The stranger’s lip curled into a faint, disinterested smile. "A snake and a lizard playing at being protectors. How quaint."

He surveyed the two kings with the same clinical detachment one might use to study insects fighting over a crumb.

It wasn’t that he was posturing; his arrogance was a byproduct of absolute, crushing competence.

To him, the Dragon Sovereign’s violet flames were little more than flickering candles in a gale, and the Snake King’s lethal speed was as sluggish as a winter pond.

He didn’t need to raise his voice or exert effort; his very existence in this plane was an act of condescension, just a flick of finger and all lives would end, but even with his strength he could never escape the heavenly Dao’s anger, so he restrained himself from acting out.

"Do you truly believe," Elder Shen began, his voice like the grinding of tectonic plates, "that your primitive displays of ’rank’ mean anything to those who walk the High Heavens? You crawl in the dirt of the lower realms and call yourselves Sovereigns. It is adorable, in a tragic sort of way."

Internally, however, a different kind of cold calculation was running through his mind. ’This female is troublesome,’ he thought, his winter-eclipse eyes narrowing as he looked at Lin Wan. ’But her defiance is a gift. If she rejects the Young Master’s invitation, if she chooses to stay in this mud-hole with these mongrels, I cannot be blamed. I will tell the Young Master that she has found ’new’ happiness. And once his heart is sufficiently hardened by her betrayal, my own daughter will be there to offer the consolation of a pure-blooded mate. As long as the Young Master believes my report, the path to the clan’s throne is paved with his heartbreak.’

He flicked a speck of invisible dust from his charcoal robes, looking at Long Zhan and Qin Mo as if they were stains on a clean floor. "You are barking at the moon, little beasts. I am here to offer this female a seat among the stars, and you offer her... what? A stone cottage and mediocre furs and tunics, cheap meats? The disparity is so vast it borders on the comical."

He stepped forward, the ground beneath his feet not just cracking, but turning to fine white powder. "Now, stand aside. I am weary of the air in this realm; it tastes of unrefined spirits and desperation. Lady Lin Wan, you have ten breaths to decide if you wish to remain a queen of the dirt or a goddess of the Upper Realm. Choose quickly, for my patience is as thin as your chances of survival if I decide to stop being polite."

Qin Mo moved with a blur of silver speed, placing himself between the stranger and the door. He didn’t bother with words this time; his silver eyes flashed, and a wave of paralyzing toxic essence rolled toward the intruder. "You’ll find that the ’Mother’ is already spoken for," he hissed, his scales rippling along his jaw as he prepared to shift. "If you want her, you’ll have to go through the us first."

Elder Shen didn’t even flinch. He simply raised a single finger, and the toxic cloud dissipated into nothingness, as if the air itself had refused to carry the snake’s poison. "You speak of ownership as if you have the strength to hold it. It is embarrassing."

With a flick of his wrist, the stranger sent a wave of pure, condensed spiritual energy toward them. It wasn’t an attack meant to kill, but a display of absolute dominance.

Long Zhan braced himself, his wings vibrating as he threw up a barrier of draconic fire, the flames turning white-hot as he poured his life-force into the shield. Qin Mo struck out with a lash of silver essence, trying to find a gap in the stranger’s armor.

The collision sent a shockwave through the square, shattering the nearby windows and sending the remaining villagers fleeing in terror.

The ground beneath the cottage cracked, and the ancient pine trees at the edge of the clearing were snapped like dry twigs. Even the mighty*Davy, who had rushed to his Lord’s side, was blown back several feet by the sheer pressure of the impact, his armor smoking from the friction.

Inside the cottage, the walls groaned under the strain. Lin Wan fell to her knees, her hands braced against the floor. "Weiwei! Give me something! What is he? Why is he here?" she screamed in her mind.

[Analyzing...] Weiwei’s voice was frantic, the blue interface flickering wildly in Lin Wan’s vision, throwing up errors in ancient beast-script. [Signature... matches... the ’Young Master’s’ guardian... reported... at the caldera. Host... this is an... Elder-Level entity... from the Upper Realm. He is... looking... for the... Bloodline. His power... is... off... the... charts, I can’t.. . Access it]

The stranger raised his hand again, but this time, he didn’t strike. He held a small, golden medallion aloft, the same design as the one Lin Wan had seen in her system’s "Legendary Lore" files, she had read it when she had been bored, so Weiwei had given it to her, to know her way around It pulsed with a rhythmic, amber light that seemed to harmonize with the heartbeats of the cubs in Lin Wan’s womb.

"I am called Elder Shen," he announced, his voice echoing across the village with the weight of history. "I come on behalf of the Leopard Ancestors. The male known as Wang has been restored, but his bloodline remains in this primitive land. I am here to retrieve the female and the cubs before the Heavenly Dao senses their potential and snuffs them out."

The air in the square went still. The oppressive pressure lifted slightly, replaced by a suffocating tension. Long Zhan and Qin Mo lowered their guard by a fraction, though their eyes remained wary and full of hate.

"Wang?" Lin Wan whispered, her voice trembling as she pushed herself up. The name acted like a key, unlocking a surge of hope so sharp it was painful. She fumbled for the door handle, her fingers shaking. "He sent you? He’s... he’s alive?"

She threw the door open, ignoring the frantic warnings of her protectors. She stood on the threshold, her hand resting on her prominent belly, her eyes searching the stranger’s cold face. "Is he safe? Where is he? Why didn’t he come himself?"

Elder Shen looked at her, his expression softening by a fraction of a degree, not out of kindness, but out of respect for the "vessel" carrying the clan’s future.

He felt the three powerful, distinct pulses of life emanating from her, one leopard, one dragon, and one snake. A triad. It was a miracle of genetics that shouldn’t exist.

"The Young Master is undergoing the Blood-Purification Rite," Elder Shen explained, his gaze moving to the two kings.

"He has been elevated to his rightful place. He cannot descend to this low-level plane again without risking the collapse of his newly formed core. But he has made a pact with the Elders. If you are brought to the Upper Realm, you and the cubs will be given the protection of the Great Clan."

He looked at Long Zhan and Qin Mo, his eyes turning cold and dismissive once more.

"As for these two... they have served their purpose as placeholders. Their protection was adequate for the wilderness, but it is no longer required. They are but dust in the eyes of the Ancestors. Surely, you are not so foolish as to think they belong in the same breath as the Young Master."

Long Zhan’s violet eyes flared with a new kind of fury, not just the protective instinct of a warrior, but the raw, bleeding jealousy of a male who was about to be discarded after giving his everything. Qin Mo* stepped closer to Lin Wan, his hand gripping the doorframe so hard the wood splintered.

"Placeholders?" Qin Mo hissed, his silver aura flaring into a blinding light. "I have bled for her. I have tracked her through hell. You think you can just take her because you have a golden coin and a fancy title?"

Their hard earned peace hadn’t just been stained; it had been incinerated. Lin Wan looked from the powerful Elder to the two males who had becom

e her world, and then down at her stomach. The path to her husband was open, but it required her to step into a world that viewed her companions as nothing more than debris.

"I won’t go without them," Lin Wan said, her voice echoing through the silent square, firm and unyielding.

Elder Shen’s eyes narrowed, his internal plan already shifting into place. ’Yes, reject me. Choose the dust. It will make the Young Master’s transition so much easier.’ "That... was not part of the arrangement. You would choose these mongrels over the Young Master’s legacy? How disappointing. Perhaps the filth of this realm has already corrupted your judgment."