Inside the tent, Su Chen sat with his hands folded calmly. He showed no trace of surprise at the arrival of a Spirit Soul realm powerhouse.

  The gray-robed elder behind him recognized the white-haired man at once and spoke his title aloud. That single sentence sent a violent tremor through Marquis Purple Lightning's heart.

  "Not good—I've walked straight into a trap!"

  Realizing the danger, the marquis turned to flee on the spot. But the elder's withered hand had already gripped a long spear. A surge of divine soul power erupted.

  The midnight darkness was suddenly lit as bright as day. Commanders on the ground below saw the flash and immediately understood something was wrong. They shouted in alarm.

  "Protect the young marquis!"

  If the young marquis died here, none of them stationed nearby would escape punishment.

  "It's you—the Master of the Startling Swan Spear! You're still alive!"

  One spear, one startling swan. That technique had once dazzled entire eras. It had swept across the surrounding kingdoms unchallenged.

  Five hundred years had passed. Most believed the Master of the Startling Swan Spear had long since perished. Yet now he stood alive and well before Marquis Purple Lightning. A Spirit Soul fifth-layer powerhouse!

  Marquis Purple Lightning himself was only at the third layer. How could he dare to fight? He wanted nothing more than to escape as quickly as possible. But how could the Master of the Startling Swan Spear allow him to slip away?

  "Damn you, Yu Zhengde—you've ruined me! You call this an ordinary Spirit Soul realm cultivator? A plain, unremarkable old man?"

  Marquis Purple Lightning cursed furiously as he fled. The Master of the Startling Swan Spear ranked among the top ten strongest in the entire Azure Wave Kingdom!

  His voice carried clearly to everyone on the ground below. Their expressions turned to shock and dread. It sounded as though their own Marshal Yu had conspired with the Azure Wave Kingdom to assassinate the young marquis. The thought alone sent chills down their spines. Something massive was about to happen.

  Meanwhile, Yu Zhengde sat inside his own tent, smiling to himself. If the young marquis died tonight, he could finally order a retreat and return home. But Marquis Purple Lightning's furious shout shattered his dream.

  Yu Zhengde stumbled out of the tent in disbelief. He personally witnessed the familiar gray-robed elder chasing down Marquis Purple Lightning. His mind went blank.

  It was over.

  In moments, countless soldiers, generals, and guards surrounded Yu Zhengde in a tight ring.

  "Yu Zhengde, how dare you collude with the Azure Wave Kingdom to murder the young marquis!"

  A sharp rebuke rang out.

  The crowd parted at once, opening a path.

  Su Chen approached slowly, flanked by two furious guards who glared at Yu Zhengde. When Yu Zhengde saw Su Chen, a thunderclap seemed to explode inside his skull. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

  Su Chen looked down at him from above.

  "Young marquis… this wasn't me! It truly wasn't me! I never conspired with the Azure Wave Kingdom to harm you! This must be their plot to drive a wedge between us!"

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  Yu Zhengde desperately tried to argue his innocence.

  Su Chen's voice was ice-cold.

  "Take him away."

  The guards surged forward. Yu Zhengde struggled, but they quickly subdued him. With that, command of the Black Tortoise Army passed smoothly into Su Chen's temporary control.

  The Master of the Startling Swan Spear soon returned, carrying the severed head of Marquis Purple Lightning.

  Su Chen couldn't help but marvel. This man was truly ferocious. Apart from his grandfather—the Marquis of Pacifying the Seas, one of the ten strongest in the Heavenly Wind Kingdom—this gray-robed elder was likely the most powerful figure in the entire residence.

  Once he held firm control of the Black Tortoise Army, Su Chen immediately purged its leadership. Every general and officer connected to Yu Zhengde had their cultivation crippled and were thrown into confinement.

  Su Chen then led the Black Tortoise Army in a few symbolic victories before ordering a triumphant return to the capital.

  As Su Chen returned in triumph to the capital, a single piece of news swept across the Heavenly Wind Kingdom like wildfire.

