The roots of the Bloodseed stirred within Adarsh's heart, threading themselves into the very essence of the mysterious energy coursing through his blood. With calm focus, Adarsh activated his Divine Sense and turned his gaze inward. What he saw was nothing short of miraculous—his blood cells were evolving.
Each cell pulsed with a subtle glow, drawing in the scattered remnants of spiritual energy lingering in the air. The transformation was steady yet profound. His veins, once mere conduits for life, now pulsed with spiritual resonance, channeling energy toward the Bloodseed nestled deep within his heart. Even more astonishing, his white blood cells—previously expiring at their usual rate—had begun to stabilize and multiply with unprecedented vitality. A warm current surged through his small body, comforting and foreign, the result of a newly formed soul weaving itself into his being.
Amid this transformation, Adarsh noticed a root emerging from the Bloodseed. It moved with a deliberate slowness, as if sentient. Gradually, the root detached from the core, but not entirely. A thin strand of translucent, mysterious energy remained, linking it to the Bloodseed like an umbilical cord. The root drifted downward, navigating his internal pathways until it reached his lower Dantian, where it firmly embedded itself.
As it settled, the once-fragile thread connecting root and Bloodseed began to thicken into a glowing vein of pure mysterious energy. The circulation between heart and Dantian became rhythmic, pulsing with energy that bound the two components together in perfect harmony—like two halves of a greater whole.
In the stillness of the Hidden Ice Realm, this newly anchored root began to act as a spiritual furnace. It absorbed every remaining particle of spiritual energy and refined it into the potent mysterious energy Adarsh required. The flow of this refined power streamed through his body, surging toward the Bloodseed with renewed purpose. However, the realm's internal energy was meager, insufficient to fulfill the Bloodseed's voracious appetite for evolution.
Curious and alert, Adarsh extended his Divine Sense beyond himself and discovered a crucial detail—his mother had placed a powerful spatial barrier around the Hidden Ice Realm. No external spiritual energy could penetrate it. The realization brought both clarity and urgency: to complete the Bloodseed's transformation, he required a fusion of realm-level spiritual energy and rule power—an impossible feat within this isolated sanctuary.
Meanwhile, Iram Rai remained seated in deep meditation. The golden light of her World Holder Artifact shimmered above, casting a soft glow as it maintained the spatial shield encasing them. She had been within the Hidden Ice Realm for an entire day, enduring the relentless tribulation outside. In her lap lay her fragile child—Adarsh—whose presence anchored her will to persevere.
She concentrated on replenishing her spiritual and soul energy. The use of the Artifact had consumed nearly two-thirds of her reserves, and the exhaustion weighed on her. From time to time, she channeled slivers of spiritual energy into her son's body, maintaining his vital functions.
Then, something changed.
Iram Rai felt the shift before she saw it. The ambient energy of the realm—the very air—began to thin rapidly, as if it were being devoured. Her eyes widened as Adarsh's body trembled in her arms. His skin turned pale, then began to shimmer with a soft white sheen.
Her mother's instinct flared.
"He needs more—far more," she muttered, alarm gripping her heart.
She poured the last reserves of her spiritual energy into his body. But it was not enough. Her power was depleted almost instantly. She clenched her fists, staring at the protective barrier that separated them from the outside.
"There's no choice."
Without hesitation, she disabled the Artifact's secondary feature. The spatial barrier flickered, then dissolved. In that instant, a vast torrent of spiritual energy from the Ice Rule Realm surged in. Alongside it, bolts of Realm Thunder followed, their fury crashing against the golden shield surrounding them. The strikes echoed like divine hammers, each one trembling the earth beneath.
Yet the golden shield held firm, its divine glow flaring brighter with every strike. Within its protective embrace, Adarsh's body reacted immediately. The newly formed root in his Dantian devoured the incoming energy, refining it into pure mysterious energy and sending it directly to the Bloodseed through the shining inner thread.
The halted evolution resumed.
Inside his heart, the Bloodseed pulsed violently, drawing in the mysterious energy with ravenous hunger. As its core brimmed with power, a dark red mist began to form around it. Slowly, this mist merged with Adarsh's blood, dyeing it a deep crimson-black. With his Divine Sense, Adarsh observed the change with awe—his blood's capacity to absorb and channel energy had multiplied several times over.
And then—something bloomed.
Cracks appeared across the shell of the Bloodseed. From its fractured core, a tiny sprout emerged, bearing two delicate leaves. The sprout twitched as though it were alive, reaching out into the mist to draw more mysterious energy. It grew steadily, its presence unlike anything Adarsh had felt before. It was alive, aware, and insatiably hungry.
This new entity—the heart-sprout—acted as a more potent conduit than anything before. Its roots reached through Adarsh's heart, accelerating the influx of energy from the outer world. The spiritual winds howled louder. Realm Thunder grew fiercer.
Iram Rai watched from her place beneath the barrier. Her World Holder Artifact sent her urgent messages—the tribulation was escalating. The flow of spiritual energy had doubled. The thunderous strikes against the shield grew more frequent, more violent.
"This barrier… it won't last another fifteen hours," she whispered, her gaze shifting to her son.
Their survival now rested in the hands of a child—and his Divine Soul.
Adarsh had once spoken to her: "If anything ever threatens me, my subconscious Divine Soul will awaken to protect me."
Within Adarsh's heart, the two-leafed sprout pulsed again. A new formation began between its leaves—an ethereal flower bud, glowing with the accumulated mysterious energy. It grew rapidly, condensing essence from both the Bloodseed and the root in his Dantian. When the flower reached its peak, it gently detached itself from the sprout.
The moment it did, it began drifting upward through Adarsh's body, its luminous tendrils trailing behind like a comet. Upon reaching his brain, it disintegrated into pure energy and vanished into his Divine Soul Domain.