Ling Feng led his group straight into the inner circle, stopping at the very edge of the Heavenly Sky Plate's radiance.
To ordinary cultivators, crossing that final boundary felt like stepping into a world of pure dao, where their own meager laws were stripped apart and scattered by a will older than eras. Even Enlightened Beings didn't dare get too close.
To Ling Feng, it was just… tuning.
"Stay close," he murmured to the three women at his back. "Don't resist. Let my chaos go first."
He took a single step forward.
The heavenly galaxy above shuddered.
Starlight poured down like a reversed waterfall, drowning his figure in silver luminescence. Within his Inner Void, the Chaos Emeralds thrummed in harmony, spinning at slightly different rhythms that somehow locked together into one unified cadence. The Heavenly Sky Plate's ancient Heavenly Dao extended an invisible net, probing this "junior" who dared to approach so brazenly—measuring him, dissecting him, deciding if he was worthy to carve his dao upon it, as immortal lineages had coveted for generations.
It found… nothing familiar.
His dao did not belong to this world.
In his Niwan Palace, the Master Emerald's anti-magic field quietly distorted the evaluation layer, twisting space and law into something the Plate had never seen before. The Heavenly Sky Plate tried to categorize him—Emperor, Virtuous Paragon, ancient monster?
He didn't fit.
In the end, like a dignified old bureaucrat confronted with a form written in a language it had never processed, the Heavenly Sky Plate simply… stepped aside.
Ling Feng walked through its pressure as though strolling across a courtyard, ascending the stone steps until he stood directly before the hovering plate of condensed starlight.
The entire plaza held its breath.
"What is he doing…?"
"He dares get that close…"
"The Heavenly Sky Plate is a treasure even Immortal Emperor lineages covet. That brat from Cleansing Incense… does he want to inscribe his dao!?"
Whispers flickered between geniuses and elders alike. Representatives of the Heavenly God Sect, Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom, Jade Valley Country, and more watched from their own platforms, a forest of killing intent and calculation.
Ling Feng ignored them all.
His eyes slid sideways, finding the veiled beauty at his right.
"Shuangyan," he said quietly. "Come."
Li Shuangyan's heart skipped a beat.
Even with her cultivation base, just standing this close to the Heavenly Sky Plate made her Pure Jade Physique resonate violently. Her bones faintly creaked beneath the pressure, her Fate Palaces humming like crystal struck by thunder. But she took a breath, straightened her back, and stepped forward to stand at his side.
He lifted his hand and placed his palm lightly between her shoulder blades.
"Plate's basic function," he murmured, half to her, half to himself, "is to project and then engrave dao pathways. For normal users, it shoves a Heavenly Dao template into their body—rigid, standardized, full of baggage. Nice, but stale." His lips curled. "But if I add a Chaos filter…"
Within his Inner Void, the Green Emerald's space-control aspect spread outward like a net, intercepting the Plate's probing starlight before it could crash directly onto Li Shuangyan. The Yellow Emerald shifted the frequency of her energy, allowing it to harmonize with the incoming dao instead of being overwritten, while the Red Emerald condensed the resulting flow into raw power instead of stiff law.
Starlight descended.
Li Shuangyan's eyes widened.
Inside her Fate Palaces, a crystalline lattice of dao lines unfolded—an endless path of translucent jade rising toward the heavens. It was not cold jade, but clear; it reflected all light, accepting and refining rather than rejecting.
Her Pure Jade Physique, already sharpened by Chaos Force, gained something new: structure.
Her energy began to flow along the crystalline framework with almost no friction. Where once powerful techniques would have stressed her meridians and threatened subtle cracks, now that force slid along the jade lattice, redirected, reused, and compressed before being released as sword intent or icy dominance. Each circulation left her foundation cleaner, not damaged.
"It is like…" she whispered, trembling. "As if my body has become… a flawless sword scabbard. No… the sword itself."
"Exactly." Ling Feng's voice was soft, but sure. "Your dao is purity. Pure things tend to be brittle. This makes you elastic crystal instead of glass. In the future, when you stand before the Heavens, you can draw your blade without worrying about shattering."
