Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist

The central burial chamber of the True Monarch was a colossal, heavy iron vault. Towering pillars of rusted metal supported a ceiling lost in the darkness above. In the absolute center rested a massive Soul-Nourishing Jade Cauldron, radiating a faint, ancient light. But the path to the legacy was entirely obstructed by a coiled mountain of scales and raw, crackling power.

The Silver-Horned Lightning Python uncoiled, its massive body stretching over eighty feet in length. Its scales resembled overlapping plates of polished steel, completely devoid of rust. A single, jagged silver horn protruded from its snout, continuously sparking with thick, violent arcs of Desolate Silver Lightning.

”Spread out!” City Lord Hai Kuo roared, his voice competing with the deafening crackle of electricity. He gripped his Deep-Sea Heavy Trident with both hands, rooting his boots into the iron floor. ”Do not let it trap us against the walls! Its physical weight alone will crush your bones into powder!”

Daoist Xue Ren did not argue. The leader of the Azure Blood Sect shifted his stance, his dark red robes whipping in the displaced air. ”We bleed the beast first, Hai Kuo! The legacy remains untouched until the serpent falls!”

”Agreed!” Hai Kuo shouted back.

The Python did not wait for their truce to solidify. It lunged forward with terrifying momentum. The sheer physical mass of the beast displaced the air in the chamber so violently that a gale-force wind blasted the cultivators, tearing at their robes and forcing them to narrow their eyes against the flying iron dust.

The beast whipped its massive tail toward the Azure Blood Sect cultivators, turning its entire eighty-foot length into a sweeping battering ram.

Xue Ren swung his massive, deeply curved scythe. ”Blood-Boiling Scythe Art: Crimson Severing Arc!”

The heavy scythe collided with the Python’s tail. The physical impact rang out like a struck temple bell. Xue Ren’s boots skidded backward across the iron floor, carving deep grooves into the metal. The friction generated intense heat, scorching the soles of his footwear. His arms trembled violently from the massive physical feedback, his muscles tearing on a microscopic level beneath his skin. The Python’s scales deflected the blade entirely; the scythe only left a shallow, smoking scratch.

”Its scales are too dense for standard edge strikes!” Xue Ren yelled, his breath coming in heavy, labored gasps as he absorbed the recoil. ”We must target the underside!”

Daoist Luo Cheng stepped forward, his skin taking on a blinding, polished bronze hue as he activated his Profound Vajra Flesh Art. He summoned his Lifebound Artifact—the Earth-Shattering Bronze Gauntlets. The massive metal gloves locked around his forearms with a heavy clanking sound.

”Then I will shatter the scales from the outside!” Luo Cheng bellowed.

He launched himself at the Python’s midsection, throwing a devastating right hook. His gauntlet slammed into the steel-like scales. A massive acoustic shockwave erupted from the point of impact, visibly rippling through the heavy air. The Python let out a deafening, metallic screech as three of its massive scales cracked under the sheer, unadulterated physical weight of Luo Cheng’s blow.

The beast retaliated instantly, snapping its massive jaws toward Luo Cheng. The bronze-skinned cultivator raised his crossed arms, catching the Python’s fangs on his gauntlets. The sheer downward pressure of the beast’s bite forced Luo Cheng to one knee, the iron floor buckling and shattering beneath his immense weight.

While the vanguard engaged the beast, Wang Jian stood near the back of the chamber, safely positioned behind the protective formations of his women.

His abyssal eyes narrowed, observing the flow of battle. The Python was undeniably powerful, possessing the raw strength of a Peak Seventh-Grade beast. However, Wang Jian noticed a highly irregular pattern in its movements.

Every time Hai Kuo or Xue Ren prepared a devastating, Qi-heavy strike, the faint, dormant runic pathways carved into the iron floor beneath the Python would pulse with a sudden surge of energy. The beast would instantly, unnaturally shift its massive bulk, dodging the strikes with a tactical precision that completely defied the feral instincts of a demonic beast.

