Harem Master: Seduction System

Chapter 414: Emperor’s Domains and the First Prince

The rhythmic, powerful hum of the massive flying carriage vibrating through the clouds provided a constant, droning backdrop to the filthy symphony echoing within its opulent walls. For the final two days of their weeks-long journey from the Yao Clan’s Secret Realm, the interior of Ling Ying’s personal transport had been transformed into an inescapable den of absolute, relentless carnal degradation.

Alaric sat deeply immersed in the plush velvet cushions, his broad, muscular chest slick with a heavy sheen of sweat. He gripped Gu Ling firmly by her remarkably narrow waist, his large hands easily wrapping around the incredibly toned, fair skin of her midriff. With brutal, unforgiving strength, he hauled the Heiress of the Gu Clan up and slammed her back down onto his massive, rock-hard erection.

“HAAAAAH! MHHMmm! Ahhhh!” Gu Ling cried out, her head tossing back wildly, her long, dark hair thrashing against her sweat-drenched shoulders.

She was completely naked, her flawless, pale body a canvas of stark, humiliating ownership. Bright red, stinging handprints overlapped across the wide, luscious flare of her heart-shaped buttocks. Dark purple bite marks marred the smooth curve of her neck and the incredibly heavy, soft undersides of her massive breasts.

Over the past forty-eight hours, a profound, terrifying shift had occurred within Gu Ling’s psyche. Alaric had long since ceased using the Subconscious Weaving Hex or the Soul-Tethering Mirage Hex upon her. She was in full possession of her complete, unadulterated sanity. She knew exactly who she was—the proud, untouchable Heiress of the absolute strongest Ancient Clan in the Celestial Dragon Empire. She knew that she loved Feng Xiao, the Flame King who rode in a separate carriage just a few hundred yards away. She knew that she was betraying everything her ancestors stood for.

Yet, she had utterly, comprehensively submitted.

She didn’t try to fight him anymore. She didn’t summon her Ethereal Jade Battle Aura to strike him. She didn’t even utter hollow, desperate threats of her clan’s vengeance. She simply surrendered to the monstrous, overwhelming physical dominance of the Archmage. She let him use her mouth, her hands, and her incredibly tight, dripping pussy without a single hint of physical resistance.

But the most terrifying betrayal of all was not her compliance; it was her secret, dark, and deeply buried enjoyment.

As Alaric’s hips snapped upward, driving his thick shaft so deep it bruised her cervix, Gu Ling let out a breathless, sobbing moan of pure, unadulterated ecstasy. Despite her towering aristocratic pride, despite the overwhelming guilt that threatened to suffocate her heart, she secretly found his sheer aggressiveness incredibly, undeniably pleasurable. When he ruthlessly spanked her bare buttocks, the stinging pain ignited a massive, fiery surge of arousal in her lower abdomen. When he aggressively fondled and squeezed her large, heavy breasts, treating her like a cheap, common slut whose only purpose was his physical gratification, a dark, shameful corner of her soul thrilled at the absolute loss of responsibility.

‘I am filthy… I am so ruined…’ Gu Ling thought, tears of humiliation leaking from her ethereal eyes as her inner walls involuntarily, hungrily clamped down around his throbbing cock. ‘Why does it feel so good? Why does my body crave his punishment? I am the Heiress of the Gu Clan… but I am bouncing on his lap like a mindless animal…’

She kept her perverse, masochistic enjoyment deeply concealed behind a mask of weeping endurance, genuinely believing that if Alaric knew how much she secretly loved the rough, degrading sex, he would somehow use it to humiliate her further.

She had absolutely no idea that Alaric, a master manipulator of human psychology who possessed a supernatural intuition for bodily responses, had noticed her true reactions two days ago. He could feel the way she actively pushed her heavy breasts deeper into his rough hands. He could feel the way her tight pussy milked him with desperate, rhythmic spasms every time he called her a whore.

