The dark tether of Void energy pulsed like a corrupted umbilical cord between Lu Chen and Fang Tianyou. It was a terrifying manifestation of stolen destiny, a physical bridge between the victim and the parasite.
Gold-Robed Inspector Yan's Heavenly Fate Compass shrieked, the needle spinning with such violent velocity that the glass casing began to crack. The ambient spiritual energy in the courtyard grew heavy, thick with the stench of blood karma and unnatural devouring arts.
"Demonic spawn!" Inspector Yan roared, his voice carrying the absolute authority of the Imperial Bureau of Heaven. His gaze, previously locked onto Lu Chen, snapped toward Fang Tianyou.
Lu Chen's mind raced with cold, calculating precision. The Imperial Bureau was too early. He had only just solidified his Perfect Foundation; he was in no position to fight a Gold-Robed Inspector, nor could he allow his identity as the Sovereign of the Void to be fully exposed. He needed a scapegoat. Fortunately, the perfect one was standing right in front of him, glowing with a bloated, stolen golden aura.
Without hesitation, Lu Chen tapped into the Luck-Binding Mirror resting within his dantian. He didn't sever the dark tether connecting him to Fang's stolen Innate Spirit Root. Instead, he reversed the polarity.
Fang Tianyou's stolen root, already ravenous and unstable from his forcefully interrupted breakthrough, acted like a starving beast. Lu Chen purposefully dropped all his defensive auras, allowing his own pure, perfectly refined Foundation Establishment Qi to be violently sucked outward into the tether.
"Sect Brother Fang..." Lu Chen gasped, his voice trembling with perfectly feigned terror. He collapsed to one knee, biting the inside of his cheek. Dark crimson blood spilled past his lips, staining the pristine paving stones of the courtyard. "Why? I yielded the tournament... why devour my cultivation?!"
Fang Tianyou's eyes widened in sheer horror. He frantically tried to retract his Qi, to shut down his meridians, but the stolen Spirit Root was completely out of his control. It was gorging itself on Lu Chen's offered energy, flaring with an ominous, black-crimson light.
To Inspector Yan and the surrounding Azure Cloud Enforcers, the visual was damning. Fang Tianyou, already exposed by the Compass as possessing a horrific amalgamation of stolen destinies, was actively and aggressively using a demonic siphoning art to drain a helpless junior disciple in broad daylight.
"Audacious!" Inspector Yan's aura exploded, revealing the terrifying pressure of a Peak Golden Core expert. The very air seemed to solidify into iron. He raised his hand, summoning a glowing Imperial Seal of righteous golden light. "To practice forbidden Devouring Arts under the nose of the Heavens! Azure Cloud Sect, is this your so-called Chosen One?!"
The Imperial Seal expanded to the size of a boulder and crashed down toward Fang Tianyou.
"Protect the Young Master!" an Azure Cloud Elder screamed, panic overriding his logic. Three Foundation Establishment Enforcers threw themselves into the path of the Imperial Seal, summoning walls of azure sword qi.
The collision produced a shockwave that shattered every window in the courtyard. Dust and spiritual turbulence filled the air.
In the chaos of clashing energies—gold imperial light against azure sword qi—Lu Chen subtly rolled backward. He wrapped himself entirely in Void Sword Intent, erasing his physical presence, his sound, and his scent. Like a shadow detaching from a wall, he slipped out of the courtyard and into the dense bamboo grove bordering the inner sect.
He had only made it a few hundred paces before a voice cut through the rustling bamboo.
"A flawless performance, Sovereign."
Lu Chen paused, his hand instinctively resting on the hilt of his sword. Leaning against a stalk of black bamboo was Ye Xiyue. The Saintess of the Fallen Moon Palace wore her customary white veil, but her eyes, deep and knowing, locked perfectly onto Lu Chen despite his Void concealment. Her 'Heart of the Sword' saw right through the illusion.
"You made the parasite look like the predator," she whispered, stepping forward. "But you are playing a dangerous gambit. Inspector Yan is a hound of the Heavens. If he realizes the tether was a two-way street, he will execute you both."
