The dust of the slaughter had barely settled, yet the air atop Lonely Peak felt strangely divorced from the carnage below.
While the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was drowning in the metallic stench of blood and the terrified whispers of disciples witnessing a massacre, the peak itself was tranquil, save for the hum of an anomaly.
Ling Feng sat cross-legged on the floating granite slab he called a bed. He didn't look like a cultivator meditating on the Grand Dao; he looked like a man lounging on a Sunday afternoon, utterly unbothered by the fact that he had just annihilated a legion and turned a Royal Noble into a distinct lack of existence.
Xu Pei knelt beside him, her small hands trembling as she wiped sweat from his brow with a silk handkerchief. Her eyes, usually timid, were now wide with a fanatical sort of reverence. To her, Ling Feng wasn't just a Young Noble; he was a god who had walked out of a myth to protect her.
Li Shuangyan stood a few paces away. The descendant of the Nine Saint Demon Gate, usually cold as a glacier and sharp as a divine sword, looked as if her entire worldview had been put through a blender. Her hand rested on her sword hilt, not out of aggression, but out of a desperate need to hold onto something solid.
"You killed a Royal Noble," Li Shuangyan's voice was hollow, stripping away her usual icy arrogance. "With a single punch. And you executed an Elder of the sect without a trial. The Grand Middle Territory... the news will spread by sunrise. The repercussions will be catastrophic."
"Let 'em cope," Ling Feng murmured, eyes closed, his breathing rhythmic. "If they have a problem with it, they can come file a complaint with my fist. I'm busy."
He turned his attention inward, diving into the infinite darkness of his Inner Void.
The harvest was bountiful. The souls of the Iron Steed Army, the cultivation of Cao Xiong and Dong Shenglong, and the massive, dense energy of War Noble Lie—it was all swirling inside him.
In a normal cultivator, this amalgamation of foreign blood energy and resentful wills would cause a cultivation deviation instantly, exploding their body into a mist of gore.
But Ling Feng did not possess a mortal body. He possessed the Primal Chaos Genesis Physique.
Deep within his dantian, the chaotic vortex spun. It was not one of the twelve Immortal Physiques that adhered to the laws of this universe. It was an alien hunger. It didn't just endure the chaotic energy; it feasted on it. The screams of the fallen cultivators were silenced, ground down into pure, unadulterated fuel.
'System check,' Ling Feng thought, his consciousness surveying the landscape of his soul. 'I have Space (Green). I have Power (Red). I can move anywhere, and I can hit harder than anyone. But I'm missing the engine. I'm running on a battery that's going to drain if I keep spamming ultimates.'
He visualized the concept of the Yellow Chaos Emerald.
In the lore of his previous life, the Yellow Emerald wasn't just a rock; it was a conduit. It represented energy, lightning, the magnetic fields that bound reality together. It was the infinite dynamo.
"Condense."
The command wasn't spoken; it was willed with the force of a hammer strike against the anvil of his soul.
The thousands of Golden Rings floating in his Inner Void began to burn. They dissolved into streams of golden light, rushing toward a singularity point next to the Red and Green Emeralds.
Rumble.
A sound erupted from inside Ling Feng's body, audible even to the two women watching him. It wasn't the roar of a beast or the chanting of a sutra. It was the low, dangerous hum of a high-voltage transformer, amplified a billion times.
Inside his Inner Void, the golden light compressed. It grew dense, heavy, and volatile. The laws of the Emperor's Domination universe tried to reject it, but the Chaos Force simply overwrote them.
A brilliant, faceted Yellow Gemstone materialized, spinning with terrifying velocity.
[Yellow Chaos Emerald: Condensed] [Mastery: Energy Manipulation / Lightning / Magnetism] [Effect: Grants dominion over the electromagnetic spectrum. Infinite stamina regeneration. Absorption of energy-based attacks converted directly into Rings.]
BOOM!
A pillar of yellow light erupted from Ling Feng's body, blasting straight through the non-existent roof of his hut and piercing the clouds above the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect.
