Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist

Two full cycles of the moon had passed since the complete capitulation of the Crimson Tide Guild, plunging the sprawling, neon-lit streets of Abyssal Pearl City into an era of unprecedented, absolute order. Located on the affluent eastern shores of Sea-Moon Island, the city functioned flawlessly under the firm, unyielding grip of City Lord Lin Wanyue. To the mortal residents and the countless low-level wandering martial artists who crowded the harbor districts, the transition of power appeared seamless. The markets thrived, the defensive arrays hummed with deep-earth spiritual energy, and the local guard patrols operated with rigid discipline.

However, deep underground, far beneath the opulent white-jade halls of the City Lord’s estate, the true sovereign of the territory held court in absolute silence.

The central command chamber was enveloped within a massive, complex Void-Sealing Hexagram Array. The high-tier formation lines, carved directly into the deep-sea obsidian floor, pulsed with a faint, steady silver light. The array completely absorbed all sound, all spiritual fluctuations, and all thermal heat dispersion originating from within the room, ensuring that even a roaming Nascent Soul expert would perceive nothing but solid bedrock.

Wang Jian sat upon a heavy, high-backed chair carved from dark sea-stone, his immaculate white scholarly robes cascading over the armrests. His dark, starlit eyes were calm, observing the massive stone table before him where countless trade scrolls and regional maps were spread out in meticulous order.

Standing directly across the table, Shangguan Wan’er meticulously calculated the incoming spirit stone yields from their newly secured monopolies. She wore a tight, dark blue merchant gown that perfectly accentuated her exceptionally thick, hourglass figure, her long fingers sliding the heavy water-pearl beads of her Celestial-Tide Abacus with practiced, rhythmic precision.

The heavy ironwood doors of the chamber suddenly groaned inward, pushed open by a pair of trembling hands.

Lin Wanyue stepped into the room. She wore her dignified purple and gold City Lord robes, the heavy silk straining across the sheer volume of her massive breasts with every rapid breath she took. Her mature, beautiful face was completely drained of color, her sapphire eyes wide with profound, undeniable terror. Clutched tightly in her right hand was a glowing, pale blue transmission jade slip bearing the unmistakable crest of a cresting wave—the supreme symbol of the Myriad Ocean Palace.

”Master,” Lin Wanyue gasped, her voice shaking violently as she crossed the obsidian floor and dropped directly to her knees before Wang Jian’s chair. She bowed her head, holding the glowing jade slip up with both hands. ”An official edict has just pierced the outer communication barriers of the city. It carries a supreme priority seal.”

Wang Jian did not immediately reach for the slip. He leaned back slightly, resting his chin on his knuckles. ”You are trembling, City Lord. The Crimson Tide Guild and the Silver Gale Sect have been entirely eradicated from this island. You hold absolute authority. What words could possibly strip the blood from your face?”

”It is not the local factions, Master,” Lin Wanyue replied, struggling to keep her breathing steady as the searing heat of the Crimson Sun-Marrow Flame within her Dantian reacted to her severe emotional distress, warming the heavy silk of her robes. ”The Myriad Ocean Palace has finally noticed the prolonged silence regarding my late husband, Hai Kuo. They have officially rejected my written reports claiming he died during an ordinary deep-sea expedition.”

Shangguan Wan’er stopped calculating, her pale blue eyes narrowing as she looked up from her abacus. ”They are sending an audit?”

”Far worse,” Lin Wanyue swallowed hard, her full lips trembling. ”The jade slip confirms that the Palace Master has dispatched a heavy auditing fleet directly from the central domain. The fleet is massive, consisting of three fully armed Azure Dreadnoughts. They are led by Inquisitor Bai Zhentian.”

The name hung in the quiet, sealed air of the chamber like a heavy executioner’s blade.

”Inquisitor Bai Zhentian,” Shangguan Wan’er murmured, her mind rapidly accessing the vast intelligence networks of the Golden Tide Consortium. ”He is an ancient, deeply entrenched enforcer for the Myriad Ocean Palace. He possesses an Initial Stage Nascent Soul cultivation base. His primary mandate is to root out corruption, treason, and unauthorized successions across the outer islands. If he docks his fleet in our harbor, he will not simply read our ledgers. He will execute soul-searching arts on the elder council. He will tear this city apart stone by stone until he uncovers the truth.”

