The sun over Flameheart Planet was unusually dim, blanketed by a haze of shimmering atmospheric dust that reflected streaks of blue and silver through the skies. It was as if the planet itself knew something monumental had occurred.
Jin Taixuan had ascended to the Second Realm—**Core-Bonded Disciple**.
Yet, outside the roar of the tournament, few truly grasped the significance. Not even the envoys from the Main Family had fully understood what had happened in that last clash. They had seen a stunning display of talent, yes. Power, efficiency, calm. But not the underlying evolution.
And that was exactly how Jin Taixuan wanted it.
---
**The Return to the Outskirts**
Flameheart City had returned to its normal rhythms by the second day. Banners were being removed, temporary pavilions folded down, and merchants packed up their stalls with the efficiency of veteran wanderers. The grand tournament was over.
But for the Jin Clan's Outpost Division, something deeper had shifted.
When Taixuan returned, he did not go home immediately. Instead, he climbed the hills overlooking the mountain lake behind their estate, a small overlook platform where his grandfather often meditated.
There, Jin Wei waited.
"You didn't just win," the old man said without turning, voice as deep as the stone beneath their feet. "You crossed the boundary."
Taixuan bowed behind him. "Yes. Core-Bonded."
Jin Wei exhaled slowly. "I felt it. Your warship has changed."
The Heavenhammer was no longer a simple Base Frame-Class. Upon his breakthrough, it had evolved in tandem, becoming a full **Reactor-Class Warship**. Its core now pulsed like a living engine, drawing from Taixuan's spiritual energy more efficiently.
He hadn't tested its limits yet.
He would soon.
"The Main Family will keep an eye on you now," Jin Wei continued. "They always do. Especially once they suspect bloodline integrity in someone from the branch families."
"Then I will keep my power quiet," Taixuan said. "Until we are ready."
Jin Wei finally turned, placing a hand on his grandson's shoulder.
"You don't understand what your success means for us. It is not just about your rise. You are the spark that may redeem an old man's dignity."
Taixuan did not speak, only lowered his head.
He understood. In his quiet way, he understood everything.
---
That evening, as the family dined in celebration, a subtle alert chimed through the protective formation surrounding the estate. Jin Wei, Taixuan, and three elder guards immediately appeared at the entry path.
Floating calmly on a spectral transport disc, cloaked in the Main Family's silver-sashed envoy garb, stood **Jin Lianque**.
"Elder Wei," she greeted with a small bow. "Disciple Taixuan."
Jin Wei's eyes narrowed, but he nodded in return.
"This is unexpected."
"It is intentional," she said, her smile courteous but unreadable. "The Main Family wishes to extend a formal offer: Jin Taixuan is to be registered in the **Outer Ascendant Watchlist**."
Silence fell.
Taixuan's name was now entered into the ledger of potential heirs to the **Main Family Legacy Trials**. It did not mean immediate acceptance, but the recognition alone opened doors no branch family member could normally touch.
"We humbly accept," Jin Wei replied, voice even. "With gratitude."
"No gratitude needed," Lianque said, then turned to Taixuan. "But understand this. The Main Family remembers. We remember your grandfather's departure, his mistakes... and his refusal to accept punishment."
"My path will not be his," Taixuan said without hesitation.
"We shall see."
She left without another word.
---
In the weeks that followed, Taixuan secluded himself in the depths of the estate's old warship testing ground—a chamber built into the rock of the western cliffs, long unused.
There, he began testing the new form of the **Heavenhammer**.
Where before it had been a compact, agile vessel with modular hardpoints, now it pulsed with raw intensity. Its frame had expanded subtly, forming a heavier core unit with three rear thruster wings, and a central cannon array that hummed like a living thing.
He activated a simulated combat scenario.
Ten target drones. Varying speed, angle, and combat AI levels.
The moment they appeared, the Heavenhammer flared.
He moved without conscious thought—not because of instinct alone, but from **Resonance Pulse**, the technique unlocked at Core-Bonded.
It allowed him to feel the entire chamber as if it were his own body.
One by one, he dismantled the drones. Not just with firepower, but precision. Strike a joint. Collapse a drone's stabilizer. Blind its sensors, then trap it with a burst of ion discharge.
When the simulation ended, the system glowed:
> [Combat Simulation Completed - Grade: EX++]
He allowed himself a small breath.
Even among genius-level Main Family disciples, that ranking was rare.
Yet no one would know. Not yet.
He closed the data report.
Then he opened something else.
A **sealed storage pod** found beneath the estate—unlocked only by someone in the Core-Bonded realm.
It contained three things:
1. A fragment of crystalline alloy—strange and humming with cosmic code.
2. A torn battle standard with the old Jin crest, now faded.
3. A **manual** written by someone named Jin Renshu.
Taixuan sat down and began to read.
---
**Chapter: Legacy of Jin Renshu**
The manual told of a legendary ancestor exiled even before Jin Wei, whose warship had once split a small moon in the Starry Sea during the age of fragmentation. But he had disappeared mysteriously, leaving behind only coded fragments and speculated ruins.
More importantly, Renshu spoke of a **Star Fragment Core** hidden somewhere within the Flameheart planetary belt.
Taixuan marked the location in his mind. It would require a stealth launch. No one else could know.
Especially not the Main Family.
---
**Outside Rumblings**
News of Taixuan's rise had spread.
In distant starzones, rival clans had taken notice of Flameheart again. Whispers floated into pirate channels. Mercenary guilds sniffed opportunity.
One such whisper reached a young woman in the Crimson Hawk Sect. Her name was **Yu Meilin**, a top-tier disciple with a personal vendetta against the Jin Clan—and a new mission.
She would observe Taixuan.
And if necessary, erase him.
---
Taixuan stood one final time at the cliff's edge, night sky above. A storm brewed on the far horizon.
The Heavenhammer hovered behind him, cloaked.
"You feel it too," he whispered.
Something approached.
Not a person. A **presence**. Something ancient that resonated faintly with the core fragment he had found.
A test?
He welcomed it.
He would meet it as a Core-Bonded Disciple.
And when the stars turned next, he would already be reaching toward the **Third Realm: Internal Dao Forging**.