The sun struggled to pierce the dense, reorganizing mists of Lonely Peak. It wasn't the gentle morning fog of a celestial mountain; it was a turbulent, swirling haze that seemed to obey a physics engine entirely alien to the Grand Middle Territory.
Inside the courtyard, the air was filled with the rhythmic, desperate panting of a girl trying to defy gravity.
Xu Pei held a horse stance that would have made a mortal collapse in seconds. Around her waist spun a construct of pure terror—a "Hula-Hoop of Doom," as Ling Feng had cheerfully christened it. It was a ring of solidified Chaos Energy, spinning at three thousand rotations per minute. It didn't just test her balance; it actively tried to torque her center of gravity into oblivion.
"Engage the core, Pei-Pei!" Ling Feng's voice drifted lazily from his makeshift throne.
He was sprawled on a lounge chair constructed from floating granite slabs and a Golden Tiger pelt he'd rummaged from the sect's dusty vault. Wearing sunglasses manifested from solidified shadow and sipping tea that remained perfectly hot via molecular agitation, he looked less like a cultivator and more like a vacationer at a resort that didn't exist yet.
"Don't fight the spin," he advised, lowering his shades to reveal eyes that held the depth of a starless void. "Be the spin. It's all about the flow state. If you fight the current, you drown. If you ride it, you surf."
Standing by the gate, Li Shuangyan watched with a mixture of bewilderment and professional concern. Her hand rested on her sword, her posture rigid. She watched Xu Pei—a girl who, just days ago, had been a trembling servant with a Mortal Physique—now emanating the stable fluctuations of the Palace Foundation realm.
It defied the Heaven's Mandate. It insulted the very concept of merit laws.
"You train her like she is a beast of burden," Li Shuangyan commented, though the icy bite in her voice had thawed into genuine curiosity.
"I train her like a champion," Ling Feng corrected, taking a loud sip of tea. "The cultivation world teaches you to be a rock—immovable, stubborn. I'm teaching her to be water. Rocks crack under pressure. Water? Water just crashes harder."
Suddenly, the tea in Ling Feng's cup rippled.
A low vibration hummed through the bedrock of the Lonely Peak. It wasn't natural. It was the synchronized stomping of thousands of hooves, a rhythm designed to induce terror.
"Do you hear that, Young Noble?" Xu Pei gasped, her face paling as the vibrations disrupted her concentration. The Hula-Hoop wobbled threateningly. "Is it… an earthquake?"
"Nah." Ling Feng stood up, the shadow-sunglasses dissolving into mist. He dusted off his gray robes with a casual flick of his wrist. "That's just the sound of tryhards."
He stepped to the edge of the cliff. His vision, augmented by the [Green Chaos Emerald], punched through the miles of distance like a high-fidelity sniper scope.
Below, surrounding the mountain gate of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, the horizon had been swallowed by steel.
Banners emblazoned with a roaring tiger snapped violently in the wind. The killing intent formed a dark, suffocating cloud that pressed down on the sect's pathetic defensive formations. At the forefront, mounted on a massive Scaledfire Stallion that breathed actual magma, sat a figure radiating the heat of a volcano.
War Noble Lie. A Royal Noble.
"The Heavenly Jewel Kingdom," Li Shuangyan murmured, stepping up beside him. Her expression darkened. "That is War Noble Lie. He is a butcher, a general who paved his cultivation path with the skulls of ten thousand enemies. But… why is he here? The Kingdom usually ignores the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect."
"I wonder..." Ling Feng mused, a smirk curling the corner of his lip.
He possessed the knowledge of the original timeline. In the original Emperor's Domination, Li Qiye's return was a slow burn. He had to methodically beat down Sectional Leader Zhou, slowly raise the First Elder's cultivation, and play the long game. The enemies, Cao Xiong and his ilk, disregarded him as a waste until it was too late.
But Ling Feng?
He had kicked the door down.
On day one, he had crushed the Elders' spirits with pure intimidation. He had dragged Li Shuangyan back to the sect immediately, forcing a public alliance. He had humiliated Cao Xiong with a glance.
The butterfly effect was in full swing. Cao Xiong and the traitorous Guest Advisor Dong Shenglong were terrified. They hadn't waited. They had gone straight for the nuclear option: The Heavenly Jewel Kingdom.
"It seems my presence has accelerated the plot," Ling Feng chuckled, his eyes flashing with a crimson light. "More fools means an easier harvest. I need to condense my Third Emerald, and they just delivered the right resources to my doorstep."
Seeing the dark delight on his face, Li Shuangyan and Xu Pei felt a chill run down their spines.
"Young Noble?" Xu Pei whispered.
Ling Feng turned to them, his smile shifting from predatory to radiantly confident. "Relax. Their reasons don't matter. Come on, ladies. You're about to see a show."
...
