Chapter 864 – "The Seat of the Sect"
Morning light spilled through the ice-veined windows, cool and pale, but the air in Alex's chamber still carried the heavy warmth of the night before. Ling Shuanghua stood by the bed, her long robes flowing around her like drifting frost, though the faint curve of her lips betrayed a rare softness.
"Come with me," she said simply.
Alex glanced at Ying Hua, who was still curled naked against him, and raised a brow. "Now?"
"Yes," Shuanghua replied. "Both of you."
There was no urgency in her tone, but no space for refusal either. Without bothering to dress, Alex rose, drawing Ying Hua up with him. The girl's grey-silver hair fell in soft waves down her back, her petite frame unashamed in its bare perfection.
A ripple of power passed over them as Shuanghua activated a teleportation array. The chamber dissolved in a shimmer of light, and the next instant they stood in the Grand Hall — the heart of Frost Moon Palace.
The hall was vast, its high ceiling carved with crystalline arches that caught and scattered the morning sun. Rows of icy-blue pillars lined the walkway, leading up to the raised dais where the Sect Master's seat stood — carved from a single block of deep-blue spirit jade, polished to a mirror's sheen.
Shuanghua stepped aside and gestured toward it. "Sit."
Alex studied her for a heartbeat, then strode forward and lowered himself into the seat without hesitation. The imposing throne seemed made for him; the weight of authority settled over the hall instantly.
Shuanghua's gaze shifted to Ying Hua. "And you," she said, her tone as natural as if she were assigning a place at a table, "sit on his lap."
Ying Hua's lips curved in the faintest of smiles. She moved to him, her bare feet whispering against the jade floor, and settled herself sideways across his lap. Her legs draped gracefully over one armrest, her back resting against his chest, one small hand curling possessively around his arm.
The image was unmistakable — the Sect Master's seat, claimed by Alex, with Ying Hua enthroned upon him like a living seal of his authority.
Ying Hua moved with the slow confidence of someone who knew her place was exactly where she was about to be. She turned slightly as she approached Alex, her grey-silver hair catching the cold light streaming in from the high windows.
When she reached him, she didn't climb into his lap facing forward. Instead, she eased herself sideways, her right hip resting firmly against his stomach and chest, her legs draped together over the wide, carved armrest of the sect master's seat.
Her bare thighs pressed lightly against the cool spirit jade, the faint sheen of her skin standing out against the deep-blue surface. One arm hooked lazily over the back of the throne, fingers brushing Alex's shoulder, while her other hand rested on his forearm in a quiet show of possession.
Her back reclined into him just enough that she could feel the solid strength of his chest behind her, yet her posture was upright enough to command the gaze of anyone who entered the hall. The curve of her waist and the modest swell of her chest were framed perfectly by the way she leaned, her small frame appearing both delicate and untouchable in the seat of power.
Her head tilted slightly toward Alex's face, as if ready to hear his next word — but her eyes remained fixed on the empty hall ahead, as though daring anyone to step forward and question why she, naked and unashamed, sat on the lap of the man in the sect master's seat.
Ling Shuanghua stepped forward, her pale robes flowing like ripples of icewater across the polished floor. She stood at the edge of the dais, the vast sea of disciples and elders stretching before her. The hall was silent, the air taut with expectation.
Her voice, clear and resonant, carried effortlessly to every corner.
"From this day forward," she began, "you will recognize the man seated upon this throne — Alex — as the one with the highest power in Frost Moon Palace."
A ripple of murmurs passed through the crowd, but none dared break the order of the hall.
Shuanghua's gaze swept the assembly, sharp and unyielding. "Even though I remain your Sect Master, and the executive power is mine, know this: when he speaks, you will obey without question. His words are law to this sect."
She paused, letting the weight of her next words settle like frost on glass. "He will be our shadow ruler. The world beyond these walls will not know of his authority. No outsider will be told. Only within Frost Moon Palace will his true standing be known."
Her eyes hardened, and a faint thread of spiritual pressure washed over the assembly. "If he commands you, you will act. If he forbids you, you will stop. And if he calls you to serve, you will answer — without hesitation."
The four hundred sex slaves lowered their heads in unison, their chokers glowing faintly as they murmured their assent. Among the unclaimed, some shifted on their feet, heat in their eyes as they glanced from Shuanghua to Alex, to Ying Hua in his lap. The weight of the truth settled into their bones — there was no higher honor in the sect than to be chosen by him.
