Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Wu Liena
Azure Dragon Sect, Main Hall.
The tea room was currently shrouded with the scent of high-grade spiritual leaves as Lin Feng served the tea to Haoran.
[Host, look at him! He is so majestic! That aura... it's like a god walking among mortals! If you don't cling to his thigh right now, I'll self-destruct out of sheer frustration!]
'I know, I know! Shut up! I'm a natural at this! Watch a pro work!' Lin Feng snapped back mentally.
"Young master, is the tea perfect? Is it too hot? Too warm? Or would you like me to brew another one?" Lin Feng asked, his voice a pitch higher than usual as he hovered around Haoran.
At this moment, he looked like a man trying to sell a broken carriage as a celestial chariot. "Those disciples of mine are truly useless! They don't understand the first thing about hospitality for a guest of your caliber!"
Lin Feng rubbed his hands together, his eyes sparkling with a mixture of greed and genuine terror. "Ah, it has been two years, young master! You have gotten even more majestic than before! Truly a dragon among men, a qilin among beasts! Your very presence makes the spiritual energy of this forest bow in submission!"
[Host... stop. Please. The second-hand embarrassment is actually killing my processors!]
'Shut up, you lousy clumps of codes! What's a little embarrassment compared to ascending to heaven in one step? Do you have any idea how many people in this world would kill—literally commit genocide—just to be in my position right now? This is a Golden Thigh! This is the protagonist's ultimate cheat!'
[Host... You are truly shameless. When it comes to the 'Thickness of Face' sub-stat, I, the System, hereby declare you the strongest in all the myriad realms!]
'That's natural! There's a reason why I'm your master and you're just the UI!'
Haoran sat perfectly still, his spine straight, watching Lin Feng's performance with a faint, amused smile.
He didn't mind Lin Feng's over the top praises, after all in the Central Region, flattery was a weapon used by the weak to survive and the strong to manipulate.
He appreciated the efficiency of Lin Feng's sycophancy.
"How have you been doing these past two years?" Haoran asked, his voice smooth and cool as he took a sip of his tea.
"Good, good! It's all thanks to you, young master!" Lin Feng exclaimed, bowing so low his forehead nearly touched the table. "If it wasn't for the resources and the ring you gave me back then, I wouldn't have reached where I am now! I'd probably still be a wandering rogue getting chased by spirit rabbits!"
[Host... how could you? What about me? I gave you the buildings! I gave you the techniques!]
'Stop acting like an abandoned girlfriend! I'm securing our future!'
"Here." Haoran reached into the air, and a token materialized between his fingers.
The token was crafted from a strange, dark metal that seemed to swallow light, embossed with the intricate golden insignia of the Shen Clan: a majestic Eastern Dragon circling the entire world, its jaws clamped shut as it began to eat its own tail.
He tossed it casually toward Lin Feng and he caught it with both hands as if it were a fragile egg.
'System, analysis!'
[It appears to be a token, sir... high-density spiritual alloy... wait, why am I answering like a certain penguin from a movie?! This is a high-level identification token, host!]
Lin Feng ignored the system's glitching personality and turned toward Haoran with wide eyes. "Young master, this thing is...?"
"My Clan's token," Haoran said. "Holding it means you are considered one of ours, kind of like an outer-circle retainer. It carries my personal mark, and you can use it for a lot of things. Once you reach the Profound Saint realm, head to the Imperial Capital. My clan will have a place for you and your students."
Lin Feng's breath hitched as he stared at the token, this wasn't just a gift; it was a life insurance policy for him and his entire sect!
[Holy crap! Boss, you've made it big! This is a VIP pass to the Central Region! Don't forget about your loyal system once you take off!]
"Young master, this is truly a generational gift!" Lin Feng shouted, his eyes actually tearing up from the sheer relief of having a "backing." "I will pass it down as my family heirloom! I will worship it on an altar every morning!"
Haoran simply smiled.
Lin Feng, as the possessor of a "Sect Master System," would naturally act as a magnet for other "Children of Luck" or "Anomalies."
Instead of hunting them all down one by one, which was a tedious and messy process, it was far more efficient to incorporate them into his clan's structure.
By taming this "Shepherd," he would eventually own the entire flock.
In the high-stakes game of the Central Region, power was common, but Luck was the true currency.
And who possessed more luck than literal darlings of heaven?
'In another world, a certain God King Tang tamed another child of luck to be his family's loyal dog,' Haoran mused inwardly. 'Why can't I do the same? Am I inferior to that half-beast half-man mongrel? Heh.'
"And this," Haoran added, tossing another spatial ring toward Lin Feng.
Lin Feng caught it greedily, a bit of drool actually escaping the corner of his mouth.
He didn't even try to hide his hunger for more resources, after all to a Sect Master like him, resources were like fuel for the fire.
Raising disciples aren't cheap!
Haoran stood up, his robes settling perfectly without a single wrinkle. "I'll be taking my leave then. I have a long flight ahead of me."
"Young master, thank you! Thank you!" Lin Feng scurried to his feet, bowing repeatedly. "I, Lin Feng, and the entire Azure Dragon Sect will be your most loyal followers from now on! Your word is my command! If you say the sun is blue, I'll paint the sky myself!"
Haoran waved a dismissive hand as he turned to leave, but he paused for a moment, his gaze shifting to a specific shadow in the far corner of the hall—a corner where a silver-haired girl had been listening in secret.