"He is a parasite," Lu Chen replied coldly, releasing his grip on his sword. "I am merely expediting his diagnosis. If you are going to report me, Saintess, do it now. Otherwise, step aside. I have an exhibition to curate."
Ye Xiyue's gaze flickered with a complex mixture of fear and fascination. She slowly stepped back, melting into the shadows. "Do not die, Lu Chen. The Heavens owe you a debt, but they will not pay it willingly."
Lu Chen didn't look back. He accelerated, his body becoming a blur as he navigated the winding paths of Cloud Peak. His destination was not the outer perimeter to escape, but the very heart of enemy territory: the Soaring Crane Pavilion, Fang Tianyou's secondary residence.
The pavilion was an architectural monument to unearned glory. Perched on a cliff overlooking a sea of clouds, it was surrounded by overlapping defensive arrays.
Lu Chen's eyes glowed with a faint, abyssal light as he activated the Luck-Binding Mirror. To his vision, the defensive arrays were not invisible barriers of energy, but interlocking threads of spiritual laws. He didn't try to break them. Instead, he coated his fingers in Void Sword Intent and simply erased the concept of the trigger mechanisms for a fraction of a second. He slipped through the gap like a ghost.
Inside, the pavilion was sickeningly opulent. Shelves carved from thousand-year-old spirit wood were lined with rare herbs, high-tier jade slips, and weapons that ordinary disciples would kill for. It was a dragon's hoard, built entirely on the foundation of Lu Chen's stolen bones.
"Enjoy your wealth while it lasts, Fang," Lu Chen muttered.
He moved swiftly to the center of the cultivation chamber. From his spatial ring, he retrieved two items: a jagged, pulsing Blood Soul Crystal he had looted from the assassin Xue Ming, and a rotting, forbidden parchment detailing the Providence Siphoning Art, salvaged from a corpse in the Abyss of Despair.
The items were damning, but a Gold-Robed Inspector would easily notice if the residual Qi on them didn't match Fang Tianyou.
Lu Chen summoned the Luck-Binding Mirror. He aimed it at the room, siphoning a dense cloud of the ambient residual Qi—Fang's unique, arrogant signature. He forcefully compressed this ambient energy, weaving it into the core of the Blood Soul Crystal and the parchment. Now, the spiritual forensic evidence was undeniable. To any scanner, these items had been in Fang Tianyou's possession for months.
Lu Chen pried open a loose floorboard beneath the central meditation mat and placed the contraband inside.
He stood up, brushing the dust from his robes, but his work wasn't done. He needed Inspector Yan to find this, and quickly. He closed his eyes and looked through the Mirror once more, peering into the abstract realm of Qi Yun.
In the distance, down the mountain, he could see a towering, wrathful pillar of golden light—Inspector Yan's Fate Line. Surrounding the pavilion were countless thin, gray threads of ambient luck, the natural ebb and flow of the world's fortune.
Lu Chen reached out with spiritual tweezers made of Void Intent. He sifted through the ambient luck until he found a specific, shimmering silver thread: a strand of 'Minor Fortuity—Accidental Discovery'.
With practiced precision, he tied one end of this silver thread to the hidden compartment beneath the floorboard. He then cast the other end out the window, weaving it seamlessly into Inspector Yan's massive golden Fate Line.
The trap was set. The bait was heavily scented.
Lu Chen exited the pavilion, reapplying his Void concealment. He scaled a tall, ancient pine tree fifty yards away, settling into its thick canopy to observe.
He didn't have to wait long.
Less than ten minutes later, the heavy wooden doors of the Soaring Crane Pavilion courtyard were blown inward. Inspector Yan strode through the wreckage, his golden robes rippling with suppressed fury. He was flanked by four pale Azure Cloud Elders, who looked entirely out of their depth.
"Inspector Yan, I assure you, Young Master Fang is the future of the Eastern Province! He would never dabble in such foul arts!" one of the Elders pleaded, sweating profusely.
"The Heavenly Fate Compass does not lie, Elder," Yan barked, his voice echoing like thunder. "His aura is a patchwork of stolen lives. And that display in the courtyard? I will tear this pavilion apart until I find the root of his heresy! Search everything!"
