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Chapter 31: Blades in the Cradle
In the deepest chambers of Shadowlight Sanctuary, where light dared not tread and formation arrays pulsed with silent menace, Tian Mo stood before six youths—his children.
Each born of a different woman from his harem, each raised in seclusion, forged in silence. There were no lullabies here. Only the whisper of steel, the scent of blood, and the mantra of domination.
They knelt, heads bowed, not in fear—but in reverence.
"My blood flows through you," Tian Mo said coldly. "You are not sons and daughters. You are weapons."
A boy—twelve, with pale silver hair and a shadowy aura—lifted his head. "What is our purpose, Father?"
Tian Mo walked before him and stopped. "To kill. To seduce. To infiltrate and corrupt. You will crawl into the hearts of my enemies and hollow them from within."
The boy's eyes gleamed.
The eldest among them, a girl of sixteen with a body already shaped by cultivation and a soul that had tasted death, spoke next. "And if we fall?"
Tian Mo knelt before her, touching her cheek. "Then you'll die beautifully, burning their sects to ash with your final breath."
Behind him stood Anna, Su Li, and Yin Hua, each overseeing a different aspect of their training. Anna honed their psychological manipulation—how to break minds with words and desire. Su Li forged their bodies through assassination drills and dual cultivation techniques. Yin Hua trained their subtlety, their poison arts, their masking and escape.
Tian Mo waved his hand, and six puppets made of spiritual wood and cursed flesh emerged, each carrying the scent of different sects.
"Kill them," he commanded.
In moments, the air sang with movement. The children moved like phantoms, spells laced with black light, Qi blades shimmering. The puppets barely reacted before their heads fell, sliced clean.
Tian Mo smiled with wicked pride. "Excellent. In three years, you'll leave the Sanctuary. The world will see you as orphans, victims, innocents."
He looked into their eyes.
"But I'll know what you truly are. My shadow blades."
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Elsewhere, in Terra – Holy River Sect
A sect elder named Liang Yushu scowled as he read a report.
"Three noble scions dead in mysterious 'seductions'. One married woman disappeared during a spirit gathering and reappeared two weeks later—pregnant, and bearing corrupted dual cores."
He crushed the jade slip.
"It's him," he growled. "Tian Mo is still alive. And worse—he's multiplying."
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Back at the Sanctuary – Nightfall
Tian Mo lay reclined, surrounded by his women. Anna rested her head on his lap, tracing lazy circles over his bare thigh. Yin Hua and Su Li kissed one another atop his chest, bodies slick with post-dual-cultivation sweat.
Elena Zhou arrived late, dressed in an imperial jade qipao slit high to the hip, her aura chilly but eyes burning. She didn't speak—she merely climbed atop Tian Mo and kissed him like a starving beast.
He growled against her lips, pulling her closer, entering her with a thrust that made her cry out.
The women didn't mind. They joined in, moans echoing beneath the black crystal dome. For Tian Mo, this wasn't mere pleasure—it was domination, affirmation, the forging of loyalty through lust.
Hours passed.
When the women finally slept, marked with new runes and filled with his seed, Tian Mo rose. He walked to the highest balcony of the Sanctuary and looked east.
The stars whispered. The ascension channels to Terra shimmered in the distance. His power was growing, but he wasn't ready yet.
"I'll build my army in the dark," he murmured. "They won't see the blade until it's already inside them."
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