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After Wesley and Felix left with the frozen Alfredo, planning to find a way to thaw him, Rayford soon followed.
Only Toney, Marietta, and the other disciples were left by the side of Misty Lake.
The house suspended above Misty Lake was already teetering on the edge of disaster.
Once Mack left, it came crashing down with a thunderous roar.
All that remained was a heap of ruins.
Toney stood by the lake, carrying Marietta on his back. He stared at the wreckage of the house in the center of the lake and the devastation all around, silent for a long time.
Finally, he forced out a hoarse, broken word. “Mar…”
Toney wanted to ask, “Did you fail to form your Gilded Core and then pin it all on Linda?” But the question just wouldn’t come out.
He thought, ‘And if you did… What difference does it make?
‘Does it even matter anymore?
‘Everything’s already fallen apart.
‘Most of us had figured it out, at least a little. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to accept it.
‘And she proved it with her life.
‘She did nothing wrong.
‘We are the ones to blame.‘
Toney switched gears. “Let’s get you somewhere safe to heal. Once Master Coleman’s back, we’ll figure out
what to do next.”
No matter what, he wasn’t going to leave Marietta behind ever again.
But Marietta suddenly grabbed his shoulder. “Take me to the Great Repository of Tomes.”
Toney frowned. “You’re in no condition to go to the Great Repository of Tomes.”
Marietta’s eyes were bloodshot. “Take me there.”
She gripped his shoulder tighter, her voice icy. “Take… Me… There.”
Toney’s heart skipped a beat.‘ Marietta… She feels like a stranger,‘ he thought.
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The Great Repository of Tomes at the High Sanctum of Archmagi had five floors. Those in the Mana–Stoking Phase or Foundation Phase had free access to the first two.
The third floor was reserved for Gilded Nucleus cultivators or personal disciples.
The fourth required late–stage Gilded Core, and the fifth floor was off–limits to anyone but Astral Sovereign Form cultivators, where the most powerful techniques were kept.
Marietta shooed Toney off and entered the first floor by herself. She didn’t even glance at the second, let alone the third floor reserved for personal disciples.
Instead, she headed straight for the deepest part of the Great Repository of Tomes, slipping into a secluded
corner.
There, she opened a door and slipped through a passageway leading underground.
She moved slowly, her steps faltering. With every step, blood oozed from the wound in her abdomen. But she didn’t hesitate for a moment. Down she went, no matter the cost.
When she reached the empty underground chamber, Marietta bellowed, “Show yourself. I know you’re here.”
Dark mist billowed, slowly creeping in to surround Marietta.
“Cackle, cackle… Why so angry all of a sudden?” a voice sneered from the shadows.
Marietta lunged forward and snatched a book from the swirling mist. The book trembled, trying to break free, but she held on with a death grip. “My Sovereign–Class Core is withering?
“You drained my Sovereign–Class Core.
“Isn’t that right?”
Marietta shouted, her voice shaking with rage. ‘That’s the reason I couldn’t form my Gilded Core. It’s all because of you,‘ she thought.
“I pulled you out from the bottom of the river. You leeched off my Sovereign–Class Core’s power and never said a word. My failure wasn’t my fault. It was you.
“It’s all your fault!”
Marietta hurled the black book to the ground and stomped on it in a frenzy. “Why did you do this to me? I was the one who broke your seal. I was the one who dragged you out.
“I was the one who set you up in the Great Repository of Tomes, brimming with energy, so you could restore yourself. Why did you have to betray me?”
Tears streamed down Marietta’s face as she collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. I’m no less than Linda. I was just cursed with bad luck.
‘Just… unbelievably unlucky.
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Marietta wailed, her sobs filling the empty chamber.
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Dark mist billowed out from the book, and a creepy voice hissed, “Brat, get this straight. Without me, you never would’ve reached the Gilded Core at fifteen.”
“But I failed,” Marietta yelled.
“You just weren’t gifted enough. You tried to force it, so obviously you crashed and burned,” the voice mocked, cold as ice.
Marietta’s eyes burned with hatred. “Mack said my Sovereign–Class Core is withering. He’s not the type to lie, so it must be you. You did this!”
