Gu Fan sat comfortably on a thick, rotting log, and had his stolen green Bai Clan robe draped loosely over his broad shoulders, completely exposing his muscular chest.

He was currently tossing the four Basic Storage Pouches he had looted from the dead Bai Clan disciples into the air, catching them lazily. They didn’t hold much of value, but loot was loot.

All in all from this new batch of the Bai Clan disciples, Gu Fan got a healthy multiplier reward.

He added another:

20 x 3rd Stage of Body Tempering Beast Cores

40 x 5th Stage of Body Tempering Beast Cores

10 x 6th Stage of Body Tempering Beast Cores

30 x 9th Stage of Body Tempering Beast Cores

20 x 1st Stage of Spirit Realm Beast Cores

10 x 2nd Stage of Spirit Realm Beast Cores

30 x Mortal Grade Green Mist Grass

40 x Spirit Grade Earthbind Root

10 x Spirit Grade Spirit Ginseng Root

20 x Spirit Grade Frost-tip Lotus

10 x spirit Grade Purple Lightening Orchid

’Those guys managed to gather a lot of stuff,’ Gu Fan thought to himself, ’They knew how to contribute to the ascension of the new Sovereign.’

"System," Gu Fan muttered. "Let’s test out the new toy."

[Activating Emperor-Tier Soul Art - ’Eye of the Void-Shatter’.]

As soon as the system spoke, Gu Fan’s glowing green eyes suddenly flared with a terrifying, deep purple light. The entire world shifted in his vision.

The trees, the toxic vines, the massive boulders and the dirt ground faded into a dull, transparent grey, and the forest lit up with vibrant streaks of spiritual energy.

He could see the pulsing red life force of venomous beasts crawling miles away.

The green veins running through the plants, along the ground.

He could even see the residual, golden lingering Qi in the air.

And, directly above his head, hiding perfectly still in the thick canopy of a massive ancient tree, he saw a blinding, freezing white aura.

Gu Fan smirked, dismissing the soul art. The purple light in his eyes faded back to green, and he went back to tossing the storage pouches as he secretly transferred everything to his inventory, pretending he hadn’t seen a thing.

Meanwhile up on the tree, Bai Bing crouched like a hunting predator.

She had found a spare set of pristine white and silver robes in her spatial ring, replacing the ones Gu Fan had ruined the night before. Her silver swords were strapped tightly to her back, and her breathing was slow and controlled.

But inside her mind, a storm was raging.

She stared down at the half-naked man sitting on the log, and her knuckles turned white as her fist tightened.

She hated him.

She wanted to freeze his blood, shatter his bones, and cut him into a thousand pieces for what he had done to her in that cave.

Yet, as she looked at his broad, muscular chest and the arrogant smirk on his face, her body betrayed her.

Her thighs clamped tightly together. A deep, agonizing ache throbbed in her core. Despite her absolute frost cultivation, she felt a burning heat pooling in her belly.

Her Nirvana Phoenix Fire Physique, the secret no one other than her knew until he he exposed it, was literally starving. It desperately craved the scorching, dominant Yang energy that only his thick cock could give it to her.

"I will kill him," Bai Bing whispered to herself, violently biting her lower lip until it bled, trying to get control of her body, "I will cut off his head and end this humiliation."

She couldn’t take the internal conflict anymore. She pushed off the thick branch and dropped straight down into the hollow.

THUD!

She landed gracefully on her feet, barely kicking up any dirt. The temperature in the hollow instantly plummeted, a layer of white frost rapidly spreading outward from her boots.

Gu Fan didn’t even flinch. He caught the storage pouch in his hand and lazily looked up at her.

"Well, well," Gu Fan smirked, his eyes trailing up and down her pristine white robes, "Look who decided to come back. Did you miss me already, sweetheart?"

"Shut your mouth!" Bai Bing snapped.

Her icy aura exploded, as she lunged forward with terrifying speed, without drawing her swords.

She crossed the distance between them in a blur and slapped her palm directly into the centre of Gu Fan’s chest.

BANG!

The impact sounded like a cannon going off, and Gu Fan was launched off the log, as he was sent flying backward through the air, crashing violently back-first into the trunk of a massive, ancient tree.

He slumped to the dirt, coughing up a small mouthful of blood.

