The Shattered Escape of the False King
The dust exploded outward in violent waves as a dense, suffocating cloud of debris blanketed the courtyard.
When the smoke finally cleared, Fu Ye's golden eyes narrowed slightly. His world-crushing physical stamp hadn't completely obliterated Tang Chuan; it had only thoroughly flattened the boy's entire right arm into a bloody, formless paste. Looking at the lingering spatial distortion and the fading trails of pure, rancid divine malice, Fu Ye knew the clone of the Rakshasa God had desperately burned its own core essence to forcibly tear through reality and rescue its vessel.
However, since he had already made the trip out to the western provinces, returning completely empty-handed wasn't his style.
BOOM!
With a sudden, deafening sonic boom, Fu Ye thrust his right fist directly into the escaping tear in space. Grabbing hold of the retreating darkness, his raw, unadulterated physical strength ruthlessly ripped a massive chunk of the corrupted black shadow right off Tang Chuan's body!
"ARRRGHHH!!!"
A dual, blood-curdling shriek vibrated through the void. This brutal soul-tear hadn't just mutilated Tang Chuan's spiritual foundation; it had inflicted a catastrophic, near-fatal wound upon the Rakshasa God's divine clone itself.
In the next microsecond, the remaining dark energy dissipated completely, leaving no trace behind. Fu Ye chose not to pursue them. Instead, he stood calmly in the crater, casually dangling the writhing mass of black aura he had just torn away from the enemy.
"No! No! Father, you've gone completely mad!" "Clan Master! Wake up! Please look at us!" "Tai Long... Tai Nuo... I didn't want to... but the darkness..."
A chaotic chorus of agonizing shrieks, mournful wails, and impotent curses vibrated out from the cluster of black fog. Within the mass, Fu Ye could clearly see the spiritual projection of the Strength Clan Master, Tai Tan, tightly intertwined with a dozen other clan souls who had been thoroughly corrupted and driven insane by pure resentment.
Among the sea of madness, however, Fu Ye spotted a single, relatively intact spiritual entity that remained entirely free of rancid corruption. With a casual flick of his fingers, he smoothly extracted that clean soul from the cluster of wailing phantoms.
Standing a few paces behind him, Ye Lingling watched the terrifying display with wide, deeply shaken eyes. Her delicate hands lightly trembled, but owing to the massive psychological fortitude she had developed over the past half-month under Fu Ye's guidance, she forcefully clamped her jaw shut to suppress a horrified scream.
Looking around the ruined courtyard, Fu Ye surveyed the aftermath. The physical bodies of Tai Tan and Bai He had already been completely consumed and hollowed out by the Rakshasa energy, leaving behind nothing but rapidly decaying, soulless husks.
However, his attention was quickly drawn to a slender, orange-haired young maiden collapsed near the porch, her pale skin stained with fresh crimson blood overflowing from her lips. If his memory of the original timeline served him correctly, this beautiful, golden-eyed girl was none other than Tang San's tragic cousin, Bai Chenxiang.
Fu Ye couldn't help but let out a cold, deeply disgusted chuckle. Tang Chuan truly was an absolute animal; he hadn't even spared his own relative from his previous life's memories. Fortunately, dealing with deeply traumatized, exquisitely beautiful young maidens was an art form that Fu Ye possessed absolute, max-level proficiency in.
"Lingling, go ahead and stabilize her wounds," Fu Ye instructed smoothly.
Entrusting the Soul
Bai Chenxiang was still entirely trapped within a state of catatonic shock over her grandfather's sudden, horrific death. It wasn't until a warm, profoundly soothing green light washed over her broken body that she felt the painful, torn flesh of her bitten tongue rapidly begin to tingle and knit back together.
As she slowly regained her senses, she looked up to see Fu Ye casually spinning the glowing, purified soul of an elderly man between his fingers. As for Tai Tan and the rest of the corrupted Strength Clan phantoms, Fu Ye had already ruthlessly crushed them into absolute spiritual dust, sending them straight into the cycle of reincarnation.
