Chapter 13 Stealing the light

The heavy mahogany doors of the VIP suite clicked open. Two senior attendants from the Void Merchant Guild stepped inside, their silver-woven robes rustling softly against the plush carpet. Between them, hovering on a floating anti-gravity tray, was the sealed crystal dome containing the seven-petaled Stellar Core Lotus. The dense, liquid starlight inside pulsed lazily, casting a hypnotic purple glow across the room.

The lead attendant, a sharp-eyed cultivator at the Early Qi Foundation Realm, offered a flawless, calculated bow to Lord Vance. "Esteemed Imperial Inspector, we have brought the star of our evening. The final total is sixty thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. If you could please present your Imperial Asset Ledger or sign the high-tier spiritual blood-vow note, the lotus is yours to take."

Lord Vance didn't move. He sat in his chair like a rigid marble statue, his skin so pale he looked three days dead. His hands were tucked deep inside his wide midnight-blue silk sleeves to prevent the attendants from seeing that his fingers were shaking like dry leaves in a storm.

He didn't speak because he knew the moment he opened his mouth, his voice would hit a high-pitched octave of pure, unadulterated panic.

"The Inspector does not sign blood-vows for regional trinkets," Logan’s voice broke the silence, smooth, cold, and entirely devoid of emotion.

The two attendants shifted their gazes to Logan, their eyebrows rising slightly as they noticed his simple, unadorned white peasant robes. "And who might you be, young man? This is a transaction of the highest imperial order. Servants are not permitted to speak."

"I am the owner of that lotus," Logan said.

Before the Qi Foundation attendant could even register the absolute audacity of the statement, Logan took a single, explosive step forward. His footwork was so fluid it defied the laws of physics—the Ghost-Shadow Step blurred his physical form entirely.

Smash!

Logan’s right hand shot out like a striking viper. He didn't use a weapon; his bare fingers were coated in a dense, blinding layer of golden primordial qi. With a casual flick of his wrist, he shattered the thick, multi-layered defensive spiritual array protecting the crystal dome. The heavy glass didn't just crack; it violently disintegrated into a cloud of glittering sand.

"Bold thief!" the lead attendant roared, his Qi Foundation energy erupting instantly as a brilliant silver defensive aura coated his skin. He raised his palm, intending to blast Logan’s chest into a bloody pulp.

But Logan was faster. Much faster.

Ignoring the attendant’s incoming attack entirely, Logan grabbed the liquid-starlight lotus right off the silk cushion. He didn't put it in a spatial pouch. He didn't wrap it in protective cloth.

He shoved the entire thousand-year-old cosmic herb directly into his mouth and swallowed it raw.

Gulp.

"He... he ate it!" Mei shrieked from behind the sofa, her hands clutching her face. "Logan! That’s not how you take medicine! You're going to choke!"

The lead attendant’s palm strike connected directly with Logan’s shoulder.

BANG!

A shockwave of silver and gold energy blasted outward, shattering the premium leather chairs and cracking the translucent crystal viewing screen of the balcony. The lesser attendant was blown backward, crashing hard against the mahogany doors.

But when the dust cleared, Logan hadn't shifted an inch. His boots were firmly planted on the carpet. The Qi Foundation attendant’s hand was pressed firmly against Logan's shoulder, but Logan's white robes weren't even torn. Underneath the cloth, his perfectly refined Silver-Bones radiated a brilliant, flawless mirror-sheen, absorbing the entire impact without a single vibration.

"Your strength is decent," Logan whispered, his golden eyes locking onto the terrified face of the attendant. "But your technique has three hundred fatal openings."

Thump!

Inside Logan's chest, the thousand-year-old Stellar Core Lotus exploded into a raging torrent of cosmic starlight energy. The volatile cosmic power began to wildly tear through his thin, fragile vessels, trying to rip his physical organs apart from the inside out.

“Ugh…” Logan grunted softly, a thin trickle of bright crimson blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. His face went slightly pale, his posture slouching for a brief second as his internal organs screamed under the immense cosmic pressure.

"He's vulnerable! Kill him!" the lead attendant yelled, realizing the boy was currently undergoing a violent internal energy backlash. He drew a glowing spatial dagger from his belt, lunging straight for Logan’s throat.

"I told you," Logan murmured, his voice echoing with the absolute, terrifying authority of a sovereign, completely ignoring his internal agony. "You are too slow."

Logan raised his right foot and delivered a lightning-fast front kick straight to the attendant's chest.

BOOM!

The Qi Foundation master flew backward like a cannonball, shattering the mahogany doors clean off their hinges and flying straight out into the grand hallway of the floating pavilion, screaming as his ribs collapsed inward.

"Vance! Mei! Move!" Logan commanded, his voice tight as he forced the raging cosmic starlight inside his chest down into his damaged meridians, beginning the intense, forced process of Physical Body Tempering.

Lord Vance didn't need to be told twice. The terror of being captured by the cosmic guild gave his legs a sudden burst of miraculous speed. He grabbed Mei by her oversized leather vest, and the two of them sprinted out of the shattered doorway right behind Logan.

The entire auction hall was in absolute chaos. Alarms were blaring, and the heavy gongs were ringing continuously.

As Logan burst out into the central corridor, a group of eight star-iron guards raised their double-pronged spatial halberds, forming an iron wall to block the exit. Arcs of blue spatial electricity crackled across their weapons.

"Step aside," Logan growled, his body emitting a visible, radiant aura of purple and gold starlight as the lotus continued to melt inside his blood. The sheer physical heat evaporating from his skin was so intense it warped the air around him.

