Authority

The fourth day was unexpectedly quiet.

There were no footsteps outside the door, nor were there prying eyes at the window cracks. The events of yesterday never repeated, as if that silent slaughter had never occurred.

Wang Xuan sat cross-legged on his bed, practicing Sitting in Divine Illumination. At this moment, he had never wanted time to pass faster; he only wanted to grow strong quickly, strong enough to overturn this entire world of despair.

While in Sitting in Divine Illumination, he could not perceive the passage of time, until he sensed something was wrong.

His body seemed to be... moving slightly.

It wasn't the shaking of an earthquake, but rather the feeling of sitting in a smoothly moving vehicle, with an extremely subtle sense of motion.

Wang Xuan snapped his eyes open.

Before him was no longer his dilapidated little single room.

Beneath him was a leather sofa so soft he sank into it. The scent filling his nose was indescribable; a single breath made his thoughts instantly sink into tranquility, leaving him with no desire to think about anything at all.

The space here was vast, like a mobile luxury living room. Not far away, a handsome young man dressed in white imperial robes leaned on another sofa, watching him with a smile.

On the young man's forehead, a glowing "Wang" character rune shone brilliantly.

Surrounding the young man were eight women.

There were mature beauties in cheongsams with fiery figures, shy lolis with twin tails, women as plump as ripe peaches, and others so slender they seemed as if they would collapse in a breeze.

Every single one was a top-tier beauty; any one of them could cause a sensation if placed outside.

Yet now, they all lowered their heads humbly, serving the young man with extreme caution. Some gently pounded his legs, some carefully peeled fruit, others held wine glasses, their very breathing kept light.

Wang Xuan even saw, further away, two more stunning women crawling on their knees across the thick carpet of the cabin, holding trays high above their heads laden with fine wine and fruit, terrified of spilling even a drop.

The handsome young man clearly had not expected Wang Xuan to wake up at this moment.

The smile on his face faltered, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"Oh?" The young man raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

This Heavenly Fragrance Immortal Qi came from a peerless scripture of an immortal cultivation world. After women practiced it, they would absorb the fragrance of all things, eventually synthesizing this scent. It possessed the effects of healing, calming the mind, breaking through inner demons, suppressing evil spirits, and bewitching enemies... among others.

Wang Xuan turned his head to the side. Outside the window was not the familiar city scene, but the pitch-black vacuum of space.

"Is this low Earth orbit?"

He could see the remaining arc of the Origin Earth Star, which meant they hadn't completely left the range of its gravity.

Theoretically, this was still a "safe zone" radiated by the rules of the Heavens Tower.

"It seems we are about to leave the Origin Earth Star." Wang Xuan turned his head back, looking at the young man with a calm tone.

The handsome young man smiled noncommittally and did not answer.

He seemed too lazy to speak with Wang Xuan, instead casting his gaze out the window to admire the cosmic scenery, while taking a wine glass handed to him by a beauty and swirling it gently.

His attitude was so arrogant that it was as if Wang Xuan were merely a piece of cargo picked up at random, not worth his breath.

Wang Xuan was not annoyed.

With a thought, he summoned the attribute panel that only he could see.

On the panel, a line of text popped up abruptly:

[Warning: You are about to leave the radiation range of the Heavens Tower rules (safe zone). Do you confirm your departure?]

[Yes / No]

Wang Xuan looked at the "No" option and recited it in his heart.

The next instant, his entire body vanished from the soft leather sofa.

The sofa cushion slowly rebounded, emitting a faint "pfft" sound, as if someone had truly been sitting there just a moment ago.

Yu Ming was swirling his wine glass, his gaze still fixed outside the window.

Suddenly, he felt something was wrong.

He whipped his head around.

The sofa was empty.

Wang Xuan was gone.

The composed smile on Yu Ming's face froze instantly, then began to crack piece by piece.

The hand holding the wine glass tightened slightly.

Crack.

The crystal wine glass was crushed to pieces in his grip, wine and shards splashing all over him.

He didn't care about that at all.

A force so vast it was terrifying erupted from his body without warning!

BOOM!!!

The entire large, indescribably luxurious flying vehicle was like paper before this power; it was instantly crushed, torn apart, and disintegrated into countless tiny fragments!