’It is not fighting on instinct,’ Wang Jian analyzed coldly. ’There are distinct spikes of heavily refined Divine Sense guiding its movements. The array nodes are transmitting tactical positioning directly to the beast.’

He expanded his own terrifying, deeply concealed Divine Sense, attempting to trace the origin of the directing signals. He followed the runic pathways into the iron floor, but the signals fragmented, bouncing endlessly through multiple, overlapping layers of elemental array formations. The source was constantly shifting its location within the chamber’s architecture, making an exact lock impossible.

’Something is hiding within the very framework of this tomb,’ Wang Jian deduced. ’An entity capable of subjugating a Peak Seventh-Grade beast and manipulating the True Monarch’s arrays.’

Wang Jian did not alert the City Lord or the Azure Blood Sect. He seamlessly projected a highly encrypted thought through his Divine Sense directly into the spiritual seas of Shangguan Wan’er, Hua Yimei, Shen Mengqi, and Mu Lianhua.

’Do not engage the beast with your full strength,’ Wang Jian ordered, his mental voice a dark, absolute command in their minds. ’Only respond to direct attacks. Conserve your Qi. There is an entity hiding within the array matrix orchestrating this defense. Prepare your trapping formations silently. We let the City Lord and the blood-cultivators bleed themselves dry against the serpent.’

The women did not hesitate. They shifted their stances, pulling back their offensive pressure and adopting heavily fortified defensive positions.

Mu Lianhua summoned her Emerald Lotus Flame, but rather than launching infernos, she created a dense, swirling wall of heat around their group, evaporating the stray arcs of lightning that bounded off the walls. Shangguan Wan’er slid the beads of her Celestial-Tide Abacus, erecting heavy, highly pressurized barriers of profound water to absorb any physical debris thrown their way. Hua Yimei plucked the strings of her Crimson Phoenix Zither, sending low-frequency soundwaves that merely redirected the Python’s attention away from their flank. Shen Mengqi held her Breeze Sword in a strict parrying guard, conserving the deep, freezing Yin energy she had newly awakened.

Lin Wanyue, however, broke from their defensive perimeter.

The City Lord’s wife gripped her Azure Tides Heavenly Sword with both hands, her massive breasts heaving heavily beneath her purple silk robes. Her body was a wreck of lingering exhaustion and deep, throbbing soreness. Her thick, curvy thighs burned with every step, and her pussy ached with a hollow, dripping need.

She was no longer bound by mere physical domination. Her primal essence, her very soul, had recognized Wang Jian himself as her absolute master. She belonged entirely to the demonic overlord. The guilt of her absolute betrayal gnawed at her shattered Dao Heart. She looked at her husband, Hai Kuo, fighting desperately at the vanguard. She felt a desperate, irrational need to prove her loyalty to him, to mask the fact that she had spent twelve hours begging for Wang Jian’s cock right outside his meditation door.

”I am with you, Husband!” Lin Wanyue yelled, charging forward to join the fray.

Hai Kuo glanced back, nodding approvingly. ”Support Luo Cheng! The beast’s right flank is exposed!”

Lin Wanyue channeled her Middle-Stage Core Formation water-qi. She swung her sword, executing the Azure Tides Heavenly Art: Crashing Waterfall Strike. A heavy, highly pressurized blade of dark water slammed into the Python’s cracked scales, forcing the beast to flinch away from Luo Cheng.

”Excellent strike, Wanyue!” Hai Kuo praised, thrusting his trident into the opening she created.

Lin Wanyue forced a smile, though a sharp bolt of pain shot through her bruised pelvis from the forceful rotation of her hips. ’I am still his wife,’ she told herself, desperately trying to ignore the slick moisture running down her inner thighs, her mind continuously flashing back to the feeling of Wang Jian’s heavy hands on her buttocks. ’I must protect him.’

Wang Jian watched her desperate performance from behind Mu Lianhua’s flame barrier. A cold, mocking smile touched his lips. He enjoyed watching his broken slut attempt to piece her dignity back together, knowing fully well that her body and loyalty belonged entirely to him.

The battle escalated in the center of the chamber.

