Lady Sun answered her own question.

"That man hides himself cleverly and perfectly, but I still picked up on a few traces."

"If you listen closely to his heartbeat, you’ll find it’s like the heavy beat of a war drum. Each thump is resonant and powerful."

"He has many other hidden methods and strengths that I haven’t uncovered. After all, he’s a guest from afar. It would be impolite to probe too deeply, especially since we need to cooperate with him."

"So..."

Lady Sun looked out the window again, her sun-like eyes reflecting the sun outside.

"This Mr. Fighting Master is truly terrifying!"

"That’s why he’s worth paying such a high price!"

Lady Sun’s explanation made Isabelle turn her head, her gaze fixed on the direction in which Zorn Corick had disappeared.

Lady Sun had always been extremely strict with her.

Even though Isabelle always tried her best, she received more reprimands than praise.

But this time, regarding the guest from afar, the Fighting Master Zorn Corick, Lady Sun did not hold back her words of praise in the slightest.

One had to understand that there were many highly talented Transcendents within the Sun Sect.

Yet those who could catch Lady Sun’s eye were few and far between.

Even the "Rose Saintess," who had risen with astonishing speed recently, had only been praised by Lady Sun for her diligence and hard work.

After a long moment, Lady Sun composed herself and turned to Isabelle.

"Since that Mr. Fighting Master requires a Sun Skeleton, pick one for him from our finest collection."

"Ah!"

Isabelle was taken aback and hesitated slightly.

"But those are the core ritual materials for making the Crying Blood Sun rise."

"If we divert one at this point in time, won’t it...?"

Lady Sun simply waved her hand dismissively.

"If one Sun King’s Golden Skeleton can secure the friendly cooperation of this Mr. Fighting Master, it will be more effective than using it for the Crying Blood Sun."

"Besides... that Evil Spirit Assassin isn’t strong enough in his Sequence. His foundation in Spiritual matters and rituals is also rather poor. He can’t even harness the full power of a Sun King’s Golden Skeleton, so giving him more would be a waste."

’It would be better if Francis were here.’

At the mention of the Evil Spirit Divine Mage, Francis, a shadow crossed Lady Sun’s brow.

"Has Francis not been found yet?"

She looked at the Dark Wizard and the Reflected Man beside her.

"We’ve tracked down a few traces."

"He appears occasionally near the Lower Street of the Old Ogrande District, but his specific whereabouts..."

The Reflected Man stammered, finding it difficult to continue.

"Just say what needs to be said."

Lady Sun glanced at the Reflected Man.

The Reflected Man said bluntly,

"The few times we found traces of Francis, he was in the red-light district, looking for streetwalkers."

’Looking for streetwalkers?’

This strange behavior made even Lady Sun frown.

"Since you’ve found some traces, redouble your efforts. Find that Francis, whatever it takes."

"I never thought this Mr. Francis could hide so deeply."

"To think he actually commands a superweapon as unimaginable as the Evil Spirit Calamity."

"If we had known earlier, we wouldn’t be in such a sorry state."

"Before, Francis was clever, but only to a certain extent."

"Ever since Francis fled the Sun Church, his movements have been erratic, and the schemes he has participated in have been nothing short of breathtaking."

"I wonder which hidden entity is the mastermind behind him!"

"But no matter which hidden entity it is, they won’t be able to stop the Crying Blood Sun from rising this time."

The others listened in silence to Lady Sun’s pronouncements.

After hesitating for a long time, Isabelle, who was standing to the side, slowly spoke up.

"Lady Sun, I... I also want to participate in the trip to the Shadow Castle."

"The Shadow Blood Race is very powerful, and you’ve always taught me to try fighting against strong enemies."

"Perhaps this is a good opportunity. Besides, I’m a Traveler Sequence. My mobility is extremely high. Maybe I can follow near that Mr. Fighting Master and discover something."

Lady Sun thought for a moment before nodding.

"Since you’re willing to participate, I won’t stop you. However, you must be careful. You should know that if those of the Shadow Blood Race find an opportunity, they will genuinely kill a Sequencer like you."

"Understood!"

Isabelle clenched her fists and replied with great seriousness.

...

「Geluo Long Street, second floor of the manor.」

He drew the curtains, separating the study from the outside world.

His silhouette gradually faded into the depths of the darkness.

As Zorn, seated behind the desk, gave it a light tap, a resonant THUD echoed.

WHOOSH...

A wind that seemed to carry death itself howled gently.

The layer of reality in the surroundings was swept away by the strange wind, like ash after a fire.

A dark, deathly, oppressive, and somber evil spirituality quickly bred, then bloomed and spread like a flower of death.

In an instant, the small study had plunged into a Spiritual Realm of death.

Or rather, the Spiritual Realm had been summoned by Zorn at this very moment, descending upon reality.

And Zorn’s position was, in fact, the Golden Throne.

Within the dark and silent Spiritual Realm, Zorn sat high upon the Golden Throne.

The Calamity Black Mist, like a sea of clouds, crept at Zorn’s feet.

Within the depths of the surrounding barrier of Calamity Black Mist, towering silhouettes faintly emerged.

Each of those silhouettes represented a truth of the Calamity Origin Land, buried deep in history.

Only once the Evil Spirit Sequences—Zorn Corick’s kind—were all but wiped out, or when the flesh-and-blood remnant Sequences of Egunus grew powerful enough, would the terrible truth be unearthed.

But that was something that could only be done after becoming Legendary, which was still a distant prospect.

Zorn slowly withdrew his gaze from the silhouettes deep within the towering barrier of Calamity Black Mist.

A "Spiritual Realm" was also known by other names, such as "Spirit Realm."

The powerful technique known as the "Descent of the Spiritual Domain" involved releasing a portion of one’s Spiritual Power, using oneself as an anchor in reality to create a unique domain of that power.

For a Caster, manifesting a Spiritual Realm provided a massive boost to their own abilities.

Furthermore, the Spiritual Realm itself possessed immense destructive power and was not something to be deployed lightly.

The Spiritual Realm ability was exclusive to unique Sequences that possessed their own "Land of Origin."

For example, the various flesh-and-blood remnants within the "Calamity Origin Land" that gave rise to the Evil Spirit Sequence could all construct their own "Spiritual Realm" by leveraging the "Calamity Black Mist."

However, being qualified to develop one’s own Spiritual Realm did not necessarily mean one could actually manifest it.

Zorn used his Spiritual Realm to carefully perceive the entire Calamity Origin Land.

Only a small number of the flesh-and-blood remnants were slowly absorbing the Calamity Black Mist.

The vast majority of them were completely unaware that the Black Mist could be absorbed and refined.

Even the few Evil Spirit Sequences who had managed to discover that the Calamity Black Mist could be refined were only using the simplest method: refining it with their own Sequence. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Not to mention the inefficiency of this crude method, it also hindered their own growth.

Within the ecosystem of a Calamity event, one could construct a "Calamity Ceremony."

And from that ceremony, one could construct a "Calamity Sacred Mark."

This was the true, optimal path to leveraging and refining the Calamity Black Mist.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know this.

It would take them at least two or three more years to even begin to figure it out.

While the other Evil Spirit Sequences were still fumbling to figure out how to refine and leverage the Calamity Black Mist, Zorn was already using vast amounts of it to construct his own Calamity Origin Land Spiritual Realm.

And now, his Spiritual Realm had already taken its initial form!