The dust storm didn't just spread; it detonated.
A shockwave of pure kinetic force blasted outward, stripping the paint from the walls and shattering every display case in the Celestial Silk Pavilion.
The ceiling, reinforced by defensive formations, groaned under the strain, cracks spiderwebbing across the spirit-wood beams.
Yet, in the epicenter of this catastrophe, calm prevailed.
Shen Xuan sat on the velvet couch, legs crossed, the picture of languid boredom. Not a single strand of his long, moon-silver hair was out of place.
The blood of his enemy that stained his robes seemed more like a decoration than a blemish.
Between the boy and the incoming fist of death stood a figure.
It was an old man in simple green robes. He was thin, his back straight as a spear, his presence as silent as a deep lake and as suffocating as the abyss beneath it.
He held up two fingers.
Just two withered, calloused fingers.
And with those two fingers, he caught the full, mountain-crushing force of a Chaos Lord's rage as easily as one might catch a falling leaf.
"You... You...?"
Protector Gui's eyes bulged, capillaries bursting in the whites.
He tried to retract his fist, to pull back, to flee. But his hand was immovable, trapped in a vice of absolute power.
The chaotic energy he had poured into the strike was dissipating, leaking away like water through a sieve.
"Who are you?" Gui rasped, terror turning his blood to ice.
"Hmph." Xiao Ding's voice was dry, dismissive. "A Chaos Lord attained through sacrificial alchemy? Your foundation is as sturdy as wet paper."
The old man, fresh from his bath and clad in new robes, didn't bother with further conversation. He flicked his wrist.
BANG!
A simple, casual motion sent Protector Gui flying backward like a ragdoll. He smashed through the reinforced spirit-wood doors, his body tracing a brutal arc through the air before slamming into the cobblestone street outside.
Puff.
Gui landed in a crater of his own making, spitting a fountain of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs. His vision swam, the world tilting on its axis.
"Old Man Xiao," Shen Xuan's voice cut through the dust, calm and commanding. He stood up, dusting off his sleeves.
"That is enough. Let me speak to this... thing."
Xiao Ding bowed slightly, stepping back into the shadows of deference. "As you command, Young Master."
The crowd outside, who had been holding their breath, erupted into a frenzy of hushed whispers.
"Young Master? A Chaos Lord calls him Young Master?"
"He defeated Protector Gui with two fingers!"
"That silver-haired boy... is he the scion of a Hidden Holy Land?"
Shen Xuan ignored the insects. He walked out of the ruined shop, his bare feet hovering inches above the debris, and approached the edge of the crater. He crouched down, looking at the broken man below him not with anger, but with the pity one might show a crippled dog.
"I will give you a chance," Shen Xuan said softly. His voice carried a strange resonance, vibrating in Gui's very bones.
"A chance to live. Will you listen?"
Protector Gui looked up, his eyes swimming with hatred and fear.
"Aren't you afraid I'll detonate my core? At this distance... I could take you with me."
"Haha..."
Shen Xuan smiled. It was a terrifying expression, innocent, yet filled with the cruelty of a child pulling wings off a fly. It was the smile of a chess player looking at a pawn that thought it was a king.
"Old thing," Shen Xuan whispered, leaning closer.
"In the plane I hail from, a Chaos Ancestor is fit only to guard the door. As for you... a counterfeit Chaos Lord who burned his own potential for power... you are not even qualified to sweep the floors of my outer court."
He paused, letting the weight of his arrogance crush Gui's spirit.
"Now tell me... will you listen? Or shall I let you experience the 'scenery' of the Hell of Eternal Silence?"
Gui glanced at Xiao Ding, who stood silently in the background, radiating a pressure that made the air heavy.
He looked back at the boy with the golden-purple eyesz eyes that seemed to hold the death of stars.
He gritted his teeth, swallowing his pride along with the blood in his mouth. He nodded.
"Good." Shen Xuan stood up, satisfied. "A Chaos Lord typically enjoys ten thousand years of life. But you... you are barely a thousand, yet your life force is flickering. The alchemy you used burned your foundation. You will be dead in thirty years."
Gui froze. The boy had seen through him in a glance.
"You had the talent to reach the Chaos Saint Realm," Shen Xuan continued, his voice weaving a spell of regret and longing. "But your impatience destroyed you. Now, you are a dead man walking."
He stared deep into Gui's eyes, peeling back the layers of the man's soul.
"Are you willing to accept this? To rot in this mediocre Middle Plane, never seeing the true grandeur of the High Heavens? To die a cripple's death in three decades?"
The temptation was a physical blow. The City Lord, hiding in the void, felt his heart skip a beat. Xiao Ding's eyes widened.