The dark mist circled her, cackling. “If you want to be a genius, you’ve got to pay the price. If you want to be the star of the show in this world, you have to make sacrifices.
“You think you’re Linda Barber? She was born with a perfect core. Everything comes easily for her. But you? You’re not her, not even close.”
The taunting voice completely shattered Marietta’s composure.
Marietta squeezed the dark mist with all her might, her voice seething with hatred. “Give me back my Sovereign–Class Core. Give me back my Gilded Core.
“If you don’t, I’ll dig up those bones buried down here and burn them in the pill furnace, slowly, piece by piece.”
Hatred surging through her, she locked her grip on the mist, not hesitating for a second. She gathered her energy at her fingertips and sliced downward, splitting the ground wide open.
There it was. A half–buried skull, shrouded in swirling black mist, was deep in the earth.
Marietta glared at it, her stare cold and unyielding.
“That thing… It twisted my fate and destroyed me,‘ she thought.
Marietta had stumbled across it at the foot of the High Sanctum of Archmagi when she was just eight. It made her a prodigy, but it also wrecked her shot at becoming immortal.
The voice in the mist lost some of its edge. “Hey, kid, don’t pin this all on me. I warned you back then. Don’t rush the Core Formation. If you’d waited a couple more years, things would’ve gone way smoother for you.
you
“But
had to chase after Linda’s record. You think smashing a genius’s record is a walk in the park? Even your master Coleman couldn’t catch up to her talent.
“Why’d you have to go and compete with her?”
“She’s not the only one who hit the Gilded Core at fifteen,” Marietta shouted, cutting the mist off, sick of hearing Linda’s name.
She didn’t even know there was a word for this kind of thing, getting killed by compliments.
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The mist wasn’t hyping Linda up. It was pouring fuel on Marietta’s jealousy and rage.
“Wait, there’s another prodigy out there?” The mist perked up, sounding genuinely interested. “Who?”
Marietta’s expression was cold as ice. “My Gilded Core has been ripped out, and my cultivation’s unraveling. In less than a month, I’ll drop all the way back to the Mana–Stoking Phase.
“Fix this, or we both go down together.”
Marietta snatched the skull out of thin air, ready to storm out of the Great Repository of Tomes.
She was going to tell Coleman and Dewitt everything.
She’d expose the High Sanctum of Archmagi to harbor this kind of evil.
The mist sighed, its voice echoing eerily. “Why are you so desperate? I never said there was no way out.”
“Say it,” Marietta demanded, her tone icy.
“Well then…” the mist drawled.
From the swirling mist, a golden Sovereign Core appeared, with faint wisps of dark energy curling around it.
Marietta frowned. She could feel the overwhelming power coming off it, but there was also an ominous feeling she couldn’t put into words.
The mist spoke, “Do you know what’s above a Sovereign–Class Core?”
“What?”
“A Celestial Affinity.”
Marietta was momentarily stunned. “A Celestial Affinity?”
“That’s right…” The voice replied with a sly grin. “This Affinity is even more powerful than Linda’s. If you claim it, in less than half a year, you’ll not only reclaim your Gilded Core, you’ll ascend to even greater heights.”
Marietta felt a surge of hope. “Really?”
“Of course,” the mist crooned, its voice smooth and devilish. “But there’s a catch. This thing is so insanely powerful, your Innate Spiritbonebody can’t handle it as you are.
“If you want to fuse with it perfectly, you’ll need to get your hands on an Innate Spiritbone.”
“What’s that supposed to be?” Marietta pressed, her curiosity burning.
“You know how the heavens always play favorites?” the mist said slyly. “Some people, like Linda, are born geniuses. But there’s another kind, the ones born with an Innate Spiritbone.
“Those kids show up in the world packing ridiculous strength from day one. It’s honestly freakish.
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“They don’t even need to temper their bodies. Their flesh is already as tough as a high–grade spirit weapon. And if they fully awaken that Spiritbone, they could even break through to the path of the immortals.
“That’s the kind of body that can actually handle a Celestial Affinity.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