Her throat tightened.
"Young Noble… Feng…" For an instant, the icy descendant of Nine Saint Demon Gate couldn't maintain her usual composure. Gratitude, attachment, a deep, quiet dependence flashed through her eyes—emotions she rarely allowed to surface.
He smiled and gently pressed her back, guiding her a step away from the Plate's edge.
"Next."
Xu Pei stepped up, hands unconsciously clenched at her sides.
Her cultivation had always been a study in contrast: gentle temperament, but a violent dao. Violent Cloud Chant was a method of explosive storms, of clouds becoming blades, of thunder tearing heaven and earth. With the Chaos Force's amplification, she had already risen far beyond ordinary Named Heroes; now, under the Heavenly Sky Plate, Ling Feng intended to give that storm a backbone.
"Close your eyes," he said.
She obeyed without hesitation.
Starlight fell again.
This time, Ling Feng twisted it more aggressively.
Instead of allowing the Heavenly Sky Plate to impress a single rigid Heavenly Dao path, he braided its starry dao into the turbulent currents of Violent Cloud Chant. The result was a storm-dao structure: clouds, rain, lightning, wind, all layered atop one another and spinning around a Chaos-tempered core.
Xu Pei gasped.
Inside her Fate Palaces, a cyclonic structure formed—a vortex of clouds with a glowing ring of runes at its heart. When she circulated qi, the violent power no longer simply exploded outward in the wild, wasteful style of lesser cultivators. The storm rotated, compressed, and then released in controlled salvoes—dozens of precise strikes instead of one crude detonation.
"Your path is storm," Ling Feng said softly beside her ear. "From now on, your Violent Cloud Chant isn't just 'violent.' It's structured destruction. Elemental storms stacked like layers of thunder. When you move, entire battlefields will become your personal weather forecast."
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. In her heart, she could already faintly see that future—a lone woman standing at the head of an army, clouds whirling in formation above her, thunder answering her gesture.
"Feng… I… I won't… waste this grace," she managed, voice shaking.
"I know." He patted her shoulder with a small chuckle. "You're the steady one. Someone has to be responsible among us."
Finally, Chen Baojiao stepped forward.
She wore a grin, chin tilted up in that proud princess way—but her heartbeat was pounding hard enough to rattle her ribs.
Her Tyrannical Valley Immortal Spring Physique had already transformed into something monstrous after Ling Feng's previous modifications. Its recovery and amplification bordered on absurd; her vitality was so dense that ordinary killing blows only made her fiercer. Now, before the Heavenly Sky Plate, he was about to take that fountain and turn it into something even more unreasonable.
"Ready?" he smirked, eyes teasing.
"Always," she answered, refusing to show the slightest trace of fear. Her eyes burned as she turned, presenting her back to him with absolute trust.
His hand pressed to the small of her back. Chaos Force surged out, syncing with the surging springs of vitality inside her body.
With ordinary cultivators, the Heavenly Sky Plate would inevitably impose a neat, Heavenly-approved road: respectable, safe, and limited. Ling Feng used Chaos as a scalpel, carefully peeling away that "lock," leaving only the primordial architecture of the Plate's dao behind.
For Baojiao, he overlaid that structure onto her Immortal Springs.
Starlight rained into her like a thousand tiny streams. Instead of dispersing, they converged into three great wells inside her Fate Palaces. Each well linked to countless smaller springs—some from her innate physique, others newly opened—forming a network of currents that swallowed incoming force and spat it back out doubled.
Chen Baojiao's eyes snapped open, pupils shrinking.
Her whole body hummed with power. She could feel it viscerally: if someone struck her with overwhelming might, the impact would not be absorbed and forgotten—it would plunge into her Chaos Springs and resurface as a ferocious counterattack, even as the force itself became cultivation fuel, tempering her bones and veins.
"This is…" She laughed low in her throat, the sound almost feral. "This is too bullying."
"Exactly on brand for us," Ling Feng said cheerfully. "From now on, you're not just hard to kill. You're walking cause-and-effect retribution. Anyone who dares hit you… will regret it twice."
