Silence......
The masked man was shaken. Blood continued tracing down from his eyes to his collar.
Jin Yu stood rooted, confused yet alert, his senses sharp as a blade.
Then—
BOOM!
The arena exploded into sound.
But it wasn’t unified.
???: "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
???: "He didn’t even move!"
???: "That's cheating! I call it cheating!"
???: "NO! He won! Fairly!"
???: “Did he curse that man?!”
???: “Curse? He didn’t even lift a finger!”
???: "It must be a curse!"
Some were cheering wildly, chanting “Nameless! Nameless!!”
Others booed, jeered, threw things. A bottle shattered against the barrier near the stage.
Up above, in the secluded observation booths, the air had shifted entirely.
“That wasn’t fate magic,” muttered the man with snakeskin for flesh. His slitted eyes narrowed in amusement. “The coin turned, but it spun into void.”
The childlike man leaned forward with a soft smile. “The boy’s divinity rejected it. Bent fate rather than obey it.”
A woman with black, eerie eyes spoke quietly, “No… it shattered fate. That’s a dominion trait.”
The man with predatory, bird-like eyes scoffed. “Then he’s a threat. We should strike now before he—”
“Too late.”
The child interrupted, sipping calmly from a crystal cup.
“He’s crossed the threshold.”
---
Below, on the stage
The masked man stood still for a moment longer. Then, he gave Jin Yu a deep bow, more respectful than surrendering.
Jin Yu didn’t reply. He was still processing the notifications:
Ding!
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Challenge progress: 100%
Host successfully dominated.
Reward: 1 Divine Dominion Point.
Seer’s Fate attempt: Repelled.
That....easy?
He almost couldn't believe it.
Dominion?
His chest felt hot, not in pain, but with a strange, spreading clarity, as if something unseen had accepted him.
Then, the masked man turned away quietly and stepped off the stage. No fanfare. No shame.
But the crowd wouldn’t let it end so easily.
???: "COME BACK!"
???: "YOU CALL THAT A FIGHT?!"
???:"What sorcery was that?!"
Jin Yu looked up at the crowd, slowly, and smirked. He didn’t speak, but that smirk was louder than any retort.
Suddenly
Ding!
Breakthrough progress: 40.0%
His eyes widened slightly.
That… counted?
He took a step back, exhaled deeply, and cracked his neck.
Now that was new.
He looked around again before standing still on the bloodstained battle ground, his eyes now fixed on the spot where the masked man had stood.
The eerie quiet that followed was a strange contrast to the chaos of the fights before. The crowd was still murmuring, but it all sounded far away to him.
His mind drifted, not to the crowd, not to the system’s reward, but to the moment he had nearly been broken. His body had ached, his bones cracked, his skin bruised and torn. There was a time tonight he thought he wouldn't get back up.
A time when the enemy’s fist felt like the sky falling on his spine, when he spat blood and still gritted his teeth to laugh.
He remembered it all, not just the pain, but the struggle, the chaos of instincts and survival clawing for dominance. He hadn’t just fought others out there, he had fought himself.
And he had won.
As he turned from the stage and began to walk toward the tunnel, the corners of his lips lifted in the faintest smirk.
"I did it."
No one heard the words, but he didn’t say them for anyone else.
---
The cool silence of the corridor greeted him like an old friend. The further he walked, the louder the clamor of the crowd behind seemed to fade. By the time he reached the door to his private chamber, the world outside might as well have been another realm.
Inside, he closed the door softly behind him. The chamber was quiet, dimly lit, the scent of blood and dust still clinging faintly to his skin.
He sat down on the stone bench, facing the bowl of water at the center. A folded towel rested beside it.
He dipped the cloth in and wiped his face. The water turned a dull red as he dunked the towel again and began wiping the blood from his chest and arms, revealing slowly healing bruises and cuts.
Then, wrapping the space in a misty veil, he summoned the floating mansion. It shimmered as his will flowed into it.
In separate rooms, Haozi and Min Li sat in lotus position, deep in cultivation. Calm qi fluctuations drifted around Haozi, his progress was evident. His initial-stage Mortal Realm was already brushing against the boundary of the beginning stage.
Jin Yu nodded in approval.
Min Li's cultivation hadn’t advanced from mid-stage Mortal Realm, but it was more stable and refined, clearly consolidating. A breakthrough wasn’t far off.
Then he checked on the children.
They weren’t in the Mansion’s inner rooms, so he turned his gaze to the front yard and found them beside the now-misty pool.
To his surprise, they were all seated around little Rainbow, who no longer looked quite so little. She had taken on a strange, human-like form with tiny, root-like legs and stubby arms. Her body stood upright, just about the size of the children, but her head remained unchanged: the same Vibrant Flower. The effect was odd, she looked almost alien.
She twirled and morphed into different shapes as the children giggled and shouted instructions. Her petals flashed in a kaleidoscope of colors, answering every command with joy.
"Turn to sky color!"
"No, fire color!"
"Water's better!"
"I want leaf color!"
"Yara wants night color!"
"And Baozi too!"
Rainbow changed to each color as asked. The children clapped and laughed in delight.
"Yaaaaa!"
Jin Yu smiled faintly and shook his head.
They’re happy. No need to disturb them
Returning his focus to Min Li, he sent a silent nudge.
“Master” Min Li said, eyes opening calmly.
“How is your cultivation?”
“No problem, Master.”
“Good. Give me some of your robes.”
Min Lei offered a stack of neatly folded garments, which vanished moments later into Jin Yu’s space.
“Master, do you need my help out there?” Min Li asked with solemn eyes. “I can fight too.”
Jin Yu chuckled faintly. “They’re strong. If you want to help, reach the Essence Core Realm first. Then we’ll talk.”
Min Li nodded. “I will.”
With that, Jin Yu cleaned himself with a sweep of his Qi and changed into a fresh black robe. Gone was the blood-stained, battered fighter. In his place stood an elegant young master.
“A cold bath would be nice.” he muttered, tying his hair into a ponytail that draped down like a silk ribbon.
As if on cue, a knock came at the door.
The same man from earlier entered without waiting for permission. Jin Yu didn’t turn. He simply finished tying his hair.
"You won." the man said flatly, as if stating something mundane.
Jin Yu turned to face him, silent, his gaze hard and unblinking.
The man chuckled and reached into his sleeve, pulling out a grey envelope. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it forward. Jin Yu caught it effortlessly.
