In the endless frozen plains of frost mourne waste, Varos trudged toward a colossal mountain. His body was surrounded by a colorless energy barrier to guard against ambushes and the chilling cold winds. Mortevant had told him that a rare divine herb could be found in this location. "You never mentioned the ice laws here were this fierce,” Varos muttered, his breath crystallizing in the frigid air.


    He had expected resistance from the natural laws here, but this level of hostility was beyond what he had prepared for.


    Mortevant replied, "Natural law attack are the deadliest form of law-based attacks—relentless and impartial. You can use this as training. Furthermore, the herb contains ice laws within it, so you''ll become accustomed to them." Hearing this, Varos could no longer find any reason to suspect that Mortevant was scheming against him.


    Whoosh!!


    A shard of ice was launched from a raging ice storm and it struck his energy barrier. It held on for a moment and dissipated, and then he moved forward again, not being deterred by a minor setback. A couple of minutes later, another shard slammed against his barrier. "Is someone or something attacking me secretly?" he wondered for a moment then dismissed it as if was by chance.


    As another shard struck his energy barrier, he realized, "Someone is definitely attacking me in secret." However, he could not identify the attacker; when he scanned the surroundings with his consciousness, it abruptly froze at two miles from his body not budging an inch forward. "Why is the range of my consciousness scanning just three hundred thousand miles when I could scan billions of miles ?"


    Mortevant voice echoed from the soul sea, “That is how it is in this area, and how it has been, before we arrived in the divine realm it was created by the supreme will to be like this,  I remember that day like it was yesterday, even though millions of years have passed.” his voiced contained nostalgia.


    “What day?” Varos asked as he moved forward, still defending himself from the shards. He decided to wait for the suspected someone or something to reveal itself.


    “Of course, the day we first arrived in the Divine Realm! Or do you think we were born into this blessed yet treacherous land like you?” Mortevant’s voice carried a sharp edge, his brief moment of nostalgia vanishing as if it had never existed.


    Varos frowned. “Why are you getting so worked up? It was just a simple question.”


    Mortevant let out a bitter chuckle. “Because I just remembered that I’m stucked in your body while the one who killed me is out there, living freely, growing stronger, and striving to reach the Grand Law Realm; while I’m stuck here! left in the dust!”


    “Let him reach it first if he must—it doesn’t matter. What does his progress have to do with yours? Have some confidence in yourself! You’re not starting from nothing. You still have your experience, your law comprehension, and everything you’ve accumulated over countless years. You’ve walked this path before; you know the trials, the pitfalls, and the ways forward. If anything, you should be faster this time. So don’t waste time wallowing in resentment. If you want to surpass him, then do it. If you want to reclaim what was taken, then fight for it. But don’t lose hope—because the moment you do, you’ve already lost.”


    When Mortevant heard this, something inside him snapped. His voice erupted from Varos’s soul sea, raw with fury and frustration.


    “‘What does it have to do with me’ you say ‘Recultivation?!’ you say!” he muttered, the words laced with bitter sarcasm. “You think it’s easy?” Do you have any idea…” he paused, a tremor running through his voice, a raw hint of vulnerability beneath the anger. “What it means…to climb to the peak, only to be thrown back down into the dirt like a discarded husk? To have everything; your power, your achievements, your very existence, ripped away, leaving you as nothing more than a shadow of your former self?”


    He paused, and his voice grew even more enraged. “And then, to start from scratch? Knowing those monsters I once stood beside are growing stronger? Don’t even get me started on the gaps between ranks!” A harsh laugh echoed. “They aren’t small steps; they’re a bottomless abyss!” He paused, his voice tight. “The leap from sixth to seventh rank? Is not even a breakthrough but an insurmountable wall!” A bitter edge seeped into his words. “Did you think those first few ranks were difficult? No, they are Child’s play!” His voice rose again. “Without the Monolith of Law, I might as well be trying to reach the heavens…with broken bones and torn wings!” He practically hissed.


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    “Meanwhile, the one who put me here is thriving! Growing stronger while I’m trapped in this pathetic cycle!” A final, raw question: “Do you even begin to comprehend the sheer frustration of watching your killer ascend…while you remain powerless?”


    Varos, unfazed by Mortevant’s frustration, simply responded in a flat tone, “And what do you expect me to do about it?” He glanced ahead, his attention more focused on his path than on Mortevant’s grievances. “Complaining won’t change the past. If the gap is so impossible to cross, then maybe you were never meant to reach that level in the first place.”


    He continued walking, barely sparing Mortevant another thought. “Whether you get stronger or stay trapped in my body doesn’t concern me. Either way, I’ll move forward. You figure out the rest.”


