「How could the Supreme Imperial Bone have such a terrifying ability!」
Sun Qian's pupils constricted slightly, growing even more fascinated by the forbidden physique within his body.
After all, in the second Villain Life Simulation, Ye Fan had managed to escape from Sun Zhong—a Seventh-Rank Saint Ascension Realm powerhouse. His combat prowess was far from trivial.
Sun Qian had originally thought that his simulated self would have the upper hand in this fight, but never expected it to be this easy.
In the state of Supreme Mode, the simulated you was like a sponge madly absorbing everything in its path, your strength and skills skyrocketing with every passing second.
Ye Fan's combat experience was dissected, mimicked, absorbed, and then refined to perfection, integrated into your own fighting style seamlessly.
In this state, you were practically clairvoyant, able to predict Ye Fan's every move, every attack, before he even made it. You dodged his strikes with effortless ease, intercepting his killing blows before they could even land.
「This is impossible!!!」
Cornered and overwhelmed, Ye Fan let out a roar of disbelief, his face twisted into a mask of terror as he stared at you—as if he were looking at a monster straight out of his worst nightmares.
SWISH!
You seized the split-second opening Ye Fan's outburst had created. Your eyes cold and emotionless, you manipulated a giant shadow blade to surge up from the ground, slicing through his right arm in a single clean stroke. His storage pouch fell clattering to the ground along with the severed limb.
Ignoring your hard-won trophy, you pressed the attack without hesitation.
Ye Fan screamed in agony, a wave of scorching, searing flames erupting from his body to force you back.
The black cloth covering your face was incinerated by the fire, revealing the face of "Zhao Kun" underneath. You deliberately widened your eyes, feigning a look of shocked surprise.
「The Zhao Clan! Zhao Kun! I will never forgive you for this!!!」
Ye Fan's venomous voice rang out from within the flames, his eyes blazing with hatred. He'd clearly recognized your "identity"—and he'd also assumed you were the one who'd kidnapped Liu Yue.
Ye Fan's figure was swallowed by the roaring flames, vanishing into thin air without a trace.
You weren't the least bit surprised. After all, in the second simulation, Sun Zhong had told you that Ye Fan's escape back then had happened in exactly the same way.
Destiny's Children were blessed by fate—they weren't so easy to kill!
Suddenly, you felt a familiar surge of destiny energy materialize out of thin air, flowing into your body. You'd obtained a portion of Destiny's Child Ye Fan's fate energy, gaining the Destiny Blessing effect, which would last for a week.
「Destiny Blessing!」
「So defeating a Destiny's Child lets you steal a portion of their fate energy?」
Sun Qian raised an eyebrow, a new understanding of the so-called "destiny energy" dawning on him.
Normally, the trope was that Destiny's Children would defeat the villainous antagonists, growing stronger and accumulating more fate energy with each victory.
But when a Destiny's Child was defeated, their fate energy would abandon them, flowing into the hands of the victor instead.
It was an interesting mechanism, to say the least.
You were slightly surprised, but quickly figured out the rules behind it.
You stepped forward, picking up Ye Fan's severed arm and the bloodstained storage pouch. Inside the pouch were countless pills, medicinal herbs, and that same mysterious token you'd seen in the second simulation. You tucked them all away safely.
The Supreme Mode state began to fade from your body like receding tide. In the next instant, you were hit by a searing, soul-wrenching pain, followed by a wave of bone-deep exhaustion that threatened to knock you off your feet.
A familiar, ravenous hunger pang surged up from your spinal cord—coming from the Supreme Imperial Bone.
「So this is the side effect of Supreme Mode? It draws on the body's potential in advance to exchange for a temporary burst of power!」
Realizing the cost of using the Imperial Bone's full power, you quickly rummaged through Ye Fan's storage pouch, dumping pill after pill into your mouth and swallowing them whole.
The medicinal power of the pills was greedily devoured by the Supreme Imperial Bone, and the exhaustion and pain wracking your body began to ease slightly.
You glanced around the area, deciding not to linger any longer. You were terrified that Liu Yue—the Heavenly Human Realm powerhouse—might return to investigate. You quickly turned and headed back in the direction Sun Zhong had driven off.
When you climbed back into the car, Sun Zhong smelled the blood on your clothes and frowned slightly—but he was smart enough not to ask any questions. He could sense that something about you had changed, and simply started the car, driving back to the villa in silence.