The atmospheric pressure on Lonely Peak plummeted. Static electricity danced across the rocks. Xu Pei's hair stood on end, and small sparks jumped from Li Shuangyan's scabbard.
Ling Feng's cultivation base, which had been lazily sitting at the Provisional Palace realm, roared to life. The dam broke.
Provisional Palace Peak. Inner Longevity... Low... Mid... High. Heaven's Mandate... Breakthrough!
In the cultivation world, moving from Inner Longevity to Heaven's Mandate required expanding the Life Wheel and etching the truths of the heavens into one's very bones. It was a process that took geniuses years.
Ling Feng did it in a blink.
The barriers between realms shattered like cheap glass. He didn't step over the threshold; he bulldozed it with a monster truck.
Ling Feng opened his eyes.
There were no pupils, only pools of crackling yellow lightning that illuminated the dim room. He stood up, and the air around him screamed, arcs of raw electricity jumping between his fingers—not the elemental lightning of a Dao Law, but the raw Chaos Force manifesting as localized storms.
"Level up," Ling Feng grinned, the electricity fading from his eyes to reveal that familiar, amused glint. He flexed his hand, watching yellow arcs dance between his knuckles. "Infinite battery acquired. Now we're cooking with gas."
He turned his gaze to Li Shuangyan.
The Goddess of the Nine Saint Demon Gate felt a primal instinct scream at her to run. The pressure radiating from him wasn't just heavy; it was predatory. It felt like standing in front of a thunderstorm that had developed a personality.
"Hey, Shuangyan." Ling Feng walked toward her. His gait was loose, casual, completely at odds with the terrifying aura he was leaking.
"Y-Yes?" Li Shuangyan took a step back, her composure fracturing. She was a genius, a woman who had seen Kings and Nobles bow, but this... this was different.
Ling Feng stopped inches from her, invading her personal space with the confidence of a man who owned the very air they breathed. He reached out. Li Shuangyan flinched, her hand tightening on her sword, but she didn't draw it.
He didn't attack. He simply tucked a stray strand of raven-black hair behind her ear.
Zap.
A tiny static shock stung her earlobe. It wasn't painful, but it was startlingly intimate.
"You stuck up for me back there," Ling Feng said softly. His voice had dropped the loud, brash tone he used for his enemies. It was low, resonant, and shockingly genuine. "I heard you. When War Noble Lie was barking, you were ready to draw that pretty sword of yours against the entire Heavenly Jewel Kingdom."
Li Shuangyan felt heat rise in her cheeks, a sensation she hadn't felt in years. "It was... my duty," she stammered, trying to reclaim her dignity. "My Patriarch ordered me to follow you. If you die, my mission fails."
"Nah." Ling Feng leaned in closer. She could smell the ozone on him, mixed with a crisp, masculine scent. "That wasn't orders. That was you. I like loyalty, Shuangyan. In a world full of snakes and backstabbers, that's a high-tier trait."
He winked, a playful smirk curling his lips. "Stick with me. I'm gonna take you places where the view is way better than this dump. We're talking apex of the Nine Worlds. Maybe even punch the High Heavens in the face for fun."
Li Shuangyan's heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. She was confused. He was a brute, a killer, a man who spoke in nonsense riddles and treated sacred cultivation like a game. But standing in his shadow, feeling the hum of his infinite power, she felt... safe. Safer than she had ever felt in her fortified sect.
"I..." She lowered her gaze, unable to meet his electric eyes. "I am your sword follower. Where the sword points, I will follow."
Ling Feng chuckled, a warm sound that vibrated in his chest. He reached out and wrapped a strong arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Before she could protest, he scooped up a squeaking Xu Pei with his other arm.
"Good answer. Now, we need to fix the roof. But first..."
He looked out at the horizon, his eyes narrowing slightly as he calculated. 'Three Emeralds down. Four to go. War Noble Lie was a decent snack, but if I want to max out my build, I need to hunt bigger game. The Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom, maybe? Or perhaps that hidden boss in the Evil Infested Ridge?'
"First, we sleep," Ling Feng announced, dragging the two stunned beauties toward the bed. "Being a god is exhausting, and my stamina bar needs a recharge."
