SSS-Rank 10x Reward System: Accepting Disciples to Live Forever-Chapter 203: Some Domain Sovereign Junior

"What happened to this palace...?!"

The words almost tore out of Wang Chen’s throat.

For a split second, he nearly shattered the calm, detached image he had so carefully maintained. It took visible effort for him to swallow the shout and compress it into a strained whisper.

Before them stretched a scene that felt apocalyptic.

As far as the eye could see, the land was barren and blackened. The earth had cracked open into jagged veins of cooled magma, like wounds that had once bled fire but were now sealed into ugly scars. Thick smoke still curled lazily upward in places, spiraling toward the sky like grieving dragons refusing to fade.

The air was dry.

Dead.

There was no roaring inferno. No ocean of fire. No raging sea of molten destruction.

This was impossible.

According to every fragment of information he had gathered—from Yang Kai, from ancient rumors, from the general knowledge circulating among sects—the convergence point of the Seven Cloud World should have been an endless sea of liquid fire. Flames so violent that even a Unity-level cultivator would be reduced to ash in an instant. Radiation from exotic molten materials should have warped the mind of anyone below the Resonance Realm.

And now?

Forget scorching flames.

There wasn’t even a single faint ember left.

Just silence.

Demon Queen Zi Han stood beside him, her crimson eyes widening slightly. For a brief moment, even she questioned their location.

Had they arrived at the wrong place?

But the doubt lasted only an instant.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

A pure, dense wave of spiritual qi surged through her meridians, rich beyond comparison. It carried an ancient weight, layered and profound, something that only the heart of a world could produce.

"This pure and dense Qi invigorating my meridians..." she said slowly. "There could be no other place in this world with such richness except the center."

Her gaze shifted toward Wang Chen.

It was subtle, but unmistakable.

She was looking for answers.

As an "immortal," he should have some idea of what had transpired here.

Wang Chen kept his expression composed, but inside, his thoughts were racing.

What kind of existence could erase an ocean of fire that had raged for thousands—perhaps millions—of years?

Not suppress.

Not seal.

Erase.

...

At that exact moment, a dignified voice echoed in his mind.

"Aura of a Domain Sovereign... immortal...? How?"

Mo Huyan’s voice was colder than usual, the faint disdain she always held for the Upper Realm sharpening further.

Even sealed within the Thousand Soul Flag—a low-grade Realm Gate treasure—she could still sense fluctuations from the outside world. The only reason her perception was not absolute was because the Thousand Soul Flag currently rested inside Wang Chen’s inventory, a quasi-storage space governed by system laws. That space insulated its contents from full exposure to reality.

And yet—

She sensed something.

Before her fall, the Nether Empress had stood at least at the Supreme level. An existence comparable to the Third Supreme who had created that legendary technique capable of stealing from the Heavens themselves. Her former power was beyond imagination.

If she called it an "Aura of a Domain Sovereign," then it was no exaggeration.

Wang Chen felt a faint chill run down his spine.

He might be able to maintain his hidden-expert act in front of Zi Han, but before Mo Huyan?

He was nothing but a junior.

Thousands of thoughts collided in his mind in a single breath.

How much did she perceive?

Did she sense only remnants... or something still lingering?

Should he reveal ignorance? Should he pretend insight? Should he ask questions instead?

Although their relationship had eased over the thousands of years spent together, trust was still a fragile thing. Gratitude for guidance and companionship did not equate to blind faith.

Mo Huyan hated the Upper Realm.

A Domain Sovereign had personally descended here...If she misunderstood

The implications were enormous.

Wang Chen forced his expression to remain calm, even as the desolate landscape stretched endlessly before him and Zi Han silently awaited his explanation.

Whatever had happened here was not a small disturbance.

It was a declaration.

And the board of fate had just been violently rearranged.

The next instant, Wang Chen did not waste time.

He extended a thread of divine sense directly toward the Thousand Soul Flag, transmitting information at the fastest speed he could manage.

"This is the Seven Cloud Converged World, a lower realm," he explained swiftly. "Because of the sudden appearance of the Dragon Race Inheritance Ground, countless powerful immortals from the Upper Realm have descended, hoping to seize whatever treasures lie within..."

While speaking, his attention was entirely fixed on the faint presence inside the inventory space.

He had deliberately emphasized the words Dragon Race Inheritance Ground.

Mo Huyan had once stood at the pinnacle of existence. If anyone understood the truth behind ancient inheritances, it would be her. Even a slight shift in her tone would reveal more than a thousand speculative guesses.

There was a pause.

Then—

A ripple.

"Dragon Race Inheritance Ground?" Mo Huyan’s voice sharpened slightly.

For the first time since speaking, there was something resembling surprise in her tone.

Then came a scoff.

"People are still falling for that nonsense...!"

The disdain in her voice was unmistakable.

"...!"

Wang Chen’s thoughts froze.

His mouth almost opened in the real world.

Nonsense?

Literal immortals were descending from the Upper Realm. Forces like Sword Saint Heaven were mobilizing. Domain Sovereign-level fluctuations had erased an entire sea of fire.

And she dismissed it as nonsense?

His mind raced.

T–This...

He opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again.

This was not the reaction he had prepared for.

He had expected cryptic warnings. Maybe partial confirmation. Perhaps a grim reminder of danger.

