The forge remained a crucible of heat and noise, but for me, it was now a place of quiet triumph. I had knelt in the soot and emerged with a queen's secrets and a villain's satisfaction. The memory of Zhao Lihua's surrender, the raw, unfiltered hunger in her eyes as she came apart under my tongue, was a far sweeter victory than any battle won with swords. It was a conquest of the soul, a complete and total override of her carefully constructed reality.
I left her to her thoughts, a dangerous brew of newfound pleasure, simmering jealousy, and the cold, hard calculus of our new empire. The seed of her obsession was planted. Now, it was time to tend to the rest of my garden.
My first stop was the Crimson Lantern Pavilion. The morning sun did little to dispel the establishment's nocturnal glamour. Madam Xue greeted me with a smile that was a masterpiece of professional discretion, though her eyes danced with a shrewd, knowing light. She led me to the same private room as before, where Peony awaited.
The courtesan was a vision in a simple morning robe, her face scrubbed clean of the previous night's makeup. She looked younger, fresher, and the professional mask was gone, replaced by an expression of genuine, almost giddy excitement.
"Master Lu," she said, her voice a conspiratorial whisper as she poured me a cup of fragrant tea. "The fish not only took the bait; he swallowed the hook, the line, and half the fishing rod."
I took a sip of tea, raising an eyebrow. "Details."
"As you predicted, he was a mess," she began, her story unfolding with the skill of a master raconteur. "Drunk, belligerent, full of self-pity. For the first hour, all he did was rant about you. How you humiliated him, how you stole his mother's favor, how you looked at Fengue. It was a pathetic, predictable tirade."
"And you?"
"I listened," she said with a cunning smile. "I soothed him. I told him a man of his stature shouldn't worry about the schemes of an upstart. But then, as he began to… perform… I commented on his passion, his stamina. I said, 'Such power… it reminds me of the intensity I've heard stories about in Master Lu.' His rhythm faltered. He was instantly furious, but also… intrigued. He demanded to know what stories I had heard."
She leaned forward, her eyes glittering. "And so, I began to weave your legend. I didn't praise you directly. I framed everything as a question. 'Is it true Master Lu defeated a Grade 4 Spirit Beast with only his wits?' 'They say he created a new form of wealth from useless rock… a man of such intellect must be a fearsome rival.' I made him the center of the conversation about you. I made him ask to hear more. Every time he felt a moment of pleasure, I would link it to a thought of your power, your mystery. By the end, he wasn't just fucking me; he was trying to fuck your legend, to compete with a ghost I had summoned into his bed."
It was even better than I had hoped. She hadn't just planted a seed; she had performed a full-scale psychological inoculation.
"And the finale?" I asked.
"As the sun was rising, he was spent, his pride temporarily restored by his performance in bed. He asked me why a man like you would give a gift like me to an enemy. I told him what you instructed, but with my own flourish. I said, 'Perhaps he is not your enemy at all, Young Master. Perhaps a man of his vision sees a fellow dragon and wishes not to slay it, but to see it fly. Perhaps it was not a gift, but a gesture of respect.' He was silent for a long time after that. The poison is in his veins, Master Lu. He is beginning to admire the snake that bit him."
[Cuckoldry Sub-Routine: 'The Benevolent Bull Protocol']
[Progress: 5%]
"Brilliant," I said, and I meant it. "You have exceeded my expectations, Peony. The lead singer position in the Fantasia Guild is yours. We will begin rehearsals next week."
Her face lit up with a genuine, life-changing joy. I had just given her a respectable future, a path out of the gilded cage.
"One final task for you," I added, my mind already moving to the next phase. "Our entertainment guild will need a home, a grand theater. But it will also need… a more private, exclusive wing. A studio. I am going to introduce a new art form to this world. Moving pictures. Illusions captured in crystal. I will need artists, actors, and actresses willing to perform… uninhibitedly. I want you to start recruiting. Find me the most beautiful, the most talented, and the most sexually liberated women in this city. This will be the true heart of our cultural revolution."
I was laying the groundwork for the porn industry. It was the ultimate tool for social engineering and the most crucial component in Zhao Wei's long-term re-education.
Peony's eyes widened, a slow, wicked smile spreading across her face as she grasped the sheer, scandalous potential of my words. "Master Lu," she purred. "You are not just building an entertainment guild. You are building a temple to Desire itself. It will be an honor to serve as its first priestess."
I returned to the estate and called a meeting. It was time to formally lay out the architecture of our new world. I gathered them in the main hall: Zhao Lihua, a silent, watchful queen; Mengue, her quiet strength a calming presence; Fengue, her face a mask of analytical curiosity; and Chixi, the stoic warrior, whose role in this new world was about to be defined.
"We have discussed the new ventures," I began, pacing before them like a CEO addressing his board of directors. "But we have not discussed their structure. A successful empire is not a monolith; it is a network of specialized, semi-autonomous states. Each of you will be a queen of your own kingdom, the absolute authority in your domain."
I turned to Mengue first. "Your fashion house, 'Aria', will be yours. The funding will come from the Consortium, but the profits, the creative direction, the entire entity, belongs to you. You will answer to no one. It is your brand, your legacy."
Mengue's eyes filled with tears, not of sadness, but of overwhelming gratitude. I had given her more than a job; I had given her an identity.
Next, I looked at Fengue. "The Fantasia Guild is yours. You will have a budget that would make a king weep. You will build theaters, you will recruit talent, you will shape the very culture of this nation. Its successes and failures will be yours alone. I will be your advisor, not your master."
Fengue simply nodded, her expression serious and determined. The broken girl was gone, replaced by a young woman with a monumental task and a burning desire to prove herself.