“You take it so well, Gu Ling,” Alaric taunted, his voice a low, vibrating growl in her ear. He reached up, his hands aggressively capturing the massive, bouncing globes of her breasts, his thumbs brutally pinching her dark pink nipples. “Your body was built for this. Not for swords, not for ancient meditation arts. Just for taking cock.”

“N-no… ahhh! Please… mnnn!” Gu Ling whimpered, her hips involuntarily grinding down harder against his pelvis, her protests completely betrayed by her eager, slutty movements.

Ling Ying, kneeling on the velvet floorboards beside them, watched the spectacle with glazed, fanatical emerald eyes. The Heiress of the Ling Clan wore nothing but a thin, sheer emerald silk wrap that hung open, completely exposing her own massive breasts. She reached out, running her hands worshipfully up Alaric’s muscular thighs, waiting patiently for her turn to be used.

Hours later, as the golden carriage finally began its long, gradual descent, Alaric pulled out of Gu Ling’s thoroughly stretched passage with a wet, obscene pop. He pumped a massive, thick load of his scalding semen all over her flat, sweaty stomach, watching with dark amusement as the White Moonlight of the Gu Clan slumped backward onto the cushions, panting heavily, her eyes rolled back in absolute, exhausted bliss.

“Clean yourselves up,” Alaric ordered casually, waving his hand to cast a quick Cleansing Zephyr spell over his own body. “We are entering the Emperor’s domain.”

Alaric stepped toward the reinforced crystal window of the carriage, pulling the heavy velvet curtain aside.

The view outside was breathtaking, but it was not the sprawling, magnificent architecture of the Imperial Capital region that caused Alaric’s ruby eyes to narrow in profound, analytical shock. It was the very fabric of reality itself.

As they crossed the invisible, geographical boundary line separating the outer prefectures from the capital region, Alaric extended his supreme magical senses.

He had expected to encounter incredibly dense arrays, massive defensive walls, or perhaps a localized atmospheric barrier. What he felt instead sent a genuine, cold shiver of pure, unadulterated awe down his spine.

The entire capital region was a Secret Realm. But it was fundamentally, terrifyingly different from the Yao Clan’s Secret Realm.

‘The Yao Clan’s ancestor used his brute-force True Martial Emperor strength to violently tear a hole in the void and carve out a separate, isolated dimensional pocket,’ Alaric analyzed rapidly, his brilliant Archmage intellect racing to comprehend the sheer scale of the magic—or rather, the martial law—at play. ‘But this… this is entirely different.’

He stared at the sky, the clouds, the distant mountains.

‘This secret realm is not a separate pocket. It is overlaid directly on top of the true, physical world,’ Alaric realized, his hands gripping the window frame. ‘It is akin to painting an entirely new masterpiece on thin air, without using a canvas. He has taken the existing, fundamental spatial laws of the continent and forcefully, absolutely overwritten them with his own.’

This level of reality manipulation bespoke a shocking, nearly incomprehensible mastery of Spatial Laws. Alaric could sense the invisible, omnipresent threads of incredibly heavy, dominant Qi weaving through every single atom of the air, the earth, and the sky. And every single one of those microscopic threads was tethered directly to a singular, impossibly massive source of power located deep within the distant, glittering spires of the primary Imperial Palace.

‘Emperor Huang Long,’ Alaric thought, a rare, genuine flash of wariness crossing his features.

The implications were staggering. If the Emperor was the one who cast and maintained this overlay, it meant that Huang Long’s strength was exponentially, terrifyingly far beyond that of the True Martial Emperor realm experts who were the ancient, founding ancestors of the Ancient Clans. For this Emperor, his power as a True Martial Emperor was likely residing at the very, absolute peak of the realm, perhaps even brushing against the mythical, legendary boundaries of the Martial Saint stage.

‘This massive, sprawling region around the capital is not just his home; it is his literal domain,’ Alaric concluded, a faint, cold sweat forming on his brow. ‘Within this Spatial Law Domain, he could theoretically appear and move anywhere instantaneously, as though he is teleporting. He could manipulate the gravity, the air density, and the spatial anchors at his absolute whim. It is a world where he is the undisputed god.’