"Y-Young Noble!" Xu Pei giggled, her face red as a tomato as she was squished between Ling Feng and the stiff Li Shuangyan.
"Cuddle puddle. Mandatory. No arguments," Ling Feng declared, flopping back onto the bed and pulling them down with him.
Li Shuangyan stiffened, lying rigid as a board, but she didn't pull away. As Ling Feng's breathing evened out, and Xu Pei snuggled contentedly into his chest, the icy goddess allowed herself to relax, just a fraction.
Ling Feng stared up at the stars visible through his missing roof. This world was violent, cruel, and obsessed with face.
But for a Hedgehog—or a guy with the powers of one—it was just a playground.
...
Three Days Later
The atmosphere within the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect had shifted fundamentally.
For millennia, the sect had been a dying old man, wheezing on the glory of Patriarch Min Ren. Today, the air didn't smell of incense and decay; it smelled of ozone and fresh blood. The disciples walked with their heads lower, but their eyes sharper. They had seen the impossible.
Not a single voice was raised regarding the execution of Cao Xiong. In the cultivation world, the strong were respected, and the weak were meat. Ling Feng was the strong. He was the law.
However, peace was a luxury the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect could not afford.
The sky darkened.
It wasn't the metallic gloom of an army this time. It was a suffocating purple haze that rolled in from the east, blotting out the sun. A singular pressure descended, heavier and far more refined than War Noble Lie's brutal killing intent.
Neigh!
A chariot tore through the clouds, pulled by two Flood Dragon-Horses. Their scales shimmered with azure light, and their hooves trod upon thunder. The chariot itself was cast from Violet Gold, radiating a nobility that demanded submission.
Gu Tieshou, standing by the ruined main gate, looked up with a grimace. His face lost all color.
"The Violet Mountain Noble," he whispered, his voice trembling. "One of the Mortal King's most trusted envoys. He carries the Royal Decree. This... this is the will of the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom itself."
The chariot descended, hovering arrogantly above the main plaza. A man stepped out. He wore robes embroidered with majestic purple mountains, and his aura felt as heavy as a mountain range. He didn't look at the disciples; he looked at the rubble, and then at Gu Tieshou, with the disdain one reserves for insects.
"Where is the criminal, Ling Feng?"
The Violet Mountain Noble's voice wasn't loud, but it resonated in the dantian of every living being within ten miles. It was a technique of the Royal Nobles—Voice of the Ruling Class.
"And where is Gu Tieshou? Receive the Amnesty Decree."
Gu Tieshou stepped forward, sweat soaking his back. He bowed deeply, his joints creaking under the Noble's pressure. "This old man is here. Noble, regarding the conflict... it was self-defense..."
"Silence."
The Violet Mountain Noble interrupted, unrolling a scroll made of woven golden silk. "The Mortal King is benevolent. Although your disciple Ling Feng committed a heinous crime—slaughtering a Noble and destroying a battalion—the King values the history of this sect. We offer amnesty."
He sneered, a cruel twist of his lips. "Ling Feng will be stripped of his cultivation. His limbs will be severed, and he will be delivered to the capital to beg for forgiveness for the rest of his miserable life. Furthermore, the Sect must hand over the Emperor's possession—the Portrait of Patriarch Min Ren—as compensation. In exchange, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect will be allowed to exist under our supervision."
A ripple of outrage and horror went through the disciples.
Stripped of limbs? Hand over the Patriarch's portrait? That portrait was the soul of the sect! This wasn't amnesty; this was slavery. It was total capitulation.
"Hey, Purple Guy."
The voice cut through the heavy, suffocating tension like a hot knife through butter. It was jarringly casual, completely lacking the trembling fear the Noble was accustomed to.
High above the plaza, atop the massive stone statue of Immortal Emperor Min Ren, sat Ling Feng.
He was leaning back against the Emperor's stone hair, one leg dangling over the statue's forehead. In his hand was a Spirit Fruit he had pilfered from the medicine garden.
Crunch.
