Chapter Thirty: The Seal of Space

Things went much more smoothly than Gu Zhongyan had anticipated.

As the foremost church in Hell’s Kitchen, Clinton Church’s network was far more extensive than he had imagined. Nearly every notable enterprise in the district had dealings with Clinton Church, naturally including Midtown Circle Finance.

However, since Midtown Circle Finance was backed by the Hand Society, its interactions with Clinton Church were merely a façade—an open disguise with little substance. Their relationship wasn’t close, which was why Father Langdon had little recollection of it.

Even so, out of respect for Father Langdon, arranging a high school student for social practice was no trouble at all. The entire process went unnoticed by anyone.

He blended into Midtown Circle Finance as effortlessly as a drop of water into the sea.

As a high school intern, no one cared about his comings and goings; aside from restricted areas, nobody paid attention to where he might turn up in the building.

Within a few short days, Gu Zhongyan had mapped out every nook and cranny of Midtown Circle Finance.

During the evening rush, the elevator lobby was packed with corporate drones dressed to the nines in suits—no one noticed the agile figure who slipped away into a rear elevator at the back of the building.

A security guard, baton clipped at his waist, patrolled before the elevator doors, his gaze sharp as twin blades.

Spotting the youth—a Chinese boy in a suit much too big for him, looking for all the world like a child sneaking into a grown-ups’ party—the guard frowned and barked, “Hey, kid, this area’s off limits. Use the other corridor.”

Gu Zhongyan smiled at this, snapping his fingers. “Sleep!”

Before the guard could react, a flash of white light shot from between Gu Zhongyan’s fingers, dazzling his eyes before unconsciousness claimed him.

Stepping over the slumped guard, Gu Zhongyan took a deep breath and laid his hand on the elevator.

“Muggle Repelling Charm.”

Invisible magic flooded over the elevator. Having used this spell once before, Gu Zhongyan applied it deftly, erasing the elevator from human perception. Shielded by the charm, even if someone glimpsed the elevator on security footage, their mind would simply skip over it.

With a faint smile, Gu Zhongyan stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the lowest floor.

One had to admit, the Hand Society had its foundations. Standing inside, Gu Zhongyan waited nearly a full minute before the elevator finally landed with a metallic “clang.”

He stepped out into a vast underground chamber.

Massive reinforced concrete columns supported the cavernous space. At the edge of the chamber stood an enormous slab of rock, like a wall, looming over the cavern’s perimeter.

On the wall was carved row upon row of mysterious symbols, faintly emanating waves of power.

“So this is the seal from Kunlun?” Gu Zhongyan gazed curiously at the glyphs.

Four hundred years ago, when the five leaders of the Hand Society rebelled against Kunlun, they absconded with a dragon’s skeleton, gaining immortality. In response, Kunlun dispatched that generation’s Iron Fist to hunt them down.

Fleeing to America, the five were ultimately tracked down by the Iron Fist. Though that Iron Fist was not as weak as the present-day one, he was still a far cry from those in ages past who could stand against the Phoenix Force. At the same time, the five, newly empowered by the Beast’s strength, were at their peak.

A fierce battle ensued. Outnumbered, Iron Fist was defeated. Yet, as a true guardian, his command over the Dragon’s Power far surpassed that of his successors. Knowing he couldn’t let the dragon bone fall into the Hand’s grasp, he used the power of the dragon and Kunlun’s secret arts to seal it away.

The five, fighting desperately, only managed to seize a few bone fragments—enough for their survival.

The sealed dragon skeleton lay hidden in the space behind this stone wall. Only someone possessing the Dragon’s Power could open it.

Gu Zhongyan examined the seal. With his mastery of space, he quickly discerned that it resembled Kamar-Taj’s Mirror Dimension—both constructs of supernatural power, shaping a reality slightly above the ordinary.

The stone wall was merely the portal to that dimension; by itself, it meant nothing. Without the Dragon’s Power, even if one destroyed the wall or hollowed out the chamber, the bones behind would remain unfound.

That was why, despite occupying this place for so long, the Hand could never retrieve the skeleton—they had to wait for a new Iron Fist to appear and use his power to open the way.

But just because the Hand couldn’t open it didn’t mean Gu Zhongyan couldn’t.

Kunlun’s sealing arts were unique, but compared to the sorcery of Kamar-Taj, they were rough and unrefined.

Let alone that Gu Zhongyan was someone who had once broken through the world’s barriers.

Though the two worlds were of vastly different magnitude, Gu Zhongyan’s understanding of space, rooted not in the “chi”-based cultivation of Kunlun, was on another level entirely.

He placed his hand upon the stone, feeling the flow of Dragon’s Power within.

It was an extraordinary force—immense vitality, mysterious supernatural energy, and the hallmark of immortality. Transcending human limits, it intertwined with the dimensions of time and space, forming a sealed realm.

Like the twin halves of a yin-yang, the spatial-temporal dimension and Dragon’s Power achieved a certain equilibrium; only by breaking this balance could the sealed realm be revealed.

If he possessed the Dragon’s Power, a mere trace would suffice to disrupt the equilibrium and undo the seal.

But he didn’t. Thus, he set his sights on the dimension of space-time itself.

Sensing for the slightest ripple, he channeled his magic into the stone, resonating with the dimension’s frequency.

A low hum—his first attempt failed. The foreign magic was repelled before it could penetrate the dimension.

He was unfazed. He tried again, and again—a second time, a third. With each attempt, his magic brushed closer, gradually attuning to the frequency of the space.

At last, after countless tries, Gu Zhongyan’s magic slipped into the space-time dimension like a silver needle, subtle and unseen.

Though it was but a tiny thread of power, it instantly shattered the balance between space-time and the Dragon’s Power.

Boom!

With an explosive roar, the massive stone wall burst apart. The earth shook as a vast space tore open before him, as if conjured from nothingness.