And from the intelligence Alaric had gathered through Lin Ruoli and Ling Ying, he knew this was not the Emperor’s only terrifying weapon. Emperor Huang Long also possessed a second, innate domain known as the ‘Dragon Emperor Domain’—a purely combat-oriented, oppressive field of golden energy that provided him with near-invincible physical strength and absolute suppression of his enemies’ Battle Auras.

To possess two extremely powerful domains—one governing the very spatial reality of a province, and the other governing pure martial combat—made Emperor Huang Long a monster of unimaginable proportions.

For the first time since arriving in this world, Alaric felt a faint, undeniable sliver of genuine terror.

However, he was a Peak Archmage, a conqueror of worlds in his own right. He did not let the terror paralyze him. He closed his eyes, focusing his supreme Spiritual Sense, pushing his perception outward to analyze the Emperor’s omnipresent gaze.

A moment later, Alaric exhaled a slow, controlled breath, the tension leaving his broad shoulders.

‘His spiritual sense is incredibly vast, but it is currently entirely passive,’ Alaric observed, a dark, calculating smirk returning to his lips. ‘The oppressive, active concentration of the Emperor’s mind is tethered almost exclusively to the very heart of the primary Imperial Palace. He is not actively scanning the outer regions of his domain. He isn’t keeping a watchful eye on every single carriage, every merchant, or every stray fluctuation of Qi occurring within this massive secret realm.’

It made perfect sense to Alaric’s arrogant mind. ‘He is a god sitting on high. To him, the mundane comings and goings of the outer capital, the petty squabbles of nobles and returning convoys, are entirely beneath his notice. He feels it is too mundane to warrant his active scrutiny.’

This crucial blind spot meant that Alaric’s subsequent, highly dangerous plans for the Imperial Women could still be activated. However, the margin for error had just shrunk to absolute zero. He needed to be infinitely more careful.

‘I cannot rely solely on standard concealment spells within his Spatial Law Domain,’ Alaric reasoned pragmatically. ‘I need to forge a specialized, highly complex array formation artifact. Something I can remotely activate at a moment’s notice to permanently shield my immediate vicinity from any sudden, prying sweeps of the Emperor’s spiritual sense.’

As Alaric formulated his crafting plans, the massive golden convoy did not head straight toward the towering, glittering walls of the primary Imperial Capital city.

Instead, the four-winged Golden Spirit Dragons banked sharply, descending toward the sprawling, incredibly wealthy outer regions that bordered the capital’s massive spiritual lakes.

The convoy was officially splitting up. The Imperial Consorts and Imperial Princesses were not returning immediately to the suffocating politics of the Inner Palace. They were heading directly toward the heavily fortified, sprawling military encampments and private palace estates of the respective Imperial Princes they supported. They intended to take Feng Xiao—the highly coveted, Five-Colored Pill forging Flame King—directly into their sovereign territories to personally introduce him to the princes and finalize his recruitment.

By unspoken, highly tense political agreement, the royal women had decided to visit the First Prince’s faction first.

Imperial Consort Xian, the incredibly tall, curvaceous, and fiercely commanding mother of the First Prince, rode at the absolute vanguard of the redirected convoy. Her crimson robes fluttered proudly as she led the procession toward her son’s domain. The other women—Noble Consort Shu, Princess Huang Mei, and Princess Huang Hua—followed behind in their respective carriages. Even though they were bitter, ruthless competitors vying for the throne on behalf of different princes, they were still integral, highly visible members of the Imperial Family. They had to maintain the necessary, dignified elegance and formal courtesy, accompanying the group into enemy territory to ensure their own later opportunities to pitch to Feng Xiao were not sabotaged.

The First Prince’s encampment was not a mere collection of military tents. It was a massive, sprawling, self-contained mini-city situated on a plateau overlooking a roaring river.

