The Game of Sovereigns: the serpent invitations
The sun rose over the Han Clan estate not with a golden glow, but with a sharp, piercing glare that seemed to expose every crack in the ancient stone walls. For the disciples, it was just another morning of grueling drills. For Han Feng, it was the opening gambit of a war that had already been lost once.
He sat in his small, damp shack, his legs crossed in the Lotus Position. The 'Root of the Earth-Eater' had finished its initial cycle. His skin now possessed a faint, metallic sheen under the morning light, a sign that his Mortal Shell was beginning to harden into something... other.
[System Message: Foundation Reconstruction – 62% Complete]
[New Attribute Unlocked: Void Perception (Level 1)]
[Note: You can now perceive the 'Lies' within spiritual signatures.]
Han Feng exhaled a cloud of grey, murky breath—the last of the impurities from his narrow meridians. He felt light, yet dangerously dense. Every muscle was a coiled spring. But more importantly, his mind was a fortress.
He stood up, ignored the meager bowl of cold porridge on his table, and walked toward the main gates. He knew exactly who was coming.
[The Eternal Void Archive: Accessing Timeline A...]
[Event: The Arrival of the Azure Cloud Sect Emissaries.]
[Key Figure: Deacon Wei. Character Profile: Arrogant, greedy, currently suffering from an 'Internal Fire' imbalance due to over-consuming Yang-pills.]
Deacon Wei, Han Feng thought, a cold smile playing on his lips. In the last life, you were the one who 'tested' my sister's aptitude and declared her a perfect vessel for the Sect Leader's son. You didn't just take her; you sold her. Today, I'm the one who will be setting the prize.
The sound of rhythmic hoofbeats shattered the morning quiet. Three silver-furred Spirit Horses, each worth more than the entire Han Clan's annual revenue, galloped through the gates. Atop them sat three figures in flowing azure robes, the embroidery of clouds on their sleeves shimmering with real silver thread.
The Clan Elders, led by a bandaged and furious Han Bo, rushed to meet them, bowing so low their foreheads nearly touched the dirt.
""Welcome, Emissaries of the Great Azure Cloud Sect!"" Han Bo cried out, his voice trembling with a mixture of fear and hope. ""We are honored by your presence!"
"Deacon Wei, a man with sharp, fox-like features and a permanent scowl, didn't bother dismounting. He looked down at the elders with the same expression one might use for a cockroach.
""Enough with the pleasantries, Han Bo,"" Wei snapped, his voice tight with the pain of the 'Internal Fire' the Archive had noted. ""We received word of a 'Talent Anomaly.' A trash disciple who crippled a Third-Stage Body Refiner with a single touch. Where is he? My time is too valuable to spend in this cesspool of a village.""
""He is right here!"" Han Bo pointed a shaking finger toward the crowd of disciples.
Han Feng stepped forward. He didn't bow. He didn't lower his head. He stood with his arms crossed, his gaze boring directly into Deacon Wei's eyes.
The crowd gasped. To meet the gaze of a Sect Deacon was considered an act of rebellion. Han Bo's eyes lit up with predatory glee—he thought Han Feng was digging his own grave.
""So, you're the brat?"" Deacon Wei sneered, reaching for the hilt of his jade sword. ""You have no manners, no cultivation base to speak of, and the stench of poverty. Tell me, what 'demonic trick' did you use to cheat the selection?""
Han Feng didn't flinch. Instead, he took a slow, deliberate step toward the Spirit Horse. ""Deacon Wei, I wouldn't reach for that sword if I were you. Every time you circulate your Qi into your arm, the heat in your 'San Jiao' meridian intensifies. If you draw that blade, you won't kill me—you'll trigger a heart-fire collapse that will leave you paralyzed for a decade."
"" The silence that followed was absolute. Deacon Wei froze, his hand trembling on the hilt. His face went from pale to a deep, sickly crimson.
""How... how do you know about my condition?"" Wei whispered, his arrogance vanishing in an instant, replaced by a cold, sharp terror.
Han Feng leaned in closer, his voice low enough that only the Deacon could hear. It was the ""Innocent Man"" manipulation—giving the enemy a lifeline that was actually a leash.
""I don't just know about your condition, Deacon. I know that the 'Yang-Heart Pills' you've been taking are actually laced with 'Dry-Bone Grass.' Your Sect Leader's son isn't trying to cure you; he's trying to replace you. He wants your position for his cousin"
.[System Message: Psychological Dominance Established.]