He held her gaze through the darkness for a split second, a cold glint in his eyes, before turning to walk out the door.
"No need to see me off," he said.
With a mental command, his celestial sword whistled through the air, hovering at the threshold.
He stepped onto it and took off, like a silver streak that vanished into the afternoon sky in an instant.
Lin Feng waited until he was sure Haoran was gone before he collapsed back onto his bench, clutching the ring to his chest.
'Hehehe~! Lemme see what that young master gave me this time.'
Thousands of rank 4 spiritual herbs, thousands of rank 4 pills, thousands of special ores for artifact Refining, dozens of Grand Tier Spirit Grade Cultivation Techniques and Battle Techniques, and so many spirit stones!
"I'm rich! I'm rich! I'm rich!" Lin Feng cheered, dancing around the tea room. "Who needs a competition? I could buy a kingdom with this!"
"Master..."
Just then, the cold, hollow voice of Wu Liena sounded from the doorway.
Lin Feng stopped his victory dance and turned, smiling like a business that just got a good deal. "Oh, Nana! Where were you? I wanted to introduce you to the Young Master! It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet a real peak-tier noble! You missed out on the Golden Thigh!"
Wu Liena stared at the token in Lin Feng's hand, and for a moment, she hesitated, her silver eyes trembling with an emotion that looked suspiciously like fear mixed with suppressed rage.
Eventually, she spoke, her voice barely a whisper. "Master... You really shouldn't associate yourself with that man. Or his clan."
"Huh?" Lin Feng blinked, genuinely confused. "Why? He's powerful, he's rich, and he just gave us a free pass to the Capital! What's the problem?"
Wu Liena opened her mouth to say something, to tell him about the truth of the Shen Clan's ruthlessness, or perhaps something deeper, but she eventually shook her head, her face was as pale as her robes. "Nothing. Do what you like. It's your sect."
She turned around and walked out, her footsteps heavy and uneven as Lin Feng stared at her in confusion before letting out a shrug and stared at the ring once again.
The moment she stepped outside and closed the door behind her, her strength seemed to fail as dhe plopped down onto the floor, her back against the wood, breathing in short, heavy gasps.
Her mind flashed back to a scene ten years ago—a memory she had tried to bury under layers of her cultivation training and silence.
In that memory, she saw a woman with long, golden hair drenched in blood.
The woman had cold, emotionless golden eyes and wore a pure white robe that was rapidly turning crimson as she walked.
That woman was beautiful, like an enchanting goddess of war, holding a sword that dripped with the lifeblood of Wu Liena's entire family.
She was standing over mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, and she was humming, as if she was simply taking a stroll.
A younger version of Wu Liena was there, hiding under a pile of her own kin's bodies, paralyzed by the scent of death, watching everything through a crack in the floorboards.
At that moment, the golden-haired woman had turned around, and she had looked directly at the hiding spot and smiled—a smile so uncanny, so devoid of human warmth, it felt like looking into the eyes of something completely alien, trying to imitate a human smile.
"There you are," the woman had whispered.
Wu Liena gasped, snapping back to the present.
She was drenched in a cold sweat as she gritted her teeth, her fists clenched so hard that her sharp fingernails pierced her palms, causing blood to trickle down her wrists.
"Chu... Xueyu!" she hissed through her teeth, the name tasting like poison.
The token in the other room represented the Shen Clan, the very clan that was responsible for the massacre of her clan, the clan of that woman who bathed in blood and flesh of her own kin.
To Lin Feng, that token might be a ladder to heaven, but to Wu Liena, it was the cold touch of a ghost reaching for her throat.
Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Heaven's Choice
At this moment, within the heart of the Imperial Capital, the ancestral estate of the Shen Clan stood as a sprawling fortress of white jade and ancient power.
Deep within the inner sanctum, where the spiritual energy was so dense it manifested as a silver mist, the air was heavy with the weight of centuries of rule.
A woman of breathtaking and terrifying beauty sat upon a dragon-phoenix throne, her long golden hair cascaded over her shoulders like a river of molten sunlight, contrasting sharply with the pristine white robe she wore, which was embroidered with subtle, shimmering golden accents that traced the path of an ancient phoenix.
She sat with a casual, yet supreme grace, her cheek resting against her fist while her elbow was braced upon the throne's dragon-head armrest.
This was Chu Xueyu, the current Clan Head of the Shen Clan and the mother of Shen Haoran.
Beside her, standing like silent statues of shadow, were two beautiful women clad in black, skintight bodysuits that seemed to drink in the surrounding light.
They moved with a synchronized, rhythmic precision, as they fanned Xueyu with plumes of celestial feathers plucked from a celestial phoenix.
A close inspection of their steady breathing and the way the space slightly distorted around them revealed a staggering truth that will surely shock many powers.
These two "servants" actually possessed the cultivation of Profound Saints!
In the outskirts of Central Region, they would be worshipped as goddesses of war, but here, they were mere attendants.
In the center of the hall, seven old men stood in a semi-circle, their hair and beards were as white as mountain snow, but their eyes burned with the vitality of youth.
The collective aura of these seven was suffocating, with each of them actually possessing the cultivation of Heavenly Saint Realm at the 9th Stage, the absolute apex of the realm, just a hair's breadth away from touching the laws of the Supreme Emperor.
