Back in the first floor of the pagoda!

Wang Xiao yawned at the base of the jade staircase, stretching like he owned the pagoda.

"Lately my luck's been disgustingly good," he muttered, side-eyeing the silver-haired woman. "You secretly blessing me again?"

Yuriko nearly missed a step. She whipped around, "Blessing you? With what-?"

He stepped in close anyway, inhaling the cold jasmine-and-battle-rain scent that drifted near her.

His fingers caught a thick lock of her silver hair, brought it to his nose, then drifted lower. Palm cupped her ass through the war-plate, firm, claiming, before delivering a sharp, stinging slap that echoed off the jade.

Startled by his audacious behavior, Yuriko's cheeks flared crimson with rage. Her lips moved in a silent curse, silver teeth bared like a cornered beast.

She hated compromising with him, especially now.

"Useless," Wang Xiao said, already turning away with a negligent wave. "Your curses bounces off me... You know that."

He started up the wide steps towards stairs without looking back. Each one pressed heavier, gravity compression, bone strain, heart test disguised as a talent trial.

The chamber went dead quiet.

Above, on a wide jade landing, Lukas and Helena watched.

"Matches every rumor about him," Lukas muttered, exhaling disappointed. For a fleeting second he'd hoped the Eighth Prince might actually be someone worth allying with, someone who could tip the scales for humanity. One look at the casual groping below killed that thought.

Helena's phoenix eyes narrowed, complex emotions flickering through them. She still couldn't wrap her head around why Wang Xiao had let her walk away that day. "He's really going to climb?"

She glanced higher. Lukas had barely scraped the 38th step even with a tornado churning under his feet. She'd fared no better with her flames roaring. Both of them had been humbled.

How far would the strongest man from Earth make it in this place?

She had no idea she was underestimating him, badly.

To Wang Xiao, these stairs were a child's spatial toy. If he'd found the pagoda earlier, he'd have peeled the array mechanism out like wrapping paper and handed it to Xinxin, his seventh daughter with Eveline, for her to play house with.

A few steps up, his gaze locked on the woman ahead.

Aisha.

Still in that thin cotton nightgown, pale silk turned transparent under the star-lamps. Sweat slid in slow, glistening trails down her collarbone, vanishing into the deep valley between her breasts. Creamy skin flushed from effort; emerald eyes blazed with irritation.

She stamped her foot again, hard, sending faint wind ripples across the jade. Too busy cursing the rigged bullshit stairs to notice the silence spreading below.

They were obviously testing raw strength, not some vague "talent." Whoever started the rumor deserved a slap.

She wasn't wrong. The stairs had originally been a brutal but fair contest for the young generation, same age group, highest climb wins, talent proven through endurance. Over centuries the meaning had drifted into ceremony and spectacle.

His shadow fell over her.

Aisha froze mid-stamp, looked up.

Wang Xiao stood one step below, face level with hers now, amusement curling his mouth like he'd found a sulky forest spirit abandoned on the path.

"I look like shit, don't I?" she said, shrugging one shoulder. "Don't laugh. I was just… trying."

She turned, quickly dusting off the gown as if she hadn't been waging war on the staircase seconds earlier.

Wang Xiao's eyes followed the motion, unhurried, appreciative. Down the curve of her hips, back up to the soft swell of her breasts. She had a body most women would kill for: natural soft brown waves framing her face, those vivid green eyes.

She knew it. He knew she knew.

But she also knew him from lifetimes ago.

If he'd truly wanted her, he'd have claimed her forcefully long before now.

He spoke, voice tempting her with a casual offer. "Bark for me. I'll give you something nice."

Aisha blinked. "…Bark?"

She was braced for anything, mockery, a grab, a demand, but not that.

Wang Xiao didn't wait for confirmation.

Outside, his real prey was slipping away, couldn't wait!

In one fluid motion he scooped her up, slung her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing. Nightgown hiked high, ass and thighs exposed to the cool air.

Aisha yelped, half shock, half outrage, as the world flipped.

Gasps erupted from every landing.

He moved, not walking, blurring.

Past the 100th step in a heartbeat.

Warriors who'd failed before the tenth stared, rubbing their eyes.

"How-"

"Is he cheating?"

"No-look at his feet."

The jade stairs groaned. Cracks spiderwebbed outward with each impact. The array poured pressure down like heavenly wrath, double now, because he carried her weight too.

He didn't slow.

Past 200.

Past 400.

Past 600.

The pagoda trembled, commotion exploded below, shouts, disbelief, awe.

He wasn't just climbing.

He was defying the damn thing while hauling a squirming, woman over his shoulder.