”If he arrives, our absolute control over this city will be entirely exposed,” Lin Wanyue wept softly, her shoulders shaking. ”He will sense the lingering traces of your Stellar Demonic Qi. He will realize the Fragrance Melody Sect occupies the four premium islands without Palace authorization. He possesses the authority to summon a supreme subjugation force to burn this city to the bedrock.”

Wang Jian slowly extended his hand, taking the glowing pale blue jade slip from her trembling fingers. He crushed the slip in his palm, the brittle jade shattering into fine dust that drifted down onto his white robes.

He did not show a single trace of panic. His expression remained a mask of cold, flawless calculation.

”An Initial Stage Nascent Soul old monster,” Wang Jian stated, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that completely lacked fear. ”A predictable, arrogant response from an empire that believes its borders are secure. They send a single inquisitor, assuming his sheer realm superiority will force absolute compliance from a border city.”

”Master, we must prepare the defenses,” Lin Wanyue urged, looking up at him desperately. ”We can summon Yue Lingshan to weave massive concealment arrays over the inner estate. We can hide the core disciples deep underground—”

”We will do no such thing, Wanyue,” Wang Jian interrupted smoothly. He reached down, his large hand gently cupping her warm, soft cheek, his thumb brushing away a stray tear. ”Defensive posture invites closer scrutiny. If we hide, we leave a trail of displaced spiritual energy. If we fight him here, the sheer thermal heat dispersion and physical devastation of a Nascent Soul battle will shatter this city’s foundations, rendering our prize worthless.”

Shangguan Wan’er stepped around the heavy stone table, her merchant mind aligning instantly with her Master’s predatory logic. ”You intend to stop the fleet before they ever reach our waters.”

”Precisely,” Wang Jian smiled, his starlit eyes gleaming with profound, far-reaching ambition. ”The Myriad Ocean Palace believes they are sending an auditor through safe, domestic shipping lanes. They have completely forgotten that the oceans are currently boiling with war.”

Wang Jian withdrew his hand from Lin Wanyue’s cheek. He reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a jagged, pitch-black transmission talisman. The artifact was carved from the bone of a deep-sea demon, heavily inscribed with dark red runic lines that pulsed in rhythm with his own Stellar Demonic Qi.

This specific talisman was bound directly to the soul of his most valuable, deeply embedded espionage asset.

Months ago, deep within the ruined core of the Profound Iron True Monarch’s tomb, Wang Jian had enslaved the ancient, possessing spirit known as the Yin Severing True Monarch. He had placed the spirit inside the stolen, heavily modified corpse of a blood-cultivator named Xue Li, ordering the entity to infiltrate the Azure Blood Sect and ultimately monitor the supreme commanders of the Holy Nether Sea Organization.

Wang Jian injected a highly concentrated thread of his heavy Demonic Qi directly into the black bone talisman.

”True Monarch,” Wang Jian spoke into the artifact, his tone carrying the absolute, crushing weight of a master addressing his hound. ”Report your exact geographical coordinates and your current operational status within the demonic alliance.”

For a long, heavy moment, the talisman remained silent, the ambient spiritual arrays of the chamber absorbing the faint crackle of spatial friction as the connection bridged hundreds of miles of open ocean.

Then, a harsh, grating voice echoed from the dark bone.

”Master,” the Yin Severing True Monarch replied, the stolen vocal cords of Elder Xue Li sounding thick with the scent of dried blood and salt. ”I am currently stationed aboard the ’Crimson Scythe’, a heavy bone-forged warship belonging to the Azure Blood Sect. We are operating as a spearhead patrol fleet under the overarching banner of the Holy Nether Sea Organization. We are currently navigating the turbulent currents approximately four hundred miles east of the Obsidian Strait.”

”What is your current rank within the sect?” Wang Jian demanded.

”I have successfully established myself as the First Senior Elder, Master,” the True Monarch reported. ”I have completely digested the lingering memories and the residual blood-arts of this mortal vessel. However, I have not yet assassinated the Sect Leader to seize total control. The demonic alliance is highly paranoid regarding internal power struggles during active military campaigns. If I kill the Sect Leader now, the supreme commanders will execute me for treason. I am forced to play the role of an obedient, highly aggressive elder until an opportunity presents itself.”