"So? To what do I owe the pleasure?" Xueyu asked her voice soft and gentle, yet sounding so incredibly bored as she didn't even bother to shift her posture. "It is rare for all seven elders of the Grand Enshrined Hall to gather at the same time. Usually, you are too busy counting your ancestor's bones or arguing over the distribution of spirit stones."
The First Elder, a man whose presence felt like a compressed supernova, took a solemn step forward. "Clan Head, we, the Seven Elders of the Grand Enshrined Hall, formally request the commencement of a Heaven's Choice Tournament."
The air in the room seemed to chill.
A Heaven's Choice Tournament was no mere sparring match, it was a brutal, free-for-all combat ritual held by the Great Clans to determine who among the younger generation was the true "Heaven's Chosen"—the definitive heir to the clan's legacy and resources.
But...
Xueyu's brow furrowed slightly. "Haoran is already the designated heir of the Shen Clan. I have already decreed it, so there is no need for such primitive displays."
"Clan Head, times change! There are more talented people in our clan who have emerged in the past two years while the young master was away!" The second elder argued, his voice raspy but firm.
The third elder stepped forward, "That's right! Dod you know, a youth from a branch family has awakened the Ancient Sacred Physique! He is only twenty-seven and has already reached the peak of the Golden Core realm! His foundation is so solid it resonates with the sound of the heaven and earth!"
"That's right!" The fourth elder chimed in, his eyes gleaming with ambition. "One of my own descendants has recently received the direct bloodline inheritance of the Eastern Sea Emperor! The very emperor who suppressed every genius of his era in the last epoch! His potential is limitless!"
"Your son might be talented, Clan Head, but the world does not stand still," the First Elder added. "I do not think he alone can continue to suppress the rising geniuses of the clan now. So if he is truly the heir, he must prove he can still stand above them all."
Xueyu stared at them, her golden eyes half-lidded, reflecting a terrifying lack of interest.
She waited for the echoes of their voices to die down before asking a single, flat question.
"...Are you done?"
"You—!" The elders flushed with embarrassment and burgeoning rage.
The first elder frowned, "Clan Head! You should mind your position! You know well that your authority was granted to you by this Hall! If we believe you are abusing your power to suppress the true geniuses of our clan just to favor your son, then we have the right to strip you of your position!"
The hierarchy of the Shen Clan was a delicate balance of terror and tradition.
Although the Clan Head seems to hold all the power of the clan, that isn't the case at all.
Standing far above them all, in the silent, resting within the depths and most secluded part of the clan, is the Supreme Hall, where the Old Monsters at the Supreme Emperor Realm slept in stasis, waiting for the day the Immortal Path would reopen.
Below them is Grand Enshrined Hall, with its members all at the peak of Heavenly Saint Realm, and acting as the ultimate advisory body and the only check on the Clan Head's influence.
Below them sat the Elder Hall, where every member was at least a Heavenly Saint, managing the countless subordinate realms and vassal sects that served the Shen name.
Xueyu's gaze remained fixed on the First Elder, her silence was heavier than any shout, and once again, asked the same question.
"...Again," she whispered, "are you done?"
The Elders glared at her, their Qi beginning to flare, causing the jade floor to groan under the pressure.
But as they met her golden eyes, they saw something that made their hearts stutter—a depth of absolute coldness that seems to freeze their soul.
At that, one by one, they lowered their heads.
"...Yes," the First Elder muttered.
Xueyu nodded slowly as she stood up.
She didn't use her hands to push herself up; she simply rose like a flame and walked down the white jade steps, her robes whispering against the stone, until she stood directly in front of the First Elder.
She was shorter than him, but she seemed to tower over the entire hall.
"Respected elders," Xueyu began, her voice deceptively soft. "It is indeed the truth that my position was given to me by you. But do you remember why it was given to me and not to one of you? And do you know why, for the last hundred years, I have remained firmly as the head despite your constant scheming?"
The First Elder remained silent.
His throat felt tight, after all, in truth, he knew the answer, no, not just him, but the entire clan knew the answer—but he simply dared not speak it aloud.
Xueyu reached out and placed a delicate, slender hand on his shoulder. "It is because I am strong. Stronger than anyone. And for the past century, there has never been a single soul in this Imperial Capital that was stronger than I."
She didn't strike him, instead, she simply pressed her hand down.
In that instant, the First Elder felt as though the heavens themselves had collapsed onto his spine.
His internal organs shivered, and his protective Qi shattered like glass as he struggled to remain standing, his face turning a violent shade of purple as blood began to seep from his eyes, ears, and nose.
He tried, no he was forcing himself to remain still despite his bones creaking and popping, desperately trying to resist the physical manifestation of her Will.
But it was futile.
And as he was slowly being forced down, the realization hit him with the force of a thunderbolt.
He was at the peak of the Heavenly Saint Realm because he had reached his limit and could no longer advance, but Chu Xueyu, however, was at the peak of the Heavenly Saint Realm because she chose not to advance.
She didn't advance because of some profound reason, but simply because once she reached Supreme Emperor realm, those old fogies from Supreme Hall would force her to give up all her powers and stay in the Supreme Hall, never being able to see her son once again.
That's why, despite possessing the qualifications to advance, she never did.
Because of that, the quality of their Qi, their understanding of the Great Dao, and the foundations of their souls were simply on different planes of existence.
With a sickening thud, the First Elder's knees hit the jade floor.
His face turning red in pain and embarrassment as for the first time in his life, he was forced to kneel.
Xueyu turned her gaze toward the other six elders, and one by one, they averted their eyes and bowed their heads even lower, their previous arrogance evaporating like mist.
