Jiang Wei's lungs burned as he sprinted through the narrow alleyways of the Prosperity District, his servant's robes billowing behind him like wings. Sweat poured down his face despite the cool morning air, and his heart hammered against his ribs with each desperate stride.

Behind him, voices called out with the kind of patient certainty that made his skin crawl.

"Brother, wait!" The voice belonged to Captain Ji Haozhe, once the City Lord's most trusted guard commander. "You're running from enlightenment itself! Can't you see how beautiful it is when the lies fall away?"

Jiang Wei risked a glance over his shoulder and immediately wished he hadn't. At least a dozen figures pursued him through the streets, city guards, merchants, even a few children, all moving with that same eerie calm. Their eyes held a clarity that seemed completely wrong, like looking into still water where there should have been flowing rapids.

"The truth will set you free," called out the silk merchant who used to cackle over her ledgers while counting profits. Now her voice carried the tone of someone discussing the weather. "Why do you flee from something so liberating?"

Jiang Wei vaulted over a vegetable cart, sending cabbages rolling across the cobblestones. The cart's owner, an elderly man he'd known for years, simply watched him pass with that same unsettling serenity.

"Old Liu, help me!" Jiang Wei gasped, but the vegetable seller just shook his head sadly.

"Poor child," Old Liu murmured. "Still trapped in the prison of his own delusions. But don't worry, the awakening will come for you too, in time."

What in the seven hells had happened to his city?

Jiang Wei had only been gone for three days, carrying messages between the Lu Clan and their business partners in the neighboring prefecture. Three days, and he'd returned to find his entire world turned upside down. The City Lord, that pillar of absolute authority and unshakeable conviction, had somehow become one of those cursed Disbelievers. Worse, the corruption was spreading like wildfire through the population.

"You can't run forever," Ji Haozhe called out. "Eventually, you'll realize that all the things you thought mattered, status, hierarchy, the grand narratives we tell ourselves, they're just elaborate self-deceptions."

Jiang Wei turned a sharp corner, his shoulder slamming into the wall hard enough to leave a bruise. But the pain helped clear his head, gave him focus. The Lu Clan compound wasn't far now. Young Master Lu would know what to do. Young Master Lu was everything the City Lord had once been and more: absolute in his convictions, unshakeable in his beliefs, a true Chosen One who would never fall to such corruption.

A formation barrier shimmered ahead of him, marking the entrance to the Lu Clan's territory. Relief flooded through Jiang Wei's chest as he approached the guards stationed at the gate.

"Let me through!" he panted, stumbling toward them. "Emergency! I must speak with the Young Master and the Patriarch immediately!"

The guards, both Crowned Heart Realm cultivators, took one look at his terrified expression and the pursuing crowd before stepping aside. The formation parted like water, allowing Jiang Wei to dash through before sealing itself again.

Behind him, the Disbelievers came to a gentle stop at the barrier's edge. They didn't pound against it or shout threats. Instead, they simply stood there, watching with those patient, knowing eyes.

"We'll be here when you're ready," Ji Haozhe said, his voice carrying clearly through the spiritual energy. "Truth has no urgency. It simply waits."

Jiang Wei shuddered and kept running.

The Lu Clan compound sprawled before him.

Perfectly maintained gardens channeled Xuan Yi in harmonious flows, while elegant buildings rose in architectural patterns that enhanced spiritual resonance. Everything here radiated the kind of ordered prosperity that came from knowing one's place in the world.

But as Jiang Wei ran deeper into the compound, he began to notice something that made him slow his desperate pace. Servants, guards, even visiting merchants - all of them were moving in the same direction, toward the central courtyard. And on their faces was an expression he'd never seen before in Lu Clan territory.

Reverence.

Not the deference that Witnesses of Fate showed their betters. This was something deeper, more profound. These people were moving like pilgrims approaching a sacred shrine.

Jiang Wei followed the crowd, his earlier panic now mixed with confusion. What could possibly draw such devotion from the Lu Clan's people? Had Young Master Lu achieved some new breakthrough? Had he ascended to the World-Writ Sovereign realm ahead of schedule? No that wasn't possible, the Young Master was still a half dozen years away from another breakthrough.

The central courtyard opened before him, and Jiang Wei's eyes widened at what he saw.

Hundreds of people filled the space: family members, servants, guards, business partners, visiting dignitaries. All of them were arranged in perfect formation, kneeling in concentric circles around a single figure seated on an ornate chair at the courtyard's heart.

But what truly stopped Jiang Wei in his tracks was the figure himself.

Lu Wenjun sat with the kind of grace that spoke of absolute power held in perfect control. His spiritual pressure wasn't flaring dramatically; there was no need for such crude displays. Instead, it radiated outward like warmth from a hearth, steady and all-encompassing.