Xue Hai and Xue Li, the two Azure Blood Sect brothers, darted around the periphery of the massive serpent. They hurled dozens of Blood-Draining Darts, aiming for the beast’s eyes.

The Python merely lowered its head. The darts struck the thick steel scales covering its brow, sparking uselessly before clattering to the floor. The beast opened its massive jaws, drawing in a horrific volume of air.

”It is drawing breath!” Hai Kuo roared. ”Shields!”

The Python exhaled a concentrated cone of Desolate Silver Lightning.

Hai Kuo stepped in front of his wife, retrieving a heavy, dark green artifact from his robes—the Heavy Water Jade Shield. He infused his Qi into the artifact, expanding it into a massive, translucent wall of deep-sea water.

The cone of silver lightning struck the jade shield. The thermal shock was instantaneous. The freezing water met the superheated electricity, immediately boiling into a massive cloud of scalding steam. The sheer physical pressure of the lightning forced Hai Kuo backward, his boots skidding on the iron floor. The jade shield began to crack, spiderweb fractures spreading across its surface as the artifact suffered immense structural stress.

”The heat is melting the jade!” Hai Kuo yelled, his forearms blistering from the radiant temperature.

Luo Cheng roared, throwing his entire bodily weight forward. He grabbed the Python’s massive tail with his bronze gauntlets, attempting to physically anchor the beast.

”Strike its head while I hold it!” Luo Cheng bellowed, the muscles in his back and shoulders bulging grotesquely. Blood began to weep from the corners of his eyes as the sheer physical strain of holding a Peak Seventh-Grade beast threatened to tear his joints apart.

Xue Ren saw the opening. He pulled a glowing red mesh from his spatial ring—the Blood-Lotus Binding Net. He hurled it toward the Python’s head. The net expanded, attempting to wrap around the beast’s jaws.

The Python, guided by the hidden array signals, did not struggle blindly. It leveraged its immense physical length. It coiled its upper body like a spring and snapped forward. The sheer, overwhelming momentum of its movement tore the Blood-Lotus Binding Net into useless shreds, dragging Luo Cheng forward across the iron floor, tearing the skin from the bronze cultivator’s knees.

The beast, bleeding from several shallow wounds, let out a deafening hiss. Its silver horn flared with blinding white-blue light.

”It is drawing upon its bloodline art!” Xue Ren warned, stepping back and raising his scythe defensively.

The Python slammed its tail against the iron floor. The Desolate Silver Lightning erupted from its horn, not as a single bolt, but as a massive, sweeping wave of raw electricity. The ambient air superheated instantly, the smell of burning copper and scorched air suffocating the combatants.

But the lightning did not merely strike them; it coalesced. The thick arcs of electricity folded inward, condensing rapidly. Within three breaths, three massive clones of the Python materialized on the chamber floor. They were forged entirely of highly condensed Desolate Silver Lightning, possessing physical mass due to the extreme density of the Qi.

”Lightning projections!” Xue Hai shouted, raising his twin daggers. ”They possess the same physical weight as the main body!”

”Do not let them surround us!” Hai Kuo ordered.

The chamber devolved into absolute, chaotic violence. The sheer scale of the battle caused the massive iron pillars supporting the ceiling to groan under the acoustic shockwaves and the shifting air pressure.

Xue Hai and Xue Li engaged the first lightning clone.

Xue Li swung his heavy, serrated broadsword, aiming for the clone’s neck. The blade struck the condensed lightning. The impact sent a violent, searing jolt of electricity straight up the metal blade, traveling directly into Xue Li’s arms. His muscles spasmed uncontrollably, tearing fibers as he was thrown backward, his robes smoking.

”Do not use conductive weapons directly!” Xue Hai yelled, darting forward. He channeled thick, insulating blood-qi around his twin daggers. He executed the Azure Blood Piercing Strike, aiming for the clone’s eyes. The daggers sank into the lightning, causing the clone to thrash wildly. The physical momentum of the clone’s thrashing tail slammed into Xue Hai’s ribs. The sound of cracking bone echoed loudly, and the assassin coughed heavily, struggling to draw breath as he was launched across the floor.

