The silence that followed Lu Chen's challenge was absolute. On the deck of the golden ship, the warriors of the Xun'er Clan—men who had leveled mountains in the higher realms—stood frozen. Never in a thousand years had a mortal from a Rank-1 territory looked at their Empress with anything other than trembling worship.
The Empress of the West, whose true name was Gu Meixuan, narrowed her violet eyes. Her aura was like a physical weight, a Stage-8: Saint Realm pressure that should have crushed Lu Chen into the white sand.
"Arrogance is a disease, mortal," she said, her voice echoing like a thunderclap across the city. "You speak of saved lives while standing in the ruins of a city you destroyed. You are but a speck of dust claiming to be a mountain."
[Architectural God-Interface: Analyzing Gu Meixuan...]
[Rank: Stage-8 (Sovereign Saint).]
[Bloodline: Nine-Headed Medusa (Dormant).]
[Primary Flaw: Frozen Heart-Chakra. The 'Nine-Headed Ice Curse' is slowly petrifying her soul. Current progress: 42%.]
Lu Chen looked up, his eyes turning a sharp, crystalline gold. Even under the weight of her Saint pressure, he stood straight, his Origin Spirit Pen glowing with a soft, defiant light.
"You speak of dust, Empress," Lu Chen replied, his voice carried by his Halo of the Sovereign, "but your own 'Imperial Foundation' is crumbling. You came here for a princess, but you cannot even save yourself from the ice crawling up your spine. Every time you breathe, your heart freezes a little more. Tell me, how many years do you have left before you become a literal statue of gold?"
Gu Meixuan's face went pale. The silver waterfall of her hair seemed to crackle with static. This was her deepest secret—the curse of her bloodline that no Royal Physician in the Ancient God Domain could solve.
"Kill him," she commanded, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and fury.
Six golden-armored commanders leaped from the ship, their spears trailing fire and wind. Each was at the Stage-5: Acupuncture Point Realm, far beyond anything Cloud Mist City had ever seen.
"Master!" Han Feng stepped forward, his sword humming.
"Stay back," Lu Chen said, raising his hand. "This is a lesson in 'Structural Collapse'."
The Deconstruction of the Heavens
As the six commanders closed in, Lu Chen didn't use a flashy technique. He used the Origin Spirit Pen to draw six small, black dots in the air—each corresponding to a specific coordinate in the soldiers' flight paths.
[Ability Used: Structural Lockdown!]
The moment the commanders passed those coordinates, their momentum was instantly cancelled. It was as if they had hit an invisible, indestructible wall. The laws of physics in that small space simply ceased to function.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Their golden spears shattered. Their armor, built from the finest spirit-gold, buckled under the sudden reversal of force.
"You rely on the strength of your materials," Lu Chen said, walking toward the fallen commanders. "But you ignore the geometry of the strike. Your armor has a stress point at the third rib; your spears have a vibration flaw in the hilt. You aren't warriors; you are just shiny targets."
He tapped the ground with his pen, and a wave of Holy Origin Qi surged through the earth, neutralizing the fire and wind energy the commanders had released.
The Empress Descends
Gu Meixuan could no longer sit on her throne. She stepped off the ship, her feet touching the air as if it were solid glass. With every step, a frost-pattern formed beneath her feet.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice now dangerously quiet. "No 1-Star Master Teacher from this trash heap can see the flaws in a Saint's bloodline or the physics of an Imperial weapon."
"I am the Architect," Lu Chen said, meeting her gaze. He adjusted his hold on the sleeping Su Lan. "And this 'trash heap' is my territory. If you want the Princess, you will come down here, dismiss your guards, and ask me—not as an Empress, but as a seeker of the Path."
Gu Meixuan landed on the white sand, ten paces from Lu Chen. The pressure was so intense that the sand beneath them began to turn into glass.
"The Princess is the key to our Clan's survival," she said. "She must return to the Ancient God Domain to undergo the Rite of Awakening. If she stays here, the Shadow Sect will find her again, and next time, they will bring an army you cannot 'deconstruct'."
"Then I will go with her," Lu Chen stated.
The Empress laughed, a cold, melodic sound. "A mortal entering the Rank-9 Territories? You would be crushed by the gravity of the spiritual air before you even reached the border."
"I will not go as a refugee," Lu Chen said, his eyes glowing with an intense light. "I will go as the Grand Rector of the Sovereign All Path. And I will take my five disciples with me. By the time we reach your borders, your 'Saint Realm' warriors will be asking my students for advice."
The Deal of the All Path
Lu Chen reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small, plain-looking jade slip. He used the Origin Spirit Pen to write a single rune on it and tossed it to Gu Meixuan.
"This is the 'Heart-Warming Blueprint'," Lu Chen explained. "It won't cure your curse, but it will halt the petrification for three months. Consider it a down payment. In exchange, I want your ship to transport us to the Rank-3 Great Tang Empire. From there, we will make our own way."
Gu Meixuan caught the slip. The moment her fingers touched the rune, she felt a warmth she hadn't experienced in decades. The ice in her chest receded, and for the first time in years, her Qi flowed without pain.
She looked at Lu Chen, her violet eyes filled with a new, complex emotion—a mixture of predatory interest and genuine shock. She was used to being the dominator, the Medusa who turned men to stone. But this man looked at her as if she were a puzzle he had already solved.
"Very well, Architect," she said, a small, dangerous smile appearing on her lips. "I will grant you passage. But know this: once we leave this Rank-1 bubble, the world becomes a monster. If you or your 'disciples' fail to impress me, I will throw you off this ship from ten thousand feet."
"I'll take those odds," Lu Chen replied.
The New Recruits and the Departure
Lu Chen turned to his growing group of disciples.
Han Feng (The Sword Heart)
Yue Qi (The Void Architect)
Mo Xiao (The Frost-Fire Master)
Shi Kui (The Blacksmith Youth with the hammer)
Qin Ling (The Blind Zitherist)
"Pack your things," Lu Chen ordered. "We leave Cloud Mist City tonight. Our destination is the Empire of Great Tang. Shi Kui, Qin Ling—during the flight, I will give you your first 'Architecture' manuals. You have three days to reach the Second Stage, or you're walking."
The two new disciples nodded frantically, both terrified and excited.
As the group boarded the massive golden ship, the citizens of Cloud Mist City watched in awe. The "Trash Teacher" was leaving, not as a failure, but on the Royal Ship of the Gods.
On the deck, Lu Chen laid Su Lan on a bed of spirit-silk. He looked at the Empress, who was standing at the prow, her silver hair whipping in the wind.
[System Notification: Bond with Gu Meixuan (Wife #1) initiated.]
[Status: She thinks you are a curiosity. Potential: High.]
Lu Chen smiled. "System, scan the ship's engine. If we're going to the Great Tang, we might as well make this boat go twice as fast."
[Command Received. Level-2 Engine Scan Initiated...]
As the ship soared into the clouds, the Architectural God-Interface flashed a new message:
[Path to Rank-3 Territory: Unlocked.]
[Next Goal: Establish the 'Sovereign All Path Academy' in the Imperial Capital.]
[New Disciple Located: The 'Beggar Prince' of Great Tang.]