As Alaric’s carriage descended, he looked out at the estate. It was a heavily militarized, hyper-disciplined compound. There were dozens of large, opulent mansions built from profound-steel and white marble, surrounded by a bustling, small district of blacksmiths, alchemists, and elite training grounds. In every sense, it was a miniature palace dedicated entirely to the First Prince’s faction, bristling with the organized, lethal presence of the Imperial Vanguard.

The convoy landed smoothly in the central plaza.

Alaric, Ling Ying, Gu Ling, and Feng Xiao were escorted from their carriages by high-ranking, armor-clad officers. Because they were technically the ‘guests of honor’ and the potential recruits, they were assigned proper, highly luxurious guest chambers within the primary, central mansion—the very same massive structure that housed the First Prince himself.

As for the Imperial Consorts and Imperial Princesses, strict imperial protocol and security measures dictated their placement. They were escorted to their own lavish, heavily guarded personal chambers in an adjacent, slightly smaller palace structure, which served as the official harem palace and secure residential wing of the First Prince’s faction.

The moment they were settled, the political machinery roared to life.

Feng Xiao was immediately, formally invited into the grand audience chamber of the First Prince’s mansion. Naturally, Imperial Consort Xian, acting as his primary sponsor and the mother of the host, accompanied him. Princess Huang Mei and Princess Huang Hua, who both harbored their own distinct, complex ties and rivalries with the First Prince, also invited themselves along to observe the negotiations, ensuring Feng Xiao’s incredible talent was properly explained and leveraged.

As for Noble Consort Shu, who represented the fiercely opposed faction of the Third Prince, she remained securely within her designated personal chamber in the adjacent harem palace. She was forced to wait out these initial negotiations, her massive breasts heaving with impatient ambition, eager for the moment she could lead Feng Xiao away to her own son’s camp.

In the grand, coldly opulent audience chamber of the First Prince, the atmosphere was thick with martial gravity.

First Prince Huang Wei sat behind a massive desk carved from a single block of obsidian. He was a man who radiated intense, unyielding authority. He wore immaculate, platinum-colored robes embroidered with a single, aggressive silver dragon. His face was sharp, handsome, and entirely devoid of soft emotion. He appeared smart, incredibly calm, and carried the unmistakable aura of a man who dealt in deep, continent-spanning schemes. His cultivation base was formidable, a dense, heavy pressure of a Mid-Stage Martial King rolling off his broad shoulders.

“Mother,” First Prince Huang Wei greeted Imperial Consort Xian respectfully, rising slightly from his seat to offer a formal bow. He then turned his sharp, calculating gaze to the young man in plain blue robes standing before him. “And you must be Feng Xiao. The Flame King. The man who summoned the Five-Colored Tribulation.”

“It is an honor to stand before the First Prince of the Celestial Dragon,” Feng Xiao replied, his tone perfectly measured, offering a deep, flawless martial salute.

For the next two hours, the audience chamber became a battlefield of high-stakes negotiation.

Consort Xian and the Princesses enthusiastically, relentlessly explained Feng Xiao’s unparalleled talent. They detailed his flawless control over his mysterious, highly volatile flame, the absolute purity of his medicinal pellets, and the terrifyingly vast capacity of his soul cultivation. They outlined the immense, staggering benefits the First Prince’s faction would gain by securing the exclusive loyalty of the continent’s greatest young alchemist.

First Prince Huang Wei listened intently, his expression unreadable. He methodically laid out his own massive, empire-shaking offers. He promised Feng Xiao command over dedicated alchemy battalions, access to the most heavily guarded, ancient medicinal vaults of the Vanguard, and the full, uncompromising martial protection of his elite Half-Step Martial Emperor generals.

Feng Xiao remained stoic, absorbing the offers. He knew this was the critical moment.

“Your Highness, your generosity humbles me, and the resources you offer are beyond compare,” Feng Xiao began, his voice steady, his eyes locking directly onto the First Prince’s sharp gaze. “I am deeply inclined to join your formidable faction. However, my loyalty requires a specific, absolute guarantee of support.”

