The morning light did not dare to intrude harshly upon the room; instead, it seemed to respect the sanctity of the atmosphere, filtering through the lattice windows as a soft, hazy gold. The air was heavy, saturated with the scent of intimacy and the faint, grounding aroma of spirit herbs that eternally clung to Xu Pei's skin.
Ling Feng lay awake, his gaze tracing the intricate, shifting carvings on the wooden ceiling. His left arm was entirely numb, pinned beneath the weight of Xu Pei's head, but he didn't move a muscle. He felt... complete. Grounded.
If his night with Li Shuangyan was akin to weathering a magnificent, heaven-shaking storm—a clash of wills, intense passion, and the conquering of a proud icy peak—then his night with Xu Pei was like floating in a warm, eternal spring deep within a hidden grotto. It was soothing. It seeped into his marrow, washing away the metaphysical grit and bloodlust accumulated from navigating the cutthroat cultivation world.
'Man, the Xianxia novels back on Earth really don't do this justice,' Ling Feng mused, his free hand idly playing with a silky strand of Xu Pei's hair. 'They make it seem like getting the girl is just a trophy unlock. Be the strongest, kill the Young Master, collect the Jade Beauty, move on to the next map. But in reality? It's a grind. A high-stakes social game.'
He let his mind wander, thinking about the average male cultivator in the Mortal Emperor World. Most of them were thirsty, desperate souls chasing a glimpse of a Fairy's ankle.
If you weren't the Main Character, trying to court a Saintess or a Princess was like a toad trying to feast on swan meat—a delusion that usually ended with the toad being crushed by a boot.
Even if you possessed strength, the powerful women of this world—like Li Shuangyan or Chen Baojiao—had egos the size of Mount Tai. They didn't want a partner; they wanted a Dao Protector, a stepping stone, or a servant.
Ling Feng was realistic about himself. He wasn't some ancient monster reborn or a heaven-chosen genius by birth. He was a guy from the 2020s who liked internet browsing.
Without the alien, reality-warping power of the Chaos Force, he wouldn't even be able to look a female disciple of the Warrior Canopy in the eyes, let alone a Prime Descendant like Li Shuangyan.
'But I do have the Chaos Force. And that's what makes everything all the more interesting,' he thought, a smirk touching his lips.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he shifted his consciousness inward, diving into his Inner Void.
It was a magnificent sight. Instead of the standard Fate Palaces hovering in a void, his internal world was a swirling galaxy of primal energy. Orbiting the Green Chaos Emerald, the Red Emerald, and the Yellow Chaos Emerald was a new, radiant addition.
A massive, pulsing Golden Ring.
It rotated with a heavy, majestic momentum, emitting a pure, white-gold light that stood in stark contrast to the frantic, bloody, crimson energy of the Rings he usually harvested from slaughtering enemies. This Golden Ring was a crystallization of pure devotion, Yin vitality, and the resonant soul-bond he shared with Xu Pei.
'That makes four major rings,' Ling Feng calculated, analyzing the energy signatures. 'The two Golden Rings from Shuangyan and Xu Pei, representing Creation and Emotion. And the two massive Black Rings I refined from the Heaven Extermination Devil Ape and the Evil Typha Tree, representing Destruction and Malice. That's enough raw fuel. It's time to cook.'
Beside him, Xu Pei stirred. A soft, sleepy sound escaped her lips—a sound so innocent it could melt the heart of a stone golem. She nuzzled deeper into his chest, her hand instinctively clutching the fabric of his sleeping robe as if terrified he would vanish if she let go.
"Morning, sleepyhead," Ling Feng whispered, the vibration of his chest rousing her gently. He brushed a stray hair from her forehead with his thumb.
Xu Pei's eyelids fluttered open. For a split second, her eyes were hazy with sleep and confusion. Then, her focus sharpened. She saw Ling Feng's face inches from hers, the memory of the previous night rushing back like a tidal wave. The tenderness. The unreserved praise. The way he had worshipped her body as if it were a sacred temple rather than a servant's vessel.
