The "Harem Decree" hung over Gaurav's head like a localized Heavenly Tribulation. With Lady Yue managing the Academy's day-to-day operations and the two "Tiger Queens"—Zhu Feng and Mo Rong—monitoring his every move, the Sovereign Master found himself walking on eggshells. Even the Sovereign Archive seemed to mock him, its interface flickering with a pink hue whenever he looked at the profiles of his female students.
However, the universe did not care for domestic disputes. The World Will was still rotting, and the 9th path—the Path of the Soul and Death—remained vacant.
"I have to go to the Underworld Gates," Gaurav announced during breakfast, carefully avoiding eye contact with Zhu Feng, who was currently melting her spoon with sheer annoyance.
"The Underworld?" Mo Rong asked, her silver eyes narrowing. "That's the territory of the Yama Lord. Not even Level 9 Peak experts return from there with their souls intact. What could possibly be worth the risk?"
"The 9th Disciple," Gaurav said, standing up. "She is a Necromancer who has stayed at the threshold of life and death for a century. Without her, our Academy will have no defense against the 'Soul-Eaters' of the Great Calamity."
"A Necromancer," Lady Yue mused, tapping her chin. "Fine. But if she's 'exceptionally beautiful in a gothic way' as the System likely described her, you are bringing Han Tie and Ling Yun with you as chaperones."
Gaurav gulped. "Agreed."
The Underworld Gates: The Grave of the Silent Rose
The entrance to the Silent Realm was located in a valley where the sun never rose. The ground was made of white ash, and the trees were calcified bone.
Gaurav, followed by the towering Han Tie and the blindfolded Ling Yun, approached a massive, crumbling mausoleum covered in black roses that bled ink instead of nectar.
[Target: Seraphina (The Ghost Goddess)]
[Condition: Half-Spirit, Half-Mortal. She died of heartbreak, but her 'Necromantic Core' refused to let her soul depart.]
[Hidden Talent: Queen of the Underworld (God-Rank). She can command the 'Shadow Army'.]
[Flaw: 1 (Her soul is pinned to her own corpse by a 'Grief-Nail').]
"Go away," a voice echoed from the mausoleum. It wasn't a sound; it was a vibration felt in the marrow of their bones. "The living have no business with the forgotten."
"I am not here to disturb your rest, Seraphina," Gaurav said, his Holy Energy flaring to push back the encroaching death-fog. "I am here to give you the one thing your grief couldn't—Rebirth."
A girl materialized before the mausoleum doors. She was hauntingly beautiful, with skin as white as marble and eyes like violet voids. She wore a tattered gown of black lace, and around her neck was a collar of thorns.
"Rebirth is a lie," Seraphina hissed, her fingers twitching. In an instant, a thousand skeletal hands erupted from the ash, grabbing at the feet of the disciples.
Han Tie snorted, his Primal God Body glowing with a metallic sheen. The skeletal hands shattered like glass the moment they touched his ankles. Ling Yun didn't even draw his stick; his 'Intent' simply erased the necrotic energy in a ten-foot radius.
"My students are not so easily stopped," Gaurav said, walking toward her. He reached out and touched the black roses.
[Technique Active: Sovereign Resurrection — Death-Reversal Synthesis]
Gaurav didn't just use Holy Energy; he mixed it with the Demonic Essence of the Archive. He created a 'Life-Death Bridge.' He touched Seraphina's chest, right where the 'Grief-Nail' was pinned.
"The man who broke your heart was a fool," Gaurav whispered. "But the woman who stays in a grave for a fool is even worse. Pull the nail, Seraphina. Command the dead, don't be one of them."
He yanked the invisible nail of grief from her soul.
SCREECH!
A horrific sound tore through the valley as the necrotic energy was sucked back into Seraphina's body. Her violet eyes cleared, and a faint, healthy flush returned to her cheeks. She was no longer a ghost; she was a Living Goddess of Death.
"I... I can feel the wind again," she whispered, looking at her hands. She looked at Gaurav, and her expression of cold indifference melted into one of fanatical devotion. "Master... I have spent a century in the dark. Lead me to the light, even if it burns."
[System Notification: Ninth Personal Disciple Bound.]
[Reward Unlocked: The Halls of Necromancy & The 'Shadow Army' Summoning Art.]
The Yama Lord's Wrath
"You think you can just take a soul from my garden?!"
The ground split open. A massive being, forty feet tall and wreathed in green spirit-fire, rose from the depths. The Yama Lord, a Level 9 Peak Guardian of the Dead, swung a massive scythe toward Gaurav.
"Master, stay back!" Han Tie roared.
The Primal Titan jumped into the air, his fist glowing with the kinetic energy of a falling star.
BOOM!
Han Tie caught the scythe with his bare hands. The impact created a crater a mile wide. Ling Yun moved like a flash of gold, his 'Sword Intent' slicing through the Yama Lord's spirit-armor.
But it was Seraphina who finished it. She raised her hand, and the thousand skeletons that had previously attacked the disciples now turned toward their former Lord.
"You are just a gardener, Yama," she said, her voice dripping with the authority of the Archive. "I am the Queen."
She clenched her fist, and the Yama Lord's spirit-fire was sucked into her palm, leaving him a withered, powerless husk.
The Return: The Gothic Queen Meets the Harem
When Gaurav returned to the Academy with Seraphina, the air in the Sovereign Tower turned frosty.
Lady Yue looked at Seraphina's black lace gown and her violet-void eyes. Zhu Feng looked at the way Seraphina was currently holding onto Gaurav's sleeve like a lost kitten.
"Gothic?" Zhu Feng asked, her flames turning a dangerous shade of blue. "You said she was 'non-threatening' because she was dead, Gaurav."
"She is alive now," Gaurav stammered. "The System... it was a medical necessity!"
Mo Rong stepped forward, her silver eyes scanning Seraphina. Surprisingly, the Night Empress didn't look angry. She saw a kindred spirit—another woman of the shadows.
"She will stay in the Underground Pavilion," Mo Rong decreed, looking at the other wives. "I will oversee her training. And Gaurav..." She leaned in, her cold breath hitting his ear. "...you owe us three weeks in Isolation now. One for Aria, one for Qin Mo, and one for this little ghost."
Gaurav looked at his nine disciples, who were all now training at an incredible pace, and then at his three wives who were currently debating which 'Isolation Room' was the most secure.
"Master," Seraphina whispered, looking at the wives. "Are these the 'Heavenly Generals' you warned me about?"
"No, Seraphina," Gaurav sighed. "These are much, much more dangerous."
[System Alert: 10th Disciple Located. He is the 'Fallen God of War' who has lost his memory and is currently working as a beggar in the Central Market.]