First Prince Huang Wei raised an aristocratic eyebrow. “Speak your terms, Alchemist.”

“I wish to formally court Gu Ling, the Heiress of the Gu Ancient Clan,” Feng Xiao declared boldly, his heart pounding but his voice unwavering. “The elders of her clan are incredibly stubborn and highly restrictive regarding her future. They view me as an outsider lacking the proper foundation. If I am to pledge my Dao to your banner, I require the First Prince’s absolute, unwavering political and martial support against the Gu Ancient Clan in the event that they disagree with our union.”

The audience chamber fell into a sudden, profoundly heavy silence.

Princess Huang Mei’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, while Consort Xian frowned deeply.

First Prince Huang Wei leaned back in his obsidian chair, his platinum robes rustling. He stared at Feng Xiao, his calm facade rippling with deep, genuine trouble.

“You ask for a monumental commitment, Feng Xiao,” Huang Wei stated, his voice dropping into a cold, highly pragmatic register. “The Gu Clan is not a minor, easily bullied provincial sect. They are the absolute strongest Ancient Clan in the Celestial Dragon Empire. Their foundation is terrifying. Their elders are ancient, powerful, and deeply entrenched in the continent’s history. To wage a direct political war, or potentially a martial conflict, against the Gu Clan simply to secure a single marriage… that is a destabilizing endeavor that could fracture the very peace of the empire.”

Huang Wei drummed his fingers against the desk. He did not want to try and go up against the behemoth that was the Gu Ancient Clan just for the sake of an alchemist’s romantic pursuits, no matter how talented that alchemist might be.

“I cannot grant you that absolute guarantee today,” First Prince Huang Wei declared firmly, refusing to make a foolish, impulsive promise. “Such an aggressive stance requires meticulous planning and deep consultation with my grand strategists. I must weigh the value of your Five-Colored Pills against the potential wrath of a dozen Half-Step Martial Emperors.”

Feng Xiao hid his deep disappointment behind a stoic nod. He understood the Prince’s hesitation. It was the pragmatic, intelligent response of a true ruler.

“I understand your caution, Your Highness,” Feng Xiao bowed slightly. “I shall await your decision.”

With the primary recruitment stalled, Feng Xiao formally excused himself from the audience chamber, leaving the First Prince alone with his mother, Imperial Consort Xian, and his sisters.

As the heavy obsidian doors clicked shut behind the alchemist, First Prince Huang Wei let out a slow, measured breath. He turned his attention fully to his mother.

For the first time since she had walked into the room, Huang Wei actively, deeply focused his spiritual sense upon Imperial Consort Xian.

His eyes widened in profound, unadulterated shock. His usually calm, composed demeanor completely shattered.

“Mother…” Huang Wei breathed, standing up quickly, his hands gripping the edge of the desk. “Your Battle Aura… it is practically roaring beneath your skin. You… you are radiating the pressure of the Late-Stage of the Martial King level. How is this physically possible? When you left for the Yao Clan, you were struggling to break past the peak of the Grand Martialist stage!”

Imperial Consort Xian offered a haughty, incredibly proud smile, her crimson robes shifting as she placed her hands on her wide hips.

“It is the result of a miraculous, heaven-defying technique, my son,” Consort Xian explained, her voice ringing with maternal triumph. “A wandering scholar by the name of Alaric joined our convoy. He possesses a profound, secret method of clearing deeply blocked meridians and fundamentally strengthening a cultivator’s foundation. He utilized incredible, highly secretive Yin-Yang profound methods, drawing upon his own unique insights into the human body.”

“A massage that bridges an entire major realm?” Huang Wei asked, his voice filled with absolute, greedy awe. His brilliant, strategic mind immediately began spinning a thousand new, highly ambitious plans. He looked at his sisters, Princess Huang Mei and Princess Huang Hua, noting that their auras, too, were significantly, undeniably enhanced.

