Lewis stared at his son in disbelief.
His breathing became ragged as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"But... why, Tim?"
"I'm your father."
"Why would you do this to me?"
Tim's smile never wavered.
It was calm.
Almost gentle.
Yet it carried a bone-chilling indifference that sent shivers down everyone's spine.
"Are you truly that naïve, old man?"
He slowly walked toward Lewis.
"After living a life built upon deception, manipulation, and selfishness..."
"...you still have to ask me why?"
Tim stopped directly before him.
"If you truly want to know..."
"...then tell me."
"What really happened to my mother?"
Lewis froze.
The color drained from his already pale face.
His lips quivered.
He coughed violently, another mouthful of blood staining his clothes.
"Your... your mother..."
"...she died during childbirth."
"I loved her..."
"I truly loved her."
The moment those words left his mouth—
Tim burst into laughter.
It wasn't joyous laughter.
It was filled with ridicule.
Filled with years of buried hatred.
Filled with contempt.
When the laughter finally subsided, Tim slowly crouched until they were eye level.
"Love?"
"You dare call that love?"
"You raped her."
"You kidnapped her to satisfy your own obsession."
"Then, to erase every loose end, you slaughtered her entire clan and harvested their Bloodline Essence."
Tim's emerald eyes burned with icy fury.
"What I still don't understand..."
"...is how Mother ever managed to fall in love with a vagabond like you."
"If she truly loved you..."
"...why did you still choose to violate her and drag her away by force?"
Lewis lowered his head.
For a long moment, he remained silent.
Then...
He slowly looked back at Tim.
Seeing the resemblance between his son and the woman he had once loved filled his eyes with sorrow.
Naia...
Your son has truly grown.
Lewis sighed deeply.
"You don't understand."
"I really did love your mother."
"But her clan..."
"...would never have accepted me."
"I was already stained by too many sins."
"I was willing to abandon everything."
"I was willing to change."
"I would have done anything to earn their approval."
"But they refused."
"They had already arranged for her to marry a self-righteous noble from a prestigious clan."
"A pompous bastard who only wanted to use her family's influence to elevate his own status."
Lewis clenched his fists.
"Your mother couldn't disobey her clan."
"So..."
"I took matters into my own hands."
"I kidnapped her."
"When she realized it was me..."
"She hated me."
"She cursed me."
"But eventually..."
"...she saw how desperately I loved her."
"So we fled together."
"We planned to disappear and begin a new life."
His voice softened.
"For a while..."
"...we were happy."
"I abandoned my old life."
"I became nothing more than a hunter, selling wild game in nearby towns."
"I truly changed."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"But fate had other plans."
"Months later..."
"...that noble found us."
"I wasn't home."
"When I returned..."
"Naia was gone."
"I searched everywhere before finally heading to her clan."
"But the moment I arrived..."
"...they attacked me."
"They never gave me the chance to explain."
"I barely escaped alive."
Lewis slowly closed his eyes.
"It was while fleeing that I discovered the Undying Fiend inheritance."
"I wanted revenge."
"But I knew cultivating it immediately would attract both righteous and demonic factions."
"So instead..."
"...I cultivated the other techniques left behind within the inheritance."
"When I became stronger..."
"I returned."
"I slaughtered her clan."
"Every last one of them."
"I extracted their Bloodline Essence."
"But..."
"I still couldn't find your mother."
Lewis's breathing grew heavier.
"So I searched for the noble instead."
"I eventually found him."
"He had already married your mother."
"But after using her family to secure his political ambitions..."
"...he discarded her."
"She became nothing more than a servant to his concubines."
"And she was carrying another man's child."
Lewis's expression twisted with hatred.
"I suspect..."
"...he was also the reason you were born unable to cultivate."
"So..."
"I wiped out his clan as well."
"I harvested their Bloodline Essence."
"That was how I finally reached the Qi Gathering Realm."
His voice became hoarse.
"When I found your mother again..."
"...she was already broken."
"She no longer recognized me."
"Only after I spoke did she remember."
"But..."
"...her mind had already been destroyed."
"She attacked me."
"I defended myself."
"And..."
Lewis lowered his head.
"...I killed her."
"It was an accident."
The room fell silent.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
After several moments...
Tim slowly nodded.
"That's certainly a touching story."
Lewis looked up hopefully.
But Tim's expression remained unchanged.
"Tell me something."
"After all of that..."
"Did it never occur to you to search for your own son?"