Ling Feng took a loud, juicy bite, chewing with his mouth open.
"You're blocking my sun," Ling Feng called down, swallowing the fruit. "And your voice? Super annoying. Did you come here just to yap, or are you actually going to do something interesting?"
The Violet Mountain Noble's eyes narrowed. He looked up, his face twisting in disbelief. "You... You are the animal, Ling Feng? You dare sit on the Patriarch's statue? Such blasphemy! You court death!"
"Blasphemy is relative, my guy," Ling Feng replied, tossing the apple core. It bounced off the statue's nose and fell toward the plaza. "Min Ren wouldn't mind. He seems like a chill dude. Unlike you. You come into my house, threaten my people, and ask for my limbs? That's kinda cringe, bro. Major small dick energy."
The disciples gasped. Gu Tieshou looked like he was about to have a heart attack. No one spoke to a Royal Noble like that. No one.
"Die!"
The Violet Mountain Noble didn't waste words on a madman. He pointed a finger at the statue.
"Violet Mountain Art: Weight of the Earth!"
BOOM!
The sky groaned. A massive, spectral purple mountain manifested above Ling Feng. It wasn't an illusion; it was the condensed weight of a leyline, summoned by the Noble's Fate Palace. It crashed down, intending to crush Ling Feng and the statue into dust.
The pressure was immense. Disciples in the plaza fell to their knees, vomiting blood as the gravity wave hit them.
Ling Feng didn't move. He didn't even look up. He just sighed, looking bored.
[Green Chaos Emerald – Chaos Control]
"Control."
Vwoom.
The sound of reality warping echoed across the sect.
The massive purple mountain froze. It didn't just stop falling; it ceased to interact with the flow of time. It hung ten feet above Ling Feng's head, suspended in invisible amber. The dust motes around it stopped moving.
"What?" The Violet Mountain Noble's eyes bulged. "Impossible! That is the weight of a mountain range! How can you—"
Ling Feng stood up on top of Min Ren's head and stretched his arms, cracking his back.
"You guys rely too much on these flashy, oversized magical constructs," Ling Feng lectured, shaking his head. "It's like you're overcompensating. Physics is a suggestion, not a rule."
He pointed a finger at the Noble.
"My turn. Check this out."
[Yellow Chaos Emerald – Thunder Mastery]
The air suddenly smelled of burnt ozone. The sky turned a sickly, radioactive yellow.
"Thunder."
It wasn't a technique. It was a command to the electrons in the atmosphere.
A bolt of yellow lightning, thick as a flood dragon, didn't fall from the sky—it erupted from Ling Feng's chest.
CRACK-BOOM!
The sound shattered windows across the sect. The lightning struck the frozen purple mountain, shattering the solidified Dao Laws into motes of harmless light instantly.
But the bolt didn't stop there. It arced downward, a jagged spear of Chaos, and slammed into the Violet Mountain Noble's chariot.
The defensive barriers—treasures worth entire cities, inscribed with the protection of the Mortal King—popped like soap bubbles.
SCREECH!
The Flood Dragon-Horses were vaporized instantly, leaving only ash. The Violet Gold chariot exploded into shrapnel.
"GAH!" The Violet Mountain Noble vomited a mouthful of essence blood, his body blasted backward into the earth of the plaza, creating a crater ten meters deep.
Silence. Absolute, terrified silence reigned.
"Damn it! Damn you!" The Noble staggered to his feet, his majestic robes tattered and smoking. His hair was wild, his eyes bloodshot. He reached into his sleeve and pulled out the golden scroll again.
"You force my hand! Kneel before the Royal Will!"
He bit his tongue and sprayed blood onto the scroll.
HUMMM.
The scroll flared with blinding golden light. A terrifying aura emerged—the aura of a Mortal King, a ruler of millions. A massive golden character for "SUBMIT" rose into the sky, pressing down with the authority of the nation's destiny. The laws of the Grand Dao wove together to form a cage, commanding all living beings to kowtow.
Gu Tieshou and the disciples were forced flat onto the ground, unable to even lift their heads. The suppression of a King was absolute.