The Main Gate: A Sea of Despair
The atmosphere at the main gate was apocalyptic. First Elder Gu Tieshou stood at the forefront of the trembling disciples, his face the color of old ash. The sect's barrier groaned under the pressure of War Noble Lie's aura, spiderweb fractures appearing in the light dome.
"War Noble Lie!" Gu Tieshou shouted, channeling his Longevity Blood to keep his voice from breaking. "The Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect has paid its tribute! Why do you bring an army to our doorstep?"
War Noble Lie looked down from his high mount. To him, Gu Tieshou was already a corpse.
"Gu Tieshou," the Royal Noble's voice boomed, a sonic wave that shattered the paving stones of the plaza. "Your sect harbors a devil. We have intelligence that the disciple Ling Feng is colluding with foreign evils to subvert the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom. Hand him over, and I will leave you with your lives. Refuse, and this sect becomes a graveyard."
In the back, hiding behind the terrified crowd, Second Elder Cao Xiong and Guest Advisor Dong Shenglong exchanged a glance. It was the look of men who had sold their souls and were eager to collect the payment.
'It worked,' Cao Xiong thought, a cruel glee suppressing his fear. 'War Noble Lie doesn't care about truth. He only cares about conquest. Ling Feng dies today.'
"Slander!" Gu Tieshou roared, gripping his sword until his knuckles turned white. "Ling Feng is our Prime Disciple! I will not hand him over to be butchered based on lies!"
"Then die," War Noble Lie raised his hand, his eyes void of mercy. "Trample them."
"HOLD IT!"
The voice didn't come from the air. It bypassed the ears entirely, broadcasting directly into the auditory cortex of every living being within ten miles. It was a command, not a request.
BOOM!
A figure descended from the sky like a kinetic strike weapon.
Ling Feng didn't use a movement technique. He simply let gravity do the work. He slammed into the earth between the army and the gate, creating a crater ten meters wide. Dust, shattered jade, and shockwaves rippled outward, knocking the front line of horses off balance.
As the dust settled, Ling Feng stood up from a crouch, casually brushing a speck of dirt from his shoulder. He looked at the legion of armored soldiers, then at the fuming War Noble, and let out a loud, exaggerated yawn.
"Yo," Ling Feng drawled, his voice cutting through the tension with jarring informality. "Who ordered the circus? You guys are loud. Some of us are trying to chill."
"Ling Feng!" Cao Xiong stepped out from the back, seizing his moment. He pointed an accusing finger, his face twisted in mock outrage. "You unfilial beast! You provoked the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom and brought disaster upon the sect! First Elder, we must hand him over to save the disciples!"
Gu Tieshou hesitated, looking at Ling Feng's broad back. "Ling Feng..."
Ling Feng didn't turn. He raised his hand and made a 'blah blah blah' motion with his fingers.
"Save the drama for your diary, old man," Ling Feng said, his eyes locked on the army. "So, you're some boss around here eh? You look like a discount version of a generic fire villain. Let me guess, your cultivation technique involves getting angry and hot? Groundbreaking."
War Noble Lie's face turned a violent shade of purple. As a Royal Noble, he was worshipped wherever he went.
"Insolent cur!" Lie roared. "You dare mock this Noble? Men! Seize him! Flay the flesh from his bones!"
"Boring," Ling Feng sighed, cracking his neck.
He took a step forward, leaving the safety of the sect's formation.
"Look, I don't do the whole 'exchange words' thing," Ling Feng addressed the army, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly cold register. "I kill, and I'm done with it. Besides..."
His eyes flashed.
"...I need to harvest."
"Kill him!"
At War Noble Lie's command, the vanguard of the Iron Steed Army charged. Three hundred heavy cavalrymen, all elites with cultivation at the Provisional Palace realm, urged their beasts forward. Their spears lowered, creating a wall of steel and spirit energy capable of piercing a mountain.
The ground shook. The disciples screamed.
Ling Feng didn't summon a treasure. He didn't circulate a merit law. He just smirked.
"Chaos Spear."
He snapped his fingers.
Snap.
The air above Ling Feng distorted violently. Hundreds of lances made of green, hard-light energy materialized instantly. They didn't hum like Qi; they buzzed with the high-pitched whine of unstable reality.
"Fire."
Thwip-Thwip-Thwip-Thwip!
It sounded like suppressed gunfire. The Chaos Spears launched.
[Trait: Absolute Force – Physical strikes ignore 50% of defense. Energy projection density increased by 500%.]
The Iron Steed Army raised their heavy shields, reinforced with defensive Dao runes. Against normal cultivators, these shields were impenetrable.
Against Chaos Energy? They were wet tissue paper.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
The sound of meat being pierced filled the air.
In a fraction of a second, the charge ended. Three hundred cavalrymen and their mounts collapsed in unison, sliding forward on the bloody pavement. Each one had a cauterized, fist-sized hole through their forehead and armor.
Silence. Absolute, terrified silence.
War Noble Lie's eyes bulged. "What... what sort of sorcery..."