"You abandoned me."
"You erased your identity."
"You became Lewis Porter."
"You washed away your shame and began a brand-new life."
His smile gradually widened.
"You even married the daughter of another prestigious family."
Lewis's expression stiffened.
Then Tim continued.
"Only to discover that she'd been making you wear a green hat."
"Your precious wife was secretly sleeping with your best friend."
"...Levi."
"The very same Levi who later introduced you to the Mollock Syndicate."
Lewis's eyes widened.
Tim's voice remained calm.
"Your madness surfaced once again."
"But this time..."
"...you became even more ruthless."
"You orchestrated an assassination."
"You disguised it as an attempt on Levi's life."
"But your true target..."
"...was your pregnant wife."
"You knew how difficult it was for cultivators who refined Bloodline Essence to conceive children."
"You had only been married for a year."
"And despite knowing you couldn't defeat Levi directly..."
"...you chose the woman carrying your child."
Tim chuckled.
"What a convenient sacrifice."
Lewis's breathing became chaotic.
His body trembled.
Tim continued mercilessly.
"But fate enjoys mocking people."
"Only after she died did you discover the truth."
"The woman you married..."
"...had already been passed around by countless influential men long before she met you."
Tim slowly raised a finger.
He pointed toward an elderly man with neatly combed gray hair.
Despite his age, traces of extraordinary handsomeness could still be seen.
"Even Rickard..."
"...had his turn."
The old man immediately lowered his head in shame.
He didn't dare meet Lewis's gaze.
Lewis slowly turned toward him.
His lips parted slightly.
He wanted to speak.
But no words came out.
Tim pointed toward two more longtime followers.
One after another...
They lowered their heads.
Lewis suddenly laughed.
A bitter...
Self-mocking laugh.
"So..."
"I finally understand."
"My entire life..."
"...has been nothing but a joke."
Tim folded his arms.
"The humiliation of being cuckolded while pretending you knew nothing..."
"That must have been unbearable."
"But in the end..."
"It drove you to search for me."
"You took me back."
"Not because you suddenly remembered your duty as a father..."
"But because I was your only remaining heir."
Lewis coughed violently.
Blood splattered across the floor.
He slowly raised his head.
"How..."
"...how do you know all this?"
Tim smiled.
"The inheritance."
"What I received..."
"...should have been yours."
"If you had entered that pool first..."
"You could have restored my legs."
"You could have made me walk again."
"But your caution..."
"...your inability to trust anyone..."
"...became your greatest weakness."
Tim's smile became colder.
"You spent your entire life using others as test subjects."
"You manipulated everyone around you."
"So tell me..."
"Who else was more suitable than you..."
"...to become your own final victim?"
Lewis looked into Tim's emerald-green eyes.
For the first time in many years...
He felt no fear.
Only regret.
A lifetime of ambition.
A lifetime of bloodshed.
A lifetime of believing that caution alone could keep him alive.
Yet in the end...
The one who brought about his downfall was the only person he had ever trusted, even if only a little.
A faint smile appeared on his bloodstained face.
"So..."
"The inheritance truly showed you everything."
Tim remained silent.
Lewis slowly turned his head, looking at the followers who had remained by his side for so many years.
Some looked frightened.
Others avoided his gaze entirely.
None of them dared intervene.
He slowly laughed.
It was no longer the arrogant laughter of an ambitious cultivator.
It was the laugh of a man finally accepting defeat.
"I see..."
"So this is where my road ends."
He looked back at Tim.
"I'm glad..."
"...that you're stronger than me."
His eyes softened.
For the first time since Tim could remember, there was no calculation hidden behind his father's gaze.
Only sincerity.
"Naia..."
"I've finally failed you completely."
His gaze returned to Tim.
"Boy."
"My life is beyond redemption."
"I've committed too many sins."
"There isn't a single punishment harsh enough for what I've done."
"But..."
"If there is one thing I can still tell you..."
"...don't become me."
Tim's expression remained unreadable.
Lewis continued.
"Power is intoxicating."
"It convinces you that everyone around you is either a stepping stone or a threat."
"I spent my entire life believing emotions made people weak."
"So I abandoned them."
"I sacrificed everyone."
"My friends."
"My wives."
"My enemies."
"Even you."
His voice gradually weakened.
"And yet..."
"...look where it brought me."
He smiled bitterly.
"If you ever find someone worth protecting..."
"Don't let suspicion destroy what love has built."
