Exiting Mei Yilan’s chambers, Shen Yu turned his face toward the rising sun. A predator’s smile played on his lips as the golden light caught the sharpness of his eyes. One more beauty in my grasp, he mused, the warmth of the kiss still lingering as a triumphant ghost on his lips.

He made his way toward Lixue’s quarters, his stride confident and unhurried. As he moved through the corridors, the estate’s servants froze, their gazes filled with a mix of awe and primal fascination.

He was a striking, visceral sight, the "Golden Paragon," half-naked and battle-worn, his pale chest marked by the jagged scars of a hero. The maidservants, in particular, watched with flushed cheeks and shallow breath, captivated by the raw, masculine power radiating from him despite his "injuries."

Shen Yu offered them a brief, saintly smile, a mask for the masses, before disappearing into Lixue’s room.

Inside, the atmosphere was heavy with lingering grief. Lixue sat huddled on the edge of the bed, her face pale and stained with tears, while Meng Yan and Xu Yi sat on either side, murmuring soft words of comfort. At the sound of the door closing, Lixue looked up, her eyes wide and red-rimmed.

"Yu’er," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Mother... she will truly be alright? The physicians looked so grim."

"She will be more than alright," Shen Yu said, crossing the room to stand before her. He reached down, cupping her face in his large, warm hands. "Do you truly have so little faith in your husband’s touch?"

"No! I mean... yes, I believe in you, Yu’er," she stammered, leaning into his palm like a bird seeking warmth.

He leaned down and pressed a tender, lingering kiss to her forehead. "Then do not waste another tear on worry. I have stabilized her; she simply needs the rest of the morning to recover."

His tone shifted then, dropping into a low, wicked purr as his gaze drifted toward Meng Yan and Xu Yi. "But I, on the other hand, require a very different kind of recovery. Don’t you want to see your sisters moaning beneath me?"

Lixue blinked, her face blooming into a deep crimson from the incoming thrill of seeing her man taking not one but two women at the same time. "But... but you and the sisters are injured! Won’t the pain be too much?"

Shen Yu chuckled, a dark, vibrating sound. "Your sisters have surely told you by now that their wounds are merely a shallow theater for the public. And as for me..." He ran a thumb slowly across Lixue’s bottom lip, his eyes darkening with a possessive fire. "I could ravage beauties like you even on my deathbed. My hunger for you far outweighs a few scratches."

He stepped back, spreading his arms slightly as he looked at the three of them. "Now, my ladies... show me the prize I fought for tonight. Undress."

The tension in the room snapped, replaced by a sudden, electric heat. The three women shared a look, a silent, knowing communion between sisters. With alluring slow-motion grace, they began to slip the silk from their shoulders.

They moved with a deliberate, teasing rhythm, shedding their robes to reveal the masterpieces of their bodies, each one a different flavor of perfection waiting for him to claim it.

Shen Yu watched, his blood beginning to burn with a heat that no alchemical fire could match.

-------

While the inner chambers of the Tang Estate succumbed to a feverish, private heat, Thousand Waves City awoke to a morning of cold shock and electric tension.

The news of the night’s carnage spread like a wildfire fueled by gale-force winds, morphing with every retelling until the entire city was gripped by a singular, terrifying narrative. In the bustling marketplaces, the common folk spoke of nothing else, their faces pale as they huddled in street corners.

"Is it true? The Peng Clan actually tried to erase the Tangs?" one laborer asked, his voice trembling.

"It’s fact," a merchant replied, leaning in close. "I was there when the sky lit up. The Qi fluctuations were so violent it felt like the heavens were cracking. The Peng Clan hired the Thousand Ghost Syndicate. You know how those assassins work, the moment they failed to kill the target, they sold out their employers to save their own skins."

"So that’s how Lord Tang Wei found out," another chimed in. "He killed the last shadow and squeezed the truth out of him."

In the crowded teahouses, the stories grew even more dramatic.

"I heard Matriarch Tang used a forbidden technique," a patron whispered over his cup.

"Yes, I woke up to the sound of steel clashing, but then the temperature skyrocketed. A massive pillar of fire erupted from the Tang Estate, it was a divine cleansing. She burnt those assassins to ash to protect our Savior."

"And the riot? Did the people really storm the Peng gates?"

"Of course we did!" a young man shouted, slamming his fist on the table. "How could we sit still? They’ve been played us for fools for months, and then they try to murder the only man who cares for us? I grabbed my cleaver and marched with the rest. I personally sent a few of those Peng bastards to hell."

In the high-end restaurants, the tone was more somber but equally devoted. Merchants and wealthy landowners spoke in reverent tones.

"I heard Lord Tang Wei personally stepped in to stop the slaughter," a silk trader noted. "He arrived covered in blood, swaying from his wounds, yet he still pleaded for the lives of the innocents. He was heartbroken to see an economic rivalry turn into a bloodbath. He felt guilty that the people were sinning on his behalf."

"I was there," a jeweler added, his voice thick with shame. "I felt like a worthless ant when he bowed to us. A man of his stature, bleeding and broken, begging us to show mercy? We don’t deserve him."

"And then he offered the Impurity Purging Pills for free!" another exclaimed. "We had to practically force him to take our money. Even then, he insisted on a fifty percent discount. His title, The Golden Paragon of Silver Moon, isn’t just a name, it’s his soul. He’ll be the leading light of the Righteous Path before the decade is out."

But for the smaller cultivation houses that had still not chosen a side, the morning brought a different kind of fear. The total annihilation of the Peng Clan was a seismic shift in the city’s power dynamics.

"The Peng treasury is gutted, their Patriarch has fled as a rogue demonic cultivator, and the Tangs have the Jin Clan and the public in the palm of their hand," a clan elder muttered darkly to his sons. "There is no longer a ’balance’ in Thousand Waves City. There is only Tang Wei."

By noon, the streets were clogged with a different kind of procession. Minor clans, terrified of being the next target of the "Paragon’s" silent influence, began sending lavish ’recovery’ gifts. Cartloads of shimmering spirit stones, rare medicinal herbs, and fine silks lined the roads to the Tang Estate.

Every clan was desperate to prove their loyalty to the new sovereign before he had a chance to turn his golden gaze toward them.

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A/N: Want more Chapters?

Let’s hit a goal of 150 Power Stones this week! I’ll be dropping 1 bonus Chapter for every 150 PS reached. Show your support and let’s keep the momentum going!