Feng Yutian's fingertips trembled slightly, sending ripples across the surface of the tea in his cup.
He set the porcelain cup down slowly, the crisp clink against the table piercing the deathly silence of the hall.
"So that's how it is..."
Mo Yuan's pupils contracted to pinpricks, his voice laced with shock. "The Alliance has been the Shadow's puppet all along."
Indeed, how had they not realized it?
Every time the chaos left by the Devouring Spirit Art inheritors subsided, they would inevitably turn to the Alliance.
Because the Alliance possessed cutting-edge technology capable of analyzing and identifying traces of the Devouring Spirit Art.
Yet...
They had forgotten one possibility.
What if the Alliance itself was complicit—or even the mastermind behind it all?
The faces of the gathered sect leaders darkened.
If one counted the years spent in frozen slumber, every elder present was a millennia-old monster.
Naturally, they looked down upon the insects of this era, never imagining these ants could stir up any real trouble.
But...
They had been wrong.
Through the cracks in the shattered dome, the bodies of dozens of minor sect leaders twisted at unnatural angles.
Their skin pulsed with tar-like shadows, their eyes swallowed by inky mist—only the ghostly blue flames flickering deep within their pupils remained visible.
The Skyfire Sect Leader recognized one of them—
That was none other than Sect Leader Zhao of the Crimson Dawn Sect, whom he had toasted with just three days prior!
"Sect Leader Zhao!"
The Skyfire Sect Leader roared, a whip of violet flames coiling in his palm. "How dare you side with these abominations?!"
The man referred to as Sect Leader Zhao turned his head slowly.
Still retaining his consciousness despite the shadow corruption, he spoke calmly, "Hah, ridiculous. In my entire life, my talent only brought me to the threshold of the Domain Realm. But now... I am immortal, with limitless potential for evolution. What could be better?"
As his words faded—
The Skyfire Sect Leader bellowed in fury, "Nonsense!!! Today, I shall eradicate this scourge!!"
CRACK!!
The violet flame whip lashed toward Qin Luo with a vicious snap.
Following his lead—
The other sect leaders surged forward. "Destroy these abominations!"
"What Alliance?! This is just a den of monsters!"
The Beast Mountain Lord leapt into the air, three emerald-scaled flood dragons erupting from his sleeves, charging toward Qin Luo seated upon the throne.
Yet—
Before the dragons could reach him, before the whip could strike, before the other sect leaders' attacks could land—
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Hundreds of shadowy tendrils burst from the ground, reducing the flood dragons to bloody mist and swallowing the whip whole in an instant.
Hong Ji's Harmony Bell had barely chimed half a note before her entire body froze in place.
————Countless shadowy hands, wreathed in black mist, materialized like tattoos across everyone's skin.
"I... I can't move?"
"How...?"
"What kind of cursed trick is this?!"
Feng Yutian glanced down at the shifting black palm prints now covering his skin.
His voice darkened. "A sealing curse... When did...?"
Qin Luo lazily propped his chin on one hand, shadowy threads glimmering like pearls around his fingers. "Sharp as ever, Sect Leader Feng."
"While you were all enjoying your tea, you’ve been drinking dozens of cups laced with this shadow-infused curse."
[Beep beep, please enjoy your tea.]
Everyone: "......?"
Seriously? That’s just dirty.
How were we supposed to guard against this?!
Who expects to get poisoned at a damn meeting?!
Most importantly...
Feng Yutian sighed inwardly. Qin Luo’s groundwork had been too thorough.
He’d lulled them all into complacency.
Truly an unavoidable trap.
"Shameless!"
The Skyfire Sect Leader, immobilized mid-air, howled at Qin Luo, "Utterly shameless! Shameless! Shame—"
SMACK!!
"Ghk—!"
Silence.
Everyone: "......"
Qin Luo retracted his hand, wiping his face as the weeping ghost mask dissolved into nothingness.
With a snap of his fingers, the shadow-corrupted sect leaders reverted to normal before vanishing into the shadow realm.
Watching this—
Feng Yutian seemed to realize something. Detecting no hostility from Qin Luo, he asked calmly, "Qin Luo, are you being threatened?"
!!
The moment those words left his mouth—
The others froze, then snapped back to reality.
Right!
How could they have forgotten?
Who stood behind Qin Luo?
None other than Su Muwan—a woman whose only difference from the Frostbite Demon of ten thousand years ago was the color of her hair!
A tyrant who drowned dissenters in rivers for her bloodsharks to feast on!
Such cruelty... This scheme had to be her doing!
The Ripple Sect Leader seized the narrative, his voice icy. "Qin Luo, if that venomous witch is coercing you, just blink your—"
SMACK!!
"How dare you!"
Before he could finish—
Qin Luo backhanded him across the face.
The Ripple Sect Leader’s head jerked to the side, his pupils twitching violently.
What the—?
Why hit me?!
Qin Luo was genuinely impressed by their mental gymnastics.
Surveying the hopeful gazes of the sect leaders, he sighed. "I think you’ve misunderstood. No one’s threatening me. I’m doing this willingly."
The moment he said this—
Their eyes burned with greater indignation.
Qin Luo claiming he wasn’t forced into villainy?
Impossible!
Since when do good people insist they’re evil?!
Blinded by their own assumptions, they ignored Qin Luo’s usual demeanor—
That kindness, that sincerity, that effortless charisma radiating from him now.
How could such a man be wicked?
He must be suffering in silence, compelled by some unspeakable torment to play the villain.
"Someone like Master Qin would never do this willingly. Now it all makes sense."
"Exactly. The venomous witch must have blackmailed him into this."
"Hmph, didn’t I say anyone resembling the Frostbite Demon was trouble?"
"Master Qin, don’t worry. We won’t make things difficult for you. When that witch arrives, we’ll cooperate and—"
"ENOUGH!!"
A voice, seething with suppressed fury, exploded through the hall.
Every sect leader’s words died in their throats.
The temperature plunged to absolute zero in a millisecond—CRACK!
Frost spiderwebbed across every glass surface.
As ice engulfed the chamber—
A slender yet imperious figure descended through a rift in the shadows!
The suspended shadow tendrils froze into jagged black icicles, refracting her image in every direction.
All movement ceased.
"Go on."
Su Muwan’s footsteps shattered the void, blooming crystalline roses with each step.
Her fists clenched as her glacial gaze swept over the assembly.
"Who exactly is this ‘venomous witch’?"
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
n] Top-tier player Zhou Yi died and was reborn into the body of a hopeless simp who shared his name. His first love callously dumped him for a rich heir, his childhood sweetheart saw him as an embarrassment, the ice-cold campus beauty looked down on him—every woman he ever loved treated him like a pathetic doormat. But later, his ex came crawling back in tears: "Yi, I was wrong. Please take me back." His childhood sweetheart became hopelessly devoted: "Yi, just one more glance from you is all I ask." The aloof campus belle blushed as she handed him a love letter: "Zhou Yi, I was blind before. Will you accept my feelings?" To all of them, Zhou Yi just smiled. "Sorry, too late. I’m done with love." Oh, and he also gained a system—every time he earned a woman’s affection, his looks improved and his bank account grew. Soon, he became the nation’s most eligible bachelor, with socialites and heiresses begging for his attention...
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
