As Lin Fan and his Shadowguard retreated, their disciplined march a stark contrast to the chaos in their hearts, Hu Mei'er tilted her head. "Young Lord, he seemed... different this time. Broken, perhaps? He accepted the humiliation so readily."
"Broken? Oh no," Ao Xian said with a delighted smile. "He's not broken. He's upgraded. He has finally understood that raw power and righteous fury are meaningless. He has accepted his role in the play. Now, he will try to be clever. That is far more entertaining."
Feng Wu, however, voiced a subtle concern. "Young Lord, the Sovereign's Seal is a potent artifact. In the hands of a man with such deep-seated hatred, could he not use it to incite rebellion and chaos among mortals, bringing harm to the innocent to fuel his power?"
"An excellent question," Ao Xian said. "And one I already considered. A villain who just burns the world down is a boring villain. A rabid dog must be put down, which is a tedious chore. A well-trained hunting dog, however, that only goes after the designated prey... that is a useful and entertaining asset." He smiled. "Remember the little 'feature' Long Jing added to the seal? It wasn't just a single rune."
Long Jing stepped forward, her voice calm as a placid sea. "The Sovereign's Seal functions by resonating with and amplifying the collective will of a populace. I wove a fundamental law into its core: a filter. The seal can now only resonate with a specific aspect of mortal will: the desire for justice against the corrupt and the wicked. If Lin Fan attempts to use it to harm an innocent or incite chaos among those with positive karma, the seal will not be able to draw upon their will. It will become, in his hands, a useless piece of stone."
Ao Xian clapped softly. "In other words, we've given him a second, even more powerful weapon that, like his first, is hard-coded to only target trash. He is now a perfectly curated, self-sustaining, evil-cleansing tool. He thinks he has a new path to power, but all he has is a longer leash." He stood up, the game having reached a satisfying intermission. "He will now spend years, perhaps centuries, using my gifts to wage a secret war against the corrupt sects and demonic cultivators of the world, all while thinking it is his grand strategy of rebellion. His every move will be predictable because his tools have defined his only possible path." He laughed. "The show is about to get much, much better."
With a single, effortless step, he and his maids left the tomb and appeared on a beach of shimmering, crystalline sand. The sky above was a perpetual twilight, filled with two swirling violet nebulae, and the sea was made of a calm, silvery liquid. They had left the Azure Cloud Realm entirely, arriving in a minor world known as the 'Whispering Star Realm.'
"Much better," Ao Xian said, taking a deep breath of the strange, sweet air. "All that tomb raiding is such gloomy work."
"This realm is known for its 'Celestial Echoes'," Feng Wu informed him. "Once a year, the two nebulae align perfectly, and the friction of their cosmic dust creates a sound that resonates across the entire realm. The locals call it the 'music of the stars'."
"Excellent," Ao Xian said, his interest in his previous game already fading. "Let's find a good spot to listen." As they began to stroll down the crystalline beach, his eyes did their habitual scan of the area. He saw strange, gentle beasts and the local, peaceful cultivators. It was all very pleasant and very boring. Then, his gaze was drawn to a secluded cove, hidden by an illusionary array. Within it, a powerful, negative aura pulsed.
Curious, he walked towards it, his maids following. The illusion parted before him like mist. Inside the cove, a young woman of stunning beauty stood in the center of a complex, blood-colored array. Her long, white hair contrasted sharply with her black robes, and her eyes held a chilling indifference. The corpses of several powerful spiritual beasts were arranged at key points of the array, their life force being drained into a single, pulsating black pearl she held in her hand.
[Name: Bai Xin Yue]
[Karmic Value: -9,600]
[Fortune Value: 12,000 (Crimson Halo - Child of Slaughter)]
[Identity: Possessor of the 'Nether Empress's' remnant soul and bloodline.]
[Secret Treasure: The 'Soul Devouring Pearl,' an artifact that absorbs life force to nourish her bloodline.]
Ao Xian stopped, an intrigued smile touching his lips. A villainess protagonist. Cunning, beautiful, ruthless, and with a high fortune value. She was preparing some grand ritual, and the upcoming 'Celestial Echoes' were clearly the catalyst she was waiting for.
"The Nether Empress," he mused quietly to his maids. "Another one of those minor annoyances my mother had to clean up a few epochs ago. It seems a sliver of her soul escaped and reincarnated here."
Bai Xin Yue's head snapped up, her cold eyes fixing on Ao Xian's group. She felt no pressure from them, as they had concealed it perfectly, but she was furious at being discovered. "Who are you? To dare trespass on my sacred ground, you are courting death!"
Ao Xian simply smiled. "Oh, we're just tourists. Admiring the local... customs." His eyes glanced at the pulsating pearl. "That's a hungry little thing you have there. But it seems... incomplete. The life force of these beasts is too crude. You're missing a key ingredient to truly awaken your bloodline, aren't you?"
Bai Xin Yue's eyes widened in shock. That was a secret known only to her and the remnant soul in her mind. She needed the heart of a 'Starlight Whale,' a mythical beast said to appear only during the Celestial Echoes, to perfect her ritual.
