"So transcendence isn't limited to elements…"

For the longest time, Wang Xiao had assumed Transcendence was bound to elemental forces. But ever since stepping into the Netherworld, he realized there were no such limits.

Transcendence was simply the act of elevating one's soul beyond to embody something eternal, a fragment of existence itself. Even abstract concepts like death, sorrow, or poetry could grant it.

A tale of beginning of existence, read and internalized by the Night Empress, had tethered her soul to an unfinished tale. Because existence itself had no end, she gained a form of absolute immortality… and the verses became her weapons.

Wang Xiao's eyes narrowed, the two Transcendents he had fought during his last visit to the Netherworld hadn't been hiding their strength after all. They hadn't used elements, they had embodied pure philosophy.

He had misunderstood what true Transcendence meant.

This new insight revealed a dangerous loophole. While tethering one's soul to a perpetual concept granted immortality, the resulting powers may lack raw offensive might.

Many such beings may end up weaker than their previous selves… easy to chain, enslave, or turn into hostages despite being unkillable.

Wang Xiao smirked. He hadn't met such unlucky souls yet, but he would definitely enjoy a good laugh at their pathetic fates when he did.

As he leisurely observed the carnage, the sky suddenly tore open with violent force. A massive rift swallowed the artificial sun the Night Empress had summoned, plunging the battlefield back into suffocating darkness.

The twin moons, one pale and dying, the other bloated and crimson, shone mockingly once more.

The Night Empress's overwhelming aura faltered as the verses weakened.

[Night Empress, stop already. The Dark Soul Forces belong to her. If you hollow them out without mercy, she will come for revenge… Let them go and repent.]

A deep, authoritative voice echoed from the spatial tear, cold and commanding.

The remaining alive, still half-choked by undead hands and blooming with cursed nostalgia flowers, immediately perked up like drowning rats smelling salvation.

The Night Empress remained unmoved. Even as the overwhelming pressure of a Great Lord descended upon her like an invisible mountain, her dual-colored eyes burned with fierce hatred toward that voice.

"Hmph… Then let her come and seek my life. Since when did I beg for your protection? Or have you started licking her feet so eagerly that you now endorse her will?"

Her words caused the entire sky across the Netherworld, not just this cursed valley, to tear open. The confrontation between the two ancient powers echoed through every region like thunder wrapped in dynamite and venom.

Millions of beings across the Yin Dynasty trembled at the exchange.

The sky fell silent for a moment, then exhaled as if exhausted.

[Ye Sumeng… You had your chance. I gave you authority, your empire, helped you rise… and this is how you repay me? So be it. Let your existence serve as a reminder of your unfinished tale. Even your final moments shall go toward service for the beings of the Yin Dynasty.]

The Night Empress's expression flickered at the mention of her old name, Ye Sumeng. A wave of deep nostalgia washed over her regal features.

She couldn't help but glance once behind her, toward the broken Weeping Void Empire. In the far distance, a single region around her castle still glowed with faint, stubborn light.

Her face hardened again.

A colossal ethereal cage materialized from the torn sky, descending rapidly. It began sucking her transcendent form toward it, blurring the edges of her existence even as she resisted with graceful fury.

"So it's that guy…" Wang Xiao smiled faintly, recognizing the Yin Great Lord's aura. He connected the dots quickly. "Who is this 'she' controlling the Dark Soul Forces? Weren't they from the Obsidian faction?"

His eyes lit up with genuine interest. So far, Wang Xiao had only met one female Great Lord, Xue Hanqin. If his hunch was correct, this mysterious "she" was likely the Obsidian faction's ruler. He remembered only a figure shrouded in black mist. It had been impossible to tell a woman hid beneath that darkness.

He glanced back at the struggling Night Empress and the shadow of the Yin Great Lord, sensing layers of complicated history and resentment between them. A romantic backstory, perhaps? Wang Xiao nearly laughed out loud.

Yet he felt no desire to intervene. He hadn't come here for her.

[Save her.]

Yet someone just had to ruin the fucking show. Wang Xiao couldn't help but frown deeply as the familiar voice echoed through his consciousness.

[You think I take your orders? Also, where the hell were you till now?] he shot back mentally.

He recognized the voice immediately, Xue Hanqin, the ex-Great Lord who had reincarnated and fled to Earth. He had promised to help her eventually, but he sure as shit didn't expect her to pop up this soon.

[I almost thought you were already enslaved landing here,] he chuckled inwardly with amusement.