"Is that all?" Gu Fan laughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Bai Bing’s eyes narrowed in pure fury.

She blurred forward again, and this time, she grabbed him by the collar of his robe. She spun violently, using her own momentum and threw him across the other end.

This time, Gu Fan smashed head-first into a large, solid grey boulder, and the rock cracked loudly down the middle.

"You ruined my life!" Bai Bing screamed, her icy composure completely shattering. She marched toward him, her fists clenched, "You humiliated me! I am the top genius of the Bai Clan, and you dare to defile me?"

Bai Bing kicked him directly into his ribs, that sent Gu Fan skidding across the ground, but he immediately rolled over and pushed himself up onto his knees.

He looked at her, and a massive, arrogant smile spread across his face.

He completely understood what was happening. This wasn’t a life-or-death battle. She was a 8th Stage Spirit Realm expert. If she truly wanted to kill him, she would have drawn her silver swords and chopped his head off before he could even take a breath.

There was absolutely zero killing intent behind her strikes.

This was nothing but a temper tantrum. She was a confused, deeply humiliated girl trying to vent her frustration on the man who had broken her pride.

"You hit hard," Gu Fan chuckled, spitting a glob of blood onto the ground, as he spread his arms wide open, "But you gripped my cock a hell of a lot harder."

Bai Bing’s pale face flushed a deep, furious crimson.

"You bastard!" she shrieked.

"To think you would follow me all the way here," Gu Fan grinned, "Your pussy must be ach..."

But before he could complete, Bai Bing lunged forward, throwing a flurry of punches at his face and chest.

Gu Fan couldn’t even try to block, and his head snapped back and forth under the heavy blows. His lip split, bleeding slightly, but he just kept laughing.

"Come on, Bai Bing!" Gu Fan teased loudly over the sound of her punches, "Is that the best you can do? Last night you were screaming my name so loud I thought the Venomhide bears would come back to life!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she screamed, punching him in the jaw.

Gu Fan popped his jaw back into place with a sickening crack.

"How long have you been following me?" Gu Fan smirked through the pain as he adjusted the Bai Clan robe over his shoulder, "Did you watch in silence when I killed your fellow clan members?"

"Shut up!" Bai Bing screamed. It was true. She watched Gu Fan walk out of the dungeon. She watched him kill those four Bai Clan disciples. But she never once thought of interfering.

And the momentarily distraction in Bai Bing’s focus was all he needed, as Gu fan reached out with lightning speed, and grabbed her right wrist tightly, completely halting her next punch.

She gasped, trying to pull away, but Gu Fan yanked her violently forward, and their bodies crashed together.

Before she could react, he brought his free hand up and grabbed her left breast right through her pristine white robes.

"Ah!" Bai Bing gasped, a jolt of electricity shooting straight through her body.

She panicked, and raised her hand blasting a concentrated palm of freezing Spirit Qi directly into his stomach, throwing him back a few feet to break the physical contact.

She stood there, panting heavily, as her face had already turned bright red.

"I will freeze your foul mouth shut!" Bai Bing roared, stepping back and finally reaching over her shoulders.

SHING!

She drew both of her silver swords. The temperature around her dropped.

Thick, jagged spikes of ice began to form rapidly on the dirt around her boots. She raised the blades, channelling a massive, overwhelming wave of frost Qi.

Gu Fan’s arrogant smile finally vanished. He decided playtime was over.

"Let’s see how much you really hate me," Gu Fan sneered.

He simply planted his feet and a concentrated pulse of Purple Nether-Ghost Fire erupted from his body.

The wave of purple heat washed directly over Bai Bing like a shockwave.

And the reaction was instantaneous, as the thick spikes of ice around her boots instantly melted into steam. The freezing Spirit Qi gathered in her silver swords completely dissolved.

Bai Bing froze mid-strike. Her eyes widened in absolute shock.

Her Nirvana Phoenix Fire Physique, which had been painfully suppressed and suffocated by her clan’s incompatible ice arts for her entire life, violently reacted to the supreme heat. It was like throwing a bucket of blood at a starving wolf.

Her body completely short-circuited.

CLANG. CLANG.

Her fingers lost all strength. Both of her silver swords slipped from her grasp and hit the dirt.

"What?! What is happening..."

"... to me?"