This time, thanks to your clever framing job, Zhao Kun—the eldest son of the Zhao Clan—had been made the scapegoat. You didn't issue a city-wide manhunt for Ye Fan like you did in the second simulation. Instead, you planned to sit back and watch the show from the shadows.
Ye Fan, now missing an arm and burning with hatred, would definitely seek revenge against Zhao Kun. When that happened, someone else would issue the manhunt order for him—not you.
As long as Zhao Kun died at Ye Fan's hands, the Zhao Clan's ancestor wouldn't come gunning for you like he did in the second simulation, seeking to kill you to avenge his grandson.
This time, you planned to pull the strings from behind the scenes, watching the chaos unfold as you figured out who was friend and who was foe in Magic City.
Back at your residence in Magic City, you suddenly turned to Sun Zhong and asked, 「Sun Zhong—can I trust you?」
When Sun Zhong gave you an unhesitating affirmative answer, you unleashed the full power of your Fourth-Rank Divine Ability Realm cultivation base without warning. Sun Zhong's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock.
Everyone in the Qianyuan Imperial Capital knew that Sun Qian—the second son of the Sun Clan—was a famous good-for-nothing playboy, unable to cultivate, who spent his days carousing in brothels and drinking away his fortune.
But now, you'd revealed that you were a Divine Ability Realm cultivator at the age of eighteen. In the entire Qianyuan Empire, that made you a bona fide prodigy.
Sun Zhong couldn't help but stammer out a question, asking how you'd hidden your cultivation for so long.
Drawing on the lessons from the second simulation, you knew full well that Sun Zhong's loyalty was unshakable. You didn't hide the truth from him—at least, not all of it.
You told him that a hidden mastermind had been targeting the Sun Clan for years, harboring malicious intentions. You'd hidden your cultivation and pretended to be a useless playboy all these years to avoid their attention, biding your time until you could uncover the truth behind their schemes.
You began to spin your tale, explaining that the reason you'd come to Magic City was that you'd discovered the mastermind had power and influence here—and you planned to uproot their forces once and for all.
You told him that you'd kept this plan hidden from the clan until now, only revealing it because you'd finally gotten a lead on the mastermind's identity.
As a direct descendant of the Sun Clan's bloodline, your words carried weight. After a brief moment of silence, Sun Zhong believed every word you said, his face hardening with resolve as he asked what you needed him to do.
You told him that you'd already uncovered some clues and evidence pointing to the mastermind's allies. In the days to come, you would most likely be ambushed—even killed.
You issued a solemn order to Sun Zhong: if you were ever assassinated, he was not to try to save you. Instead, he had to escape back to the Sun Clan headquarters at all costs, and tell the clan exactly who had killed you.
You listed off the forces you suspected were working with the mastermind: the Gu Clan of Qianyuan—another Heavenly Human-tier family—the Zhao Clan of Magic City, Ye Fan… and even the Li Clan, your own marital allies.
As Sun Zhong listened to you name each powerful faction one by one, his face turned ashen with shock. He finally understood why you'd chosen to investigate this matter in secret, without involving the clan.
Among these forces, Ye Fan was just a nobody—but the others included a Heavenly Human-tier clan and two Saint Ascension-tier families. If they all joined forces against the Sun Clan, even the mighty Sun Clan would be hard-pressed to handle them.
Sun Zhong hesitated, asking if you might have made a mistake. But you stood firm in your judgment, telling him that you planned to use yourself as bait to draw out all the traitors and covetous snakes hiding in the shadows, rooting them out for the sake of the entire Sun Clan.
Hearing your words—words of selfless sacrifice for the family—admiration flickered in Sun Zhong's eyes. He nodded firmly, agreeing to follow your orders without hesitation.
「Brilliant move!」 Sun Qian couldn't help but silently applaud his simulated self. 「Revealing a partial "truth" to win over Sun Zhong—a Saint Ascension Realm powerhouse. That's a masterstroke of manipulation.」
「By framing this as a threat to the entire Sun Clan, not just yourself, you've struck a chord with Sun Zhong, who's been loyal to the family since birth. It's the perfect way to secure his unwavering support.」
Watching his simulated self set his elaborate plan into motion, Sun Qian felt an urge to clap his hands in approval.