Authority

The fourth day was unexpectedly quiet.

There were no footsteps outside the door, no prying eyes through the window crack. Yesterday's events did not repeat themselves, as if that silent massacre had never happened.

Wang Xuan sat cross-legged on the bed, still in Sitting in Divine Illumination. At that moment, he had never wanted time to pass quickly more than he did now. He only wanted to grow stronger, strong enough to overturn this entire despairing world.

While in Sitting in Divine Illumination, he could not sense the passage of time, until he noticed that something was wrong.

His body seemed to be... moving slightly.

It was not the swaying of an earthquake. It felt more like sitting inside a smoothly moving vehicle, with an extremely faint sensation of motion.

Wang Xuan abruptly opened his eyes.

The shabby little room was no longer before him.

He was sitting on a soft leather sofa that he could practically sink into. A strange, indescribable fragrance filled his nose. One breath of it instantly calmed his mind, making him unwilling to think about anything at all.

The space was enormous, like a luxurious mobile living room. Not far away, a handsome young man in splendid white robes reclined on another sofa, smiling at him.

A glowing Wang-character rune shone brightly between the young man's brows.

Eight women surrounded the young man.

There was a mature beauty in a figure-hugging qipao, a timid little girl with twin ponytails, one as voluptuous as a ripe peach, and another so slender she looked as though the wind could blow her over.

Every one of them was a peerless beauty. Any one of them would have caused a sensation outside.

Yet now, all of them kept their heads lowered humbly as they carefully attended to the young man. Some gently massaged his legs, some painstakingly peeled fruit, and some held wine glasses. Even their breathing was exceedingly quiet.

Wang Xuan even saw that farther away, two equally stunning women were kneeling on the thick carpet of the carriage, crawling on their knees with trays raised high in their hands. The trays held wine and fruit platters, and they were 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 paused, and a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.

"Oh?" The young man raised a brow, somewhat surprised.

This Heavenly Fragrance Immortal Qi came from a supreme immortal scripture of a certain Xianxia World. After women cultivated it, they gathered the fragrances of all things and eventually refined them into this essence. It could heal injuries, stabilize the spirit, dispel inner demons, suppress evil entities, confuse enemies... and more.

Wang Xuan turned to look beside him. Outside the window was not the familiar cityscape, but the black vacuum of space.

"Near-Earth orbit?"

He could see the remaining curve of Origin Earth Star, which meant they had not yet completely escaped its gravitational range.

Theoretically, this place was still within the "safe zone" covered by the rules of Heavens Tower.

"Looks like we're about to leave Origin Earth Star." Wang Xuan turned back toward the young man, his tone calm.

The handsome young man merely smiled noncommittally and did not answer.

He seemed too lazy to speak to Wang Xuan. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the window to admire the view of space, accepting the wine glass handed over by a beauty at his side and gently swirling it.

His attitude was so arrogant that it was as though Wang Xuan were merely an item he had picked up casually, not worth wasting words on.

Wang Xuan was not angered either.

With a thought, he summoned the System Panel that only he could see.

A prompt suddenly appeared on the panel:

[Warning: You are about to leave the area covered by the rules of Heavens Tower (Safe Zone). Confirm departure?]

[Yes / No]

Wang Xuan looked at the word "No" and silently focused on it.

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

The cushion slowly rebounded with a faint puff, as though someone had really been sitting there just moments ago.

Yu Ming was still swirling his wine glass, his eyes fixed on the view outside.

Suddenly, he sensed that something was wrong.

He sharply turned his head.

The sofa was empty.

Wang Xuan was gone.

The composed smile on Yu Ming's face instantly froze, then slowly cracked apart.

His hand holding the wine glass tightened slightly.

Crack.

The crystal wine glass was crushed to pieces in his grasp. Wine mixed with shards splashed all over him.

But he did not care in the slightest.

An immense, terrifying force suddenly erupted from within him without warning!

BOOM!!!

The incomparably luxurious large flying car was like papier-mâché before that force, instantly crushed, torn apart, and reduced to countless tiny fragments!

The ten peerless women in the carriage, along with the two drivers in the cockpit, did not even have time to make a sound before they were completely pulverized by the force, turning into scarlet blood mist. In the frigid vacuum of space, the blood mist rapidly froze into tiny red ice crystals, floating amid the wreckage.

Yu Ming stood in the Void, a faint glow radiating around him and shielding him from the vacuum and cold.

His expression was hideous, and his eyes were so gloomy they seemed ready to drip water.

"Wang Xuan..." Yu Ming forced out the two words through clenched teeth, his voice cold as ice.

He raised his hand and touched something resembling a watch on his wrist.

A virtual projection popped up. Light formed the image of a middle-aged man with a Wang-character rune between his brows as well, though it was more intricate and profound.

"Yu Ming, what is it?" the middle-aged man asked evenly.

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

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

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

"I'm certain." Yu Ming gritted his teeth. "He vanished. He disappeared right where he was. My senses had locked onto that space, and there was no trace of movement at all. He simply disappeared, and then his coordinates reappeared within the safe zone... at his home."

After another moment of silence, the middle-aged man slowly spoke. "As expected. That bastard called Wang Xuan may truly have obtained 'that thing.' He can perform spatial jumps within the safe zone... This will be troublesome."

Yu Ming anxiously said, "Third Uncle, what do we do now? Should I..."

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

With that, the virtual projection snapped off and disappeared.

Yu Ming stood alone in the Void, staring at the blue planet ahead.

On the surface of that planet stood a gigantic precious tower beyond description. Its body was unimaginably vast, its tip reaching deep into space and extending for who knew how many light-years. Countless planets and meteors passed through it along the way, yet they pierced through the tower like phantoms without colliding with it at all, as though it existed in another dimension.

Heavens Tower.

Yu Ming stared at the tower. The anger in his eyes slowly turned into undisguised jealousy, before all of it transformed into greed.

He muttered to himself, so quietly that only he could hear it:

"Authority..."

Elsewhere.

On the edge of Starfire City, in an old resettlement district.

Wang Xuan instantly appeared on his crude bed.

His position was perfectly exact. Even the indentation in the bedding from where he had sat cross-legged remained, as though he had never left.

He lowered his head to look at his hands, then looked around at the familiar yet dilapidated surroundings.

He was really... back?

In that instant just now, he had merely thought, I don't want to leave the safe zone. The Authority on the panel had directly activated some kind of power, triggering an option. Then he felt an irresistible force envelop him. His vision blurred, and he was back.

"This is... 0.5% Authority?" Wang Xuan muttered.

Though it was only 0.5%, regarding the intent of "whether to leave the safe zone," it possessed absolute authority. So long as he did not wish to leave, he could activate Authority and instantly return to a "safe location" within his awareness.

He recalled that young man from the Royal Clan.

Would the other party have guessed what happened when he suddenly vanished?

If he had guessed, then...

Wang Xuan's gaze darkened.

He had originally thought that after killing three members of the Royal Clan, at most the Royal Clan would target him to the death.

Now, it seemed he had been too naïve.

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

Then it was likely not just the Royal Clan that would set its sights on him.

Would those Longevity Families that truly stood at the top of the pyramid, monopolizing everything, turn their attention toward him as well?

Wang Xuan sat on the bed, listening to the faint sound of hovering vehicles outside the window. For the first time, he felt safe within the safe zone.

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

He touched the three hard Storage Bags in his chest, then looked at the cold description of Authority on the panel.

In one more day, he would be able to enter Heavens Tower again.