreilling. But the energy contained within its body was even more chaotic than the energy stored in the Volatile Highland Energy Core.

[Warning: Extreme Anomaly Detected.]

[Entity Identified: Highland Sovereign Avatar (Premature)]

[Threat Level: Half-Step Law Integration Stage/Highly Unstable]

[Trait: Reality Warping, Concept Devourer, Absolute Highland Domain]

—

Back in the Divine Convenience Store, Lin Mo abruptly stood up from his seat in the second-floor lounge. The coffee in his cup spilled over the rim as he stared at the live feed projected from Xiaoyu's perspective.

"Half-Step Law Integration?" Wu Meiyu gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she read the system overlay. The color drained from her face.

"Shopkeeper... can they win? An entity comparable to a Half-Step Law Integration being… Patriarch Liu is only at the peak of the Void Refinement Stage…"

"I know," Lin Mo said, his voice remained calm, but his mind was racing, calculating variables at a speed that would make a supercomputer jealous.

It's not like the strike team and Liu Tianfeng delayed it. They did everything right. They even annihilated most of the Dreilling inside that Core Area.

But Vespera. She was a tough cookie to break. It goes to show that she's not just a simple entity.

This Anchor was too different from the Anchor he successfully reset with the Sword Fairy a week ago.

But then again, upon reading all that information, Lin Mo was relieved. After all, if they let that hatch to 100%, it would truly spell disaster for that part of the Eastern Abyssal Domain.

Lin Mo murmured, slipping into his business persona to keep the panic at bay. "It's 'Highly Unstable.' That means it possibly cannot exist for long. It's burning its energy just to give Vespera the necessary time for her reinforcements to arrive."

"What do you plan to do?" Wu Meiyu asked in concern as Lin Mo placed down his cup and stood up.

"I need to make a quick trip."

While he was confident that Liu Tianfeng and the strike team could hold their ground against it, it was not a guarantee that they could wrap it up before that countdown ended. It has to be prevented or they'll be in for a lot more trouble.

"Huh? No. Shopkeeper! You cannot go there!" Wu Meiyu grabbed his sleeve, her regal composure breaking to reveal genuine fear."

"Hmm? Relax. I'm not going to fight it, Meiyu. I'm just going to give that entity a poke at the right moment." Lin Mo gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze before pulling away.

Right. He's not heading to his death, far from it.

From his hand, the [Starfall Judgement Revolver] appeared. He's clear about its current capabilities. He only needs one shot to provide the necessary suppressive fire.