The second lightning clone fixed its glowing eyes upon Hai Kuo and Lin Wanyue.

It lunged, its jaws snapping with the force of a thunderclap.

”Stand behind me, Wanyue!” Hai Kuo commanded. He raised his palms, gathering an immense volume of water-qi. ”Nine-Heavens Waterfall Palm!”

A massive, crushing pillar of dark water erupted from his hands, colliding head-on with the lightning clone. The resulting thermal explosion created another blinding cloud of steam, turning the immediate area into a scalding sauna. Lin Wanyue swung her sword, sending sweeping arcs of water-qi to deflect the stray bolts of lightning that pierced the steam, her massive breasts heaving as physical exhaustion set in.

The third lightning clone, however, bypassed the vanguard entirely. Guided by the hidden entity within the arrays, it recognized the unengaged group near the entrance as a potential threat.

The massive serpent of pure electricity slithered rapidly across the iron floor, its body leaving scorched trails on the metal, charging directly toward Wang Jian, Shangguan Wan’er, Hua Yimei, Mu Lianhua, and Shen Mengqi.

”It approaches!” Shangguan Wan’er called out, her pale blue eyes narrowing.

”Maintain the defensive perimeter,” Wang Jian projected through his Divine Sense, his physical posture remaining perfectly still. ”Do not overextend.”

Shangguan Wan’er stepped to the forefront. Her fingers blurred across the Celestial-Tide Abacus.

”Heavy Water Wall!” she chanted.

A massive, incredibly dense barricade of profound-sea water erupted from the floorboards, forming a physical wall ten feet thick directly in the path of the charging lightning clone.

The clone slammed into the water wall. The collision was cataclysmic. The intense, condensed lightning instantly began to boil the heavy water. Massive bubbles of scalding steam erupted, sending a rain of boiling water down upon the surrounding floor. The water wall hissed and shrank rapidly under the overwhelming thermal output of the clone.

”The heat is evaporating the structure!” Shangguan Wan’er reported, maintaining her hand seals despite the blistering heat radiating against her face.

Mu Lianhua did not wait for the wall to fail. The master alchemist stepped up beside Wan’er, her azure robes fluttering violently in the displaced air. She raised her hands, calling upon her Emerald Lotus Flame.

She did not attack the clone directly. Instead, she unleashed a highly concentrated pillar of green fire directly upward, aiming for the ceiling just in front of the collapsing water wall.

”Creating a thermal updraft!” Mu Lianhua declared.

The intense, concentrated heat of the Emerald Lotus Flame instantly created a massive disparity in the air pressure. A violent, localized updraft formed. As the lightning clone broke through the remnants of the water wall and lunged forward, the sudden, overwhelming vacuum of the updraft caught its condensed body. The sheer aerodynamic pull disrupted the clone’s forward momentum, dragging its head upward and completely throwing off its strike trajectory.

”Now, Yimei!” Wang Jian commanded through his Divine Sense.

Hua Yimei stepped forward, her thick, curvy figure framed by the steam. She slammed both palms flat against the thickest strings of her Crimson Phoenix Zither.

”Echoes of the Damned: Resonance Shatter!” she yelled.

She unleashed a continuous, low-frequency acoustic shockwave. The sound was not deafening, but it vibrated at a highly specific, sickening frequency. The sonic wave struck the suspended lightning clone. The physical vibrations violently disrupted the dense clustering of the lightning Qi. The clone’s form began to waver, its structural cohesion failing as the acoustic waves tore the electrical bonds apart.

”Shen Mengqi, finish it,” Wang Jian ordered.

The Fairy of the Silver Gale moved. She did not use sweeping, flashy arts. She stepped forward with the cold, flawless precision of a master executioner.

She analyzed the wavering, destabilized body of the lightning clone. She raised her Breeze Sword, her newly awakened Yin energy wrapping around the blade, creating a profound, freezing aura that sought to neutralize the erratic heat.