She stared at him, eyes blazing, then grabbed his collar and yanked him down into a fierce, searing kiss—right there in front of the Heavenly Sky Plate, under the horrified and scandalized stares of countless "orthodox" geniuses.
"Then this princess will smash the heavens at your side," she declared when she let him go, voice ringing with overbearing promise.
Ling Feng only laughed.
Down below, the atmosphere in the plaza twisted into something strange.
Rage burned within the Heavenly God Sect camp, but nobody moved. Two of their elders had already been slapped off the platform earlier; after watching Ling Feng casually butcher Royal Nobles today, none of them had the confidence to be the first to stand out.
Emperor's Domination
Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom's envoys stood stern and silent, hands clenched behind their backs. Their original plan had been simple: let their Heavenly Prince monopolize today's glory and ride that momentum into the Heavenly Dao Academy's upcoming struggles. Now, some unknown anomaly from Cleansing Incense had stolen the spotlight and evolved three terrifying women in plain view.
Emperor's Domination
Mysterious Bamboo Mountain's elders, always inscrutable, watched quietly from their shaded corner. In their bamboo-leaf eyes, a subtle evaluation glimmered—as if a name had just been added to some internal list of "must watch" monsters.
Ling Feng ignored them all.
He stepped back from the Heavenly Sky Plate, then lightly rapped his knuckles against its starlight condensation.
"Thanks for the service," he said casually. "No membership renewal."
The starlight dimmed.
If an ancient treasure could sulk, the Heavenly Sky Plate was sulking—its radiance withdrawing, unwilling to be toyed with any further by this weirdo who didn't play by its rules.
Ling Feng turned away, expression relaxing into his usual lazy satisfaction.
"Good work," he told his three women. "You've all powered up beautifully. In simple terms… you can treat any ordinary Enlightened Being like a misbehaving child."
They gave him three different looks in response.
Li Shuangyan's gaze held helplessness and warmth. Xu Pei's eyes shone with quiet, earnest joy. Chen Baojiao just looked like she was ready to find someone to hit.
Ling Feng casually interlocked his fingers with Xu Pei's, as though he'd just completed a small errand at the market, and walked down from the platform.
The sea of cultivators parted again.
No one dared stand in his way.
Some glared with hatred. Others watched with cold calculation. Many simply stepped aside, unwilling to be drawn into the storm that clearly followed this man everywhere.
The Ancient Street was still roaring when they left the Heavenly Sky Plate plaza.
Above Ancient Sky City, the sky glowed with eternal twilight. Dao patterns flowed through the air like invisible currents, subtly influencing every breath. Stalls lined both sides of the stone road—treasures, trash, "ancestral heirlooms" that were ninety percent lies and ten percent tragedy, just as Ancient Street had always been.
Ling Feng walked in the middle of it all with his hands tucked into his sleeves, humming some tuneless melody from a world no one here knew. Li Shuangyan was at his right: cold, poised, veil fluttering gently in the breeze. Chen Baojiao strode at his left with an unmistakable spring in her step, still high from slapping Heavenly God elders and stealing the Plate's limelight. Xu Pei trailed half a step behind, eyes bright and gentle as she absorbed every detail of the bustling street.
Underneath the surface, Chaos Force threaded through all of them—subtle and gentle, like a second set of meridians layered atop their own, stabilizing their recent gains.
"Ancient Street is even livelier than before," Xu Pei said softly. "Just now, when Young Noble used the Heavenly Sky Plate, even the guests from the Immortal Emperor lineages were staring."
Baojiao snorted. "Let them stare. Those so-called geniuses just know how to pose under their ancestors' shadows. When it's time to really act, they shake like leaves."
Ling Feng glanced at her, lips quirking.
"You're in a good mood."
"This princess slapped Heavenly God elders in front of their geniuses and walked away alive." She lifted her chin. "Of course this princess is in a good mood."
Li Shuangyan's gaze swept the crowds, sharp and calm.
"With all that commotion at the Heavenly Sky Plate, the people who should be here will not miss the scent," she said. "Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom, Heavenly God Sect, Jade Valley Country… and those who hide in the shadows."
Ling Feng smiled lazily.