”That opportunity has just arrived,” Wang Jian declared coldly. ”An auditing fleet belonging to the Myriad Ocean Palace is currently charting a course from the central domain toward Abyssal Pearl City. The fleet consists of three Azure Dreadnoughts. It is commanded by Inquisitor Bai Zhentian, an Initial Stage Nascent Soul expert.”

Wang Jian leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. ”Their logistical route will force them to navigate directly through the Obsidian Strait within the next three days. You will manipulate your current fleet. You will alter your patrol route. You will intercept the auditing fleet within the strait, and you will slaughter every single living soul aboard those ships. You will ensure the Myriad Ocean Palace believes this was a random, tragic casualty of the ongoing war.”

The black talisman vibrated heavily, the ancient spirit on the other end absorbing the monumental weight of the command.

”Master,” the True Monarch hesitated slightly, a note of genuine caution bleeding into his grating voice. ”The fleet I currently command consists of two bone-ships. I am accompanied by Elder Mo Jue and Elder Gui Yao. They are both at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm. We possess roughly three thousand heavily armed disciples. Against three Azure Dreadnoughts and a Nascent Soul Inquisitor... this mortal vessel I inhabit is currently only capable of exerting Half-Step Nascent Soul power without tearing its own meridians apart. Engaging an old monster directly is highly risky.”

”I am not asking you to engage him in an honorable duel, you ancient parasite,” Wang Jian replied ruthlessly. ”I am ordering you to utilize your supreme, ancient combat experience to orchestrate an overwhelming ambush. Use the environment. Use sacrificial blood-arts. Use the absolute arrogance of the righteous faction against them.”

Wang Jian paused, his voice dropping into a dark, incredibly tempting register.

”Furthermore,” Wang Jian added slowly. ”If you successfully execute this ambush, you will find yourself standing over the broken body of an Initial Stage Nascent Soul expert. You understand what that means, do you not? You may completely devour his Nascent Soul. You may absorb his centuries of refined vitality to forcefully repair the damaged foundation of your stolen vessel, entirely in secret, without alerting your demonic superiors. I am handing you the exact nourishment you require to elevate your status within the Holy Nether Sea Organization.”

A heavy, profound silence hung over the connection. The sheer, overwhelming greed of the ancient spirit warring with the tactical danger of the mission.

”I understand completely, Master,” the Yin Severing True Monarch finally replied, his grating voice now dripping with a dark, ravenous hunger. ”I will manipulate the elders. We will set the trap in the Obsidian Strait. Inquisitor Bai Zhentian will not live to see the shores of Sea-Moon Island.”

”Do not fail me,” Wang Jian commanded, severing the connection abruptly.

He placed the black bone talisman back into his spatial ring, resting his hands flat upon the obsidian table. He looked at Lin Wanyue, whose face had regained a fraction of its color.

”The external threat has been addressed,” Wang Jian stated calmly. ”Return to your administrative duties, City Lord. The Myriad Ocean Palace will soon receive a highly tragic report regarding their missing fleet, and they will blame the demonic alliance for the atrocity. We will remain entirely above suspicion.”

---

Four hundred miles away, the heavy, bone-forged warship known as the Crimson Scythe carved violently through the churning, dark grey waters of the open ocean. The ship was a monstrous construction, its hull plated with the massive, interlocking ribcages of giant sea beasts, the bone bleached white by the harsh salt and stained dark red near the waterline from countless naval rams.

Elder Xue Li stood near the heavy iron helm on the upper deck. He wore thick, crimson robes that fluttered wildly in the biting sea wind. His physical appearance was gruesome; thick, pitch-black veins pulsed visibly along his neck and jawline, a physical side effect of the Yin Severing True Monarch forcing his ancient, highly dense soul into the inferior mortal vessel.

He stared out at the rolling, heavy waves, his mind racing with flawless tactical calculations. He needed to divert the fleet without arousing the suspicion of his peers.

”Elder Xue Li,” a sharp, hissing voice called out over the roar of the ocean.