“If this wandering scholar possesses such an impossible technique,” First Prince Huang Wei murmured, pacing behind his desk, his eyes alight with ambition, “could this method also enhance the potential and strength of the women in my own harem? If my primary wife and my elite concubines could be elevated to the Martial King stage, the internal power of my faction would become utterly unassailable.”

“He could indeed, Brother,” Princess Huang Mei smiled, her perky breasts thrust out proudly. “His hands are truly blessed.”

First Prince Huang Wei stopped pacing, his mind racing to formulate a plan to recruit this miraculous scholar immediately. However, he didn’t rush out of the room to issue demands.

“Where is this Alaric now?” Huang Wei asked quickly.

“He is resting in the guest chambers of your mansion,” Consort Xian informed him. But before her son could order the guards to summon the scholar, she raised a manicured hand. “But you must tread carefully, Huang Wei. He is not an unbound, desperate rogue you can simply buy with gold.”

“Oh?” Huang Wei raised an eyebrow.

“He is deeply, romantically involved with Ling Ying, the Heiress of the Ling Ancient Clan,” Consort Xian elaborated, her tone carrying the weight of courtly gossip. “They are inseparable. They share incredibly strong, visible romantic feelings for one another. He is, for all intents and purposes, already a highly protected, integral member of the Ling Ancient Family.”

First Prince Huang Wei paused, his aggressive recruitment instinct cooling instantly into a calm, satisfied, and highly strategic smile.

“The Ling Ancient Clan,” Huang Wei mused, tapping his chin. “They are the weakest of the Ancient Clans, yes, but they have maintained deep, highly lucrative business cooperation and supply lines with my Vanguard faction for years. They rely heavily on my military protection for their trade routes.”

He returned to his chair, sitting down with an air of profound relief. “If this Alaric is hopelessly devoted to the Ling Heiress, then I am not in a rush to formally, aggressively recruit him. I already consider the Ling Ancient Clan to be half a part of my own faction. By extension, this miraculous scholar is already within my sphere of influence. I shall approach him cordially, as an ally, rather than an employer. He will naturally gravitate toward my banner.”

Later that night, the sprawling, heavily militarized estate of the First Prince settled into a quiet, heavily guarded slumber.

Within the luxurious, profound-steel reinforced guest chamber assigned to Alaric, the Archmage was not sleeping. He was sitting at a wide, incredibly sturdy stone worktable, his face illuminated by the faint, violet glow of his own magical energy.

He needed to construct the highly specialized, multi-layered array formation artifact to shield himself from Emperor Huang Long’s terrifying Spatial Law Domain. But to forge an artifact of such profound, reality-bending capability, he needed exceptionally rare, highly conductive materials that he currently lacked.

Fortunately, he had a direct, highly eager supply line.

Earlier in the evening, before the sun had fully set, Alaric had sent a discreet, coded message through Ling Ying to Princess Huang Mei and Imperial Consort Xian, who were residing in the adjacent harem palace. He knew they were both on excellent, deeply entrenched terms with the First Prince’s faction, effectively commanding the resources of the estate.

Alaric had submitted a massive, incredibly expensive requisition list.

Naturally, due to their absolute, unquestioning addiction to his body and their profound gratitude for his assistance in expanding their meridians and skyrocketing their Battle Auras, the two Imperial Women did not hesitate for a single second.

They utilized their supreme authority within the First Prince’s camp to immediately raid the military supply vaults. Within an hour, a discreet procession of elite guards had delivered heavy, locked chests directly to Alaric’s chamber.

Alaric opened the chests, a dark, highly satisfied smile crossing his lips.

They had provided him with a staggering amount of incredible wealth. There were heavy ingots of refined Stellar-Iron, jars of shimmering Void-Crystal Sand, blocks of incredibly dense Deep-Earth Marrow, and several high-tier, pure elemental beast cores. The Imperial Women had absolutely no idea they were casually handing an Archmage the very materials required to blind their own Emperor.

Alaric went to work.

