Merin opens his eyes and exhales slowly.
He has reached the limit of this world.
No matter how much he cultivates now, his strength will no longer increase.
He turns his focus inward, gazing at the spiritual crystal formed in his mind.
It no longer resembles the spiritual cores of ordinary cultivators—
It now mirrors an ancestral crystal.
He can feel it clearly.
Even if his body dies, the ancestral crystal will remain.
It will not shatter with him.
It will linger in the world, waiting.
And if someone refines it, they will inherit everything—
They will become the next Dragon Ancestor.
Merin speaks aloud, "Deep Blue, show me my status panel."
---
Name: Matsuda Kanoru (Merin)
Life Span: 150 / 500 (1000)
Life Origin: White (Level 4)
Cultivation Realm: Spiritual Grandmaster – False 11 (Bronze)
Rule: Dragon (0.1%)
(Vitality, Strength, Gravity, Formation, Runes, Artificial Intelligence, Resistance, Sharpness, Illusion)
Artistic Conceptions: Crystal, ...
---
Merin studies the panel he designed—
a system he built by merging the Rule of Artificial Intelligence with the five other rules.
He sighs again.
Even after reaching the Spirit Grandmaster Realm, his innate lifespan has not increased.
After advancing to the Spirit Grandmaster Realm many years ago, he had chosen the rules of Resistance, Sharpness, and Illusion to complete his final set of three.
He comprehended them fully and attempted to advance to the next realm.
But nothing happened.
His cultivation remained stagnant.
Puzzled, he began reviewing his spiritual core.
It was then that he noticed something crucial—
The nine rules he had comprehended were only superficially merged.
On the surface, they appeared unified.
But under close inspection, they were still nine separate rules.
He realised the truth—
To ascend beyond the Spirit Grandmaster Realm, he would have to truly fuse the nine into one singular, all-encompassing rule.
He spent decades attempting this impossible task.
Failure after failure followed—
Until today.
Today, the nine rules finally became one.
Now, there is no longer any reason for him to remain in this world.
But before that, he must kill the five ancestors.
The war has already been won.
Their forces have fallen, their domains shattered.
The five ancestors now huddle together, hidden deep within the central lands of the Yao Continent.
They are not dead yet—
Because even in defeat, they remain dangerous.
Each one holds the power to drag others into death with them.
There are five Ancestral Realm cultivators.
And among Merin's allies, only four stand at the same level.
Worse, of those four, only one is human.
But as of today, Merin has become the second human to reach the Ancestral Realm.
He sends a message to the council: I have ascended.
Messages begin to pour in one after another.
They go back and forth for a while—
Until the decision is made.
The final assault will begin in one month.
Merin rises and walks out of the room.
Then out of the tower.
The morning light spreads softly across the city.
Dozens of towers now rise above the skyline—monuments of progress and power.
The city hums with life as the people begin their day.
Merin walks its familiar streets, silent.
He returns to the family estate.
And just as he's about to enter his room—
A black dragon cub barrels into his chest.
He catches the creature gently and hugs it.
A group of servants rush up behind, stopping respectfully a few steps away.
They bow and say in unison, "Lord."
Merin nods once in reply, his eyes still on the dragon.
The cub tilts its head, eyes gleaming, and speaks in a soft, milky voice—
"Great Grandfather."
Yes, Merin is now a great-grandfather.
The dragon cub is his great-grandchild—Ryuya's grandson.
Merin smiles and lifts the small creature into his arms, holding it with surprising gentleness.
He carries his great-grandchild into the house.
For a while, he simply plays with the cub—no cultivation, no formations, no thoughts of war.
Only laughter and warmth.
That night, every Spirit Master, Spirit Greatmaster, and Spirit Grandmaster in the region gathers at his estate for a grand dinner.
Everyone is already seated when Merin enters.
But no one notices his arrival.
Not a single soul senses him.
Then, he speaks—his voice calm, low, and firm.
And only then do they realise he's among them.
He takes his seat, and silence falls.
Those unfamiliar with his family are stunned.
But his wives and children are not surprised.
They felt the shift in the world hours earlier.
The moment Merin advanced to the Spirit Grandmaster Realm, his aura merged seamlessly with the world.
He became invisible to all who had not reached the same level.
He informs them that the time has come.
The final battle—the end of the century-long war—will begin in one week.
After the meeting ends, he returns to his chambers.
That night, he spent in quiet closeness with his two wives.
When morning comes, he steps outside and transforms into his dragon form.
His wings spread wide, massive, radiant, balanced.
He rises into the sky with a single beat.
Higher and higher, until he breaks through the clouds.
Then even higher, until he touches the edge of the atmosphere—
The wind barrier.