"It seems I have been a bit too kind lately," Xueyu said, her voice echoing through the silent pavilion. "You people seem to have forgotten who truly holds the power in this clan. You've seem to have grown fat on peace and deluded by the minor talents of your descendants."
She withdrew her hand from the First Elder's shoulder and raised it to the side.
One of the black-clad servants immediately stepped forward, took out a clean, wet silk cloth, and began to wipe Xueyu's hand with obsessive care—as if the mere act of touching the elder had dirtied her skin.
Once done, Xueyu returned to her throne and sat back down, the bored expression returning to her face.
"However," she murmured, "that tournament does sound interesting. It has been a while since the Imperial Capital had some proper entertainment. Very well. I will allow it. Call upon all the so-called 'geniuses' in the clan. I want to see their so-called sacred physiques and their emperor bloodlines."
She leaned her head back against the throne, a cold, sharp smile touching her lips.
"My Haoran is returning soon. He will need some stepping stones to remind the world why the main line is the main line. Let them provide him with a bit of sport before he enters the Academy. The tournament will begin once he finished a mission I gave him."
The Seven Elders trembled, but they bowed in unison. "As you command, Clan Head."
As they retreated from the hall, the First Elder wiped the blood from his face, his eyes burning with a mix of shame and a dark, lingering hope.
He still believed in the Ancient Sacred Physique of that boy from the branch family.
He still believed that perhaps, just perhaps, a new era was beginning—one that even Chu Xueyu and her son couldn't suppress.
Chapter 72: Chapter 72: New Body
The main hall of the Ning Clan, once a symbol of pristine elegance and quiet strength, still smelled of ozone and ancient dust, but the atmosphere within had shifted from the despair of near-annihilation to a state of profound, breathless awe.
Old Jian, the Sword Saint who had nearly seen his soul dissipate into the void, was no longer a flickering blue orb or a broken old man.
Instead, he was standing in the center of the hall, clenching and unclenching his fists with a look of manic intensity.
He began jumping up and down, his movements blurring with a fluid, terrifying speed that his old, flesh-and-blood body could never have achieved.
He stretched his limbs, feeling the way the artificial meridians within this new form hummed with a resonance that felt more like singing than the mere flow of Qi.
Once he was certain the fusion was complete, Old Jian didn't hesitate and immediately dropped to his knees, the sound of his impact echoing against the jade floor, and kowtowed deeply before the silent figure of Qing'er.
"Thank you so much for giving me this body, Miss Qing'er! This old man owes you a debt that transcends life and death!"
Qing'er stood like a statue of obsidian, her emotionless red eyes tracking his movements with the clinical detachment of a master craftsman.
"That body was forged using materials suited for a Saint Realm expert," she said, her voice like the chime of a cold bell. "It was designed to allow a Saint to display their full martial prowess after a soul-fusion. For a Spirit Ascension cultivator like yourself, its potential is far greater than your previous shell. This body effectively removes all the physical bottlenecks inherent in your bloodline. It will not only sustain you but will actively assist you in speeding through the Cultivation ranks until you reach the Saint Realm."
Old Jian's head snapped up, his eyes wide and trembling. "S-Saint... Saint Realm!?"
The word hit the room like a physical shockwave.
It wasn't just Old Jian who was stunned, but Ning Xiao, sitting upon his throne with his hands gripping the armrests, felt his breath hitch, and even Old Hu, who was currently covered in medicinal bandages and being treated by the clan's top healers, stared at Qing'er as if she had just claimed the sun was made of spirit water.
For thousands of years, the Eastern Region had been a stagnant pond where not only had a Saint Realm expert not walked its soil in living memory, but even the Nirvana Rebirth realm, the stepping stone to Sainthood, had been relegated to the status of a myth.
The only reason the Eastern Region even believed such levels existed was that the Southern, Western, and Northern Regions still boasted Nirvana Rebirth experts in their highest ranks, maintaining a status quo that left the East as the "weakest" of the four cardinals.
To hear that Old Jian now possessed the guaranteed potential to surpass even those legendary figures was enough to make the heavens tremble.
"Thank you! Thank you! I will never be able to repay you in this lifetime or the next, Miss Qing'er!" Old Jian kowtowed again, his forehead hitting the floor with a rhythmic thud.
No one in the hall moved to stop him.
In the brutal hierarchy of the Cultivation world, where strength was the only true currency, having been given a clear path to the Saint Realm was a gift beyond value.
If an Emperor of one of the Big 3 Kingdoms were offered such a chance, they would have gladly barked and wagged their tail like a common cur just to be noticed.
Qing'er stared at him for a moment longer before turning her gaze toward Ning Xueli, who stood at the side.
Seeing the young lady nod in silent approval, Qing'er simply melted into the environment.
With a single, flickering step, she vanished into the shadows of the pillars, her presence erased from the room as if she had never been there.
A moment later, the tension in the room broke as Old Jian finally stood up, his face split into a grin so wide it made him look like a child who had just been promised his favorite toy by his parents.
He looked younger, the grey in his hair replaced by a vigorous silver, and his skin held a metallic sheen.
Old Hu, watching from his medicinal vat, let out a sharp, jealous snort. "Don't act so smug, you old fossil. You just got lucky a pretty girl felt pity for your pathetic soul."
