[Volume 2] Chapter 22: Turning the Tables

“Uh…”

Sainquartz froze.

Dou Emperor Xiao Yan stared intently at “Xiao Xun’er,” waiting for her answer. The might of a Dou Emperor radiated outward without restraint. If “Xiao Xun’er” gave the wrong answer, he would kill her on the spot.

“Talking about something like that in public is so embarrassing…”

A blush crept across “Xiao Xun’er’s” cheeks. She fidgeted coyly, refusing to answer as she tried to change the subject.

Dou Emperor Xiao Yan smiled gently. His palm, surging with terrifying Dou Qi, gently caressed “Xiao Xun’er’s” cheek.

“We’ve been husband and wife for years. What’s there to be embarrassed about? Besides, there’s no one else here. Whatever secrets exist between you and me will remain between us.”

In reality, Sainquartz had been sharing everything it saw and heard with its teammates outside the Imaginary World.

So at that very moment, aboard the mobile combat platform outside the Imaginary World, Moonbell, Finn, and Bearmont were all staring in stunned silence.

Even they had to admit that Dou Emperor Xiao Yan’s question was devastatingly precise. He had struck directly at the critical point.

“What do we do now?” Finn broke into a cold sweat on Sainquartz’s behalf.

Moonbell rested a hand on a round button. “I can forcibly pull Sainquartz out of the Imaginary World, but extraction takes 0.003 seconds. We can only hope Dou Emperor Xiao Yan doesn’t react in time.”

Dying inside the Imaginary World would not kill someone in reality, but their mind and soul would suffer severe damage. At best, their soul would be fractured. At worst, they could be left severely mentally impaired.

Sainquartz was an extraordinary life-form born from a Saint Quartz. If it died inside the Imaginary World, it might turn into an actual rock in reality.

“At Dou Emperor Xiao Yan’s level, he’ll definitely notice something the instant Sainquartz starts extracting, and then he’ll attack.” Fine beads of sweat formed on Bearmont’s forehead. “I’m going back into the Imaginary World to distract him!”

With that, he reached for the pink traversal helmet again.

“Wait. Something’s changed!” Moonbell raised a hand to stop him.

Back inside the Battle Through the Heavens Imaginary World, “Xiao Xun’er” knitted her delicate brows and complained,

“We can save that kind of private pillow talk for when we’re back in bed. I crossed the river of time for something much more important!”

“What is it?” Dou Emperor Xiao Yan asked.

“I sensed that someone is trying to harm my younger self. That’s why I rushed through time and space to this point in history,” “Xiao Xun’er” said.

“Who dares lay a hand on you? Is it those scumbags from the Spacetime Administration Bureau again? I’ll deal with them!” Dou Emperor Xiao Yan was still suspicious, but his first instinct was to worry that his beloved wife might suffer some indignity.

“Oh no! I can feel it—someone is attacking my younger self! I’m starting to disappear!”

“Xiao Xun’er” covered her mouth and cried out in alarm.

Her left arm began turning transparent. Even her head slowly started fading away!

“Xun’er!” Dou Emperor Xiao Yan immediately panicked.

“At the Xiao Clan in Wutan City! Someone’s about to kill me! If they kill my younger self, my adult self will disappear too!” “Xiao Xun’er” screamed in terror.

“Don’t be afraid, Xun’er! I’ll kill them right now!”

Dou Emperor Xiao Yan roared and spun around. He pushed his speed to the absolute limit, and shot straight toward the Xiao Clan’s main hall.

Only after Dou Emperor Xiao Yan disappeared into the distance did “Xiao Xun’er” let out a long sigh of relief.

It immediately contacted Chen-Awelon. “Flex King, is the data analysis finished?”

Hidden in a secluded ravine, Chen-Awelon watched the progress bar hit one hundred percent. The tension in his chest finally eased.

“Analysis complete. Mission accomplished!”

“Chen-Awelon, are you sure?” Moonbell asked over the team channel.

“It’s done. Everyone can exit the Imaginary World.”

Chen-Awelon naturally wouldn’t dare be careless about something this important.

“Let’s get out of here!”

“Xiao Xun’er” reverted to Sainquartz’s true form and immediately left the Imaginary World.