And he looked effortless doing it.

Aisha's scream ripped through the pagod,

startled, filled with something close to... thrill?

"Wang Xiao, you absolute beast, put me down!" Aisha wailed, voice cracking between terror and absurd giggles as she thrashed over his shoulder. "I'm still a untouched, okay? I-I haven't even had my wedding night yet… or whatever you'd call it."

Her words came out hushed, almost lost in the wind, cheeks burning hotter than the thunder arcs snapping around them.

Legs dangled limply now, kicking, just helpless, she just pressed her face tighter against his shoulder, trying to hide.

Bang!

Violet lightning cracked inches from her skin, ozone stinging her nose.

"Ah, the stairs… they're throwing thunder at us," she breathed, eyes squeezing shut. Her fingers curled into his robe like it was the only safe thing left in the world. "Please… slow down a little. I don't want to get burned to death today. I'm not indestructible like you."

Past 700.

Jade split under his feet in glowing cracks, the thunder faded to low rumbles.

Below, stunned silence gave way to murmurs.

"He's carrying someone…"

"Double the pressure-how-"

At 800.

The pagoda groaned deep in its bones. Star-lamps flickered. Dust drifted down, lower level warriors sank to their knees, cores rebelling.

Aisha peeked once, saw the dizzying drop, and quickly buried her face again.

"Wang Xiao… I'm not like you. I'm not immortal," she murmured against his neck, voice cracking softly. "Please put me down.

I'll bark, I'll be good, I promise. I'll… I'll do whatever you want. Just… gently?"

"... I'll even call you, 'My handsome master', for the rest of my miserable life... Ah... Please just put me down."

A small, shaky breath, followed by another stream of words.

"I-I haven't even told you… how I feel about you yet."

The confession slipped out, quiet, mortified, barely audible over the wind.

Wang Xiao paused for half a second.

"You're insane," he muttered, almost exasperated.

With a rare few exceptions, most women who end up with him meet their 'end' once he grows tired of them.

In his eyes, he saw her manoeuvre as frankly... suicidal.

Yet her unpredictable antics made him pause, instead of simply tossing her from the top to death as planned, he decided to let the amusement last a little longer.

Aisha's face flushed deeper, but she couldn't argue. Her whole body felt numb from the near-misses, convinced she was already half-dead. What did pride matter when everything hurt and tingled at once?

He kept climbing.

900.

The Night Empress's record, 912, untouched for an eon, shattered without fanfare.

The staircase shuddered. Cracks raced through moonheart jade. The array howled, silver-white mist coiling like chains from the sky.

Screams rose faintly below.

"Stop him!"

"He'll destroy it!"

No one dared move.

Past 950.

Aisha's breaths came in short, shaky bursts. Nails pressed lightly into his back, not digging, just holding on. Sweat slicked her skin; nipples peaked against the silk from cold and adrenaline. Her body rubbed against him helplessly with each step, soft, involuntary friction that made her whimper quietly.

"For someone screaming a moment ago. Aren't you… enjoying this a little too much?" Wang Xiao said, amused.

Her voice was a tiny, embarrassed whisper. "Maybe… I can't help it. My body's reacting on its own. It's not fair… only men are supposed to get reaction like this, right? I'm sorry... It's embarrassing."

He gave a short hum.

"Surprised you haven't wet yourself yet. If you had, I'd have dropped you."

Her whole body tensed, legs clamped instinctively, she bit her lip hard.

"I… I haven't," she whispered, desperate. "Please don't. I want to live."

991.

The final steps quivered.

992, stone fractured with a low groan.

993, a chunk broke free, plummeting in glittering dust.

994, another split wider.

The array's pressure became visible, a collapsing storm of gravity bearing down.

Aisha pressed her lips to his neck, words muffled and pleading.

"I haven't… peed. Please… don't throw me. I just want to stay with you."

He took the last five in one long stride.

999.

The staircase finally broke.

A single, deafening crack. The top platform shattered outward, moonheart shards raining like dying stars. The suppression array wailed once, then collapsed inward.

Silence fell... absolute.

Wang Xiao stood on the jagged remnant, pagoda's ruined crown open to the void. Aisha still draped over his shoulder, chest rising and falling in shallow breaths, gown torn and dirty, hair a soft mess.

She lifted her head slowly.

Eyes wide, glittering with shock and quiet heat.

The pagoda stared up, thousands frozen.

No cheers, no words.

Just the man who'd broken legend while carrying a trembling woman.

Aisha let out a soft, shaky exhale against his ear.

"We're… alive."

Wang Xiao tilted his head, lips curving faintly.

"Told you I'd give you something nice if you behaved..."