Elder Mo Jue strode across the bone deck. He was a tall, incredibly gaunt man, his skin a sickly pale green from cultivating highly toxic poison arts. He carried a staff topped with a shrunken human skull. Following closely behind him was Elder Gui Yao, a heavily muscled woman whose bare arms were covered in glowing, blood-red runic tattoos.

”The perimeter scouts report nothing but empty water,” Elder Mo Jue complained, striking the butt of his staff against the deck. ”This patrol route assigned by the supreme commanders is a useless waste of our vitality. We have not encountered a single righteous supply convoy in ten days. My disciples are growing restless. They require fresh blood to refine their arts.”

”The Sect Leader ordered us to maintain the blockade line, Mo Jue,” Elder Gui Yao grunted, crossing her thick arms. ”If we deviate and leave our assigned grid, the Holy Nether Sea Organization will strip us of our resource stipends.”

Elder Xue Li turned away from the railing, his black, emotionless eyes locking onto his two peers.

”The Sect Leader’s vision is severely limited by his fear of the supreme commanders,” Xue Li spoke, his grating voice carrying a heavy, unnatural authority that demanded immediate attention. ”Maintaining an empty blockade achieves nothing but the slow starvation of our disciples. However, my personal divination arts have detected a massive, incredibly dense concentration of pure righteous spiritual energy moving steadily from the central domain.”

Mo Jue’s pale eyes narrowed. ”A supply convoy?”

”Far better,” Xue Li lied smoothly, weaving Wang Jian’s intelligence into a tempting narrative. ”It is an isolated, heavy auditing fleet belonging to the Myriad Ocean Palace. Three Azure Dreadnoughts. They are completely separated from their main armada, charting a course directly toward the outer islands. They are arrogant, assuming this region is secure.”

”Three dreadnoughts?” Gui Yao frowned, her heavy brow furrowing. ”That is a significant military force. They will certainly be commanded by a Nascent Soul expert. Engaging them directly is suicide for a Core Formation patrol fleet.”

”We will not engage them in open water,” Xue Li countered instantly, stepping closer to the two elders, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial growl. ”Look at their trajectory.” He pulled a physical map scroll from his robes, unfurling the heavy parchment across a wooden barrel. He pointed a long, pale finger at a specific, narrow passage of water.

”The Obsidian Strait,” Xue Li declared.

Mo Jue and Gui Yao stared at the map, their expressions shifting as they realized the geographical implications.

The Obsidian Strait was a treacherous, highly dangerous natural chokepoint. The ocean floor in that specific region violently thrust upward, creating a dense labyrinth of jagged, pitch-black rock formations that pierced the surface of the water like broken teeth. The localized spiritual environment was incredibly chaotic; high spatial friction completely disabled prolonged flight, forcing all vessels to navigate slowly, carefully, in a single-file line through the narrow, heavy waters.

”The fog in the strait is incredibly thick,” Xue Li continued, tapping the map. ”Their visual range will be reduced to a mere hundred paces. Their massive dreadnoughts will be entirely restricted by the narrow rock walls, rendering their broadside array cannons completely useless. If we position our two bone-ships at the exit of the strait and ambush them precisely as they navigate the most treacherous turn...”

”We trap them in a bottleneck,” Gui Yao realized, a vicious, blood-thirsty grin spreading across her face, exposing sharpened teeth. ”They cannot maneuver. They cannot flee.”

”Precisely,” Xue Li nodded. ”Furthermore, I possess a highly specialized, ancient sacrificial blood-art. If we bleed three hundred of our lowest-tier mortal slaves into the strait before they arrive, I can generate a highly corrosive, boiling blood-miasma that will completely blind their spiritual senses and rapidly rot the defensive barriers of their ships. By the time their Nascent Soul commander realizes he is under attack, his dreadnoughts will already be sinking.”

”And the wealth aboard those ships...” Mo Jue hissed, his green skin flushing with greed. ”The pure spirit stones, the high-grade medicinal pills intended for the border cities. If we present that loot to the Sect Leader, our status within the Azure Blood Sect will be untouchable.”

”We alter the course immediately,” Xue Li commanded, seizing absolute control of the patrol fleet’s direction. ”Set full sail for the Obsidian Strait. We prepare the slaughter.”

---

Three days later, the environment within the Obsidian Strait was a suffocating, oppressive nightmare.

