Li Shuangyan met his gaze and bowed slightly, a gesture of absolute submission that sent ripples of shock through the watching crowd. The corner of her lips lifted—a movement so subtle it was like a lotus blooming in the dead of night, visible only to him.
"Young Noble," she said, her voice carrying a trace of warmth that melted her usual frosty demeanor. "As expected."
Beside her, Chen Baojiao grinned openly, her tyrannical aura flaring with delight. "Too domineering," she chimed in, her laughter like silver bells. "This Princess approves."
Xu Pei stood a step behind, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson. Her eyes shone with a mixture of reverence and steely determination. "To walk behind such a back..." she murmured, clutching the dark-green cauldron at her waist. "Xu Pei must not fall too far behind."
Bai Jianzhen, the sword maniac whose name alone could freeze the blood of geniuses, looked at Ling Feng for a long time. Her expression was as unreadable as a frozen lake.
"You told me to unleash my greatest sword," she said quietly. "You did not say you would fight seriously."
Ling Feng blinked, looking genuinely affronted.
"Hey, that was serious," he protested, raising his hand to wiggle his index and middle fingers. "I used… at least two fingers. In this economy? That's extremely generous for a first date."
A faint, almost invisible smile flickered at the corner of Bai Jianzhen's lips, like a crack appearing in a glacier.
"…I see," she said. "Then I must sharpen my sword further."
Ling Feng laughed, a relaxed, hearty sound that felt out of place amidst the carnage. "That's the spirit."
He glanced around. The atmosphere on Ancient Street was heavy, suffocating. The cultivators who were still alive stared back as if looking at a calamity given human form. No one dared to move. No one dared to speak. Many had been loudly cursing him earlier; now, they found their throats constricted by an invisible hand.
"Relax," Ling Feng called out, his tone breezy, like a man addressing a bored waiter rather than a terrified mob. "Today's show is over. I've killed enough for one walk. It's getting repetitive."
He clapped his hands—an oddly domestic gesture after the bloodshed.
"Alright," he said, turning to his people. "Shuangyan, Baojiao, Pei-Pei, Jianzhen—let's bounce."
He tucked the eaves tile into his sleeve. It settled into his Inner Void next to the Unopenable Stone Chest and the Fragmented Realm Spatial Disk, all of them vibrating gently as they were bathed in the alien hum of Chaos Force.
He started walking.
The crowd parted like the Red Sea before Moses. There was no need for a shout or a wave of aura; the sheer pressure of his presence carved a wide path. Geniuses who had once strutted like phoenixes now shrank their necks like quails; elders who had sneered at declining sects lowered their heads, terrified of making eye contact.
As Ling Feng and his four peerless beauties passed, those who remained standing felt a chill trickle down their spines, a primal instinct warning them that death had just walked by.
Only when his back disappeared around the corner did anyone dare to exhale.
"…From today on," someone whispered, their voice hoarse, "Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect… no one can treat it as a declining sect anymore."
"Not just Cleansing Incense," another muttered, wiping cold sweat from their forehead. "Wherever that youth walks… that place becomes a forbidden ground."
Far ahead, Ling Feng walked with his hands behind his head, his posture loose and unbothered. He looked less like a cultivator contemplating the Dao and more like a tourist strolling through a park.
He glanced sideways at Bai Jianzhen.
"So," he said lightly. "Bai Jianzhen. Any regrets yet? No buyer's remorse?"
She hugged her sword tighter against her chest.
"…None," she said simply. "Walking beside a sword like yours—this Bai would be more regretful to turn away."
He smiled, the expression softer now, lacking the razor edge he showed his enemies. "Then welcome to the club," he said. "Try to get along with my girlfriends. They're fierce, but they don't bite… unless you swing at me. Then I can't promise anything."
Baojiao snorted, tossing her ponytail. "Hmph. This Princess only bites when she wants to."
Li Shuangyan's eyes glinted behind her veil, a dangerous light dancing there. "Young Noble should be more careful with his phrasing. Outsiders might misunderstand."
Xu Pei's ears turned beet red, and she buried her face in her collar.
Bai Jianzhen looked at them, then at him.
"…Noisy," she stated. "But not unpleasant."
Their laughter—soft, sharp, and everything in between—floated down the street. Ling Feng let his gaze wander over the sky above Ancient Sky City, where floating islands and Dao runes shimmered faintly, like someone had tried to decorate a battlefield with glitter.
Somewhere behind all of this, buried in a dimension that shouldn't exist, was the Immortal Demon Grotto… and the entity known as the Old Ghost.
Old Ghost, huh.
