The meditation chamber sat deep inside the Brahmapuri, buried under layers of stone and silence. Anand had been in there for Hours? Time moved weird when you were trying to open chakras.

  He sat cross-legged on a cushion that probably cost more than most villages. Around him, scattered across the floor like someone had spilled a treasure chest, were Shakti stones. Lots of them. Not the regular kind either.

  Cultivation resources in the mystic realms.

  Normal warriors , the ones grinding it out in small sects, hoping to get strong enough to not die young ,they trained with common Shakti stones. Low-grade. The cheap stuff. You could buy them in bulk at any cultivation market and nobody would look twice.

  Better warriors, the ones in top orthodoxies and first-rate forces, they used Divya stones. More precious. Harder to find. The kind of stones that made common cultivators jealous just hearing about them.

  But the Chandravanshi clan? They weren't any of those.

  They were ancient. Supreme. An immortal dynasty that had been around since before most clans got their jobs. So they didn't mess around with common or even Divya stones. They used Brahma Shakti.

  The good stuff.

  And not just low-grade Brahma Shakti either. Anand was sitting here with high-grade. Top-grade. The second-best cultivation resource in existence, right below Amrita which was basically impossible to find unless you got lucky or knew a deva personally.

  If Anand took one of these stones , just one , and dropped it in the outside world? Cultivators would kill each other for it. Literally kill each other. There'd be bodies stacked like firewood.

  He had like twenty of them just lying on the floor. His grandfather had given them to him like they were pocket change.

  Anand sat there with his eyes closed, breathing steady, mind turned inward. Inside his head, something was forming. A palace. Not a real one ,a shrine, made from condensed Prana. It shimmered in his mind's eye, all golden light and ancient architecture, growing more solid by the day.

  This was the next step. He'd opened Muladhara. Now he needed to work on Svadhishthana. The sacral chakra.

  After that, Manipura. Anahata. Vishuddhi. Ajna. And finally Sahasrara at the crown.

  Six more gates.

  But that was future Anand's problem.

  Right now, he was focused on the method his mother had given him. The Brahmand Chakti visualization.

  It was... a lot.

  The method worked by visualizing that wheel. Using it to crush others' consciousness, their souls. Then reshaping them into whatever you wanted.

  If ordinary people tried this? They'd go insane. The imagery alone was enough to crack minds. The pressure of it, the weight of worlds being ground to dust normal brains couldn't handle that. They'd break.

  But Anand?

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  *This doesn't seem too difficult,* he thought.

  Probably because he was a soul who'd crossed the void. His spiritual power was different. Stronger. He'd spent twelve years in a womb meditating on cosmic truths. That kind of thing stuck with you. Left marks.

  He remembered what his mother had taught him about this chakra. She'd sat him down weeks ago, going through it step by step like she was teaching him to cook. Patient. Thorough. The kind of teaching that assumed he'd actually listen.

  *Chant the seed mantra 'VAM' to stimulate the energy center.*

  *Meditate on orange. Visualize an orange lotus with six petals blooming in the pelvic region.*

  *Use Shakti Mudra , bring hands before the chest, press little and ring fingertips together, place thumbs inside the palms, pressing the knuckles of index and middle fingers together.*

  *Focus on hip-opening poses. Bound Angle. Goddess Pose. Hip circles.*

  *Engage in creative activities. Painting. Dancing. Journaling. Unlock the creative potential.*

  *The element is water. Swimming helps. Warm baths. Spending time near water.*

  *Use orange and sandalwood oils. Carry carnelian or orange calcite.*

  Anand opened his eyes.

  He looked around the meditation chamber. Stone walls. Stone floor. Cushion. Pile of expensive rocks. Zero water. Zero hip-opening potential. Zero creative activities unless he wanted to start journaling about rocks, which he absolutely did not.

  *I can't do any of this here.*

  He needed water. Movement. Space. He needed to actually *do* the things his mother had listed, not just think about them from inside a stone box.

  Also, he needed to get out for a while. The walls were starting to feel smaller.

  He stood up, brushing off his clothes. Stepped over the pile of Brahma Shakti like they were regular pebbles. Time to find the Pitamaha.

  The hallway outside was empty. Most people were probably at the fighting arena or training grounds or wherever young Chandravanshis went to pretend they were being productive. Anand walked alone, his footsteps quiet against the polished stone.

