Chapter 271: A Royal Decree
Chapter 271: A Royal Decree
Back in Valdris City, within Rhain’s secluded courtyard.
The night had fully descended, yet the inner chamber remained bathed in the glowing white mist of profound essence.
Having solidified his breakthrough to the first level of the Core Formation Realm, Rhain did not stop.
The Abyssal Sovereign Physique was a bottomless abyss, and he intended to push his momentum as far as it could possibly go.
He consumed another handful of flawless Mystic-Grade pills, driving the Spirit Gathering Profound Banner to extract even more essence from the academy’s subterranean veins.
Hours ticked by.
The moon crossed the sky, and the darkness slowly gave way to the first light of dawn.
Inside the chamber, Rhain finally ceased the Abyssal Sovereign Technique, opening his dark grey eyes with a heavy sigh.
Despite cultivating for an entire night, consuming an exorbitant amount of Mystic-Grade pills, and draining a massive volume of pure essence, his cultivation had only slightly nudged past the initial phase of the first level.
He had failed to reach the second level of the Core Formation Realm.
"The energy requirements have become astronomical," Rhain muttered, shaking his head with a bitter smile.
At the Essence Condensation and Spirit Manifestation Realms, a few Epic or Mystic-Grade pills were enough to force a breakthrough.
But now, with the pitch-black core acting as a supermassive repository, the sheer volume of essence required to fill it and trigger an advancement was staggeringly huge.
The Abyssal Sovereign Physique was a gluttonous monster, and its appetite had evolved.
"I cannot simply rely on pills to forcefully push my realm anymore. I will need to find environments with even denser essence or higher-tier natural treasures," Rhain thought.
As he pushed the heavy wooden doors open and stepped out into the crisp morning air of the courtyard, he abruptly paused.
Seris was pacing back and forth near the stone table, her delicate hands tightly clasped together.
The moment she heard the doors open, her pale purple eyes snapped toward him.
Her beautiful face was etched with deep distress and urgency.
"Husband!" Seris rushed forward, grabbing his arm tightly.
Rhain frowned, immediately sensing her anxiety. "Seris, what is it? What happened?"
"Something bad has happened," Seris said, her voice trembling slightly with worry. "Dean Qaylus had personally come here to call you... He asked that you meet him in the grand hall as soon as possible!"
Rhain’s dark grey eyes narrowed slightly as he processed the urgency in his wife’s voice.
If Dean Qaylus was summoning him this urgently, it meant that the trouble had finally arrived at their doorstep.
"I understand," Rhain said, gently patting Seris’s trembling hand to calm her down. "Stay here with Liana. I will go see what the Dean wants."
Without wasting another second, Rhain stepped out of the inner chamber.
The moment he pushed the gates of his courtyard open, he saw a silver-armored guard standing at strict attention just outside the entrance.
The moment the guard saw Rhain, he offered a deep, respectful bow.
"Grandmaster," the guard spoke, keeping his head lowered. "Dean Qaylus is waiting for you. Please, come along with me."
Rhain gave a slight nod. "Lead the way."
Rhain followed the guard silently, his mind spinning with calculations.
Eventually, the familiar serene bamboo grove came into view.
The guard stopped at the edge of the pathway, offering another bow. "Deans are waiting inside. I shall take my leave."
As the guard turned and retreated, Rhain stepped into the tranquil grove.
Despite the profound calmness of the rustling bamboos and the crystal-clear pond, the atmosphere was incredibly tense.
Sitting on his usual wooden stump was the Old Dean, his ancient eyes closed in silent meditation.
But pacing back and forth near the edge of the water was Dean Qaylus, his sharp, authoritative features etched with visible, undisguised tension.
The moment Rhain’s boots crunched against the fallen bamboo leaves, Qaylus stopped pacing and turned his head.
"You are here," Qaylus said, his voice unusually grim.
"Dean Qaylus. Old Dean," Rhain greeted politely with a brief bow. "I was told there is an urgent matter."
Qaylus let out a long exhale, dragging a hand down his face.
"An imperial envoy arrived at the Academy’s gates today," Qaylus stated, dropping the bombshell without any pleasantries. "They brought a Royal Decree directly from the Emperor himself."
Rhain’s expression remained perfectly placid, he had already anticipated it.
"The Emperor is demanding my head, I presume?"
"Exactly," Qaylus replied bitterly. "The decree officially declares that the Valdris Royal Academy is shielding a man who has committed Regicide. The Emperor has demanded that we surrender you immediately. If we refuse to comply, the Royal Court will officially label this Academy as an enemy of the throne, and they will take military action against us."
Rhain looked at Qaylus, his dark grey eyes unblinking.
"You are a Monarch faction," Rhain pointed out calmly. "Can the Emperor truly afford to wage an all-out war against the Valdris Royal Academy over a single person? Even with the Royal Court’s might, a war of that scale would cripple the dynasty."
"Under normal circumstances, you would be right," Qaylus gritted his teeth. "The Royal Family alone would never dare to lightly declare war on a Monarch. But you do not understand the full gravity of the political structure of this dynasty."
Qaylus took a step forward, his expression dead serious.
"In the Solathane Dynasty, the supreme authority does not rest solely on the Royal Family. There are four great Imperial Families that govern the foundation of this kingdom. First is the Solathane Imperial Family, the current ruling bloodline. But standing right beside them are the Draventhor Imperial Family, the Lytheren Imperial Family, and the Galestorm Imperial Family."
