Reports from regional military command instructed Warrior Jiro to remain focused exclusively on training the Sky Squad. Intelligence task forces, regional defense units, and volunteer martial artists across the five continents had joined forces to carry out the global purge against Mondu sleeper cells.

Military command advised Jiro to leave the continental war reports and suspect interrogations to regular forces. Under intense interrogation, many Mondu operatives dropped their disguises and fought back, while others surrendered peacefully, yielding to the inevitable.

Military command operated with remarkable speed and precision. Coordinated sweeps were executed simultaneously across all five continents, targeting government administrations, royal courts, and martial academies. Joint task forces were deployed across all sectors to secure key locations.

Consequently, Warrior Jiro concentrated his full efforts on tempering the Sky Squad—preparing them to intercept the dark army targeting the Moon Flower. Facing the Five Gates was an unavoidable trial. In the past, Jiro had personally crossed blades with one of them during a high-stakes pursuit: Nesia.

She was the sole female member among the Five Gates.

Commanding the dark army's intelligence network, Nesia was a formidable opponent. Jiro had engaged her in open combat years ago, yet even under his heavy onslaught, she had never been forced into a corner. Instead, she had disengaged effortlessly, treating his highest-tier martial arts with calm indifference.

Jiro knew better than to underestimate the Five Gates. Despite unleashing powerful internal techniques during their duel, Nesia had suffered no injury whatsoever. Offering only a faint, subtle smile, she had dissolved into thin air right before his eyes. Her departure was so swift and seamless that Jiro had been unable to track her residual aura.

That encounter had cemented Jiro's conviction that the Five Gates represented the absolute apex of Lord Demon Shura's military power.

Yet this time would be different. Through relentless discipline and martial refinement, Jiro had evolved his own techniques. He eagerly anticipated their inevitable reunion on the battlefield.

For a true master, confronting a powerful rival brought a quiet, exhilarated satisfaction.

Jiro looked forward to that moment.

Meanwhile, conditioning for the Sky Squad and Aaman proceeded without interruption. At night, their focus shifted to internal cultivation—harmonizing their vessel's aura with atmospheric mana rapidly and seamlessly.

A cultivator who achieved total resonance with the world could draw in environmental energy with effortless speed.

Mastering environmental absorption—unlocking the internal circles of one's vessel—mirrored the mechanics behind the highest tiers of dark cultivation.

Practitioners of dark arts could forcibly multiply their parameters far beyond normal limits because the corrupt opening of their dark circles forcefully dragged vast quantities of volatile energy into their vessels. However, they sought raw power through dirty shortcuts, bypassing necessary physical and spiritual conditioning.

As a result, their vessels could not contain or regulate the violent dark magic flooding their pathways. Overwhelmed by unbridled dark energy, their minds were consumed by demonic instincts, robbing them of their humanity.

They mutated into pure demons.

True power had to be built upon absolute self-awareness and rigorous physical conditioning. Only a tempered mind and an expanded physical vessel could safely contain high-density aura, enabling a warrior to channel immense power without adverse side effects.

By late afternoon, the Sky Squad members finished their physical drills—sprinting across rugged mountain ridges while burdened with thirty-kilogram weighted bands. Returning to the clearing, they crossed their legs to begin internal cultivation.

Warrior Jiro descended among them as they regulated their internal aura and stabilized their cores.

"Refine the energy within your vessels and harmonize smoothly with the world," Jiro instructed, his voice echoing calmly across the clearing. "When you learn to break your internal energy down into its finest state, your vessel will achieve complete unity with nature—allowing you to stand as equals against dark cultivators who deploy full Demon Transformations."

Refining internal energy meant breaking down raw aura into microscopic particles and reassembling it into a pristine, flawless internal structure.

The process was akin to dismantling a broken structure and meticulously rebuilding it into a perfect masterpiece. It required absolute concentration and undisturbed focus. A firm resolve to master the martial path had been deeply ingrained within each of them.

When night fell, they practiced meditative focus to purge lingering anger, greed, and chaotic thoughts from their minds.

In that profound stillness, enlightenment washed over them as they mastered total aura regulation. Warrior Jiro's guidance proved absolute: unchecked anger and wild emotions fractured a cultivator's focus, clouding their tactical judgment and ruining techniques that required absolute precision.

They had persevered this far because their desire to grow stronger was absolute. The path before them was the grueling road of true guardians—warriors willing to sacrifice everything to secure lasting peace for the realm.

Not a single operative regretted joining the Sky Squad. Through two months of uninterrupted conditioning, an unshakeable bond of mutual trust had taken root, forging them into a unified brotherhood.

At long last, the sixty days drew to a close. Warrior Jiro formally declared the end of their hellish training.

By the final week, every operative could sprint down the steep mountain path carrying four sloshing buckets of water without spilling a single drop. Their kinetic balance and mental focus had reached absolute perfection.

Through meditative assimilation, they seamlessly converted the physical exertion of those drills into refined internal aura.

During afternoon sessions, they navigated complex obstacle courses at full sprint while wearing thirty kilograms of dead weight strapped to their limbs. Initially, the added weight had made every step a monumental chore. Yet through mutual encouragement and unyielding resolve, two months of continuous conditioning had rendered the extra thirty kilograms almost weightless to their tempered vessels.

They moved with complete freedom, unbothered by the heavy bands on their wrists and ankles.

Overcoming those physical constraints had taught them a far greater lesson: to ignore discomfort and focus entirely on the task at hand. So long as their focus remained clear and their resolve unshakeable, no external obstacle—nor any powerful adversary—could ever break their spirit again.

Warrior Jiro offered a warm, approving smile as he looked upon the twenty-one assembled warriors, including Aaman. A collective sigh of relief and joy rippled through the ranks as Jiro officially announced that they had successfully completed the physical and spiritual conditioning program.

Without even realizing it, the operatives had broken through their previous bottlenecks, ascending to the 8th internal circle—the absolute ceiling of human cultivation, where a warrior opened every internal energy pathway to achieve total resonance with the natural world.

During their deep breathing exercises, atmospheric mana no longer felt like an abstract concept; they could perceive natural energy as clearly as drifting snowflakes, absorbing it directly into their vessels.

The wind, the trees, the earth, the water—they could feel and draw upon the essence of everything around them. It was a monumental achievement: elevating their physical vessels and internal cores to an extraordinary realm within a mere two months. Though the process had pushed them to the brink of total collapse, the rewards were undeniable.

Looking at the reborn warriors standing before him, Warrior Jiro smiled proudly. "You succeeded!"

Cheering and smiles erupted across the field. Yet Jiro raised a hand, signaling that he was not quite finished.

It was time to put their newly forged strength to the test.