True Heir of Chaos: From Villainess to Empress

Jian Dan was resting with her eyes closed when she heard Gong Yi's report. Her eyes fluttered open, a smile flashing across her face. Just when she had been racking her brain for a way to drive the Ma clan off the mountain without seeming unreasonable, the perfect excuse had landed in her lap.

"Bring them in," she said calmly.

"Yes, Jūnshàng."

Moments later, more than thirty female cultivators were led into the main hall. Every face was marked with fear and unease. Only a few, whose cultivation was higher, managed to maintain a semblance of composure.

The first thing they saw was the black-robed female demon cultivator seated at the head of the hall. Her beauty was striking, the beauty mark at the corner of her eye almost seemed to shimmer with life, adding a layer of charm to her already commanding presence. As they stepped inside, they all felt her spiritual sense sweep over them.

Jian Dan scanned them with a flick of her divine sense. The thirty women ranged from the Golden Core stage to peak Nascent Soul. Several bore clear signs of essence harvesting, their cultivation severely damaged. Their spiritual power had been sealed with a special technique, rendering them powerless—no different from ordinary women in the eyes of the cultivation world.

"Do you all know how you ended up here?"

Her tone was cool and distant.

One of the women stepped forward, her clothes revealing and torn, but her bearing still dignified.

"Senior, I was once the top courtesan at Fengxi Pavilion in Tianyun City. Not long ago, a cultivator bought me as a concubine, but his Dao companion refused to accept me into their household. He sold me off again, and I ended up here. I was blindfolded and had my senses sealed. I don't even know how I got to this place."

"Who else has a similar experience?"

Five more women stepped forward, exchanging anxious glances. None dared to speak first.

"I was taken by force," another, a Golden Core cultivator, spoke through clenched teeth. "When I regained consciousness, I was already locked inside that pitch-dark dungeon."

Jian Dan could tell at a glance that this woman had suffered the worst. Her essence had been drained to a dangerous level.

"I see," Jian Dan said evenly. "Whether justice can be served depends on your own resolve."

She turned to Gong Yi.

"Bring me all of Ma Feijun's former attendants, his concubines, his pets, and his trusted aides. Take them all to the Heavenly Demon Hall. I will speak directly to the Palace Master. Also, summon the new Patriarch of the Ma clan. Be polite."

"Yes, Jūnshàng."

Only after Gong Yi departed did Jian Dan speak to the women again.

"This is Mo Ying Peak of the Heavenly Demon Palace. I am the new Peak Lord here. As for how you ended up in this place, you may want to ask the former Peak Lord, Ma Feijun."

A murmur of surprise rippled through the women, but none dared to voice it. One of them, however, turned deathly pale. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a voice echoed in her mind.

"If you don't want to disgrace the Jian clan, keep your identity to yourself. Whether you return home or seek revenge once you leave the Heavenly Demon Palace will depend on your own ability."

Jian Dan's spiritual transmission struck like thunder. The woman—a member of the Jian clan—quickly lowered her head, her mind in turmoil. "How had this Peak Lord discovered my identity? Why conceal it instead of exposing me?"

Jian Dan's eyes swept over the group again. She felt no remorse for killing Ma Feijun. If anything, she thought she had been too merciful. A man like that deserved to suffer before death.

She stood and spoke to her attendant.

"Take them to wait outside the Heavenly Demon Hall."

"Yes, Jūnshàng."

By the time the attendant looked up, Jian Dan had already vanished, leaving him to escort the thirty women, each with a unique beauty, down the mountain.

In the Heavenly Demon Hall, Palace Master Mo Lie sat atop the central throne. To his right were Ma Wen and his grandson, who had arrived earlier.

"Greetings, Palace Master," Jian Dan said with a smile as she entered.

"Why stir up such commotion today? Patriarch Ma has not even recovered, and you're already calling him here?"

Though his words carried a hint of reprimand, Mo Lie's expression remained neutral. Jian Dan simply smiled and rose to her feet. She bowed respectfully to Ma Wen before speaking.

"I had no intention of disturbing you, Palace Master, or Patriarch Ma. However, the situation is urgent and beyond my authority. I had no choice but to report it."

Ma Wen's heart sank the moment he was respectfully escorted into the hall. He had a bad feeling about this. The affair with Ma Shaoqi had just ended yesterday, and he had even assisted in killing the parasite. What was Jian Dan plotting this time?

"What sort of urgent matter requires such judgment?"

"Yesterday, Patriarch Ma and Mo Zhang Zunzhě joined forces to defeat the Divine Soul cultivator who had been possessed by a foreign black beetle. During the battle, the rear mountain was damaged. While assessing the destruction, I discovered a secret chamber inside the mountain."

She paused. Mo Lie's expression remained calm, but Ma Wen's eyelids twitched noticeably.

"I sent people to investigate. Inside, we found over thirty female cultivators whose spiritual power had been sealed. They claimed to have been abducted. Some of them had already been used as furnace vessels, their cultivation forcibly drained down to the Golden Core stage."

The hall fell into momentary silence. Taking advantage of the pause, Jian Dan waved her sleeve, and the thirty women were brought into the hall.

"Greetings, Palace Master," they said in unison.

One stepped forward—a young woman who had clearly not suffered as the others had.

"I am the daughter of Lian Cen, an elder of the Loose Cultivator Alliance's Pill Division. I was taken during a training journey. I managed to send out a distress signal, but I was sealed and locked in a chamber that blocked all divine sense and spiritual power. I believe my father will sense my return now that I've left that place. Please, let me go."

"Palace Master, I did not come here by choice."

"Palace Master, my cultivation was ruined. Who will make up for what I've lost? How could someone like that become a Peak Lord?"

"Palace Master…"

The voices rose in waves of grief and outrage. Mo Lie's expression darkened. He raised a hand, and the room fell silent.

"Patriarch Ma," he said slowly, "please remove their seals."

Without protest, Ma Wen raised his hands and cast several incantations. Black demonic energy surged into the women's bodies. Within five breaths, their spiritual power began to circulate freely once more.

"Thank you, Palace Master," the women said in unison.

"I will see justice done," Mo Lie said. "You may go now."

Knowing when to retreat, the women bowed and quietly exited the hall.

Only then did Jian Dan speak again.

"This is an internal matter of the Heavenly Demon Palace. Family disgrace should not be aired to outsiders. Therefore, I must ask the two of you to resolve this."

"Ma Feijun has already turned to dust. There is no need to pursue the matter," Ma Wen said, barely suppressing his fury.

But the facts were plain. The women had testified. Mo Lie had subtly pressured him. Ma Feijun had abducted and imprisoned them for essence harvesting, a practice that not only shamed the Ma clan but also tarnished the Palace's reputation.

He had dug his own grave and was now buried in it—thoroughly and completely.