Old Jian laughed, a boisterous sound that rattled the remaining windowpanes. "Hahaha! Old Hu, I guess this is the day I leave you in the dust! I'll be looking down at you from the clouds while you're still struggling to fix your broken ribs. I guess I'll have to leave you completely behind to chase my back!"
Old Hu gritted his teeth, his bandaged hands shaking with indignation. "Just you wait! My foundation is deeper than yours! I will catch up to you soon through sheer grit! I'll reach the Saint Realm faster than you, mark my words!"
"Alright, grandpas, there's no need to argue," Xueli interrupted, her voice soft but carrying an undeniable authority as she stepped forward, her blue dress sweeping across the floor.
"Tch... for my little Xueli's sake, I won't pursue this any longer, you insufferable Old Jian," Old Hu grumbled, though his eyes softened as he looked at her.
"Hmph! That's my line," Old Jian countered, though he finally settled down, standing guard behind Xueli like an unbreakable shield.
Xueli smiled at them before her expression turned serious, turning toward her father. "Father... How is the Ning Clan?"
Ning Xiao's expression, which had briefly brightened, immediately turned solemn and heavy as he looked at the ledgers on his desk, his voice laden with grief.
"Incredibly dire, Xueli. The numbers are still coming in, but many of our core members and elders died in the initial breach. Our ancestral defensive array, the pride of our family for ten generations, is shattered beyond repair. Eighty percent of the city was either burned to the ground or completely wrecked by the collateral damage of the high-level combat. It will take several generations of careful management before we can even dream of recovering to what we were before this disaster."
Xueli's brow furrowed, her eyes flashing with a cold light. "Those Allied Kingdoms... they did this. Just you wait,i if Little Boy isn't enough, I'll drop Fat Man into them."
Ning Xiao slammed his fist onto the armrest, his voice trembling with a father's rage. "They were truly too much! Instead of focusing their millions of troops on the Spirit Hall—the actual threat to their sovereignty—they chose to launch a full-scale annihilation campaign against us, a neutral party! They wanted our resources and our support spirits to fuel their war, and when we said no, they chose to erase us."
He paused, his anger simmering into a bitter realism. "Of course, I understand why they did it. In the of schemes and conspirackes, a neutral power is just a resource waiting to be taken by the enemy. If I were in their position, I might have made the same cold calculation. But that is that, and this is this. I will never forgive them for what they did to our home. They didn't just attack a sect; they tried to slaughter a family."
"...Dad," Xueli said, reaching into her storage ring as she pulled out several ornate, silver-encrusted storage rings and handed them to her father.
Ning Xiao took them, his brow raised in confusion, but as he sent a sliver of his consciousness into the first ring, his eyes widened until it looked like they might fall out of his head.
He gasped, his hands shaking so violently he nearly dropped the artifacts.
"This... Xueli, this is—!? With this much wealth, you could buy the Ning Clan several times over! No, you could buy an entire Kingdom!"
"What!?"
Old Jian and Old Hu exclaimed in shock as Ning Xiao immediately tossed one of the rings to them so they could see for themselves.
"Holy—!?"
"W-What is this—!? Are these... Rank 5 Spirit Stones? And these herbs... they're extinct!"
The two old experts stared at Xueli as if she were a god who had descended to walk among mortals.
The sheer volume of wealth—spirit stones, high-grade pills, rare ores, and ancient techniques—was enough to reshape the entire power structure of the Eastern Region.
Ning Xiao, however, felt a sudden surge of worry as he gripped the rings and looked at his daughter with a piercing gaze. "Xueli, tell me the truth... where did you get these? It couldn't be from Young Master Shen, could it? If these are a 'gift' from him... we cannot accept them."
He didn't want the Shen Clan to look down on the Ning family. Most importantly, he didn't want Haoran to misunderstand Xueli—to think of her as a gold-digging girl who was only tethered to him for his resources and status.
A marriage built on such a foundation would only lead to Xueli being a concubine or a servant in the Central Region.
"Take it, Dad. Relax," Xueli said, her smile turning proud. "Those were the things that the Senior Bright Silver Emperor left specifically for me in his inheritance. He was a Supreme Emperor who once ruled the stars; this wealth is but a fraction of his treasury. I'm giving it to the clan because I have already taken the core essentials I need for my own path. To me, these are just surplus."
"What!?"
The hall fell into a stunned silence.
Everyone stared at the rings with renewed reverence.
Everything here came from the inheritance? And Xueli was giving it up so easily because it was "surplus"? The realization hit them like a physical blow.
If this mountain of wealth was just the "leftovers," then just how amazing, how terrifyingly vast, was the true inheritance of the Bright Silver Emperor?
"With this," Xueli said, her eyes turning toward the window overlooking the ruined city, "we won't need several generations to recover. We will rebuild the Ning Clan in three years. And when we are done, the Eastern Region will realize that attacking us was the greatest mistake the Allied Kingdoms ever made."
Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Diary
In a massive, vaulted war room draped in the crimson and gold banners of thirteen nations, the atmosphere was not one of imperial triumph, but of suffocating, bone-chilling dread.
The air was shrouded with the scent of bitter tea and the cold sweat of men who had realized they had just gambled away the foundations of their empires.
"What!? Wiped out!?" the King of the Azure Sun Kingdom roared, his voice cracking as he slammed his jeweled scepter onto the obsidian strategy table.
They were just waiting here, expecting a good news, but who knew that the news delivered to them would be so devastating and unbelievable.