[It's not the time to catch up. I can't reveal myself yet. Just save her, she's useful. And her name isn't Ye Sumeng… it's Yang Sumeng.]

"??" Wang Xiao's brows shot up in genuine surprise. His gaze snapped back to the falling Night Empress, a second too long on her graceful, mountain-dwarfing figure. A sudden, shamelessly enchanting urge hit him, the desire to smack those full, regal buttocks and watch them ripple.

[If she's actually related to that guy… then I'm all the way in.] A predatory grin spread across his face. [I already have a fate with that man's family women anyway.]

Yang Sumeng… connected to Yang Shi Tian, the Great Lord of the Yang faction? Wang Xiao could barely believe it. The Yin Great Lord had raised her, yet now he was trying to cage her like a disobedient pet. Kidnapping? Forbidden romance? Political hostage?

Things had just gotten scandalous.

[Stop overthinking and save her already! Once that cage fully locks, it'll be almost impossible to rescue her without a thousand years of preparation!] Xue Hanqin's frustrated voice rang out.

But Wang Xiao remained floating like a indifferent, immovable rock, arms crossed. [If what you claim is true, then she doesn't need me to defend her, does she?]

He still wasn't fully convinced Xue Hanqin wasn't trying to trick him.

Xue Hanqin fell silent, clearly gridlocked. Even she wasn't one hundred percent sure, it was mostly a hunch.

RUMBLE...! Crash!

Right as the colossal ethereal cage was about to clamp shut, a massive golden spear tore through the sky like divine judgment, shattering the cage into sparkling fragments and freeing the Night Empress.

Wang Xiao chuckled darkly. "… so she really is useful."

He shot forward instantly, catching the weakened Night Empress as she plummeted from the heavens. His strong arms wrapped around her thin yet supple waist, pulling her close against his chest.

The spatial tear slammed shut. The massive spear vanished back into the void, and the Yin Great Lord's presence receded with clear reluctance. Though across the entire Netherworld, the clouds growled and thunder rumbled, a clear manifestation of his seething rage.

[How did you know he would come for her…?] Xue Hanqin asked, amazement clear in her voice as she watched Wang Xiao secure the Night Empress.

Even if her hunch had been correct, she hadn't been sure Yang Shi Tian would risk openly revealing his hand like this.

Wang Xiao chuckled, one hand gently brushing the silver chain veil aside to reveal more of the Night Empress's upper face. He tucked her dark, silky hair behind her ear with surprising care. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"How else do you think she survived under his oppression for so long?" he said smoothly, his thumb boldly tracing the soft, dark red, juicy cherry-like lips usually beneath her silver chain veil, "Why do you think the Yin Great Lord never fully suppressed her? It was fear of Yang Shi Tian all along…"

Xue Hanqin fell silent on the other end. She controlled reincarnation and the cycles of life and death… yet how did this man always seem to know more?

Wang Xiao leaned in slightly, inhaling the intoxicating, fresh fragrance rising from the Night Empress's neck and silky hair.

"Still fresh…" he murmured with clear appreciation, voice shameless yet serious.

Far away, Xue Hanqin visibly shuddered in disgust.

[Leacheorus.] Xue Hanqin remarked dryly.

"Oh ho? Who was the one falling all over my dick last time?" Wang Xiao shot back with a grin, unable to resist reminding her.

Xue Hanqin went completely silent. It was technically his fault for mistaking her position and stripping naked, but she had no real comeback.

She wasn't the type to bicker like a little girl over it.

"Regardless," Wang Xiao continued, still cradling the weakened Night Empress in one arm, "why the hell do so many Great Lords exist? Didn't you say only four existed? How the hell can you and I exist simultaneously? And why do all these Great Lords look so damn humanoid?"

He had been wondering about this for a while. Humans in the Netherworld didn't surprise him, humans had come to Earth as prisoners from outside realms anyway. He had met plenty of species that looked humanoid but weren't actually human.

Still, the sheer dominance of human-like forms in Netherworld's ruling elite class felt… suspiciously cliché.

[They are not humans like the ones on your Earth. It's complicated. If you want answers, first capture her. She knows about it too!] Xue Hanqin signaled toward the two fleeing figures in the distance.

Wang Xiao flicked his wrist, draconian sky flames erupted and engulfed the escaping Dark Soul member on the right, incinerating him mid-scream. With another casual pull, he sucked all ten Quasi-Transcendent souls, including the remnants of the fallen, straight into his body.

"No running away and reincarnating for you all," he muttered with dark satisfaction.

He would later refine their malicious consciousness, chop their souls with his asura sword and devour what remained.