    His tone conveyed neither sympathy nor malice; it was purely indifferent. The time when he was on guard against Mortevant had long passed, and now he had the ability to seal him if he chose to. However, sealing Mortevant would mean losing out on valuable knowledge, such as understanding the gap between ranks and the locations of rare divine herbs—especially the one he was currently seeking. For Varos, Mortevant’s frustrations were irrelevant as long as he did not interfere with his own path and continued to provide him with this knowledge.


    When Mortevant heard this, he let out a sharp laugh. “Yes, it has nothing to do with you,” he scoffed.


    “What is wrong with him? Why is he suddenly so easygoing when he was just ranting seconds ago?” Varos thought, finding Mortevant’s behavior increasingly strange.


    But then, a flicker of doubt crept into Mortevant’s mind. “What’s wrong with me? I was never this easily prone to emotional outbursts.”


    What he failed to realize was that his current state was the cause. When he still had his body, it had been designed by Lex to suppress emotional impulses—after all, as a guardian, he was meant to be impartial. But now, without that form, he was no different from any other being, vulnerable to the same emotions he had once been shielded from.


    Moreover, most of the Primordials had abandoned their original roles as guardians, instead they seeked for greater power. In the grand scheme of the universe, this wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it had cost them something vital which was their ability to remain unaffected by unnecessary emotions.


    And furthermore there was another force at play. Unbeknownst to Mortevant, Kismetor was subtly tampering with his destiny, pulling unseen strings in the background. However, because Mortevant embodied the Law of Undying Will, true manipulation was impossible. Kismetor could not rewrite his fate outright, but he could induce irrational outbursts, nudging Mortevant’s actions in seemingly insignificant yet meaningful ways.


    Thud!


    Another Ice Law shard slammed into Varos’s energy barrier, but this time, he was prepared. He immediately extended his consciousness outward, tracking the energy trail left behind by the shard.


    “What is that?” he murmured as his consciousness locked onto a flickering, cold-white light in the distance. He attempted to probe deeper, but the moment he got close, his consciousness froze.


    A frigid energy surged through his consciousness link, using it as a bridge to infiltrate his soul sea. A chill ran down his spine as he realized the danger, if his soul sea were to freeze completely, he would either become an empty husk or die outright.


    And without hesitation, he cut part of his consciousness to stop the invading of the frigid energy into his soul sea.


    After this little event, Varos moved cautiously, even reducing the range of his consciousness to one hundred thousand miles. What irritated him was that the shard attacks did not cease; instead, they came more relentlessly, almost as if they were trying to bait him into tracking them again. Despite the temptation, he persevered and slowly approached the source he had seen. As he drew closer, the shards slammed against his barrier with increasing intensity.


    After three hours, he finally reached the source of the attacks. There, he saw a large, pure white sword hovering in the air, surrounded by a cold, peaceful aura. Varos felt a strong urge to envelop his consciousness around the sword, but he stopped himself.


    He cautiously approached the sword, his steps deliberate but tinged with unease. He could sense it—the sword was no ordinary divine weapon. It radiated an ancient, almost sentient energy, as if a spirit resided within it. Yet, despite its intelligence, it seemed to regard him with indifference, as though he were insignificant.


    When he was about two miles away from the sword, the ground beneath him trembled faintly. The sword shuddered, and a voice, cold and commanding, echoed from the sword. “Mortal, you dare trespass in the domain of Glacethor? Leave now, or face the wrath of the Primordial of Ice.”


    Varo’s breath caught in his throat. “A Primordial?” His back tensed, a chill spreading through him that had nothing to do with the icy plains. Terror surged within him, and without a second thought, he turned and fled, his heart pounding as he sprinted in the opposite direction.


    As he ran, his mind raced. “ What a terrible luck to stumble upon a Primordial’s domain!” he thought, his chest heaving as the memory of the sword’s voice sent a fresh wave of dread through him. “ If I hadn’t run…” He shook his head, refusing to finish the thought. Grateful for his quick decision, he muttered under his breath, “Thankfully I had the sense to flee. Otherwise, I’d be dead.”


    After covering thousands of miles, Varos finally halted and looked back. “Thankfully, it is not following me,” he said.


    “Hahaha!” Mortevant''s laughter echoed from his soul sea.


    “What’s so funny?” Varos replied, his voice filled with anger.


    “You were fooled by a mere sword,” Mortevant answered.


    “What do you mean? Couldn''t you feel the coercion of the laws and the overwhelming power?” Varos asked, confused.


    “Of course I could, but a domain is sacred to a primordial being. They wouldn''t let you leave so easily if you trespassed in their territory. The most merciful among them would cripple you before allowing you to go. But you escaped unscathed. What do you think that means?”