He spent the entirety of the next three days locked within his guest chamber, completely ignoring the political maneuvering happening outside his door. He utilized his supreme, peerless mastery of arcane enchanting and physical forging. He melted the Stellar-Iron using his Azure Spirit Flame, carefully mixing in the Void-Crystal Sand to create an incredibly conductive, reality-warping alloy. He forged the alloy into a small, unassuming, yet incredibly dense octagonal medallion.

Then came the true, exhausting labor. Alaric had to meticulously, flawlessly inscribe Eight-Layered Array Formations directly onto the small surface of the artifact. It was a process of superimposing eight completely different, highly complex magical arrays, layering them one over the other in a perfect, three-dimensional matrix so their energies didn’t catastrophically clash.

With extreme, sweat-inducing precision, he inscribed the Eight-Desolations Void-Concealment Matrix to act as the primary, impenetrable shield against any sweeping spiritual sense from the True Martial Emperor. He layered the Nine-Illusions Heaven-Spanning Escape Array beneath it, ensuring a localized, immediate spatial tear for emergency evacuation. For defense, he inscribed the Black Tortoise Mountain-Sealing Formation, capable of absorbing a direct, catastrophic kinetic blow. And finally, for attack, he wove the incredibly violent, highly compressed Crimson Asura Annihilation Seal into the very core of the metal.

By the dawn of the fourth day, the artifact was complete. It hummed with a dark, terrifying, yet completely internalized energy. Alaric tied it around his neck, letting the cool, heavy metal rest against his chest, instantly feeling the subtle, comforting displacement of the Emperor’s spatial laws around his immediate body. He was now a ghost within the god’s domain.

While Alaric had been locked away forging his shield, Feng Xiao had been incredibly busy solidifying his position in the mortal realm.

Over those same three days, Feng Xiao had engaged in numerous, highly productive, and respectful meetings with First Prince Huang Wei. While the First Prince still absolutely refused to commit his armies to a potential, devastating war against the Gu Ancient Clan to secure Gu Ling’s hand, the two men found immense, highly lucrative common ground.

They formed a massive, mutually beneficial economic contract.

Feng Xiao agreed to act as a highly specialized, independent contractor for the Vanguard. He committed to providing the First Prince’s faction with a steady, substantial number of profoundly difficult Seventh Tier Pills. Specifically, he would concoct batches of Two-Colored, Three-Colored, and even the incredibly rare Four-Colored Seventh Tier Pills to rapidly elevate the strength of the Prince’s elite generals.

In exchange, First Prince Huang Wei would utilize his vast, imperial logistical network to procure the incredibly rare, dangerous ingredients and the ancient medicinal pill recipes Feng Xiao required. Furthermore, the Prince would provide Feng Xiao with massive quantities of pure, high-grade Fire Crystals and specialized, isolated volcanic training grounds within the outer capital to help the Flame King strengthen his highly volatile flames.

It was a brilliant, pragmatic alliance.

Thrilled with his diplomatic success, Feng Xiao eagerly sought out Gu Ling every afternoon to share his triumphs.

They met in the beautiful, serene lotus gardens of the First Prince’s estate.

“Ling’er,” Feng Xiao spoke passionately, pacing the stone pathways beside her. “The contract with the First Prince is finalized. The resources he is providing are staggering. With his ingredients, I can refine the Four-Colored Heavenly Marrow Pellet. If I consume it, my physical foundation will finally match my soul cultivation.”

“That is wonderful news, Brother Xiao,” Gu Ling replied softly, walking beside him, her hands clasped tightly in front of her.

Feng Xiao, completely blinded by his own ambition and his desperate love for her, failed to notice the profound, devastating shift in her demeanor.

He didn’t notice that over the last few days, whenever he met Gu Ling, the warm, incredibly loving, and deeply supportive look that used to shine in her ethereal eyes when she stared at him was entirely gone. Her gaze was unfocused, her mind seemingly heavily occupied, constantly drifting to dark, unspoken thoughts.

He didn’t notice that she no longer spoke as excitedly or actively to him as she had before the alchemy tournament. The conversations were entirely one-sided. It was mostly Feng Xiao talking passionately, waving his hands and detailing his grand plans, while Gu Ling merely responded with passive, quiet nods and brief, polite agreements.

