Chapter 26: Blood Debts and Ice Thrones
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Chapter 26: Blood Debts and Ice Thrones
The grand ballroom of the Zhou Intercontinental Hotel glittered with artificial starlight. Crystal chandeliers reflected golden glow over guests dressed in designer robes, enchanted accessories, and subtle auras of cultivation. The elites of Earth had gathered under one name—Elena Zhou's.
But none knew the truth.
Elena stood at the center, clad in a backless white gown that shimmered with spiritual silk and hidden formation threads. Her eyes no longer held cold calculation—but depthless submission to chaos and control. Behind her smile was Tian Mo's will.
She raised a glass.
"To the new era of convergence," she declared, voice calm, commanding, elegant. "Where cultivation and commerce will merge—under vision, not violence."
Applause followed.
She had become the queen of ice and fire, a mask over madness, a lover turned general in Tian Mo's rising empire.
Yet even she didn't expect who walked through the doors next.
A woman in red.
Tall, regal, with blood-colored irises and an aura of latent flame.
Elena's wine trembled slightly.
Su Li.
Tian Mo's former lover from his past life. A prodigious cultivator who once shared his bed, his ambition, and finally—his betrayal.
Her eyes scanned the room... until they found Elena.
"You belong to him now," Su Li said softly, as they met in a quiet corridor minutes later.
Elena didn't deny it. "He saved me from cold death. You abandoned him."
Su Li's gaze flickered with pain. "I survived."
"I serve."
They stood in silence.
Then Su Li smiled faintly. "Tell him I'm not here to stop him. I'm here to ask for one thing."
Elena raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"
"My turn."
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Beneath the Zhou building, in a hidden chamber lit by formation lamps and chaotic glyphs, Anna stood before twelve kneeling girls—new recruits, chosen by soul resonance and beauty potential. Some were street orphans with hidden constitutions. Others were disgraced noble daughters looking for vengeance. Each had been seduced, tested, broken, or convinced by Anna's charm.
"Today," Anna said, disrobing, her body covered in seductive ink-etched sigils, "you learn to please a god."
She walked among them, initiating one after another into the dark dual cultivation arts Tian Mo had designed—built on absorption, loyalty, and spiritual imprinting.
Every climax sealed a bond.
Every moan became a mantra.
And as their cores began synchronizing, their souls became property—his.
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At Tian Mo's cultivation temple, he meditated within a seven-ring formation of black jade. The Spirit Severing Phantom he'd faced had been conquered—but not destroyed.
It had joined him.
A fragment of his old self now served as a sub-spirit within his soul domain, granting him eerie clarity and resistance against illusions and possession.
He opened his eyes.
"Su Li has returned," he murmured, voice echoing in the silent chamber.
He rose, aura flaring.
A tide of black Qi surged around him—half chaos, half severance.
And with it came… hunger.
"She left me once," he said. "Now she returns, not as my equal... but as mine."
His empire grew. His enemies plotted. And Earth itself began to shift.
The Hidden Circle's second branch was already crumbling—devoured from within by Yin Hua's infiltrators.
And far above, on Terra…
Yan Wujin made his move.
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Status Update:
Tian Mo: Spirit Severing (Early Stage) | Soul Domain strengthened | Preparing for higher foundation-building
Elena Zhou: Public face of empire | Now rivals ancient matriarchs in influence
Anna: Training new dual cultivation disciples | Black Lotus Court expanding
Yin Hua: Subverted second Hidden Circle faction
Su Li: Past lover returns | Role uncertain
Yan Wujin: Sets foot on Earth under false identity
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