Not... ridicule.

Before he could press further, he felt a subtle gaze on him.

Demon Queen Zi Han was watching.

Her crimson eyes carried a questioning light. From her perspective, Wang Chen had fallen silent mid-conversation, his expression flickering for just a fraction of a second.

She did not interrupt.

But she was clearly waiting.

Waiting for the "immortal" beside her to provide insight.

Wang Chen steadied himself.

Inside the inventory space, he continued cautiously.

"Nonsense?" he asked Mo Huyan through divine sense, keeping his tone neutral. "Immortals are descending personally. Domain Sovereign auras have appeared. The sea of fire at the world’s center has been erased. If this is nonsense... then what exactly is happening?"

A faint hum echoed from the Thousand Soul Flag.

"Young one," Mo Huyan replied, her voice now carrying a strange mixture of disdain and faint amusement, "the Dragon Race did not leave inheritance grounds for others to plunder."

She paused briefly.

"They left bait."

The word hung heavily.

"Seven Dragons. Seven Continents. Seven so-called Inheritance Grounds. You think such ancient beings would expose their true legacy so conveniently?"

Wang Chen’s pupils contracted slightly.

So it was true.

Even Mo Huyan knew.

Before he could probe deeper, Zi Han’s voice broke into the real-world silence.

"Fellow Daoist Wang Chen," she said carefully, "you seem to have realized something."

Her tone was respectful, but there was tension beneath it.

The barren landscape stretched endlessly around them, silent witness to something catastrophic.

Wang Chen inhaled slowly.

He could not reveal Mo Huyan’s existence.

He could not appear confused.

He also could not overplay his hand.

With a faint, thoughtful look, he gazed at the desolate terrain below.

"It seems," he said slowly, "that what the world believes to be the Dragon Race Inheritance may not be so simple."

He let the words linger.

Zi Han’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The wind carried ash across the scorched ground beneath them.

Before Zi Han could even voice her doubts, Wang Chen had already guessed the direction of her thoughts.

At this point, slipping into the hidden-expert persona required no effort. It was instinct. A reflex honed through countless near-exposure moments.

He folded his hands behind his back and gazed at the scorched horizon as though contemplating something utterly mundane.

"It seems," he began slowly, his tone measured, "that a Domain Sovereign-level junior used their domain to erase the concept of heat."

He paused deliberately, then added in a faintly dismissive tone:

"Nothing much."

He even shook his head slightly, as if mildly unimpressed.

"This junior appears to have only recently established their domain. Look carefully—there are still residual traces of heat and fire everywhere. The erasure was not absolute."

Zi Han’s pupils trembled almost imperceptibly.

Erase the concept of heat.

Not suppress.

Not extinguish.

Erase.

Her mind replayed the words again and again, dissecting them.

If what Wang Chen said was true, then this was no ordinary domain expansion. It was conceptual interference—tampering with the fundamental property of reality in a localized region.

And not a small region.

Thousands of kilometers of molten sea.

Gone.

The implications were terrifying.

To Zi Han, who had spent her entire cultivation life fighting against fate and sharpening her dao to its limits, the idea of someone casually erasing a fundamental concept felt almost unreal.

Wang Chen, meanwhile, maintained his composed expression.

Internally, however, he could somewhat relate to her shock.

Just imagine waking up one day and hearing that an entire continent had vanished overnight, wiped out by some alien entity descending from space.

That was the scale of this event.

Except here, the "alien" was likely an Upper Realm Domain Sovereign.

And instead of continents, they were playing with laws.

He continued calmly, layering his explanation carefully.

"Conceptual domains are not easy to stabilize. If one truly mastered such a domain, there would not even be residual warmth left in the soil. The cracks beneath us would be cold and lifeless. The qi here would no longer carry even a memory of fire."

He bent slightly, extending a thread of divine sense downward, brushing against the land.

"Yet the world remembers," he said lightly. "The scars are fresh."

Zi Han followed his gaze.

Indeed, faint spiritual fluctuations still lingered in the earth. The qi was no longer blazing, but it was not neutral either. It carried a trace—like the afterimage of something violently removed.

Her expression grew solemn.

If Wang Chen could analyze it this casually, then either he truly stood above such a Domain Sovereign...

Or he was far more terrifying than she had initially thought.

"You call such an existence a junior?" she finally asked.

Her voice was controlled, but there was weight in the question.

Wang Chen allowed a faint smile to form.

"Compared to some beings," he replied vaguely, "everyone is a junior."

He did not specify who those "some beings" were.

He did not need to.

The barren land stretched endlessly before them, a silent testament to power beyond the lower realm’s comprehension.

Inside, Wang Chen remained cautious.

Mo Huyan had called the Dragon Race Inheritance "nonsense."

Now a Domain Sovereign had erased an entire sea of fire.

This was no longer a simple treasure hunt.

This was a chessboard.

And the pieces being moved were far beyond ordinary immortals.

He glanced toward the distant convergence point where space itself seemed slightly unstable.

"Well," he said calmly, "since someone has already cleared the entrance for us, it would be impolite not to take a look."

His tone was light.

But both of them understood.

They were stepping into something far bigger than either had originally anticipated.

......

Thanking Nebula cloud and Hanad for GTs