In broad daylight, along the main road toward Pei County, a terrified young maiden was surrounded by a band of scar-faced brigands who jeered and pawed at her without shame.
Her tear-streaked, delicate face and slender curves made the bandits' eyes gleam like starving wolves. Their laughter was coarse and filthy, and their greedy hands stretched toward her with the sole intent of dragging her down and ravaging her.
Not far from the scene, another maiden—slightly older, striking in her mature beauty—was supporting her collapsed father. She watched this inhuman scene with helpless fury. Every few moments the bandits cast lecherous glances at her too, making her heart pound with fear and hatred.
She swore to the heavens—no matter how cruelly she was tortured today, no matter how much dignity she had to abandon, she would live. She would live, and she would drag every one of these animals to hell, even if it cost her everything she had.
Sworn upon the gods and demons above.
Just as the younger maiden's hope crumbled and the older sister's fury nearly consumed her, a streak of silver light shot through the air. It pierced the hand reaching for the younger girl's chest—impaling the bandit entirely and nailing him to a nearby tree. His screams echoed in the air.
It was an ice needle.
A needle forged entirely of frozen, crystalline frost.
All eyes snapped toward the direction from which the needle came.
A young man in plain robes, handsome and refined like carved jade, walked forward step by unhurried step.
It was Aedric , who had arrived just in time.
Thank heavens. Thank heavens he made it. Thank heavens he hadn't arrived a moment too late.
Seeing the trembling young girl surrounded by beasts disguised as men—seeing Lü Su, that gentle and pure girl he had cherished even before coming to this world—Aedric felt something inside him rupture.
Bastards.
A pack of beasts.
That was his woman you dared lay hands on.
You dared scare her? Humiliate her?
Unforgivable. Utterly unforgivable.
Back when he watched the original drama, Aedric had always had a soft spot for Lü Su. Her kindness, her quiet tenderness—he had liked her from the start. And when she gave her life to save Yi Xiaochuan, Aedric had never hated the male lead more bitterly. The grief had stayed with him for days.
Now, after finally reaching this world, finally finding the girl he had longed to see…
He discovered her trembling like a helpless fawn, surrounded by scum who wanted to violate her.
Aedric , in all his life, had never wanted to kill as much as he did in this moment.
He wanted each of these men to sink into hell, screaming for eternity, unable to reincarnate even after eons.
And then he acted.
Amid the stunned, fearful, or awed gazes around him, Aedric raised his hand. He quietly summoned the icy force of the Postnatal Core Art and the endless malice of the Heaven-Crippled Divine Art.
A chill swept across heaven and earth.
It felt as though countless vengeful spirits gathered—laughing, whispering, screaming—closing around each bandit.
Before any of them could even cry out, a horrifying cold burst from within their bodies.
Within moments, all of them froze into statues of ice—silenced forever.
A beautiful yet brutal sight.
Honestly, they were lucky.
If not for the risk of scaring timid, sheltered Lü Su, Aedric had originally intended to burn them slowly to ash with dragonfire.
As it was, the ice had not killed them instantly. Before their bodies truly froze to death, the malignant aura embedded deep inside them would torment their minds relentlessly—an agony like falling into the deepest hell.
You dared harm my woman?
This is your punishment.
After the last bandit was silenced, Aedric —finally breathing easier—walked gently toward Lü Su, who stood petrified with shock.
He draped a cloak around her shoulders, covering the skin revealed by the tearing of her clothes. His voice softened.
"Miss, are you hurt?"
Staring at his jade-like face and feeling the warmth of the cloak, Lü Su's tear-stained cheeks flushed pink. She lowered her head shyly, at a loss for words.
Seeing that help had come in their darkest hour—and that the savior possessed such unfathomable power—Lü Taigong, though elderly and shaken, was the first to recover. Supported by Lü Zhi, he rose unsteadily to his feet and bowed deeply.
"Thank you, young hero! Thank you for saving our lives!"
"No need for thanks."
Aedric 's gaze brushed briefly across Lü Zhi, whose cheeks were just as pink as her sister's. He smiled calmly.
"When the righteous see injustice, they act. No thanks needed, elder."
No thanks needed indeed.
But if you insist…
he didn't mind if this kind old man offered his younger daughter to him.
And if the elder daughter came as a bonus? Even better.
Lü Taigong lifted his head, intending to offer more polite words—
but when his eyes met Aedric 's face, he suddenly froze.
His pupils shrank.
His body trembled uncontrollably.
Because in that instant, in Lü Taigong's sight…
Aedric 's entire body was wrapped in a dazzling aura—deep purple tinged with gold.
Within that aura coiled a golden dragon—five-clawed, fearsome, radiating the majesty to swallow worlds.
A five-clawed golden dragon.
This—
This was the fate of an Emperor!
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Lü Taigong was an expert in physiognomy. Perhaps not on the level of King Wen of Zhou, but certainly among the best in the world.
According to unofficial history, the reason he married his eldest daughter to the then-useless rascal Liu Bang was because he discerned that Liu Bang's future held potential greatness.
Potential—
only potential.
But Aedric …
Aedric 's aura was nothing like Liu Bang's hidden, dormant fate of a dragon in deep waters.
Aedric was a dragon already soaring through the heavens—his destiny already formed.
In all the world, only one man should possess such auspicious signs:
The First Emperor of Qin, Ying Zheng, seated in Xianyang Palace.
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