Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 870: The Forbidden Vale

When the last of the visiting elders disappeared into the frozen distance, only Ethan, Blackie, and the Moonfrost Direwolf Patriarch remained amid the fractured ice.

Blackie wasted no time shrinking down to his usual size once the tension cleared, his massive frame folding in on itself until he was once again manageable, though no less imposing in presence.

"Please, come in," Xakier said warmly, all earlier hostility gone as if it had been a different man wearing his face. He gestured toward the unseen entrance of his clan’s domain, smiling in open invitation.

Blackie, never one for overthinking, immediately took a long stride forward.

Ethan caught him by the collar and hauled him back.

"This place of yours... we are not going to get trapped inside, are we?" Ethan’s tone was casual, but his eyes were not. Xenon’s earlier explanation still lingered in his mind. If entry and exit were equally simple, Uncle Jed and the others would have walked out long ago. Whatever barrier protected this place clearly favored keeping things in as much as keeping things out.

Xakier did not feign ignorance. In fact, his smile sharpened slightly, as if he appreciated the caution. "That was indeed the case before," he admitted. Then his gaze slid meaningfully toward Blackie.

Ethan followed the look and understood at once. "You mean the elders who showed up earlier... that was because of him?"

"Precisely," Xakier said. "Though the matter is more complicated than that. We should speak inside."

Blackie looked between them, ears twitching, thoroughly lost. "Are you two actually saying anything?"

Ethan clapped him lightly on the shoulder. "We’ll explain later."

They stepped forward.

The world shifted in an instant.

The howling emptiness of the outer polar region vanished, replaced by a different kind of stillness. Ice and snow remained, stretching across jagged peaks and carved terraces, but the air here felt alive. Energy saturated everything, so dense it almost brushed against the skin. Every breath filled Ethan’s lungs with something heavy and potent, like inhaling liquid power.

A faint oceanic blue shimmer hung within the atmosphere, subtle but unmistakable. It was the same signature he had sensed from the Divine Sea Temple, the original energy of Earth itself, pure and uncorrupted. Outside the barrier had been a void. Inside was abundance.

"Ethan!"

"Boss!"

"You little bastard!"

Familiar voices crashed into him before he could fully take in the surroundings.

Regis was the first to close the distance, followed closely by Uncle Jed. Dragon Child strode forward with a grin that barely hid her relief. Victor, Leo, Williams, Markham... one after another, they appeared from the carved pathways of the ice mountain.

Everyone was there.

Everyone except Star, Lyla, Amber, and Rainie.

The sight of them standing whole and unharmed loosened something inside Ethan’s chest that he had not realized was clenched so tight. Whatever doubts he had harbored about the Moonfrost Direwolves dissolved. His people had not been imprisoned. They had been sheltered.

Xenon stood among them.

Their first meeting had ended in a fight. Their second in an uneasy understanding. Then Ethan had vanished for over a year, leaving more questions than answers behind. If Xenon had not guided the group here to this polar sanctuary, the outcome might have been very different.

After greeting the others, Ethan stepped forward and clasped Xenon’s shoulder firmly. "Thank you."

The young wolf scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "It wasn’t a big deal."

"It was," Ethan replied quietly.

They moved together toward the heart of the clan’s territory, a colossal ice mountain sculpted into layered dwellings. Dens were carved into its sides in a vast honeycomb pattern, each family unit occupying its own chamber. There were no towering spires or ornate halls, no attempt to imitate human cities. Everything about the settlement felt primal and deliberate, shaped by claw and instinct rather than architecture.

That night, the clan held a feast in Ethan’s honor.

Massive cuts of meat were roasted over blue-white flames that gave off little smoke. Barrels were rolled out. Ethan contributed generously from his own storage, producing crates of clear, potent liquor that immediately drew the attention of Hank, who commandeered several as if performing a sacred duty.

Laughter echoed across the frozen terraces. Beast-kin and humans drank side by side. Stories were shouted, retold, exaggerated. For a few hours, the tension of looming wars and hidden enemies receded beneath the simple comfort of shared warmth in a land of eternal frost.

When the revelry finally thinned and the polar night deepened into silence, Ethan found himself standing alone on a high ledge overlooking the settlement. The mountain glowed faintly under the aurora-lit sky, its many dens scattered like constellations across ice.

The population did not match the housing. Too many chambers stood dark.

"Our births grow fewer each generation. The bloodline thins."

Xakier’s voice carried from behind him, calm and unembellished.

Ethan did not turn immediately. "Is that why you all reacted the way you did earlier?"

"In part," the Patriarch replied, stepping beside him.

Ethan raised a hand and pointed toward a distant stretch of darkness beyond their territory. "What lies over there?"

Xakier followed his gesture, and for the first time that night, his expression shifted into something more guarded. "That is the Forbidden Vale of the Sacred South. It lies beyond our domain."

"Forbidden," Ethan repeated.

"The reason our sacred clans gather here is because of it." Xakier studied him carefully. "Why does it interest you?"

’Because it is calling me.’

Ethan kept that to himself.

The pull he had felt earlier had not been imagination. It tugged at something deep within him, something tied to his very constitution. His mother’s words surfaced in his mind. She had taken something from him at birth and hidden it in the polar region. That act had left him with the so-called Vessel physique.

If what had been taken from him lay within that Vale, then the answer to more than one mystery waited there.

But stepping into a place deemed forbidden by sacred clans was not a trivial matter.

Xakier seemed to sense his conflict. Rather than press, he shifted the conversation. "Young man, there is something I wish to ask of you. Though I hesitate."

Ethan glanced at him, surprised by the sudden turn. "If it is within my power, I will consider it."

A faint chuckle escaped the old wolf. "I believe it is within your power alone."

Ethan’s interest sharpened.

"When it is light, I ask that you journey into the Forbidden Vale," Xakier said plainly. His gaze flicked toward Blackie, who stood a short distance away gnawing on a bone. "And that you take your companion with you."

Ethan stared at him. "You are asking me to enter the place your clans refuse to touch."

"You will understand once you step inside," Xakier said. The humor drained from his face. "But know this. The path is perilous. What truly lies within, even we do not know."

The weight of those words settled heavily between them.

"It grows late," the Patriarch added. "Rest. If you decide to go, inform me before you depart. There is something you must carry with you."

With that, he turned and left, offering no further explanation.

Ethan remained on the ledge long after the old wolf’s footsteps faded. His gaze fixed on the distant horizon where the Forbidden Vale lay shrouded in darkness.

The pull was still there. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

After a long moment, his indecision burned away. His eyes steadied. Whatever answers waited, he would face them head-on.

He turned and returned to the den assigned to him.

---

Far beneath the ocean’s surface, in a vast hall carved from stone and coral, silence reigned.

The violet-and-gold robed elder knelt upon the cold floor, head bowed. Before him rose a towering dais supporting an enormous throne.

The throne was empty.

Yet the hall was not.

"Are you certain you saw the Black Qilin?" An ancient voice echoed from the shadows, dry and brittle, as if scraped from ancient bone.

"Master, the Black Qilin has appeared," the elder replied without lifting his head. "It has entered the polar region. The young man named Ethan Caelum accompanies it." He recounted every detail of the encounter, careful and precise.

When he finished, the silence that followed felt heavier than the ocean above.

At last, the voice returned.

"The pace of energy release is unsatisfactory. Only four energy orbs have activated in six months. The higher authorities are displeased." A brief pause. "Accelerate your control over the players."

The word was spoken without emotion.

"Your servant understands."

The elder retreated without turning his back, crawling several paces before daring to rise. Only then did he withdraw from the oppressive hall, leaving the empty throne to its silence.