Li Qiye, in another life, would have come here with a pill furnace and a thousand schemes. He would have come to bargain for alchemy recipes with one hand while plotting to suppress the heavens with the other. He would have prepared for the Corporeal Zone, for the Ancient Ming Immortal Emperors crawling out like roaches from the cracks of history.
Ling Feng's lips quirked.
…Honestly, kind of overkill.
Inside his Inner Void, four Chaos Emeralds hummed.
The Green Emerald stabilized space, turning the distance between worlds into a mere suggestion. The Red Emerald pulsed with Absolute Force, granting him physical strikes that ignored defense and energy density that defied physics. The Yellow Emerald crackled with infinite energy, a perpetual motion machine that drank lightning and spat out destruction. The Cyan Emerald warped his perception, making the flow of time sluggish and manageable.
With these powers stacked like bricks, things like a "future Ancient Ming war" didn't feel like an existential crisis. It felt like an item on a grocery list.
By the time they come crawling out with their Corporeal Zone, he thought lazily, I'll just slap them back in and weld the lid shut. Maybe put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door.
Alchemy? The Old Ghost's recipes were top-tier, sure. But Ling Feng possessed the Primal Chaos Genesis Physique. It wasn't one of the Twelve Immortal Physiques; it was something alien, something that fed on emotions and willpower. It drank in the mysteries of the Grand Dao like water.
So instead of rushing straight to the old monster's door like Li Qiye, he let himself slow down.
He glanced sideways. Li Shuangyan walked at his left, her jade-like aura restrained but regal. Chen Baojiao was a step behind to the right, vibrant and fiery. Xu Pei kept pace, quiet but steadfast. Bai Jianzhen walked on his other side, a silent sentinel.
'Yeah,' he thought. 'I've got more important things to do right now. Like seeing how many times I can make the sword maniac's expression crack.'
"Bai Jianzhen," Ling Feng said suddenly.
She turned her head a fraction. "Mm?"
"You know," he said, tone casual, "when you bowed back there, the whole street almost fainted. It was great. Prime Descendant of the Divine Sword Sacred Ground, the 'Death Goddess,' lowering her head? I think at least three sect masters had minor heart attacks."
Bai Jianzhen was silent for a moment.
"…A sword acknowledges where it cannot cut," she finally said. "Empty stubbornness is not Dao."
"See?" Ling Feng looked at the others, grinning. "So humble. You guys could learn a thing or two."
Chen Baojiao snorted. "Hah. She's just honest. Unlike someone who pretends using two fingers is 'serious'."
"That was serious," Ling Feng protested. "Emotionally serious. Spiritually serious. Finger count isn't the only metric, my dear."
Li Shuangyan's eyes glinted. "Young Noble should be careful," she said softly. "If you keep saying such things, others will think you have a finger fetish."
Xu Pei choked on air, her face going nuclear red.
Ling Feng raised an eyebrow, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Oh? I didn't think my Ice Angel had jokes. Scandalous."
Bai Jianzhen looked at Li Shuangyan, then at Chen Baojiao, then at Xu Pei's blushing face.
"Very noisy," she repeated.
"Annoyed?" Ling Feng asked, tilting his head.
She hugged her sword a little tighter.
"…Not unpleasant," she said.
There it was again—that faint, fine crack in the ice. Ling Feng felt a warmth curl in his chest.
"Good," he said. "Stick around. We'll ruin your reputation properly."
"This Bai's reputation," Bai Jianzhen said slowly, "has always been: 'draw sword, cut'. As long as that does not change, the rest is… wind."
Baojiao grinned. "Then from today, people will say: 'draw sword, cut—while standing next to a shameless man and his noisy women.'"
Ling Feng laughed, staring ahead. "I can live with that."
Ahead, the small, unassuming shop that hid the path to the Immortal Demon Grotto waited. Inside, a pair of ancient, blood-stained hands paused over a furnace.
"Hm," a dry, amused voice murmured from the shadows of the void. "Interesting brat…"
...
Heavenly God Sect's Heavenly Grotto, Ancient Sky City.
It should have been a day of stable, overwhelming pressure.
Atop a floating platform of divine stone, countless disciples in the Heavenly God Sect's uniform formed ranks like steel waves. Their Dao armors gleamed with refined light, and heavenly drums thundered, shaking the very clouds. Banners embroidered with sun and lightning snapped in the wind, exuding a heavy, imperial aura.
On the forward deck of a massive treasure ship, an elder with snow-white hair and eyes like cold stars looked down at a projection mirror hovering before him.
In its depths, the Nine Saint Demon Gate's Heavenly Grotto was locked in a ferocious battle. Pavilions collapsed into dust, formations flared and shattered, and Nine Saint disciples desperately held defense lines while the Heavenly God Sect and Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom's forces pressed from every side like a crushing tide.