[Archive Update: Deacon Wei's Loyalty has shifted from 'Sect' to 'Self-Preservation.']
Wei's eyes bulged. The information was too specific to be a guess. He looked at Han Feng not as a disciple, but as a monster wearing the skin of a boy.
""What do you want?"" Wei rasped, his pride completely shattered.
"I want two things,"" Han Feng said, stepping back and speaking loud enough for the entire Han Clan to hear. ""First, you will declare that Han Ming's injury was a result of his own internal instability, clearing my name. Second... you will grant me and my sister 'Sanctuary Status.' We are leaving this clan, and we are doing it under your personal protection."
Han Bo screamed in protest, but Deacon Wei didn't even look at him. Wei was looking at the boy who held his life in his hands.
""Agreed,"" Wei choked out.
....
As Han Feng turned to leave the courtyard to gather his sister, he passed Lin Yue. She was standing in the same spot as the night before. This time, however, she wasn't just watching him. She was holding a small, sharp dagger hidden in the folds of her dress.
She had been ready to kill the Deacon to save him.
Han Feng stopped. He didn't look at her, but he felt the resonance of her Celestial Frost physique humming in response to his Void.
""Pack your things, Lin Yue,"" he said, his voice a low vibration.
""I am not a member of your family,"" she replied, her voice trembling.
""In this life,"" Han Feng said, looking at the golden threads of the Heavens above, ""you are the only family I choose. The carriage leaves at noon. Don't be late.""
He walked away, leaving a destroyed clan and a terrified Deacon in his wake. He had successfully manipulated the first major pillar of his past. But the Archive was already blinking a new, blood-red warning.
[Warning: Your interference has alerted the 'Heavenly Eye.']
[Difficulty Spike: An 'Unknown Variable' has entered the Han Clan territory.]"
The noon sun hung over the Han Clan like a golden executioner's axe. The air was thick with the smell of scorched earth and the unspoken resentment of hundreds of clansmen. At the center of the main square stood a carriage—a heavy, black-lacquered vessel pulled by two iron-hoofed stallions. To the common eye, it was a symbol of prestige; to Han Feng, it was a wooden coffin meant to transport his destiny out of the mud.
Han Feng stood by the carriage door, his fingers tracing the cold, jagged grain of the wood. His sister, Han Ling, clutched his sleeve, her knuckles white. She was twelve years old, her eyes wide with a terror that she couldn't name. In the previous life, this was the moment she had been dragged away screaming. Today, she was walking toward the carriage of her own accord, but the ghost of her past fate still seemed to linger in the air around her like a cold mist.
""Feng-ge... are we really leaving?"" she whispered, her voice trembling like a leaf in a storm.
Han Feng looked down at her. He reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. His hand, which had systematically dismantled Han Ming's life only hours ago, was now as steady and gentle as a summer breeze.
""We are not just leaving, Ling-er,"" he said, his voice carrying the resonance of a Sovereign. ""We are transcending. This place is a cage. Beyond that gate, the world is a buffet, and I have finally found my appetite."
As he helped his sister into the carriage, the Void Archive in his mind began to scream. The blue-jagged text didn't just flicker; it bled across his vision in violent, rhythmic pulses.
[CRITICAL WARNING: Timeline Divergence at 18%]
[The 'Unknown Variable' is within 300 meters.]
[Data Error: An entity not recorded in 'Timeline A' is approaching. Analysis: Impossible.]
Han Feng's blood turned to ice. In the original timeline, there was no one in this territory capable of threatening a Sect Deacon, let alone a regressed Sovereign. The ""Heavens"" were reacting faster than he had anticipated. By saving his sister and Lin Yue, he hadn't just changed a few lives—he had pulled a thread that was unraveling the entire tapestry of fate.
He turned his head toward the northern gate. The air there was shimmering, not from heat, but from a distortion in the spiritual essence. A man was walking toward the square. He wore simple, tattered robes of a traveling monk, but his feet didn't touch the dust. He carried a staff made of bleached bone, and his eyes... they were not eyes. They were swirling vortexes of grey smoke.
[Target Identified: The Grey Wanderer]
[Status: Unknown/Causality Enforcer]
[Threat Level: EXTREME]
Before the Grey Wanderer could take another step, a sudden, piercing cold snapped through the courtyard. The puddles of water from the morning's rain froze instantly into jagged crystals.