Seeing her reaction, Ao Xian chuckled. He knew where this story was going. She would complete her ritual, kill the whale, and become the realm's great calamity. Then, some fated, righteous young man would appear, find a way to defeat her, and save the day. It was a classic script. "How predictable," he whispered. With a gesture so subtle it was invisible, he reached through space and plucked a single, conceptual 'thread' from the world's destiny. The fated Starlight Whale that was supposed to appear in this realm in a few hours was suddenly, inexplicably, rerouted to a different, remote world, its destiny now tied to a different timeline.
"Well, this has been a lovely visit," Ao Xian said cheerfully, turning to leave the cove. "Good luck with your... project."
Bai Xin Yue stared at him, bewildered and suspicious. She had been ready for a fight to the death, but they were just... leaving. As they vanished, a deep, unsettling feeling crept into her heart. She didn't know why, but she felt as if a crucial piece of her destiny had just been stolen, leaving her with a puzzle that was now impossible to solve.
The Celestial Echoes began. The two violet nebulae in the twilight sky swirled into a perfect alignment, and a soundless vibration swept across the Whispering Star Realm. For Bai Xin Yue, it was a prelude to failure. She stood in her blood-soaked array, the Soul Devouring Pearl pulsing eagerly in her hand, her cold eyes scanning the silvery sea. The remnant soul of the Nether Empress in her mind was urging her on. "Now! The Starlight Whale should be drawn by the Echoes! Its heart is the final catalyst needed to fully awaken my bloodline in you! Prepare yourself!"
They waited. The Celestial Echoes reached their crescendo. But the sea remained calm. No mythical beast appeared. The fated Starlight Whale was a no-show. The Echoes began to fade. Bai Xin Yue stood in the chilling silence of her cove, the life force in her pearl beginning to grow unstable.
"It... it didn't come," she whispered, her voice laced with a cold, sharp disbelief.
"Impossible!" the Nether Empress's soul shrieked in her mind. "The threads of destiny were clear! Someone... something has interfered! The very laws of this world have been tampered with!"
Bai Xin Yue's mind flashed back to the handsome young man and his four maids. Her destiny hadn't just been derailed; it had been casually erased as a cosmic prank.
On a different, much more crowded beach, Ao Xian and his maids were enjoying the show. "A story with a villain who fails before she even gets started is a very boring story," he mused. His eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on a young man meditating alone at the water's edge.
[Name: Chen Fei]
[Karmic Value: +1,850]
[Fortune Value: 9,000 (Oceanic Halo - Child of the Tides)]
[Identity: Orphaned disciple of the Blue Water Sect, protector of the weak.]
[Destiny: Fated to discover the lost 'Trident of the Sea King' in a hidden grotto to combat the great evil of Bai Xin Yue after she awakens her full power.]
Ao Xian's smile returned. "Ah, and here's the other half of the script. The hero." This one was a classic. Righteous, kind-hearted, and destined for greatness to stop the very threat Ao Xian had just neutered. "How dull," Ao Xian said aloud. "He's supposed to find a magic fork to fight a monster that's now stuck in development hell. His grand destiny has been rendered completely pointless. We can't have that. A hero with nothing to do is a tragic figure." He looked at the distant, hidden grotto his eyes had already located. An idea, far more amusing than simply derailing one destiny, began to form.
"Hu Mei'er," he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Our villainess is missing a key ingredient. Our hero is about to find a powerful weapon. Let's... rearrange the props a little."
The Celestial Fox's eyes lit up with understanding. "What do you have in mind, Young Lord?"
"The Starlight Whale is gone," Ao Xian explained. "But what if the 'Trident of the Sea King' had a core made of condensed starlight essence, just powerful enough to complete her ritual? And what if our hero, Chen Fei, instead of finding a weapon, stumbles upon a damsel in distress—a beautiful, powerful, and mysterious woman who has been 'wrongfully' sealed in that grotto for centuries?" He leaned back, admiring his new plot. "He'll rescue her out of the goodness of his heart. She, in turn, will be the 'ancient secret' he was destined to find. She'll use him to get the trident, complete her ritual, and become the great evil she was meant to be. And he, the hero, will be forced to confront the monster he himself unleashed upon the world. Now that," he concluded with a satisfied smile, "is a much more interesting story."
Ao Xian's smile was that of a master playwright who had just conceived his magnum opus. "Hu Mei'er," he began, "our frustrated villainess is in a delicate state. Use your arts of illusion and dreams to put her into a deep slumber. Convince her that she has been captured and sealed by a righteous enemy from a bygone era. Then, move her, along with her sacrificial array, into the grotto where the trident is hidden. Create a powerful-looking, but ultimately fragile, sealing formation around her."
The Celestial Fox curtsied. "She will awaken believing she is a long-lost empress, a victim awaiting a hero. A perfect role for her. I will handle it, Young Lord." With a shimmer of pink light, she vanished.
"Lian Xin," Ao Xian continued, "The Trident of the Sea King. Infuse its core with a condensed starlight attribute, making it the perfect substitute for the whale's heart. It must be subtle, a 'hidden feature' that only our villainess's bloodline can sense."