"Thank you, supreme benefactor, for saving my granddaughter from a fate worse than death. Old Bai He is deeply, eternally grateful to Your Excellency."
The miniature, shimmering soul floating above Fu Ye's palm immediately turned toward him, drifting into mid-air and dropping straight onto its spiritual knees to deliver a solemn, unwavering bow of absolute reverence.
Heh. So this old bird actually managed to retain his clarity? Fu Ye thought, amused.
"GRANDPA!!!"
Supported by Ye Lingling's auxiliary energy, Bai Chenxiang stumbled to her feet, her frantic steps incredibly uncoordinated as she rushed straight toward Fu Ye's side. The moment her golden eyes locked onto the tiny, translucent phantom of her grandfather, an absolute flood of hot, uncontrollable tears streamed down her flawless pale cheeks.
Everything had transpired far too quickly. From the moment her grandfather was brutally struck down to the arrival of this golden-eyed god, barely thirty seconds had passed. Yet, her entire clan had been shattered, and her beloved guardian was no longer among the living.
"Xiangxiang! Silence! Do not dare display an ounce of impoliteness before the supreme Mianxia!"
The absolute moment Bai He regained his cognitive sanity, his primary response wasn't to coddle his crying granddaughter, but rather to bark a fierce, protective reprimand to ensure she wouldn't accidentally offend the terrifying powerhouse before them.
"Mianxia, my granddaughter has been thoroughly spoiled by my hands since childhood. If her current grief causes her to act out of turn, I beg for your absolute mercy and magnanimity," Bai He pleaded, bowing his spectral head so low it nearly touched the dirt.
Seeing the old man's frantic, deeply calculated maneuvering, Fu Ye's lips curved into a subtle, highly entertained smirk. This old spymaster certainly understood the complex laws of human relationships. The underlying intent behind his submissive tone was painfully obvious: he was using his final moments of consciousness to smoothly entrust his beautiful, defenseless granddaughter into Fu Ye's protective custody.
Three minutes later, while Bai Chenxiang was still weeping uncontrollably, her delicate tears falling like a rain of beautiful small pearls, Fu Ye casually flicked his wrist, tossing Bai He's purified soul directly into the absolute stasis of his system storage inventory for future deployment.
"Alright. Our business here is wrapped up. Let's head back."
Without waiting for a response, Fu Ye reached out, effortlessly grabbing Bai Chenxiang by the back of her soft collar and lifting her off the ground like an adorable, helpless kitten. Ye Lingling quickly stepped up to his side, her heartbeat still hammering against her ribs as she anchored herself to his frame.
SHING—
With a brilliant, world-tearing flash of pure white celestial light, the three figures instantly vanished from the desolate courtyard, leaving the ruined fortress behind.
Tang Chuan's Demonic Epiphany
Meanwhile, along the extreme outer perimeters of the Star Dou Great Forest, a ragged, heavily dark-tainted figure crashed violently face-first into the roots of a massive ancient tree.
Tang Chuan's entire right arm was structurally ruined, flattened into a horrific sheet of useless flesh. The thick, rancid black fog continuously billowing from his pores slowly snake-crawled across the wound, forcefully popping his shattered bones back into alignment with agonizing slowness.
"You absolute, brainless piece of subhuman filth! You nearly got us both permanently executed! How did a primordial Divine King like me end up shackled to a pathetic, low-life slave who thinks exclusively with his loins?!"
Inside his spiritual sea, the clone of the Rakshasa God let out a furious, deeply shaken roar. Having its essence physically torn away by Fu Ye's raw fist had inflicted a severe blow to its core. To fully recover from this single encounter, the deity would need to violently massacre and consume the souls of at least a thousand mortal cultivators.