After all, anyone would find it hard to believe that a clan full of paper tigers can annihilate a near ten million army, right?
"All nine million soldiers... and two Spirit Ascension Realm experts... and none of them survived!?" the Queen of the Silver Frost Kingdom echoed, her face as pale as her namesake. "How is this possible? Even if they ran into an ancient forbidden array, there should have been messengers! There should have been a survivor that can tell us the result immediately! But they all went out in a single, collective heartbeat!"
Indeed. In fact, if it wasn't for one of them deciding to send scouts to check the situation, they wouldn't have known that their army was already completely annihilated.
"Damn it! Didn't you all say that it would be easy!?" a younger monarch snarled, his eyes darting around the room in a panicked search for someone to blame. "You said the Ning Clan was a support-type family! You said their spirits were not worth mentioning and is only good for buffing others, not for combat! You said their defensive walls were old and brittle!"
"Maybe they received assistance from the Spirit Hall?" one of the elder generals whispered, though his own voice betrayed his lack of conviction.
"Impossible!" the High King of Iron Blood Kingdom countered, his fist trembling. "Not even the Spirit Hall, with all their hidden elders and demonic forbidden arts, has the power to completely annihilate almost a million soldiers and two Spirit Ascension experts without letting them send a single emergency message!"
This ...this kind of thing was no longer a war nor a battle, but a conplete and total annihilation.
The room fell into a heavy, uncomfortable silence, feeling the weight of the loss and lamenting at how staggering it was.
Almost ten million cultivators represented the martial backbone of their collective middle-tier strength, and to lose them in a single afternoon was like trying to invite the vultures to the feast.
"What should we do now?" the youngest King asked, his voice small. "Should we continue attacking the Ning Clan? If we don't finish them, the survivors will surely seek vengeance."
"We are severely weakened now," the Queen of Silver Frost said, her gaze fixed on the borders of the Spirit Hall's territory. "So once the Spirit Hall decided to use this chance to launch a massive counterattack... we might lose more than just our dignity. No, we might lose our land, our territory, and our lives."
"...Damn it! Who even suggested that mission!?" a voice cried out, but no one moved, after all the blame was a hot coal that no one wanted to touch.
"We must attack!" the King of Azure Sun Kingdom suddenly barked, his desperation turning into a dangerous, irrational zeal. "We need to show more strength now that we have lost so much power! If we stop now, we admit we are broken!"
"Indeed," another added, nodding frantically. "If we retreat now, it would simply make the Spirit Hall think we're weakened. It would just accelerate their expansion without giving us time to breathe. We must strike the Ning Clan again to prove the first loss was a fluke! A freak accident of nature!"
"I don't know about this," a lone voice of reason attempted to interject. "Shouldn't we probably stabilize the situation first? Shore up our defenses?"
"Impossible! We must go to war!"
"Yes! We must destroy the Ning Clan!"
The war room descended into a chorus of frantic, bloodthirsty shouting—the sound of men who knew they were drowning and were willing to burn the world down just to stay afloat for one more hour.
*
*
*
At this moment, high above the Eastern Region, a silver streak descended from the clouds with the grace of a falling star.
Shen Haoran finally arrived above the Seven Treasure City.
Looking down, he saw the scars of what seemed to be a massive explosion in the distance—completely titanic, glassed-over crater that served as a silent monument to his fiancée's newfound ruthlessness.
He guided his sword downward, landing with a soft, metallic ring in the center of the Ning Clan's inner manor yard.
He jumped down, the celestial blade shrinking and returning to his storage ring with a flick of his wrist, and almost instantly, the shadow at his feet rippled like water under a stone.
Just then...
'Welcome back, young master,' Qing'er's voice echoed through their shared soul-link, her presence a cold, comforting weight in the back of his mind.
"Ah, I'm back, Qing'er. I trust the 'cleaning' went well?" Haoran said aloud, his voice cool and undisturbed by the carnage that had preceded him.
Just then, the heavy mahogany doors of the main manor swung open as Ning Xueli, her blue dress fluttering, led the way, followed closely by a weary but relieved Ning Xiao.
Behind them, the newly-bodied Old Jian and the bandaged Old Hu followed like loyal hounds.
"Haoran!" Xueli smiled brightly, her previous coldness as a "mass-destroyer" vanishing the moment she saw him.
She skipped down the jade steps, discarding her dignity as a Young Miss to throw her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Young master," Ning Xiao said, his voice thick with emotion.
He cupped his hands in a gesture of profound respect while bowing his head low and the two elders behind him did the same, their previous arrogance toward "Central Region brats" having been thoroughly incinerated by the events of the past few days.
"Greetings. It has been a while, Mr. Ning," Haoran said, gently patting Xueli's head. "I see the city is still standing. Mostly."
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away across the continental divide, the atmosphere of the Central Region was vastly different.
In the Blue Wind Kingdom, a place of drifting mists and eternal spring, the Luo Clan's estate was a picture of tranquil perfection.
Luo Mingye sat alone on an elegant white pavilion, her slender fingers dancing across the strings of a jade zither.
The music was melancholy, a reflection of the two years that had passed since the Supreme Inheritance had first opened its gates.
In those two years, much had changed for the "Zither Goddess" of the Luo Clan after she had successfully reached the 1st Stage of the Golden Core Realm, a feat that solidified her status as the kingdom's premier genius.
Her sword intent had sharpened into a lethal, invisible edge, and her zither mastery had reached a level where she could influence the very weather with a single chord.