"Feng..." she murmured dreamily, a beautiful, unguarded smile blooming on her face.
Then, reality crashed in.
Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. She scrambled backward, pulling the silk sheets up to her chin, her face instantaneously turning the color of a ripe spirit tomato.
"Y-Young Noble!" she stammered, her voice squeaking. "I... I apologize! I was dreaming... I did not mean to be so disrespectful! I called you by your name... I deserve punishment!"
Ling Feng laughed, a rich, hearty sound that filled the room. He reached out, hooked a finger over the sheet she was using as a shield, and tugged it down slightly.
"Hey, chill out. None of that," he said, his eyes crinkling with amusement. "You earned the right. Actually, I like it. Sounds way more intimate than 'Young Noble' this and 'Young Noble' that. Makes me feel like a person, not a statue. Say it again."
"I... I couldn't..." Xu Pei whispered, looking everywhere but at him, her heart pounding against her ribs like a trapped bird.
"Say it," Ling Feng commanded. His voice dropped an octave, blending his natural playfulness with an undeniable, kingly authority that brooked no refusal.
Xu Pei swallowed hard. She forced herself to look into his eyes—eyes that held the swirling, terrifying chaos of the universe yet looked at her with a warmth that burned hotter than the sun.
"Feng," she whispered, her voice trembling with a mixture of fear and adoration.
"Music to my ears," Ling Feng grinned, satisfied. "Now, do a vibe check. Look inside."
Xu Pei blinked, confusion marring her delicate features. "Vibe... check? What is a... vibe?"
"Check your cultivation, silly," he corrected. "Look at your foundation."
Xu Pei obeyed, closing her eyes. She inhaled, instinctively channeling the Violent Cloud Chant that Ling Feng had modified for the sect.
BOOM!
A shockwave of spirit energy blasted outward from her fragile-looking body, rattling the window frames and causing the dust motes to dance violently.
Above her head, the space warped. Three distinct Fate Palaces manifested, rotating with a heavy, profound momentum that hummed with power. But the most shocking change was her aura. Gone was the thin, wavering aura of a struggling disciple. In its place was a solid, concrete pressure—the undeniable signature of an expert.
"Named Hero..." Xu Pei gasped, her eyes snapping open. She stared at her own palms, watching the spirit energy coil around her fingers like obedient serpents. "I entered the Soul Creation realm? And... three Fate Palaces? I was only at the Purified Rebirth realm yesterday! I skipped an entire great realm!"
She looked at Ling Feng, tears welling in her eyes, terrified and awed. "How? This is... this defies the Heavens! This violates the Dao!"
"We defy Heavens for breakfast, my dear," Ling Feng said casually, sitting up and stretching his back until it cracked. "The Chaos Force doesn't give a damn about bottlenecks or the 'Dao.' It cares about intent. You opened your heart to me, and I flooded your system with the good stuff. High-quality, unfiltered energy transfer. Consider it a VIP perk for being my sweet girl."
Xu Pei didn't know what a "VIP perk" was, but the sentiment struck her soul. Overwhelmed with joy and a sudden, intoxicating surge of confidence from her new power, she did something she never would have dared to do twenty-four hours ago.
She threw herself at him.
Ling Feng caught her easily, laughing as she buried her face in his neck, her tears wetting his skin.
"Thank you," she sobbed happily, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "Thank you, Feng! I will work hard! I will catch up to Sister Shuangyan and Sister Baojiao! I won't be a burden anymore!"
"You were never a burden," Ling Feng said firmly, his hand rubbing comforting circles on her back. "You're the anchor. Now, let's get dressed. I'm starving, and I bet the others are wondering if I ate you alive. Which... I sort of did."
He winked. Xu Pei turned red again, but this time, she giggled.
...
The breakfast table in the main courtyard of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was an interesting study in high-tension social dynamics.
Su Yonghuang sat at the head, trying to maintain the regal bearing of a Sect Master. She sipped her tea with practiced grace, but her eyes kept darting toward the guest house door, betraying her anxiety.