Then, I turned to the silent, watchful Chixi. "Chixi. You are a warrior. Your skills are in discipline, protection, and logistics. You are wasted as a mere bodyguard, a shadow following my heels."
I unrolled a new schematic on the table. It wasn't of a furnace, but of a sprawling complex. A barracks, a training ground, an armory. "This is the headquarters for 'Aegis Logistics & Security'. It will be the most elite private military and logistics company on the continent. We will train our own soldiers, using my knowledge of modern military tactics and your cultivation expertise. We will not just guard our own assets; we will sell our services. We will offer caravan protection, asset retrieval, and even covert operations for the right price. We will become the most reliable, most feared, and most expensive sword for hire in the world. And you, Chixi, will be its first Grand Marshal."
Chixi's eyes, for the first time since I had met her, widened in genuine shock. I had seen her not as a tool of Lu Ren, but as a leader in her own right. I was offering her an army, a kingdom of steel and discipline. A slow, fierce light kindled in her gaze. It was the look of a wolf who had just been handed her own pack.
Finally, I looked at Zhao Lihua. "And you, partner, will remain the queen of the mountain. The Zhao Consortium will be the bedrock upon which all of this is built. Iron, concrete, real estate, cultivation resources—the hard assets. The very foundation of our new world. You will be the banker, the industrialist, the unshakeable power that fuels all of our ambitions."
I had just laid out the blueprint. Four queens, each with her own sovereign territory. Mengue's Aria, Fengue's Fantasia, Chixi's Aegis, and Lihua's Consortium. They were not subservient to each other, but interconnected, a web of power with me, the architect, sitting at its center. I had not created a harem with one queen at the top. I had created a pantheon.
"This is a… decentralized model," Zhao Lihua commented, her mind instantly grasping the corporate structure. "It's unorthodox. But it is resilient." She looked at the other women, at the newfound fire in their eyes, and then back at me. "You are a generous kingmaker, Lu Bing. But what of your own kingdom?"
"I have no need for a kingdom," I said with a smile. "I am perfectly content to be the trusted advisor to the four most powerful queens in the world."
It was another beautiful lie. And they all, in their own way, bought it completely.
In the weeks that followed, Ironwood City was transformed. The construction of the new blast furnace and concrete kiln began, massive projects that employed thousands. The air, once thick with the gloom of unemployment, was now buzzing with the energy of a boomtown. My name, Lu Bing, was spoken in the taverns and tea houses with a mixture of awe and reverence. I was the miracle worker, the man who had brought prosperity back to the city.
My relationship with my queens evolved. My nights with Lihua were a continuation of our dangerous game. She would summon me, use me, test the limits of my submission, all while trying to quench the strange, new fire of jealousy that my other relationships stoked in her. Our time together was a transactional, intensely carnal battle of wills, and every session left her more powerful, more confused, and more addicted to my presence.
My time with Mengue was one of creative joy. We worked on the designs for Aria, and she revealed a surprising, innate talent for fashion. We argued over fabrics, hemlines, and marketing strategies. Our intimacy was one of shared passion and gentle affection. One evening, she shyly modeled the first prototype of a short skirt, her cheeks flushed, a thrilling mixture of nervousness and excitement in her eyes. I took her in my arms, and our lovemaking was slow, tender, a celebration of her newfound confidence.
Fengue threw herself into her work with a ferocious intensity. Her first project was not a grand play, but the formation of a male music group. She used my funds to rescue four handsome, talented young men from indentured servitude in a lesser brothel. She gave them clean clothes, food, and a purpose. She was not interested in them romantically; she was their creator, their director. She was building something, and in the act of creation, she was healing herself.
Her "experiment" with me continued, but it had changed. There were no more commands for humiliation. Instead, she would summon me late at night, after a long day of work, her mind buzzing with ideas and frustrations. She would use me as a sounding board, a debate partner. And then, when the work was done, she would look at me with a complex, searching gaze.
"I still hate you for what you did," she said one night, her voice quiet. "But I think… I am beginning to respect the man you are now."
Our sexual encounters were rare, and they were strange, almost clinical explorations. She was mapping my body, my responses, with the same analytical curiosity she was applying to her new industry. It was not an act of love or hate, but of research. She was trying to understand the monster, and in doing so, was becoming something more than a victim.
And Zhao Wei? I had given Peony a new task. I had procured an Illusion Crystal, a rare artifact used for recording and replaying memories, often for training purposes. With a few alchemical modifications I designed, it became a crude video camera. Peony, under my direction, began Zhao Wei's true education.
She continued her subtle campaign, praising me, building my legend in his mind. Then, she introduced the 'game'. She would record herself with the Illusion Crystal, creating short, erotic performances. She told Wei it was a gift, something for him to watch when she wasn't there. He was, of course, enthralled. He was being introduced to the foundational concept of pornography.
The next step, still weeks or months away, was simple. Peony would suggest that, for her to truly perform at her best, she needed a skilled director. Someone with an artistic eye. Someone who could guide her performance to new heights. She would suggest that he, Zhao Wei, had just such an eye.
I was not just cucking him. I was grooming him to be the first porn director in this world, directing the very woman I had gifted him, all as an act of service to the man he was beginning to admire. It was a long, slow, and beautifully villainous plan.
But as my new world began to take shape, a shadow from the old one fell across my path. A letter arrived, not from Lu Ren, but from the Lu Clan itself. It was a formal summons. My "father", Lu Tao, was demanding my immediate return. Neighboring clans, hearing of the Lu Clan's involvement in the death of a Rising Sun Sect genius, were beginning to probe their borders. My period of peaceful, productive revolution was over. It was time to return to the nest of vipers I had escaped, and to face the consequences of my own bloody work.