She did not aim for the head. She aimed for the central, spinning core of Qi maintaining the projection.

”Void-Breeze Severing Sword,” Shen Mengqi murmured softly.

She stepped through the sonic waves and the steam, executing a perfect, localized thrust. Her sword pierced the side of the clone, sliding flawlessly through the destabilized lightning, striking the exact, microscopic center of its Qi core.

The clone froze. With a sharp, cracking sound, the massive serpent of electricity lost all form, detonating into a harmless shower of static sparks that rained down upon the iron floor.

Wang Jian watched the flawless execution with a dark smile. His women had dismantled a Peak Seventh-Grade bloodline projection without suffering a single scratch, expending minimal energy, and maintaining absolute control.

Meanwhile, back in the center of the chamber, the main body of the Python was wreaking havoc.

Luo Cheng’s Profound Vajra Flesh Art was failing. His bronze skin was covered in deep, scorched lacerations from the Desolate Silver Lightning, and his right arm hung limply at his side, the shoulder joint dislocated from a brutal tail sweep.

Hai Kuo’s water arts were inadvertently freezing the iron floor, turning the battlefield into a slick, treacherous surface.

Xue Ren realized that standard physical attacks were completely insufficient to fell the beast before their stamina ran out. The Azure Blood Sect leader backed away, his gaunt face twisting in desperate resolve.

He reached into his robes and pulled out a dark red pill that pulsed with an ominous heartbeat—a Blood-Sacrifice Pill. He swallowed it instantly.

Xue Ren’s aura exploded. The veins in his neck and temples bulged grotesquely as the pill forcefully extracted raw vitality from his internal organs, drastically inflating his Qi reserves. His dark red robes billowed violently from the displaced air.

”Hold it steady, Iron-Bone!” Xue Ren bellowed, raising his massive scythe high above his head. The blade hummed, coated in an incredibly thick, viscous layer of highly corrosive blood-qi.

He channeled every ounce of his inflated power into his weapon.

”Blood-Boiling Scythe Art: Crimson Annihilation Cleave!”

Xue Ren leaped into the air, his boots shattering the slick iron floor as he launched himself. He descended like a falling guillotine, aiming his massive strike directly at the base of the Python’s silver horn.

The Python shrieked, attempting to shift its massive bulk, but the hidden runic pathways beneath it remained dark. The directing signals from the hidden entity had suddenly, inexplicably ceased.

The heavy scythe struck true.

The physical impact was devastating. The corrosive blood-qi ate through the dense steel scales in a fraction of a second. The blade bit deeply into the Python’s flesh, severing a massive chunk of muscle and cleanly slicing off the beast’s silver horn.

A fountain of thick, sparking silver blood erupted from the wound, showering the iron floor.

The Python let out a horrific, deafening wail of pure agony. Deprived of its horn, the remaining lightning clones instantly lost their structural cohesion, exploding into harmless clouds of static electricity that washed over Xue Hai, Xue Li, Hai Kuo, and Lin Wanyue, leaving them gasping for breath.

The main body of the beast collapsed heavily onto the iron floor, thrashing weakly, its life force rapidly draining.

Xue Ren landed gracefully on the metal plating, his chest heaving as the effects of the Blood-Sacrifice Pill began to wane. He leaned heavily on his scythe, a victorious, cruel smile spreading across his gaunt face.

”The beast is broken!” Xue Ren declared, turning his head to look at Hai Kuo. ”The legacy belongs to—”

He never finished the sentence.

The ancient runic pathways carved into the iron floor directly beneath Xue Ren’s boots flared with an aggressive, blinding black light. It was not the grey light of the True Monarch’s arrays. It was a suffocating, deeply corrupted darkness.

Before Xue Ren could even register the shift in the ambient Qi, a concentrated spike of pure, pitch-black aura shot upward from the floor.

It did not possess physical mass. It bypassed Xue Ren’s heavy defensive barriers and the dense layers of blood-qi entirely, treating physical armor as if it were empty air. The dark spike struck Xue Ren directly in the center of his chest, plunging straight into his spiritual sea.

