After the incident where the starving refugees cursed him—simply because he had run out of food to give—the Prince Hien (Virtuous Prince) finally realized his mistake. He saw how naive he had been regarding the human heart. He had placed too much faith in the ideals of his books while ignoring the harsh reality, content to remain in his luxurious chambers playing the part of a minor prince. He began to understand: no one had dared to exploit him before, not because he was good and they were returning the favor, but because of his father and his brother—a man who upheld the law so strictly that any infraction meant immediate punishment. Back then, fear kept them honest.

  Now, he was merely a "Virtuous Prince" in name only, a title stripped of its power, a fugitive fleeing his younger brother’s murderous intent. No one feared him anymore; no one respected him. If they could exploit him, they did. Once protected by a great umbrella, he was now free but living in the law of the jungle, where the strong devour the weak. He finally understood the true price of "freedom." When he discarded the hollow title of Virtuous Prince and transformed into a wealthy merchant selling grain, people didn't just stop fearing him—they exploited him shamelessly.

  Despite knowing he was wrong, he stubbornly clung to his ideals of benevolent rule. He blamed the heavens and the earth, lamenting that he was born in the wrong era. He believed people today were too wicked; had he lived a few hundred years ago, he would have been honored and praised. This stubbornness turned into a deep depression. Seeking to escape reality, he fell into addiction—first alcohol and revelry, and eventually, opium.

  Unlike other vices, this opium was a special variety known as "Spirit Awakening." It was a substance used by Shamans and cultivators of the Immortal Race to practice "Soul Projection." It severed the connection between the soul and the physical vessel. Upon projecting, they would enter a spiritual realm so ethereal and beautiful that many became lost, never wanting to return to their physical bodies.

  Characters with high Soul Power who used "Spirit Awakening" suffered no harm. Instead, they gained the opportunity to communicate with high-level entities—Soul Masters, Soul Generals, and Soul Gods—to train and learn before returning to improve the mortal world. High-level cultivators didn't even need the drug; they could reach this state through deep meditation, as their bodies could naturally produce the "Spirit Awakening" substance in precise, harmless doses.

  The Virtuous Prince, however, was a mere addict. He constantly overdosed, falling into a "high" state where the soul partially detached (the link between soul and body dropping below 50%, leaving the soul unaware of the body's actions). In severe cases, he entered a "Frozen" state—the body became immobile in awkward positions as the link dropped below 30%. Finally, there was the "Near-Death" state, where the connection fell below 10%.

  In these states, the body is like a house whose owner is away. When the owner—the soul—leaves for too long, intruders break in. This is exactly what happened to the Virtuous Prince. His physical "house" was invaded by an extraterrestrial Dragon entity calling itself the God of Vengeance, who seized the opportunity of the owner's absence to move in.

  At first, being unfamiliar with a human body, the entity’s movements were grotesque—walking backward or turning its head while the torso remained still, causing the body immense pain. However, possessing high intelligence, it eventually adapted. Facial expressions remained the hardest to master, leaving the Prince with a permanent, stony mask of indifference. His voice was equally difficult to control, often emitting dragon-like guttural sounds. To hide this, he wore a high-tech mask—a relic of the Dragon alien race—which concealed his face and modulated his voice.

  The Dragon alien was a commander from the expedition to the Black Tower, a member of the Omega Alliance. Hunted by the Immortal Race, he had projected his soul into the mask to hide. The mask eventually fell into the hands of a commoner. To maintain his cover, the Dragon alien granted the man the power to seek revenge, thus earning the title "God of Vengeance."

  As the mask passed from person to person, a small, secret cult formed: the Church of Vengeance. It gathered the weak and the bullied, those who came to pray for the strength to strike back. If the God of Vengeance accepted them, the mask granted them power; if not, it remained a useless trinket. Those who wore the mask to kill were known as the "Vengeance Masks." Their targets were the truly wicked: cultivators who used their powers to pillage, high officials who oppressed the poor, and the wealthy who profited from natural disasters.

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  A devotee of this church had originally approached the Virtuous Prince to kill him and steal his grain for the starving. However, upon discovering the Prince had sacrificed his entire fortune to save others, the devotee was moved. Instead of killing him, he swapped the Prince’s ordinary mask for the mask of the God of Vengeance. In a moment of near-death, the Prince had cried out for help; the mask responded, protecting his life. But the Prince's soul, disgusted by the world, wandered far away, leaving his body to be commandeered by the God of Vengeance.

