Chapter 293: Shen Xichuan, My Ass!
Xiao Yichen, the Imperial Second Prince, wore midnight blue and gold, the absolute picture of royal perfection.
But his dark, sociopathic eyes ignored the sycophants surrounding him, locked instead on the chef in the corner.
He tapped his folding fan against his chin, his gaze heavy with a toxic obsession that promised to ruin her life just to isolate her.
To her right, the orthodox geniuses were gathered.
Gu Zhiwei, the Golden Retriever, was waving enthusiastically at her, practically vibrating with the desire to run over and tackle her again, his golden hair shining like a beacon.
Standing right beside him, Wen Shiru, the Fox, leaned on a cane, thanks to his recently crushed foot, adjusting his silver spectacles.
He looked at Ji’an not with anger, but with that dark, masochistic reverence that made Ji’an feel as if bugs were crawling beneath her skin, as he was mentally tallying the cost of acquiring her soul.
And hovering at the edges of the room were Lu Jianheng, the Sword Lord, whose intense, conflicted glare practically burned holes in her tunic, and Mu Wuchen, the Assassin, who was little more than a pair of dark, obsessively tracking eyes hidden within the deepest shadows of the vaulted ceiling.
Ji’an pressed her hands over her face, groaning miserably into her palms.
’I am surrounded,’ Ji’an panicked, the sheer concentration of high-tier, toxic male beauty overwhelming her senses. ’It’s a buffet of red flags, and they are all looking at me like I am the main course. I look like a soot-stained peasant compared to them! Why is my life a reverse-harem nightmare?!’
Ji’an didn’t know she was living the life many girls could only dream about, being surrounded by a bunch of male beauties who were possessive of her!
She was desperately contemplating whether she could use a smoke bomb to escape through a nearby window when a sudden, resonant, magically amplified chime echoed through the Grand Hall.
GONG!
The heavy, musical sound cut through the chatter.
The thousands of cultivators fell entirely silent, turning their attention back toward the elevated dais where Sect Leader Bai Yunfei stood.
"Honoured guests, Elders, and disciples of the Celestial Sword Sect," the herald announced, his voice booming across the starlight-glass floor.
"The Sect Leader officially welcomes the return of those who have wandered the dark to find the light. Presenting... the Senior Apprentice of the Celestial Sword Sect, conqueror of the Abyssal Rifts..."
The massive brass doors at the far end of the hall began to slowly, dramatically groan open.
"Shen Zechuan!"
Ji’an dropped her hands from her face.
Her brain immediately engaged, pushing past the romantic panic.
’Here we go,’ Ji’an thought, her silver-flecked eyes narrowing, her heart pounding with anticipation. ’The abyssal vacuum cleaner. The new major villain. Let’s see how terrifying this corrupted edgelord actually is.’
She braced herself for a monstrous, shadow-draped figure.
She expected glowing purple eyes, an aura of rotting death, and a cruel, jagged sword that dripped with the blood of a thousand demons.
The heavy doors swung fully open.
The Senior Apprentice stepped over the threshold and into the light of the floating golden lanterns.
Ji’an stared.
She blinked.
She rubbed her eyes, utterly convinced that the ambient spiritual pressure of the room had finally induced a hallucinatory stroke.
She stared again.
Her jaw slowly, comically, unhinged.
The man walking down the central aisle, bathed in the opulent light, was not a monster. He was not a shadow-draped demon.
He was Lin Feng.
’Shen Zechuan, my ass!’ Ji’an’s internal monologue violently exploded, a shockwave of sheer, unadulterated cognitive dissonance shattering her mind. ’That is my brother! That is the Vanguard Commander of the Azure Empire!’
But as he drew closer, walking with a smooth, flowing, almost ethereal grace that completely contradicted the heavy, earth-shattering march of the Vanguard Commander, Ji’an’s frantic mind began to pick up the horrifying discrepancies.
It was Lin Feng’s face.
The same sharp, aristocratic cheekbones.
The same strong jaw.
The same towering, broad-shouldered height.exact
But it wasn’t him.
The man walking toward the dais had no scars.
His face was pristine, flawless, and lacked the rugged, battle-weathered harshness of the northern trenches.
His features were slightly softer, more gently defined, radiating a quiet, melancholic beauty rather than intimidating military might.
His hair was not tied in a strict, severe military topknot.
It was incredibly long, flowing freely down his back, gathered only at the nape of his neck in a loose, casual ponytail with a simple white ribbon.
And he wasn’t wearing dark, heavy armour.
He wore the immaculate, multi-layered, flowing white and silver robes of a Senior Sect Disciple, the silk billowing softly around him as he walked.
He looked like Lin Feng’s long-lost, tragically beautiful, soft-boy twin.
"What is happening?!" Ji’an hissed aloud, gripping the stone pillar so tightly her fingernails threatened to crack.
Her brain frantically tried to stitch reality back together.
’How is this possible?! Did my father have a secret affair?! Does Lin Feng have a twin brother who was spirited away to the sect at birth?! Or...’
A wild, terrifying theory struck her.
’Did the universe just get lazy?! Did the World Will literally copy-paste the Vanguard Commander’s character model, apply a ’soft-boy’ beauty filter, remove the scars, and drop him into the role of the major villain to save rendering time?!’
Shen Zechuan reached the base of the dais.
He offered a slow, incredibly elegant, and deeply respectful bow to the Sect Leader.
"Master," Shen Zechuan murmured.
His voice was soft, melodic, and carried a chilling, hollow resonance that sent a shiver down Ji’an’s spine.
It lacked the warm, booming resonance of Lin Feng’s baritone.
"Welcome home, Zechuan," the Sect Leader smiled, pride evident in his eyes.
Ji’an stood frozen in the shadows, her mind reeling.
She was supposed to fight this man in the tournament.
She was supposed to defend herself against the Void-Devouring Mantra, against the new villain the plot arranged for them to tackle.