Lian Xin's sultry laugh was like a soft melody. "To twist a sacred weapon into the catalyst for a demonic ritual? How delightfully ironic. I will ensure its new 'heart' beats only for her." She too disappeared.
"And finally, Long Jing," Ao Xian said. "This new story requires a monster, but not one that will run rampant. When Lian Xin is finished, add our usual safeguards to the trident. Weave in a karmic filter. The power she gains from it will be immense. However, it must be fundamentally incapable of directly harming a being with a karmic value above zero. It will force her to be cunning, to corrupt and manipulate rather than simply slaughter."
The dragon maid gave a single, solemn nod. "The leash will be absolute." With a ripple of spatial energy, she was gone.
On the beach, Chen Fei, the righteous disciple, finished his meditation. A strange, urgent feeling pulled at his consciousness. It was not the call of a destined treasure, but a faint, desperate cry for help. As a protector of the weak, it was a call he could not ignore. He stood up and followed the instinctual pull. It led him away from the crowded beaches, towards a series of secluded, rocky coves.
After walking for an hour, he found it. A hidden grotto, its entrance covered by a shimmering, golden array that pulsed with ancient, sacred energy. He peered through a gap in the golden light. Inside, in the center of a strange, dark circle, a woman with long, white hair lay in an enchanted slumber. She was breathtakingly beautiful, but her face was pale, and her aura was weak and flickering. He could see a magnificent, three-pronged trident resting on a stone altar behind her, but his attention was entirely captured by the plight of the sealed woman.
His heart, pure and heroic, swelled with righteous indignation. Who would do such a thing? To seal such a person in a dark, lonely cave for what must have been centuries?
"Do not worry," he whispered, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "I will save you."
Driven by his unshakeable destiny to be a hero, Chen Fei began to study the golden array, his mind already working on how to break the seal and rescue the damsel in distress. The first act of Ao Xian's new play was about to begin, right on schedule.
For three days and three nights, Chen Fei worked tirelessly at the golden array. On the dawn of the fourth day, with a final, triumphant push of his spiritual energy into a critical node, the shimmering golden light of the array flickered, wavered, and then shattered into a million motes of light. Panting from exhaustion but with a proud smile on his face, he stepped into the grotto.
As the seal broke, the illusionary slumber faded. Bai Xin Yue's eyes fluttered open. She sat up slowly, a look of profound confusion on her face. The dream-like memories Hu Mei'er had implanted settled into place: a great battle, a betrayal, a ten-thousand-year seal. It felt real, a deep and bitter grievance. But beneath the implanted narrative, her true nature, the cold and calculating soul of the Nether Empress's successor, remained untouched. She assessed her situation with chilling speed: her power was unstable, her original plan was in ruins, and a naive, righteous fool with a high karmic value stood before her, radiating pity. He was the perfect key. The role of a tragic, long-suffering victim was a new one, but the art of manipulation was as natural to her as breathing. She would play this part until she had what she needed.
"Where... am I?" she whispered, her voice intentionally weak and raspy. She looked at Chen Fei, her eyes widening with a perfectly feigned mixture of fear and hope. "Who are you? Have the seals finally broken?"
Chen Fei's heart went out to her. "My name is Chen Fei, a disciple of the Blue Water Sect. I sensed your call for help. You are safe now."
Bai Xin Yue looked around the grotto, a single, perfect tear rolling down her cheek. "Sealed... for how long? What year is it? Does the Azure Emperor still reign?"
Chen Fei frowned in confusion. "Azure Emperor? Senior, there has been no such emperor for at least ten thousand years according to the oldest records."
The "shock" and "despair" on Bai Xin Yue's face were a masterclass in acting. She clutched her head, swaying slightly. "Ten thousand years... I have been imprisoned in this darkness for ten thousand years..."
Chen Fei rushed to her side to support her. "Senior, you are weak. You must rest."
It was at that moment that Bai Xin Yue's eyes "happened" to fall upon the trident resting on the stone altar. An intense, instinctual pull emanated from it. The starlight essence infused into its core by Lian Xin was calling out to her Nether Empress bloodline, promising not just recovery, but a power far greater than she had ever imagined.
"That weapon..." she breathed, her eyes wide. "I can feel... a pure, starlight energy from it. It could help me recover a fraction of my strength. Young hero, you have already done so much for me... could you possibly retrieve that trident for me? I am too weak to even approach it."
Of course, the hero could not refuse. Chen Fei, filled with sympathy and a sense of righteous duty, walked to the altar. The moment he touched the Trident of the Sea King, it hummed, recognizing his pure, water-affiliated spiritual energy and his high karmic value. It was, by all accounts, his destined weapon.
"It seems this treasure has an affinity with you, young hero," Bai Xin Yue said, her voice soft and encouraging. "But its starlight core is what I need. Please, bring it here."
Without a second thought, Chen Fei brought the powerful artifact to her. Bai Xin Yue reached out a trembling hand and placed it on the trident's core.