"Halt, criminal trash!" the guard captain barked.

Logan didn't slow down. He charged straight into the line of steel. He swept his right arm horizontally, his golden primordial qi forming a massive, arc-shaped blade of energy that crashed directly against their star-iron shields.

CRASH! SHATTER!

The legendary star-iron shields, guaranteed to withstand attacks from Core Formation masters, split in half simultaneously under the raw, unadulterated weight of a War God's combat intent. The eight elite Silver-Bone guards were sent flying left and right, crashing into the velvet walls like discarded ragdolls.

Logan pushed through the heavy silken exit curtains, leaping straight off the floating pavilion steps and landing flawlessly in the muddy streets of Blackstone Town below. Vance and Mei tumbled down right after him, panting heavily, their faces covered in sweat and dirt.

The midnight air was freezing, but Logan’s body was burning like a miniature sun. The starlight energy was rapidly restructuring his frail muscles, thickening his veins, and reinforcing his physical heart. He was right in the middle of a massive, forced physical transformation.

"Stop right there, you Capital dogs!"

A furious, murderous roar echoed from the shadows of the street.

Young Master Damian of the Supreme Sun Sect stepped out from a dark lane, flanked by thirty elite, black-robed assassins carrying heavy, poisoned scimitars. Damian’s face was twisted in an ugly, manic grin as he saw Logan bleeding from the mouth and Vance looking completely terrified.

"I told you that you wouldn't leave this town alive!" Damian sneered, raising his golden sword. "You outbid me inside, but out here in the dark? Your wealth and your imperial titles mean absolutely nothing! Hand over the lotus, or I will feed your corpses to the mountain beasts!"

Logan stood in the mud, his breathing ragged, his hand clutching his burning chest as the cosmic lotus reached the final, critical phase of its integration. He looked at the thirty assassins, then at the furious young master, and a low, terrifyingly dark chuckle escaped his lips.

"You want the lotus, Damian?" Logan smiled, his teeth stained with his own crimson blood, his golden eyes flashing with an unshakeable, lethal light. "It's already inside my stomach. If you want it... you'll have to come and dig it out yourself."

Young Master Damian’s smile instantly turned into a venomous sneer. He did not care about the laws of the Capital, and he certainly did not care about a bleeding teenager. "Dig it out? A splendid suggestion! Men, rip open his torso! Scrape every single petal out of his flesh!"

"Kill!"

The thirty black-robed assassins moved with the synchronized, lethal precision of a striking viper. They were all hardened veterans at the Peak of the Bronze-Refining Realm, their bodies low to the ground as their poisoned scimitars sliced through the midnight air, creating a web of flashing green light.

"Logan!" Mei screamed, raising her rusty kitchen cleaver with a shaking hand, desperately trying to step in front of him.

"Get back, Mei," Logan commanded, his voice tight.

He didn't move an inch from his position in the mud. Inside his torso, the thousand-year-old Stellar Core Lotus was reaching its absolute boiling point. The raw starlight energy had finally flooded his lowest dantians, and his thin, fragile veins were expanding, thickening, and turning a brilliant, metallic silver color under his skin.

He didn't need to dodge. He needed a catalyst to force the final integration.

“Break and rebuild!” Logan roared internally.

As the first ten poisoned scimitars were less than three inches away from his throat and chest, Logan suddenly released the absolute, suffocating restraint on his hidden power. He stopped suppressing the cosmic herb.

BOOM!

An explosive, blinding wave of pure, crystalline purple and gold starlight erupted from Logan’s body like a miniature supernova. The sheer atmospheric shockwave didn't just push the air away; it completely vaporized the mud beneath his boots, creating a perfectly dry, ten-foot crater in the middle of the wet street.

The ten leading assassins didn't even have time to scream. The moment their poisoned blades touched the edge of the starlight aura, the metal instantly melted into liquid slag. The violent kinetic energy blasted all ten of them backward through the air, their black robes bursting into flames as they crashed into the stone walls of the surrounding houses, completely unconscious.

The remaining twenty assassins instantly halted their charge, their boots skidding in the dirt as their faces turned an ash-grey color. They looked at the massive crater, then looked up at Logan, their weapons trembling violently.

Logan stood in the center of the smoking crater. The bleeding from his mouth had stopped completely. His slouched, weakened posture was entirely gone, replaced by a terrifyingly broad, rigid stance that carried the physical weight of a mountain.

His skin radiated a faint, flawless porcelain-white glow, and his veins pulsed with a steady, deep silver light. The physical weakness, the years of malnutrition, and the fragile meridians were entirely gone. By consuming the lotus raw and using the assassins' pressure to force the breakthrough, he had successfully completed the Stellar Body Tempering, solidifying his physical vessel to perfectly match his god-tier soul.

He was now officially a flawless master of the Perfect Silver-Bone Realm, with a physical body strong enough to crush iron with a single squeeze.

Logan slowly raised his head, his golden eyes locking onto Young Master Damian, who was currently standing frozen with his golden sword raised, his mouth wide open.

"You... you..." Damian stammered, his Early Silver-Bone Qi completely suffocated by Logan’s overwhelming presence. His legs shook so hard he almost dropped his weapon. "What kind of monster are you? You didn't explode?!"

"Your assassins were far too weak to dig the lotus out, Damian," Logan said, his voice smooth, steady, and dripping with an unnatural weight that made the surrounding air feel thick. He took a single, slow step out of the crater, his boots clicking clearly against the dry stone. "Why don't you come over here and try it yourself?"