Towering, jagged pillars of black rock rose hundreds of feet into the air, their surfaces slick with heavy, salty moisture. The ocean water between the rocks was a dark, bruising purple, violently churning and crashing against the stone with terrifying physical weight. A thick, impenetrable grey fog blanketed the entire region, severely limiting visibility and dampening all sound.

Moving slowly, agonizingly carefully through the narrow, treacherous passage was the Myriad Ocean Palace auditing fleet.

Three colossal Azure Dreadnoughts sailed in a tight, single-file line. Their hulls were forged from pristine, pale blue spirit-wood, reinforced with bands of deep-sea silver. Massive, interlocking runic arrays glowed faintly along the rails, projecting a continuous, heavy barrier of dense water-qi that deflected the chaotic splashing of the ocean.

Aboard the lead dreadnought, standing perfectly still near the grand bowsprit, was Inquisitor Bai Zhentian.

He was an imposing figure, a man who had cultivated his body and soul for over five hundred years. He wore immaculate, flowing robes of deep azure silk, entirely untouched by the sea spray. His silver hair was pulled back into a strict, tight topknot. He held a massive, incredibly heavy halberd forged from pure Abyssal Star-Iron, the blade resting casually against the deck. His Initial Stage Nascent Soul aura radiated outward in a slow, rhythmic pulse, easily suppressing the chaotic spatial friction of the strait.

”Report our bearing, Captain,” Bai Zhentian ordered, his voice carrying the calm, absolute authority of a man who had never faced a true defeat.

A Mid-Stage Core Formation captain hurried forward, bowing deeply. ”Inquisitor Bai, we are currently navigating the final, most narrow curve of the Obsidian Strait. The spatial friction is severe, but the hull arrays are holding perfectly. We will clear the jagged rocks and enter the open waters of the Sea-Moon sector within half an hour.”

Bai Zhentian nodded slowly, his eyes scanning the thick, swirling grey fog ahead.

”Maintain strict discipline,” the Inquisitor instructed. ”The silence from Abyssal Pearl City is deeply concerning. City Lord Lin Wanyue claims her husband died in a simple tomb exploration, yet the Golden Tide Consortium’s internal ledgers show massive, unexplained economic shifts over the last two months. Someone is lying. When we arrive, I will personally extract the truth from their souls.”

The captain bowed again. ”Understood, Inquisitor. Shall I increase the speed of the—”

The captain never finished his sentence.

Without a single sound of warning, the dark, bruising purple water of the ocean directly ahead of the lead dreadnought violently changed color.

In a fraction of a second, the water turned a sickly, glowing crimson red.

The physical temperature of the ocean spiked catastrophically. The water began to boil violently, massive bubbles of thick, hot steam erupting from the surface. The heavy, grey fog covering the strait was instantly displaced, replaced by a dense, suffocating cloud of highly corrosive, dark red blood-miasma.

”Enemy ambush!” the captain screamed, drawing his sword.

”Shields to maximum capacity!” Bai Zhentian roared, his calm demeanor shattering instantly as his Nascent Soul instincts flared with sudden, lethal warning.

Before the deck arrays could fully charge, the trap was sprung.

From the dense, boiling red mist ahead, two massive bone-forged warships surged forward on a direct collision course. They were not firing energy beams or magical projectiles; they were utilizing raw, devastating physical momentum.

The lead bone-ship, commanded by Elder Gui Yao, slammed its heavily reinforced, spiked bone-ram directly into the port-side bow of the first Azure Dreadnought.

The physical impact was apocalyptic.

The deafening screech of tearing spirit-wood and shattering silver plating echoed off the jagged black rocks of the strait. The raw physical weight of the massive bone-ship, propelled by hundreds of demonic cultivators pouring their Qi into the propulsion arrays, completely overwhelmed the structural integrity of the righteous vessel.

The Azure Dreadnought groaned violently, its massive hull buckling inward. Thousands of tons of heavy, turbulent ocean water immediately rushed into the lower decks, crushing the mortal sailors and low-level cultivators beneath the overwhelming fluid pressure.

”Demonic scum!” Inquisitor Bai Zhentian bellowed in pure fury.

