However, the trajectory of events began to drift from my carefully laid script.

Xuan Zhou’s identity had aroused suspicion among the cultivators of the Southern Region. More troublesome was Xuan Zhou himself; he was beginning to waver. He had failed repeatedly to refine the Life Essence. For hundreds of years, he only dared to watch his wife and daughter from the shadows, the confusion and agony in his eyes deepening with every passing day.

Until the news arrived.

His wife, Yun Wanqing, was to remarry the Young Master of the Baoqing Workshop.

I saw it clearly. When Xuan Zhou heard the news, his entire body seized up.

Those eyes, previously clouded with fatigue and loss, instantly erupted with a near-insane crimson light. It was the despair of a collapsing faith, the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

He could no longer sit still. I accompanied him as we silently infiltrated the Demon Sweeping Assembly.

Yet, the drama unfolded in ways I hadn’t anticipated. Yun Wanqing’s marriage was intercepted by a man named Zhang Xian. I heard he produced a staggering amount of wealth, smashing it into the face of the Baoqing Young Master like he was discarding trash.

The true provocation came later. Xuan Zhou, through some unknown source, heard the rumor that his wife had spent the night in the Imperial Study with that kid, Zhang Xian.

The aura around him instantly turned violent and chaotic. The pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator leaked out, crushing the air around us. He had gone completely mad.

I could feel the killing intent and pain churning within him. In fact, I somewhat anticipated his loss of control. I wanted him to splatter blood across the scene and turn the world upside down.

At the same time, this kid, Zhang Xian, officially entered my field of vision. His aptitude was garbage, but his methods were endless. He even dared to kill the Young Master of the Baoqing Workshop right in front of the Guiyuan Sect of the Central Continent.

I realized immediately: this was not a fish that belonged in a small pond. Such a person had to be eliminated early, or the future troubles would be endless.

Xuan Zhou decided to strike. I hesitated; the timing wasn’t optimal.

But looking at Xuan Zhou, teetering on the edge of insanity, I found I couldn’t refuse him—whether as his only “friend” or as a lackey of the Black Venerable. This damned identity.

The plan commenced. I deliberately created a moderate commotion to draw attention, while Xuan Zhou transformed into a formless shadow, pouncing toward Zhang Xian’s location.

However, I overestimated Xuan Zhou. Or perhaps, I underestimated Zhang Xian.

He actually failed.

What a waste. A dignified Nascent Soul cultivator launching a sneak attack on a Golden Core brat, and he still missed? He even utilized pre-set teleportation and sealing Formations, yet let the target escape.

It was a humiliation.

I forcefully suppressed the anger and contempt in my heart and went to find the despondent Xuan Zhou.

I put on a mask of heartbreak and pain. I comforted him, suggesting he bring his wife and daughter to our side, away from Zhang Xian, so he could protect them himself.

Xuan Zhou looked at me blankly, a war raging behind his eyes for a long time. Finally, driven by the obsession to protect his family, he agreed.

Unfortunately, Zhang Xian countered again. He sent a divine medicine that cured his daughter’s innate soul deficiency.

When Xuan Zhou heard this, he was dumbstruck. The expression on his face was a masterpiece of complexity: disbelief, ecstasy at his daughter’s recovery, but beneath it all, a bone-deep hatred and confusion.

He hated Zhang Xian for “stealing” his wife, yet had to be grateful to him for saving his daughter. The contradiction nearly tore him apart.

Then, Zhang Xian made his next move. He swaggered into the Cloud Raiment Pavilion to live there. And Xuan Zhou, that coward, only dared to hide in the shadows, watching helplessly as his wife and another man shared a roof. He began to give up on himself.

Watching him weep bitterly, consumed by regret, my heart remained icy cold. This man, my “best friend” of hundreds of years, the pawn I had meticulously cultivated… he was ruined.

His hatred had softened. His obsession had blurred. He had no more value to me.

It was time to change the piece on the board.

The coward ultimately didn’t dare to strike in Cloud Raiment City. At my suggestion, we set a trap outside, using a Formation to lure Zhang Xian alone into a killing zone. This time, I personally took the field. I didn’t believe a mere Golden Core kid could overturn the heavens.

And yet… damn it!

He escaped again.

To my horror, I discovered that before fleeing, he had soul-searched one of my subordinates.

Only then did I realize how difficult this cockroach was to kill. Worse, our stronghold was exposed.