Ling Feng looked at the golden light. He looked at the crushing weight of the Royal Will.
"Man," Ling Feng sighed, looking disappointed. "You guys are so extra with your glow-sticks. Always with the kneeling. I don't kneel."
He raised a single finger. The air around him distorted, turning red.
[Red Chaos Emerald – Power Mastery]
"Sit. Down."
Ling Feng swiped his finger downward.
CRACK.
It wasn't a cultivation technique. It was the imposition of absolute physical dominance. The Red Chaos Emerald granted the trait Absolute Force. It didn't care about authority, destiny, or the "Will of the King." It only cared about mass and acceleration.
The air above the Violet Mountain Noble turned into a solid hammer of gravity.
The golden character "SUBMIT" shattered like fragile porcelain. The "Royal Will" disintegrated into smoke.
"ARGH!"
The Violet Mountain Noble was flattened. He was pressed into the bottom of the crater, his bones snapping like dry twigs under the invisible foot of a giant.
Ling Feng jumped down from the statue, landing heavily on the rim of the crater. He walked over and placed a boot on the Noble's heaving chest.
"Stay down," Ling Feng said, looking down at the broken mess of a man. "This is getting embarrassing. I'm getting second-hand embarrassment just watching you fail."
"You... you cannot kill me!" The Violet Mountain Noble coughed, blood staining his teeth crimson. Terror finally eclipsed his arrogance. "I represent the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom! We have a deal regarding the Evil Infested Ridge! If you kill me, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect loses its share! You will be locked out of the treasury!"
"The Evil Infested Ridge?" Ling Feng paused.
His mind flashed back to the novel. Right. The starter dungeon. The Ghost Pavilion. The insects. The Godly Wood.
"Yes!" The Noble saw the hesitation and grasped at the straw. "Negotiate! We can give you... thirty percent of the entry tokens! We—"
"I don't do percentages," Ling Feng leaned down, his face inches from the Noble's terror-stricken eyes. His voice was cold, devoid of the earlier humor. "And I don't negotiate with people who try to take my limbs. I'll take the Ridge myself when I feel like it. I'll kick down the door and take everything. Why would I share with a corpse?"
"You—"
"As for you..." Ling Feng's eyes glowed with that terrifying yellow light again.
"Get lost."
He pulled his leg back and kicked the Noble.
[Trait: Absolute Force]
CRUNCH.
The kick connected with the Noble's ribs. The sound was sickeningly wet.
The Violet Mountain Noble was launched—literally launched—out of the crater, out of the plaza, and out of the sect. He flew over the horizon like a home-run baseball, a screaming purple comet leaving a trail of blood and shattered pride across the sky.
Twinkle.
He vanished into the distance.
Ling Feng dusted off his robe, checking for dirt. "Team Rocket blasting off again," he muttered to himself.
He turned back to the stunned disciples and a pale, trembling Gu Tieshou who was slowly picking himself up from the ground.
"See?" Ling Feng dusted his hands theatrically. "Trash takes itself out. Now, who wants to help me make an actual good defensive formation? Yours sucks. Seriously, a stiff breeze could knock this place over."
His response was met with silence. Thousands of eyes stared at him, struggling to comprehend that their Prime Disciple had just punted a Royal Envoy into the stratosphere and shattered the Royal Will of the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom like it was a cheap toy.
Ling Feng just chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Sheesh. Tough crowd. Keep staring at me like that, and I might blush..."
From the side, Li Shuangyan let out a long, shaky sigh, her hand falling from her sword hilt. "This man... he really is a calamity."
But beside her, Xu Pei watched Ling Feng with shining eyes, letting out a cute, enamored giggle. To her, he wasn't a calamity. He was the storm that cleared the sky.
"Alright, show's over!" Ling Feng clapped his hands. "Go cultivate! Get strong! Or else the next guy who shows up might actually have a backbone!"
As the disciples scrambled to obey, terrified and inspired in equal measure, Ling Feng looked toward the east, toward the Evil Infested Ridge.
'Soon.' he thought, a predatory smile spreading across his face. 'Very Soon.'