With a casual gesture, I reached up and caught the attack in my bare hand.

The condensed dao energy that should have obliterated everything within ten miles crackled harmlessly between my fingers like captured lightning.

"This is your ultimate technique?" I asked, genuinely disappointed. "Elder Liu, I expected better from someone of your reputation."

I closed my fist, and the energy dispersed harmlessly, flowing into the environment around us.

Where it touched, flowers bloomed and trees grew taller, the excess power becoming nourishment for new life.

Elder Liu's face went ashen. "W-what are you?"

"I am what this realm needed," I replied, my voice carrying finality. "What it's always needed—someone strong enough to break the chains of stagnation and lead it toward true advancement."

All around us, the surviving cultivators were collapsing to their knees, their will to fight broken not by violence, but by the sheer overwhelming superiority we'd demonstrated.

Spirit beasts lay panting and exhausted, their forced evolutions leaving them grateful for any respite.

[System Notification: Territorial Dominance Established]

[Followers Gained: 847 (Voluntary Submission)]

[Regional Authority Recognized by Heaven]

Feng stepped forward, her presence radiating the kind of authority only a true sect elder could command. "The old order has failed. Look around you—forced to kneel not by cruelty, but by power so far beyond your understanding that resistance is meaningless."

Elder Liu's shoulders sagged in defeat. "What... what do you want from us?"

I smiled, the expression both warm and terrifying. "Simple. Serve willingly, help build something better than what came before, and share in the advancement we'll bring to this realm. Refuse, and find yourselves left behind as we ascend to greater heights."

"And if we choose to oppose you later?" asked the Azure Dragon warrior, her voice barely above a whisper.

Yue's laugh was sharp as her arrowheads. "Sister, you just saw our warm-up. Do you really want to test what we're like when we're trying?"

As if to emphasize the point, a new presence approached from the north—a solitary figure whose aura cut through the residual energy like a blade through silk.

Even I took notice, my enhanced senses recognizing something different about this newcomer.

"Well," I murmured to my wives, "it seems we have a visitor who might actually prove interesting."

The legendary Blade had arrived.

The figure that approached through the settling dust and dissipating qi storms moved with a grace that made even my enhanced senses take notice.

Unlike the desperate charges and flashy formations of the defeated cultivators around us, this newcomer walked with perfect economy of motion, each step carrying the weight of absolute mastery.

The Blade—for that could only be who this was—appeared to be a man in his middle years, though cultivation made such estimates meaningless.

His hair was steel-gray, tied back in a simple knot, and his face bore the kind of weathered calm that came from decades of solitary perfection.

What drew my attention, however, was the weapon at his side.

The sword wasn't ornate or decorated with flashy engravings like most cultivation weapons.

It was a thing of pure function—perfect balance, flawless edge, radiating an aura of such refined lethality that the very air around it seemed to part in respect.

And in that instant, I knew.

'Finally caught you, you walking cheat asshole!'

So technically in front of me was the master of the protagonist, or soon to be the master of the protagonist Who will teach him the final sword strike called Severe Dao.

For a cultivation novel, if someone possessed an ability to slice through anything, ignoring its defenses With a sharpness that could cut through at a molecular level, what would one call that person?

Indeed, this man was a cheat—a cheat must be collected from this lower realm.

And naturally, he was the reason why I had intentionally revealed my presence to the world, to let everyone know, and especially this man, that I am here, wasting some vitality which I naturally recovered through my shared love with my wives.

Given I should at least act like I have some advantage in conversation given his prestige, I started my acting.

"Now this," I murmured to my wives, "is someone who might actually be worth talking to."

Yue's bow remained in her hands, though she hadn't drawn it.

Her archer's instincts were clearly marking this newcomer as dangerous in ways the previous attackers hadn't been. "His movement... I can barely track it, and he's not even trying to be fast."

Mei's vines had gone completely still, a sure sign that her nature affinity was picking up predatory energy that made even her enhanced senses nervous. "Husband, his killing intent is like a mountain—not sharp or aggressive, just... inevitable."

Feng's ice cultivation was responding automatically, frost crystals forming in the air around her as her body prepared for combat. "Early Great Vehicle realm, but his dao comprehension..." She paused, frowning. "It's different. More focused than anything I've ever encountered."

The Blade stopped exactly fifty feet away—close enough for conversation, far enough to react to any sudden moves.

His gray eyes swept over the scene of our recent victory with the kind of professional assessment only a true warrior could manage.

"Impressive," he said, his voice carrying clearly despite its quiet tone. "Seven hundred cultivators, including three Dao Integration elders, defeated without a single death. That level of restraint while demonstrating overwhelming superiority..." He nodded slowly. "It speaks to both power and wisdom."

I felt my eyebrows rise slightly.

Here was someone who understood what we'd actually accomplished, rather than just being awed by the raw display of force.

"The Blade, I presume?" I replied, letting a note of genuine respect enter my voice. "Your reputation precedes you."

A ghost of a smile touched his weathered features. "As does yours, though until this morning, the world knew you as the fallen Emperor Zhao Tianlong. Tell me—is this resurrection, evolution, or something else entirely?"

Behind me, I felt my wives tense slightly.

This man's questions cut straight to the heart of things in a way that suggested far more knowledge than should have been possible.

"Evolution," I answered truthfully. "The man who died in that dungeon cell was weak, broken by betrayal and time. What stands before you is what he became when he refused to accept failure."

The Blade nodded, his hand still resting casually on his sword hilt—not threatening, but ready. "And the realm shake that woke me from forty years of forging? The energy signature that convinced the stars themselves to rearrange? That was merely the aftermath of your... evolution?"

[System Alert: Analyzing newcomer's combat potential]

[Warning: Target possesses abilities outside normal cultivation parameters]

[Recommendation: Exercise extreme caution]

The system's warning was unnecessary.

I could feel the depth of this man's mastery radiating from him like heat from a forge.

He wasn't just Early Great Vehicle—he was Early Great Vehicle refined to absolute perfection, every aspect of his power honed to razor sharpness—Given he was addicted to becoming sharpest sword.

A sword that needs someone to hold it, and will swing in the direction of its desired owner.

"The breakthrough was significant," I admitted. "But it was also necessary. This realm has stagnated under the rule of sects that prioritize tradition over advancement. Someone needed to shake things up."

"Shake things up." The Blade's eyes glittered with what might have been amusement. "Young Emperor, you've done more than that. In the span of a single night, you've rewritten the power balance of seven realms, forced Heaven itself to acknowledge your authority, and demonstrated capabilities that shouldn't exist at your level."

He paused, studying my wives with the same professional assessment he'd given the battlefield. "And you've bonded with three women whose combined potential..." He shook his head slowly. "No wonder the old powers are mobilizing. You haven't just announced your return—you've declared war on the natural order itself."

Yue stepped forward slightly, her bronze skin gleaming as her aura flared. "If you're here to challenge us, old man, you should know we don't fight alone anymore."

The Blade's attention shifted to her, and for a moment his gray eyes showed genuine interest. "Lin Yue, the archer whose mother was drained by sect parasites. I heard rumors of your skill, but seeing you synchronized with Great Vehicle power..." He nodded respectfully. "Your arrows could probably wound me now."

"Probably?" Yue's voice carried a dangerous edge.

"I said wound, not kill," The Blade replied calmly. "The gap between Early Great Vehicle and whatever your husband has become is vast, but the gap between your synchronized power and my focused mastery is much smaller. It would be an interesting test."

Mei's vines began to stir, responding to the tension in the air. "Husband, should we—"

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