He looks up.
And for the first time, a deep curiosity stirs in his heart—
What lies beyond this world?
He continues to soar, rising higher and deeper into the wind layer.
The wind barrier resists him—its blades sharp enough to tear most beings apart.
But they do nothing to him.
They slice against his scales and vanish like dust against steel.
He climbs further, until he breaks through the final turbulence.
Above the wind layer, silence stretches in all directions.
He tries to rise higher—
But a transparent barrier stops him.
It doesn't push him back, nor does it injure him.
It simply exists.
He looks beyond it.
A vast, dark void filled with distant twinkling stars.
He floats there, watching.
Time loses meaning as he studies the stillness beyond the world.
Then, silently, he begins his descent.
He returns home, lands without a sound, and resumes his quiet life.
There is nothing left to prepare.
He waits.
Ten days later, the moment arrives.
Merin, alongside the four other Ancestral Realm cultivators, steps onto the battlefield.
Each one holds an ancestral crystal in their hand.
By the time the sun sets, the war is over.
The five ancient enemies are dead.
The Great War, which lasted more than a century, ended in ten days.
From this moment on, the Yao are no longer the rulers of the world.
At the top now stands the human race.
Or rather, what once was human.
Of the two human ancestors, one is Merin.
The other, the Holy Blood Ancestor.
Yet neither of their bodies can be called human anymore.
Only their souls remain human.
They still identify as human—still remember what it meant.
But after a few thousand years...
Even that may fade.
After the war, a grand celebration erupts, lasting an entire month.
Humans, allied Yao races, Dryads, and Sea People all gather to rejoice.
For the first time in centuries, the world breathes freely.
During the celebration, Merin makes both of his wives pregnant again.
They had tried before, after successfully changing their races—
But every attempt failed.
Now, with the world at peace and his cultivation complete, life takes root once more.
When the celebration ends, Merin and his family return to their estate.
He halts all cultivation.
He devotes his time entirely to his family.
Because he has made a decision—
He will leave this world.
He will leave behind a clone.
But what unsettles him is not the act of leaving—
It's the fear that when he returns, his family may no longer be alive.
To preserve his legacy and love, his clone must survive for centuries, perhaps millennia.
And therein lies the problem.
He knows of only two immortals in this world: the Water Ancestor and the Wood Ancestor.
They are immortal not by realm—
But because their bodies have fully merged with the world itself.
They exist now as soul-forms, able to move freely while their essence is bound to the world.
Their advantage: as long as the world endures, they cannot die.
For Merin to achieve the same, his body too must merge with the world.
But that leads to a critical question—
If he merges completely, will he still be able to leave behind a clone?
Likely not.
So, the solution becomes clear.
He must first create a clone—
Then allow his true body to merge with the world.
But he cannot create a clone without using his body.
A paradox.
Until he finds an answer.
He will create not a clone—
But a formation spirit.
A being shaped from the rules of Formation, Runes, and Artificial Intelligence.
One that can grow, adapt, and serve as a vessel for his return.
With that decision made, Merin quietly leaves his home.
He transforms into his dragon form and flies toward the eastern ocean—
Toward the place where heaven touches water, and the world's essence is thinnest.
He flies until no island or coastline is in sight—only endless ocean beneath him.
There, he stops.
He raises his hand, and a stream of mana flows from his palm into the depths below.
For a moment, all is still.
Then the ocean begins to shake.
A distant hum echoes through the waves, and the sea begins to split.
From the depths, land rises—slowly, steadily.
Water cascades down its sides as it emerges, stone and soil lifting from the seafloor.
Minutes pass.
Then hours.
And finally, a massive island stands beneath him, untouched and silent.
Merin hovers above it, and with a wave of his hand, he begins inscribing runes.
One after another, the runes shine and sink deep into the earth.
He continues without pause for two full days.
Then, with a final stroke, he connects all the runes into a single circuit.
A transparent barrier forms, encasing the island in a soft glow.
It's time for the final step—
The creation of the formation spirit.
He channels his magical power into the core of the formation.
Within moments, a voice echoes softly into his mind.
"Master."
Merin nods and descends.
The barrier parts before him like mist, allowing him to pass.
He lands on the island's surface, still bare and sandy.
With a single breath, he releases a wave of mana.
Grass sprouts beneath his feet.
Trees rise around him.
The ground dips and reshapes itself, forming ponds, rivers, and lakes of clear water.
Then, he pricks his finger.
Drops of blood—thick with his spirit essence—fall to the earth.
He scatters it across the island.
The formation drinks it in.
His blood and flesh merge with the rune system, weaving into the core of the spirit itself.
And over the next hour, the formation spirit evolves.