What struck Jiang Wei as different was the absence of the phantom crown that should have floated above any Crowned Heart Realm cultivator's head. Instead, there was something else entirely, an almost invisible shimmer in the air around Lu Wenjun, as if reality itself bent slightly in his presence.

This was the mark of a World-Writ Sovereign, someone who had shattered their crown to forge something far more powerful within their spiritual foundation.

When, and how, had the Young Master achieved such advancement?

As Jiang Wei stumbled forward, he noticed something odd about the way people were addressing the young master.

"Divine One," whispered Patriarch Lu as he gestured for Jiang Wei to come closer. "This messenger seems distressed by whatever he witnessed in the city."

"Yes, Divine One," agreed Elder Lu Ming. "Perhaps the situation is more serious than our scouts reported."

Divine One? Why were they calling Lu Wenjun by such a title? He was talented, certainly, but he was still just the heir to a powerful clan, not some celestial being descended from the heavens. And why were the Patriarch and elders acting as though they were Witnesses of Fate?

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Despite his confusion, Jiang Wei dropped to his knees at the appropriate distance from the chair.

"Young Master," he gasped, still trying to catch his breath. "Forgive this lowly one's unseemly haste, but terrible news—"

"Take a breath first," Lu Wenjun said, raising one hand in a gesture that somehow made Jiang Wei's racing pulse begin to slow. "No point in choking on your own words before you can deliver them."

The young master's tone was different than Jiang Wei remembered. Still authoritative, still commanding, but with a casual confidence that felt almost... normal? As if he were speaking to an equal rather than addressing a servant with the formal distance expected of nobility.

Jiang Wei took a shuddering breath and forced himself to speak coherently. "Young Master, the city has fallen to corruption. City Lord Feng Zhaoyang has become a Disbeliever, and the curse is spreading throughout the population. Guards, merchants, even children - all of them speak of 'truth' and 'awakening' while their eyes hold nothing but that terrible look of madness."

A murmur ran through the assembled crowd, voices mixing concern with disbelief.

"So, it really is true," murmured Patriarch Lu, his voice tight with worry. "Feng Zhaoyang, a World-Writ Sovereign, has been led astray. What nefarious force could possibly corrupt such firm belief?"

"There's only one explanation I can think of," called out Lu Tianming, Lu Wenjun's cousin. "The City Lord had left to apprehend Du Yanze. That failed young master must have finally snapped completely, embracing the path of Disbelief out of spite and jealousy. And now he was trying to take us all down with him!"

The name sent a ripple of reaction through the crowd. Jiang Wei heard mutters of anger, disgust, and anticipation.

"Du Yanze," spat another clan member. "Nine times he's challenged our Young Master, and nine times he's been thoroughly defeated. But apparently, even complete humiliation wasn't enough to teach him proper respect."

"The boy needs another lesson," agreed Patriarch Lu. "Perhaps this time, Divine One should make the correction more... permanent."

"Yes! Divine One should teach him proper respect!"

"Show him the difference between chosen and pretender!"

"Your righteous fury will burn away his delusions, Divine One!"

Lu Wenjun listened to the growing chorus of voices calling for Du Yanze's punishment, but his expression remained thoughtful rather than angry. There was something calculating in his eyes, as if he were processing information that the others couldn't see.

"Silence," Lu Wenjun said, raising his hand again. The courtyard fell silent immediately. "You're all talking about Du Yanze like he's still the same failed cultivator who's been providing entertainment through his challenges."

He paused, and Jiang Wei could feel the weight of his attention settling over the crowd.

"That assumption might not be accurate anymore."

The words hung in the air.

"Divine One?" Patriarch Lu broke the silence. "Surely you don't mean to suggest that Du Yanze poses any genuine threat? His cultivation base was shattered days ago. Even if he became a Disbeliever, he couldn't possibly—"

"The person you keep calling Du Yanze," Lu Wenjun interrupted, "isn't someone you can afford to underestimate anymore. In fact, he's become someone that even I'm not entirely sure I could handle in a straight fight."

The statement hit the assembled crowd like a physical blow. Several people actually staggered, their faces going pale as they tried to process what they'd just heard.

Lu Wenjun, the pride of the Lu Clan, the genius who had never known defeat, the Chosen One whose destiny burned brighter than the sun itself, had just admitted uncertainty about facing Du Yanze.

"That's impossible," Lu Tianming said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Divine One, the Young Master defeated him nine times. Nine times! Each victory was more decisive than the last. How could that broken fool possibly defeat you, a Div—"

"Because," Lu Wenjun interrupted, his eyes focusing on something beyond the courtyard walls, "the one wearing Du Yanze's face isn't Du Yanze anymore."

Jiang Wei felt completely lost. Someone else wearing Du Yanze's face? What were they talking about? He'd only been gone for three days, but it felt like he'd returned to a completely different world.