Lin Yue stepped out from the shadows of the apothecary. She wasn't carrying a basket of herbs anymore. In her hand was a long, slender blade she had taken from her father's secret chest—the 'Frost-Bite Needle.' Her Celestial Frost Physique, though still dormant, was reacting to the threat. Her presence was like a pillar of ice standing against the Grey Wanderer's smoke.
""He is not part of the plan,"" Lin Yue said, her voice sounding like glass breaking. She walked toward Han Feng, her eyes locked on the stranger.
""No,"" Han Feng replied, his hand moving to the hilt of the broken iron sword he had taken from the armory. ""He is the response. I broke the rules, and now the world is sending a janitor to clean me up.""
Deacon Wei, who was sitting on his horse nearby, suddenly coughed up a spray of dark, clotted blood. The 'Internal Fire' Han Feng had manipulated was reacting to the Grey Wanderer's presence. The Deacon fell from his horse, his body convulsing.
""Deacon!"" one of the azure disciples cried out, but the Grey Wanderer didn't even look at them. He was looking at Han Feng.
""The Void does not belong in the past,"" the Wanderer spoke. The voice didn't come from his mouth; it vibrated inside Han Feng's very soul. ""You are a stain on the record. I have come to erase the blotch.""
Han Feng stepped forward, shielding Lin Yue and his sister with his body. He felt the 'Root of the Earth-Eater' pulsing in his dantian, its green energy turning a dark, necrotic purple as it merged with his Void intent.
You think I am a blotch? Han Feng thought, a savage, predatory joy blooming in his chest. I am the one who wrote the book.
He didn't wait for the Wanderer to strike. Using the Void Perception, he saw the thread of causality connecting the Wanderer to the local environment. He didn't attack the man; he attacked the space between them.
He swung the broken iron sword in a wide, horizontal arc. It shouldn't have reached. It shouldn't have done anything. But as the blade moved, the Archive's code surged into the metal. The iron didn't cut flesh—it cut the ""Meaning"" of the air.
A rift of pure blackness opened in the path of the Grey Wanderer. The Wanderer's smokey eyes widened. He tried to raise his bone staff, but his arm was suddenly slowed, as if moving through thick molasses.
""Devour,"" Han Feng whispered.
The rift didn't just sit there; it began to pull. The Grey Wanderer's smoke began to unravel, being sucked into the blackness. The courtyard erupted in a whirlwind of dust and ice. Disciples screamed, running for cover as the very ground beneath the Wanderer began to dissolve into nothingness.
In the chaos, Lin Yue moved with the grace of a blizzard. She didn't attack the Wanderer directly; she struck the ground at Han Feng's feet, creating a path of reinforced ice.
""Go!"" she shouted over the roar of the Void. ""The carriage is reinforced! If we don't leave now, the Sect Elders from the surrounding mountains will be here in minutes"
Han Feng looked at the Grey Wanderer, who was struggling to maintain his physical form against the Void rift. He knew he couldn't kill this entity yet—not with a mortal body. He was just delaying the inevitable.
He grabbed Lin Yue's hand and leaped into the carriage. ""Drive!"" he roared at the terrified coachman.
As the stallions bolted, tearing through the gates of the Han Clan for the last time, Han Feng looked back through the rear window. The Grey Wanderer was standing in the center of the ruined square, his form stabilizing. He wasn't chasing them. He was simply watching.
[System Alert: Direct Confrontation Avoided.]
[Reward: 500 'Void Essence' absorbed from the Wanderer's signature.]
[Warning: The Grey Wanderer is now a 'Persistent Stalker.' He will appear at every major causality junction.]
Han Feng leaned back against the plush velvet seats, his heart hammering like a drum. He looked at Lin Yue, who was breathing hard, her face pale. He looked at his sister, who was huddled in the corner, clutching a small wooden doll.
He had done it. He had escaped the first trap. But as he felt the newly absorbed 'Void Essence' burning in his gut, he knew that the road ahead wasn't just a path to power. It was a race against a world that had finally realized its prey had turned into the hunter.
""Lin Yue,"" he said softly, reaching out to steady her.
She looked at him, her eyes shining with the first sparks of the Ice Empress's power. ""We're not safe, are we?""
""No,"" Han Feng said, his gaze turning toward the distant, jagged peaks of the Azure Cloud Sect. ""But for the first time in ten thousand years, I'm actually excited about the danger."""
-----------------