"Dao Child Shengtian will not come?" a middle-aged protector asked in a low voice.
The white-haired elder's expression twitched.
"We still do not know where he is or if he left the Evil Infested Ridge at all," he said coldly. "But we must strike now. After what happened there, if we give that Ling brat another chance…"
He didn't finish. The memory of the Underworld Boat, of a Burial Ground changing rules, of a junior from a "declining sect" walking out with Chaos Force wrapped around his fingers—it still made his Dao Heart itch with unease.
"Besides," another elder snorted, "the current target is only Nine Saint Demon Gate's Heavenly Grotto in Ancient Sky City. We have enough strength even without ancestors."
He gestured at the forces gathered: several Ancient Saints, a dozen Enlightened Beings, countless Royal Nobles, and a contingent of Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom elites loaned by Heavenly Prince Qingxuan himself.
"We will crush their grotto today," he sneered. "Let the world see what happens to those who cozy up to that demon Ling Feng."
Onlookers clustered around the distant battlefield rims—rooftops and suspended platforms overlooking the Nine Saint Demon Gate courtyard. They watched the slaughter like it was theater.
"Haha, it is almost over for the Nine Saint Demon Gate," a robed ancestor from a mid-tier sect said gleefully. "Opposing the Heavenly God Sect and the Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom? Suicide."
"Serves them right," another sneered. "If they hadn't taken in that Ling brat, they wouldn't be targeted like this. Following a demon, what did they expect?"
Hidden in a quiet corner, a few geniuses who'd nearly died on Ancient Street earlier nursed their injuries and their grudges.
"Crazy bastard," one muttered, clutching his cracked ribs. "Let's see if he dares show his face when his woman's sect is destroyed."
"Maybe he's already run away," another said bitterly. "People like that only know how to cause chaos and leave others to pay."
On the other side of Ancient Sky City, a certain "demon" slowed his steps.
Ling Feng stopped dead in the middle of the street.
The easy smile on his face vanished instantly. His eyes went half-lidded, but not from laziness this time.
Thrum.
The four Chaos Emeralds inside him vibrated in unison.
The Green Chaos Emerald flared. Space folded in his mind's eye. Every Dao ripple within a thousand miles drew into neat, clear grid lines in his perception. Lightning and energy signatures lit up like lanterns in the dark.
The Cyan Chaos Emerald pulsed. Time stretched just a touch, each heartbeat in the city slowing down in his senses.
Chaos Force seeped out of his pores like an invisible mist, brushed against the texture of the world… and came back with answers.
He tasted killing intent. A lot of it. Pungent and metallic.
He heard, with senses that bypassed the ears, the crash of formations and the roar of armies. And beneath that: strained Nine Saint Qi, the stubborn, disciplined pattern of disciples taught to die on their feet.
His relaxed expression turned almost bored.
"…Huh."
Baojiao, who had been in the middle of teasing Xu Pei, blinked. "What is it?"
Ling Feng's eyes turned cold.
"Heavenly God Sect and Azure Mysterious are really going all-out," he said.
He mused to himself. 'Even more all-out than they did with Li Qiye in the original timeline. Hmph. Trying to save face?'
He lifted one hand, fingers tracing the air. The outline of the Nine Saint Demon Gate Heavenly Grotto courtyard bloomed in Chaos light—small on the outside, vast and beautiful within, now stained with blood and fire.
"And people are actually standing around gloating," he added, a dark amusement creeping back into his voice. "Talking about 'this is what they get for following me.'"
Li Shuangyan's eyes narrowed slightly. The temperature around her dropped effectively to absolute zero.
Nine Saint Demon Gate was her home. Those were her people.
"Young Noble," she said quietly.
"I know," he said.
He smiled—a slow, razor-thin expression that promised violence.
"Looks like fate just dropped us a new playground."
Xu Pei's hands clenched into fists. Her cauldron hummed softly at her waist, sensing her distress. "Feng… Nine Saint Heavenly Grotto…"
"I see it," he said. "They want a calamity—fine. Let's give them one. I haven't stretched my legs properly yet anyway."
He turned, facing the four women fully.
"Shuangyan. Baojiao. Xu Pei. Jianzhen."
All four straightened unconsciously at his tone.
"It's time," Ling Feng said lightly, "for another massacre."
Baojiao's lips curled into a fierce smile. "Finally. I was just thinking things had gotten too quiet."
Li Shuangyan's expression didn't change much, but the chill in her gaze sharpened into a blade. "Young Noble gives the order; this Shuangyan will kill without mercy."