Xuan Zhou didn’t seem too upset by his second failure. There was even a hint of relief in his eyes.

Hah. Whatever. Waste utilization—I would squeeze the last drop of value from him.

The exposure of the secret realm was a foregone conclusion. A plan to “sever the tail to survive” instantly formed in my mind.

I contacted Daoist Qianji. I promised him a massive amount of Black and White Essence and rare treasures, asking him to perform a grand play with me—a “Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell” strategy.

As for Xuan Zhou… forget it. His heart was already dead. He likely wanted to fulfill his ridiculous, tragic romance.

I knew he had decided to die. He wanted to use his life to sever the connection between Yun Wanqing and his dark past. A gesture that would only move himself. Truly, utterly stupid.

Stupid people deserve to die.

I divided the Desire Essence into three parts.

The largest, most violent portion I left for the old Emperor, the Black Venerable. He was the perfect scapegoat and bait.

The second part, I carefully absorbed into my own body. This was the limit I could currently bear; any more and I risked losing myself.

The third part was given to Daoist Qianji as a bargaining chip.

The plan went smoothly. The Southern Region army attacked as predicted.

That fool Xuan Zhou, just as I expected, played the tragic hero. He took all the blame upon himself.

Facing Yun Wanqing, Zhang Xian, and the entire world, he performed a bitter drama: “I am the demon; I sacrifice myself for others.” He even advised me to turn back, preaching about how Desire harms people, urging me to escape the quagmire.

Watching his back as he marched generously toward death, I felt nothing. In fact, I wanted to laugh.

As a friend, I naturally cooperated. I wore an expression of moved reluctance, tears even welling in my eyes.

Then, under his cover, I took the remaining Black and White Essence and quietly vanished, leaving him, the Black Venerable, and Qianji to bear the full wrath of the Southern Region’s righteous path.

A full three years passed.

I lurked in the shadows, frantically devouring the power of the Black and White Essence. Nascent Soul fourth layer… fifth layer…

The power surged through my veins. I felt unprecedentedly strong. It felt as if a mere wave of my hand could tear the sky and shatter the mountains.

I knew the time was ripe. The Southern Region, in my eyes, was now a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

My first stop: the Spirit Ruins Sword Sect.

This Sect had turtled up inside a secret realm, thinking themselves safe. Little did they know, this was their greatest weakness. I only needed to block the entrance to turn their sanctuary into a furnace.

I descended like an apocalyptic Demon God.

The Spirit Ruins Sword Sect’s proud Mountain-Protecting Formation was as fragile as wet paper before my Nascent Soul fifth-layer power.

With one palm strike, the mountain gate shattered.

With one sword slash, their floating island overturned.

Countless disciples turned to ash in terror, their pure Life Essence easily extracted and consumed.

Their Supreme Elder, a decrepit early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, vainly attempted to activate a secret technique to escape with a few “elite” disciples, babbling about “preserving the spark.”

Ridiculous. Before absolute power, any struggle is futile.

I crushed his technique effortlessly. Looking into his despairing eyes, I felt only a cold, sharp pleasure.

A top-tier force that once shook the Southern Region was annihilated by my hand alone.

Staring at the scorched ruins of the secret realm, feeling the Life Essence swelling within me, I couldn’t help but laugh wildly.

This is power! This is the taste of controlling everything!

My second stop: the Yunmiao Sect.

My old home. And those female disciples who cultivated the Nine Turns Jade Condensation Sutra.

Leaving them there would be a waste. Better they fulfill their purpose and become the stepping stones for me to reach the pinnacle.

I used a small trick to lure away the Sect’s experts. The Mountain-Protecting Formation was practically non-existent to my eyes. I walked through layer after layer of restrictions as if strolling through my own garden, returning to the long-unseen summit of Spirit Sword Peak.

The summit remained the same, but the people had changed. Standing in the place that once belonged to me, overlooking the familiar Sect scenery, my heart held not a single ripple.

Only cold calculation.

“Joyous Formation, activate.”

I recited silently in my heart. Golden runes flew from my palm, merging into the void above the peak like living things. In an instant, a vast, complex light screen slowly condensed over Spirit Sword Peak.

It would envelop the entire Yunmiao Sect, ready to harvest all those female disciples who cultivated the Nine Turns Jade Condensation Sutra like ripe fruits.

My road to invincibility begins here.