At some distance away...

A majestic castle stood proudly where spring surrendered to winter's embrace. Unlike the vibrant cherry blossom slopes, heavy snowflakes drifted lazily through the air here, blanketing the ground in pristine white.

The regional weather of Xianthera shifted dramatically across its lands, a subtle reminder of its fractured, beautiful mystery.

This castle belonged to Victoria, once Wang Xiao's weapons and combat instructor. Though she had barely taught him anything before he surpassed her entirely.

He wasn't here for a nostalgic reunion.

Yue Qingshuang's broken body had crash-landed in a nearby ditch, face-down and motionless like a discarded corpse. His mask had shattered during the universe collapse, revealing short, disheveled dark green hair matted with blood and snow.

Wang Xiao saw through every disguise with contemptuous ease.

Nearby, he spotted a familiar face, Emma, bundled in a beige coat and thick muffler, her smooth brunette hair swaying gently. She had once been his classmate back in their training days. It seemed she was heading toward the castle to meet Victoria.

A perfect opportunity.

Wang Xiao subtly signaled Eirene. The little pink-haired girl silently followed Emma from behind, preparing to spook her at the right moment.

Shuangshuang, who had witnessed the entire setup, blinked slowly and remarked in a flat, mechanical tone, "She got tricked..."

Wang Xiao smirked shamelessly. "The next scene is definitely not children-friendly."

He crouched beside the crater, flipping Yue Qingshuang's body over with casual indifference.

Meanwhile!

"Cough... Cough...!"

Yue Qingshuang hacked up dark blood, wiping it from his lips as he staggered to his feet. His pristine white robes, embroidered with golden dragon patterns, remained surprisingly intact, some desperate protective treasure.

"What the hell is this place...? I've never been here before," he muttered, voice hoarse and confused. He extended his divine sense, only to feel... nothing.

Absolute silence.

His powers felt completely nullified, as if this entire domain had stripped him of everything.

A cold dread slithered down his spine. He stared at the majestic snow-covered castle in the distance, hesitation gripping him.

Tap... Tap... Tap...

Footsteps crunched through the snow. Two figures approached, an elegant young girl who looked about fourteen, dressed like an aristocratic doll, and an old man with flowing white hair and beard, leaning on a strange cane topped with a serpent's head.

"!!" Yue Qingshuang's eyes widened in pure terror as the snake pendant on the old man's neck transformed into the cane. It was that serpent, the same monstrous avatar that had devoured galaxies and destroyed his hidden universe.

"S-Stay away!" he screamed, scrambling backward in desperation.

For the first time in centuries, genuine fear twisted his face. "You fucking monster-!"

Wang Xiao (in his elderly disguise) didn't stop. He calmly raised the serpent-cane and SMACKED it viciously across Yue Qingshuang's legs.

CRACK!

"AHHHHH-!!" Yue Qingshuang screamed in agony, collapsing back into the snow.

The old man's glowing blue eyes stared down at him with ancient, indifferent authority.

Snow swirled around them as if the world itself bow to his authority.

"You dare trespass in My domain, little worm?" Wang Xiao's voice carried an ethereal weight, deep and resonant, tinged with divine menace. "I am the Architect of All. The Eternal Creator who forged every universe, every law, every pathetic soul that crawls through existence. This world? This body? Even the air you choke on, all of it is Mine."

Yue Qingshuang's face paled further. He tried to summon his power, but nothing answered. "Y-You... you're lying! No one-"

Wang Xiao slammed the serpent-cane into the ground.

The snow exploded outward in a perfect circle, forming ancient runes that glowed with terrifying power.

"Lying?" He let out a chuckle that somehow sounded like authority wrapped in mockery. "I spat out entire realities while you were still sucking on tits. I am the True God of this and every realm. Your little escape? The serpent that swallowed your precious universe? All part of My design. You were never running away from Fifth Great Lord..."

The old man leaned closer, eyes blazing with divinity.

"You were running from Me."

Yue Qingshuang trembled violently in the snow, caught between searing agony, primal fear, and a dawning existential horror that threatened to shatter his sanity.

'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!'

He couldn't summon even a single strand of his power. It was as if the very laws of existence had abandoned him.

Wang Xiao's elderly form chuckled deeply, the sound rumbling like distant thunder wrapped in mockery. "Do you still not realize it, you insignificant speck? The man you call Fifth Great Lord, who chased you across the Netherworld was nothing but My servant. A lowly tool granted a fragment of My divine authority. And the two of you... you dared awaken My pet. You wrecked My creations with your filthy necromancy, twisting the sacred fabric of life and death for your own pathetic ambitions."