  The commander of the Black Tortoise Army had colluded with the Azure Wave Kingdom in an attempt to assassinate the young marquis of the Marquis of Pacifying the Seas, the kingdom's foremost genius. The plot had nearly claimed the young marquis' life and risked dooming the entire million-strong Black Tortoise Army.

  In the end, the young marquis saw through the scheme, turned the tide single-handedly, and forced the Azure Wave Kingdom to sign a series of humiliating treaties, securing a crushing victory.

  Decades after her death, Nangong Meng's remains were finally returned to the Heavenly Wave Sect and laid to rest in her ancestral home.

  The king was overjoyed. He personally conferred upon Feng (Su) Chen the title of Champion Marquis. A youth receiving a marquis title became an instant legend throughout the Heavenly Wind Kingdom.

  From the upper floor of a bustling tavern in the capital, Su Chen gazed down at the streets below. Ever since that day, Yu Zhengde had been branded a traitor who colluded with the Azure Wave Kingdom. Unfortunately for him, he had died quietly in prison long before the sentence could be carried out.

  Down below, the once-prestigious Yu family had fallen into disgrace. One after another, they were dragged out as prisoners and beheaded without mercy.

  Su Chen watched the scene unfold and let out a soft laugh.

  "The cycle of heaven is truly just."

  The man who had risen by erasing every trace of his achievements in the previous life was now, in this one, effortlessly reduced to death and the extermination of his entire clan.

  "Brother Feng Chen, what are you looking at?"

  Feng Huai'an sat beside him in a delicate pink Liuxian skirt, chin propped on her hand. She pouted slightly as she watched him stare out the window instead of at her—the kingdom's number-one beauty.

  Su Chen turned back and gave her a gentle smile. "Nothing much. I just saw something that reminded me of old times."

  He looked at her softly and said in a low voice, "Huai'an, next year I will marry you. All right?"

  At those words, the fair skin of Feng Huai'an's face visibly flushed. She buried her face against the white jade table for a long moment before murmuring, "Brother Feng Chen… you mustn't go back on your word."

  Su Chen nodded, a warm smile spreading across his face. "I never will."

  That night, after Feng Huai'an returned to the palace, Su Chen let out a quiet sigh. "What a silly girl."

  But with the backing of the royal family's identity, there were far more things he could now accomplish.

  …

  One year passed.

  Su Chen's cultivation advanced—albeit slowly—to the second layer of Spirit Sea. In this life, he was now twenty years old. As promised, he married Feng Huai'an.

  The entire Marquis of Pacifying the Seas' residence was filled with celebration. The kingdom's foremost beauty had wed. Every drop of wine in the capital's taverns was drained dry that day.

  Countless young talents mourned in silence. Yet the groom was the Heavenly Wind Kingdom's brightest genius—too dazzling for anyone to resent.

  After the wedding, Su Chen formally assumed full control of the Marquis of Pacifying the Seas' residence. His older brothers, younger siblings, and that useless father of his refused to accept it.

  In response, Su Chen stripped them of every shred of authority without hesitation.

  Later, while passing through Northwind City on the road, Su Chen quietly vanished. When he reappeared, he stood once more on the soil of his old home.

  Dust coated everything.

  On the hill behind the rear courtyard, several new gravestones had been erected. Traces of wine and offerings still lingered on them.

  "Li Ming?"

  Su Chen thought of his childhood friend from the previous life. After all these years, only he would still remember a man named Jiang Chen.

  Su Chen did not disturb the offerings. He bowed solemnly, one after another, before the graves of his father Jiang, his mother Jiang, Wang Bailu, and his own children.

  "Rest easy. Soon, I will make the entire Feng clan pay the price."

  The words were a quiet murmur in his heart.

  Following the faint imprint he had left behind in his previous life, Su Chen located the spot where the Spirit Communion manual lay buried. He unearthed it carefully. This was the foundation of his revenge.