The great hall of the Yanlong Palace fell into deep silence as night deepened. Golden candlelight flickered across the black jade floor, casting long, dancing shadows upon the carved pillars of coiled serpents. The air was thick with burning sandalwood, but beneath that sacred scent lurked something darker—a musk of raw power and unspoken depravity.
Upon the dragon throne sat Dugu Xie, the Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty. He wore no crown, only a loose black robe embroidered with crimson threads that seemed to writhe like blood vessels in the dim light. His eyes were half-lidded, but within their depths burned a fire that no mortal should possess. The air around him hummed faintly with oppressive energy.
He had done it. After twelve years of ruthless cultivation, of sacrificing hundreds of enemy cultivators to fuel his demonic art, Dugu Xie had finally broken through the ninth layer of the Extreme Bliss Demon Lord Art. His qi surged like a tidal wave within his dantian, and every meridian in his body sang with forbidden power. But the most significant transformation was not in his cultivation base—it was between his legs.
Beneath the thin black silk of his robe, the Two Qi Evil Dragon Stem pulsed with life. It had grown during the breakthrough, swelling to the thickness of an infant's arm, its surface covered in dense black dragon scales. Each scale shimmered with faint, swirling demonic energy, and in the candlelight, they cast an eerie, unnatural gleam. The glans was particularly grotesque—a hooked, upward-curving tip that resembled a barbed talon, ready to tear pleasure from any vessel it entered. When it brushed against a woman's flower cavity, it would deliver alternating surges of ice and fire, driving the recipient mad with contradictory bliss.
Dugu Xie's lips curled into a cold, satisfied smile. He raised one hand and snapped his fingers.
The wooden doors at the far end of the hall creaked open. Two palace maids entered, their heads bowed, their steps trembling. They wore thin silk robes that left little to the imagination—translucent white, barely covering their nipples and the damp shadows between their thighs. Both were beauties chosen from the harems of conquered sects, their faces once proud and cold, now hollowed by months of brutal training.
They did not speak. They knew better.
The two maids approached the throne on their knees, each movement slow and deliberate. When they reached the foot of the dais, they stopped, prostrating themselves until their foreheads touched the cold jade.
Dugu Xie did not bid them rise. He simply parted the folds of his robe, exposing the monstrous Evil Dragon Stem. It stood erect instantly, its black scales catching the lamplight like polished obsidian. The hooked tip glistened with a thin film of pre-cum, releasing a faint, musky aroma that mixed with the sandalwood.
"Come," he said, his voice soft but carrying an unyielding weight. "Worship your emperor."
The maids crawled forward, their silk robes dragging across the floor. The first one, a raven-haired girl from the fallen Frost Lotus Sect, pressed her lips to the base of the stem. Dugu Xie's flesh was warm, almost hot, and the demonic energy radiating from his skin made her mouth tingle with a strange, forbidden numbness. She parted her lips and took the tip into her mouth, careful not to scratch it with her teeth.
The second maid, a pale-skinned beauty from the Sky Sword Sect whom Dugu Xie had personally claimed after slaying her master, moved to the other side. She extended her tongue and ran it along the underside of the shaft, tracing the ridges of the black scales. Everywhere her tongue touched, she tasted a sharp, electric bitterness, like crushed lightning bugs mixed with honey. Her eyes glazed over slightly as the demonic qi entered her bloodstream, numbing her mind, softening her resistance.
They worked in tandem. One sucked the tip, her cheeks hollowing as she drew the hooked head deep into her throat. The other licked and nibbled at the shaft, alternating between the left and right sides, leaving no inch of the dark skin untouched. Saliva dripped down their chins, pooling on the black dragon scales, making them glisten even brighter. The air filled with wet, sucking sounds and the occasional gasp as one of the maids resurfaced for air.
Dugu Xie closed his eyes and leaned back into his throne. A low groan escaped his throat. The feeling was exquisite—dozens of tiny nerve endings on his Evil Dragon Stem sent jolts of pleasure straight to his core. But it was not enough. It never was.
While the maids serviced him, his mind wandered to a conversation he had shared with Miao Fa, the abbot of the Extreme Bliss Zen Temple, the state religion of the Great Yan Dynasty. Miao Fa was a bald, portly man with a perpetually serene smile, but behind that facade hid a mind twisted by centuries of degenerate cultivation. They had discussed the final step of the Demon Lord Art at length.
"To break through the tenth layer," Miao Fa had said, stroking his prayer beads, "Your Majesty must gather twelve Extreme Bliss Demon Lord Seals. Each seal must be planted in a woman with a Celestial Vessel, and that vessel must be elevated to the fourth stage—Extreme Bliss. Only then will her essence merge with Your Majesty's qi, unlocking the final door."
Dugu Xie had sneered at the time. "And how does one elevate a Celestial Vessel to Extreme Bliss?"