Li Shuangyan sat to her right. The descendant of the Nine Saint Demon Gate was peeling a spirit fruit with elegant precision, though her foot was tapping a frantic rhythm under the table that threatened to vibrate the floorboards.
Chen Baojiao was far less subtle. She was blatantly staring at the door, chomping on a spirit pear with aggressive energy, looking like she was ready to draw her saber at the slightest provocation.
When Ling Feng walked in with Xu Pei on his arm, the silence was deafening.
It wasn't just their arrival; it was Xu Pei. She was glowing. Literally. Her skin possessed a translucent, jade-like sheen, and her aura hummed with the stability of a Named Hero. She walked with her head held high, clutching Ling Feng's arm not for support, but with possessive pride.
"Finally," Chen Baojiao smirked, tossing her fruit pit aside with the accuracy of a hidden weapon. "I thought we'd have to send a search party. Or a rescue team."
"Jealous?" Ling Feng shot back smoothly, pulling out a chair for Xu Pei before flopping into his own with the grace of a boneless cat. "Don't worry, Baojiao. Your turn is coming. Get your ticket and wait in line."
Chen Baojiao choked on air, coughing violently as her face flushed a deep crimson. Li Shuangyan rolled her eyes, though a faint blush dusted the tips of her elegant ears.
"Shameless," Li Shuangyan muttered into her tea cup. "Utterly shameless."
"I prefer 'honest'," Ling Feng grabbed a steamed bun and took a massive bite. "So, status report. How's the sect? Any idiots trying to siege us? Any Young Masters needing a face slapping? I'm feeling itchy."
"The Nine Saint Demon Gate sent supplies," Su Yonghuang said, her voice steady, though she looked at Xu Pei with a contemplative gaze. "They are... respectful. Because of you. The rumors of your strength have kept the local powers at bay."
"Good," Ling Feng chewed thoughtfully. "Listen, I've been thinking. This guest house arrangement? It's inefficient. Too many doors. Too much walking. Bad feng shui."
He looked around the table, a wicked, fox-like grin spreading across his face.
"I'm thinking we renovate. One master bedroom. One massive bed. Like, king-size plus-plus. We all pile in. Efficient, cozy, builds team morale. What do you think?"
Clatter.
Li Shuangyan dropped her teacup. It hit the saucer with a sharp clink, spilling amber tea all over the pristine tablecloth.
"You..." Su Yonghuang stood up, her composure cracking. Her face burned a brilliant crimson. "You are suggesting... a communal... sleep arrangement?"
"Orgy implies chaos," Ling Feng wagged a finger, anticipating the objection. "I'm talking about a cuddle puddle. Sleeping together. Cultivating together. Sharing warmth. Maybe some... intense passion. Or, just us, chilling and watching the stars."
"You are a deviant!" Li Shuangyan hissed, though her anger lacked true heat. "We are noble cultivators! Daughters of Clans and Sect Masters! To share a bed like... like concubines in a mortal emperor's harem? It is scandalous! It breaks all propriety!"
"Scandalous is my middle name," Ling Feng shrugged, unfazed. "Besides, you're all my girlfriends anyway. Eventually, you'll be my wives. Why wait? We're all family here. Why let some dusty old traditions dictate how we show affection?"
He turned his gaze to Xu Pei, who was happily eating her porridge. "Pei-Pei, you down?"
Xu Pei froze. She turned bright red, glancing at the two powerful, intimidating women, then back at Ling Feng's encouraging smile.
"If... If the Young Noble wishes it... and if Sisters are willing..." she stammered, lowering her head but speaking clearly, "I... I do not mind. I follow Feng."
"Traitor," Chen Baojiao whispered, but there was a distinct lack of bite in her tone. A challenging glint sparked in her phoenix eyes as she looked at Ling Feng. "You think you can handle all of us at once? I have the Tyrannical Immortal Physique. Shuangyan has the Pure Jade Physique. You might die of exhaustion, Tyrant."
