The Dayu Immortal Cultivation Dynasty.
North.
Aurora City, Chen family.
Early morning.
Hikami Sanpo.
"You… you're really going to piss me off to death!"
"I thought you were practicing, but it turns out you were just dreaming!"
In Chen Xiao's room, Chen Junluo glared at his son on the bed, puffing his beard in frustration.
My son is clearly talented, yet he refuses to practice. Idle all day, doing nothing useful.
When I arrived just now, I saw Chen Xiao sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed, five hearts facing the sky.
I thought, finally, he's willing to practice. Relief washed over me.
Then… I heard a faint snoring sound.
Peeking through the doorway, I saw Chen Xiao with a lewd smile, a trace of crystal saliva at the corner of his mouth. He had fallen asleep sitting up.
Chen Junluo's anger erupted uncontrollably. "Ah! Who—!"
"Dad?" Chen Xiao woke up suddenly. "What's wrong?"
Chen Junluo ground his teeth. "What's wrong? You still have the nerve to ask me that? Did you bet your fiancée and lose her yesterday afternoon?"
At the words "fiancée" and "bet," Chen Xiao shuddered.
Memories of last night flooded in: the Way of Heaven, Tiandao, the beautiful girl who accepted him as her disciple, and the power to control the heavenly calamity…
A sweet voice sounded in his mind:
"Brother Disciple, I will come to find you in a few days! Then we will join forces, master and disciple, to defeat the villain of destiny!"
Yun Ranran's voice. Not a dream. True.
Seeing Chen Xiao dazed, Chen Junluo slapped him hard on the head.
"Ah! Dad!" Chen Xiao cried, snapping back to reality.
Chen Junluo's face darkened. "Now your fiancée is coming with people from the Xuantian Sect to break off the engagement. This is your fault — you must handle it in person."
Chen Xiao, fully awake, looked at his father. "Dad, you don't need to go. I'll handle it myself."
Chen Junluo studied him. "You? Handle this? What do you plan to do?"
Already dressing, Chen Xiao replied calmly, "I am the young master of the Chen family. Can't I even deal with a daughter from a poor family?"
"Dad, you don't really think I would bet my fiancée, do you? I'm a dandy, not some foolish landlord's son."
He had reviewed the plot thoroughly last night. The incident was caused entirely by the destined villain manipulating the system — turning Liu Ruyan into a victim and suppressing Chen Xiao's destiny. Today's broken engagement was their setup. Liu Ruyan had already been captured and corrupted by the villain.
Chen Junluo nodded, almost possessed, at the excitement in his son's eyes.
---
The reception room of the Chen Mansion was tense, heavier than ever before.
The elders of the Chen family were solemn, their faces grave.
Opposite them stood Chen Xiao's fiancée Liu Ruyan, her father Liu Yuanzun, and a plump woman in a black dress — Ge Yanxia, an outer sect elder of the Xuantian Sect, one of the three holy places of the Great Yu Immortal Cultivation Dynasty.
Chen Xiao strolled into the room leisurely, holding a sleek, shiny red dog.
The moment he stepped in, a suffocating pressure descended, pressing down like a mountain.
"Evil creature, kneel!"
Thunderous words accompanied by a roar. The red dog in Chen Xiao's hand snorted, disdain clear in its eyes. The oppressive pressure dissipated into a breeze.
Chen Wenyuan, the fourth elder, paled as his chair shattered, leaving him sprawled on the ground.
Chen Xiao glanced at him, holding the dog, and said coldly, "Fourth Elder, please be aware of your position. You are an elder of the Chen family, not a dog of the Xuantian Sect."
The red dog raised its chin. Snort! I am the Chen family's dog! Chen Daqiang! The Chen family is big and powerful!
Chen Wenyuan struggled to rise, but a crushing force held him down. Other elders sneered but did nothing. Chen Xiao, a playboy with little cultivation, was over seventeen with only the third level of Qi Refining. Yet, as the head's only son, he was untouchable.
Chen Wenyuan's plan to curry favor with Xuantian Sect had failed miserably. His gaze turned to Ge Yanxia, the plump outer sect elder.
Arrogant, disdain flashing in her eyes, she looked down at Chen Xiao. "As expected of the young master of the Chen family. You have great majesty and a fierce aura."
Chen Xiao smirked. "You're not bad either. Your ugliness is unique."
Ge Yanxia's glare intensified. But before she could act, Liu Ruyan spoke:
"Elder Ge, let me handle him."
Liu Ruyan stood, eyes locked on Chen Xiao. "Chen Xiao! How could you bet me and lose?"
"Don't I, Liu Ruyan, have my dignity?"
The elders of the Chen family sighed. Liu Yuanzun glared at Chen Xiao.
Yesterday had caused a huge uproar in the city. Chen Xiao had gambled in the spirit beast field with the young master of Aurora City Lord's family, losing eighteen games. In the nineteenth, for some reason, he used his and Liu Ruyan's marriage certificate as a bet — and lost.
Although the Chen family was technically at fault, the Aurora City Lord's Mansion didn't actually take Liu Ruyan. The certificate was returned last night.
Liu Ruyan, gifted and stunning, had been known as the most beautiful woman in Aurora City. At seventeen, she had completed her foundation, joining Xuantian Sect with Ge Yanxia's guidance.
Of course, Chen Xiao didn't grovel. That was for villains. He was the destined protagonist.
Yet Liu Ruyan and her family gained benefits from the Chen family: cultivation resources, foundation-building pills — all provided by the Chen family. Even now, the Chen family had quietly supported her entry into Xuantian Sect.
---
Chen Xiao sat down leisurely. "So… you want to cancel the engagement?"
Liu Ruyan sneered. "Cancel the engagement?"
"How can breaking it off erase the shame you've inflicted?"
She pulled a spiritual contract from her storage ring and threw it at his feet. "Sign this, and we'll have nothing to do with each other."
The Chen family cultivators scanned it with their spiritual senses, and their faces went pale. The contract didn't just end the engagement — it demanded over one million high-grade spirit stones from the Chen family.
Liu Ruyan's charm evaporated instantly.
"Liu Ruyan, don't go too far!" one elder shouted.
Ge Yanxia sneered. "Too much? Who is overstepping? A mere playboy from the Chen family dares insult a disciple of Xuantian Sect?"
The pressure from her early Spirit Transformation Realm cultivation enveloped the living room. The Chen family's faces turned red, but they could do nothing.
Supported by Xuantian Sect, Liu Ruyan stepped closer, looking down on Chen Xiao.
"Mr. Chen, will you divorce me, your humiliated fiancée?"
"Or shall we repeat it… Thirty years east, thirty years west. Don't despise the young and poor."
"Just because you're poor, you think it's justified to humiliate me?"
The Chen family members' faces darkened. Chen Xiao was technically at fault, but everyone knew he was weak in cultivation — the humiliation wasn't entirely his fault.
Liu Ruyan continued, smug and contemptuous. "Or… do you want a three-year agreement? Three years to cultivate, then come to Xuantian Sect and fight me to the death?"
The words rubbed Chen Xiao's face in the dirt. He slowly removed his shoes.
"Not in three years… but now."
Snap——
The shoe became an afterimage, striking Liu Ruyan's face with force. She spun violently, then crashed to the ground.
Chen Xiao stepped forward, pressing down.
"I, Chen Xiao, only lost my wife… but never broke off the engagement."