"Defense penetration, bro," Ling Feng dusted his hands. "Your armor is cosmetic. It has zero stats against me."
"Archer formation! Rain death upon him!" Lie shrieked, fear clawing at his heart.
Thousands of arrows, burning with runic fire, blotted out the sun.
Ling Feng looked up at the rain of steel. "Cute."
[Green Chaos Emerald – Chaos Control]
"Zero coordinates."
A sphere of green light expanded from Ling Feng's body. As the arrows entered the sphere, physics simply clocked out. They stopped. Not hovered—stopped. Kinetic energy: deleted. They hung in the air like a glitch in a video game.
Ling Feng waved his hand dismissively. "Return to sender."
The arrows spun 180 degrees. Then, they accelerated back towards the army at triple the speed.
"Defend! Fate Palaces!" War Noble Lie screamed.
A massive Fate Palace rose above his head, surging with the power of the Grand Dao, summoning a flame shield to cover his troops. But the arrows were just a distraction.
While the army panicked, Ling Feng vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of War Noble Lie's floating horse, hovering in the air without any visible support.
"You..." Lie gasped, reaching for his sword.
"You know," Ling Feng said conversationally, hovering inches from the Noble's face. "I was gonna ask who sent you. But then I looked at Cao Xiong's face and he looks like he just crapped his pants. Spoilers, I guess."
"DIE!" War Noble Lie thrust his sword, a strike containing the full, river-splitting power of a Royal Noble.
Ling Feng caught the blade. With two fingers.
Clang.
The shockwave decimated the nearby troops, flattening them into paste. But Ling Feng didn't move an inch. The Chaos Force reinforced his skin to be harder than Divine Metal.
"Weak," Ling Feng whispered, his eyes flashing red. "Your build is trash."
He released the sword and clenched his fist. The [Red Chaos Emerald] flared within his Inner Void.
"Chaos... Blast."
He punched War Noble Lie in the chest.
It wasn't a martial arts punch. It was a detonation.
An expanding dome of red annihilation energy erupted from the point of impact. There was no scream. War Noble Lie, his divine armor, his Scaledfire Stallion, and his majestic Fate Palace were instantly vaporized.
The blast wave continued backward, carving a cone of absolute emptiness through the army formation, erasing everything in its path for three miles.
When the red light faded, War Noble Lie was gone. In his place floated a single, large, glowing Golden Ring.
Ling Feng grabbed the ring. "One life acquired."
He turned his gaze to the remaining soldiers.
"Run!" someone screamed. "He's a devil! Run!"
"No running," Ling Feng said coldly. "I need to farm."
He raised both hands to the sky. "Chaos Storm."
Green bolts of lightning, branching like fractals, rained from the heavens. It was a massacre. Within ten breaths, the glorious army of the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom was reduced to ash and silence.
Floating above the carnage were thousands of smaller golden rings. Ling Feng inhaled deeply, and the rings flew toward him with a melodic chime-chime-chime, absorbing into his body.
He landed back on the plaza, his clothes spotless.
He walked past the petrified Gu Tieshou and stopped in front of Cao Xiong and Dong Shenglong. The two conspirators were shaking so violently their teeth rattled. They had plotted to use a tiger to kill a wolf, but the wolf turned out to be a Primordial God from the chaotic void.
"L-Ling Feng..." Cao Xiong stammered, falling to his knees in a puddle of his own making. "I... I can explain. It was a misunderstanding! I was trying to save the sect! It was a ruse!"
"Gaslighting? Really?" Ling Feng looked down at him with genuine pity. "That's toxic behavior, Elder. We don't do that here."
"Spare me!" Dong Shenglong wailed, kowtowing until his forehead bled. "I was forced! I—"
"Shh." Ling Feng put a finger to his lips. "You guys are giving me a headache. Just turn into good little rings."
He placed a hand on each of their heads.
[Chaos Drive: Drain]
"NOOO—"
The screams were cut short as their bodies withered rapidly. Their cultivation, their blood essence, their plotting minds—all were forcibly extracted and compressed.
Pop.
Two large Golden Rings appeared in Ling Feng's hands. The traitors crumbled into dust and blew away in the wind.
Ling Feng tossed the rings in the air and caught them. "Excellent."
Every single disciple, every Elder, including the usually stoic Li Shuangyan, was staring at him with eyes wide enough to fall out of their sockets. They looked at the crater, the vanished army, and then at the young man who was checking his fingernails.
Ling Feng smiled—a genuine, dazzling smile that felt completely out of place in the slaughterhouse he had just created.
"Alright, show's over, folks! Clean up on aisle... everywhere. I'm gonna go level up. Don't disturb me unless pizza is involved."
He winked at Li Shuangyan, whose jaw was still slightly unhinged. "Coming, Shuangyan? We still have training to do."
As he walked away, whistling a tune that no one in this world recognized, the silence of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was finally broken by the sound of Xu Pei fainting from pure, unadulterated awe.