The ten stunning women in the carriage, along with the two drivers, didn't even have time to make a sound before they were completely crushed by this force, turning into a scarlet mist of blood. The blood mist rapidly solidified in the extreme cold of the vacuum of space, turning into tiny red ice crystals that floated among the debris.

Yu Ming stood in the void, a faint light radiating from his body, insulating him from the vacuum and the low temperature.

His expression was ugly to the extreme, his eyes so gloomy they seemed capable of dripping water.

"Wang Xuan..." Yu Ming squeezed these two words through his teeth, his voice as cold as ice.

He raised his hand and brushed it across a watch-like device on his wrist.

A virtual projection popped up, the light and shadow forming the image of a middle-aged man whose forehead also bore the Royal Clan character, though it was more complex and profound.

"Yu Ming, what is it?" the middle-aged man asked in a flat voice.

"Third Uncle." Yu Ming took a deep breath, suppressing his rage, though his voice still trembled slightly. "The person escaped. Before leaving the safe zone, he vanished instantly and returned to Origin Earth Star."

The middle-aged man in the virtual projection was silent for a moment.

"Vanished instantly? Are you sure it wasn't invisibility or high-speed movement?"

"I'm sure." Yu Ming gritted his teeth. "He just vanished, disappeared on the spot. My perception locked onto that space; there was no movement trajectory. He simply ceased to be there, and then his coordinates reappeared within the safe zone... at his home."

After a brief silence, the middle-aged man spoke slowly: "As I thought. That bastard named Wang Xuan has likely truly obtained 'that thing'. To be able to perform spatial jumps while inside a safe zone... this is going to be troublesome."

Yu Ming asked urgently, "Third Uncle, what should we do now? Should I..."

"No need." The middle-aged man interrupted him. "What happens next is no longer under the jurisdiction of our Royal Clan; I will report this to the Longevity Families."

With that, the virtual projection "snapped" and disconnected, vanishing from sight.

Yu Ming stood alone in the void, gazing at the azure planet ahead.

On the surface of that planet, a giant pagoda that defied description stood tall. Its body was unimaginably massive, its spire reaching deep into space, extending for countless light-years. Countless planets and meteorites passed through its path, yet they seemed to pass through the tower like phantoms, without a single collision, as if it existed in another dimension.

Heavens Tower.

Yu Ming stared at the tower, his eyes filled first with rage, then slowly with undisguised jealousy, and finally, all of it transformed into greed.

He muttered to himself, his voice so low only he could hear:

"Authority..."

On the other side.

On the edge of Starfire City, in the old resettlement area.

Wang Xuan appeared instantly on his simple bed.

The position was precise to the millimeter; even the indentations from where he had been sitting were still there, as if he had never left.

He looked down at his hands, then at the familiar, dilapidated surroundings.

He had really... returned?

In that instant just now, he had only thought about "not leaving the safe zone," and the "Authority" on his panel had directly activated a certain power, triggering the option. Then, he felt an irresistible force envelop him, his vision blurred, and he was back.

"Is this... 0.5% of the Authority?" Wang Xuan whispered to himself.

Although it was only 0.5%, it held absolute authority over the intent of "whether to leave the safe zone." As long as he didn't want to leave, he could activate the Authority and instantly return to a "safe location" within his cognition.

He thought of the Royal Clan youth.

If the other party discovered he had suddenly vanished, would they have already guessed it?

If they had, then I'm afraid...

Wang Xuan's eyes darkened.

He had originally thought that by killing three members of the Royal Clan, the worst he would face was being targeted by them in a fight to the death.

Now it seemed he might have underestimated the situation.

If the other party confirmed that he had obtained the "Authority" of the Heavens Tower...

Then it wouldn't just be the Royal Clan targeting him.

Would those Longevity Families, who truly stood at the top of the pyramid and monopolized everything, also cast their gaze upon him?

Wang Xuan sat on the bed, listening to the faint sound of hovercars drifting in from outside the window, feeling for the first time that he had a sense of security within the safe zone.

The Authority was his trump card, but it had also become a death warrant.

He touched the three hard storage bags in his embrace and looked again at the cold description of the Authority on his panel.

One more day, and he could enter the Heavens Tower again.