Chapter 24: Seduction and Severance

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Chapter 24: Seduction and Severance

The moonlight filtered through the crystalline windows of the private suite atop Zhou Intercontinental's headquarters, casting long shadows on marble floors. Elena Zhou stood before the glass, her posture regal, her silver-blue Qi coiling around her like a protective mist.

She didn't know why she had invited Anna here tonight.

No, she did know. Loneliness. Curiosity. And that lingering sense of fate—like something ancient and dangerous watched her every move from beyond the veil of reality.

Behind her, Anna poured two glasses of celestial-grade wine, her movements elegant and precise, her dress flowing like liquid silk.

"You seem tense," Anna murmured, walking forward with slow, sensual grace. "Is it the board meeting? Or the dreams?"

Elena's eyes narrowed. "How did you—?"

Anna simply smiled. "You've been dreaming of flames. Of a mirror that shows your sins. Of him."

Elena turned sharply, aura flaring. "Who are you really?"

In response, Anna set down her glass, stepped forward… and dropped to her knees.

"I am his," she whispered. "And soon… so will you be."

Before Elena could react, runes of seduction and submission burst into existence—etched into the floor by Anna's very presence. Not spells. Not formations. But branded intention, backed by a fraction of Tian Mo's chaotic will seeded into Anna's soul.

The Ice Lotus Constitution resisted for a moment, silver Qi lashing out.

Then the room darkened.

And the mirror shard sealed within Tian Mo's vault pulsed again.

From his cultivation chamber, Tian Mo's lips curled.

"She's ready."

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The moment shattered.

Elena gasped as the visions struck her like a hammer—visions of herself writhing beneath shadows, chained by silk and sin, calling out a name she had never spoken: Tian Mo.

Anna reached up, fingertips caressing Elena's thighs, pushing past resistance with aching patience.

Elena trembled.

Not from fear—but from the chaos uncoiling in her soul.

And when Anna's lips found flesh, when her tongue drew runes of corruption, Elena Zhou's mind fractured—then reformed.

Reborn.

A flower frozen in time, now melting under demonic sun.

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Far below, Tian Mo meditated in utter darkness.

The final stage of Nascent Soul had been conquered. The marrow of his body had been reborn. His soul, expanded by dual cultivation and spiritual sacrifice, teetered on the edge.

The realm beyond was not a step forward—it was a severance.

Spirit Severing.

A realm where the cultivator confronted a phantom born from their mortal past—a test of identity and ego. Failure meant regression. Madness. Even death.

Tian Mo welcomed it.

As the final preparation, he drew a circle of ancestral offerings—spiritual remnants of his enemies, the blood essence of those who mocked him, the broken fragments of the sect that once expelled him.

One final piece remained: his original self.

A lock of hair, sealed from the moment he reincarnated. A symbol of the powerless boy he once was.

He placed it in the center.

Then, in a voice cold and calm, he spoke:

"I sever the weakness. I sever the fear. I sever the name I no longer wear."

A burst of light. A screech like ten thousand voices breaking in chorus.

Then silence.

And from the darkness, a new Tian Mo rose.

Stronger. Sharper. Hungrier.

He was now in the Spirit Severing – Early Stage.

The mansion shook as dark lightning crackled around him. All over the compound, servants and subordinates dropped to their knees, overwhelmed by the oppressive majesty of his breakthrough.

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Anna returned to the estate, her body slick with sweat and qi, cradling Elena in her arms. The CEO's once-cold eyes now shimmered with chaotic submission, her cultivation core pulsing erratically from forced resonance.

She was no longer merely a target.

She was now Tian Mo's second elite wife—a queen-in-waiting, marked by sin, love, and madness.

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Status Update:

Tian Mo: Spirit Severing (Early Stage) | Soul and body refined | Identity severance complete

Anna: Fully assimilated into high society | Successfully converted Elena Zhou

Elena Zhou: Corrupted and marked | Transitioning into Tian Mo's inner harem

Yin Hua: Preparing elite infiltration unit for deployment

New Threat on Terra: Still observing | Likely connected to Tian Mo's past life

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