Ling Shuanghua's expression softened slightly, but her voice remained steady. "This is the order of Frost Moon Palace now. You will follow it… or you will leave."
Ling Shuanghua let the silence stretch for a heartbeat longer before raising her hand.
"Those of you who already wear his choker… step forward."
From the crowd, four hundred women moved as one, their steps sure, their eyes bright with pride. They fanned out before the dais in perfect formation, a wall of beauty and power that made the rest of the hall draw in quiet breaths.
At a gesture from Shuanghua, their spiritual seals dissolved. One by one, their true cultivation surged into the open — the pressure of four hundred Level Nine auras rolling across the hall like an unstoppable tide. The air thickened, heavy with power, yet the women stood at ease, as if their strength was nothing worth boasting about.
The shock rippled through the remaining two thousand disciples and elders. To see so many at the peak of power in one sect was unthinkable.
Shuanghua's voice cut through their awe. "These four hundred have all shared the same fate — and the same fortune. Each one of them has lain with him, Alex, my husband, and through him ascended to the Ninth Level."
A murmur rose, but this time it was not disbelief — it was hunger. The words had been spoken plainly, without shame or disguise, and they struck deep.
"They are his sex slaves," Shuanghua continued, her tone firm but not unkind, "bound to him by choice and by oath. They have tasted his power… and now they are the pillars of Frost Moon Palace's strength."
The four hundred women bowed low toward Alex, their voices blending into a single, resonant affirmation:
"We serve the Master."
The rest of the sect looked on, and in their eyes was no resentment — only the unmistakable gleam of desire, a growing fire stoked by the vision before them: power, pleasure, and belonging, all in the hands of one man.
Alex let the murmur in the hall settle before he finally spoke. His voice was not raised, yet it carried to every ear as if he stood beside each woman.
"I won't command you," he began, his tone calm, steady, almost intimate. "Power given under force is never true strength… and service without will is nothing but an empty shell."
He shifted slightly in the Sect Master's seat, his arm tightening gently around Ying Hua's waist, his gaze moving over the sea of faces. "The four hundred before you made their choice freely. They offered themselves to me, and I gave them everything I could — my time, my care… and my power. They stand at the Ninth Level now, not because they demanded it, but because they trusted me enough to surrender."
His eyes softened, the warmth in them a contrast to the sheer dominance of his position. "You will have the same choice. If you wish to walk this path, you may. I will not deny you. But if you do not… you will still be part of this sect, still under my protection, still free to live as you choose."
A hush fell over the crowd. His words were not a command, yet they seemed to pull at something deep within each listener — a quiet, persistent yearning.
Alex let the silence linger before adding, "Think carefully. Not because you doubt my intent, but because once you choose, there is no turning back. If you come to me, it will be with your whole self — your body, your loyalty, your trust. I will take nothing less."
His gaze swept them one final time, and though his words were gentle, the undercurrent was undeniable: an open door, but one that would only be stepped through by those willing to be his entirely.
Ying Hua remained in her place, sitting sideways across Alex's lap, her bare legs still draped over the armrest of the throne. Her small frame leaned into him, the side of her head pressed against his chest, ear resting where she could hear the deep, steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
For a moment, she stayed silent, as if drawing strength from that sound. Then she lifted her gaze to the sea of women before them, her eyes sharp and luminous. When she spoke, her voice was calm yet carried an unmistakable weight — the voice of someone who knew her truth and expected others to feel it.
"You've heard his words," Ying Hua began, her tone deliberate, each syllable measured. "He offers you the highest honor any woman can have — the chance to belong to him completely."
She let the sentence hang for a heartbeat, scanning the crowd as if searching for those already leaning toward yes. "Look at them," she continued, nodding toward the four hundred standing proud and powerful. "Do you think this is chance? No. This is ascension. They surrendered to him… and now they stand at the peak. They are not just stronger — they are his."
Her fingers curled lightly around Alex's arm, and her voice deepened. "You may tell yourselves you want more time to think. But the truth is already inside you. That ache you feel now? That heat in your chest? That is the truth trying to be heard."
She tilted her head slightly, her cheek brushing Alex's chest, her eyes never leaving the crowd. "If you want to be chosen, then show him why. Show him why you should be the one he lifts above all others. Or stay where you are, wondering forever if you could have had more."
Ying Hua's final words rang out with quiet certainty, each one landing like a seal on the air. "The rest of the world will never give you this. Only here, in his presence, is there truth. And the truth… is that you are already his. The only question is when you will accept it."