The attack was absolute. It did not tear flesh or break bone. It struck the soul directly.

Xue Ren’s eyes rolled violently into the back of his head. The cruel smile froze on his face. The massive scythe slipped from his nerveless fingers, clattering loudly against the iron floor. His body instantly lost all tension, dropping like a stone, hitting the ground with a heavy, lifeless thud.

The chamber fell into a terrifying, absolute silence, broken only by the weak thrashing of the dying Python.

”Senior Brother!” Xue Hai and Xue Li screamed in unison, their voices raw with shock. They sprinted forward, dropping to their knees beside Xue Ren’s fallen body.

Hai Kuo gripped his trident, his Peak Core Formation aura flaring defensively. He did not step closer. He felt the terrifying, chilling cold of the dark aura that lingered in the air.

”Do not touch him!” Hai Kuo commanded harshly.

But it was too late. As Xue Hai reached out to grab his brother’s shoulder, a thick, billowing cloud of pitch-black mist erupted from Xue Ren’s mouth and eyes.

The mist hovered over the corpse, swirling aggressively. A sound began to echo through the massive burial chamber. It was not a voice, but a harsh, grating, cackling laughter that seemed to vibrate from the rusted iron walls themselves.

The black mist violently slammed back down into Xue Ren’s body.

Xue Ren’s corpse convulsed severely, his limbs snapping and jerking at unnatural angles. The sound of breaking bones echoed loudly as the body was forcefully realigned. Suddenly, the corpse sat up.

Xue Ren’s eyes snapped open. They were no longer the eyes of a blood-cultivator. The irises were entirely black, radiating an ancient, overwhelming malice.

”Possession!” Luo Cheng roared, stepping backward, his bronze skin turning pale beneath the metallic sheen. ”An ancient spirit is claiming his vessel!”

Hai Kuo’s weathered face twisted in absolute horror. A demonic cultivator or an ancient spirit undergoing possession required a strong physical vessel to anchor itself to the mortal plane. If the entity successfully merged with a Peak Core Formation expert’s body, the resulting abomination would slaughter them all with effortless ease.

”Interrupt the process!” Hai Kuo bellowed, his voice echoing with absolute desperation. ”Do not let it stabilize the core!”

He did not hold back. Hai Kuo reached into his robes, his fingers bypassing his standard armaments, and withdrew a flawless, heavily sealed golden paper radiating an aura of terrifying, apocalyptic heat.

His second 8th-Grade Scorching Sun Talisman.

”Burn to ash!” Hai Kuo roared, infusing his remaining Qi into the golden paper and hurling it directly at the possessing spirit.

Luo Cheng did not hesitate. He channeled the absolute maximum output of his Profound Vajra Flesh Art, his gauntlets glowing with heavy, destructive light. He threw a devastating, wide-arcing punch, sending a massive, physical shockwave of compressed air screaming toward the corpse.

Xue Hai and Xue Li, fueled by grief and sheer terror, unleashed their ultimate attacks. ”Azure Blood Severing Arts: Twin Blood-River Annihilation!” They swung their weapons, sending massive, crossed blades of highly corrosive blood-qi tearing across the room.

Lin Wanyue raised her Azure Tides Heavenly Sword, her massive breasts heaving as she drew upon the very last dregs of her physical stamina. ”Azure Tides Heavenly Art: Tidal Annihilation Slash!” A colossal, heavy blade of highly pressurized dark water surged forward.

Four ultimate, devastating attacks converged simultaneously upon the body of Xue Ren.

The possessing spirit did not panic. Xue Ren’s black eyes locked onto the incoming destruction. The corpse raised a hand, its fingers twisting in a complex, ancient hand-seal that defied modern cultivation logic.

The runic pathways covering the entire burial chamber flared to life.

Massive, incredibly thick pillars of solid profound-iron violently erupted from the floor, forming a heavy, interlocking barricade directly in front of the possessing spirit.