Yet, compared to Rakshasa's fury, Tang Chuan's inner state was infinitely more twisted and suffocating. A massive wave of pure, unadulterated psychological vertigo threatened to snap his mind.
He felt as though Fu Ye was an omniscient, omnipresent nightmare specifically designed to torment him! It was as if the universe itself was actively granting his enemy a real-time cheat-sheet of his every single move!
When he slaughtered Tai Tan, Fu Ye was nowhere to be found. When he shattered Bai He's bones, Fu Ye didn't care. But the exact, literal microsecond he was about to permanently claim Bai Chenxiang and transform her into his obedient personal slave... that bastard had materialized out of thin air to stomp him into the dirt!
Suddenly, a terrifying string of mental connections violently snapped together inside Tang Chuan's brain.
BOOM!
The previously clear, radiant sky above the forest instantly turned pitch-black. A colossal wall of thunderclouds completely swallowed the sun, and an apocalyptic, roaring torrential rain poured down from the heavens, violently slamming against his pale, bruised face. The icy water gave him a sudden, razor-sharp moment of absolute clarity.
In this life...
His previous life's lover (Xiao Wu) had been stolen by Fu Ye.
His current life's ideal maiden (Ah Wu) had been claimed by Fu Ye.
His own ancestral mother (Ah Yin) had been taken by Fu Ye.
Even his master's former lover (Bibi Dong) was clearly sleeping in Fu Ye's bed!
Zhu Zhuqing, Zhu Zhuyun, Ning Rongrong, Meng Yiran, Dugu Yan, the entire Tianshui Academy roster...
Every single prime maiden, every piece of celestial destiny, and every ounce of historical fortune had been completely, flawlessly vacuumed up by that single man!
Tang Chuan's dark eyes violently dilated, a wave of absolute, unhinged madness completely warping his features as he let out a screeching, hysterical laugh into the thunderstorm:
"Hahahahaha!!! I see it now!!! I finally understand everything!!! The supreme child of destiny in this current timeline isn't me... it's Fu Ye!!! He is the one carrying the absolute fortune of the universe!!!"
"KILL HIM!!! I MUST SLAUGHTER HIM!!! The absolute second his head rolls on the floor, his luck, his women, his divinity, and his celestial destiny will all rightfully belong to me!!! Hahahahaha!!! I have truly achieved enlightenment!!! I understand it all!!!"
The Arrival of the New Members
As evening slowly fell over the capital, the fierce storm outside continued to howl, lightning dancing wildly across the dark horizon.
Inside his luxurious, heavily protected master bedroom, Fu Ye lay comfortably stretched out across his massive silk bed, enjoying a rare moment of absolute peace and quiet. Today was one of his few designated rest days. Even with a physical constitution structurally superior to a primordial dragon, his wives understood the basic economic principle of not over-fishing the pond.
If the water levels inside the reservoir were drawn too low, the fish would eventually suffocate. To preserve the pristine ecological environment of their beloved husband's health, the girls had collectively agreed to grant him a twenty-four-hour truce to fully replenish his inner reserves.
Of course, this was merely a convenient excuse on Fu Ye's part. If he spent every single night drowned in the intoxicating, exhausting warmth of the Tianshui core group, how could he possibly find the free time necessary to properly welcome and accommodate the arrival of his newest harem additions?
敲门声 (Knock, knock, knock).
The heavy mahogany door of his bedroom was softly, hesitantly knocked three times from the outside.
Sensing the distinct, overlapping spiritual fluctuations standing directly in the hallway, a deeply amused, intensely masculine smile played on Fu Ye's lips. It appeared his majestic inner palace was about to expand its borders once again tonight.
He didn't even need to use his divine senses to know exactly who was standing outside. One was a broken, vengeful speed-clan maiden who desperately sought to resurrect her grandfather and tear Tang Chuan into a thousand pieces; the other was a loyal, beautifully healed support auxiliary who was entirely ready to offer her body and soul to permanently smash the ancestral curse of her family bloodline.