"My dear, I have infinite stamina," Ling Feng winked, leaning forward. "Literally. It's one of my superpowers. Look it up in the manual I didn't write yet."
Su Yonghuang sat back down, massaging her temples. She felt like her worldview was being dismantled brick by brick every time this man opened his mouth. But looking at the banter, the lack of deadly intrigue and backstabbing that usually plagued the harems of powerful experts... she felt a strange, terrifying warmth in her chest.
"We will discuss this... later," Su Yonghuang said weakly. "Much later."
"So that's a 'maybe'," Ling Feng nodded, satisfied. He noted with internal glee that neither Chen Baojiao nor Su Yonghuang denied the premise of being his eventual wives. "I'll take it. Progress is progress."
...
Time in the cultivation world flowed like water—sometimes a trickle, sometimes a raging flood.
Weeks turned into a month.
The Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was undergoing a metamorphosis. With the resources Ling Feng had provided—mostly stolen from the slaughter within the ridge—and the backing of the Nine Saint Demon Gate, the disciples were walking taller.
The atmosphere of decay was gone, replaced by a hungry, ambitious drive.
Li Shuangyan and Chen Baojiao were sparring daily, their clashes shaking the mountains and terrifying the junior disciples.
Xu Pei was managing the herb gardens, her new cultivation allowing her to nurture spirit medicines at a terrifying rate.
Su Yonghuang was governing from the shadows, slowly consolidating her power and rooting out the corruption of the Sectional Leaders.
But Ling Feng was missing.
He had sealed himself in the deepest chamber of the main peak, a place where the density of the earth veins was highest.
Inside the meditative cave, the laws of physics were being politely asked to leave. Gravity didn't seem to apply here. Ling Feng floated in the absolute center of the room, his legs crossed, his eyes closed. His body was wreathed in a kaleidoscope of lights—Green, Yellow, Gold, and Black.
He wasn't cultivating spirit energy in the traditional sense. He was engineering.
Deep within his Inner Void, the universe was screaming.
The four Rings—Two Gold, Two Black—were spinning around the central axis of his Niwan Palace. They were moving at velocities that defied comprehension, looking less like rings and more like solid bands of tearing reality.
'Condensing the first three was easy,' Ling Feng thought, sweat beading on his forehead as he exerted his will. 'Space, Power, Energy. Those are primal forces. Simple concepts. But this fourth one... I need something that ties my combat style together. I have the Nuke, I have the Tank, I have the Utility. I need Speed. I need Flow. I need to be untouchable.'
He focused his mental energy. The Chaos Force, that alien energy from another reality, roared in response to his desire. It was wild, untamed, and desperate to evolve.
He began to crush the rings together.
The Black Rings, filled with the violent, dominant will of the Heaven Extermination Devil Ape and the predatory instinct of the Evil Typha Tree, resisted. They wanted to destroy. They wanted to consume.
The Golden Rings, filled with the soft, yielding affection of his women and the pure Yin vitality of their bodies, wanted to nurture. They wanted to protect.
"Mix, damn you!" Ling Feng gritted his teeth, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Yin and Yang. Destruction and Creation. Chaos is everything! Don't fight it—become it!"
He forced them to merge. He visualized the concept he wanted. Not just running fast, but velocity itself. The concept of Time flowing like a river, and him being the shark swimming upstream, ignoring the current.
It took days. While outside the sun rose and set, inside the cave, Ling Feng was fighting a mental war against the fundamental laws of the Emperor's Domination universe.
He stripped the impurities from the Black Rings using the purity of the Golden Rings. He balanced the equation, forcing the hatred and the love to coexist, to spin so fast they blurred into a single intent: Motion.
Then, on the seventh day, it clicked.
A resonance hummed through his very soul. The resistance vanished. The rings collapsed into a singularity within his Inner Void.
PING!
A crisp, clear sound, like a single drop of water hitting a calm lake in the middle of a silent forest, echoed in his mind.