Simultaneously, the dying Silver-Horned Lightning Python let out a final, piteous hiss. Guided by the absolute control of the spirit, the massive beast dragged its bleeding, eighty-foot body forward, coiling itself entirely around the iron barricade, acting as a final, fleshy shield to protect the spirit during the critical moments of possession.

The attacks slammed into the Python and the iron barricade.

BOOOOOOM!

The resulting explosion was catastrophic. The 8th-Grade Scorching Sun Talisman detonated, unleashing a massive, roaring sphere of absolute thermal incineration. The heat vaporized Lin Wanyue’s water blade instantly, turning it into a scalding cloud of steam. Luo Cheng’s acoustic shockwave shattered the outer layers of the iron pillars, sending massive, heavy chunks of shrapnel flying across the chamber like cannonballs. The corrosive blood-qi hissed and boiled against the metal and serpent flesh.

The physical shockwave of the combined attacks threw Hai Kuo, Luo Cheng, and Lin Wanyue violently backward. They hit the iron floor hard, rolling to disperse the immense physical force.

As the smoke and steam slowly cleared, the horrifying reality of the situation was revealed.

The Python had been entirely incinerated, its flesh burned away to the bone. The iron barricade had been severely melted and fractured into a pool of glowing slag.

But behind the ruined metal, the possessing spirit remained completely unharmed.

Wang Jian stood in the shadows near the entrance of the chamber, completely untouched by the blast, securely protected behind the heavy water barriers erected by Shangguan Wan’er.

His abyssal eyes took in the entire scene, his brilliant, deeply sadistic mind piecing the ancient lore together with flawless precision.

’The True Monarch did not design this island as a simple tomb,’ Wang Jian deduced, a cold, calculating smile touching his lips. ’He trapped this ancient spirit here, binding it within the arrays. But arrays degrade over millennia. The spirit managed to slip its immediate restraints a few years ago. It hijacked the island’s defense mechanisms and violently subdued the guarding Python.’

Wang Jian looked at the possessing spirit currently stabilizing its new vessel.

’But a spirit cannot leave an isolated array formation without a physical body to anchor its soul,’ Wang Jian continued his internal calculation. ’It needed a strong, tempered vessel. So, it utilized hidden operatives or basic array manipulations to send the maps out into the Myriad Reefs Sea Region. It seeded the promise of the Heart Demon Trial artifacts specifically to lure Peak Core Formation experts here. It engineered this entire expedition simply to steal a body and escape its prison.’

Wang Jian found the sheer, ruthless patience of the spirit highly amusing. It was a well-executed scheme.

However, the demonic overlord was already calculating how to twist this ancient trap to his own absolute advantage.

Subjugating a spirit of this age and intellect, especially one possessing the secrets of ancient array formations, would be an invaluable asset. It could provide him with the means to effortlessly bypass the defensive wards of the local sects and consortiums.

But there was a far more direct, immediate political benefit staring him right in the face.

Wang Jian’s gaze shifted to City Lord Hai Kuo, who was currently bleeding from his ears, heavily exhausted, and desperately trying to formulate a defense against the impending, fully stabilized abomination.

Then, Wang Jian looked at Lin Wanyue. The City Lord’s wife was leaning heavily on her sword, her incredibly thick, voluptuous hourglass figure trembling with exhaustion, her massive breasts heaving as she prepared to die fighting alongside her husband.

’If Hai Kuo dies in this chamber, slaughtered by the possessing spirit,’ Wang Jian reasoned, his dark eyes tracing the heavy curves of Lin Wanyue’s hips. ’The City Lord’s estate, the vast treasury, and the political control of Abyssal Pearl City will legally, immediately pass to his primary wife.’

And his primary wife was a deeply broken, cum-addicted slut who was permanently bound to Wang Jian.

Wang Jian stepped slightly away from the protective barrier of his women, his hands resting casually at his sides. He watched the dark mist fully absorb into Xue Ren’s corpse, the black eyes glowing with renewed, terrifying vitality.

He didn’t need to lift a finger to kill the City Lord. He simply needed to ensure the possessing spirit did the job for him, before he stepped in to claim the ultimate, magnificent spoils of the Myriad Refinements Island.