Rhain listened intently. This was a level of dynastic politics that extended far beyond the regional overlords of Stormveil City.
"As of right now," Qaylus continued, "only the Solathane Imperial Family—the Royal Court—is actively calling for your blood. The other three Imperial families have remained entirely neutral in this matter. They do not care about Crown Prince Lucius or his destroyed clone."
"Then what is the problem?" Rhain asked.
"The problem is the Royal Decree," the Old Dean suddenly spoke.
The ancient Monarch slowly opened his eyes, looking at Rhain with a gaze that carried the profound knowledge of centuries.
"When the founder of this dynasty established the empire thousands of years ago, he set down an unbreakable law," the Old Dean explained. "Anyone who actively defies a formal Royal Decree is officially branded a traitor to the realm. And when a traitor is declared... the other three Imperial Families are bound by their ancestral oaths to join forces with the Royal Family to eradicate the threat."
The Old Dean’s words landed like a heavy mountain upon Rhain’s shoulders.
"The decree has a time limit," Qaylus added, his fists clenching at his sides. "One month. If we do not surrender you within exactly one month, it will be formally recognized that the Valdris Royal Academy has no respect for the Royal Family or the Solathane Dynasty. At that moment, the Draventhor, Lytheren, and Galestorm families will be legally forced to abandon their neutrality. They will join the Solathane Family and wage war against us."
One month.
Thirty days before the combined military might of all four Imperial Families descended upon Valdris City.
Rhain looked at the two Deans.
"Are you planning to hand me over?"
The question was blunt, slicing through the tense atmosphere like a sharp blade.
Qaylus frowned, looking conflicted, but before he could speak, the Old Dean simply shook his head.
"Karma must be repaid," the Old Dean spoke, his voice as tranquil as the pond beside him. "I gave my word to Seraphine that I would shield your life. I will not go back on my word, even if it means risking my own life."
"Master is right," Qaylus sighed, though the strain on his face was evident. "We called you here today not to threaten you, but so that you fully comprehend the situation and can be mentally prepared."
Qaylus looked at Rhain with a stern gaze.
"We are not sure how we will deal with this yet. We know that the four Imperial Families will not want to directly destroy the Valdris Royal Academy—the cost in blood would be too catastrophic even for them. But they will definitely use their combined forces to apply overwhelming pressure and forcefully extract you from our walls."
The Old Dean slowly closed his ancient eyes once more.
"If we do not find a political or martial solution before the month ends," the Old Dean murmured, "we will have no choice but to hide you somewhere the four Imperial Families cannot reach."
Rhain stood in silence for a long moment.
He looked at the tense Dean Qaylus and the tranquil Old Dean, offering a polite bow.
"I thank you both for your transparency, and for standing by your word," Rhain said calmly.
Without another word, Rhain turned and walked out of the bamboo grove.
As he walked on the wooden pathways back toward his courtyard, Rhain’s hands slowly clenched tightly.
His dark grey eyes turned incredibly cold.
’I was naive,’ Rhain thought, a bitter, self-mocking sneer brushing past his lips.
He had genuinely believed that by securing the protection of a Monarch Realm powerhouse and hiding behind the walls of Valdris City, he had bought himself enough time to safely build his own empire.
But the reality of the world was ruthlessly cruel.
’A cage is still a cage, no matter how golden the bars are,’ Rhain’s mind spun fiercely. ’I cannot simply leave my life in their hands. If the combined might of four Imperial Families descends upon this Academy, even a Monarch might be forced to compromise.’
He had to find his own way out of this death trap.
His cultivation at the first level of the Core Formation Realm was a massive leap, but it was still fundamentally useless against the true titans of the dynasty.
’Thirty days. I have exactly thirty days.’
He was so deep in his calculating thoughts that he almost didn’t notice he had arrived back at his secluded guest pavilion.
But as Rhain raised his head, his footsteps abruptly halted.
Standing just outside the entrance to his courtyard were Seris and Liana.
Both girls were looking extremely anxious, their bodies rigid.
And standing merely a dozen paces away from them was a man.
He was a tall, heavily muscular man wrapped in dark robes.
He stood with his arms crossed over his broad chest, his posture completely relaxed.
But the moment Rhain’s dark grey eyes landed on him, the hairs on his body rose in blaring alarm.
The aura radiating from the muscular man was suppressed, but beneath that thin veil was an ocean of power so overwhelmingly dense, that it made the 7th-level Veydris look like a child.
"Late-stage Domain Master... And it’s atleast a 8th level Domain Master!’ Rhain’s entire body tensed instantly, his dark essence quietly surging to his fingertips, ready to unleash his Origin Domain of Darkness at a microsecond’s notice.
The muscular man noticed Rhain’s arrival.
He slowly uncrossed his arms and stepped forward, his heavy boots making no sound against the stone path.
"You must be Rhain," the man spoke. His voice was deep, gravelly, and carried a natural, oppressive authority.
"Who are you?" Rhain demanded, his voice chillingly cold.
The muscular man stopped a polite distance away.
"I am an elite commander of the Royal Family," the man introduced himself casually.
Rhain’s dark grey eyes instantly narrowed.
The commander noticed Rhain’s hostility, but simply offered a faint smirk.
"You don’t need to be so tense, boy," the commander said, "I am not here to kill you today."
He took half a step back.
"His Royal Highness, the Prince, has personally come to the Academy today," the commander stated. "And he has invited you for a chat."