He did not attempt to save the sinking bow. He kicked off the splintering deck, his heavy boots leaving deep craters in the wood. He launched himself through the boiling red mist, soaring directly toward the attacking bone-ship. He gripped his massive Abyssal Star-Iron halberd with both hands, channeling the entirety of his Initial Stage Nascent Soul Qi into the heavy blade.

He swung the halberd in a devastating, wide horizontal arc, aiming to cleave the entire upper deck of the bone-ship into the sea.

The sheer physical momentum of his strike displaced the heavy, corrosive air, creating a massive vacuum tunnel that tore the red mist apart.

Standing on the deck of the bone-ship, Elder Xue Li waited.

The Yin Severing True Monarch did not attempt to block the Nascent Soul strike with his inferior Core Formation body. Instead, he executed a flawless, ancient spatial displacement technique. He shifted his footing precisely three inches to the left, bending his knees to drastically lower his center of gravity.

The massive, heavy blade of the halberd tore through the space where Xue Li’s chest had been a millisecond prior. The raw kinetic force generated by the passing blade tore the crimson robes from Xue Li’s shoulders, the thermal friction blistering his pale skin, but the lethal edge missed entirely.

The halberd slammed into the heavy bone mast of the demonic warship instead. The incredibly dense sea-beast bone completely shattered under the weight of the Nascent Soul strike, exploding into a shower of lethal, razor-sharp bone shrapnel that tore through the ranks of the nearby demonic disciples, shredding flesh and puncturing lungs.

Bai Zhentian landed heavily on the deck of the bone-ship, the wooden planks groaning under his immense spiritual weight. He spun around, bringing his halberd up into a defensive guard, his eyes locking onto the strange, black-veined elder who had effortlessly dodged his ultimate strike.

”A Core Formation insect possesses such footwork?” Bai Zhentian snarled, his silver hair whipping wildly in the boiling wind. ”Who are you?”

”I am the architect of your burial, righteous dog,” Xue Li grated, drawing his weapon.

It was the Yin Severing Bone Blade, a slightly curved, jagged sword forged from the compressed spine of a deep-earth fiend. The blade radiated a freezing, heavy aura that aggressively fought against the boiling heat of the surrounding miasma.

All around them, the naval battle descended into absolute, brutal chaos.

The second bone-ship, led by Elder Mo Jue, had successfully rammed the second Azure Dreadnought. Thousands of demonic cultivators, their eyes glowing with blood-madness, swung across boarding ropes, crashing onto the decks of the righteous ships.

It was a clash of hard, unforgiving physics. Righteous sword cultivators formed strict, overlapping defensive rings, thrusting their slender blades in synchronized strikes. But the highly corrosive, boiling blood-miasma permeating the air was aggressively rotting their lungs with every breath they took. Their physical stamina depleted rapidly, their sword thrusts slowing as the heavy, toxic moisture filled their airways.

Demonic body-refiners, their skin hardened by blood-arts, ignored the glancing sword strikes. They threw their massive, heavy bodies directly into the righteous formations, utilizing their sheer physical weight to break the shield walls, tackling the exhausted swordmasters to the deck and ripping their throats out with bare teeth.

The third Azure Dreadnought, trapped entirely at the rear of the narrow strait, desperately attempted to reverse its engines, grinding its hull dangerously against the jagged black rocks, entirely unable to join the frontline slaughter.

On the deck of the first bone-ship, the duel of the commanders raged.

Bai Zhentian was a master of heavy, hydro-dynamic combat. He rotated his core, forcing a massive volume of the surrounding, heavy ocean water to rise from the surface, compressing it into a dense, rapidly spinning drill around the blade of his halberd.

He thrust the weapon forward. The sheer physical momentum of the compressed water-drill tore through the air, generating intense thermal friction that instantly vaporized the surrounding blood-mist.

Xue Li did not retreat. He anchored his heavy boots directly into the bone deck, his stance widening drastically to distribute the impending weight. He raised his Yin Severing Bone Blade horizontally, catching the thrusting point of the halberd directly on the flat of his jagged sword.

The collision produced a deafening acoustic boom that ruptured the eardrums of the battling disciples twenty paces away.

The raw, terrifying physical weight of the Nascent Soul strike transferred directly down the shaft of the bone blade, slamming into Xue Li’s arms. The mortal muscle fibers in his forearms tore violently under the extreme stress, dark blood seeping heavily from his pores. The bones in his wrists creaked, on the absolute verge of snapping.

