Ian Song had originally thought the Silver Fox Princess might not come, or at least would take a long time to show up. But after he sent the message, she arrived in just a quarter of an hour, her expression calm and composed—whether out of confidence or a clear conscience, he couldn’t tell.
"Young Master, you’ve returned?" The Silver Fox Princess smiled as she spoke, making no mention at all of her second brother, Victor Wu.
"You must be pretty disappointed to see me back, huh?"
Ian smiled as he asked.
"I am disappointed, yes. So, Young Master, did you call me here to hold me to account?" The Silver Fox Princess’s expression suddenly turned cold.
"No." Ian chuckled and shook his head. "No matter what, we were husband and wife for a day, and that bond lasts a hundred days. In my past life, I did owe you something. So today, I’m only here for an answer—why did you do it? Was it because you hated me for leaving without saying goodbye in our last life?"
Ian’s tone was peaceful, completely calm, without a trace of anger.
The Silver Fox Princess shook her head. "No, I don’t hate you! Because I am the Silver Fox Princess, not Princess Jade Fox. As for why I did it, with your intelligence, you should have guessed by now!"
"Sigh."
Ian let out a soft sigh and gave a bitter smile. "I should have realized that long ago."
Although the Silver Fox Princess is the reincarnation of Princess Jade Fox, she awakened her past-life memories too late—her own thoughts and personality had already formed. Plus, as a Fusion realm cultivator, her soul is strong, while Jade Fox was just an ordinary person. So, even though the Silver Fox Princess has awakened those memories, she isn’t swayed by the emotions attached to them; even if she’s briefly affected, the feelings are quickly wiped away.
That’s why the current Silver Fox Princess and Princess Jade Fox are basically two different people—the only things they share are their appearance and the origin of their soul.
"Are you disappointed?" the Silver Fox Princess mocked.
"Not really." Ian stood up. "Even if you’re not her, I wouldn’t do anything to you. But before I go, let me give you one last piece of advice: In the face of absolute power, all schemes and tricks are just illusions. You’re lucky that you plotted against me—someone still held back by old feelings—because if you’d tried this with someone else, your ending could have been much worse. That’s all I have to say. I’ll take my leave now."
"Wait!" the Silver Fox Princess suddenly called out.
Ian turned to look at her.
"Have you ever liked me?"
"You’re not my type."
Ian had never been fond of women who excelled at scheming and manipulation.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ian vanished without a trace.
For reasons she couldn’t quite explain, the Silver Fox Princess felt a strange sense of loss as she watched Ian disappear.
Over the next few days, Ian met up for a small gathering with Jasper Easton and Brandon Nangong, his fellow wastrel friends. After that, he had a private meeting with Warren Wei, the only young aristocrat willing to stick with him.
In the blink of an eye, the tenth day arrived.
All the servants and maids of the Song Residence had already been dismissed. Though reluctant to leave, they were happy overall, since Diana Toba had arranged for them to join the Fire God Church and they’d received generous severance pay.
However, Raina Quinn, the steward of the Song Residence, refused to leave. So, Ian spoke with her privately, and she still chose to follow him.
Since Ian was already bringing a lot of people back to his main world, one more—Raina Quinn—didn’t make a difference, so of course he didn’t refuse.
With only one hour left until the deadline to return, Ian contacted the System: "Return!"
With a flash of light, Ian vanished from where he stood.
When he reappeared, he was inside the silver portal hall of the System’s inner space. Of the original six traversal gates, only four remained, but he now had access to the golden gate.
As for the world behind the silver portal, he didn’t plan to go back. If his guess was right, the strongest power in that world wouldn’t surpass the Immortal realm.
With a single thought, Ian disappeared from the silver portal hall and reappeared in the study of his villa in Flame City.
This trip had taken a little over two years, with a time ratio of one day to ten years.
In other words, not even a full day had passed in the main world.
Just then, a cascade of System notification chimes rang out in his mind, lasting a full minute.
Most of the notifications were about level-ups, rewards, and mission completion bonuses.
When he first entered the Immortal-Dao world, his level was only 21, but now:
Host: Ian Song
Level: 35
Physical Strength: 202,000 points
Mental Power: 17,200 points
Skills: Martial Arts, Piano Master, Master Driver, Firearms Expert, Super Chef, Painting and Calligraphy, Eastern Medicine, Gambling Master, Language Master, Dance Master, Raging Waves, Thousand-Hand Buddha, Nine Stellar Transformations, Whirlwind Thirty-Nine Forms, Huarong Golden Needle Technique, Fire Arts, Primordial Heaven Palm, Divine Wind Art, World-Shaping Avatar.
Divine Powers: Photographic Memory, Complete Mastery, Clairvoyance, Divine Light of Life, Space Stasis, Gravity Domain, Pill Condensation, Puppet Mastery, God-Eye of All Heavens, Soul-Control Brand, Resurrection, Beast-Taming Brand, Nine Stellar Transformations.
Cultivation Arts: Body of Ten Thousand Stars, Heavenbreaker Sword Art, Dragon-Phoenix Art.
Item: Blood-Emperor Wings
Virtual World: Return
Fame Points: 40.11 billion
Next lottery: 5 billion points.
Fourteen levels in one go—what a rush!
He also received sixteen lottery rewards: fourteen for leveling up, two for mission completion. The hidden mission was rated ordinary by the System, so he didn’t get any extra task rewards.
But as usual with the System, lottery rewards rarely turn out to be anything good.
"Meow-Meow, combine all sixteen lottery draws into one!" Ian said.
"With your current permissions, you can only combine up to ten!" Meow-Meow replied, sounding unusually serious.
"Fine, just combine ten then," Ian said, not bothered.
While waiting for the combination, he decided to use up the remaining six lottery draws.
The lottery wheel appeared. Ian, now well-practiced, tapped the 'Prize' symbol in the center, and the pointer began spinning rapidly.
When the pointer landed on 'Skill,' Ian’s face twitched—among the five lottery categories, skills were only marginally better than blanks.
After the System upgrade, the lottery categories were Divine Powers, Skills, Items, Blanks, and Bloodlines.
"At least it wasn’t a blank!"
Ian comforted himself.
The lottery interface changed again, and the wheel now displayed five skills: Song King, God-Tier Bathhouse Attendant, God-Tier Builder, God-Tier Fitness Coach, and God-Tier Salesman.
Seeing these options, Ian’s face darkened—all five skills were completely useless to him.
He tapped again, and the pointer spun, finally landing on Song King. Ian’s mood improved a little.
A strand of golden light shot out from the lottery wheel and entered his sea of consciousness. Instantly, Ian found his mind filled with singing techniques, stage experience, and a mysterious energy subtly refined his vocal cords.
Without pause, Ian kept drawing.
Second draw: blank.
Third draw: blank.
Fourth draw: item. Unfortunately, it was just a stinky sock. Ian burned it to ashes with his true fire in frustration.
Fifth draw: bloodline. But it was the lowest-grade White-Haired Zombie bloodline.
Sixth draw: finally, a Divine Power. But it was only a first-grade power called Finger of Misfortune—whoever it targets will have bad luck for the next twenty-four hours.
After the sixth draw, Meow-Meow reminded him that the ten draws had been combined and he could now proceed with the combined lottery.