"Don't repeat my mistakes."
Tim stared at him silently.
After several moments...
He nodded once.
"I promise you..."
"...Father."
A relieved smile appeared on Lewis's face.
"Good..."
Those were the last peaceful words he would ever hear.
Tim slowly raised his right hand.
His emerald pupils glowed brilliantly.
An ancient symbol briefly appeared within his black sclera before disappearing.
He spoke a single word.
"Devour."
Instantly—
Black-and-green tendrils burst from Tim's palm like countless living serpents.
They wrapped themselves around Lewis's body.
Lewis didn't resist.
He simply closed his eyes.
His cultivation had already been crippled.
There was nothing left to fight for.
The tendrils pierced into his flesh.
His body trembled violently.
Streams of emerald spiritual energy were forcibly extracted from every meridian and absorbed into Tim's body.
Lewis's already aging appearance rapidly deteriorated.
His hair turned white.
His skin wrinkled.
His flesh withered.
Within seconds...
The once ambitious cultivator had become a dried husk.
At the same time—
A dense mass of emerald Undying Essence condensed from the remains of Lewis's body.
Tim could clearly feel two completely different energies entering him.
The first merged directly with his dantian.
It transformed into pure Undying Qi, causing his cultivation to surge.
The second gathered within his palm as liquid Undying Essence.
The memories from the inheritance had been correct.
Devour possessed two abilities.
The first converted a target's cultivation into his own Undying Qi.
The second refined everything remaining within the physical body into pure Undying Essence.
Lewis's body slowly crumbled into gray ash.
A gentle breeze drifting through the broken walls scattered it throughout the cavern.
Not even a corpse remained.
Tim silently observed the ashes for several seconds.
Then he turned around.
The surrounding subordinates instinctively lowered their heads.
None of them dared meet his eyes.
The pressure radiating from Tim alone made breathing difficult.
He slowly swept his gaze across every one of them.
"You all enjoyed the show?"
No one answered.
"I'll only ask once."
His voice remained calm.
"But understand this..."
"The answer you give will determine whether you live or die."
The silence became suffocating.
Tim folded his hands behind his back.
"Who stands with me..."
"...and who stands against me?"
The subordinates exchanged uneasy glances.
Almost simultaneously—
They dropped to one knee.
"We pledge our loyalty to Young Master!"
"No..."
"We pledge our loyalty to Lord Tim!"
"Our lives belong to you!"
Tim nodded slightly.
"A wise decision."
He raised the sphere of Undying Essence condensed from Lewis's remains.
"Step forward."
"One at a time."
The first subordinate approached cautiously.
Tim pierced the man's chest with a finger.
Before the man could cry out, a drop of his blood floated into the Undying Essence.
The two merged.
The emerald liquid immediately became more stable.
Tim then guided the mixture back into the subordinate's body.
"Relax."
"Do not resist."
The man gritted his teeth as his body convulsed violently.
His veins bulged.
Bones cracked.
His flesh briefly decayed before rapidly regenerating.
Moments later...
He opened his eyes.
His pupils had become emerald green.
The whites of his eyes had turned pitch black.
His once-black hair had transformed into a deep emerald color.
He stared at his hands in disbelief.
"I..."
"I'm alive..."
"I can feel my cultivation increasing!"
The others looked on with undisguised excitement.
One after another...
They stepped forward.
Hours passed.
Each person underwent the same transformation.
Unlike ordinary undead...
None of them lost their sanity.
None became mindless monsters driven by instinct.
Instead...
They retained every memory.
Every emotion.
Every ounce of intelligence.
They had become something entirely new.
Living Undying Beings.
When the final subordinate completed the transformation, Tim surveyed the group before him.
Dozens of emerald-eyed cultivators knelt respectfully.
Every one of them possessed emerald-green hair.
Every one of them radiated the same eerie Undying aura.
Only one person remained different.
Tim.
His snow-white hair flowed gently behind him.
It was as though the inheritance itself had marked him as their sovereign.
The newly transformed followers instinctively lowered their heads even further.
Without anyone ordering them to do so...
They had already recognized who stood before them.
Not merely their leader.
But their Monarch.
Tim looked toward the entrance of the cavern.
Beyond it...
The Mortal Continent had already descended into chaos.
The undead apocalypse had only just begun.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"From this day onward..."
"No one will stand above us again."
He slowly clenched his fist.
"And the name of Tim Porter..."
"...will soon become a nightmare remembered across every continent."