But power brought its own headaches.
Two years ago, after the disaster at the inheritance realm, the Royal Family had been pushed into a state of manic fury, instead the theft of their ancestral techniques was an insult they could not bear.
They had ordered a total purge of the Yun Clan.
At that time, the Yun Clan and Yun Li had reached out to her and the Luo Clan, begging for intervention.
But Luo Mingye had no intention of getting involved in that blood-soaked mess.
'Yun Li stole the technique,' she had told her father. 'He created that mess, so let him bear the consequences.'
Due to her descendant's action, the Yun Clan was razed to the ground overnight, and even their newly ascended Saint Elder, who had supposedly been their savior, didn't survive the Royal Family's elite executioners.
Surprisingly, Yun Li had managed to survive and escape, likely through some hidden life-saving treasure.
He was now a wanted man with a bounty on his head, a ghost hiding in the dark corners of the four regions.
She sighed, the music of her zither trailing off into a tired discordance, remembering those boring political squabbles always made her feel older than her years.
She placed the zither to the side and summoned her sword—the white "Yin" half of the Married Swords as she stared at the blade, its surface as clear as mountain water.
Another thing that had changed was her relationship with her "good friend" Xia Mengyao.
Because of these twin swords, the two of them were constantly being pulled into each other's orbits that it was beyond annoying.
She loved Mengyao as a sister, but these swords seemed convinced they were a pair of star-crossed lovers!
We really need to find a third person to marry quickly, she thought with a wry smile. Ideally someone strong enough to suppress both of us.
Two years had passed. Surely, Young Master Shen should have emerged from the Eastern Region by now? All she needed to do was wait for her opportunity to reconnect.
She stood up, waving her hand as the sword vanished into her dantian and she reached for her zither, but as she did, her eyes caught sight of something that shouldn't have been there.
"Huh?" she murmured. "I don't remember bringing a book. I don't even like reading."
Resting on the stone bench was a small, leather-bound volume that looked remarkably mundane, yet carried a strange, heavy aura.
Curious, she picked it up.
The title on the cover was written in a handwriting that felt eerily familiar, yet foreign.
[Ye Feng's Diary: Luo Mingye's Copy]
"A diary?" she whispered, her brow furrowing. "Who the hell writes a diary in this age? And who... who is Ye Feng?"
As she opened the first page, the air around the pavilion grew strangely still, as if a new thread of fate was beginning to weave itself around her soul.
Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Ye Feng
Luo Mingye stared at the leather-bound book in her lap, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
The silver-white glow of her Yin sword, hidden deep within her soul, seemed to shimmer faintly in the air, reacting to her agitation.
Her fingers trembled as she peeled back the cover, the parchment feeling neither like paper nor skin, but something ancient and immutable.
The first lines she read were written in a script that seemed to pulse with a life of its own.
[What a beautiful day]
[I, Ye Feng, actually transmigrated in a novel I once read, not to mention as a minor young master villain who would die at the hands of the protagonist because I looked at his woman]
"Eh? Transmigrated?" Luo Mingye's brow furrowed, her green eyes narrowing in confusion. "Could it be an old Supreme who decided to take over another person's body? A 'Possession' case?"
The term was familiar in the legends of the Central Region, or rather, it's actually a very common thing for an ancient supremes using Soul Seizing to cheat death.
But the rest of the sentence made her head spin.
"Novel? Young master villain? Protagonist? Is he writing a play? Is this some failed scholar's script?" She was confused, what is this Supreme was doing?
Not only was he writing these things, but also sending it to her?
She continued reading, her curiosity overriding her skepticism.
[Thankfully, I have a system with me, and this system forces me to write diaries everyday, and in turn I would get rewards. Honestly, writing a diary is pretty embarrassing, I mean, what kind of person would even write a diary? But I have no choice, if I have to survive in this world where people just casually pluck stars and use it as a bonfire, I need to keep writing and get the rewards!]
"Hah? Writing diaries gives you rewards?!" Luo Mingye's mouth fell open, her composure momentarily forgotten. "Is there such a good thing in this world? I've spent years playing zither and swinging a sword until my palms bled just to touch the edge of Sword Intent! I've sat in freezing caves to temper my physique! And this... this Ye Feng gets rewarded for writing down his daily thoughts? I want to write diaries too!"
Her indignation flared, but it was quickly replaced by a cold shiver as her eyes skipped to the next paragraph.
[Speaking of survival, I need to stay away from those lovestruck heroines! That Luo Mingye, a stupid woman who sold herself to the protagonist and even helped them count the money, I must stay away from her! The protagonist already thought of her as his possession, and I will certainly die if I get close to her]
The air in the pavilion turned ice-cold.
"Stupid woman? Me?" Mingye was stunned, her face flushing a deep crimson from anger that clashed with her green hair. "How did this 'senior' know my name? And who thought of me as a possession?"
She closed her eyes, her long lashes casting shadows on her cheeks as she began to hum a low, discordant note—a habit when she was deep in thought.
She scanned her memories, searching for anyone who fit the description of a "Protagonist."
"A protagonist... the focal point of a story... someone who defies the heavens..." The only person she could think of was Young Master Shen.
He was born from the most distinguished clan, possessed a face that could make goddesses weep, and held talent that suppressed an entire generation.
"This... Could Young Master Shen actually think of me as his property?!" Her heart skipped a beat, and a strange, fluttering sensation rose in her chest. "That's... actually very exciting!"
