Li Yao stood frozen in silence, his body stiff as stone in the wake of Rowan's command.
Every instinct within him screamed to refuse, to shout back his defiance. But his lips would not part. He knew too well the fate that awaited if he dared disobey. One word of rejection, and both he and his wife, Venina, would die without mercy.
Perhaps Rowan would kill him outright and leave Venina as nothing more than a plaything. Or, in some twisted act of benevolence, Rowan might let them go. Yet even if they lived, vengeance for their son's death would be nothing but an impossible dream. Unless the two of them wagered their lives in a futile attempt to take Luo Feng's.
Li Yao's heart burned with grief and rage. He wanted to howl, to tear the walls apart with his fury. But after what felt like an eternity of bitter struggle, he forced down the hatred. His pride crumbled into silence.
"Yao… go back first," Venina whispered at last.
Li Yao gave a stiff nod. His face remained lowered as he turned and left the villa. Not once did he dare raise his head, for fear that Rowan might glimpse the murderous distortion twisting his features.
When Li Yao had gone, Rowan leaned back lazily on the sofa, his gaze falling on Venina.
This woman the so-called Scorpion, the famed goddess of slaughter had once played a prominent role in the early struggles of Earth. Golden hair, eyes the shade of a stormy sea, skin pale as porcelain, her body honed to perfection, and an expression of haughty malice that could chill any heart.
Yet now, faced with Rowan's calm, piercing eyes, even Venina shrank with unease.
"Venina," Rowan said softly, "I can understand your thirst for vengeance. Your son was killed, and you cannot let it go. But Luo Feng is my close friend. He asked me for help, and I cannot ignore his plea. That leaves me in a rather awkward position, don't you think?"
Venina bowed her head. "Yes…"
One sentence from Rowan was enough to shake the entire HR Alliance to its core. Her once-proud backing and her exalted position all of it had been obliterated by a single thought from him. What defiance could she possibly dare?
"If you are willing to pay a price that satisfies me," Rowan continued, his smile curling faintly at the edges, "I will not stand in the way of your revenge. But hear me clearly. You may strike at Luo Feng, and only Luo Feng. His family is not to be touched. Do you understand?"
Venina's sapphire eyes widened in shock. "What? You would… allow us to avenge ourselves on Luo Feng?"
Hope ignited in her heart like a spark in dry tinder. For a moment, the despair that had crushed her began to loosen. She did not understand why Rowan would shield Luo Feng's family but not the man himself. Still, she no longer had the will to question.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. She already sensed what "price" Rowan referred to. The look in his eyes told her plainly enough. The moment he had sent her husband away, she knew what he wanted.
What could she offer a man who already had the world in his hands? Only herself.
Venina trembled, her pride warring against her fear. At last, with a long, shuddering breath, she yielded.
"Lord Rowan…"
Her once-imperious aura shattered. Shame burned across her face, but she stepped forward on trembling legs, approaching him.
Rowan's smile deepened. Perhaps Chancellor Cao Cao had not been wrong in his appetites after all there was indeed a certain pleasure in breaking such pride.
He spread his legs slightly, his gaze commanding. Venina's tears glistened as her fate was sealed.
…
Half a day and an entire night later, the sordid tryst came to an end.
When Venina staggered out of the villa at dawn, her once-polished beauty was shadowed by exhaustion. Her golden hair was tousled, her pale cheeks streaked with fatigue. The imperious Scorpion was gone; in her place stood a woman broken, humiliated, yet paradoxically more alluring in her vulnerability.
No matter that she was a War God in her own right before Rowan, now a warrior beyond planetary rank, she had been powerless to resist.
Meanwhile, Li Yao had waited until nine o'clock the previous night at the gates of the Bright Moon District. When Venina failed to emerge, his rage had erupted. He returned to their villa and tore it apart in fury, smashing everything until it lay in ruins.
When Venina finally arrived, she found him slumped amidst the wreckage, drowning himself in liquor.
"Yao," she whispered, her voice cracking as she knelt beside him, clinging to his arm. "He agreed. We may avenge our son… on Luo Feng."
Li Yao's lips twitched, his eyes bloodshot, but he said nothing. He only drank.
At last, with a hoarse, broken voice, he rasped, "I will kill Luo Feng. I will rise… to the Council."
The final words choked in his throat as the bottle shattered in his fist, shards glittering like his splintered sanity.
Venina understood. She wept silently, her tears dripping onto his arm. She did not believe her husband could ever stand against Rowan. Yet still, they clung to the single truth that mattered.
Luo Feng must die.
Everything, all their suffering, stemmed from him.
…
In the months that followed, Venina and Li Yao dared not target Luo Feng's family again. Instead, Luo Feng immersed himself in the Elite Training Camp. With Rowan's secret gift of the Heavenly God Technique, his progress soared beyond belief.
In just one month, Luo Feng had climbed to sixty-second place on the Black Dragon Ranking. Veterans like Shi Jiang and Zhao Ruo could hardly believe their eyes. Could this new arrival truly be so monstrous? They even whispered he might graduate within a year, as Rowan once had.
The rest of the trainees, terrified of repeating their mistake with Rowan, now rushed to befriend Luo Feng, fearful of making an enemy of the next legend.
…
As Luo Feng advanced, Rowan pursued his own enlightenment in the flaming core of Muspelheim. At last, within the blazing depths, he awakened the Domain.
"Unity of Heaven and Man… so that is the key!"
With a surge of energy, a spherical space expanded around him, magma freezing solid and collapsing into silence. Within his Domain, he could control everything. His perception sharpened tenfold, allowing him to sense the rhythm of flame, the dance of molecules, the whispers of the Fire Law itself.
The revelation left him exultant.
And then came the greater miracle.
Through relentless cultivation, through the power of the Infinity Stones that had seeped into his very being, his bottleneck cracked. His body trembled, his nine planetary cores collapsing into pure essence. The Power Stone flared, and in its violent radiance, his dantian reshaped itself.
From the ruins of nine planets, a blazing sun was born. His body, soul, and genes leapt to a higher order. Purple flames engulfed him, spreading from his shoulders to envelop his entire being.
"Stellar Rank, First Tier… success!" Rowan breathed, his voice trembling with exhilaration.
The world bent to his will. He was no longer merely a man. He was a god.
And deep within the molten heart of Muspelheim, he sensed it a searing presence, a secret hidden for ages. A spark of eternal fire. The very essence that had birthed the Flame King, Surtur.
Rowan's eyes blazed as he whispered, "So this is… the Eternal Flame."
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