"What... what do you mean?" Gui asked, his voice trembling with a desperate hope.
"Serve me," Shen Xuan said simply. "Give me twenty years of loyalty. In exchange, I will heal your foundation. I will guide you past the bottleneck of this plane. I will show you the path to the Chaos Saint Realm... and beyond."
"Is... is this true?" Gui asked, tears mixing with the blood on his face.
"I am Shen Xuan," the boy replied, as if his name alone was a guarantee carved in adamant.
"I do not lie to slaves."
A second of silence stretched into an eternity.
Then, Gui Ran struggled to his knees. He ignored the pain, ignored the humiliation, and pressed his forehead into the dirt.
"This subordinate... is willing to serve the Young Master."
"Good. Rise."
Shen Xuan turned and walked toward the other victim of the day, Ji Yu. The young master of the Ji Clan lay on the floor of the shop, clutching his empty sockets, screaming into the darkness.
"Protector Gui! Where are you?!" Ji Yu shrieked, his voice cracking.
"Have you killed him? Why is it silent?! Answer me!"
Shen Xuan stopped in front of him. "Protector Gui," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Kill him. I do not like leaving loose ends."
Thump.
Protector Gui fell to his knees again, slamming his head against the floor behind Shen Xuan.
"Young Master! Please!" Gui begged, his voice raw.
"Spare Ji Yu's life! His father... the Clan Head... he saved me from starvation when I was a child. If not for him, I would be dust. I swore a blood oath to protect his line. I beg you... take my service, but do not make me a oath-breaker."
Bang.
The words hit the crowd like a thunderclap. Betrayal. Loyalty. The drama played out in the open street.
"Gui Ran!" Ji Yu roared, stumbling blindly toward the sound.
"You traitor! My father fed you! He raised you! And you betray the Ji Clan in front of these peasants?! The clan will hunt you to the ends of the earth!"
Crunch.
Ji Yu stumbled, his expensive boots coming down with a sickening squelch on something soft. He froze.
Shen Xuan laughed, a cold, sharp sound. "Tsk tsk. What a man. You dare to step on your own gouged eyes and crush them into paste? You truly have the demeanor of a Young Master."
Ji Yu realized what he had done. "You... you... Pfft!"
Overcome by horror and rage, he vomited blood and collapsed, fainting from the sheer psychological shock.
"Young Master," Gui Ran pleaded, his head still on the ground.
"Please. Just this once. I do not want an obsession to haunt my Dao Heart. Let me repay my debt to his father by sparing his life today."
Shen Xuan looked at the kneeling man, then at the unconscious fool. A cold light flickered in his eyes.
"Very well," Shen Xuan said, a thin, dangerous smile curving his lips. "Let him go. But he must remember... if he ever appears in my sight again, I will erase his entire bloodline."
He paused. "However... the death penalty is spared, but the living sin cannot be avoided. Strip him. I want his storage ring, his artifacts, everything. He leaves this place naked."
"Thank you, Young Master!" Gui Ran scrambled up, relief flooding his face. He walked over to the unconscious Ji Yu.
"Ji Yu," he whispered to the senseless boy, "consider this my final repayment."
He stripped the ring from Ji Yu's finger and handed it to Shen Xuan.
Then he turned to the void where the City Lord was hiding.
The City Lord, understanding the cue, threw a bag of compensation to the terrified shopkeeper and vanished, unwilling to be part of this mess any longer.
Shen Xuan took the ring, breaking the seal with a casual pulse of his spirit.
He yawned, turning to the stunned Xiao Ling, who was still clutching the cheap robes.
"Do you know a better clothing store?" he asked, bored. "Take this card. Buy me ten sets of pure white robes. High quality. Bring them to the inn."
He didn't wait for an answer. He walked out, the moonlight reflecting off his silver hair, casting a long, lonely shadow.
"Elder Xiao, Gui Ran. Let's go. I am hungry. It has been a billion years since I had a decent meal."
As they walked under the moonlight, Gui Ran, still nursing his broken ribs, dared to ask.
"Young Master... may I know your full name?"
Shen Xuan stopped. He looked up at the twin moons of this world. The arrogance on his face was not a mask; it was his skin.
"My name is Shen Xuanji," he whispered to the stars. "But for this world... you may call me Shen Xuan."
He paused, turning back with a thoughtful look.
"By the way... Gui Ran. Do you have any... cultivation techniques for the Foundation Establishment realm? My memory is a bit... cluttered."
Gui Ran stumbled, nearly falling over. A monster who could command a Chaos Lord didn't have a basic cultivation manual?
The night wind blew, carrying the promise of a storm that would shake the heavens.