She shook her head violently, her green hair whipping around. "Wait, no! I'm still not sure if it's really Young Master Shen! I shouldn't jump to conclusions just because he's handsome!"
She looked back at the diary, her eyes hardening as she read the next entry.
[In the future, she even caused the annihilation of her clan because she supported the protagonist who was more than willing to use her clan so he can survive and complete his revenge, and she didn't even blame the protagonist for using her clan!]
[What a crazy woman! Just thinking about her is making me shiver, there are actually people like that!]
"Impossible!" Luo Mingye roared, the sound echoing off the white jade pillars of the pavilion. "Me? Allow someone to use my clan and bring about its annihilation?! I would never do that! I am a daughter of the Luo Clan! My sword protects my kin!"
She breathed heavily, her large chest bouncing as she heaved in sheer, unadulterated anger.
The mental image of her father, her elders, and her cousins lying in a mountain of corpses because of her "lovestruck" stupidity was an insult she couldn't swallow.
"What a Ye Feng, how dare you slander me?!" she shrieked. "Just you wait, I'll make sure to find you and teach you a lesson that you'll never forget! I'll carve those words into your skin!"
Just then, she felt a sudden, violent electric shock coursing through her meridians.
It wasn't just physical; it felt like her very soul was being lashed, causing her to flinched in agonizing pain, her knees buckling.
"W-What was that?!" she gasped.
Normally, her "special physique" would have turned that kind of pain into pleasure, but this time, her body offered no resistance.
It felt as if the world itself had struck her.
Just rhen, new ink began to bleed into the page she was holding, forming sharp, crystalline letters.
[Warning: Those who possess the diary must not harm the owner, nor reveal the existence and contents of the diary to outsiders. Those who violate these rules will be struck and eventually annihilated by Divine Lightning.]
"What?! What the hell kind of rule is this?!" She gritted her teeth, the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. "So I couldn't even get revenge on that guy for slandering my character? I have to just... sit here and read how 'stupid' I am?"
Her temper flared again. "That's it, I'll just destroy this cursed thing!"
Luo Mingye channeled her full Golden Core cultivation into her hands, her palms glowing with a frigid, bright emerald light as she gripped the edges of the diary and pulled, intending to rip it into a thousand pieces.
But surprisingly, despite her strength—strength that could crush boulders into dust with a simple palm—the pages didn't even crinkle.
It was like trying to tear the fabric of space itself!
Frustrated, she summoned her sword, Mo Ye.
The Saint Grade artifact hummed with a lethal edge as she brought it down in a vertical cleave directly onto the open book.
Clang!
...There wasn't even a scratch!
Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped from shock. "What the—?! Not even a Rank 9 Saint Grade Artifact can scratch it?!"
She knew she couldn't bring out the full, world-shattering power of a Saint Grade weapon yet, but even at 10% capacity, it should have turned any mundane object into atoms, yet the diary didn't even lose its luster.
She stared at the book, frowning deeply.
If this book was genuine, then this was a treasure beyond her comprehension, something that the mysterious supreme Ye Feng had given her to slander her.
Or, perhaps that Ye Feng was Seer and have peeked into rivers of time and space, seeing through past, present, and future, and was using this to warn her.
...but, from how he writes, he doesn't seem to have any idea that she can see the contents of his so-called diary.
Finally, she let out a long, tired sigh, the will to destroy this thing draining out of her as she called her sword back into her soul, the silver light receding.
She sat back down on the bench, staring at the diary as if it were a poisonous snake.
"Well," she muttered to herself, trying to find a silver lining. "I can at least say that the 'Protagonist' mentioned here isn't Young Master Shen. After all, the Shen Clan is far too strong; they pretty much rule the Imperial Capital in the shadows, making even the Imperial Family afraid of them. He wouldn't need to use my clan for 'revenge' or survival like thus Ye Feng said."
She nodded to herself, finding comfort in the logic. "So who could it be? Who is this man that I supposedly destroy my family for?"
She thought of her good friend, Xia Mengyao.
They had already made a secret pact—a "shared" goal to be with Young Master Shen in this life.
It was a pragmatic and emotional choice, after all, with their relationship, if they don't find someone to marry, then they'd really spend the rest of their lives with each other!
She couldn't help but shiver.
So with that said, there was no way she would go wandering off to find some "avenger" to fall in love with.
"I'm not a bad girl," she whispered, her fingers tracing the edge of the diary. "There is no way I'll hop around man to man like those strumpet from Blissful Immortal Coupling Palace."
Blissful Immortal Coupling Palace, or known as Blissful Palace, is a kind-of, sort-of, legitimate sect.
An all female sect infamous for humping uglies to get stronger. However, because their Cultivation technique isn't really harmful, they weren't declared a Demonic Sect, but they were still frowned upon, with no one wanting to associate with them.
However, it is said that those who practiced their Cultivation technique and resisted the urge to mate would actually be able to reach Immortality by cutting off their seven emotions and six desires.
Their current Sect Leader, the terrifying woman known as the Temptress Of The Crystal Palace was someone who resisted that urged and reached the peak of Heavenly Saint Realm, becoming one of the Top Ten Strongest Saints alongside Chu Xueyu, the matriarch of Shen Clan and the Ruthless Empress Who Commands Heavens Kneeling.
Mingye flipped a page, her heart racing as she wondered what other slanders or secrets this damn Ye Feng is willing to call her.