  To the God of Vengeance, a powerful soul entity, a body was merely a suit of clothes. In the past, he had a favorite "suit"—a biological body of Dragon blood created through cloning technology. He used to have hundreds of such suits to exert his full power. Now, controlling the Virtuous Prince (who possessed the Dragon lineage) through the mask, he could exert nearly 10% of his original strength—far superior to the 1% most others could manage. This pleased him greatly.

  Accessing the Prince’s memories, the God of Vengeance saw how many had betrayed his kindness. He created a "Death Note." Anyone listed in it was marked for execution. This was how he had always operated with his followers, who worshipped him for it. He assumed the Prince would feel the same.

  The refugees who had repented and worked to atone were crossed off the list; the rest were slaughtered. In an era where the dead outnumbered the living, a few more bodies went unnoticed. As for the Prince's second wife, her lover, and their dragon-shaped airship? They were reduced to ashes—an event that became known to all.

  Two names remained at the bottom of the list: the Prince's father and younger brother. They were too far away, and a lingering consciousness within the body resisted the God of Vengeance’s intent. The entity didn't understand "family"—it held no value to him—but he realized the body’s original consciousness would fight his control if he pushed certain boundaries.

  Meanwhile, the Virtuous Prince's soul resided in the Soul Realm, a sanctuary where souls rest while the body sleeps. Alien souls were barred from this place. The Ancestral Spirit of the Jade Clan, seeing his descendant lingering there for too long, approached him.

  "Why are you still here? Why do you not return to your body?"

  The Prince’s soul replied, "No, I will not go back. That place is filled with liars and evil. I beg the Ancestors, let me stay here. Let me find eternal peace in this place."

  The Ancestral Spirit spoke: "I have heard your story. I am pleased that my descendant labored so fervently for the sake of good. But I have three things to remind you of:

  

  
1. The world is fair. The effort you spent doing good will be returned to you; it has already been converted into Merit for your soul.


  
2. Helping others is a good deed, but it is a Lesser Virtue. To forgive and show tolerance to those who have wronged you—that is Great Virtue.


  
3. I rebuke you for your stubbornness. You believed you knew everything, to the point that you locked your heart and listened to no one. I sent many to advise you, yet you ignored them.


  

  'Half a loaf of bread is still bread. But half a truth is nothing but a lie.'

  Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Go, learn, and complete this trial."

  In an instant, the Prince’s soul was cast out, spiraling through a vortex and slammed back into his body. His eyes snapped shut as a sledgehammer of a headache struck. In the three months he had been "gone," his body had done terrible things. The image of his second wife lying in a pool of blood horrified him. He jolted awake, ripped the mask from his face, and burst into tears.

  He looked up to see a bloody battlefield. Bodies were everywhere. The enemy—the Northern Barbarian army—was attacking. He was clad in silver armor, clutching a spear atop a warhorse, before suddenly tumbling to the ground.

  Soldiers nearby rushed to him with shields, forming a wall to pull him to safety. Many died in the process, struck down by arrows and blades just to protect him. That night, the Prince sat in a camp of the Jade Kingdom, bewildered. He was surrounded by strangers wearing the strange garb of a minor sect. Many knelt before him, weeping, begging him to "return the War God" to them and put the mask back on. He refused instantly.

  The Prince had cultivated since childhood, possessing a Foundation Establishment (B) cultivation base and the White Flame talent—a fire specialized in purging evil spirits and healing the flesh. The moment his soul returned, the alien entity was expelled, and the mask fell away. However, the White Flame does not harm the living, making it useless against the Northern Barbarians. His combat skills were poor.

  After speaking with the soldiers of this sect, he learned they were volunteers—people who had lost everything and wished only to defend their country to their last breath. Their "God" lived in the mask. Anyone who wore it gained extraordinary power, but for the last three months, the Prince wearing the mask had been their greatest weapon. It was the only reason they were still alive.

  The hundred remaining soldiers bowed their heads. "We beg of you, Excellency, wear the mask. Not for our lives, but for the people in the city. If we fall here, everyone dies."