However, the Yin Severing True Monarch possessed thousands of years of combat experience. He did not attempt to arrest the momentum; he seamlessly redirected it.

He twisted his wrists sharply, altering the angle of his blade by a fraction of a degree. The massive, heavy water-drill slid off the jagged edge of his sword, crashing violently into the deck of the bone-ship right beside his feet, shattering the thick bone plating and blasting a massive hole straight through to the lower hull.

Before Bai Zhentian could recover from the overextended thrust, Xue Li stepped inside his guard.

”Your water is heavy, but your technique is incredibly rigid,” Xue Li hissed, his breath hot and smelling of decay.

He channeled a highly concentrated, utterly invisible thread of his Master’s Stellar Demonic Qi directly into his left palm. He drove his palm forward, striking Bai Zhentian squarely in the center of his chest armor.

The impact did not shatter the armor. Instead, the heavy, incredibly dense Demonic Qi penetrated directly through the physical metal, injecting itself straight into Bai Zhentian’s spiritual sea.

The Inquisitor’s eyes bulged in absolute shock. The foreign, terrifyingly high-tier energy instantly paralyzed his Qi circulation. His Nascent Soul, sitting cross-legged within his Dantian, was suddenly bound by thick, heavy chains of black starlight, entirely cutting off his connection to his own power.

His physical body froze, entirely rigid, for one fatal second.

”Impossible...” Bai Zhentian gasped, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth as his immense strength vanished.

Xue Li did not waste a millisecond. He dropped his bone blade. He raised both of his hands, weaving a rapid, highly complex series of ancient hand-seals.

”Blood-Sea Devouring Dome!” Xue Li chanted.

The ambient, boiling blood-miasma surrounding the two commanders suddenly condensed violently, forming a thick, impenetrable, pitch-black dome of solid blood-qi that completely enclosed them, blocking all line of sight from the surrounding, chaotic battlefield.

Inside the dark dome, Xue Li stood over the paralyzed, wide-eyed Inquisitor.

”The Myriad Ocean Palace is a bloated corpse,” Xue Li grated, stepping forward. ”And your soul is exactly the nourishment my broken vessel requires.”

He reached his blood-stained right hand forward, his fingers curling into rigid claws. He drove his hand directly into Bai Zhentian’s lower abdomen.

The physical tearing of flesh and muscle was agonizingly loud in the confined space. Bai Zhentian let out a muffled, horrific gurgle, unable to move or scream as Xue Li’s hand breached his Dantian.

Xue Li’s fingers closed securely around the glowing, miniature, azure-colored Nascent Soul of the Inquisitor.

With a brutal, forceful pull, he ripped the entity entirely out of the dying man’s body.

Bai Zhentian’s physical eyes rolled back into his skull, his lifeless corpse collapsing heavily to the splintered deck.

Xue Li held the glowing Nascent Soul in his palm. The tiny entity thrashed wildly, projecting waves of pure, terrified consciousness, desperately trying to escape the ancient predator.

Xue Li did not hesitate. He opened his mouth, unhinging his jaw slightly, and shoved the glowing Nascent Soul directly down his throat.

The physical sensation was overwhelming. The moment the highly refined, centuries-old essence hit his core, it detonated like a thermal bomb. A massive, searing wave of pure vitality flooded through his torn muscles and fractured meridians. The intense heat dispersion caused his skin to flush a deep, glowing red, the black veins on his neck bulging dangerously as they absorbed the immense spiritual pressure.

He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach, his body shuddering violently as the ancient spirit ruthlessly digested the supreme nourishment, forcefully stitching his mortal vessel back together and violently pushing his cultivation base beyond its physical limits.

The process took several agonizing minutes. When Xue Li finally stood up, the black veins on his face had receded entirely. His skin was smooth, radiating a heavy, dense, and fully restored Mid-Stage Nascent Soul aura. He had completely masked the absorption, seamlessly integrating the power into his own dark arts.

He dispelled the blood dome, the black mist dissipating back into the boiling air.

He stood over the dead, hollowed-out corpse of the Inquisitor.