"Mm. Perfect."
That one word made all three women glance at him.
"Young Noble is planning something again," Xu Pei sighed, half helpless, half expectant.
Ling Feng chuckled. "Nothing too big. Just saw a good chance to stretch your legs a little."
He stopped in front of a stall.
The stall was unremarkable: a low table covered with a faded cloth, scattered with scraps. The stall owner was a skinny old man with sallow cheeks and eyes like extinguished lamps. On the table lay rusted metal, chipped porcelain—and a small stack of grimy, curved tiles, shaped like pieces of a broken roof.
The tiles were dark and weathered, clearly eroded by wind and rain over generations. At a glance, they looked like rubble, not merchandise worthy of Ancient Sky City.
Passing cultivators gave them one bored look and moved on.
"Worthless junk."
"What's this old man thinking, bringing roof tiles to Ancient Street?"
Ling Feng's gaze, however, sharpened.
Chaos Sense unfurled.
To everyone else, the tiles were dead clay. In his eyes, faint, stubborn light flickered within the coarse surface—like fireflies clinging to life in the middle of a storm. Deep in the clay, extremely subtle dao seals lay dormant, linked together in an intricate web that extended far beyond the tile itself.
The lines ran through time and space, connecting to something distant yet familiar: a roof that had once sheltered a boy named Tun Ri in his home village… a boy who later walked the path of an Immortal Emperor.
"Found you," Ling Feng murmured under his breath.
Li Shuangyan noticed the slight change in his expression. "Young Noble?"
He smiled. "This tile is interesting."
The stall owner blinked, startled that someone had actually stopped.
"Young… Young Friend has a discerning eye?" His voice trembled. "This old man picked them up by accident, truly—"
"Discerning?" Ling Feng crouched down, picking up one tile and tapping it lightly with a knuckle. "Not really. I'm just good at picking up things other people throw away."
A faint ripple of vitality slipped from his fingertips into the clay, vanished, then returned in the same heartbeat. In that instant, Chaos Force traced the tile's karmic lines—marking them, hooking them into his own web.
This thing is a long-term project, he thought. Heavenly Dao Academy's cause and effect, Tun Ri, the Timeless Portal… A goose that lays golden eggs. But for today…
Today, he had a different use.
He straightened and held the tile up.
"Alright," he said, voice suddenly louder, carrying clearly down the street. "Ladies, gentlemen, and assorted idiots with too much money—come take a look."
Heads turned instantly.
"It's that brat again."
"Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect…"
"He walked down from the Heavenly Sky Plate like he owned it, and now he's shouting on Ancient Street…"
In Ancient Sky City, news traveled faster than sound. By now, even those who hadn't personally witnessed the Heavenly Sky Plate spectacle had heard of the manic youth who used it to temper three women and walked away unscathed—the demon of Cleansing Incense.
A small crowd began to form around the stall.
"Young Noble." Li Shuangyan's silver eyes flicked across the faces pouring in from every direction. "You intend to expose it?"
Ling Feng smiled lazily. "Exposing it is the point. Relax."
His voice dropped a fraction, carrying only to the three women by his side.
"Shuangyan, Baojiao, Xu Pei. Didn't I say I'd find you a field to stretch your legs? This is it. Let the ones who spread rumors and wag their tongues gather in one neat bundle. Then you kill them all together. Saves time."
Baojiao's lips slowly curved into a dangerous smile.
"Finally," she breathed. "This princess has been waiting to settle accounts."
Xu Pei's fingers twitched toward her weapon before she disciplined herself and folded her hands instead. "For Young Noble to personally pave the road like this… Xu Pei will not disappoint."
Li Shuangyan alone gave him a long, complicated look.
"Young Noble is too indulgent," she said quietly. "We are not porcelain vases meant to hide behind you."
"That's exactly why I'm doing this." His reply was gentle, not mocking. "You're not vases. So I'm picking a battlefield where you can crush them without worrying about stray variables. I'll handle the annoying details. You handle the killing."
Her eyes trembled for a brief moment, then stabilized, the frost in them deepening into something calmer and more profound.
"…As Young Noble commands."