Most tragically, he didn’t notice that she actively, subtly avoided any form of physical contact. When he reached out to gently hold her hand or touch her shoulder, she would smoothly, instinctively step away, pretending to admire a lotus flower or adjust her pale lavender sleeves.

She still loved him. In her conscious, rational mind, Feng Xiao was still the brilliant, heroic man she wished to spend her life with.

But she was completely, utterly consumed by a suffocating, paralyzing wave of self-loathing.

‘I cannot touch him,’ Gu Ling thought, her heart breaking a little more every time Feng Xiao smiled at her. ‘He is so pure in his ambition. He is planning to fight my entire clan for me. And I… I am filthy. My body is ruined. I am no longer the pristine woman he believes me to be. I am not worthy of his devotion. How can I ever tell him that while he fights for my hand, I am spending my nights screaming like a feral animal for another man’s seed?’

She carried the horrific, devastating secret alone, her guilt a heavy, suffocating chain around her neck.

She had absolutely no idea that Feng Xiao’s ignorance was a blessing, for the truth of her nights was far more depraved, far more humiliating than her worst nightmares.

Every single night, without fail, the heavy, rune-inscribed doors of Alaric’s guest chamber would click open.

Ling Ying and Gu Ling would slip inside, their faces hidden beneath dark, concealing cloaks to avoid the patrols of the First Prince’s guards. They were entirely bound to Alaric—Ling Ying by her magical devotion, and Gu Ling by the terrifying, inescapable physical addiction he had beaten into her body and the psychological blackmail he held over Feng Xiao’s life.

They had to use their beautiful, voluptuous bodies to completely satiate his boundless, monstrous lust.

Gu Ling, in particular, was subjected to a relentless, incredibly sadistic campaign of physical and psychological torment by Alaric.

He refused to let her wear her elegant, modest lavender silks in his presence. He utilized the vast wealth provided by the Imperial Women to purchase incredibly scandalous, outrageously filthy clothing from the underground markets of the estate.

“Put it on, Gu Ling,” Alaric commanded one night, tossing a garment onto the stone floor.

It was a custom-made, incredibly tight, crotchless bodysuit woven from sheer, black spirit-spider silk. It featured massive, circular cutouts directly over the breasts, designed explicitly to push her large, heavy globes of flesh aggressively forward and entirely expose her sensitive pink nipples.

Gu Ling wept silently, her face burning with profound shame as she stripped off her robes and squeezed her voluptuous curves into the degrading outfit.

Alaric forced her to do all sorts of outrageous, incredibly humiliating things that she had never, ever imagined an Ancient Clan Heiress must do. He made her crawl on her hands and knees across the cold stone floor, wearing a leather collar around her neck, begging him for his cock while Ling Ying watched with a fanatic smile. He tied her wrists to the heavy bedposts and relentlessly, brutally spanked her bare, curvy buttocks with a wooden paddle until she couldn’t sit properly the next day.

But the most devastating part of her nightly torment was not the humiliation. It was the terrifying, undeniable betrayal of her own flesh.

No matter how degrading the outfit, no matter how humiliating the position, the sheer, mind-boggling, explosive pleasure that Alaric’s massive, incredibly thick dick provided her completely, instantly overwrote all her reluctance, her shame, and her aristocratic pride.

The moment he drove his hot, throbbing shaft deep into her wet, dripping pussy, the tears of shame turned into tears of pure, unadulterated sexual ecstasy.

“HAAAAAH! YES! Oh gods, yes! Fuck me! Fuck your filthy slut!” Gu Ling screamed wildly into the pillows, her massive, exposed breasts bouncing violently against the mattress, her inner walls milking his cock with desperate, animalistic hunger.

She spent her days politely nodding at the man she loved, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and she spent her nights completely surrendering her mind, body, and soul to the Archmage who was slowly, methodically conquering the entire Celestial Dragon Empire from the shadows.