On the high-definition screen of the NBN broadcast, Silas's expression was twisted in agony. The chaotic green light in his eyes deepened, vibrating with the frequency of a mind being shredded by forbidden knowledge.
"Pfft!" Silas spat out a large mouthful of dark blood, his knees buckling as his entire body collapsed toward the stone floor of the arena.
"I told you to stop! Didn't you hear me, you stubborn idiot?"
Wang Ye (Leo Vance) sprinted forward, catching Silas by the collar before his head hit the ground. His lazy demeanor was gone, replaced by a sharp, protective intensity.
Silas weakly brushed Wang Ye's hand away, his face filled with a raw, burning unwillingness. "It's not that I can't accept defeat... but I can't lose like this! So inexplicably! I am the master of the Matrix! How did you bypass the laws of the universe?"
Suddenly, the camera cut to a close-up of Wang Ye. His lips moved, muttering a phrase that was clearly censored for the national prime-time broadcast.
-"Your freaking grandpa's...!"
Most of the audience was unaware of the "encrypted conversation," but the hardcore fans who had been following Leo's "Hellraiser" tabloids for years managed to lip-read the frustration.
The next second, Wang Ye's face shifted into a goofy, panicked expression. He clasped his hands together and began bowing frantically to the empty air around him. "My sin! My sin! Patriarch above, this disciple should not utter foul language! Forgive me, forgive me!"
He turned back to the bleeding Silas, pointing an indignant finger. "You! You forced a monk to swear! You, you, you... you really are a piece of work, Silas! Look at what you've done to my karma!"
The audience watching at home was immediately charmed by the whiplash of emotions.
[Hahaha! The contrast is too much!]
[Leo Vance's Wang Ye is a total mood. One second he's a god, the next he's a student complaining to his teacher.]
[I love this character design!]
"Forget it," Wang Ye said, his voice dropping back into a serious, resonant tone. "I shouldn't have come to this tournament in the first place. Now that I'm here, my peaceful days are officially over."
He looked Silas dead in the eye. "Silas, watch closely. This is what you were looking for."
Wang Ye stomped his foot on the spot.
A pulse of azure light rippled through Silas's vision, and he gasped in realization. "Indeed... you are an Occult Matrix sorcerer! But... where is your footprint? Where is your positioning?"
Wang Ye stood perfectly still, his eyes gaining a terrifying clarity. "Take a good look at this round, Silas."
As he spoke, a wave of blinding white light spread outward from Wang Ye's feet! It transformed into a gargantuan, hyper-realistic Occult Matrix Array that covered the entire stadium. The special effects, enhanced by Leo's system, exploded across the screen, providing a visual feast that made the audience cheer in their living rooms.
Silas looked down, his voice trembling. "This is... just an ordinary Matrix..."
Suddenly, his breath hitched. He realized that the symbols were shifting around Wang Ye, not the other way around.
Wang Ye smiled, a lazy, dominant expression. "Do you understand now? Unlike other sorcerers who have to step on specific positions to seek 'Good Fortune' or avoid 'Misfortune'... within this array..."
"I am the position! I am the fortune and the misfortune!"
"Time, space, and the interactions of the Four Plates... are all determined by me!"
The national audience was stunned. Even if they didn't fully grasp the metaphysics of the Daoist terminology, the raw power of the statement was undeniable.
["I am the fortune and the misfortune!" Those are the hardest lines of the year!]
[Time and space are literally Leo's playground. He just promoted himself from 'Student' to 'God'.]
[Wrong, the meaning of this sentence is: I am the contestant, and I am also the referee! Total hack-mode activated!]
"Arbitrarily adjusting the pattern of the Matrix?" Silas's face was a mask of total shock. "The pattern is determined by time! How can a mortal manipulate time?!"
"Why not?" Wang Ye retorted calmly. "Time is merely a unit of measurement for calculating the changes in all things. If I can manipulate the 'change,' I have manipulated the 'time'."
Wang Ye picked up a small pebble from the ground. Within his array, the pebble didn't fall. It floated at shoulder height, suspended in a pocket of altered physics.
"In this specific square meter, the gravity is different. It will take exactly one minute for this stone to hit the ground."
Wang Ye walked toward Silas, his robes fluttering in a wind that only existed within the matrix. "Old Brother Silas, you said sorcerers seek fortune and avoid disaster. That's reasonable... but it's not entirely correct."
"Why do you think your ancestor, the Great Warlock (Zhuge Liang), was called the Greatest Outlier? If he truly wanted to seek personal safety, he should have stayed hidden in the mountains. With his cultivation, he could have lived for two hundred years in peace."
"Yet he abandoned everything a 'wise' sorcerer should uphold. He went against the trend of history to throw himself into a chaotic war, just to save a world he knew was beyond saving. For that world, he was willing to contend with the Heavens themselves. That is what a sorcerer of his level does. If you only 'go with the flow,' why bother comprehending the principles of the universe at all?"
Wang Ye's words subverted the entire worldview established in the first few episodes. His expression remained serene, almost transcendent.
"Other Outliers stop making progress due to their own greed. But your ancestor stopped because he couldn't let go of the common people. In my heart, he is the senior I respect the most."
The live chat fell silent. This wasn't just a fantasy show anymore; it was tapping into the deep, philosophy of sacrifice and leadership. Leo Vance had managed to integrate a historical weight that made the audience yearn for more.
Silas's expression changed from indignation to a profound, quiet relief. "I've lost," he whispered. "I've completely lost."
The referee immediately announced: "Wang Ye vs. Silas! The winner is Wang Ye!"
High in the VIP stands, the High Priest (Marcus Thorne) watched Wang Ye's departing back and softly chanted an ancient verse:
"The divine dragon emerges with a hidden map...Because of enlightenment, the Great Warlock developed the script...And the Occult Matrix began from this!"
Starlight Management, West Hollywood.
"Wang Ye... with that personality and that vision, who wouldn't love him?"
Natalie G. was absentmindedly petting the agency's new husky puppy. Her eyes were filled with an unalloyed adoration. "He's like Gojo Satoru's lazy cousin. Both are invincible, both are handsome... his charm is literally maximized!"
Maya West sat nearby, her arms crossed, looking slightly annoyed. She was still bitter about being rejected for the movie role, and seeing Leo Vance succeed so thoroughly was a complicated feeling.
"You really are fickle, Natalie," Maya complained. "Two days ago, you said you only had eyes for Gojo Satoru. Now you're a Wang Ye stan?"
Natalie G., being straightforward and no longer intimidated by her CEO, retorted instantly, "But they're both played by Teacher Leo! How can that be fickle? Sister Maya, just tell me... are Gojo Satoru and Wang Ye the same person?"
"This..." Maya West was instantly speechless.
Technically, they were the same actor. But Leo's performance was so distinct, the posture, the cadence, the very energy he projected that they felt like two different souls.
She looked back at the screen, her grip on her arm rest tightening. Leo Vance... just what kind of monster have you become?
The credits began to roll, but the internet was already on fire. The "Wang Ye vs Gojo" debates had officially begun, and Leo Vance was the only winner.
For Advance/Early Chapters:
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