It becomes more than just a guardian—
It becomes his clone.
Now comes the final moment—his body's merging with the world.
He walks to the centre of the island, shifts into his dragon form, and lies down upon the ground.
Slowly, he connects his ancestral crystal to the will of the world.
His vision fades—
Then returns.
He finds himself suspended high in the sky, watching from above as though a spirit.
Below, his massive dragon body rests still on the island's heart.
Natural energy begins to gather.
First in ripples, then in waves.
It pours into his body from every corner of the world.
One by one, natural energy crystals start forming along his scales.
They shimmer, glow, and thicken.
Natural energy begins to flow with such intensity that cultivators across the world sense it.
Everyone who can feel natural energy—no matter how far—feels the pull.
Many rush to the source, arriving at the edges of the island.
But they can see nothing.
The formation Merin created blocks all attempts to peer inside.
Even his family arrives—Rin, Ryuya, Yanli, Asuna, Kuro, Nora—
All of them were troubled.
None can contact him.
None knows what is happening.
And Merin, watching from above, is unable to reassure them.
He is locked in the process—no longer body, not yet world.
The crystals along his scales begin to shift, hardening into stone.
His body starts turning to rock.
Days pass.
Then, without warning, his massive body vanishes.
In its place, a towering mountain rises at the centre of the island.
Its peak pierces the sky, dividing the island in half.
And then—
A final burst of energy erupts from the heart of the island.
It expands outward like a breath.
The island begins to grow.
It stretches farther and farther until it becomes a continent.
Mountains rise.
Rivers carve their paths.
Forests bloom.
Lakes fill.
Hills roll into place.
A natural landscape forms, vibrant and alive—
All within a month.
Then, Merin's vision fades again.
When it returns, he finds himself within the heart of the mountain that was once his body.
He is now in his soul form—weightless, formless, yet whole.
Before meeting anyone—before speaking to his family—he examines his new state.
He studies the island, sensing every tree, every ripple of energy, every particle of spirit wind.
Then, he turns his attention to the formation spirit.
It hovers silently at the island's core, pulsing with structured intelligence.
He makes his decision.
Without hesitation, he merges his soul into the formation spirit.
The moment their essence fuses, the island trembles gently.
The formation hums—deeper, richer, more alive.
Now, even an Ancestral Realm cultivator would find it nearly impossible to break through.
Satisfied, Merin opens the formation's outer boundary.
He sends out a call.
His family and closest allies step onto the continent.
They see the mountain, feel the power in the air, and walk toward its centre.
There, Merin speaks—his voice no longer from lips, but through space itself.
He tells them everything that has happened.
Everything he has become.
After some time, only his family remains.
He speaks to them softly.
"This place is ours now. Move the family here. From today onward, this continent will be our eternal home."
Kuro and Ryuyen nod.
They leave to begin preparations.
The rest remain.
They explore the land, walking the rivers and forests of their new homeland.
Soon, they depart to gather spirit beasts and guardian creatures to populate the continent.
Merin, still watching, makes another decision.
He will stay in this world just for a few more years.
At least until both of his wives give birth to their second children.
During this time, he constructs something new—
A vast underground tomb, hidden beneath the mountain.
Not for the dead.
But for the living who are ready to sleep.
A place of rest.
A sanctuary.
When his family members reach the limits of this world—
When their cultivation cannot rise further, and time threatens to claim them—
They will not die.
They will enter this tomb.
There, sealed in stasis, they will gain eternal life in sleep.
Not as corpses.
But as dreamers waiting for a future.
Once the construction is complete, Merin calls his family together.
And he tells them everything.
The truth of his transformation.
The creation of the formation spirit.
The future he envisions.
And the path each of them must walk after he's gone.
They listen in silence, heavy with understanding.
A decade later, the time comes.
He separates his soul from the formation spirit.
The transfer is flawless—perfectly calibrated through the combined precision of Runes, Formation, and Artificial Intelligence.
From that moment on, even the most ancient beings of the world would not be able to tell it apart.
They would believe—without a shadow of doubt—that the being they sense is the Dragon Ancestor himself.
Merin, now a silent thread of soul-light, prepares for his final departure.
He activates the technique taught to him by the Mirror Rule—
A secret art that allows consciousness to return to its original world before death, by locking memory, identity, and soul essence in mirrored layers.
His thoughts begin to blur.
His awareness dims.
His final breath as a soul leaves no sound.
And then—
Silence.
Four thousand years pass.
Mountains shift.
Continents rise.
Empires fall.
Languages vanish.
Bloodlines stretch thin.
Natural Energy disappears.
But the formation spirit remains.
Dormant.
Unmoved.
Until one day—
Natural Energy appears.
It rumbles.