"Divine One," Patriarch Lu said carefully, "are you saying that Du Yanze has been chosen…?"

Lu Wenjun was quiet for a moment, his attention clearly focused on something beyond their immediate surroundings. Following his gaze, Jiang Wei saw what had captured his focus.

High above the city, a single golden numeral blazed against the morning sky – 1.

The countdown that had appeared days ago, marking the approach of some momentous event, had finally reached its conclusion. Whatever divine conflict had been building to this moment was about to begin. And it was only then that the strange behavior around Jiang Wei finally made sense – Lu Wenjun had been chosen as a vessel.

The Young Master stood slowly, his spiritual pressure expanded outward like an unfolding flower.

"Divine One," Patriarch Lu said urgently, "surely you're not planning to—"

"The time for preparation is over," Lu Wenjun said simply. "I have a battle to attend, and keeping my opponent waiting would be rude."

The crowd parted before him, everyone bowing deeply as he passed. But Jiang Wei noticed that beneath their reverent postures, many faces showed confusion, even concern.

"Divine One," Elder Lu Ming called out as Lu Wenjun approached the courtyard's exit. "What should we do about the city? About the Disbeliever corruption?"

The one controlling Lu Wenjun paused and turned back to address the assembled crowd one final time.

"Stay here, keep the barriers up, and don't interfere with whatever happens next," he said.

With that, he turned and continued walking, leaving behind hundreds of bewildered followers and one very confused servant who was beginning to suspect that the corruption in his city was far more complex than anyone had realized.

Lu Wenjun, or whoever was currently inhabiting his body, made his way through the compound's outer districts with the same measured pace. Servants and guards bowed as he passed, but he barely acknowledged them. His attention was focused entirely on the path ahead and the confrontation that awaited.

As he approached the compound's main gates, the sounds of disturbance reached his ears. Beyond the formation barriers, voices called out with that same patient insistence that had pursued Jiang Wei through the city streets.

"Young Master Lu," came a voice he recognized from his vessel's memories as belonging to Captain Ji Haozhe. "We know you're in there. We've come to share with you the same gift of clarity that has blessed so many others today."

More voices joined in, creating a gentle chorus of invitation.

"The truth is beautiful, Young Master. Why cling to the elaborate stories we tell ourselves about destiny and chosenness?"

"Your power, your achievements, your certainty - what are they but desperate attempts to avoid facing reality as it truly is?"

"Come out, and let us show you what lies beyond the prison of self-importance."

Lu Wenjun, who was actually Yuan Zhen, paused at the compound's threshold and considered the crowd of converted Disbelievers waiting beyond the barrier. Their words carried no weight with him, their logic found no purchase on his mind. Unlike the locals, his sense of self wasn't built on the corrupted foundation of Xuan Yi and its delusions.

He had figured out exactly what Ke Yin had been doing these past few days of what was meant to be preparation. The other cultivator hadn't been building an army or gathering resources for their confrontation. He'd been trying to heal a sick world, to free these people from the sick poison that permeated their realm.

It was exactly the kind of thing Ke Yin would do, see suffering and feel compelled to help, even when it complicated his own objectives.

Yuan Zhen felt a slight smile cross his lips. In all his years of cultivation, he'd rarely encountered someone whose nature was so fundamentally decent. Most cultivators, himself included, would have focused solely on preparation for battle, treating the locals as convenient resources rather than people deserving of aid.

But not Ke Yin. Even knowing that their confrontation approached, even understanding that Yuan Zhen was somewhere in this realm preparing his own techniques and strategies, Ke Yin had chosen to spend his time freeing minds and healing corruption.

It was admirable. It was also going to make their battle far more interesting than Yuan Zhen had originally anticipated.

The formation barrier parted as Yuan Zhen approached, responding to Lu Wenjun's spiritual signature. The moment he stepped beyond the compound's protection, the crowd of Disbelievers turned toward him with hopeful expressions.

"Young Master Lu," Ji Haozhe said, stepping forward with his hands raised in a gesture of peace. "We're so glad you've decided to join us. The process is entirely painless, we promise. All you have to do is listen with an open mind while we explain how—"

Yuan Zhen's spiritual pressure exploded outward in a controlled wave, washing over the crowd like a gentle tsunami. It wasn't an attack; he had no quarrel with these people, who were victims rather than enemies. Instead, it was a precise application of force designed to overwhelm their nervous systems just enough to render them unconscious.

One by one, the Disbelievers crumpled to the ground, their faces peaceful as if they'd simply decided to take a nap in the middle of the street. Yuan Zhen made sure each collapse was carefully cushioned by his spiritual energy, preventing any injuries.

Within moments, the street was filled with sleeping figures.

Yuan Zhen stepped carefully around the unconscious forms as he made his way toward the city center. He had no desire to harm anyone in this realm, his business was with exactly one person, and that person was Ke Yin.

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