The Elders hesitated, but Yan didn't wait for them. Driven by the subtle pull of the silver thread of 'Accidental Discovery', Yan marched straight into the central cultivation chamber.
From his vantage point in the pine tree, Lu Chen watched through the window, a cold smile touching his lips.
Inspector Yan paced the room, his eyes scanning the shelves. As he turned on his heel, the silver thread of luck triggered. A sudden, seemingly natural gust of wind from an Elder's hastily opened door caught the edge of the central meditation mat, flipping it over.
Yan's eyes snapped to the exposed floor. He stepped forward, his heavy, spiritual-metal boot coming down exactly on the floorboard Lu Chen had loosened.
Crack.
The floorboard gave way. The wardsLu Chen had placed around the items shattered. Immediately, a concentrated, suffocating blast of Blood Karma aura erupted from the hidden compartment, filling the room with the stench of a charnel house.
The Azure Cloud Elders gasped, stumbling backward as if physically struck.
"What... what is this?!" one Elder stammered, all color draining from his face.
Inspector Yan waved his hand, his Imperial Seal glowing. The Blood Soul Crystal and the rotting parchment levitated from the hole, spinning slowly in the air.
"The Providence Siphoning Art," Yan whispered, his voice deadly quiet. He turned to the Elders, his eyes blazing with righteous judgment. "The physical evidence matches his corrupted Qi Yun perfectly. Your 'Chosen One' is a demonic parasite."
High in the pine tree, Lu Chen pulled out the Luck-Binding Mirror and aimed it toward the distant courtyard where Fang Tianyou was being held.
Through the glass, Lu Chen witnessed a magnificent, breathtaking sight. Fang Tianyou's towering pillar of golden Qi Yun—a stolen majesty that had mocked Lu Chen for years—shuddered violently. The collective belief, reverence, and sect-wide support that anchored his luck had just been catastrophically undermined by the undeniable discovery of the evidence.
Crack.
The sound echoed not in the physical world, but in the realm of destiny. A massive, jagged shard of golden providence snapped off from Fang Tianyou's pillar. It dissolved into the air, seeking the one who had engineered its detachment.
Lu Chen inhaled sharply. The pure, unadulterated luck flowed like a torrential river into his Void Root. It was intoxicating, like drinking water from a glacial spring after centuries in a desert. His cultivation surged, the spiritual energy in his dantian condensing and expanding rapidly. He easily stabilized his Perfect Foundation, the sheer volume of stolen luck pushing him inexorably toward the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.
Down in the courtyard, he could sense Fang Tianyou suddenly vomiting a mouthful of black blood, his aura withering as his Heavenly Favor was violently revoked.
First strike, Lu Chen thought, his eyes glowing with ruthless satisfaction.
But the victory was abruptly cut short.
Before Lu Chen could fully absorb the golden providence, the sky above Cloud Peak violently warped. The azure clouds, previously serene and beautiful, instantly turned a sickly, bruised purple. The ambient spiritual energy in a ten-mile radius solidified, transforming the very air into an oppressive, suffocating ocean of lead.
Lu Chen's breath caught in his throat. The spiritual pressure was beyond anything he had felt since returning from the Abyss. It bypassed Foundation Establishment, completely dwarfed Golden Core, and entered a realm of terrifying, absolute authority.
Nascent Soul.
A voice that sounded like grinding tectonic plates echoed from the peak's highest, forbidden sanctum. It carried no anger, only an icy, god-like disdain.
"An Imperial Dog... dares to frame the future of my Azure Cloud?"
Sect Master Fang.
High above, the purple clouds parted. A colossal hand composed of pure, condensed Sword Intent materialized in the sky, blotting out the sun. It wasn't just aiming for Inspector Yan's location. The spatial lock of the giant hand encompassed the entirety of the inner mountain peak—including the distant pine tree where Lu Chen stood.
Lu Chen's Void Sword Intent screamed a primal warning in his mind. The air locked his limbs in place. The sky was falling, and there was nowhere to hide.