The serpent-cane in Wang Xiao's hand suddenly hissed with living fury, its golden eyes flaring as if enraged by the insult to its master.

"!!!"

Yue Qingshuang's face turned deathly pale. Suspicion warred with terror in his eyes. 'That monster... was just a servant?' But it made a horrifying kind of sense. Wang Xiao's impossible growth, his overwhelming presence, if this ancient being before him was the true source...

He gritted his teeth against the pain of his shattered legs. Breaking the bones of an Immortal Sovereign with one casual strike? Even his father, might not manage such casual dominance.

The realization crushed him. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Wang Xiao turned away as if losing interest. "Follow."

He began walking slowly, the serpent-cane tapping rhythmically against the snow.

"..."

Yue Qingshuang remained silent for a long moment, then dragged his broken body forward through the snow with gritted teeth, leaving a trail of blood behind him. "W-Where are you taking me, Great One?"

Wang Xiao's ancient voice carried a bored, cosmic indifference. "Where? Does the ant question the path the mountain takes? It matters not."

In the next instant, the world dissolved around them, snow, castle, mountains, everything vanishing into an endless, blinding white void.

"!!"

Yue Qingshuang staggered, eyes wide with shock.

Wang Xiao sighed, his voice echoing with ethereal weight, like the first breath of creation itself. "The path is nowhere...True existence only reveals itself when one pierces the illusion of the material world and realizes everything, every soul, every star, every fleeting moment, is but a fleeting thought within a singular, timeless consciousness. I am that consciousness."

The white void suddenly churned. Countless screens and living illusions bloomed around them, replaying Yue Qingshuang's entire life in merciless detail.

Moments he had forgotten.

Moments he had buried.

Even the times he lay unconscious or asleep,

every hidden shame, every cruel act, every whispered betrayal.

"!!"

Yue Qingshuang's face twisted in horror as fragments of his existence played out like a divine judgment.

"Your illusions... they won't work on me..."

THUD!

Before Wang Xiao could finish, Yue Qingshuang collapsed to his knees. Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face despite his desperate resistance. His eyes were forced wide open by some invisible power, drinking in every sin, every failure, every meaningless atrocity.

Wang Xiao smiled faintly.

Then, without warning, his elderly body ripped apart down the middle as if tearing open a cheap costume. Blinding, primordial light erupted outward, pure, merciless radiance that burned like the birth of a new cosmos.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!!!"

Yue Qingshuang screamed in agony as blood poured from his eyes. The light assaulted not just his body, but his very soul. In that eternal instant, torrents of forbidden knowledge flooded his mind: the secrets of existence, the birth and death of countless universes, the intricate laws governing even the smallest grain of sand across infinite realities.

To gaze upon a Transcendental Deity in their true form was suicide for lesser beings. The body was merely a vessel, a humble container allowing such entities to walk among the illusions of time and matter without untangling reality itself.

Wang Xiao's true presence stood vast, ancient, and utterly overwhelming.

A boundless, suffocating aura that made the very temple of reality tremble. Yue Qingshuang's mind stood on the brink of collapse, his soul fracturing under the forbidden cosmic truths.

CRACK... RUMBLE...

The endless white void shattered like fragile glass. In an instant, they were back in the snowy mountains, cold wind howling around them.

Yue Qingshuang collapsed face-first into the snow, still screaming, his body convulsing from the mental backlash of seizures.

"Hahaha... Last time, you tried to prank me with your pathetic little act. How was my little act?" Wang Xiao's voice echoed with dark amusement as he tore away the elderly hanfu like cheap rags.

His tall, imposing true form reappeared, sharp features, predatory eyes, and that evil grin. "Too feeble."

He moved like lightning. Sneaking behind the fallen figure, he delivered a brutal kick to the stomach.

THUD!

"Gah!" Yue Qingshuang gasped, curling up in pain.

Wang Xiao crouched down, his strong hands ruthlessly tearing open the pristine white robes with golden dragon patterns.

Tear! Tear!

The fabric ripped loudly, revealing what lay beneath.

"!!!"

From her hiding spot among the cherry blossom trees, Shuangshuang's eyes widened in pure horror. She slapped both hands over her mouth to stifle a scream.

'Oh no... he's actually doing it to a man?!'

She watched in frozen shock as Wang Xiao's large hand boldly slipped inside the torn robes, squeezing what looked like a full, heavy breast, while his other hand moved between the legs, stroking and groping without mercy.

The scene was... completely unexpected.