Xu Pei nodded, face pale but eyes burning. "This Xu will keep up."
Bai Jianzhen adjusted her grip on her sword. "Enemies?" she asked simply.
"Heavenly God Sect," Ling Feng said. "And anyone stupid enough to stand next to them."
Her eyes grew faintly brighter. "…Good."
Ling Feng laughed softly.
"Alright then," he said. "Hold on to your stomachs. This isn't your grandpa's teleportation array."
He snapped his fingers.
CHAOS CONTROL.
Space folded like origami. To the rest of Ancient Sky City, it looked as if five people simply vanished from the street—no ripple, no flash of light, only a faint distortion in the air, like heat rising from asphalt.
...
Nine Saint Demon Gate Heavenly Grotto.
The once-tranquil courtyard was a warzone.
Ancient pavilions lay shattered, their carved beams ripped apart by Dao blasts. Grotto trees that had once hung with luminous fruits were either burned black or snapped in half. Formation lines glowed, cracked, and strained; Nine Saint disciples bled from nose and mouth as they poured the last of their strength into holding the defensive arrays.
"KILL!"
Heavenly God Sect disciples roared, riding waves of fire and lightning. They descended like locusts.
"Protect the Elder!" Azure Mysterious elites shouted, pushing a formation of glowing jade shields forward.
At the center, Nine Saint's Supreme Elder Chi Yun barked orders, his Ancient Saint aura spreading as he suppressed three enemy Enlightened Beings at once. Even so, he could feel the tide turning.
"Chi Yun!" a Heavenly God Sect Ancient Saint shouted from the other side, his voice booming like thunder. "Hand over Li Shuangyan and the treasures you gained from the Burial Ground! Otherwise, your Nine Saint Demon Gate will be crushed into dust!"
Chi Yun's white brows twisted in fury. "Ridiculous! Nine Saint Demon Gate will never bow to the likes of you!"
But his heart was heavy. The Heavenly God Sect's current strength here was excessive. They had even brought a Half-Sealed Divine Crest Golem, its massive form smashing through pavilions like a mountain given legs.
The golem raised a fist the size of a house, Dao runes swirling around it, aiming for the last core formation.
Just as the blow was about to land, the space above the battlefield rippled.
It wasn't a portal. It was as if reality itself decided to overwrite the current scene.
Five figures stepped out of nothingness.
The golem's fist stopped mid-air. Not because it wanted to, but because the space around it had suddenly solidified into diamond-hard stasis.
The entire battlefield seemed to pause.
Hundreds of eyes turned upward at once.
Ling Feng floated lazily above the ruined pavilion, hands in his pockets, coat fluttering in the heated air. Below him, Li Shuangyan's sect bled.
He cracked his neck once. Crack.
"Man," he said, his voice carrying clearly through the grotto without him shouting. "All this noise without me? That's just rude. Where's my invite?"
He let go.
Chaos Force exploded outward.
It wasn't the suppressing pressure of an Ancient Saint or the imperial weight of a Heavenly King. It was something wilder. It poured over the Heavenly Grotto like a tide of invisible ink. Every Heavenly God Sect disciple, every Azure Mysterious elite, every formation node and hidden killing array—he saw them all. Their Dao lines lit up in his perception like a schematic.
He smiled.
"Go wild," he said.
Li Shuangyan moved first.
Her Pure Jade Physique ignited.
It didn't explode with power; it hummed. Jade radiance flowed under her skin like molten glass. Her five Fate Palaces thundered in her inner world, but the sound was harmonious, like wind chimes.
The Chaos Force infused her meridians. Normally, the Pure Jade Physique allowed for smooth energy flow, but amplified by Ling Feng's power, it became frictionless.
"Pure Jade Sacred Heart—Bloom."
Her sword swept out.
There was no spectacular, world-shaking sword light—just a clear, pure arc of white jade.
The first Heavenly God Sect Enlightened Being in her path saw the world tilt. One instant, he was roaring an order; the next, his vision was full of jade light. He tried to raise his defensive artifacts. He tried to circulate his refined sunfire law.
Useless.
Li Shuangyan's energy didn't clash with his; it slid through it. It bypassed the resistance of his Qi, ignored the friction of his armor, and slipped between the atoms of his defense.
Shing.
The Enlightened Being froze. A thin line of jade light appeared on his neck.
Then, his Dao Laws shattered. Not exploded—shattered, like glass dropped on concrete. His Life Wheel cracked, and his body collapsed into a rain of bloody mist.
One strike. An Enlightened Being fallen.
Silence descended, heavier than any mountain.
"Next," Li Shuangyan said coldly, flicking her sword. Not a drop of blood remained on the blade