A new light exploded in his Inner Void.
It wasn't Green. It wasn't Red. It wasn't Yellow.
It was Cyan. A brilliant, electric, neon blue that seemed to vibrate with restless energy.
The Cyan Chaos Emerald.
As soon as it formed, Ling Feng's aura detonated.
Outside the Cave
The sky above the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect suddenly darkened. Thick, roiling clouds swirled rapidly, forming a massive vortex directly above the main peak. It wasn't a tribulation of lightning; it was a tribulation of pressure.
A weight that felt ancient and heavy, yet strangely frantic, descended on the entire sect.
"Ugh!"
Disciples in the training field fell to their knees, gasping for air as if the atmosphere had suddenly turned to lead.
The First Elder, who was enjoying a rare moment of peace with a cup of spirit tea, spat it out and dropped his cup. It shattered on the floor, but he didn't notice.
"What in the Old Heavens?" The First Elder gasped, his beard trembling. "This pressure... It's not a Royal Noble... It feels like... a Sovereign? No, it's sharper. It feels like the world is vibrating! But the Young Noble is nowhere near that realm!"
In the main courtyard, Li Shuangyan, Chen Baojiao, Su Yonghuang, and Xu Pei rushed out, looking up at the peak.
Li Shuangyan's expression was grave. As a Prime Descendant, she had seen many breakthroughs, but this was different. The space around the peak was... twisting.
"He's done it," Chen Baojiao grinned, her hand instinctively gripping the hilt of her saber to steady herself against the waves of power. Her eyes shone with excitement. "The monster broke through. I can feel it in my bones."
"The chaotic energy..." Su Yonghuang whispered, her eyes narrowing. "It is distorting the time around the mountain. Look at the leaves."
They looked. The leaves falling from the trees on the main peak were freezing in mid-air, then accelerating towards the ground at impossible speeds, then freezing again.
Inside the Cave
Ling Feng opened his eyes.
His irises were no longer their usual dark color. They were glowing a piercing, electric Cyan.
He took a deep breath, and the air rushed into his lungs with the force of a hurricane. His cultivation base, fueled by the formation of the fourth Emerald, surged forward like a dam breaking.
The Chaos Force acted like a universal skeleton key, unlocking the potential of his body.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
He smashed through the barriers of the Named Hero realm.
Provisional Palace? Gone in a heartbeat. Inner Longevity? Shattered like glass. Spring of Life? Ignored entirely.
He stabilized firmly at the peak of the Named Hero realm, his foundation so solid it felt like a mountain range. He was knocking loudly on the door of the Royal Noble realm.
But his combat prowess? That was a different story entirely. His cultivation base was merely the battery; the Emeralds were the weapons.
Ling Feng closed his eyes again, looking at the new gem floating in his Inner Void, analyzing the data that flowed into his brain like a HUD.
[Cyan Chaos Emerald]
Mastery: Time / Velocity / Fluidity.
Passive Effect: Chronos Perception. The user perceives time 50% slower than reality during combat. Reflexes are boosted to match. The world moves in slow motion; you move in real-time.
Active Effect: Chaos Drift. User can locally accelerate their own timeframe. To the outside world, this looks like teleportation, but it is actually sheer speed. It ignores wind resistance and inertia.
Chaos Control: Can completely stop time for a small amount of time. Can also slow down the time around someone.
Ling Feng clenched his fist. The air inside his palm popped, creating a miniature vacuum. He felt light. Weightless. He felt like he could run across the Nine Worlds in a single heartbeat. The stagnation of the air, the drag of gravity—it all felt optional now.
He stood up. Or rather, he blurred from a sitting position to a standing one without any transition frames.
"Oh, yeah," Ling Feng grinned, a feral, predatory smile revealing his teeth. "I really want to see those so-called 'Time Masters' and 'Space Geniuses' try to keep up with this. Compared to Chaos Control, they're just running in mud."
He dusted off his robes, his eyes fading back to their normal color, though the Cyan spark remained deep within the pupil.