The battle around him was entirely over. Without their Nascent Soul commander, the righteous sword cultivators had completely broken. Elder Mo Jue and Elder Gui Yao had led the systematic slaughter of the remaining crew. The first two Azure Dreadnoughts were currently sinking rapidly into the jagged rocks, entirely aflame, while the third had been violently captured by demonic boarding parties.

Elder Mo Jue leaped across the wreckage, landing on the deck near Xue Li, his green skin covered in righteous blood.

He looked at the dead body of Bai Zhentian, his eyes widening in profound awe.

”You... you truly killed an Initial Stage Nascent Soul old monster?” Mo Jue gasped, dropping to one knee in immediate, unfeigned reverence. ”Elder Xue Li... your strength is unfathomable. The Sect Leader himself would struggle to achieve such a clean kill.”

”He was arrogant, relying entirely on heavy water arts in a confined space,” Xue Li lied flawlessly, adjusting his torn crimson robes, projecting an aura of cold, undeniable superiority. ”The demonic path prevails through ruthlessness, Mo Jue. Ensure the cargo holds of that third dreadnought are entirely emptied. We take the spirit stones, the pills, and the array blueprints. Leave the bodies to rot in the strait.”

”Yes, Elder Xue Li!” Mo Jue obeyed instantly, recognizing the terrifying shift in the hierarchy. Xue Li was no longer just a senior elder; he was a supreme powerhouse who had single-handedly annihilated a Myriad Ocean Palace Inquisitor.

Xue Li stood at the railing of the bone-ship, watching the massive, shattered hulls of the Azure Dreadnoughts slide beneath the boiling, dark purple waves. He had successfully repaired his foundation, secured massive wealth for the Azure Blood Sect, and completely erased the external threat to his true Master.

---

Hours later, hundreds of miles away in the deep, silent command chamber beneath Abyssal Pearl City.

Wang Jian sat perfectly still in his high-backed obsidian chair.

The pitch-black bone talisman resting on the table suddenly pulsed with a heavy, single vibration, before turning entirely cold.

Wang Jian smiled. It was a dark, incredibly satisfied expression that completely transformed his handsome face.

He looked up at Lin Wanyue, who was still standing nervously near the table, clutching a stack of municipal reports.

”You may exhale, City Lord Lin Wanyue,” Wang Jian stated calmly, his smooth voice echoing gently off the warded stone walls. ”The auditing fleet has encountered a highly tragic, entirely unforeseen disaster while navigating the Obsidian Strait. It appears they were ambushed and entirely eradicated by a particularly vicious patrol fleet belonging to the Holy Nether Sea Organization.”

Lin Wanyue’s sapphire eyes widened in sheer, breathless shock, her mind struggling to comprehend the sheer, terrifying scale of his invisible reach. ”They are... all dead? An Initial Stage Nascent Soul Inquisitor... erased?”

”The Myriad Ocean Palace will undoubtedly receive the reports of the battle,” Shangguan Wan’er added, her merchant mind already tracing the political fallout, her pale blue eyes glowing with profound admiration for her Master’s brilliant cruelty. ”They will find the shattered hulls of their dreadnoughts completely saturated with demonic blood-arts and corrosive miasma. They will classify the loss as a major casualty of the ongoing regional war. They will not suspect Abyssal Pearl City, nor will they send another isolated auditing fleet while the shipping lanes remain so incredibly hostile.”

Wang Jian stood up from his chair, his white robes flowing around his tall, muscular frame. He walked slowly around the heavy stone table, stopping directly in front of the trembling City Lord.

He reached out, his large hands resting heavily on her wide, curvy hips, pulling her voluptuous body firmly against his own.

”Your city is entirely secure, Wanyue,” Wang Jian murmured, his dark, starlit eyes boring deeply into her soul, reinforcing his absolute psychological dominance. ”There are no external eyes watching us. There are no rival factions left to challenge us. The board has been wiped completely clean. From this day forward, Abyssal Pearl City exists solely to fuel the expansion of my empire.”

Lin Wanyue completely melted into his embrace, all lingering anxiety instantly replaced by the heavy, burning devotion and intense physical lust that his presence constantly demanded from her corrupted core.

The phantom envoy had been sunk into the abyss, and the shadow of the Fragrance Melody Sect now stretched unchallenged across the entire island.