skies above the Lower Realms had never been more silent.
Li Xuan sat upon a black jade throne inside the deepest chamber of the Heaven Auction Pavilion, now restructured into the Silent Monarch Hall. The air was still, as if the world itself dared not breathe in his presence.
Before him lay twelve scrolls—sealed karmic contracts that bound entire sects, kingdoms, and realm families to his cause. Each was soaked in destiny, interwoven with threads of life and death, willingly or otherwise. His mind pulsed with clarity beyond mortal comprehension, the product of cultivating the forbidden Voidheart Enlightenment Sutra—a technique no being in existence had ever survived to its limits.
And Li Xuan... was far from the limit.
Pain gnawed at his soul with every breath, a sensation deeper than flesh or spirit. Yet in that agony, his enlightenment grew sharper. He could feel karma move across the lower realms like rivers—where it stagnated, where it surged, where it resisted his grasp. His every thought twisted the fates of thousands.
He had become the nexus of the Lower Realms.
Seven kneeling generals, each cloaked in silence, awaited his decree. Behind them, their 49 elite shadows bowed. Not a whisper passed between them. Though their loyalty had never faltered, Li Xuan's cold gaze weighed them down like death itself. None had forgotten how he obliterated the Third Burning Sect—a realm force that dared to question the auction's reach—by unweaving their karmic roots and collapsing their dimension into dust.
None questioned him now.
"General Wuyin," Li Xuan spoke, his voice as calm as still water... yet every syllable rang like an execution bell.
"Yes, Master," Wuyin bowed lower, the floor beneath him cracking under the oppressive weight of Li Xuan's spiritual will.
"The 19th Ancestor of the Star-Fanged Tribe fled to a pocket realm. I sensed his karma shifting. Bring me his soul. Alive is optional."
"As you will."
Wuyin vanished like a shadow before dawn.
Li Xuan closed his eyes. Threads of fate spun around him like celestial silk. He touched them with his mind and felt lives burn, spark, and wither. Entire villages suffered plague simply because they had once scorned his name. Ancient spirit beasts in the Icebone Forest ceased their howls, bowing to invisible chains.
The million supporting realms—once chaotic, fragmented, and governed by fickle warlords—had now become silent tributaries to his vast empire of karma. He did not rule them through armies, but through inevitability.
Control was no longer a strategy. It was a law.
The mind cultivation sutra, Voidheart Enlightenment, burned through him again. A new layer opened. Blood seeped from his ears and eyes as divine pain laced every meridian. His mind screamed in agony, yet a flood of understanding poured through him. He saw the karmic origin point of one of his elite's ancestors—a minor betrayal hidden four generations ago. He would act on it later.
He did not trust anyone. Not truly.
Even his generals, though loyal in the present, were nothing but pieces on a board. Useful, but temporary.
"Open the Red Vault," he ordered.
The chamber trembled. A hidden wall split apart, revealing a floating altar surrounded by chains made of time-forged steel. Within rested a single fragment of an immortal talisman—a remnant from the Twilight Forbidden Realm, a place even god realm experts feared to touch.
He reached out with one hand, and the fragment floated to him.
His body burned.
The fragment contained ancient karma, so violent it had long defied fate itself. But Li Xuan's aura rose to match it, swallowing its energy like an endless abyss. The chamber turned black. His cultivation—already unrivaled in the Lower Realms—rose again, approaching the Karmic Sky Ascendant Stage, a realm no one believed possible outside of the Middle Realms.
His breathing calmed. His voice, however, grew colder.
"Prepare the shadow auction. Let the world believe I am dormant. Send General Ruoqi to auction the Lifeline Lotus."
A subtle nod from a jade-masked general. She vanished with a whisper.
The Shadow Auction was one of his most profound schemes. Unlike the Heaven Auction that showcased rare items, the Shadow Auction manipulated power structures. Secrets were sold. Bloodlines were marked. Alliances formed under false pretenses—every deal secretly forged to deepen his grip on karma.
And now, with the lower realms firmly in his palm, it was time to begin his silent march toward the Middle Realms.
He did not need armies.
He needed silence.
He needed inevitability.
From the darkness above his throne, a presence stirred. One of the forbidden watchers—an Immortal Fragment Entity—emerged slightly, its half-real form like mist wrapped in starlight. It dared not speak, only observe. Li Xuan's eyes flicked up for a brief moment.
"You're not ready to interfere," he murmured. "You're not even whole."
The entity trembled—and disappeared.
Li Xuan closed his eyes once more. Outside the Silent Monarch Hall, the sky remained still. But within the roots of the realms, karma churned. And Li Xuan? He was its reaper, its master, and soon… its destroyer.
The world had not yet learned to fear him.
But it would.