  He passed a few servants who bowed low. Nodded at an elder who gave him a long, measuring look. Kept walking.

  The Pitamaha's quarters were at the end of a long corridor lined with tapestries depicting ancient battles. Battles where Chandravanshi ancestors had done impossible things and looked good doing them. Anand knocked.

  "Enter."

  He pushed open the door.

  His grandfather sat behind a low desk, reviewing something that looked boring. Scrolls. Lots of scrolls. The old man's face lit up when he saw Anand , the way it always did, like Anand showing up was the best part of his day.

  "Ah! My favorite grandson. Come in, come in."

  "I'm your only grandson."

  "Details." The Pitamaha waved a hand dismissively. "You're still my favorite. What brings you here? Shouldn't you be meditating? Breaking records? Making the other sequences nervous?"

  Anand sat down across from him. "I need to train somewhere else. The chamber isn't working for the next chakra."

  The Pitamaha raised an eyebrow. "Svadhishthana already? You just opened Muladhara. Most people wait months before attempting the next. Sometimes years."

  "I'm not most people."

  "No." The old man studied him, eyes sharp despite his age. "You're not." He leaned back. "What do you need?"

  "Water. Space. Somewhere I can move freely. The element for this chakra is water. I need to be near it." Anand paused. "Also, creative activities. My mother mentioned them. Painting, dancing, that kind of thing. The chamber doesn't really work for that."

  The Pitamaha nodded slowly. "Creative activities. Yes, for the sacral chakra, that's important. Opens up the flow. Lets things move that get stuck otherwise."

  He stroked his beard, thinking.

  "There's a place," he said finally. "Not for water , we'll get to that later. But for the creative side? There's a whole organization. Huge thing. Called Vishwa Kala Sadan."

  Anand tilted his head. "Vishwa Kala Sadan?"

  "It's in Rajahamsapuri , the big city to the east, under our clan's rule. Beautiful place. Sprawling campus. Painters, sculptors, dancers, musicians, poets. They do everything there." The Pitamaha grinned. "And since it's on our land, in our city? Basically our property. Hah! The clan owns the whole thing. Has for millennia."

  Anand absorbed this. A whole organization dedicated to arts. Run by the clan. That could work.

  "The old woman who runs it now," the Pitamaha continued, his voice taking on a nostalgic tone. "Name's Malini. Ancient as the hills, but back in the day?" He sighed dramatically. "Beautiful. I mean really beautiful. She was only two thousand years old then, you know. In her prime."

  Anand blinked. "Only two thousand?"

  "For our kind, that's young. Young and gorgeous." The Pitamaha's eyes went distant. "I tried to marry her, you know. Went to her father, the whole proper approach. Brought gifts. Said all the right things." He chuckled. "She rejected me. Flat out. Said I was too loud and laughed too much."

  He shook his head, still smiling at the memory.

  "Can you believe it? Too loud. Me."

  Anand could absolutely believe it.

  "But here's the thing," the Pitamaha said, leaning forward with a glint in his eye. "She has a granddaughter. Adopted, but still. Gorgeous girl, from what I hear. Around your age. Maybe a bit older." He winked. "How about you marry her? Or take her as a concubine? Hahaha! Continue the family tradition of trying to get into that bloodline!"

  Anand stared at him.

  "What."

  "Think about it! Beautiful girl, artistic family, connections to the Kala Sadan. You need creative activities for your chakra what better creative activity than-"

  "No."

  "Just consider-"

  "No."

  The Pitamaha burst out laughing. The sound boomed off the walls, loud enough to probably wake ancestors in the next realm.

  "Your face! Priceless. Absolutely priceless." He wiped at his eyes. "Fine, fine. No concubines. For now." He waved a hand. "But seriously, go to Rajahamsapuri. Visit the Vishwa Kala Sadan. Tell Malini I sent you. She'll probably try to poison you out of spite, but that's just her way."

  Anand stood up.

  "Thanks, Pitamaha."

  "Go. Before I start planning the wedding."

  Anard was already walking toward the door.

  "Rajahamsapuri," he murmured to himself. "Vishwa Kala Sadan."

  Behind him, his grandfather's laughter followed him all the way down the hall.