“I’m out too.” Jyan-Tyenhaw’s voice came over the channel as he woke up on the mobile combat platform outside the Imaginary World.

“Finally finished. Thanks to my brilliant intellect, we had a close call, but made it through safely.” Moonbell raised her slender arms overhead and stretched, arching her supple waist.

Another 100 Contribution Points appeared in each person’s Spacetime Destruction Bureau account. This was the additional payment Chen-Awelon had promised after the mission was complete.

That brought everyone’s total earnings to 200 Contribution Points each.

Contribution Points were good stuff. Inside the Spacetime Destruction Bureau, they could be exchanged for all kinds of useful—and completely useless—things: weapons and equipment, energy crystals, currencies accepted in different worlds, spacetime travel gates, reincarnation slots, cultivation packages, lightning rods for heavenly tribulations, cloned beauties…

You name it, they had it.

“Why hasn’t Flex King come out yet?” Sainquartz wondered aloud.

Chen-Awelon had promised it an extra hundred Contribution Points. At least its brush with death hadn’t been for nothing.

Moonbell called out through the comm channel.

“Chen-Awelon, we’re done. Hurry up and get out of the Imaginary World. Stop dawdling.”

“Wait! I want to throw the Child of Fortune Xiao Yan completely off-balance and run a deeper analysis!” Chen-Awelon replied.

To show his sincerity, he shared his field of vision with everyone outside the Imaginary World.

“You’re still not leaving? Are you waiting for Dou Emperor Xiao Yan to slap you to death?” Bearmont asked.

Chen-Awelon clasped his hands behind his back and gave a cold laugh.

“A Dou Emperor? Mere rabble before me. Only the weak flee from danger. Only by facing the strong head-on can I become a true God of War. Bearmont, and here I thought you walked the martial path to prove the Dao, yet you’re this afraid. Watch closely. You might learn something.”

“You’re showing off again.” Bearmont covered his face and sighed. “Can you stop acting cool for five minutes? How does any of this help the rest of us?”

Chen-Awelon spoke with ringing conviction, every word overflowing with swagger.

“All my life, I, Chen-Awelon, have flexed and slapped faces. Why should I explain myself to you?”

Bearmont: “…”

“Let’s see what Flex King has planned.” Finn sprawled across the control console and idly watched the vision Chen-Awelon was sharing.

Inside the Battle Through the Heavens Imaginary World, Dou Emperor Xiao Yan had already secured the young Xiao Xun’er and confirmed that she was completely unharmed.

At the same time, Xiao Zhan told him that the Spacetime Administration Bureau had not tried to hurt her at all.

Quite the opposite.

They claimed they were seeking “justice” for Xiao Xun’er by arresting the young Xiao Yan for molesting her—and then chemically castrating him.

The moment Dou Emperor Xiao Yan heard the word “castration,” his blood ran cold.

His current memories as a Dou Emperor contained no recollection of ever being castrated, which meant the people who had abducted his younger self had not done anything irreversible yet.

He had to rescue his younger self immediately.

Anything that happened to him in childhood would inevitably affect the version of him who had become a Dou Emperor.

Dou Emperor Xiao Yan returned to look for the adult “Xiao Xun’er,” only to find that she had vanished without a trace.

Now Dou Emperor Xiao Yan was certain.

He had fallen for a diversion.

Realizing this, Dou Emperor Xiao Yan gritted his teeth in fury.

All his life, he had been the one running circles around thousand-year-old monsters. Never had anyone made a fool out of him.

A chill crept into Dou Emperor Xiao Yan’s heart.

Had the tables finally turned?

Now that he himself had become a thousand-year-old monster, had he also become nothing more than an XP bag for someone else on their path to power?

Dou Emperor Xiao Yan silently made up his mind.

Once he survived this disaster, he would kill every young genius on the Dou Qi Continent who cultivated too quickly or advanced as if they were cheating.

And while he was at it, he would wipe out every so-called “trash” mocked by their clan, every young man whose engagement had been annulled, and everyone with the surname Ye or Lin!

Their entire families would be exterminated. Not even a seedling would be left alive!

He would also start holding regular auctions and martial tournaments of every rank.

Anyone who showed off too much or stole the spotlight…

He’d kill them too.