The abbot's smile had widened. "You must break her, Your Majesty. Break her body, break her mind, break her very soul until she finds joy only in your touch. When she kneels without being told, when she weeps not from pain but from the anticipation of your next command, when she can no longer remember a life without your ownership—then her vessel will ascend. She will become a tool of pure, endless ecstasy."
A Celestial Vessel. A rare gift born only in women of extraordinary beauty and talent. The world of cultivation had long compiled a ranking of such women—the Hundred Flowers List. On it were names that stirred the hearts of all cultivators: Xi Yue of the Sky Sword Sect, the number one beauty of the list, cold as a winter moon, her body housing both the exquisite Spirit Sword Constitution and the mysterious Nine Abyssal Dark Yin Cave. Xia Ling of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, ranked fourth, her mind sharp as a blade, her body carrying the Pure Evolution Dao Constitution.
Dugu Xie had been hunting them for years. He had already claimed a dozen lesser vessels, their owners kneeling beside his throne as sex slaves and cultivation cauldrons. But he wanted more. He wanted all of them. Especially Xi Yue.
His fingers tightened on the armrest of his throne. The black threads of his robe pulsed with faint, hungry light.
The maids sensed his shift in mood. They doubled their efforts, one taking the full length of the stem into her throat, swallowing until her nose pressed against the black scales. The other maid reached between her own legs, fingers sliding into her wet slit, pleasuring herself as she serviced her emperor. Dugu Xie allowed it. Sometimes their desperate attempts to please him amused him.
But his thoughts were elsewhere.
He had lost count of how many women he had taken. The maids, the concubines, the conquered sect daughters—they were all the same. They screamed, they wept, they eventually submitted. But their eyes never fully broke. Not like the ones that Miao Fa had prepared in the Extreme Bliss Pavilion. Not like the ones that Bai Yi, the madam of the pavilion, trained with her wicked needles and her ink-filled tattoo needles.
The Extreme Bliss Pavilion, a sprawling pleasure palace hidden within the imperial city, had become his personal garden of defilement. Since declaring the Extreme Bliss Zen Temple the state religion, Dugu Xie had used the "for the greater good" excuse to launch massive purges against the cultivation sects. His Demon Lord Iron Cavalry, led by the fierce General Hua Qingtian, swept through the mountains like locusts, leaving behind ash and ruin. Every beautiful woman with talent was dragged back to the capital, their names crossed off the Hundred Flowers List one by one.
And yet, Xi Yue remained untouched. The Sky Sword Sect still stood, its mountain shrouded in protective formations. But Dugu Xie was patient. He knew that the formation would eventually weaken. He knew that the cold fairy would eventually fall.
When she did, he would personally break her.
A low, guttural growl rumbled from his chest. The two maids felt his body tense. They worked faster, one gagging on the hooked tip as it scraped against the back of her throat. Her tears mixed with her saliva, staining the black scales with a clear, desperate sheen. The other maid came, a sharp cry muffled against his shaft as her body shuddered.
But Dugu Xie did not grant them release. He grabbed the first maid by her hair and slammed her face down onto his stem, forcing her throat to take every inch. She choked and convulsed, her hands clawing at his thighs, but he did not relent. With a savage grunt, he spilled his demonic essence into her throat. The hot, viscous ejaculate filled her mouth, dripping from her nose as she gagged. By the time he pulled her off, she collapsed onto the floor, gasping and weeping.
The second maid licked the remaining fluid from his shaft, her eyes hungry and empty.
Dugu Xie looked down at them with cold indifference. "Clean the floor. Then get out."
They obeyed immediately, scrambling to wipe the mess with their silk robes before crawling backward out of the hall.
Once alone, Dugu Xie rose from his throne and walked to the tall window overlooking the capital. The city lay sprawled beneath him like a glittering corpse, its lights a mockery of vitality. Somewhere deep within the imperial complex, the bells of the Extreme Bliss Zen Temple chimed softly, marking the hour of the midnight prayer.
He would visit Miao Fa tomorrow. Together, they would plan the final assault on the Sky Sword Sect. And once Xi Yue was in his hands, he would take her to the Extreme Bliss Pavilion and ensure her Celestial Vessel would ascend through every stage—from First Cavern to Blooming Crimson, from Emotion Dyed to Extreme Bliss.
And then he would plant his seal.
But before any of that, there was another matter. The second beauty on the Hundred Flowers List, Xia Ling of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect. She was cunning, skilled in divination. If anyone could predict his movements, it would be her. She was a threat that needed to be neutralized—not killed, but turned. Bent to his will.
He had already dispatched General Hua Qingtian to the Heavenly Mechanism Sect. The report had not yet arrived, but Dugu Xie was confident. Hua Qingtian never failed.
The emperor's lips twisted into a thin, predatory smile. "Let the games begin."
The demons stirred in the shadows of the hall, and the night deepened over the Great Yan Dynasty.